Database Develop

3 days expirience with WM5

For does who are intressted in my WM5 experience
I have spent my weekend upgrading my XDA IIs to WM5. With all the comments in this forum and Wicki I was able to do this in a painless and strait forward way. But after 3 days of daily usage I came to the the conclusion that WM5 on my XDA IIs is not ready now for real business use. There are too many bugs which are very disturbing if you are depending on this tool. So I have downgraded to 1.40 and restored my datas with Sprite Backup.
Anyway WM5 looks very good to me and I will be back and install it again when the time is right.
Thank you very much for all the support placed in this forum by you guys!

I've installed it about 2-3 days ago so far, and I'm loving it, I've had a few minor issues but I've managed to work around them. The installation for Windows 2005 was very simple and to the point which I liked, it didn't give me any wonder off questions like "How do I do this part?" it was all done through a nice application. I'm sticking to Windows Mobile 2005. ;-)

FACT: WM5 is maybe ready for freaks, programmers and "wannabe cool guys". But for real business it's definitely NOT ready.
I work in a very hard business and need that thing very often, and it was much better with the WM2003SE, trust me. WM2003SE is a bit faster with my PH20B1 device, but it has definitely less bugs than WM5.
But it's just fair to say, that our WM5 version is just a beta version and for nothing (money). I already have it on my device, I'm not sure to downgrade. May when I have some time. :wink:

WM5 is a love hate friendship.
What gets me the most about this is the fact that if you buy a PC with 2000 on it you can LEGALY upgrade to XP or Server 2003.
If you buy the same machine in a GERMAN version you can LEGALY change the language to what ever you want.
We have paid good wonga for a device which was shipped with a licence for the CE. Here we are stuck as we can't change the language nor version without creative means (lets not get into that).
As a communaty I would say that XDA is a great source of information and has found many ways to fix issues that are both Carrier and OS based. Many of us have spent hours fumbelling in the dark to inprove our very expensive toys and passed on this info via the forum and wiki.
We all know that BIG Brother is watching us. We all know the so called gods of Richmond have flexed thier mussels on this site.
What I just fail to understand is the simple fact that in the long run we all want to better our devices and inprove the issues of perfromance and stabilaty. Whether this is from the side of us users or the manufactures.
So Microsoft make our day and leak a newer Build of the WM5 for the BA and I promise you that we will again documnet the issues, problems, incompatabilaties, faults and general messups.
Would a controlled beta testing by a bunch of Geeks that give a damm and use the device daily not be better than some lab rats that just see if the icons are color matched?
Will I go back to 2003, think I will have to and it pisses me off big time. Would I stay with wm5, well if I could charge my device and then answer a incoming call with out haveing to reset the bugger it would help.

Well - no additional comments. I agree with you :wink:

Agree
I agree with all of your views. As Saisoku-R i am also using my XDA very heavely every day. I do not have the time to play around bugs. But anyway I think WM5 will be a great OS and I may try to upgarde in some more weeks again. Thanks to the great work of all you guys out there!
Thanks!

I agree with the argument in this thread. I use the XDA for non-business purposes, and am enjoying WM5 and its improved verstality no end. I specially love the contextual soft buttons below, the enhanced office and the improved quality of sound. But I do realize that for serious business users, it would be smarter to stick to 2003SE for the moment, and hope a more stable version of WM5 is released.

I have had the version2 with all appropriate patches installed since it was released. I am fortunate to say the I can hear/answer all incoming calls and all SMS features. I don't care much for MMS and taking pictures on low quality imaging product so I have not tested it to a great extent. The only gripe I have with WM5 is that it is slow. Much slower than I can handle compared to WM2003. Even the overclock patch by Mamaich has it's limitations.
Mamaich and Buzz has done a great service to us and I personally would like to thank them for giving me first hand experience in using WM5. Unfortunately, WM5 on a BA is still in it's infancy and I await the day when they tame it. For now, I am on my way back to 2003 and will weight my options when a mature WM5 or a Linux Stable is available.

Downgrading
i have been using the WM5 for weeks now and it is not stable, i can't use bluetooth, wireless is bad, does not ring when i am getting a call, it might ring during the last ring and stuff, so i will downgrade and stay till bluetooth and stuff is fixed. Thank you guys for making WM5 possible, it looks nice but thats all it is so far, looks. I would love to upgrade again if u guys get it stable, thank you very much.

