Xperiancer

A Quick Note...

2011-09-14T15:11:00.003+05:00

Hello fellow Xperiancers! I hope that you've been enjoying your Xperias or whatever-new-device-you've-moved-on-to! Just wanted to drop a quick note that i'll be blogging at msalmank.blogspot.com from this point onward. Although its just a start, but you can expect to see various stuff on there including posts on Windows Phone. So if interested, don't forget to visit that blog from time to time... :)

Best Wishes!

An Official Goodbye!

2010-12-09T02:47:00.001+05:00

Well Xperiancers,

Although I had started to play with my X1 again by trying out Android builds on it and other new ROMs and software – yes! yes! I had intended to blog about them but before I could do so, an interested buyer got successful in prying the X1 away from my hands! Yes, you heard that right: I’ve sold off my X1 to someone who probably won’t know much of what to do with it…

With that… Good luck to you all! Good bye! And for those who might be interested in Windows Phone 7 or who might already own a Windows Phone 7 device, I’m thinking of starting a blog on that within a week or so, so keep an eye out!

P.s. if any one of you Xperiancers think you can keep this blog alive with interesting and new posts now and again, then shoot me an email at xperiancer@gmail.com and I’ll consider adding you as an author on the blog or might just transfer it over to you.

Going for Windows Phone 7

2010-11-05T05:23:00.001+05:00

October saw the unveiling of Windows Phone devices and a lot of hands-on with the new Windows Phone 7 operating system. How does it pan out? I will leave “reviews” to the professionals (two must-read reviews linked below), but despite its shortcomings, I am really impressed by the new platform. I have to admit that, like many, I didn’t think much of the home screen but now I’m totally in love with it. The live tiles, ability to pin anything on the home screen, fast animations, etc. It’s really refreshing to see a new system that brings a completely new and innovative UI to the mix.

Windows Phone 7 Reviews:

As I announced a few weeks back, I’ve finally decided to put down my Xperia to rest. It has been a good run with the device, no doubt about that, but its certainly become ancient. I would probably have gotten a couple more months out of it had the keyboard not stopped functioning properly – though I probably would have ditched it anyways for something spicier regardless.

Obviously when it comes down to purchasing a new mobile/smart-phone, there are a lot of decisions to be made these days. The most important one being, which system do you want to go for? Although I’m extremely certain now that I want my first options to be Windows Phone devices, I will admit that both Blackberry and Android made my list. You might ask why not Apple or Symbian: Nokia’s offering doesn’t entice me for some reason and though I really really dig the 12 MP camera on the N8, I couldn’t bring myself to consider it. And as far as Apple is concerned, I’ve carried around an iPhone for over 2 years and I loved it, but I’m not looking to jump back onto iOS anytime soon unless and until they release a new version that has a whole set of new and captivating features added to it.

So what handset am I thinking of moving to then…? Well, honestly, it is still open for discussion. One day my mind switches to one device, the other day it switches to another. The thing is that being in Pakistan, most of these handsets haven’t hit the market here yet, so I’m relying on a family relative to purchase one for me and bring it down here when they visit mid-November. So basically, I’ve got till mid-November to make my final decision…

And without delay, here’s what my list looks like right now… sorted in order of most favored.

Dell Venue Pro

Ok so we know very little about this handset as Dell has kept it quite a secret. Other than a bunch of videos and basic information about the handset, some things are yet to be “officially” confirmed. The best feature of this device is its keyboard and apart from Samsung’s appealing Super AMOLED offerings, Dell is the only device with an AMOLED display which is way better than settling for the usual LED displays on the HTC and LG handsets. Overall, in my opinion, this device has the biggest WOW factor in the entire Windows Phone 7 lineup. This is unfortunately the worst kept secret as well as there is no word yet on the availability of the device. With rumors surfacing that it will be on sale by November 8th, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for that to be true. Check out the video from Stuff.tv below:

A quick look at the Dell Venue Pro

Samsung Omnia 7/HTC Mozart

The second device that I have my eyes, and probably is the one I’ll end up buying if Dell Venue Pro doesn’t hit the market by mid-November, is the Omnia 7. This device’s main attraction is its Super AMOLED display. I honestly didn’t think much about the display before until I saw videos of Dell Venue Pro and Samsung Omnia 7 against those of other handsets such as HTC Mozart or HD7. The Super AMOLED is AWESOME! I actually went down to the local market and checked out this android phone with Super AMOLED and was blown away by the display quality and thus ultimately, Omnia 7 became my second choice to enjoy the vibrant new operating system. Not to mention, according to reviews and tests, the 5MP camera on this device is better than that on most of the other devices. Additionally, it doesn’t hurt that the phone’s design isn’t bad either… Check out the video below:

Samsung Omnia 7 with its gorgeous Super AMOLED display…

But then again, I LOVE the form factor of the HTC Mozart more than the Omnia 7. Let’s face it, HTC’s Mozart probably has the best and most solid design of the lot and with an 8 MP camera and a Xeon flash, it would be stupid not to consider it. The biggest con of course is its limited 8GB memory. I wish HTC had enough sense to put in at-least 16 GB, but I guess we can’t expect perfection in one handset. Check out the video below:

BlackBerry Torch 9800

Dell Venue Pro looks awesome with the portrait slider, but when it comes to BlackBerry Torch 9800, I honestly have mixed feelings. I love it sometimes, other times… I just don’t know. As the first slider from Blackberry, it is a really beautiful handset though. The chrome plate around the edges and the back cover…! What attracts me most to this device is obviously the new BlackBerry OS 6 which looks really good – especially the media capabilities of the device. But unfortunately, the new OS 6 doesn’t excite me as much as Windows Phone 7 does. So I will probably not be purchasing this unless and until I can, for some reason, not get my hands on a Windows Phone device. Check out the review below:

Blackberry Torch

HTC Surround

Last on my list but probably one of the most unusually designed device with its slide out speaker! I must admit that it is the speaker itself that peaked my interest in the phone and this was pretty much at the top of my list tied with Dell Venue Pro at one time… But then came in reviews across the web and videos on YouTube that have led me to hate the speaker due to the lack of performance. I’m still keeping it on my list while waiting for reviews from some of the sites that I usually trust with reviews, but unless they report some good tidings about the device, this might just disappear into oblivion for me. Of course the 16 GB space over 8 GB in the Mozart is another plus…! Check out the video here:

So there you have it… the devices that I’m juggling right now. I’m looking forward to seeing more reviews by next week and hope to make my decision soon. If you had to choose between these devices… which one would you choose?

Moving on…

2010-10-03T18:46:00.001+05:00

It’s been quite some time since i purchased my X1i and since i did, i’ve loved it and the customizability of the system but i’ve also hated various things; lack of official updates, fading back, cracking case, and a couple of few other things here and there. But overall it was a great ride – that i’ll admit. There’s no denying that the handset is quite outdated now and the Windows Mobile experience has gotten a little cold… and thus i decided, time to move on.

My next stop? I’m highly inclined towards Windows Phone 7… When i first saw it, i had mixed opinions about it. But its grown on me and i’ve fallen in love with the entire new system. Sure there are some functionality limitations here and there but i expect Microsoft to release updates to the system efficiently and periodically… Question comes to availability and device manufacturer: as far as the latter is concerned, HTC is my best bet for the time being. Reliable hardware, quick software updates, and proper support. Though its difficult to say right now with other manufacturers throwing out some really awesome looking images of upcoming devices.

If for some reason, i don’t end up getting a Win Pho 7 device, i’m looking towards Blackberry as my next choice. Initially i was thinking about Android but i love the BB system more and am really liking the new Blackberry OS coming soon to devices…

With that rant, let me state something really obvious: this blog would thus be made inactive from here onwards. Or perhaps i’ll keep the same ‘Xperiancer’ title and start off blogging about whatever phone i do get. So keep an eye out for any updates…! ;)

It was a good ride, this blog… Thank you to all my readers and those who commented and participated in one way or another. It was fun having a new phone with so much potential but it truly made it worth it by sharing it with y’all out there!

Adios Amigos! :)

Leo on X1

2010-02-08T18:59:00.001+05:00

Ever since HTC Leo surfaced, i’ve been lusting to get the updated HTC Sense UI onto my X1. I personally didn’t like TF3D that much, but with HTC Sense the UI was taken a lot further making it more useful and powerful and an extreme eye-candy. (can’t get enough of the weather animations)

But disappointed I was since all Leo ROMs that surfaced were either too buggy or poor in performance and thus lacked the guts to be used as a day-to-day ROM. Of course there were customizations in between where people brought in Leo with better performance by turning off the X1 panels or those who modified the original TF3D2 (the one with landscape support) to be close to what Leo’s Sense offered. I know, i’m a bit spoiled to be looking for best performance while running X1 Panels as well as HTC Sense…

And now… i can finally say that there is a ROM out there that works just as i had imagined. NRGZ28’s latest Energy ROM with HTC Sense and Windows Mobile 6.5.5 including X1 Panel Manager works like a charm! HTC Sense does full landscape, works super fast (can get a bit laggy if you have too many applications open but otherwise is a charm), and is by far the least buggiest ROM i have used in the last few weeks. (to be honest – i haven’t found any bugs yet but i wouldn’t hold my breath either… :)

Head on here for more info on the ROM. Just so you know, I’m using the 23529 build which according to NRGZ28: “The 23529 Build that's the latest in the 6.5.5 series with the Start/Close buttons at the bottom. These builds are not as stable but they reflect the latest cutting edge technology from Microsoft.”

WinMo 6.1 Custom ROM for X1

2010-02-08T18:33:00.001+05:00

Ok, so the reality isn’t lost on me… who would want to use Windows Mobile 6.1 these days? But c’mon! This ROM actually got me excited enough to use it for an entire two days and the “only” reason i flashed to another one was because i wanted to try out a new Leo ROM else might have stayed with this ROM for quite a while. Honestly, this beast of a ROM leaves over 380 MB free on your main storage! When have you had that much to play with?

Still, of course there is no denying that the ROM’s main appeal is for Professional and Enterprise users only – as intended by the cooker norti. But once you flash the bare ROM onto your X1, you can customize it to your heart’s desires with the X1 Panel Manager and other flashy tools as required while still keeping a fast ROM at the base. The best customization would be, which i did do, to install WAD2 and then apply some of the ultimate and cool themes that often perform slow on other ROMs.

If interested, head on here for more information on the ROM.

Welcome Back to Me!

2010-02-08T18:20:00.001+05:00

Hello Xperiancers… Surprised to hear from me? Me too!

The last few weeks have been extremely dull in terms of the X1. Nothing much has happened to get me excited enough to blog about. Nothing much that is until yesterday. What happened you ask? Well, found a custom Leo ROM that actually functions as if it was built only for the X1, tried out Android, and also got hands-on with an extremely fast 6.1 ROM! When i say extremely fast, i mean like SUPER DOOPER FAST!

Keep an eye out for my posts about each to hit the blog soon…

Panelizer Tools by SE

2009-11-27T04:04:00.001+05:00

I saw this a while back on the Sony Ericsson developer site but didn’t post about it then. Seeing the Opera Mini Panel at XDA today reminded me of these tools again today and brought the realization that not many know about these tools nor use them… for honestly, it seems these tools are the key to getting more panels on our Xperia handsets! (For X1 of course you will have to have the X2 stuff installed including the Myriad Java Machine and the X2 Panel Manager.)

What are the Panelizer tools? Making it extremely easy to produce panels, the Panelizer features enables users to take an existing application and turn it in to a Panel. Simply supply the required inputs and click the Create Package button. It is as simple as that…! :)

Now what could we possibly see as panels? Perhaps a touch-friendly skinned Nitrogen player panel, iFonz panel, Androkkid panel, WAD2 panel! and much more!!! Can you feel the excitement?

For more information about the panelizers, head on here.

Opera Mini Panel Anyone?

2009-11-27T03:53:00.001+05:00

SlowlyDead at XDA forums used the new Panelizers by Sony Ericsson to create a Opera Mini panel and it works PERFECT! Panels created using the panelizer are targetted for X2 and will only work on your X1 if you have the X2 stuff installed on it. Unfortunately, the panel is non-English… :)

Check out the screenshots below or click here to download.

