GRemote Is My New Best Friend (remote control for PC via mobile device)

I’ve been trying to configure my Omnia i910 as a remote for my PC, and thus Windows Media Center (via Bluetooth and Windows SideShow), for a while.  I have been extremely unsuccessful in this endeavor, so today I decided to see if I could find a decent 3rd party app to take care of this seemingly simple task.

Hello GRemote!!!

There are two versions of this program (both work on Windows Mobile and/or Android): GRemote Pro ($14.95), and GRemote free.  I went with GRemote free, and it seems to do everything I need it to.  GRemote Pro has a larger suite of features, but since I’m just looking for a media controller, GRemote free is perfect for my needs.

Evidently GRemote Pro will work with .Net 2.0, but the free version requires .Net 3.5 or later (no big deal –just make sure you have .Net 3.5 installed on your device).

To make GRemote work, you’ll need to install the GRemoteServer program on your PC and GRemote on your device.  You can configure GRemoteServer to spawn on startup, or manually; I have mine configured manually, as I’m not always using my laptop as a media center.  Be sure to install the appropriate CAB for your device’s resolution.  The first time I installed the program on my device, like an idiot I installed just the “qvga” version instead of the “wqvga” version appropriate for the wider screen of the Omnia.  Because of this, the app was crashing on me quite a bit until I figured out what was wrong.

You can configure the app to work with multiple profiles, which means you can have a profile for all your computers (just make sure you install GRemote Server on any computer you wish to use with GRemote).  Configuring profiles is extremely easy thanks to the “find” button used to automatically retrieve the IP address necessary for communication between the server (your PC) and the device.

GRemote will work via USB, WiFi (my choice) and Bluetooth.

The free version includes these main parts:

	GCenter, where you select the control type you’d like to use,
	Gmouse, a virtual mouse that works with your device’s gravity sensor to control your PC (on the Omnia I have the HTC Emulator installed, and it works beautifully! Make sure to hold your finger on the screen to make it work (it took me a little while to figure that one out). If you click the “touch free” icon, the feature will work without touching the screen),
	Touchpad, a virtual touchpad to control your PC,
	GPad, specially configured for navigating around things like Media Center,
	GMedia, for directly controlling media program features (volume, stop, start, forward, reverse),
	Keyboard, an interface that you can type with,
	and GRace, a 2 axis, 12 button (?) game controller.

 

The app works perfectly with Hulu and Windows Media Center.  In fact, since it can function as a gyroscopic mouse and touchpad, it works perfectly with damn near anything on your PC (like Miro and VLC)!

Extra points for a really nice, clean looking interface with simple, finger friendly buttons and great design.

I love it.  One of the best (if not the best) apps I’ve installed on my Omnia to date.

…

HTC Accelerometer Emulator for Windows Mobile

I seem to have missed posting this VERY useful trick (even though I use it all the time), so here it is.

While the Omnia i910 has an accelerometer, it doesn’t always work with the programs that it should.

Speleomaniac at the MoDaCo forums has come up with a fantastic solution.  Go here and download the zip that contains the three necessary files: HTCAPI.dll, HTCSensorSDK.dll and HTCEmuPanel.cpl.  Place all three files in your device’s Windows directory and then soft reset.  I think HTCEmuPanel.cpl may even have the first two files included these days, so you may not need those for the install.

Go to your Windows directory and open the HTCEmuPanel.cpl file.  There will be a warning about trusted programs, yadda, yadda. Click “ok.”  There will be two more similar warnings to install the HTCAPI.dll and HTC SensorSDK.dll files.

The control panel will open up.  Follow the instructions (set your device on a flat surface and slick “calibrate.”

You’re good to go!

Backing up your Windows Mobile device

Here's a question: how in the FUCK does Windows Mobile Device Center not have a full back up feature?!

I'm not talking about syncing photos.  I'm not talking about syncing music.  I'm not talking about syncing contacts.

I'm talking about, God zaps you with a bolt of lightning or you're hit with an EMP and you lose EVERYTHING on your phone so you need to just restore the whole damn thing from your computer, maybe even on a replacement phone.

Microsoft's response?  Sorry, you're SOL.

Typical.

Evidently, it was a feature that USED to be in Active Sync, but for some reason MS decided to eliminate such a useful and important feature from their newest software.  This just seems WILDLY irresponsible.  It's things like this that get me closer and closer to jumping ship and going with the Droid.

So there are pretty much three options: SPB Backup ($24.95), PIM Backup (free, but currently MMS backup doesn't work) and Sprite ($29.95).

I'm not convinced that the free route is the way to go here, as it appears that PIM Backup only backs up specific things (schedule, contacts, messages, etc.), not your entire device.  So I'm not sure this is really a viable option.

I want to be able to do a complete system restore point for my phone (like you would with your computer).

