Related
Hello everyone,
I would like to start this new thread with a different purpose than trying to explorer the latest and gratest of releases of ROMs, extensions, software and patches.
I have tested many of the releases posted here and I have yet to find one that offer a rock solid unit that can be depended on in all situations.
What I would like is to put together a package based on the best of all available that offer the highest reliability available for our device.
It's very annoying to have to reset the device, somtimes more than one time in one day because you loose GPRS connectivety or because you turn on the WiFi card at an unlucky moment and lock up the device.
It's very annoying that you press the answer button repeatedly but have trouble picking up the rining phone.
It's very annoying that you try to make a call, but the phone keeps hanging up without making the call until you reset the phone subsystem.
It's very annoying that you pick up the device to make a call only to find that for some reason the phone has been locked up for hours with the screen on and now you are out of power and far away from your charger.
It's very annoying that your screen gets garbled and you find that you are unable to get the display back to normal without resetting the device.
It's very annoying that bluetooth more or less have turned out to be a marketing item only, since we have yet to se an implementation on the device that works (and maybe we never will)
If you agree with me or/and have experienced some or probably all of the above and have some input you would like to share on what is the best release, or have software and patched that have made a difference to you, then please contribute and maybe we could one day have a reliable operating system and software pack on our PDA that we can actually trust to handle the important task of keeping us connected to the rest of the information based world 24/7.
I hope many people will participate in this thread and that we can get to a release of software that we can all feel happy about, since it seems that none of the providers have been able to accomplish this task.
Michael
Fully agreed with you. And here is my BA config:
- MDA III with 1 Gb SD (Trandcent 80x)
- ROM 1.40 & radio 1.12
- Big storage - No Extended ROM
- Excluded nearly all software from WWE 1.40 ExtROM. Install only patched
Most apps are installed to storage :lol:
- Pocket Informant 2005 (In main memory)
- Pocket breeze 5 (In main memory)
- Pocket Player 2.6
- Sound Explorer 2005
- Pocket Navigator 2.74
- Sprite backup 3.1.4
- Mobile Pocket reader 5.0
- Total Commander 2.0
- Adobe Acrobat Reader 2.0 for PPC
- Tools: Cab Installer, vxUtils, Tascal Reg. Editor TRE 0.9, calculator, stop time ...
Full backup with Sprite backup 3.1.4, excutable archive file so that I can restore to a fully loaded system righ after hard reset. The backup is also in storage.
With this config the phone is very stable. On average 1 soft reset/week, mostly due to phone problem (I work in a building with very week GSM signal).
here here!
while ive not bothered to update for exactly one year now, i truely couldn't be bothered with the rom backup, new rom, install settings, settings restore, all to find out that... oh others are still having a problem with phones hanging/not connecting, because you used bluetooth and didn't reset before using gprs. of course, silly me!
right now i'm looking for a stable basic setup, with Tomtom 5 (bt gps mouse) and gprs useage... and possibly, using them together!
it does seem experimenting is only way to do so...
What a good idea - however, after one year of updating ROMs I do not think that there is a stable system for this device after all ...
I cannot use my Qtek for business because
- I am not sure whether I will miss a call because my Qtek somehow decides not to ring
- I am never sure whether I can finish a call decently (or the devices shuts down on its own)
And I am tired of resetting the device before and after
- using WLAN
- using BT
Currently, I am on
ROM 1.42.01 GER
Radio 1.12.00
ExtROM 1.42.116 GER
which still has all the flaws mentioned above.
This is the 4th different ROM I have installed (WWE, GER). I mainly use it for storing contact info and meetings.
A
I still wan't to try.
I'm using a configuration of 1.40 and 1.12. This is OK, but the phone app is still quite unstable and the device itself will hang. Most trouble seems to be when you press a key at an unlucky split second when the unit is trying to do something else, this often leads to lockups.
Does anyone have any input regarding the version numbers to use? Especially is 1.42 or 1.31 better than 1.40? and is 1.12 better than 1.13 or vice versa?