SPB Time 3.0

2009-11-27T03:21:00.001+05:00

SPB Time is an advanced, skinnable (and when they say skinnable… note that there are TONS of skins available for download easily via the application itself) time toolbox for Windows Mobile phone. Providing analog and digital clock modes, world clock, timers and stopwatches, and advanced alarms. Version 3.0 of SPB Time, released on Nov 24, 2009, comes as a panel for Xperia.

Though I’ve been mainly using Klaxxon as my alarm utility on the X1 in the past, SPB Time’s Paranoid or Bio mode might just be what i need…! To download a trial version or to get more information head on here.

Xperia X2’s ROM Extracted – Test ROMs surface for X1

2009-11-20T15:46:00.001+05:00

Xperiancers,

It is time to get excited about the X2, and not because SE is releasing a new Xperia handset, but due to the fact that our trusted friends at XDA are hard at work at getting us all the goodies from the X2 ready for our X1s. Keep a lookout on this thread here.

And if you can’t wait, test out this test ROM ready for the X1. I flashed it earlier and really like it! Has WinMo 6.5 (official version of course), the new Panel Manager (which is super dooper fast!) and a couple of additional goodies… What’s missing is the X2 dialer and SlideView application – the one we see demoed on the X2 once you click on, say, email from the Tilewave panel. But since this is just the second custom ROM since the extracted stuff hit the surface, i’m sure we’ll see a more perfect ROM appear on XDA soon enough.

Some screenshots for you… :)

PointUI Phone Ver 1.0.08

2009-11-19T19:35:00.001+05:00

Remember how i loved PointUI Phone and its unique new dial pad for Windows Mobiles, and then how i didn’t like it due to various limitations and bugs? Well, i love it again!

PointUI released an update on November 17th and have introduced a few new settings, improved the functionality, and fixed various bugs. To think they actually listen to the feedback! Included in this new build is the missing scroll capabilities when using the T9 capabilities for the keypad to search for a contact by name, as well as the ability to use the hardware buttons to answer/reject calls – which was a bit annoying. For a full change log, head on here.

Thank you PointUI!

The Best site just got better

2009-11-12T09:10:00.001+05:00

PocketNow.com has been one of my favorite sites of all time since i found my way to Windows Mobile. From thorough reviews to updates on releases to various tips and tricks… all wrapped into one nice package. And today, the best just got better! They just completely revamped their site design and have brought it to something more appealing, still easier to browse, and more informative. Check it out now at www.pocketnow.com.

Update: Xperiancers; interested to take part in an exciting competition? PocketNow is giving away an Acer neoTouch which runs on a snapdragon processor. For more details, head on here.

What i hate about PointUI Phone

2009-11-11T19:39:00.001+05:00

UPDATE: Click here.

Xperiancers,

When i had initially posted about PointUI Phone, i liked it a lot. But having used it over the last few days, there are some major issues. The main ones are;

You can’t use numbers such as *161*01010101010101010# – something that we have here to recharge balance - or *100# - to check balance. Normally, when you hit the talk button you get the result to the command, but in case of using PointUI Phone, the interface forces itself on top not allowing you to actually see the result.
Keypad supposedly has intelligent T9 capabilities, but surprise! surprise! Apparently, when you are searching for someone, you only get a list of two people. There is no scrolling of contacts from the dial-pad screen! For instance, i have more than 3 people in my contacts with Shahid in their name. When searching for a specific one, i realized i couldn’t use the *intelligent* T9 capabilities ‘coz it only listed two numbers for me to select from rather than all matches.
No alphabet slider in the contacts list to quickly jump to a specific name.
When you launch PointUI Phone, it takes over the system’s default keypad. In my case the HTC Keypad. However if i close out PointUI Phone, the original keypad doesn’t function properly anymore. In my case, for some reason, it reverts to the default X1 keypad rather than the HTC Keypad and not just that but T9 searching doesn’t work on the X1 Keypad as well as other minor issues. A soft-reset of the device brings back the HTC Keypad and everything functions normally.

Bottom line is; though it is a nice and refreshing dialpad, it most definitely is not in a state to be set as the default dialer in its current release. Hopefully we will see some major improvements in the near future. So, if you want to test this out, please proceed with caution! (The opinion expressed in this post is mine, and only mine, based on my experience with the software)

FEWidgets Ultimate 1.0b12

2009-11-11T04:16:00.002+05:00

Ever felt inclined to try out something similar to Omnia’s Widget Interface? There have been various implementations in the past that i’ve tried out including an older version of FEWidgets and they all failed to impress due to their poor performance and memory consumption. But then today i came across i bookmark while organizing my favorites (and they are really messy!) to the FEWidgets thread and i found out about the latest version – which was released somewhere back in August, so not that new.

I downloaded this version half-heartedly and installed it pretty much expecting to be uninstalling it in the next few minutes again. After it installed i disabled HTC Sense and enabled FEWidgets from the today items configuration and went back to the today screen. For a second or two i saw nothing but a white screen and i was like ‘see!’. But then it came up and as i clicked around and dragged things from the bar to the screens, i knew that the developer had gotten it right!

Low in memory consumption, offering a couple of widgets and with the option for multiple screens… this is again a must have for your windows mobile for yet another interface to show off. Though there aren’t any new widgets available but hopefully other developers will create some since the author of the interface also provides a developer guide. For more information, and to download, click on any image below.

FYI – works in landscape and switches fast. Also, does not require Flash!

Dollhouse – The best thing on TV

2009-11-11T03:16:00.002+05:00

Xperiancers,

I apologize for the completely unrelated post, but i just had to make a blog post about this and since this is pretty much the only blog i somewhat keep active, here goes… :)

Dollhouse is a Joss Whedon creation that is currently in its second season. It is most definitely one of the best series that i have watched but sad thing is that it might get cancelled due to its poor viewership. What Fox needs to acknowledge is that this is a masterpiece and no matter what the viewer count suggests, it offers one of the best stories and brings to question some really important questions. After all this being a Joss Whedon creation, it will take time for the series to get to the point expected of it – remember that all great stories have to be built. If you rush in, you could ruin it.

Below is a scene from Season 2’s episode 4 named Belonging which was the best aired episode of Dollhouse to-date. Standing in competition for top episode rank with this is Epitah One, an unaired season 1 episode that everyone should watch to get a complete understanding of what the series is really about, where it is headed, and why it should stay on TV.

P.S. I did put this clip on my X1 to watch it again and again… ;)

P.S.S. Be warned that the song is AWESOME! and you just might get addicted to it… Do note that the song itself hasn’t been released yet anywhere. (Sung by Jed Whedon)

WAD 2 Themes, PointUI Phone, and more

2009-11-08T21:34:00.002+05:00

Xperiancers,

After a long while I’ve finally found a ROM that i like in terms of performance and functionality, thanks to x1owner at XDA forums. This is by far the best Windows Mobile 6.5 custom ROM loaded with the latest HTC Sense based on the official ROM of HTC HD2 (Leo). HTC Sense works exceptionally (though no landscape) and takes up lower memory than most other ROMs I’ve tried in the past, and Windows Mobile itself is working flawlessly.

So with a working ROM that agreed with me, I thought I’d try out a few new things on my X1 and see how it holds up. Though below you’ll mostly find information on a couple of WAD2 themes, be noted that I will be making additional posts during the week on other applications and “games”. So keep a lookout.

Note: At the end of the post you will find two videos that I captured demonstrating everything in action. Please note that i tried to capture the video with my Canon Power Shot SX110IS (9.0 MP) camera but no matter what setting i tried, the display was blurry and too bright (even with the backlight on the set turned too low…) So for this one, i had to rely on my iPhone’s meager 2.0 MP camera for the video – thus the video and audio aren’t too great but not that bad either. When you watch the video, please accept my apologies for the unclear parts. If you have created videos in the past, i would love to know your thoughts on how to capture my screen best using the canon camera in the future. :)

PointUI Phone

One of the things that i tried out recently is PointUI’s Phone – a new dialer for Windows Mobile. PointUI Phone gives us a completely fresh and streamlined way to make calls and though it looks strange at first, once you get to know the dialer, you’ll end up loving it. Though I could not find a setting to specify it as the default dial-pad on startup, but once you launch the program it makes itself the default dialer unless you exit it out.

Point UI Phone provides;

Main Screen with Last Call, Missed Call, Time and Date information
Keypad with intelligent T9 capabilities
Calls screen with your recent activity
A fresh new take on Favourites Contacts
Contact details with easy access to required functions
Dynamic themes, Classic and Zun3 with more to come
Slide to Answer to prevent accidental acceptance of incoming calls

Watch the video to look at the dialer in action, and to download, click on the image below to be taken to the application’s website.

Wisbar Advance Desktop

I have never been much of a fan of Wisbar Advance Desktop but i understand now what the hype is all about. In my defense, the only times i tried Wisbar before, it hogged memory and performed too slow, but i now believe that to be a problem with the custom ROM i had been using at the time. Because WAD2 works exceptionally on the X1 as i have tested out and continuously use daily nowadays. For more information on WAD2, head on here.

One of the best things about having Windows Mobile is the level of customizations one can achieve with the phone. Themes on a Symbian OS or others is a completely different thing than what us Windows Mobile users have at our disposal. One second you could be running a completely professional interface and the next a cool looking entertainment interface. It is completely refreshing and gives you a completely new level of experience. (And is most definitely one of the best features of Windows Mobile)

So eventually, when i installed WAD2 on my X1, i went out in hunt of some good and usable WVGA themes. Here are three of my favorite themes themes that i have been using.

Windows 7

Windows 7 is taking over the market by storm. It is the best Windows to date… Period. And of course when i saw a theme for WAD2 based on Windows 7, i just had to try it out and here’s the verdict: the theme is simply amazing and gives a real Windows 7 look’n’feel to the X1. Though it may not be as friendly to use as most of the other themes, but it is definitely one to have on your device to show off at the next party. From the start menu to the battery indicator, most of the things are based on – that’s right – Windows 7 and they actually look cool in action. Though not as touch-friendly as others, take a look at the video for a quick demonstration of the theme in action. Note: Most of the windows such as the battery indicator, clock, or the start menu appear in positions specific to a VGA screen, so once you install, you will have to modify the layout to get everything to appear in the correct position. Also, the theme currently only supports WVGA in portrait mode – don’t worry though, when you switch to landscape, you can have an alternate theme in place ready to take over. (there is a VGA compatible landscape theme so hopefully we will see a landscape version of the WVGA theme soon as well)

For more information on the theme, click on the image below to be taken to the XDA forums thread.

Concept

Based on the original theme by Destri for the Omnia, dgen at Lakeridge forums created a WVGA compatible theme and it is the best themes i have used in a while. I don’t think that words can justify this beautiful theme which offer both performance and style. So check out the video at the end or click on the image below for more information on the theme and to download.

Natural

A minimal theme for WAD2 that grabbed my attention due to its simplicity and attractiveness. Though the theme’s main page does not have much to offer, that’s the whole point of having a simple theme, you are provided with an additional second page that you can place quick contacts and other shortcuts on easily using WAD2’s customizability features. Check out the video below for the theme in action or click on the image for more information and to download.

HTC Sense

And of course when you are using an HTC Leo ROM, you have to give HTC Sense a whirl. And in all honesty, it is extremely stable and fast in performance and provides a way better integration than previous versions of HTC’s offerings. I won’t go into detail about HTC Sense here but click on the image below to be redirected to TracyAndMatt’s blog where they’ve posted an unboxing video of HTC HD2 and are expected to post an in-depth HTC Sense videos soon.

Video Demonstration

Slide2Send – An In Progress Application

2009-11-05T22:01:00.002+05:00

I came across this thread in XDA developers about an application that is under development right now, an though the Alpha 0.3 release is nothing close to the final intended version, it is an exciting app.

is intended to be a lightweight, smooth and sweeeet style SMS & MMS application!

The application development has the following high priorities:

sending/receiving SMS (of course)
finger-friendly, sweeeet and attractive UI
multi-resolution
being lightweight and fast
Slide2-buttons (e.g. Slide2Send, Slide2Reply, Slide2NewMsg etc)

Below are a couple of mockups. For more information on the project, which by the way is open-source, head on to the XDA thread here. I hope that the guys wrap this up quick and put it on Windows Marketplace; this is one app i wouldn’t hesitate to purchase if it delivers what it promises…

HTC HD2 (LEO) ROM for X1

2009-11-04T04:49:00.003+05:00

Xperiancers – Get your cables out. x1owner at XDA forums has released a new custom ROM today that is built upon the final HTC HD2 extracted ROM. HTC Sense is a lot more stable and really fast. And the best thing of it all… unlike most of the custom ROMs that came out previously with leaked HTC Sense, this one utilizes approx. 50% of the RAM thus leaving a lot for other programs to work properly. The ROM also comes with X1 Panel Manager installed along with a couple of panels.