I really wonder why there are so many different problems that some have, but other haven't got. The WLAN and BT turning itself off when the unit is suspended is common for all. But the problems you mention are rare, and I have none of them. Maybe it comes down to other, third party applications that are installed, or perhaps a bad upgrade?

no real problems
I have to say that I have had no real problems since installing wm5.
I have had no reason to soft reset and I have been using for about a week. I must say that at times it goes a bit slow but if you run the mamaich overclock again it seem to rectify for a day or so.
everything works BT, MMS, EMAIL, pocket msn, spb weather, spb clock, Agile messenger, Fax. Oh and phone with no sound issues at all.
To me it is far more stable than 2003se ever was.
Cheers gang

I have been using WM5 for about 6 days now, and it is much more stable (if slower) than 2003 was for me.
Some things don't work
1. Spb Diary
2. Spd Today Plus
Windows Media Player doesn't play Windows Media streams (32k) that TCMP can play.
Overall I am happy with WM 5, it would be nice if Microsoft could figure out how to write code that executes faster though.

I'm back on WM5... I had serious problems with WM2003SE, it softresets itself every 5-10 min. That's right, WM5 is much more stable, even the splash image doesn't nerve me, because with WM5 I don't have to softreset 1time every day :lol:
Where can I get the overclock util from mamaich ? Couldn't find it. Are there any cons concering the overclock util ? My BA is just 3 months old, I don't wanna crack it. :wink:
2 things that isn't as good as it was in WM2003SE: WLAN/BT and performance.
Oh, I found another problem: I have the german keyboard fix for the hard keyboard, and when I type emails or whatever, the buttons sometimes "hang". i.e.: I push the "E" button and it types 60 times the "E". When I press backspace, it deletes the whole text till the beginning. :?

MDAIIIUser said:
So Microsoft make our day and leak a newer Build of the WM5 for the BA and I promise you that we will again documnet the issues, problems, incompatabilaties, faults and general messups.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That´s part of HTC and not MS. MS only delivers the PB and some extensions for WM5.
So go and ask your carrier for changes, so they can order something at htc.
In WM2003 a lot of problems may have been fixed a long time before you got it, but it was to expensive to create a new version,test it and deliver it...

I had WM5 for about 2 weeks on the BA. I thought it was very stable, just WAY TO SLOW. Loading a program like Resco Explorer normally takes <1 second on WM2003 but about 5 or 6 on WM2005. Now before you think, "well that isn't that big a deal", remember everything is going slow like this. I just could not take it anymore.
That being said, I believe BUZZ, (maybe mamaich as well?) is looking into making a version without persistent memory, (basically going back to using RAM for storage and program) like the XDA2 builds.
If that was made then the speed would no longer be the issue, (though persistence would be lost )

I cannot agree with you, my PocketPlus 2.5 loads very fast, ALL games I've installed on my device are much faster with WM5 than with WM2003SE. Just if you re-activate the BA it is slower than WM2003.
And I was just sick and tired of doing almost all 2 days a softreset with WM2003SE... I don't have this issue with WM2005.
All in all, it's like MDAIIIuser said, it's a love-hate story.

I'm a network consultant and I use my BA entirely for business, which is the biggest reason I was SO happy for the work that Buzz, mamaich, ramram, cdaly1970 and the others on WM5 for the BA. Being as that my email, like my clients, is entirely through Exchange 2003 I really don't use text messaging, MSN and such. My only real problem has been with the BT, which I can live with for a while as I need the other things that do work, like my Pocket PC actually syncing to my Exchange server in the cradle, tasks syncing over the internet, contacts containg photo's, setting importance in outgoing emails, etc. I reset in the morning before I get in the car and maybe once more during the day. Yes it opens emails, Word, etc slower.... but the Outlook email and Contacts are just SO much better!
I've gone back to 2003 twice .... and now I just can't imagine going back. Just my experiences....
Steven