What about patches and registry hacks, what do you consider being a vital patch or hack to improva stability dramatically ... ? If any.
I hope to get some input from you guys that install every single thing and have gained allot of input on what works and what doesn't?
Michael
This combination seems to be vert stable for Scandinavians
I have had very good results so far with this combination:
BA_DT_WWE_NorwayRetail_14000_149_11200_Ship.exe
Then install:
86794-9090_radio_upgrade_1.15.00.zip
This is so far the bes experience I have had while I had the device.
Michael
Update
After a while, I have observed that I'm still having the GPRS connect problem and I have therefore installed the:
IA_CallerID_1.20_WWE.CAB
I will update my experience in a while. So far I like this combination, except that GPRS cinnection problem. I haven't had many other problems. There has been a little "flutter" around Blue Tooth and TomTom, If you try to start TomTom with BT disabled, you sometimes seem to grid lock until you re-boot.
Extended ROMs
Is it my imagination? The higher the extended ROM version the less stabillity? It seems to me that way. The more stuff they add, the less overall stability you get. Does anyone have a different experience?
Michael
jamcow said:
here here!
while ive not bothered to update for exactly one year now, i truely couldn't be bothered with the rom backup, new rom, install settings, settings restore, all to find out that... oh others are still having a problem with phones hanging/not connecting, because you used bluetooth and didn't reset before using gprs. of course, silly me!
right now i'm looking for a stable basic setup, with Tomtom 5 (bt gps mouse) and gprs useage... and possibly, using them together!
it does seem experimenting is only way to do so...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i find that when upgrading to the new WM5 roms, that all my files, programs and settings, even contacts and messages are all still as i left them, i just put the device into bootloader and plonk into the cradle, then start upgrade 2 mins later its done, all new features and nothing that is usually backed up is changed.
The best stabillity so far
I'm still running with the configuration outlined in my previous posts. And it's pretty stable, the only problems I seem to be affected by are:
After 1 to 7 days the GPRS connection fails and I have to reset the device to get it working.
Rarely some applications and the phone gets in a bind somehow, probably by starting at the same time in an incompatible way and lock up the phone. I have to reboot the device to get out of that.
The phone part itself seems to be stable and I have no missing sound or low volume issues.
I had good bluetooth functionality, but since paring my device with my GPS I can't get the device to connect correctly to my headset. I will pair up and then when it tries to connect it fails. I'm unsure what that's about. I don't use the bluetooth headset much, so I haven't been bothered much by this, but I would ofcourse prefer if everything was working as you would expect it to!
I would upgrade my base ROM to 1.42, but my testing and experiences with that have been that it's more unstable than 1.40.
I'm even more convinced now that I'm right about the extended ROM thing, the higher the version of extended ROM to more problems (potential problems).
Any input on stability are very welcome, I would love to find a near perfect configuration where most things work 100% and all the time.
Michael
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.
It seems logout has updated his WM5 ROM.
This is based on TuMa 1.4 but with the pre-installed applications removed to speed things up a bit.
I've no idea what's changed since 5.4.01 as there's no readme/changelog and don't have time to test it right now.
hi have download and tried this rom, but stop im middel off upgrating on my BA stop over 40%
wait for more info..
I upgraded successfully to this ROM just now. I was using the old Logout rom, so I hope this is a bug fixing update.
Will post feedback when I test it out.
WM2K5 V5.4.03.HN (V5.4.02.HN only in Vietnam)
ftp://xda:[email protected]_Updates/Logout/Logout_WM2K5_5.4.03_HN.rar
New:
- RamDisk32 and change some path to RamDisk (IE temp file, Mail attd file ...)
- MS BT Stack. (BT headset didn't test)
- Add sms alert Fix
- Add Disable Cert.