On Sprite's web site there is a phone compatibility page, but under Samsung only the i900/i908 is listed (NOT the i910), so I don't know that I'm willing to risk it.

Looks like SPB is the only real option!

Thanks for leaving us out in the cold YET AGAIN, Microsoft.

...

Streamlining "Back to Normal" from a Hard Reset

So I'm really getting the "back to normal" from a hard reset down to a science.

A couple of days ago I spent three hours on the phone with Verizon trying to figure out why my phone hadn't been able to receive data for three days. I finally gave up on them and did a hard reset. This always means starting from ground zero and having to reinstall everything, so I decided to make some changes to streamline the process. ***As an aside, I'm wondering if the reason I lost data transmission/receive capability was a conflict between the WiFi tethering software and the new Omnia ROM.

I now have a folder on my "My Storage" that contains the cabs of everything I reinstall when I do a hard reset (SPB Mobile Shell, Total Commander, Torch Button, Google Maps and Audio Notes Touch). Since a hard reset doesn't wipe the My Storage (or SD Card), those files are always there and ready when I need to start over. I also realized that the new Omnia i910 ROM already contains Windows Live, so there's no need to install that in order to sync my contacts (very nice).

I don't have this perfected yet, but there are some good programs like CERegEditor that will not only allow you to edit your registry via your computer, but they will also allow you to save your changes in configuration files and thus simply click a button to make all the saved changes (disable Keyboard auto deploy, make the vertical scroll bar wider).

If only there was some way to have the phone automatically:

1. re-associate all the photos and ringtones for my contacts
2. change the thread_sms.htm file so that the Text Composition area has a reasonable amount of space
3. set up my exchange server to sync Google Calendars (7 of them) using NuevaSync.com
4. Reload all my RSS feeds and Podcasts
5. Change setting for phone dial lock to off

...

Increase SMS Text Composition Area

For some reason, WinMo's default SMS composition area is only two lines high. That means you can't see what you're typing, and it's incredibly frustrating.

Luckily there's an easy fix. Using your Reg. Editor (I use Total Commander), navigate to the Windows directory on your mobile device and find the file called thread_sms.htm. You will need to edit this file (clicking on it will only cause your device to try and open it in your browser; make sure to select the edit icon in your Reg. Editor to alter the file).

Scroll down and find the line that looks like this:

< Inbox:content id="COMPOSESUBJECT" width="98%" height=35 spell focus count links noclearonbackpresshold limit=0 autocap inserttab scroll / >

Change that "height=35" to something larger. I've got mine at "60" and that seems to work pretty well.

...

SPB Mobile Shell for Windows Mobile

The one thing that prevents the Omnia i910 from completely obliterating the iPhone is the user interface. I'm not sure why you'd make such a fantastic phone that's so difficult to use (read: navigation is atrocious). You can spend all kinds of time editing the registry, installing cab files, and basically hacking the hell out of the phone, or...

You can simply install SPB Mobile Shell. As mentioned before, I've always balked at the price of this download, but after having used it for a couple of weeks, I'm sold.

My initial download was version 3.0 just a couple weeks ago, but yesterday as I was getting ready to purchase a registration number, I saw they had upgraded to 3.5, so I went ahead and upgraded to the latest and greatest.

There are some great updates in 3.5 (3D e-mail and text views, the 3D carousel, additional widget pages, integrated Facebook and Twitter functionality, etc.), but with these updates come a few bugs.

3D Text and E-mail views don't work with the icon that brings in all three communication options (phone log, texts, e-mails). In order to get 3D text and e-mail to open when you tap the icon, you'll need to use the individual widgets (you can't use the combined 3 icon widget). You will also need to set the default view by holding down each icon, selecting "default action," and selecting "open 3D viewer."

Another significant bug (SPB is promising to fix soon) is that the "reply" and "reply to all" buttons don't populate the "to" field in your texting program unless "threaded/conversation" view is switched off. Again, "reply" and "reply to all" WILL WORK from the 3D view, but you must disable threaded SMS for now ("conversation view" on the Omnia).

The super cool (but otherwise useless) 3D Carousel (see photo above) doesn't work on the Omnia, because Omnia doesn't have a Graphics Accelerator --Omnia II has a processor fast enough to use software acceleration that will work well. You can see it working here.

Rather than completely reinvent the wheel, here is a great review on ZDnet (with video presentation) of SPB Mobile Shell. The review shows what's new in 3.5, and then takes a little time to go over the features of the whole program. It's a great way to familiarize yourself with what SPB Mobile Shell is all about.

Just FYI, a couple of my favorite things about SPB Mobile Shell are being able to install shortcuts to any app on pretty much any screen (it's so much easier to access your phone's programs), the superior contacts management, the superior calendar functionality, and being able to add photos for contacts from Facebook (seems trite, but I love this feature).