^^ hey, what else could I say... this is exact my situation !!! :wink:

hello all I have been using it since the gurus figure it out, and gone trough all the patches and fixes and stuff, after removing the camera stuff, I never had a problem again, and with the overclock app, it works great, its fast, reliable, get all phone calls use it for business everyday its just great, exept for the album, I cant get that to work, other than that its great! thanks to all the geniouses!

win2003 is good still
Well i have used WM5, it is slow, i thought about using hte overclock tool but i would rather not damage my device and be stuck with dead weight. I was really really upset about the bluetooth issue and not being able to use my ear peice, i bought it for a lot of money and i would prefer to use it, cause it is safer and i cannot really hold the MDAIII between my head and shoulder like a regular phone. WM5 looks really good, no doubt, but so far since i went back to 2003SE, it is fast, i have not missed any call and bluetooth is a hell lot more stable. I have happy we have WM5 but i think i will not go back to it till it is well fixed

WM5 vs WM 2003SE on O2 XDA IIs

i have read the postings on the upgrade of WM5 on the Blue Angel device..
what i would like to know is what will WM5 do for me that WM 2003SE won't... are there any real benefits.. and do all the functions still work... wifi, gprs, phone etc..
i'm using the 1.40 ROM and don't really have that many problems..
every now and then the device resets by itself.. if i open the inbox, or change the phone on/off... otherwise it seems to run great.
is there any speed increase in using WM5 ??
any benefits in wifi or GPRS and emails ??
thanks..

hi
I had the opportunity to test WM5 in my himalaya device...
It wont be so different than yours but here is my 2 cents:
-Slower than WM2003SE
like 80% of WM2003 speed
-sometimes the cellphone rings once but for the other party is the 3rd or 4th ring.
-Lot of software bugs and incompatibilities.
bugs with camera and MMS
Camera= worse than the WM2003 one
MMS= I can send but when I receive, the page is blank (no objects, sounds, pics)
I just return to WM2003SE
Yes, is ugly than WM5 but is better, bug-less
hope this helps you.
Anyway, you can try WM5 and If you dont like it, go back to WM2003SE again, well at least work for me that way.

Same 2 Me...
I just get back to 2003SE...
But I miss the look of WM5

I'm back to 2003SE too!
The only thing i miss of WM5 is the Persistance Storage.

2003 gets my vote for now
I'm back to 2003, I ran several versions of the WM5 roms from Maimach. I can say that WM5 is fun, cool and all that but I didn't see any reason to stay with it. The persistent storage thing can be solved for me by backing up my contacts and appointments to a SD card along with the main apps I use on a daily basis on my SD card. Then when I lose power, I just reload the backup of my contacts database, re-load the apps from my SD card and I'm back up and running in just a few minutes. The speed and reliability were the two main reasons I came back. I ran WM5 for at least 6 weeks so I know I gave it a fair shot. I've found that I only use my phone for a few things:
1. Email
2. Phone (duh!)
3. Mp3 player (TCPMP)
4. Limited internet (google/froogle/weather/movie times/news/etc)
5. A few games when I'm stuck in traffic. =)
None of these functions were necessarily performed better in WM5, most of them actually were quite a bit slower but I decided to live with it because I was on WM5!!!
After going back to 2003 (1.42 rom) I was SHOCKED at how much faster it was. I had gotten so used to the sluggish performance of WM5 that I had forgotten what it was like to answer the phone on the first ring, watch outlook email open immediately instead of "within a few seconds" and not have skips when I listen to mp3's. Don't get me wrong, I TRULY appreciate the work Maimach and others are doing to get wm5 on our devices but it's more of a developers toy right now than an actual OS replacement for our devices. When they get a version of WM5 that's written for the xScale processor I think we'll see a HUGE difference.
For now, I'm back to 2k3 and not dissappointed at all.

Me 2
I am also back to 2k3 three weeks ago after 1 morning running 2k5.