- FlightMode App
- Backup
- Task manager
- SoftKeyEx
- Change reg and replace some file from Hima 2.03 (Thank Bepe, Tofclock)
- Ext_Rom autorun
- And some app from Ext_rom
EDIT MDAIIIUser
Moved file to safe place corrected link
Hi logout,
I have to say you nailed this version nicely. fastest ROM ever.
good work dude. keep it up. thanks you.
imatrix
Agreed. This is a really fast ROM.
Congratulations Logout, you just won the speed crown that used to be held by Ivan v4R2.1.
One bug I've spotted with the inbuilt taskmanager - don't use the "cpu usage" option in the menus. It hardlocks the Today screen, only a reboot returns things to normal. This is not a fault of the ROM though, and I'm otherwise really pleased with this new taskmanager, waaay more detail.
When I use Logout previous version 5.4.01HN, i tryin to use my XDa2s as a USB modem, when i choose wireless modem in program and change connection type from serial to USB like the documentation from wiki, and click start, but its shows error and I cant use my XDA2s as USB modem.
And can you teach me how to connetc internet using incoming and outgoing port on blootoh ini your newest ROM.
Thanks Mr. Logout you the best.
I am testing this ROM and, as the latest one, is really fast. The only problem I've found by now is that the phone suddenly after a soft reset refuses to start. Clicking on the antenna icon shows it is "Out of service", and there is no way to make it work again but hard-resetting the device (losing everything in the process, of course).
Maybe I'm doing something wrong? Can anybody help here?
Anyway, thanks for your work Logout.
thanks a lot
let's enjoy and debug it!!!
Great So Far!
Well, so far:
* excellent speed
* the voice speed dial works great with my Jabra 250 BT, HOWEVER it seems when I'm in a call only the audio out works on the hands free, you have to put your mouth next to the phone mic to have any chance at the conversation. Further testing pending
* active sync worked flawlessly
* Bluetooth still does not remain on during standby :-( ... the never ending curse continues!
that's all the testing I have for now, will try some more, but so far so good!
Thanks... logout ... i love u rom... Great job!
Thanks for Sharing
:evil:
hi, all
i have reflash by ba an d now everything is ok..
just like to say that the speed is fantastic on this rom... thanks
and seens to be very stable.. i will continue test and report if i find a issue.
thanks again.
great ROM, but, after soft reset, it looses the time and settings(various registry changes i make like registering resco explorer and some other apps). WMP10 behaves a little odd in beginning of any song.
But, as said above, the ROM is indeed stable and works like a charm irrespective of the bugs mentioned above
kudos to LOGOUT
thingonaspring said:
Taskmanager - don't use the "cpu usage" option in the menus.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Task manager I extract from Hima 2.03, maybe CPU USAGE work in BA not well. Download new version & copy to windows\
If use backup built-in to restore data, after restore don't press OK to reboot immediately - wait a few minute to update registry then reboot.
A couple of things that I have noticed...
First of all.. Well done... The Rom seems to be very stgable, and damn fast!
OK.. a couple of bugs... (well.. maybe just me being an idiot!)
First.. I love the way that you have set the Ext_Rom to automatically install.. however.. why have you included the rst command in the config file?? would it not be easier to leave it out, and then power off and soft reset manually?
Second.. MS BT Stack & Wireless Modem.. Works great, about 85% of the time, and then reconnects saying PPP link protocol not connected in Windows.. hmm.. a quick radio reset and then it works again. It even connects WITHOUT the Wireless modem software!! (However, you need a soft reset or to activate flight mode to switch the phone back on!
SPB pocket Plus works fine,
The camera driver seems to work better than other versions i have seen, however i cant play back files that i have previousely recorded. They just show a series of still images!!
I installed a few games and stuff as well.. BTW Netfront 3 didnt work for me!
Keep up the good work!
Greetz from Malta..
Juggles
Soryy, I found another bugs when i tryin WIFI in my class today. When I turn off, it on again, and again.
WiFi
Hi Logout
I installed your new version and started with testing. It's fast (exept PIE, but nothing new) und seems stable.