SPB Mobile Shell is a vast improvement over any interface I've seen for Windows Mobile touch phones, and is the last piece of the puzzle to make the Omnia i910 the ultimate iPhone killer.

...

Find Your MAC Address On Your Windows Mobile Device

Evidently your MAC address is a big, giant secret, because it's nearly impossible to find on your WinMo phone (it's not under any of the device settings).

However, here's the trick:

On Windows Mobile 6.1 and higher, dial #43574357* (I know a lot of these "dial codes" don't work on the Omnia i910, but I can verify that this one does). This code will launch a screen that shows all your device information, including PDA Version, Phone Version, Browser Info, Language, Battery, Bluetooth Version, Bluetooth MAC, Wi-Fi Version, Wi-Fi MAC, Phone Number, MEID, System ID, Channel, ESN, PRL/ERI, Technology, Network, and Capabilities.

On Windows Mobile 6.0, it's just #4357* (I don't know why they decided to duplicate the number with higher versions).

...

Sync iTunes to Windows Mobile Device (Omnia i910)

Let's face it, Windows Media sucks. Really bad. It's an awful program to use.

And while iTunes has it's fair share of problems, it's still infinitely better than Windows Media.

The biggest problems iTunes faces are the same problems all Mac devices face: Mac keeps an iron grip on EVERYTHING. But as usually, people have figured out ways to pry open Apple's greedy little fingers.

I had been manually moving tunes back and forth from my computer to my Omnia. Playlists are simply XML files, and all the songs are just MP3's. It seemed like it would be easy enough to write a program to automate generating/converting/moving files... and sure enough, somebody's done it (sort of)!

There are a couple of pay programs, but me, being the cheap bastard that I am, found a great free one called iTunes Sync (creative, no?) from Binary Fortress (these guys also make a really great multi-monitor display program called Display Fusion).

I installed and set up iTuneSync according to the very simple instructions on the BinaryFortress website. I created a folder in iTunes called "Omnia Storage Card" and filled it with other play lists. I changed my USB connection for my Omnia from ActiveSync to Mass Storage Device. I clicked "Synchronize MP3 Player" in iTunes Sync, and voila! Everything in the "Omnia Storage Card" folder was synced to my Omnia.

Oh, glorious day!

One caveat I've realized after actually spending some time with this... the program only syncs the files... no playlists are transferred to your device, so you still have to manually sync (see problems below) or create playlists from within Windows Media Player Mobile. The developer of iTunes Sync is promising multiple playlist syncing in the next version, but he is not promising any specific release date for the new version.

So for now, this solution is only good for syncing the songs that you have in playlists. You will still have to manually create the play lists themselves. A workaround would be a program that could convert iTunes XML play lists to .ASX, which is the format Media Player Mobile uses.

Eric Daugherty created a program that will convert iTunes XML playlists to m3u, ext, wpl, or zpl (it will also transfer the actual MP3 files used by the playlist, which is GREAT), but apparently Windows Media Mobile will not play any of these formats (go figure). So what I need is a program that will convert the iTunes XML files to .ASX (which is used by the Windows Media Mobile player).

There are plenty of players for Windows Mobile that will play M3u, so I guess I'll just be using a different media player for now (pay attention Microsoft).

[Oct. 4, 2009 - UPDATE] While Windows Media Player mobile can't use .WPL files, Window Media Player 11 does... so the solution is to use Eric Daugherty's export program to create a playlist from iTunes for Windows Media, and then simply use Windows Media (via Active Sync) to place the iTunes playlist (and files) on your Windows Mobile device. If you have Eric's program set to generate the WPL file and place it in your Windows Media Music directory, it will simply appear under playlists in Windows Media, and you can sync with your device from there.

Woo-hoo! Not as elegant as I'd like (you have to use three programs), but it works perfectly!

[ANOTHER SOLUTION] Music Bridge will sync iTunes and Windows Media libraries. It's a pretty robust program with many options as to what you can sync (see the download page for a description). After running music bridge, you can then sync your device using Windows Media/ActiveSync as above. When I tried this method, it didn't seem like the sync was working (the iTunes lists didn't show up under playlists in WinMedia). However, under the sync settings in Windows Media, all the iTunes playlists were available for syncing with my device. Weird, but it works!

So hopefully one of the above solutions will work for you!

...

The New Omnia Build (with CF03 ROM and GPS)

So I installed the newest official ROM from Verizon today (CF03), and am happily using GPS with third party applications. I used UMDL_OMNIA to do this, and the process was extremely straight forward and easy. That said, don't get careless and brick your phone, which is something that quite a few careless people have managed to do during their upgrade.

A new ROM means a clean slate, so here's what I did after my shiny new install.

• Downloaded Google Maps
  I still like Google Maps over Microsoft's Live Search. The traffic seems truer to what is actually on the road, and it's just easier to use over all.
  