The only issue i have right now is that the Start Menu has 5 columns of items – makes sense for HTC HD2 given its huge screen, but will have to find the registry hack to move that to something less since it is a bit too small on the X1. :)

To download the ROM, head on here. Note; i just flashed this ROM an hour back and though have not run into any bugs so far, i can’t confirm it to be bug-free either. So flash at your own will.

To get more information on Touch HD2, keep a lookout at TracyAndMatt. They have a set in the house and are expected to release more videos soon.

Xperia X10

2009-11-04T02:12:00.002+05:00

Xperia X10 (my thought is that they switched to X10 rather than X3 to leave X3 to X9 for future WinMo devices…?) was announced today and it is looking extremely tempting! I have to say that this is by far one of the sexiest and most gorgeous looking smart phones by Sony Ericsson… ever! Not to mention that the customizations on Android make the OS a lot more tempting too…! C’mon SE!!! Could you not have done something as enticing for X2 too?

Head on here for an hand-on early-impression review from Engadget.

WM7 Titanium Project

2009-11-04T01:16:00.002+05:00

I know this is an old one but definitely one that i hadn’t tried out yet and thus the post. If you are among those who flashed their X1s to custom ROMs based on windows mobile 6.5, then here is a special treat for you – that is if you don’t belong to the majority who probably already knew about this…

ibrythill at XDA Forums has been working on modifications to Titanium to give it a more WinMo 7 look’n’feel – based on the “leaked” shots. And i have to admit that though i hadn’t tried it yet because of the Beta tag, it looks amazing and works fabulous.

The main change, of course, is in how the Titanium interface appears. Giving a makeover with a cool bluish theme and way larger panels, i have to admit that i love it more! Click on the pic below to go to the XDA thread to download and give it a whirl. (Yes – no problems on WVGA)

Nimbuzz

2009-11-04T00:29:00.002+05:00

I came across this really cool app today called ‘Nimbuzz’. Nimbuzz lets you call, chat, message, and send files on the go, for free. It combines all your buddies from Skype, Facebook!, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, AIM, Google Talk and more. One login, one contact list, all accounts.

The app lets you see who’s online and where, call an individual or make a group-call, 1-on-1 chats or initiate a group chat, offline messaging, and ability to send photos as well as voice messages. Best of all - Nimbuzz Mobile is free to download and use. Nimbuzz will not charge or bill you for anything. (However, since Nimbuzz uses your internet connection, incremental data charges from your provider will apply.)

I tested the app out on my wi-fi connection and it works superb!

Some quick facts:

Save Money: Instead of calling minutes, Nimbuzz uses the internet to let you make free international calls to your buddies. You can also register your VoIP account to call your friends on landlines and mobile phones.
Locate your Friends: Share your location and retrieve the location of your buddies on a map. Great for arranging face to face meetings.
Make yourself heard: If your buddies are offline, let them know you’re trying to get in touch by sending them a "Buzz". It will start Nimbuzz Mobile on their mobile phone!!!
Never lose your Contacts: Use the Phonebook to back up and restore your contacts. Contacts will be backed up online. Comes in handy when you have lost your mobile phone

To download Nimbuzz, click on the image below to be directed to their site and click on ‘Get Nimbuzz’. If downloading to your computer, from the mobile selection screen select HTC and then Touch Pro. It gives you the VGA version of the app which works 100% perfectly on the X1’s WVGA screen.

Backup your data with Sony Ericsson

2009-11-03T02:36:00.002+05:00

~~Kind of a surprise, but Sony Ericsson is now offering its users the ability to easily synchronize data over the air with the Sony Ericsson website and X1 is compatible with this service.~~

Though i have yet to try it out, you can apparently synchronize your Contacts, Tasks, Notes, Bookmarks, and Calendar with the site. Though at least messages should have been included in the items synchronized, i have to applaud Sony Ericsson for providing this service.

~~For more information, head on~~ ~~here~~.

Scratch that… my mistake but the service is not available for Xperia X1. Apparently it is applicable to all SE phones running Symbian OS at the moment.

Sony Ericsson Website

2009-11-03T02:29:00.002+05:00

I’ve been pretty much out of touch, and whilst i was down, SE redesigned their website… Is it just me or is the new look of the site simply hot?

Let’s get it started!

2009-11-03T02:12:00.002+05:00

Xperiancers!

I’m sorry for the absence of updates on the blog in the last month or so but I’m back and will be posting soon about new games, applications, custom ROMs and much more. Also will be covering the future Xperia handsets to some extent – i love WinMo, but i have to admit that Rachael is looking hot! Check it out here and here.

Also, i have finally moved to tweeting. Follow me here…

Tell Me from Microsoft

2009-09-23T18:37:00.002+06:00

Microsoft Voice Command is one of my favorite Windows Mobile softwares, and now comes Tell Me from Microsoft specifically for Windows Mobile 6.5. Similar to MVC but somewhat different in features and specifically pricing.

The best feature of Tell Me? Voice to Text Messaging! What’s yours?

Click here for more info…

Update: You can now test out the Tell Me application which was extracted from a Samsung Intrepid ROM. Head on here for more info.

X1 kicked to the curb?

2009-09-16T05:51:00.002+06:00

Sony Ericsson X1 is one of the most powerful yet unrecognized windows mobile phone in the market today and the blame of its lack of success completely falls on Sony Ericsson. When launched the Panels interface was so highly praised by their mouths and promised a lot of potential, and though there is potential no doubt, but Sony Ericsson itself has done very little to show much for it. Almost an year has gone by and we have yet to see an “official” panel from Sony Ericsson to really get excited about. I say official because though we have the animated panels and others that i usually do use, none of them were officially released by SE.

Honestly, to date the major success of the X1 has been due to the work of the people at XDA-Devs and their custom ROMs that include custom panels, ported apps, etc. In a whole year SE has released two major updates to the X1 and both quite lacking. The last update’s leaked ROM had various inclusions that everyone was getting excited about but when released, stripped of every reason to upgrade.

Anyhow… though i can somewhat understand the move, but I’m sad to report that according to the people at SE, there are no plans for a WinMo 6.5 update to the X1. And from that i pretty much deduce that there will be no official update to the X1 with the new panels and panel manager, etc. Click here for more info.

Like i said, Xda Devs is one of the major reasons of whatever success Xperia has been showered with so far, and it is the main reason why i am not selling of my X1 right now either. Granted that X2 has the same hardware specs as the X1 (minus the accelerometer), i’m pretty certain that we will see custom ROMs with the new panels and manager hit XDA Forums soon after the release of the X2… What do you think?

Zune Player gets an update

2009-09-16T05:14:00.002+06:00

Zune HD went on sale today and if you remember my post about the Zune player, which i have been using ever since i came across it, it just got updated as well and I’m loving the changes…! If you haven’t tried out this A+++ software yet, you simply have to!

Is anyone here a Zune owner? I’m thinking of purchasing Zune HD from Amazon and get it delivered to me here in Pakistan… i know that i won’t be able to access the Zune store on it most likely due to my location, but as a music/video player it looks simply awesome! What do you think?

X1 to get 6.5 love officially?

2009-09-08T22:59:00.002+06:00

itje at XDA-Forums has posted the following on a thread:

Nice little treat for you guys.

I GOT A REAL OFFICIAL 6.5 XPERIA ROM, YES, YOU READ CORRECT...OFFICIAL

The Build in the rom is a older 6.5..but what is important is:
-New XIP (real x1 nk)
-New OEM DRIVERS etc
-Some drivers from x2
-New netcf 3.7 (final)

If that is true, can we expect the new home panel to make its way to X1 officially as well? What do you think?

Xperia X2 – 2 More Vidz

2009-09-03T02:18:00.002+06:00

Here are two more views from Sony Ericsson… I have to admit that though the hardware looks good, the software (their main panel on the device) does not appeal much. Perhaps the person demoing in the video himself did not know much about the functionality of the panel but from what i’ve heard about it, it offers way much more than what was shown. For now, I’m not thinking of giving up on my X1 just yet…

Another Short Demo of X2 (from Engadget Mobile)

2009-09-03T00:20:00.002+06:00

The slide view panel in a little detail…

Xperia X2 Promo

2009-09-03T00:03:00.002+06:00

Watch the promo below and fall in love with the X2… the Modern Silver set looks SUPERB!

I am now inching closer towards selling off my X1 in the next few days and saving up for this beauty!

Xperia X2 on Video

2009-09-02T23:57:00.002+06:00

Xperia X2 has been announced, and on video it looks awesome! The tile wave panel is something that i want to see more in-depth of, and loving the new panel manager features – better panel selection process and time based panel switching!

Check out the X2 in the somewhat short videos below…

Xperia X2 – Finally Announced

2009-09-02T23:50:00.002+06:00

Xperia X2 has finally been announced and of course out flows tons of pictures showing the new offering from Sony Ericsson in its full glory. I have to admit that the initial leaked shots of the X2 let me down a little, especially the keyboard… but looking at the images i am SOLD! (ok so the keyboard still doesn’t look that great, but overall it looks like the next best smartphone to jump to!)

One thing to note; the Win 6.5 Panel is sitting at the lower left side in the shots… does that mean that the default panel is the slideView panel? I for one am liking that idea since it means it is not an interface on top of Windows but a separate panel, meaning you have the Windows Panel left to customize as desired…!

Unfortunately it is going to be pricey! So… i’m not really sure if i would be making the plunge… but then I wonder if i can sell my Xperia right now to get a good bargain, before the X1’s prices drop down further, and then save up additionally for the X2…? :)

Here are some images… for more shots, head on here.

Xperia X2 Official Announcement Next Week?

2009-08-26T06:24:00.002+06:00

We've heard not much, but a lot of Sony Ericsson XPERIA X2 before in the form of rumors as well as leaked images and videos, and now it seems that it might be announced in the next week or two as indicated by rumors surfacing across the internet. Does this news get you excited? I for one am dying to see what modifications they have done with Panels and how the new panel (that was demoed in the extremely poor quality leaked footage of X2) actually looks and functions… Do you think we can expect more than one panel?

Hyper Fluid for TF3D

2009-07-31T16:21:00.002+06:00

Rotastrain at XDA Dev Forums is cooking up a neat modification for TouchFlo 3D – Hyper Fluid, a vertical slider. They idea is to hide the Touch Flo slider at the bottom to provide more space on-screen while using Hyper to switch through tabs. Though not released yet and no indication as to when it will actually be released, but you can get a quick overview from the following video:

Flightstrap your mobiles

2009-07-31T16:04:00.002+06:00

Ever wish for something to hold your mobile when travelling via plane/train/car? Think no more… Flightstrap is a new and inventive product that is designed to make it possible to get the most out of your mobile or media player by allowing you to hang your device at the exact height desired. Using Velcro or adjustable straps, Flightstrap can be adjusted to almost any size thus making it compatible with most media players and mobile phones.

Though i haven’t gotten my hands on it personally, but it does look kind of promising and useful – not that i travel much anyways. To give it a look, head on here. If you do purchase it or know anyone who has used it, please do leave a comment to share your views on the product.

Omnia II – Looking Good!

2009-07-31T15:52:00.002+06:00

Samsung Omnia II i8000 has made its way to release and i must say, it is looking really good! I liked the original Omnia Smartphone regardless of its limited RAM and other drawbacks, but what really held me back was the stylus with that – honestly! Not sure what the stylus with the Omnia II is like (is it as bulky and ridiculous to carry as the first one?) but looking at the mobile makes me kind of drool. :)

Don’t get me wrong, i am confident in my decision to go for an Xperia, and if i do switch anytime soon, it would most likely be Xperia 2 – if and only if i can come up with the cash to cover whatever hefty price tag it’ll come out with, but Omnia II would probably be my choice (as of now) for a set if i wanted one without a keyboard. Check out the reviews at Pocket Now. (Hardware Tour & Widget Tour)

With that said… with Xperia i believe we had the best of most and with Xperia 2 we’ll probably have the best of everything (with added Accelerometer, increased Processor and RAM, etc.) But one thing is for sure, just like i love to use TF3D2 on my Xperia from time-to-time, i would definitely love to see the new/updated Omnia Widget interface ported onto Xperia as well… Wish i had the knowledge and capabilities of some of the XDA Devs… ;)

SPB Shell Panel 3.0 for Xperia

2009-07-28T23:44:00.002+06:00

Good news is that SPB has finally released the panel version of SPB Shell 3.0.1. Bad news? So far only the Korean version has surfaced.