On my device, I got several problems with wireless:
Cradle-Issiue:
When my device is connected (and running) to the pc and I plug out the usb-cable, wifi won't work. Wireless is connected to my access-point, but no traffic, when trying surfin or sending/receiving.
When I power off the BA and then plug out the cable, wifi will work after powered on the BA. I use these also to prevent a soft-reset when I forgot to power off before unpluging.
Allways resuming:
When the device is powered off, while wifi was enabled, wifi will restart automaticly after power on. When wifi is disabled, it will also be restarted after the next power on.
The work-around for this: Set the "ResetOnResume" (HKLM\comm\tiacxwln1\Parms) Value to 1. For me its working.
Does anybody know, if the new ms-pushmail-service could be added on a BA?
Thanks for your work
Chris
PH20B
ROM: 5.43.HN.WWE
Radio: 1.15.00
Prot.: 1337.45
hi logout..
afther of 1 day off testing, the ongly issues i found is the wifi, afther i put im on, it stays on... . i will trie the solucion off chrischi.
and afther i take out the BA of cradel, i need to close activesync, becouse if i dont do this, afther i clic on power button, he after 1 minute, resumes im self on.
but is very stable, on morning i dont close activesysnc and put my BA on pocket. afther a few minutes i take im and a lot off programs if on i ongly need to close everything and put im again on pocket
i ongly made a soft-reset becouse off wifi..
thanks
Great rom Logout!
I it the fastest ported version, but has some bugs. When you enable speakerphone in phone mode the notification for it stays even after you ended call. I had some problems that i can not enable bluetooth and wifi , then softreset fixed this bug temporary
Crash
After trying to activate or deactivate wireless, my Qtek freezed. I had to softreset the BA:
The phone can't be activated. Also "no service" indicated, when clicking the antenna-icon - the same as bolopez wrote.
Also the Calendar, Contacts & Tasks can't be started (I synched them with the exchange-server). ActiveSync appearing, but not working.
Perhaps the problems could also be caused by activesync. When uncraddling the BA, it allways showed the icon with the two arrows in titelbar like in the state of connected with the pc.
Greetz
Chris
i upgraded to wm5 via tuma v1.3 and it's very slow compared to wm2003. tolerable i guess, but slow. I noticed it seems to have just as many wifi issues as wm2003 and honestly it doesn't look like much has changed.
There are a few nice things about it. Although, since i rely heavily on the wifi, for internet and remote dekstop, I'm thinking of going back to wm2003.
So my question is what are the main reasons you upgraded to wm5?
Hasn't it been discussed plenty-o-times?
the only thing i can find is wm5 = stable, slow and wm3 = stable, fast. But with all the problems of these custom roms i can't seem to figure out how it's more stable.
Well, the main reason of my upgrade was the persistant storage feature, really important for me!
willpower, did you extensively test WM5? I've upgraded to WM5 after having my BA for three days, and I'm not going to downgrade.
I'm with mandelbort, I'm about to go abroad for a couple of years and I may find myself far from power now and then. Getting a hard-reset when the battery died was always crazy in my mind.
The main reason why I'm staying (despite several problems) is the WAY better user interface. Simple things like notifications are light years ahead of WM2003 in terms of how you interact with them.
I started out on a Smartphone which has a great UI. Going to WM2003 was a step back, things like contacts and messaging lacked simple options like "reply", "call", "send text". Now on WM5 it's a lot more consistent and the context menus display useful options.
I agree with Fraser about the UI enchasements, but the 2 main reasons for me to upgrade to WM5 were Persistant Storage and improved stability, i have not reset my BA from more than a month (just once to install ivans latest rom)
Honestly, if it wasn't for persistant storage, I wouldn't be using WM5. But I'm the forgetful type, and it was a pain when I accidentaly let my Blue Angel run out of batteries and then had to restore my backups.