Re: 2003 gets my vote for now
dmelton75 said:
For now, I'm back to 2k3 and not dissappointed at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which version of ROM 2k3SE did you use...
I'm using 1.42.... Some times when someone call me, the name not show...even that number already in my phone book....
Thanks

i have used windos mobile 5 since the first version on this forum (yep with all bugs and no camera) i have tried all upgrades and versions. and i have all most satisfied with the wizard version (v2) its really more faster. but i onlgy have no problems if i dont use my BA . some times i don´t have fone, other time don´t have sms, mms. lots off crash, with gps and tomtom navigator very instability, every time i put some software in today screen, the BA crash.. etc. etc..
now i have finaly go back to 2003 (version 1.42) and use wall memory (like wb5) use the wisbar advance 2 and my Ba its great.. but i still come here to see if there is some advance in stability on the wb5 .
when the ppl off this forum "bill" a windows mobil 5 running at 95% i reflash my rom again
thanks guys for everything

What's the use of 2005

I must say after months of flashing and upgrading to a zillion new WM 2005 romz, I'm so happy i went back to 2003 SE. (no disrespect to the fine work of all developers here)
I almost forgot how fast my device could be. And do we really need all the extra applications wm 2005 has to offer? Seems most people just want a fast device that lasts 2 days on battery.
The single problem 2003 has is the bluetooth issue, which still exists in some way in all WM 2005 versions. Isn't there a way to just fix the BT issue in 2003?
grtz

let just say ppl have different preference.

do u have the latest BT stack from widcomm ie ver 3900. It works OK for me(running WM2003SE)

actually no, i don't. I just have the standard rom. (140.556 i believe) Were can i get that? and can i install it separately?

nijhof said:
I must say after months of flashing and upgrading to a zillion new WM 2005 romz, I'm so happy i went back to 2003 SE. (no disrespect to the fine work of all developers here)
I almost forgot how fast my device could be. And do we really need all the extra applications wm 2005 has to offer? Seems most people just want a fast device that lasts 2 days on battery.
The single problem 2003 has is the bluetooth issue, which still exists in some way in all WM 2005 versions. Isn't there a way to just fix the BT issue in 2003?
grtz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would agree, I have a BA with 2003 SE, a Wizard WM5 and a Prophet WM5. The BA certainly seems to run much faster.

nijhof said:
actually no, i don't. I just have the standard rom. (140.556 i believe) Were can i get that? and can i install it separately?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am talking about BT stack(and not ROM version)
You may check the FTP site for it

sorry i'm kind of a newbie, but I have bluetooth version BT-PPCE/PE 1.0.0 (www.broadcom.com) Build 3900 with ROM 140.00WWE and radio 1.1300 (1.15 did not work also)
is this the widcomm you mean?
if not, i could not locate it on the ftp site.
help is much appreciated.

for me, the most important beside having this BA as a phone is handling emails (in Vietnamese, a typical non english character set). 2K3 sucks a lot in handling this, and I still don't find any application which can substitute this UTF-8 in 2K3 outlook. With 2k5, life is much easier, but sucks in another aspect: cannot handle many emails (say - I am synchronyzing at only 1 week latest emails, while with my previous 2K3, it was 1 month without any problem).
Any suggestion to handle UTF-8 in outlook under 2k3 environment will make me coming back to 2k3 IMMEDIATELY!
Thanks for reading

I would like to see this thread filled with more info and turned into a wiki page comparing BA+2003SE vs BA+WM5...
Some things I would like to have better explained:
STORAGE - I have read that 2003SE divides its ram to be used as, well, ram, and the other part to be used as storage (like a ramdisk). So the is a backup battery to keep this ram alive if the main battery gets exhausted, but if you don't recharge for an extended time this battery could die too and lead to data loss and a hard reset.
In contrast, there would be no mode 'ramdisk' in WM5. This would solve the data loss issue, and have an impact on filesystem performance which is understandable. Well, BA+2003SE has 128MB of ram dived 50-50 by default between actual ram and storage and 96 mb of persistent storage, 40something available to the user. How does it change while using BA+WM5?
BATTERY LIFE - does it improve? if we have no more ramdisk, and thus no risk of data loss, do we have backup battery + main battery juice to chug along happily with our BAs?
PERFORMANCE - Do WM5 apps perform better than 2003/SE? Do they use more or less memory? the filesystem performance drop should affect apps differently...
STABILITY - How often do we need to soft reset with WM5? On my BA+2003SE, for example, I have to soft reset before using my GPRS. it connects once, and keeps happy until I stop using the connection for some time. After that it gets lost and I have to soft reset the machine to conect to GPRS again...