You can grab the .Cab file from here. Having tested it for a couple of minutes, I like the overall speed of the panel and it feels good to finally have a panel of such depth! Now if we could only get the English version soon…!

Update:

To switch the Korean panel to English, just delete the file SpbMobileShell.txt in the installed path (my device/program files/spb mobile shell) to make it English. (Thanks to Lars for the handy tip…)

SMS/MMS Fix:

Click here to get a solution to fix SMS/MMS if it is not working on your device…

Ready to go chrome?

2009-07-28T22:47:00.002+06:00

Check out what one fellow Xperiancer (Paul White) did with his Xperia X1’s battery cover. I must admit, it looks awesome and I am now seriously considering doing something similar this weekend – especially since my X1’s battery cover is extremely faded! (For details click on the picture or here.)

Windows Mobile Marketplace – The Race to Market

2009-07-28T17:43:00.002+06:00

Application, game, and widget submissions have begun today for Windows Mobile Marketplace and to spice things up a contest has been initiated called ‘Race to Market Challenge’ with the appealing prize of 4 Microsoft Surface Tables. Check out the MobileThisDeveloper.Com website now!

Applications will be judged on:

Most downloads of a free app.
Most valuable.
Most useful.
Most playful.

Xperia X2 – First Video Demo

2009-07-28T17:36:00.002+06:00

Not an official demo, but the first video demo of Xperia X2 hits YouTube. Though the video quality is not that good and there is no voice, plus the user seems to be aimlessly going around (probably just got his hands on it…), but it does look quite promising. The one X2 panel that is demoed looks pretty nifty as well and now I’m hoping that we’ll soon see a leaked version that can be ported onto X1 too.

Enjoy! And remember to leave a comment on what you think…

Ping!

2009-07-25T02:53:00.002+06:00

Hi Xperiancers! I just wanted to drop a quick note and apologize for the absence of activity on the blog since over a month… I’ve been extremely busy with family and office stuff and it had become ridiculously difficult to make any extra time. I’ll soon be posting again, keep a lookout over this weekend, to the blog. See ya all pretty soon. :)

Xperia X2 – Silver Caught on Camera

2009-06-11T03:40:00.002+06:00

Sony Ericsson X2, though yet unannounced by the company, is making its way to the news now and again. And this time, it has been spotted in Silver.

Exclusive pictures posted at jjlifeblog, posted here for your convenience. I own a Black Xperia X1 at the moment, now i’m sold on the Silver X2. (I just hope that the keyboard on this one goes through a makeover prior to release)

Overall, the X1 looks better than X2, but hopefully this is not the final look’n’feel of the device.

Time to save up! Xperia 2 on the way…

2009-06-08T18:16:00.002+06:00

Looks like it is time to save up… Xperia X2 is on its way with leaked pictures and now leaked specs of the device. I have to say, it is looking as if SE is ready to dominate the Windows Mobile arena with its X2!

Here are the leaked specs, as reported by Pocketnow.

8.1mpx auto focus, VGA @ 30fps (MP4 HQ)
3.5 inch WVGA OLED (increased from 3.0 from X1)
GPS, aGPS
3.5 mm headphone jack
Accelerometer
Faster processor
512 RAM
Custom Windows Mobile 6.5
XPERIA Panels are modified with plenty of innovative features (PS3 functionality)
Upgrading to Windows Mobile 7 is supported by Xperia panels

Accelerometer, increased RAM, a higher resolution Camera!, and more… My eyes are all set on this one. Judging from the lack of announcements and all, this might not come out till the end of the year, or perhaps earlier next year. Good! Gives me time to save up! :)

SE Waiting for WinMo 6.5?

2009-06-07T21:51:00.002+06:00

Ok… so before i post this, let me point out that this is purely my speculation and not based on any sourced info.

We all saw the leaked beta R3 ROMs a couple of weeks back. With the new Panel Manager, the Growing Panel, the Xtract game, and more. But by the end of May we saw the release of the final R3 ROM on SEUS and it lacked most of the features and applications that were found in the leaked ROM. And then SEMC announced a new ROM in June – this was after the R3 rom appeared on SEUS. So what is Sony Ericsson up to?

My hopes are – and i know they are high hopes but who knows! – that Sony Ericsson is delaying the feature packed update because of Windows Mobile 6.5! We all know that WinMo 6.5 has been released to manufacturers… so what do you think?

You agree with me?
Or should i simply dream on?

Is this the new Xperia: X2?

2009-06-07T21:38:00.002+06:00

Well well… there have been rumors floating around since a while, and seems pictures are leaking onto the internet now. Looks like Sony Ericsson is getting ready for a new Xperiance. Personally, i love my Xperia and its metallic look, but this one looks promising too (though only a 3.1 megapixel camera again!): (Pictures taken from Engadget and fanklub.se)

Would you Give Up your Xperia?

2009-06-02T21:53:00.002+06:00

If you were given the choice; give up your Xperia and get any new device… would you go for it or not? Recently i was made that same offer and i almost went for it, but surprisingly the Panel interface stopped me from doing so.

I sometimes hate how the screen is recessed making it harder to get into the corners at times. I also don’t like the speaker on the phone at times. And similarly a few other things… But for me, the Xperia Panels experience is turning out to be more than what i would have imagined. No matter what mobile set i think of, Touch Pro 2, Acer with its new 3D Interface, etc. the Panel Interface turns out the winner over ‘em all.

What do you think?

Xperia ROM Gets Updated

2009-05-16T08:08:00.002+06:00

Again? Yes! And like before, it just sneaked up on us. Actually – the update was released early on the 14th of May and so far the reports are disappointing. The R3AA 010 ROM update contains none-of the goodies and features that were seen in the leaked R3A ROM, including the new panel manager. What happened to those features and the updated panel manager? No Xtrakt, No new Media Panel, No geo-tagging, No auto-flash, No new Panel Manager… what happened?

One of the main changes reported so far is a better boot time of the device. And if that is pretty much all to it, i for one won’t be updating to this ROM anytime soon – especially when i am using a Custom ROM built upon the leaked R3 ROM (with all its features) and Windows Mobile 6.5 which i completely love!

If you’re interested to upgrade, head on here. Remember to leave a comment though on changes/updates that you do find.

Update: Thank you to an Xperiancer, Dean, for pointing out this, but it seems that this so-called-update is yet another leak perhaps? Check out the official Sony Ericsson MC Blog here… If anything, one thing is for sure – Sony Ericsson really needs to pick up a lot of marketing skills from its rivals. For heaven’s sake can you be even a slightly bit clearer about what you’re planning??? I for one would have liked to know the deal with them on the “official” ROM images being posted over at XDA Forums…

SPB Shell 3.0.1 Beta

2009-05-09T07:03:00.002+06:00

SPB made SPB Shell 3.0.1 Beta available to the public today. Changes include:

Features:

Ability to save calls from unknown numbers to a new or existing contact.
Ability to show/hide SIM contacts.
"Show Today" widget.
Support for the hardware "Call" button from certain dialogs.
"Remove All" in call log.

Bug fix:

Switch between portrait and landscape mode takes too much time.
Contact sync can fail after using a picture from Facebook.
Some calls cannot be resolved to their corresponding contacts.
Calls from unidentified numbers are not shown in the call log.
"Edit Profile" doesn't work correctly on Treo.
Devices cannot be turned off on HTC Kaiser cooked ROMs.

Changes:

"Hardware Acceleration" option is hidden for non-supported devices.
City database has been updated.
Other minor bug fixes and optimizations.

To download this Beta, head on here.

UPDATE: This beta also fixes the lag when you press the Panel button.

PointUI Home 2 Pro Released – No Trial?

2009-05-05T01:25:00.002+06:00

I am late in reporting this news, but in case you haven’t heard… PointUI Home 2 Pro was recently released. Is it any good? How can one tell! There is actually no trial version for the pro edition!!! What were they thinking?

Someone i know has a copy and he is going to lend it to me try it out to decide if i want to purchase it or not. While i wait for that, read on for the description posted by PointUI about the Professional version of their Home 2 interface:

“Building on the platform Home 2 Free provides Pro takes your experience to the next level. On the surface you’ll see additional functionality with a Contact Card with Details and Personal History, a Messaging screen that allows for custom viewing options, Folders in your Favorites and a growing list of Customization options including, Haptic Feedback (on some devices), Auto Lock, GSensor Support (HTC devices only) and Automatic Update checking.

“Under the hood the scripting engine capabilities are extended to include more advanced features like GPS, SQLite Database Support and Advanced Customizaton Hooks to override default functionality Home 2.”

SPB Mobile Shell 3.0 – A Quick Review

2009-04-22T01:10:00.002+06:00

SPB has finally released Mobile Shell 3.0 and simply put, it is Amazing!

Once installation completes and the shell is launched, you are taken to a sleeker version of SPB Mobile Shell 2.0 home with message information, notifications, calendar, and weather. This screen is known as the Professional Home screen. But wait! with the flick of a finger up the screen, the home screen is switched to the lifestyle home screen which provides a completely different look and feel. This lifestyle home screen is fully customizable allowing the user to place widgets and application launchers of their choice on the screen as needed. Apart from application shortcuts and widgets, the user can also add calendar entries, images, contacts, and more. Furthermore, the lifestyle home screen is split across three pages – flick to the right or left to change to the page – thus allowing you to manage similar widgets on the same page.

Clicking on the lower-left button activates the SPB Carrousel – a 3D interface which lets you scroll from one SPB screen to another. A quick, easy, and visually appealing way to get to some of the screens. A similar Carrousel is available for browsing favorite contacts, which again is an appealing way to get to your favorite contacts, but definitely not the quickest. The favorite contact screen (non-carrousel) is more convenient and easy to access. Additionally, you can modify the layout to your needs.

The Programs launcher is divided into two sections, the recently launched programs and all programs. Instead of having the user flick through pages when browsing programs and settings, SPB has shifted to kinetic scrolling. Personally i love this change. Paging may have been useful but it definitely slowed down quick launching of applications if you had to change a few pages before getting to the application required.

The program runs on virtually all Windows Mobile 5/6/6.1/6.5 devices with QVGA, WQVGA, Square, VGA, and WVGA. Available at a price of $29.95, it is available as a free update to those who recently purchased SPB Mobile Shell 2.0. SPB Shell 3.0 performs flawlessly on the Xperia.

Honestly speaking, though SPB Shell 2.0 was one of the best UI replacements for Windows Mobile, i was never much of a fan. It felt restricted and plain – regardless of the smooth animations. Even on my Xperia, though i had the panel version installed, i used it only occasionally; mostly when i had a new skin to try out. But with Shell 3.0, SPB has won me over completely. It is customizable to a great level, provides a lot of cool features, has facebook integration to update contact pictures (no more cropping and copying of pictures to the mobile!), is extremely touch-optimized, extremely smooth and appealing animations, love the carrousel, and the lifestyle home screen is simply awesome. If i were to rate this software, it would definitely rate a 5/5.

I personally however will not be using SPB Shell 3.0 as the main Today Interface much, i simply love the new 6.5 today screen! I will however wait impatiently for the Panel version to become available and purchase it right away. This time i can guarantee that i will be using the SPB Shell Panel quite frequently.

Head on here to download a trial copy or to purchase it now…

Wallpapers: Once you install SPB Mobile Shell 3.0, the first thing you’ll notice (like me) is that most of your wallpapers don’t work well with the lifestyle menu. I won’t go into detail, but you specifically need 960x768 images. To download a couple of wallpapers specifically for SPB Shell 3.0, head on here.

A couple of images for you to give a quick look at SPB Shell 3.0:

SPB Mobile Shell 3.0 – An In-Depth Review by Mobilespoon

2009-04-21T23:12:00.002+06:00

Gil Bouhnick at Mobilespoon has posted an in-depth review of SPB Mobile Shell 3.0 over at his blog. Check it out!