The slowness doesn't really bother me that much either. The first Blue Angel WM5 roms were much slower. The guys researching and developing editted roms are doing an excellent job.
willpower102 said:
i upgraded to wm5 via tuma v1.3 and it's very slow compared to wm2003.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tuma 1.3 is one of the slowest WM5 roms, this was fixed in 1.4 but that also contains many bugs, so either wait for 1.5 (stable + fast) or try another WM5 version like logouts or Ivans, both of which are much faster.
Why does everyone forget about ArtZ's ROMs?
because i've never heard of it , whats it like/based on?
_TB_TB_ said:
willpower, did you extensively test WM5? I've upgraded to WM5 after having my BA for three days, and I'm not going to downgrade.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Three days? Doesn't sound like you tested wm3 too extensively
Seriously, when i first asked the question i'd only had the upgrade on their for a couple of days. I've pretty well become used to the speed issue. I'm about to install and try out the other versions of the roms tonight. it's nice to know that i can look forward to an increase in speed. I have noticed things like the notifications working much better. But i still have a couple of questions if i may:
1. The wifi doesn't want to connect to a secured network until after a hard reset. If i take the enryption off the router then it will connect after a soft reset.
[baground info] I was using wm3 with radio 1.12 and having similar connection issues. Then i upgraded to radio 1.15 and had a magnificent increase in the wifi stabiliy. It would always see new connections quickly and never had a problem refreshing or switching. until tuma v1.3 wm5.
Is this a covered issue? i've read alot but haven't found exactly what i need.
2. what is this about persistant storage? From what i've gathered wm5 doesn't loose all your settings and ?more? when the battery drains? I haven't searched yet, because i have to run, but i'll read up on that when i get back.
thanks!
ArtZ's ROM: http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=48215
I use the absolutely-first version with some tweaks In the beginning I've tested Ivan's ROM, but the video recording did not work. I did not try TuMa, cause people kept complaining about its speed (waiting for 1.5, which is supposed to be fast and stable). In ArtZ's ROM everything seems to be working just fine
willpower102 - during those three days I had 2 hard-resets (with battery fully charged) :| The MMS function did not work at all (I was unable to create MMS messages), no incomming calls were signaled (0 info on the phone, as if noone tried calling) :| . With WM5 I can do/receive calls, use MMSes, use GPRS, etc
Yes, I agree that WM5 is slow comparing to 2k3SE (my friend uses it in his BA and he does not complain; I've been playing with his unit alot - he made me get myself one ), but the benefits are quite significant (for me at least - see beginning of my post).
And regarding the 'persistent storage' - nothing is lost when the battery dies NOTHING (well, except the time settings when you keep the battery dead for too long )
Updates are in BLUE
Okay, time for a long post... (and please remember this is all subjective, and personal experiences, your's may be different!)
Preamble:
I've had my BA for a couple of months now, prior to that it has always been PalmO OS devices which I loved, but I wanted a phone enabled device and the Treo was just too expensive to justify it... so ebay beckoned and £100 later I was a proud owner of an O2 XDA IIs...
I'm a fairly heavy user of my PDA's I use them for all my network admin, work documentation, mail on the move, a heavily laden calendar and everything else a busy professional with a family does... with loads, and loads, of travel!!
First thoughts:
I was, to be honest, dreading the move to M$, I have always been a promoter of opensource, Palm, and anything other than the big M, but I was pleasantly surprised... with relativley little pain I got into the WM2003SE way of things, and after a quick read of the Wiki, I cooked my own ROM and had an O2 device which worked really well... I could use my BT headset as stereo headphones or a headset, while connecting to my GPS, I had my Gmail, O2, Hotmail and other accounts set up, I could chat with Skype, GoogleTalk, MSN and ICQ, I had a WiFi sniffer, and all the other trappings as well as a GPRS connection for TomTom Traffic etc... and the media capability was cool, TCPMP worked really well, and with a 1Gig SD card I could take a couple of movies/TV episodes for the journey... in short, I no longer had to worry about taking a laptop on the road.
