Xperiancer

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)

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.

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 u

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)?

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 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’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,

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 .

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

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 ta

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 .

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.

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 an

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 u

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 .

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 o

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 ‘

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 cou

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)