Hope he doesn’t mind, but i thought I’d post an image from his blog here;

SPB Mobile Shell 3.0 Released

2009-04-21T22:58:00.002+06:00

Yep! It is finally here and it is not a leaked version or a Beta release. I received a Press Release of the software and will be installing it in a few minutes. Expect to see a detailed post about Shell 3.0 in the next few hours. Meanwhile, watch the video below:

Growing Panel – More Surprises & Bye Bye WinMo 6.5

2009-04-18T03:01:00.002+06:00

The leaked Growing Panel that we love so much… turns out it has a lot much more to it. As you can see in the screenshots below, the panel adjusts itself according to the time – The first screenshot is for Christmas with tree lights on the plants in the background and a slight layer of snow on the ground, the second one is for Easter (time to hunt down the eggs!), the third one is for Halloween, and the fourth one is… well all you beautiful people out there. :)

The screenshots are courtesy of Sera_6969 at XDA Forums… unfortunately for me, when i switched my date to 12/31/2009 23:59:00 to see what it shows for New Year’s (which it does), a message box popped up saying that the Beta version of Windows Mobile 6.5 is to be expired on 7/7/2009, and that followed by a white screen with the text saying something like “This Beta version of Windows Mobile has expired…” And it closed down access to the phone – The start menu was displaying and all, but wouldn’t open. Tried soft-resetting twice but after no luck in getting access to the mobile had to do a hard-reset. Bye Bye WinMo 6.5. (At-least for the time being…)

SPB Mobile Shell 3.0 – Does it live up to its expectations?

2009-04-17T22:42:00.002+06:00

Update: It should be noted that the leaked SPB Mobile Shell 3.0 package is not the final version. It has a few bugs and hiccups but overall works really smooth. It is best that y’all wait for the final version to hit their website.

SPB Software House is close to releasing SPB Mobile Shell 3.0 according to their website, but it seems a leaked CAB file has made its way across the internet which I, of course, installed as soon as i found it! Any Windows Mobile user should be familiar with SPB Shell for Windows Mobile. At one time it was the only software out there that allowed a great deal of customization to the Windows Mobile user interface, but now with the simple yet powerful and sleek looking PointUI, Touch Flo 3D 2, TouchWiz, etc. making their way into the market, does SPB Mobile Shell stand a chance? More importantly, does SPB Mobile Shell 3.0 deliver what was expected of it?

In short – it does! Ok so the interface does look kind of plain (especially in comparison to TouchFlo3d and PointUI) but with skinning capabilities (which will hopefully happen soon), SPB Mobile Shell 3.0 might just come out on top. It is a powerful, extensive, and easily customizable replacement for the Windows Mobile interface. I won’t be using it much on my main Today Screen – especially when i love WinMo 6.5’s today screen, but i will definitely be purchasing the panel version once it hits the panel library.

Some notes on Mobile Shell 3.0; Includes two Home screens – Professional and Lifestyle. Provides the ability to customize the lifestyle home screen by adding and removing widgets – widgets can be dragged to any location on the screen. Carousel Contacts is a fun and exciting way to go through favorites. Implements Facebook integration to update contact pictures and retrieve additional details for contacts. Programs and other pages load all information on the same page for easy scrolling rather than flicking through multiple pages.

Check out the screenshots below…

Click below to see all images…

View Full Album

He Made a Guide for Xperia/WinMo

2009-04-13T14:51:00.002+05:00

If you are an Xperiancer or use any other Win Mo device, then take note: Maple Douglas at XDA Forums recently completed an extensive guide for Xperia and Windows Mobile. It is by far one of the most useful guides available out there and he promises to keep it growing with time. A definite must-read for any Xperia newbie.

I just wish he had written this when i had purchased my Xperia a couple of months back and was a newbie in the WinMo world, but i guess better late than never. Though i haven’t browsed it completely yet, it has already brought to my attention a fix for TouchWiz (Omnia’s Interface) for WVGA devices!

Already added to the top of my favorite’s list, bookmark it now: http://geekedout.se/winmo.php

Quick Tweaks for TouchFlo 3D 2

2009-04-10T01:44:00.002+05:00

Using TouchFlo 3D 2 on your Xperia? If yes, then you’ll be happy to know that XDA-Developers have released a set of tweaks for TouchFlo 3D 2. The set includes:

Ability to toggle enhanced notifications.
Ability to toggle large menus.
Ability to disable/enable rotation of TF3D.
Ability to hide/show programs tab.
Ability to toggle between classic and Touch Flo start menu.

Though the tweaks were released for Touch Pro & Touch Diamond phones, they are working perfectly on Xperia. I used it to show the Programs tab in Touch Flo 3D 2 and to revert back to the original Xperia Start Menu. To download, head on here.

CNN & On the Road Panels

2009-03-25T14:20:00.003+05:00

Remember the announcement at MWC 2009 of 4 new Panels headed our way? (Not including the Growing Panel)

The CNN Panel and On The Road Panel are now available (beta version?) for download via XDA forums – thanks to gtrab. The CNN panel delivers news & weather to you in a user-friendly interface and the Road Panel provides a couple of features including a speedometer, easy to use dialer and media player on the panel. Both the panels are good additions to the Xperia Panels Gallery and provide two really useful interfaces.

Head on over to Pocketnow to watch the panels in action. And to download, go here.

Wakoopa Panel

2009-03-23T02:45:00.002+05:00

Wakoopa is an online social network that helps people discover the best software, games and web applications on the market. It's the Yellow Pages of software discovery. Sign-up, install a small tracker on your desktop and automatically create your own online software profile that you can share with friends and the world via widgets. Games, audio & video players, instant messengers or office tools: Wakoopa helps people discover the best desktop and web applications on the market. Software discovery is social again.

And now, Wakoopa comes to Xperia in shape of a new Panel. Chopinfreak at XDA Forums created the panel using the HTML-generator. With this panel you can keep track of your own software you use on your desktop computer and add up to three other people. To try out the Panel, head on here.

Growing Panel – More to it… (Updated)

2009-03-20T05:41:00.002+05:00

It turns out that the Growing panel has more to it than what was initially believed of it. It is not just a cool animated panel, but has a lot more to offer.

First of all let me start off by complementing the animating panel. Having run it for a couple of hours now, the first thing i noticed was that it kept changing with time. The sun went down and the moon came up, and slowly made across the sky… and now the moon is almost out of sight and the sky a bit brightened, the sun should be showing up soon. (unfortunately i won’t be able to catch the sun rising as i’ll be asleep by then…)

Next are the small insects on the panel. Bees flying by, worms crawling on the plants, fireflies in the air, and snails on the ground. Hit the bee or the ladybird and the phone buzzes, hit a snail and it hides itself inside its shell and stays there – hit it again to get it moving again, hit the firefly and it flickers… This is definitely a panel worth having!

Now… the functionality on the panel. As expected the clock at the top-left corner of the panel brings the time & date settings screen. It is the flowers and plants that actually represent different stuff. For instance the middle flower in the screenshot below represents e-mail. When a bud, you have no mail… but when blossomed, you have mail. Not only that, the flowers differ depending on time as well as when the panel is switched. For instance, in the first two screenshots we have a dark-blue flower, but in the next screenshots you should see a light-blue flower.

The flower to the right (red bud in the screenshots) represents phone calls. I didn’t have a second phone near me otherwise would have given myself a missed call to see it in action. The flower on the left (yellow one) is SMS. The plant with the purple flowers (right side of the screen) is for phone profiles and the single stem with leaves on the left is for battery. Note in the screenshot below that when i attached the phone to my laptop and started charging the device, the bottom of the battery plant lit up… white sparks rise from the light and travel upwards fading half-way across the plant.

Is there more to this Growing Panel? Maybe there is… could it also show weather? Maybe the day-time screen (which differs a lot from the night-time screen – just look at the screenshots i uploaded in the previous post) has more stuff on it. I can’t wait to find out in the morning… :)

I was impressed by the panel when i thought it was simply an animating panel. I am now literally loving this panel and hope that when the final version of R3 ROM hits the update utility, we’ll see more panels like this one.

Update: At the bottom of the screen are really small plants – sort of like grass – with white tips. These are hooked with Wi-Fi. When Wi-Fi is turned on and connected to, flowers grow there. The stronger the strength of the signal, the more flowers there will be. Additionally, when you have a meeting in the calendar a butterfly appears on the panel – reported to fly higher when meeting is closer. The mushroom on the screen represents bluetooth – when activated the mushroom evolves and turns blue.

The phone profile plant wilts its flowers based on volume of the device and chosen profile (for me it only updates/changes the top two flowers). the Battery plant turns from brown to green starting from the top – the more the plant turns green, battery percentage is as less.

Xperia gets its own Soft-Keyboard

2009-03-19T23:00:00.002+05:00

Another goodie to look for in the upcoming R3 ROM update is a new soft-keyboard in Xperia. Better than the default Windows Mobile keyboard – of course – and competing head on with the Touch-IT Keyboard, the main advantage that it has over HTC’s EzInput is that it has Next Word Prediction. Word Prediction works really great and remembers your previous entries and thus is friendlier to use.

To install the keyboard and try it out, head on to the Touch-IT v4.5 thread and look at the second post. However note that installing the soft-keyboard disables the AU key for some reason. There is a registry hack to fix this issue, but the using the hack turns off T9!

I myself have not personally tested out the keyboard. Below are some screenshots courtesy of aussiebum at XDA Forum.

Growing Panel – Finally a Cool Panel!

2009-03-19T20:44:00.002+05:00

Update – More Detail of the panel here.

Included in the R3 ROM, and available as a CAB download – courtesy of itje at XDA forums – Xperia finally gets a Panel that is actually cool! Not much “Important stuff” is displayed on this dynamic flash based panel other than the current date and time. Visually appealing, the panel can be thought of as a screensaver on your desktop – growing plants, falling leaves, bees and snails… It is simply a panel that you can switch to when at a party or taking time off.

To try it out, head on here (look in the second post). If possible, send itje a donation to appreciate his hard work!

(FYI – You will need to install an ActiveX Plugin for the panel to work)

Some screenshots below…

Xtrakt – A 3D Game for Xperia

2009-03-19T19:42:00.002+05:00

Now who was it that insisted that Xperia lacked a 3D chip? Thanks to itje for basing his latest Custom ROM on the leaked R3AA ROM and seperately providing CABs to some of the goodies available in the new ROM version, you can get your hands on ‘Xtrakt’ - a new 3D game by Sony Ericsson – right now! The game has really great graphics and runs quite smoothly on the device. Though it warns not to run any other applications when playing the game, it ran just fine with SPB Screenshot running besides it.

Best controlled with a stylus, you control the main character of the game on a future motorcycle destroying monsters. Doesn’t sound too appealing, i know, but the game is actually good! Better than many games that i’ve played on my iPhone and opens the door to better gaming on Windows Mobile. (True that an accelerometer would have been quite handy in handling the bike, but stylus/finger control of the bike sits well with the game).

To download head on here. You do not need to flash to the custom ROM to play this game. However, there definitely might be better graphics drivers in the R3AA ROM than the R2 or R1 ROMs.

Some screenshots (note that the game runs in full mode, it was when i used SPB Screenshot to grab the screenshots did the taskbar and menu-bar appeared):

Xperia ROM Update on the Horizon

2009-03-19T19:16:00.002+05:00

Xperia ROMs hit a new version – sort of. Yes! It was only a few weeks back that we got the R2 ROM update, and now there is news of the R3 ROM to be released as soon as next month! What is new and what changes are to be expected? Well for starters, there is a new 3D game for Xperia named Xtrakt. And a new cool Panel (finally!). Furthermore a Soft-Keyboard for Xperia! (keep a lookout on my blog, i will post about all of these in detail in a bit)

But is there more? I believe (and hope) so, yes. While we wait for the official release of the R3 ROMs, you can try out the leaked R3AA ROM by using itje’s Touch-IT v4.5 “Landscape” custom ROM.

Evernote Panel

2009-03-19T19:00:00.002+05:00

Evernote is an online note hosting service that allows users to create and share notes on the web and see them everywhere. They recently released their panel for Xperia available via Sony Ericsson’s website. The panel gives users the ability to upload typed notes, written notes, voice notes, a snapshot with notes, and files with notes to a free account that can either be set up on the phone or through Evernote’s website. Most panels on the X1 are static which means the default image stays the same all the time, the Evernote panel however will show recent notes that have been uploaded. The user has the ability to edit and share the note from the computer or mobile device.