Persistent Storage
The reason I use the WM5 rom is the persistent storage.
I realize that not everyone runs their phone battery down or changes the battery (and I don't do it that often) but it's a nice not to have to do a backup everyday (ok I should but why) just because my battery might run down.
Also my BA battery would come loose at times and the phone would reset. With WM5 I only have to reset the date.
That's my major reason. Persistent storage. Otherwise WM5 brings no benefits as far as I can see.

I've been trying a week of wm2003 after using ivan and tuma (1.3, 1.4) for a month or 2.
All WM5 builds gave me these problems on-and-off in everyday use :-
Slow phone app response (answering on wakeup and dialing particularly)
Laggy UI response normally, sometimes crawls along for 30-40 seconds.
WM2003 gives me these :-
Tap-screen goes dead on wake up. Powering off then on fixes this.
Quick UI response normally, sometimes crawls along for 30-40 seconds.
Audio fails totally on the phone sometimes, reboot fixes this.
Crazy battery use compared to WM5.
(I don't have a BT headset, so I'm immune to the famous problems that brings)
To be honest I find as many, if not more problems with 2003 as with the recent WM5 releases. It's a huge credit to those brave guys hacking the rom in their spare time that their ROMs are more or less as robust as the official builds.
On balance I'd have to go for WM5 for its tight Messenger/hotmail integration, more efficient battery use and the more intuitive UI, even if it does respond slower.
Right now I'm checking regularly for the release of TuMa 1.5, at that point I'll be compelled to re-upgrade to WM5.

half your problems can be silved by using radio 1.12 or 1.13, 1.15 has a never ending list of problems with WM5. Downgrade and you will be fine

I'll copy your approach and go for 1.13 then, thanks for the help.

Windows Mobile 5 - why do it?

Hi all,
Just got myself an O2 XDA(ii). I have heard people banging on about WM5 and how I should upgrade the OS.
However, one question - why do it?
What will I gain by doing the upgrade?
Will it consume more system resources and therefore have an overhead performance?
What woes will be introduced by upgrading - will it break anything?
Is WM5 really as stable as WM3?
I hope I can get answers to these questions!!
Many thanks!

why use windows when dos works fine?

Windows is a GUI, dos is a CLI.
Both human interfaces are radically different.
The questions I posed are reasonable.

Try this..
borrow a WM5 device from someone for a day and dont use ur WM2003 device.
If u like something in that device, install WM5 on your BA and test it, try it

I thought that this was a technical website for developers - I had hoped for some slightly more in depth answers, like contrasting for example:
consumption of system resources
bugs
reliability
speed
new system features
security
power management
etc...

WM5 VS WM3
Hi,
It is a true question,
- I have just used WM5 a week. So I hope my experience will be useful for you.
Fist, the WM5 store all data on it's ROM so you won't lost you data example: instaled program in device, contacts, SMS, MMS... if it run out of energy, hard reset... But, that causes the speed is slower than official WM2003 Version 1.42.
It still remain some bugs example: sometime freeze when you turn it on, BT and wifi sometime need a softreset to turn on.
The energy consumsion is the same (waiting phone mode). Others depend on backlight, % CPU usage.
Certainly WM5 have much more feature. I really don't known what I should advice you now because I still often reset 1-2 time/day like my laptop. But I don't like thing which is the same forever expecialy softwares.
I hope you can have your answer.
Daeljan said:
I thought that this was a technical website for developers - I had hoped for some slightly more in depth answers, like contrasting for example:
consumption of system resources
bugs
reliability
speed
new system features
security
power management
etc...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thank you very much for that answer!
To be honest, I got the XDA because I need something to keep me organised time-wise, so I'm more interested in stability than eye-candy. I don't want to fall behind the times either, but I may hold out untill WM 5 matures a little more. What you said about hanging when you switch on is off-putting enough - I had heard similar things about WM5 related to connectivity, but I've never had the chance to hear about it first-hand.
If anyone else would like to add something of similar content to this thread, I'd be very happy to read about it.
Cheers.