  
• Downloaded Windows Live and synced contacts
  I sync my contacts from Live. I use this service to organize and store all my e-mail and phone contacts. It's easy to update and always available on line. One click on your phone syncs to the online server and it acts as a second exchange server (so you still have your main Exchange Server free to set up with whomever you want). If you use live.com or hotmail.com, it will also sync that e-mail, and leave the phone's "regular" exchange server to be used elsewhere. Again, this means you can use multiple exchange servers.
  
  
• Set up Exchange Server with NuevaSync
  After spending a lot of wasted time giving Google Sync a shot... I set my Exchange Server back to NuevaSync. Google is ridiculously NOT supporting multiple calendar sync, so NuevaSync is the obvious choice to keep my four calendars synced with my phone. I set NuevaSync to sync my calendar, I keep my contacts synced with Windows Live, and I set up a separate POP3 account for my Gmail. I prefer POP3 over IMAP, because I want to be able to just "delete all" e-mail, but not have to worry about accidentally erasing something I'll need later.
  
  
• Downloaded the SPB Mobile Shell 3.0 3.5 Trial
  I'm a cheap bastard, so I always look longingly at the web page for this app, but then balk at the price. After spending a good deal of time sifting through cooked ROMS on various boards, I realized that the majority of what I'm looking for has to do with the interface, so I'm giving it a try. So far, I really like what I see and how easy it is to navigate. We'll see if in 30 days I like it enough to pony up $30.
  
  
• Installed Vito Audio Notes Touch
  This is a fantastic and simple program that allows you to record your voice easily. I use it mostly to capture ideas for songs when they strike. It's also a great way to record your phone calls. This has become an invaluable tool for me, as it allows me to review phone conversations I've had.
  
  
• Found and loaded up some Podcast and RSS URL's
  A while back I was driving somewhere and my car stereo went out. I didn't have any music loaded up on my Omnia, so I thought maybe I'd check out a podcast or two. Trying to find a podcast address, load it up, play it, etc... is extremely dangerous at 70mph, so I thought next time I'll be prepared.
  
  Some of my RSS choices: Lifehacker, Gizmodo, Engadget.
  
  Some of my Podcast choices: NPR Fresh Air, Contrast Podcast, NPR Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me!, NPR All Songs Considered
  
  (I'm very open to more suggestions for either category.)
  
  
• Installed Total Commander
  This is my favorite explorer/registry editor.
  
  
• Turned off motion rotate (moved rotate to camera button)
  
• Switched dpad to optical mouse (I wish there was an easier, quicker way to switch back and forth)
  
• Assigned buttons: camera hold is camera, camera short is screen rotate, main menu hold is voice commands, main menu short is Google Maps for now, but that will likely change.
• Edited registry to make scroll bar thick enough to use with a finger (why WinMo is sooo un-finger-friendly I'll never know)
  
  
• Installed TorchButton
  The Omnia has a fantastic little flashlight (it's an LED that functions as the flash for the camera, so it makes a superb tiny flashlight --waaaaay better than the iPhone's "white screen" sorry excuse for a flashlight). The problem is, it's really hard to get to the switch once you've installed SPB (the flashlight button is either a softkey on a Today 2 screen, or the bottom volume rocker button... but the catch is you can only make that work from the Today screen. So some kind soul came up with a button that will make the flashlight work even from SPB Mobile Shell. You actually have to install an older version (1.1) that somebody else has paired up with a basic emulation of HTCCamera1.dll. Without this emulator, the button doesn't work correctly. But with it... works like a charm!
  
  
• Downloaded and installed Adrenylyne's "remove call lock" CAB
  [UPDATE] It seems this CAB is obsolete with the new ROM. Go to Settings>Phone>Services>Dialer Touch Lock and click "Change Setting." You have choices of off, 2 seconds, 5 seconds, and 10 seconds. (Thanks, Anonymous!)
  
  Previously I had been using the registry hack to switch to the original Samsung dialer (HKLM/Security/Phone/Skin Enabled: 1 : change 1 to 0 --not only does this remove the pop-up lock, but the older skin saves about 10MB of memory), but this time I decided to try out Adrenylyne's CAB to simply remove the pop-up lock instead. Anybody that has tried to spend time in a call que or navigating an online phone system knows that the pop-up lock is simply unacceptable.
  
  
• Installed HTC Accelerometer emulator
  

That's it for now. SPB Mobile Shell has eliminated the need for a lot of my "usuals" (iDialer, Green Button, PocketCM, remapping soft keys, messing with themes, rerouting shortcuts and icons, etc.) so that's nice. I'll update the post if I make more changes. I'll likely delete Shozu (to free up device memory) as usual, and I need to update Opera's cache and download locations. I may reinstall Skyfire, but to be honest, I wasn't that impressed with it. Sure, the Flash functionality is nice, but it would hang and crash a lot, so what's the use?