Find it interesting? Direct your handsets to the Panel download section and grab it now. To watch it in action, head on here.

Touch-IT v4.5 ROM – The Best Custom ROM

2009-03-19T18:07:00.002+05:00

Ever since I got my Xperia, I have been following the XDA Forums closely. itje at XDA Forums has continuously grabbed my attention, most recently with the Touch Flo 3D Landscape (from Touch Pro 2) custom ROM. Though it started off as a Beta with tons of issues, he updated the ROM to a new Beta version from time to time with various fixes and additions. He recently released the final version of his Custom ROM (with of course Touch Flo 3D taken from the prototype models of Pro 2), and since then i have had the best Xperiance with my Xperia.

The Custom ROM is by far the best ROM i have used so far on my Xperia. Really great performance and fast speed. Touch Flo 3D itself is running way better than i have ever tested it before. Thank you itje for a great Xperiance!

If you want to give this custom ROM a try, head on here.

Note: Installing a Custom ROM requires HardSPL. HardSPL your Xperia at your own risk.

Finger Keyboard 2

2009-03-06T22:23:00.001+05:00

Not satisfied with the soft keyboard on your device? Don’t worry, FingerKeyboard is here.

FingerKeyboard is a very stylish keyboard with a great key layout and cool features. Developed by Exidler & Rozenthal of XDA Developers, the keyboard boasts a lot of features including;

one of the most (if not the most) touch screen finger-friendly keyboards out there
great looking
supports both portrait and landscape modes
supports WVGA, WQVGA, QVGA, and VGA
supports different language layouts
has a numeric layout for fast typing of numbers
supports selectable color schemes
supports Windows Mobile Contact name suggestions
supports Windows Mobile Word suggestions (DOES NOT SUPPORT T9!)
has excellent layout of buttons in both portrait and landscape
many cool functions: text selection, cut+copy+paste, home, end, single word deletion, single line deletion, whole text deletion etc.
preset emoticons for fast typing of smile-faces
preset web browsing shortcuts for fast typing of web and e-mail addresses
highly customizable (requires editing txt files, tough)
supports click sounds when typing
has a configuration utility that allows selecting lanuages and color schemes
now comes in a .cab file for easier installation

And best of all, it is completely FREE!

To download go here.

Microsoft Windows 3 on Xperia

2009-03-06T22:12:00.001+05:00

An XDA forum 6600_best successfully ported Microsoft Windows 3 (yes! the old one) onto Xperia using PocketDOS. Previously developers had used DosBox to run Windows 3 on their devices which was quite tricky in configuring correctly, but with PocketDos it is as simple as 1, 2, 3.

Interested? Head on here. I will post screenshots if i install it.

New Xperia Panel SDK – OpenGL ES Support

2009-02-24T23:07:00.001+05:00

A new version of the Panels SDK has been released and brings a major improvement; adding support for OpenGL ES! Yes, with this new version of the SDK, developers can add exciting 3D graphics to Xperia Panels by including a broad set of rendering, texture mapping, special effects and other powerful visualization functions.

The SDK also provides a graphics pipeline that allows free access to graphics hardware acceleration on the Xperia through the Panel interface.

Best of all, the SDK comes with new samples to get developers started with Panel development.

For more information or to download, head on here.

(Source: Xperia Blogger Relations Centre)

TouchFlo 3D (from Touch Pro 2) CABs now available

2009-02-24T12:23:00.001+05:00

Have you been waiting for the new Touch Flo 3D cabs? Thanks to itje at XDA Forums, you don’t have to flash a cooked ROM onto your Xperia to get the new Touch Flo 3D experience anymore.

Although the cooked ROM is working perfectly, the CAB version of TF3D2 is reported to be problematic for most. From installation failing to errors on usage. So proceed with caution.

~~To download or more info, go~~ ~~here~~. Note: A lot of issues have been reported with these CABS – problems installing or problems starting. So do not download at the moment.

The next TouchFlo 3D experience – Comes to Xperia

2009-02-23T22:08:00.001+05:00

Update: Beta 2 of the cooked ROM has been released. Fixes the Contact tab issues and other minor bugs. It is by far the first cooked ROM that i am thinking of keeping!

You have no doubt heard of the new features coming to TouchFlo 3D in HTC Touch Diamond 2 and Touch Pro 2. Improvements and new functionality includes Facebook functionality, a deeper contacts integration, a new calendar tab, and most importantly, TouchFLO 3D now works in landscape.

To see the full list of changes, head on over to Pocket Now. Or to watch a demonstration of the new TouchFlo 3D on video, head on here.

When HTC showcased their new devices with the updated TouchFlo interface, someone at XDA Forums released a custom ROM for Touch HD that came pre-installed with it. Being the same resolution, i was expecting it to hit Xperia soon. And now, thanks to itje at XDA Forums, we have the new TouchFlo 3D ported onto Xperia. Head on over here for more information.

Note: This is not a final version of the upcoming TouchFlo 3D. I won’t recommend anyone to try and install a cooked ROM, so proceed with caution. (You will require to HardSPL your device in order to flash the cooked ROM)

I am in the process of downloading the cooked ROM and will be flashing it onto my Xperia real soon.

Windows Mobile Congress 2009

2009-02-17T02:17:00.002+05:00

With Windows Mobile Congress 2009 in progress, things are getting extremely exciting. PocketNow has been extensively updating their site with news from WMC, head on over to their site and hit refresh every half an hour or so to get some new information. Below i’m going to highlight some of the stuff that you might like…

First things first: check out the Definitive Windows Mobile 6.5 Post-Release guide at Pocket Now.

Next, check out the introductory video of Windows Mobile 6.5 that was shown after Steve Ballmer’s keynote. To watch the entire webcast which features an on-hands preview of Windows Mobile 6.5, head on here.

And below is a demo of Windows Mobile 6.5 on HTC Touch Diamond 2! FYI – HTC CEO announced that those who purchase HTC Touch Diamond 2 and HTC Touch Pro 2 will get an update to Windows Mobile 6.5 for free!

The question i would like answered by Sony Ericsson is whether or not we will see Windows Mobile 6.5 on Xperia (officially)?

Boom Blox – An Addictive Game

2009-02-17T00:23:00.002+05:00

Last night i came across Boom Blox for Pocket PC by Electronic Arts. The aim of the game is to solve puzzles by blasting and moving blocks in colorful 3D levels. Slide on ice blocks, blast blocks with bombs, bounce off springs, and more to level the playing field in this brain-twisting puzzle game. Featuring forty levels, the game offers the ability to create custom levels and post them online directly from your windows mobile challenging other players from around the globe with your dynamic puzzles or simply play other gamers’ creations and rate their work.

Blast ‘em with Boom Blox! To get the game, go here. The game is WVGA compatible – both in landscape and portrait.

SPB Mobile Shell 3 – Raising the bar

2009-02-17T00:04:00.002+05:00

SPB Mobile Shell has been one of the most used UI replacement application. Fast and sleek with smooth animations and the ability to easily create themes for the shell made it popular among all users of Windows Mobile users who wanted to escape the Windows Mobile interface or wanted an alternative interface for their device.

Recently SPB announced SPB Mobile Shell 3, and we finally get a small demonstration of what the new version has to offer. Beware all UI developers, the bar has been seriously risen! SPB Mobile Shell 3 is not only as smooth and sleek as before but it now includes tons of customizations, features, and way cooler animations. The question on my mind at this moment is; will SPB release a SPB Mobile Shell 3 Panel? I seriously hope so, but i doubt that it will come for free. :)

Check out the videos below…

Microsoft My Phone – In Action

2009-02-16T23:39:00.002+05:00

Microsoft’s My Phone portal is a backup service that helps Windows Mobile users by providing them a simple solution for backing up their personal information. The data is easily retrievable in case they have to hard-reset their mobile or purchase a new device.

The portal went (some-what) live yesterday for the public where they can register and be informed of when the beta becomes available publicly. Though there is no indication of the when it will actually be available publicly, however, during registration it also asks the user for an invitation code if they have one. Luckily for me, an acquaintance of mine was kind enough to get me an invitation code. And thus… here is an in-depth walkthrough of My Phone via a couple of screenshots.

After installing My Phone, starting up you get an introductory screen. You’ll be glad to know that My Phone is more than a contacts and calendar backup portal. It lets you synchronize your phone’s contacts, calendar, tasks, text messages, music, photos, videos, and other documents with your My Phone account. Could one ask for more? Wait! Yes! It also lets you synchronize your music, photos, videos, and documents from the storage card!

After the introductory screen you get a license agreement. Read it and hit Accept.

And then you set up your My Phone application by providing the windows live ID that was used to register for the My Phone service. (Note to all: this is registered to my account, and also is not a public beta. So i expect you to be patient and not send me requests to share the install CAB)

Next you get to choose whether you want My Phone to automatically synchronize every day (recommended for those with unlimited data plans) or to manually synchronize.

Since i have my data syncing with my company’s Exchange Server account, My Phone does not enable synchronization of Contacts, Calendar, and Tasks. I can easily set it up later if i decide to end synchronization with Exchange Server. On the next screen i get to choose the data i want synchronized with My Phone – with only 200 MB per user at the moment, it doesn’t make much sense to synchronize Videos and Music… but hopefully we’ll see more space allocated to each user or the ability to purchase more space in the near future with the final release.

That is all to configuring My Phone on your windows mobile device. You can now begin synchronizing your data with your My Phone account.

The about dialog… :)

And then, some screenshots of My Phone web-portal where you can easily access your backed up data and manage it.

In conclusion i would just like to say that Microsoft My Phone service simply delivers the best solution. Enabling background synchronization, you can set it to automatically synchronize and never worry about loosing your precious data. My rating? A definite 5/5.

The only thing i would love to see in the final version is the ability select specific folders for Images, Videos, and Music files that are to be synchronized.

Windows Mobile 6.5 Beta 2 on Xperia

2009-02-16T22:10:00.002+05:00

When Beta 2 of Windows Mobile 6.5 hit HTC HD, it was given that it would show its face on Xperia soon. And the time has come. What is the difference between this beta over the previous one? It includes a couple of Windows Mobile 6.5 interface in raw format. I say raw in the sense that the interface though working is not optimized and is buggy, but it definitely gives a good indication of what is coming in Windows Mobile 6.5.

With Windows Mobile 6.5 being officially unveiled this week in the Windows Mobile Congress 2009, if it gets you excited enough, you might want to try out this beta. For me, i am going to try it out regardless of any announcements in the WMC. I’ll post my findings/xperiance with the beta 2 later this week as soon as i get the chance to flash it onto my device.

For more information or to download the ROM, thanks to itje at XDA developers, go here.

4 new panels headed our way

2009-02-16T14:56:00.002+05:00

Sony Ericsson will be unveiling 4 new panels today in the Windows Mobile Congress. Finally a step in the right direction! But will they be worth it? You decide.

The panels include a Skype Panel which would probably bode well with any Skype users. Allowing you to easily call or IM any of your contacts easily, it promises to offer a pleasing UI.

The next panel is reported to be ‘On the road’. As the name suggests, this panel is specifically for when you are on the road providing you with bigger touch buttons and simplifying media streaming, GPS tools, and of course call management.

Another panel is by CNN which would deliver live news and weather directly to your Xperia. It will also feature access to CNN’s citizen journalism tool (i-report).

And finally the Mytopia panel. Poker or Bingo anyone? Yes. This will be the first gaming panel to hit Xperia. Well… i’m not entirely sure if it can be categorized as a gaming panel per se, since it is only reported to allow you access to the online bingo and poker games on mytopia.

No release date for these panels is announced yet, but are expected to be released sometime in late February or early March. For more information, head on here.

Delays…

2009-02-16T14:46:00.002+05:00

Xperiancers,

I wanted to apologize for not updating the blog in over a week as i was extremely busy with the job… however, get ready for some fun.

Windows Mobile Congress 2009 starts today and with it Microsoft will unveil Windows Mobile 6.5 which should drastically improve the interface as well as functionality of Windows Mobile devices. You have probably seen Windows Mobile 6.5 BETA screenshots around the internet and might also be aware of the beta being ported to Windows Mobile, are you excited about it? I guess the biggest question lingering in us Xperiancers’ minds is whether or not Sony Ericsson would release an official ROM for Xperia that moves us to Win Mobile 6.5 later this year when the retail version is released.