This is xda-developers so the question of why use WM5 on BA sort of answers itself by the simple fact that M$ has not given it to us in the first place (well this could also not be true as M$ did make a copy but none of the providers gave us a rom so that we all go out and by a new WM5 Device).
So why not? In the long run its more of a matter of taste, some have gone for and stayed with the WM5 on a BA, others have gone back and others have gone and brought a REAL WM5 device.
Its up to you, if you read the threads (of which there are many) you will find reasons to stay away and reasons to install it. Like I say its sort of personal.
Oh yes DOS was and is cool, still to this day I use it.

Dude
why don't you just flash to WM5 try it out

Dude
why don't you just flash to WM5 try it out, and if you don't like it go back 2k3, makes the most sense. You seem like a smart chap i'm sure you can figure it out, no harm to the device, and you'll get all your answers bra
My two cents if you like command line and stability learn linux, bash away!

Daeljan said:
I thought that this was a technical website for developers - I had hoped for some slightly more in depth answers, like contrasting for example:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Daeljan,
Welcome to the community! I'm sorry if some of the guys answered like that, but you have to understand that this question pops in from newbies every couple days "Why shall I do it?", "What's the difference", etc... So some of us just get tired of answering!
I am sure however, that you'll find many extremely interesting, highly technical threads.
So, to answer your question: WM2K+3 vs WM5
- I believe that part of doing it was actually to try to see it could be done, I mean the operators left us with an exceptional device (the BlueAngel) without upgrade, so many of us felt "betrayed" and wanted to get the latest, and greatest despite the lack of official support for a release.
- The LATEST version of WM5 (Helmi v3.2) is much more stable that the early versions, I'm currently running it and never think about downgrading back to WM2K3. Amongst the things I find interesting:
- The OS is almost as fast as WM2K3, in fact I run all most of the new versions of software flawlessly.
- WM5 has flat memory and no sharing between the "Storage" and "Execution" spaces (Which is something you will immediately notice on your old OS), so you get more running memory for your applications.
- Because of the above, WM5 has "resilient" storage, i.e. a reset will not erase your data, that alone is a great advantage.
- Some apps that do not run anymore on WM2K3 are now accessible for our community.
- Some applications are natively available on WM5 (Like Mobile PowerPoint) for example, and are not there on WM2K3.
- Better synchronization with your desktop device (You can, for example see your contact pictures directly synchronized, whereas with WM2K3, you can't).
On the other hand, we have a few issues (That are getting fixed with every new release), like:
- Slightly higher power consumption.
- A very, very ugly bluetooth protocol stack... People are doing an amazing job there, and the problem is almost over.
- Other minor issues that you'll discover while browsing the links.
Hope this helps,
Cheers,
W.

1) click search, type an abbrevieted version of your first post in it.
2) be swamped with a massive amount of posts ABOUT THE SAME THING.
3) repeat in future.
(sorry if im being a bit harsh but i myself have awnserwed this question many times before, just search in future!)

Thank you all for your answers, and sorry for making you repeat yourselves.
I suppose that this is an obvious topic for discussion that many people naturally want to know about.
So why not post a summary of it all somewhere where people can find it without having to mine the forums? I searched the FAQ for WM5, Upgrade, Windows Mobile 5, in various combinations and nothing came up.
The bluetooth problems are a little scary though if the XDA is to be used as a GPS, connected to the antenna via bluetooth.
Anyhow, thanks again.

Hic
You can try, it is easy to downgrade, not compelex as in the instruction.
1. Change to bootloader mode, connect USB run Ship file,
2. After the instaltion procces finished, softreset your BA.
3. The first start maybe get mistake, cause ExtraRom could be changed, softreset again, your BA will run in a pure state, unhide ExtraROM-softreset, copy all files in the ExtraROM of Ship file (extract from Ship file) to the ExtraROM, you can also change ExtraRom as you want.
4. Hardreset---everything is OK.

Wzaatar
Very nice post you did there old chap, thanks. You almost got me to try it all over again.

I use the ROM in my signature and I find it great apart from the odd problem but that could be from the 50+ apps I have on it.