I'd love to cook up a ROM, but I'm not sure that I'm willing to devote the time to such an endeavor. We'll see.

...

Omnia Firmware update (ROM version CF03)

Verizon released the new firmware update for the i910 back in July, but I haven't had time to upgrade until now. I had a little trouble actually finding the update, so I'm posting a link to the Samsung page here:

http://TinyURL.com/i910CF03

Officially, the executable works only on Vista 32-bit or WinXP, but there are some workarounds, the easiest one being simply using UMDL_OMNIA v2.3 to install an img file (you'll need to have a Modaco account (free) to download the file).

I actually had so much trouble finding the CF03 download, that I installed the CC20 "leaked" version from iDoctor first (you can also find the UMDL_OMNIA program at this location, and you don't need a Modaco account to download it). There are a few people saying that CC20 has better battery life, but the claims seem dubious. I'd go with the newest version, CF03 (which I did).

The biggest reason I was after a new ROM, is of course GPS functionality from 3rd party apps, so as soon as I upgraded the ROM, I immediately downloaded Google Maps for my Omnia, and guess what... WOO-HOO, my location was pinpointed within seconds! (well, sort of, maybe 1000 yards off-- but I was very happy with the speed at which I was located)

So now I'm rocking GPS, and my life has changed.

The ROM update means starting over with the phone setup (upgrading the ROM wipes the phone clean), so I'll try and document that adventure (what I do and don't install) in a later post.

Omnia vs. iPhone :: OMNIA WINS!!!

I haven't blogged for quite some time, because I am currently Producing and Directing a film (www.LeadingLadiesMovie.com). It's a lot of work, and takes a lot of time. However, this news is so note worthy, that I thought I would take a moment.

When we move into our production offices, there was no live internet. This is when I found out that the Omnia is superior to the iPhone.

I lived without computer access to the web for about 4 hours, then remembered I had the wifi tether .cab on my computer. I uploaded it to my Omnia, installed, and within a couple of minutes my Omnia was transformed into the most glorious WiFi router! Not only did I have access to the web, but I had the entire office hooked up with high speed internet!

The clincher came when Erika was video Gchatting Mikey, Brett was downloading files, and I was checking Gmail. You heard that right, multiple users and one of them was using VIDEO CHAT (on her Mac).

Are you freaking kidding me? Omnia wins.

...

Verizon Omnia i910 GPS Finally Hacked!

I'm elbow deep in budgets, schedules and SAG paper work, so I haven't had time to try this yet, but people are reporting it working! If I get a free moment between now and Sept. 25 [ugh!], I'll be sure to try this out and post my results.

Until then, please let us know if this works for you.

http://theidoctor.org/omnia.html
or
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showpost.php?p=837203&postcount=1

Viva la Hackers!

ps Be careful not to brick your phone!

...

Omnia Ground Zero reboot

I'm not quite finished with this list yet, but I'm going to post it anyway.

As previously posted, my Omnia was hosed last night, so Verizon gave me a new one. This is the process I followed today when reinstalling, hacking and re-configuring the phone.

Can I just say that Microsoft does a damn fine job of making it REALLY fucking hard to get things done? There's no way it should take a person five hours to simply get his phone functioning as it should in the first place. Bastards.

These are the steps I've taken so far:

• installed MyMobiler (control phone from PC)
  
• switched to Today screen (deselected crappy Samsung Widget)
• installed Paul from Modaco's .NET configuration CAB and .NET 3.5 update*
• installed CeRegEditor CeRegEditor is nice, because it automatically uses an interface from your PC (not the phone itself), but it is only for RegEdits, as opposed to Total Commander which is a RegEditor, file explorer, and editor for any type of file
• installed Total Commander
• turned of motion rotate
• assigned camera button to rotate
  
• RegEdit - disabled keyboard auto deploy for SMS and MMS
• RegEdit - enabled Today 2
• updated Opera cache and download folder to utilize My Storage
• switched dpad to optical mouse
• set upper side "menu" button to Task Manager
• updated and merged all my contacts on the Windows Live website then downloaded Windows Live to sync contacts (this step took an eternity)
  
• setup NuevaSync.com exchange server to sync Google Calendars
• installed VITO Audio Notes Touch
• installed iDialer
• installed GreenButton
• installed PocketCM contact manager (took a good, long look at iContact, but it didn't offer all the goodies of PocketCM)
• installed PocketCM themes
  
• installed SoftKey Manager
• mapped left key to PocketCM
• created program screen .lnk file and mapped right soft key to it
  

I've said it before and I'll say it again: the fact that Microsoft names all their services ALMOST the exact same thing is fucking infuriating. Live Search? Windows Live? Live.com? Windows Mail? Windows Live Mail? Yes, none of those things are the same (seriously... none of them... they're all something different). What... the... FUCK?! Not only that, but to make your phone work to its full potential, you have to install them all (well, not Windows Mail, because Windows Live Mail replaced it). WHY NOT JUST INCLUDE THEM IN THE FUCKING FIRST PLACE?!