In other news, we definitely have a few panels heading our way. Not entirely what i was expecting, but it is a step in the right direction. And then there were a couple of utilities and software that i did test out in the last few days that i have been dying to talk about.

In short, definitely keep a lookout on the blog as i will try to post as frequently as possible. Adiós!

PointUI now available

2009-02-12T02:10:00.002+05:00

Hi all. Thanks to Johnny Boy (a reader of the blog) for the notification… PointUI is now available for download! And they supposedly have a Panel just for Xperia!

I’ll be downloading in a bit and will post in detail with screenshots ~~later tonight~~ this weekend. To grab it yourself, head on over to www.pointui.com.

Xperia Panels Competition comes to an end – What now?

2009-02-10T02:13:00.002+05:00

The Sony Ericsson content awards for 2008 have come to an end, and the winner of the best new Xperia Panel is SPB’s Traveler Panel!

This panel by SPB provides with a number of useful travelling tools including a currency converter, flight search, multi-time zone diary, and a phrasebook. Among other nominees were Evernote, Ping.fm, Mobisystems (for their English to Japanese dictionary), and PlusFourSize (for the Swedish operator 3’s panel).

Are these panels available? As far as i searched, neither could i find any mention of these on the respective company sites, nor were these panels located in the Panels section of Sony Ericsson’s Fun & Downloads page.

C’mon Sony Ericsson! Step it up. Where are all the panels that were supposed to be available? Maybe at-least support C#/VB.Net for the Panel SDK so that people can create panels with ease and quickly.

Resco Contact Manager – The Next Best Thing

2009-02-09T05:02:00.001+05:00

Xperia’s Dial-pad may look good, but the lack of functionality and the default Windows Mobile Contact Manager leave the whole experience quite empty. There are many alternative applications and skins to the default contact manager including Inesoft Phone, iContact, and a few others. In my opinion, IneSoft Phone has been the leader in the market with its easy to use Contact Manager that includes a profiler with a Today Plug-In. (For some screenshots of Inesoft Phone, check out my first post on the blog)

But now, the time has come for a change. Resco announced its Contact Manager application for Windows Mobile devices a couple of weeks back. And now, the beta is here. And the verdict is… it is simply one of the best (and fastest) contact manager application for Windows Mobile to be released.

Including Caller ID, SMS, Call History, Dial-pad, Favorites, a Contact Manager, and a Today Plug-In, the Beta release is far more powerful than most of the solutions out there and faster than any solution i have tested so far. (IneSoft is great in speed too, but would suffer from an occassional lag… Resco Contact Manager however has been working flawlessly since the moment i installed it onto my Xperia)

Works wonderfully on WVGA, in both landscape and portrait mode. Though it still needs a bit improvement here and there, which is understandable as it is a Beta release, but overall it is shaping up pretty great. Though the interface is sort of sleek and smooth, but hopefully we’ll see the ability to skin the interface too. To download the Beta, go here.

Update: PocketNow posted an in-depth review of Resco Contact Manager. Click here to be redirected to their site.

Some screenshots.

View Full Album

Since i had Bell UI running, i didn’t notice the Today Plug-In that came with Resco Contact Manager. Here are screenshots of the sleek looking plug-in taken after i turned off Bell UI:

Move over TouchFlo, here comes the Bell Experience!

2009-02-06T21:26:00.002+05:00

Note: If you have installed the Bell UI onto your Xperia, then please share with all (via comments) the effect it has on the battery life of the device. For me it has come down to a full day of use with DirectPush, Wifi, etc. enabled along with Bell UI running.

FYI: I have been enjoying the Bell Xperiance since three days now and i have to say that it doesn’t disappoint. Though the media section’s links are all wrong, despite it is one of the best inteface out there, if not “the” best. And since day one, it has been running as smooth as it should. If anything, Bell UI is definitely getting me excited to get my hands on PointUI as soon as it is released.

To-date i was quite in awe of TouchFlo 3D. Okay so that is a bit over the top, but i seriously love the Weather tab on TF3D and slick animations here and there. But today i came across something known as the Bell UI or Bell Experience.

Bell (the Canadian company) announced a few months back that it would use its own innovative user interface, called Bell Experience, for its whole line-up of Windows Mobile smartphones. The so-called Bell Experience user-interface has been developed by Bell together with a well-known design company, PointUI. Yes! the same PointUI that is soon releasing PointUI Home 2.

In my opinion, Bell UI is far superior than TouchFlo 3D. This unique interface offers more than 60 ways to customize the Home screen using various combinations of 25 icons such as: headline sports, news, weather, horoscopes, email and more. The user can easily customize the main screen for quick access to features like live TV channels, music playlists, on-demand videos, radio channels, favorite contacts and applications.

Quote from Mark Arteaga’s Blog:

The Bell experience completely customizes the Windows Mobile home screen and attempts to make things a lot easier to access, improve the user experience from the standard Windows Mobile home screen and delivers content right to your Windows Mobile device. It also uses 'gestures' to slide content, scroll lists etc.

How does Bell display the content? They created what are called Bubbles, and with these Bubbles, Bell can display content selected by the user. It's a way to quickly access content important to you. Bell has developed this new user interface to try and promote Bell's Mobile Entertainment offerings services that they offer for example LiveTV for Windows Mobile. But they also have things like Headline News, Entertainment News, Business News and Music. The user interface also allows you to slide from bubble to bubble using gestures (sliding your finger across the screen) giving it a nice user interface effect.

You can easily customize what bubbles to show on your home screen removing any that don’t interest you. Furthermore, the Bell Experience makes accessing your applications and windows mobile settings easier than ever. For accessing applications you can either click the Menu button at the bottom to be presented with a grouped list of all the applications installed on your device such as Games, Photos, Email, etc. Or you could click on the favorite applications icon on the Home Screen and get a list of your favorite applications – which can be easily customized.

In a nutshell, Bell Experience takes Windows Mobile devices to a whole new level. It is definitely an eye-candy, but also a very powerful interface that showcases how flexible Windows Mobile is.

For more information on this new Bell interface, click here. For a thorough video demonstration of the interface by PocketNow, click here.

Excited? Wondering what this has to do with Xperia? Well… brace yourselves, the Bell UI is working beautifully on Xperia! I visited the XDA forum last night and noticed the line ‘BELL_UI 4.30 interface ported to vga & wvga device’ which got me excited enough to test it out. And it works flawlessly. No delays in animations. No performance hiccups.

The only two issues:

Wrong shortcuts in media.
Works in landscape, but back image is VGA. (look at screenshot below)

To download this awesome interface, go here. I love it more than TF3D – other than the weather tab! :)

Some screenshots…

View Full Album

And a screenshot of Bell Experience in Landscape…

Power Button - Action Screen

2009-02-06T17:47:00.002+05:00

Smaberg at XDA Developers has released a 12-button action screen for Xperia for quick access to some of the basic tasks.

Installed to the main/phone memory, the action screen is automatically assigned to the Power Button. Invoked when the power-button is pressed for 3 seconds, it displays 12 quick-launch buttons:

E-Mail – Compose a new email message.
SMS – Compose a new SMS message.
MMS – Compose a new MMS.
Appointment – Add an appointment to your calendar.
Task – Add a new task.
Note – Add a new note.
Contact – Add a new contact.
Wifi – Toggle Wifi.
Bluetooth – Toggle Bluetooth.
Camera – Start camera.
Softreset – Restart the device.
Power Off – Turn off the device.

A very handy utility but the biggest drawback – doesn’t work in WVGA, does work but in 480x800 resolution rather than 800x480 (thus part of the action screen goes out of screen bounds. If you want to test it out, go here.

Sunscape Lock for Windows Mobile

2009-02-06T17:25:00.002+05:00

Although Xperia provides the default Device Lock today plug-in, i never used it. Turning off the display was always good enough for me. Besides, the Device Lock plug-in didn’t appeal much when it came to functionality and looks.

But then last night i came across Sunscape. Sunscape is an open source lock application for Windows Mobile. Written in C#, it tries to allow the user to fully configure the screen locker down to the very last details as well as maintaining a small memory footprint and trying to be as compatible as possible with many different devices.

Sunscape includes an impressive set of features:

R2U (rub to unlock) and S2U (slide to unlock)
fully configurable interface (including graphics etc...) based on a documented XML file with configuration tool.
on screen display for time, date, appointments, alarms.
on screen display of battery, messages, notes, emails, signal, weather, etc...
uses pressure-points instead of "slide to unlock", future releases will include other nifty ways to unlock based on touch.
has a small memory footprint and triggers based on time and load opposed to OEM "backlight" triggers.
can hotswap portrait vs landscape, I.e., it will automatically switch to landscape or portrait mode on supported devices.
has separate configuration options for both modes portrait and landscape.
supports fully configurable full screen callerID and answer or reject by reaching a pressure point.

The default theme (Hooded Beauty) works good on WVGA. The Pipboy theme however comes with a fully compatible WVGA version. For more information and to download the Source+CAB, go here.

Some screenshots below (sorry for the low-quality capture, but the software i usually work with was having problems connecting to the device):

New SMS – Mapping to a Soft Key

2009-02-05T15:23:00.002+05:00

Thanks to Daniel Eriksson for the tip; if you want quick access to creating a new SMS then look no further.

You have no doubt noticed that assigning “Messaging” to a soft-key results in the messaging window to open – with SMS/MMS, email, and new email setup. You then click on SMS/MMS and from the menu select New –> SMS. Though not difficult to get to, when you need to SMS someone quickly it can no doubt be a bit annoying.

Mapping ‘New SMS’ to one of the soft-keys results in quicker SMS composing and a happier you. To do this all you need to do is create a Shortcut link to the tmail.exe file with the following signature:

“\Windows\tmail.exe” – service “SMS” –to “” –body “”

Then simply place the .lnk file to your ‘\Windows\Start Menu\Programs’ folder and assign the “New SMS” (or whatever the name of your .lnk file) to the proper soft key.

If you can’t get the .lnk file to work, then download it from here. (courtesy of Wensing at XDA Forums)

TIP: Placing the “New SMS.lnk” file into ‘\Windows\Start Menu\Programs’ will result it to appear in Programs screen. If you don’t want it to appear there, though you can use it to launch a new SMS from there as well, just set the hidden property of the .lnk file to true.

ShapeWriter now WVGA Compatible

2009-02-03T02:07:00.002+05:00

Today has been a good day. First i got my hands on an Alpha release of SkyFire that supports WVGA, and now Shapewriter!

If you remember my post about ShapeWriter and if you’ve been waiting for it to support WVGA, you’ll be happy to know that the guys at ShapeWriter have finally released a WVGA compatible version of their award winning keyboard.

ShapeWriter is the award winning keyboard solution for iPhone, which was recently released for Windows Mobile devices. The keyboard elevates touch screen devices to new levels of usability. Instead of “hunting and pecking” letters, single gestures on a touch keyboard produce an entire word. For example: a stroke that roughly connects the w, o, r and d keys is recognized by ShapeWriter’s intelligent algorithms as the word “word”. Experienced users can write much faster on ShapeWriter than on a conventional keyboard.

After having used this keyboard on both the iPhone and Xperia, all i can say is that this keyboard is simply amazing! I tried a couple of words and it barely missed any and always presented alternate choices if the automatically selected word was not the one intended. Give it a whirl, download here.

Xperia – Generic UK ROM Updated

2009-02-01T16:38:00.002+05:00

Those Xperiancers who have the Generic UK ROM and have been holding out on updating their device in wait of the R2 release of the ROM can now breathe easy. Yes! Sony Ericsson has finally released the updated Generic UK ROM. Why the delay? No idea. I’m downloading the updated firmware now to move from the Vodafone UK R2 ROM to the Generic R2 ROM. To download, go here. (Thank you PavelX1 at XDA Forums for allowing easy access to these ROM files)

Webinar Attended…

2009-01-31T04:06:00.002+05:00

Remember that I mentioned Sony Ericsson was hosting a webinar on the 29th? Well, I attended. And though better than the last/first webinar, i am sad to report that there was no mention of the updated ROMs that have recently surfaced, nor was there any mention of any new panels to-be-released in the near future. It was surprisingly just another walk-through of Panels on Xperia going into a little detail on setting up the Sony Ericsson Panel and using the SPB Panel.