Go for it...
Daeljan said:
Thank you very much for that answer!
To be honest, I got the XDA because I need something to keep me organised time-wise, so I'm more interested in stability than eye-candy. I don't want to fall behind the times either, but I may hold out untill WM 5 matures a little more. What you said about hanging when you switch on is off-putting enough - I had heard similar things about WM5 related to connectivity, but I've never had the chance to hear about it first-hand.
If anyone else would like to add something of similar content to this thread, I'd be very happy to read about it.
Cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, I'll try to give you a different slant on things....
WM5 utilises persistent storage (as stated above) which means that, should you find yourself in the unfortunate position that your BA has run out of juice you'll retain all your data (even the RAMDisk contents contrary to some other peoples posts). This is not the case in WM2003SE. If you let the battery run down in WM2003SE it's adios amigo! And start all over again.
WM2003SE while quite stable, is not perfect, especially once you have several apps installed and use it aggressively. WM5, while technically only in beta for this device (as they are mostly hacked/patched/ported ROM's) can prove to be a very stable platform. I have used nearly every version of WM5 on this forum to try and find the 'right' one... and I use my BA constantly, for business purposes and satnav guidance.
Comparing the 2 OS's is like comparing Windows XP and Vista... XP is a proven system, Vista is not, so direct comparison would be unfair to either... as for performance, with the tweaks now found in the newer WM5 ROM's I find my BA responds as well, if not better, than with WM2003SE, battery consumption is a little higher but that can be resloved with any of the CPU throttling apps available...
I wholeheartedly recommend the AKU 2.6 version of Helmi's ROM. I went away on business recently with WM2003SE installed and while away flashed this version of the ROM. My reason for being back with WM2003SE prior to this was the sluggishness of my BA after a while of running WM5. During my absence the Page Pool fix reared its head and all seemed to be good in the world. While AKU3.2 is the newest version of WM5 it has inherent compatability issues with much of the software available for WM5, even Microsoft's own such as Voice Command (an app I actually make use of!). The AKU2.6 ROM doesn't have these issues, and with the paging fix does not become sluggish at all.
9 weeks on and my system has only frozen once, and that was with a 'hacked' piece of software so I don't blame the system... I have not had to reflash once, and I honestly don't remember having to soft reset... I have yet to find a WM5 compatible app which doesn't work with it, and I use it day in, day out.
In short, I jumped on the WM5 bandwagon some time agao and was very disillsusioned at one point, so much so that I returned to WM2003SE... However I missed the smoother GUI, the much better handling of popups and alerts, the tighter integration with Outlook, the better operation of ActiveSync and so forth, so I came back to the fold, and I will not be downgrading again...
If you use Push Email anything after AKU2 (or is it 2.3?) is a Godsend, and believe me, the overall feel of the OS is much smoother, it feels like a 'pocket pc', rather than a really gucci phone!!
I use my BA to play media, read newsfeeds, browse the web, check/send email, and all the other stuff my mates do on their laptops, and if you have the right settings for your provider there should be no issues with connectivity... I have A2DP set up as well so I have a stereo BT headset for music/video etc... I run TomTom, Garmin Que, OziExplorer...
Oh! And I use it as a PDA/Organiser, my life is on that brick, and believe me, it gets hammered!!
I also have an XDA Exec now and to be honest I prefer the BA... although I do love my IQ (but Smartphone is a whole different kettle of fish)!!
I hope this gratuitous plug of WM5 helps sway your decision

I personally like WM5. The issue for me, and the reason I bought the SX66 in the first place, was screen size and muscle. Alot of the affordable WM5 devices out have small screens compared to what I am used to in a PDA. I cannot afford and Jasjar (wish I could) so I looked for something with a decent screen size and processing power.
The SX66 was the only choice for me, EXACTLY because I could flash it too WM5 Haven't looked back since. I run my games (Morphgear - SNES), work with my files without having to squint too much, play my music and get phone calls. Coolest thing in the world.
I have compared it side by side with the 8125 and the windows Treo, it kept up easy enough. Out did them in some area's, lost in one (no camera)... but in the end its just as functional as the new ones.
Flash it and see!