(why is it that my blood pressure shoots through the roof whenever I have to make major changes/upgrades to anything PC/Microsoft related?)

In the end, I still think the offerings of WinMo and the Omnia are superior to the Mac alternatives (iPhone), but it sure is a freaking mess trying to get to the point where you can actually function.





*In case the .NET updater thread ever disappears, here are the steps:

• Download and install both CABs (to internal memory!)
• Run .Net Configuration from your Program Menu
• Navigate to the 'Device Policy' tab and select version 3.5
• Selecting 'Apply' then 'OK'

Omnia i910 Frozen Like a RocketPop (or, When is a Mobile Phone a Hose?)

what's playing: "The Wrong Band" by Tori Amos

Last week, the night before I got on a plane to LA, I powered down my Omnia after recharging was complete (wanted to retain full juice for the flight). When I woke up in the morning and powered on the phone... it was frozen. Once the phone was powered up (after going through the boot up animation and the WinMo green screen), it would freeze with either a blank screen (just tiny icons up top) or the screen as it should appear (but not functioning) or somewhere in between (sometimes almost there but missing, say, the calendar).

I tried the soft reset and I tried holding the soft reset, but the phone would always freeze after reaching the Today screen. The power button didn't work at all (wouldn't power down the phone). The only way to power down was to remove the battery. So once the phone was frozen, I had two options: soft reset button or remove the battery.

After trying various combinations of things for about an hour (holding soft reset while removing battery, removing battery, soft reset held for different amounts of time, etc.), I finally got the phone back to functional condition by removing the battery, plugging the phone into my laptop, reinsterting the battery, and powering the device up.

For those of you looking for a solution to your frozen Omnia problem, don't get too excited by my find.

Last night my phone froze up again, and this time, nothing I did would fix it. I finally took it into the Verizon store this morning, and they simply replaced the phone. They were going to just swap it, but I was all like "Um... that phone has my bank passwords, website passwords, and a bunch of other stuff on it." They didn't seem to think that was an issue, but I made them look up the Hard Reset key combo so I could wipe the phone before handing it over. I assume somebody who REALLY wanted to could probably still find some stuff on there, but I'm hoping Verizon does at least a DECENT job of wiping the phone before it reaches it's next phase of life. Plus, I didn't really have all my bank and web passwords on there, just my Gmail and Ebay... so not too terribly critical.

Now I have to load the new Omnia with all my hacks and mods again, so that will be kind of a pain. It does give me the opportunity to install only the things I want though, so I'll be putting together a "this is what I loaded onto my phone now that I know what I'm doing" post. Keep an eye out for that one in the next couple of days.

Also, the previous Omnia had a Zagg Shield on it. I've heard good things about Zagg's policy for replacing the shield, so I guess I'm about to find out first hand how that goes. It's also kind of a pain to have to spend another hour installing the shield.

I'll keep you posted.

...

Move Opera Mobile cache to "My Storage"

This tip has of course been added to the main Omnia how to post.

Here's a great little trick to free up some device storage from xsrx over on the Modaco forums:

Something not mentioned, but that I assume is a good idea: clear your old cache first. Open Opera, click the little arrow in the bottom right, go to History, click the trash can and affirm that you want to delete all. If you don't do this first, you'll need to delete stuff from your old cache folder at Application Data\Opera9\cache. Now...

• Close Opera.
• Create a folder on your storage card where the cache files will go. I chose \Storage Card\Program Files\Opera\cache4, but I don't think the folder structure or folder name matter.
• Open \Application Data\Opera\opera.ini in a text editor. [note: this directory was "opera9" not "opera" on my phone; "opera" is just help and skins]
  
• In the [User Prefs] section, add the following line: Cache Directory4=[full path to folder on storage card].
• Save and close opera.ini.
• Restart Opera. Your cache is now being written to your storage card.

Here is an incredibly helpful post from Downloadsquad on some other really useful Opera Mobile tweaks. For instance, it shows you how to change your default Download directory, which I did. You can also move help files, etc... to My Storage to free up even more space.

Google Reader for Mobile Devices SUCKS

The default RSS Reader on my Omnia (default WinMo RSS Reader) is fine, but I'd like to have something a little more robust. I'd at least like to be able to "star" certain things to come back to them later... better yet, I'd like to be able to mark them and have that mark integrate with my main computer RSS Reader so I could later take a look from my computer.

You can e-mail a link from the default RSS Reader, but it's a many-step pain in the butt, so not the best solution (takes over a minute just to send yourself a reminder about whatever you want to remember to revisit).