Despite increasing reports of cracks in its case and color fading off of the back cover – thankfully I’m only a victim of the later – i believe Xpeia to be the best Windows Mobile device out there. With the functionality of Panels, it can become much more. But lack of panel development has left the xperiance a little dry. C’mon SE! Release some new panels that will do us proud.

Setting up your Network – ROM Update Follow-up

2009-01-28T00:33:00.001+05:00

So. You updated using a ROM that locks settings for a network other than yours? Like for me, when i updated to the latest ROM on my Xperia using the Vodafone UK ROM since there was no existing Generic UK ROM ROM available, I noticed pretty quickly that though I was able to make and receive calls without problems, but when connecting to GPRS, it failed to connect. Turned out, it was locked to Vodafone.

Here is what you need to do to get your network up and running again. Open IE or any application that connects to the Internet. When it notifies you that it failed to connect and to check your settings, click on the Settings link. Then follow the procedure as detailed below:

Go into Network Management.
Under ‘Programs that automatically connect to the Internet should connect using:’ select the My Work Network as shown in the figure.

Click on Edit…
Switch to the Proxy Settings tab and check the ‘This network connects to the Internet’ checkbox. If your network uses a proxy server then check the sub-checkbox and enter the IP address of the proxy server as provided by your network operator.

In the Modem tab the ‘New…’ button should now be enabled. Click it.
Enter a name for the connection and select the modem type. Modem should probably be ‘Cellular Line (GPRS, 3G)’

Hit Next and enter an Access Point Name if needed. I left this blank.

On Next enter the User Name, Password, and Domain if provided by the ISP. I left all three of these blank again. Hit Finish.

Hit ok to save changes and exit the settings. Open Internet Explorer and browse to your favorite site. It should connect without problems now.

Enjoy!

Windows 6.5 Pre-Beta on Xperia!

2009-01-26T04:32:00.002+05:00

First seen on Blue Angel platform, then ported to HTC Touch Pro/Fuze. And now it comes to Xperia!

Thanks to itje at XDA Forums, you can now run Windows 6.5 Pre-Beta on your Xperia using a cooked ROM. No information is yet available on any issues with this ROM and the performance of the Pre-Beta on Xperia, but if you want to give it a try, then go here.

I will post screenshots and more information if i do install this custom ROM onto my Xperia. Keep a lookout.

Xperia Live Webinar on Jan 29

2009-01-25T22:30:00.002+05:00

With Xperia ROM updates surfacing, I just found out that Sony Ericsson is hosting a Live Webinar on January 29th. Though the description of the webinar only detailed it to showcase the power of Xperia and the Panels interface, i wonder if this webinar will be more than just that? Can we expect news on the update, an in-depth review on the changes, and new panels? What do you think?

Xperia – Software Update

2009-01-25T22:10:00.002+05:00

Update: Generic UK ROM has been updated.

What? ‘Software Update’? Did you read it right?

The answer is YES! After much debate against Sony Ericsson for not releasing any patches or updates since the release of Xperia, we finally have an update coming our way. PavelX1 at XDA Forums is uploading all the new ROMs onto Rapidshare for us to download.

What changes, enhancements, and fixes does this R2 version of the software update include? That is a thing of mystery at the moment. But let’s hope that it is everything everyone hoped for and more!

To download or for more info, go here.

FYI – In case someone is wondering where PavelX1 is getting these updated files from; he reports that he is using EMMA which is an official SE service software for service centers.

Note: The update is also reported to be available via Sony Ericsson Update Service (SEUS).

Update List (Updated Feb 1): Here are some things that i have noticed so far with this update.

Note: Are you satisfied with the ROM update? Do you agree with all the points/improvements i have listed below? Head over here to cast your vote.

The device now boots faster.
Faster menus - switching tabs in settings is quicker.
Programs launch quicker and file explorer is quick in loading folders.
The Vodafone ROM update (not sure if others have this) includes a couple of other additional trial games including Bubble Bash, Block Breaker Deluxe, and Tetris Mania.
Bluetooth Problem reported to be fixed. (I didn’t face any bluetooth problems with the old software and am not facing any now.)
Wi-Fi bug fixed.
Panel animation is a bit smoother but still laggy on switching from portrait to landscape and vice versa. Overall a faster panels experience.
Video playback has improved a lot! CP benchmark on a video resulted in 90-92% on the old ROM and is now increased to 98%.
Word prediction in most text-boxes.
Media Panel improvements including; music indexing is a lot faster, image scrolling is almost as smooth as it should be, changing tracks show information about the track at the bottom of the screen, and most importantly it now only shows pictures from the My Pictures and Camera folders on the main and internal storage – say goodbye to all those images from program files and windows showing up.
Camera improvements include faster focus lock and more stable focus. Preview is also smoother and introduces a new setting letting you define the frame rate to use for the video to shoot.
Furthermore, I think they updated the 3D drivers too. TouchFlo 3D is running way smooth - especially the Pictures and Media tabs! (flicking through pictures and music is quick and smooth) + Slide2Play is performing much better with this new updated ROM; quicker and smoother movement in landscape, switches album/song images correctly on song change, and so on.

Here is the device information before and after the update:

Before

Rom Version: 1.02.931.3
Rom Date: 08/29/08
Radio Version: 1.06.26.29
Protocol Version: 52.43.25.24U
Software Id: 1213-6450
Software Version: R1AA017
Customization ID: 1215-1832
Customization Version: R15A
Customization Variant: Genric_UK

After (Updated to Vodafone UK R2 ROM)

Rom Version: 1.03.161.7
Rom Date: 12/12/08
Radio Version: 1.10.25.18
Protocol Version: 52.56.25.29U
ExtPkg Version: 1.0.1039.11446
Software ID: 1213-2276
Software Version: R2AA007
Customization ID: 1215-0285
Customization Version: R18A
Customization Variant: VFE_UK
Content Version: PA10

After (Updated to Generic UK R2 ROM)

ROM Version: 1.03.931.8
ROM Date: 12/21/08
Software version: R2AA008

One Touch Voice Recording

2009-01-21T06:04:00.002+05:00

Xperiancers… want to make a quick and small audio note? Then you are in luck. Thanks you gtrab at XDA Forums for this neat tip.

How To

Open the File Explorer.
Go into the “\windows\appbuttons” folder.
Copy the “Rec” or “Record” file.
Go into the “\windows\startmenu\programs” folder and paste the file in.
Exit File Explorer and go into Settings –> Personal –> Buttons.
You will see “Rec” or “Record” in the list of programs now, assign it to a key.

After you have assigned it to a key, pressing the key will open ‘Notes’ with the Record bar at the bottom. Hit the record button to record your audio note. Or, a better alternative, simply hold the button assigned which will record any audio while the button is pressed and will stop recording when released.

You will notice that “Rec” or “Record” appears in the Programs list. Clicking it won’t do anything. If you find that annoying, simply set the file that you copied into the Programs folder as hidden, which will remove this icon.

One major flaw in this though – the recording is time limited. Ah well, had there be no time limit, that would have been just too perfect! :)

CNetX - Face Contact

2009-01-21T05:31:00.002+05:00

CNetX’s Face Contacts is a really cool-looking contact management utility which integrates directly into the device’s Today screen. Featuring an intuitive 3D interface with kinetic scrolling (iPhone-like), Face Contact allows you to add, remove, or edit contacts without having to switch between different apps and lets you sort by different fields as well as define a custom order in which the contacts appear. You can adjust, replace or remove contact’s pictures, with photo cropping and rotation. Furthermore, you have full control on display settings and 3D rendering options including photo shape, transparency, and reflection effects.

Works perfectly on Xperia! And best of all, regardless of the number of favorite/quick-access numbers you want, the application uses as little screen height as possible! To try it out, go here.

Some screenshots:

Smoke – Another skin for the SPB Panel

2009-01-21T04:58:00.002+05:00

Things are starting to roll and i have to say, i am just lovin’ it! QuadWord released today his second skin for Sony Ericsson Xperia X1’s SPB Panel – one of our most favorite panel on Xperia. QuadWord was the first one ever to release a skin (Arcane) for SPB Panel. If you missed out on that then go here.

With the availability of Smoke, we now have a total of 3 skins to choose from for our SPB Panel and hopefully this count will increase rapidly with more sizzling choices. To download this skin, go here.

Below are a few screenshots of the new sleek lookin’ skin. Best of all – it shows background images in the landscape-submenus! Thank you QuadWord!

BlueBut – Second skin for SPB Panel

2009-01-19T02:38:00.002+05:00

And out comes another skin for our most favorite panel, the SPB Mobile Shell Panel. Thanks to Cheekbone at XDA forums for this one, the skin is simple and looks beautiful on the panel. Nice Work Cheekbone!. For more info and to download go here.

Some screenshots of the panel with the skin applied:

Touch Flo 3D (+ landscape workaround)

2009-01-15T21:06:00.002+05:00

Updated on Jan 17! (For those who have TF3D Installed, skip to the end of the post for a TF3D lanscape workaround)

Installing Touch Flo 3D on Xperia

When Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 hit the market, one of the XDA Members released his work on porting the TouchFlo 3D user interface to Xperia X1. Though what was then a lengthy process, now installation of TouchFlo 3D onto Xperia has become as easy as executing a single .CAB file.

In case you are wondering what TouchFlo 3D is, in which case i am wondering where you have been the last couple of months… HTC TouchFlo 3D was introduced with Touch Diamond that gives you touch control over the phone. Use finger gestures to navigate programs, browse the web and flick through the contacts, photos and albums. The most widely-used functions such as e-mail, music and the Internet are only a flick away. Functionality apart, TouchFlo 3D is one of the most beautiful interfaces to hit Windows Mobile since long. You just have to love the weather app!

Anyways… If you want to install TouchFlo 3D onto Xperia then follow the simple steps as detailed below. All credit goes to itje at XDA Forums.

Download the Full Manila .CAB file from here. This CAB includes
Copy the CAB file to your Xperia X1 Storage Card or Internal Memory.
Install to the Internal Memory and soft-reset.

Want it as a Panel instead of the default Today item? Then follow the procedure as detailed here.

That is it! It is really that simple. If you want additional stuff from HTC Touch HD on your Xperia including the HTC Volume Control, Comm Manager, Dialer, and Keyboard then visit the XDA Forum thread here for links and downloads.

TF3D Landscape Workaround

~~Note: This workaround does works only for TF3D as the active Today item. i.e. it does not work for the TF3D panel.~~

Update: This fix works for the TF3D Panel too. However, it is a tad bit slower for the Panel.

TF3D works wonderfully on Xperia. That is until you switch to landscape mode. Thanks to chalid at XDA Forums, a fix is now available for Touch Flo 3D in landscape mode. And the procedure is simple.

Install required files from here.
Install cmEXlandscape.cab.
Install SecondToday.cab.
Soft Reset.

Though not extremely smooth, but works reasonably well. A step in the right direction.

Some screenshots:

mDesktop – Your Mobile on Your PC

2009-01-15T19:26:00.002+05:00

Xperiancers… In my quest to find more applications and games useable with our Xperia, I came across a pretty cool and useful desktop application. Granted that this is not specifically Xperia related, but after having used it a little i felt the need to share and thus this post.

Have you ever wanted to control your phone directly from your PC? Drag files to it, install applications, move pictures, send SMS and even make calls? Then this is the application for you.

Motion Apps’s mDesktop puts your Pocket PC or Smart Phone onto your desktop lets you control it completely. Integrate your phone with your PC and make calls, send SMS messages, and use your phone’s data and applications from your PC’s big screen and keyboard in a comfortable, practical, fun and user friendly way.

The Screen Mirror lets you control your mobile using your Mouse as the phone’s stylus as well as allows you to take screenshots of your screen with ease. The File Browser lets you browse any folder on the device including the Windows folder on the main memory. And the SMS module lets you not only make SMS but print and copy your SMS from the device with ease.

Check out the screenshots below. For more information go here.

Arcane – A Skin for SPB Panel

2009-01-15T03:31:00.002+05:00

Finally! Xperiancers, time to change that SPB Panel’s look’n’feel. QuadWord at XDA Forums has released the first-ever SPB Mobile Shell Panel’s Skin. And it looks good! Hopefully this opens the door to many more skins yet to come. To download go here.

Some screenshots:

Another member, CheekBone, at XDA Forums is also working on his first SPB Panel skin which we’ll hopefully see soon too. To check out screenshots go here.