Daeljan said:
Thank you very much for that answer!
hi Daeljan,
Just reiterating what people has said before
To be honest, I got the XDA because I need something to keep me organised time-wise, so I'm more interested in stability than eye-candy.
-- if this is what you need, then you definitely need to upgrade to latest WM5 (Helmi, Xplode - both are great). The sole idea of "persistent storage" itself is a must to upgrade. I am using IIs (Helmi's rom) and I actually found my BA is more stable than when I used 2003SE. I had this hard reset issue when I pressed the green button to receive phone call. It annoyed the hell out of me. It happened to me about 3 times... Now this problem is gone. Just imagine yourself is out of town for a business trip and suddenly our "stable 2003SE" hard reset by itself and the back up file is at home in your pc... what a bum huh? it happened to me.
I don't want to fall behind the times either, but I may hold out untill WM 5 matures a little more. What you said about hanging when you switch on is off-putting enough - I had heard similar things about WM5 related to connectivity, but I've never had the chance to hear about it first-hand.
-- This is a subjective comment from me, I think the current version of WM5 out here are good enuf. I dont think it will "mature" too much cause people WILL be busy playing with WM6. As far as I know, more and more developers make new softwares for WM5/6 and less make them for 2003.
Yes, WM5 still has some issues now, but I have not found 1 piece of software that is perfect. even 2003SE had issues. However, these are acceptable issues (for me anyway).
Just a happy user of WM5 and I would never go back to 2003SE (unless I want to sell my beloved BA, then i might have to flash it back to factory rom ).
If you want to wait, dont wait for WM5... wait for a more stable WM6.
Like other happy users, I still have hopes the geniuses from xda-dev would find a way to make WM6 work on BA... whatever solution that is...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

WM5 allows me to install apps to my storage cards - very useful! There is also the "device lock" feature which has saved me $$$ in phone bills from calls I didnt make.

Why is everyone so obsessed with windows mobile 5 and 6

Performance for a device that runs in flash memory has to be lower performance than one that runs in ram when doing any writing so as long as you do backups just in case then the other benefits are marginal. I dont see any pont in upgrading if WM6 were available for the XDA 2i. With the right configuration and software the XDA 2i is still as good as any of the new PDA Phones around now apart from the camera resolution. It has a fast processor, good helping of ram, large screen, supports 4Gb SD cards and has a large user base. Work with what it offers !

I Agree
It could not be said any better.
I Agree...

I agree I only got my XDA IIi a month or so ago in a deal for upgrading somones PC for them and they offered it in PX I tried it for a few days and found it well worth while it will run TT6 no problems and in fact picks up changes quicker than a Navman iC520 I have personally all I really want is a car harness for it and I will be sorted

if you look at all the new applications that runs under wm5 & wm6, you would change your way of thinking... have a fast look at the himalaya (that has lower specifications than our phone)...
..

Also consider the vast number of applications available for WM 2003 and the small number that are WM5 only almost all of which have 2003 versions anyway. I honestly cant see anything that only runs only on WM5 or 6 that I would miss. There are versions of new software but almost all of these dont realy offer any new functions just re written for wm5/6 big deal. Having had a go on a couple of WM 5 PPCs I cant see any great benefit and performance seems worse than the Alpine generally.Because the majority of WM users are on 2003 still software houses would be mad not to support the main market. This will change in time but like so many new software releases there are few with real innovation, maybe the IPhone in an exeption but I will wait until there is actually something worth having before I upgrade. If you always hanker after the latest model you will not be happy for long as there is always a new model round the corner.

I reason was for the new built-in Exchange email connectivity with html email, which allows for instant email with out setting an activesync of every 15 minutes or so. My Phone will get email before my Computer does.
-Polen

i have an Alpine and a Trinity and use them both for different things, so far i have only found one app that was WM5 only, and have found a similar app for the WM2003 instead. The Alpine does have a tendency to get stuck more than the Trinity but it's the work of moments to soft reset it, and it doesn't suffer with the periodic lock up on receiving a text that my Trinity does.
Not sure i could actually pick one ove the other if i had to, and i may well have to as work may be reclaiming the Trinity when its current "test and evaluation" period ends.

I'm a Himalaya user. I used WM2003 till quite recently. I'm now a 100% convinced WM6 user. In WM2003 I had to constantly use the stylus, in WM6 I use my index finger most of the time. I still have a thumb keypad to click under my Hima, I believe it also fits on Alpine. Anyone wants to buy it?