It would be excellent if the reader functioned with my Google Reader. I'd be able to star the item, and then when I returned to my computer I could simply check my starred items via Google Reader on my Google Homepage.

So I decided to see if there was a mobile version of Google Reader. I went to http://m.google.com/reader and was pleased to find a link called "Get Google Reader for your phone" with a form field to fill in your mobile number. I typed in my mobile number and expected to receive a cab file from Google.

Instead, they send a freaking link to a web page. I don't want to visit a web page; I want an app so I don't have to open my browser and get on the web. It pretty much defeats the purpose of having a mobile RSS Reader in the first place.

ANNOYING AS HELL.

Not only that, but in order to "star" something, you have to scroll to the very, very bottom of the page and click a link.

Stupid.

Furthermore, there is no option to add Google Reader to your mobile iGoogle page. What in the...? When you select "Add stuff" from your mobile iGoogle page you find a list called "popular" where you can add the "Betty Crocker Recipe of the Day," but not your Google Reader. There don't seem to be any other options from that location to find (actually useful) things to add to your iGoogle mobile page.

Again: stupid.

Bad job, Google.

[update] If you're using Opera Mobile 9.5, you can "trick" Google into thinking you're not actually on a mobile device. This will allow you to see Google Reader on your iGoogle page (you can look at your real iGoogle page, not just the extremely scaled down piece of shite that Google redirects you to when your on a mobile device).

Just following these steps:

To change the user agent in Opera Mobile 9.5 type the following into your address bar:

about:config
Scroll down the page to the item "User Agent" and click on it.
It will say "Spoof user agent ID"

1 is Opera Mobile 9.5
2 is firefox
3 is IE 6

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Syncing Vista Windows Contacts with Windows Mobile without Outlook

Yes this is it, the answer you've all been looking for. I will save my rants for the second half of this post. First, I'm just going to tell you how you can sync your Windows Contacts with your Windows Mobile device without using Microsoft Outlook. This is the (absolutely free) way to sync your contacts.

Yes, Vista comes with Windows Mail, which it clearly states is the updated version of Outlook. Well, even though that is so, *surprise!* it is now completely obsolete, as Microsoft has decided to create something new called Windows Live Mail (I love how they create new programs named almost exactly the same thing). At least it's free.

So here it goes:

1. Export your Windows Contacts as a .CSV file (yes, get ready to not use your Windows Contacts anymore... evidently Microsoft really wants you to use the cloud).
2. If you don't have a Windows Live account (Microsoft's version of what Google's been doing for a long time), then create one (it's free).
3. Import your Windows Contacts .CSV file into your Windows Live account. Don't be confused when they call your Windows Live mail account Hotmail (yes, I thought Hotmail was dead too). Or maybe they won't call it Hotmail. It depends what page you're on. Microsoft seems to be even more confused than we are about this whole mess.
   
4. Download Windows Live Mail (yes, it's actually a program you have to download onto your computer; this replaces Windows Mail... don't ask). As a side note: as soon as the install asked me if I wanted to make Windows Live Mail my default e-mail program I screamed "HELL NO" and made the appropriate selections. However, this is now where I maintain my contact information.
   
5. If it's not already on your Windows Mobile device, install Windows Live on there (it's basically a proprietary Exchange Server that works only with Windows Live).
   
6. Open Windows Live on your mobile device and click "sync."
7. Cross your fingers, pray, do whatever it is you do to make the universe treat you right. Your Windows Contacts should now be synced with your mobile device.
8. Make sure you use Windows Live Mail to maintain your contact information on your computer from now on.

NOTE: if you don't need your contacts on your computer, you don't really need to download Windows Live Mail. You can just maintain all your contacts online via your Live.com account. Then, sync your online contacts to your phone with Windows Live as above.

Now for the rant...

First of all, I want to express my extreme frustration and anger with Microsoft for making it so incredibly difficult to simply sync your Vista contacts with your mobile device. They made Vista right? They made WinMo right? WTF?! I spent nearly a week trying to figure this thing out, coming across countless posts, threads, etc... with people clamoring for a solution to this problem.

Why in the world would Microsoft make this so hard?! Do they not realize how much they are pissing off their client base? It's enough to make somebody switch to Mac.

Other questions that came up while searching for the answers... How many times will Microsoft change the name of a program/system? Outlook Express? Windows Mail? Windows Live Mail? Hotmail? Windows Live? What does it all mean?! Next time, try and make it a little more confusing.

I could go on and on and on, ranting about how I want to gouge out the eyes of whomever is in charge of this new Windows Live mess, but I'm tired, and I'm sick of anything and everything involved with this topic.

Hopefully this workaround helps out anyone looking for a non-Outlook sync solution until Microsoft gets their shit together and actually integrates a simple and easy way to sync your computer contacts and mobile device contacts (is that too much too ask?).

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Zumobi REI Snow Report app expects WinMo to conform to their standards

A while back I installed Zumobi's joint venture with REI, a WinMo Snow Report app. It seemed like it would be great, but unfortunately it didn't support the Omnia's resolution, and was thus completely useless. I wrote a letter to Zumobi to see when they'd be releasing a patch for the higher Omnia resolution (a simple piece of code), and here is their response:

Hi there,

Here is the answer to your question (from a Zumobi engineer):

Unfortunately, Zumobi will not be compatible with the Omnia i910. The Ombia i910 runs a resolution that is different from the native QVGA resolution, making it incompatible with Windows Mobile.

Zumobi's current Windows Mobile product was developed when most cell phone hardware used a standard QVGA resolution. Now that many smartphones, such as the iPhone, are the center of the mobile world, the Windows Mobile team is working quickly to develop a program that supports larger resolutions. Hopefully Windows Mobile team will soon develop devices that will allow compatibility with future Zumobi platforms. Until then, Zumobi is meeting the demand that the iPhone has created - the amount of app downloaders that are iPhone users is so large that the majority of focus goes there.

First, hilarious that this person thinks the Omnia is incompatible with Windows Mobile.

Second, evidently Zumobi expects Microsoft Windows Mobile team to change their software to "allow compatibility with future Zumobi platforms." While I'm sure Zumobi is an industry giant, I don't see this happening, Zumobi.

Hilarious.

PocketCM Contact Manager (free) WinMobile App

Yesterday I stumbled across, downloaded and installed a contact manager from PocketCM. I can honestly say I'm impressed. I didn't have high expectations, especially after what I've seen of other contact management apps (like iContacts), but this thing is really great.

I'm a designer, so the first thing that really grabbed my attention was the animation transition between screens. The transitions are thoughtful, and not so gimmicky that I feel their power consumed to functionality ratio is off balance. The current version as of this post is 0.29. From what I see comparing it to previous versions, I'm not a fan of the new default skin (text-only buttons instead of more finger friendly graphics, the dial pad is too small, etc...), so I immediately updated to a user created skin called Dark Diamond II v_0.3 (make sure to get the Omnia appropriate size). The combo is infinitely superior to Samsung's phone program and contact manager.

The PocketCM contact manager provides you with finger-friendly iPhone-style up and down scrolling, but you also get an alphabetized content bar (instead of a hard-to-use scroll bar) on the left and right (visibile as an alphabet along the edge in the default theme, invisible in some other themes... but still completely functional). Slide your finger along the left or right edge of your screen and you quickly scroll through the letters of the alphabet; just stop on the letter of the name you're looking for. This system is fantastic for finding a contact quickly and easily even if you have hundreds of contacts. Not only that, but the dial pad that shows on the page features opacity, so you can see the full screen of contacts even when you have your dial pad open.

I love that this contact manager incorporates a dial pad. I'm not going to completely ditch iDial just yet (sometimes I like having a huge dial pad that takes up the whole screen... big giant buttons are so much easier to use), but I'll definitely never use the phone's old dial pad (or contact manager) again. Maybe I'll even work up a theme that features a full screen dial pad... or maybe somebody else will, so I don't have to.

I've already used Green Button to map my phone's "call" button (the button you use to send a call) directly to PocketCM. I've also ticked the "set as default" box within the PocketCM settings, so PocketCM is my default contact program.

In addition to a great look and feel, PocketCM incorporates your SMS conversations (threaded) and all call history. You can open a contact and with a click you can quickly see all SMS history and/or call history with that person. Fantastic.

There are also features like "favorites" and "filtering." You can compile a list of favorite contacts for quick dialing, or you can filter your contacts by Company, City, Category, etc... Again: fantastic.

I highly recommend you check this application out. PocketCM touts itself as a "more finger friendly" app, and I couldn't agree more... and that's just the tip of the iceberg as to why this application is a superior contact manager and dialer.

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The developer has a couple of other apps like a calendar and a photo viewer that utilizes an interface like the iPhone's cover flow music browser. I'm not sure I'm ready to give those a shot yet, but something that I will definitely be trying out in the very near future is the keyboard app.

PocketCM Keyboard features a customizable keyboard (yes, you can change what letters, symbols, etc... are available on each screen), but more importantly it features the iPhone-like "letter magnification" that I so love. You can also skin the keyboard and set it as the default keyboard for your phone.

So more on PocketCM Keyboard soon!

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Google Sync goes live... and doesn't work at all!

Well, Google went live today with their Google Sync to sync contacts and calendars via Exchange Server. So I deleted my NuevaSync.com connection and gave it a shot.

I set everything up via the m.google.com server and... nothing! For the life of me I could not get my calendars to show up on my mobile device, so I removed the server and went back to NuevaSync.com.

Maybe it will work in the future, but for now, I see no reason to leave NuevaSync.com (which actually works).