But that wasn't enough, I was reading about these WM5 ROMS and felt that, after being pleasantly surprised with WM2003SE, it was worth a shot... over the last few days I have tried several ROM's and they all have up/down sides... what follows is a (not so brief) summary of my experiences...
I load up my BA fairly heavily, and I had specific requirements... speed, callerid, space, preferrably A2DP, and again, speed!!
TuMa 1.4 (MS BT Stack):
Some see this as the 'Daddy' of the WM5 ports and I must admit, with one major bugbear, this is an impressive ROM... it includes a lot of stuff in the build which some might prefer was left out, but for the basic user it's helpful to have some of these...
(A Really COOL Boot Logo!!)
TotalCommander
PocketRAR
Extra Games
Cyberon Voice Dialler
GB-Soft Tweak
vBar
pShutXP
IP Utilities
Pocket FTP
SMS Name Notify
ClearVue PDF
BT Headset Today Plugin
BT Stereo Control
Device Lock Today Plugin
and other bits and bobs...
This may well be considered as a 'bloated' ROM (but remember they are all installed in ROM, so no space is taken up from your 'own' space), there is an Ext_ROM option, from SD Card, in this ROM so the memory works out like this... 60MB Storage (- whatever you set up as an Ext_ROM) and 91MB Program Memory... you also get a 32MB Temp_Drive ( I assume this is like a RAMDISK?)... available on a clean install is:
Storage: 57.62MB
Program: 72.53MB
TEMP_Drive: 31.85MB
Total: 162MB (Storage & TEMP_Disk available for app install = 89.47MB)
Out of the Box:
BT: Works very well... including A2DP, I had no problems, whatsoever with this BT Stack/Setup.
WiFi: Again no problems and no reset once I'd applied the Reg Hack.
Base OS: This is where, for me, it all falls apart... even with eveything else working like a dream, the 'Pictures & Videos' app in this build just does not work, at all! This means that the CallerID functionality is kaput... I can't live with this, I love the ability to 'see' who is calling, I have many, many numbers in the work category, and being able to put a face to a number beats having only a name any day... other than that this ROM works really well, and the additional install space means I can have all my apps installed without the 'critical' low storage warning... in addition to this another glitch I have come across is 'sticky' buttons... both the D-Pad and the hardware keyboard can result in stuck keys/repeated entries... BT Voice Dialling works with Cyberon, and even better with MS Voice Command (if you hack a little), and with the A2DP profile the MS option works through the BT headset rather than the PDA speaker,,,
Ivan V4 R3 (WidComm BT Stack):
Built as a 'clean' ROM, this one really comes with no bells or whistles, included are:
BT Headset Today Plugin
Cyberon Voice Dialler (I Think!)
and apart from the Base OS stuff, that's about it!
This is a relatively speedy ROM on first impressions, but it slows dramatically down when loaded with apps... you can setup an Ext_ROM with this one, or use the full 60MB as storage... there is no Ramdisk or Temp_Drive option so you get 60MB Storage (- whatever you set up as an Ext_ROM) and 123MB Program Memory... available on a clean install is...
Storage: 57.64MB
Program: 98.40MB
Total: 156.04MB (Storage available for app install = 57.64MB)
Out of the box:
BT: works okay, although there is no A2DP functionality,but I can connect to my headset and my GPS... (which is a big thumbs-up for me). I have experienced a few of the system restarting glitches, but not the BT not restarting/dropping out with this ROM so that's an upside.
WiFi: Connectivity is okay (typical BA signal strength) and once you apply the 'ResetOnResume' Reg hack then it works very well, I have had no dropouts or non-restarts with it at all.
Base OS: A big upside for this is the Pictures & Video, it works! This means I can use the CallerID function on the WM5 dialler, which I do, extensively!!
Logout V5.4.03 (WidComm BT Stack):
Read great reviews of this on the forum, so thought I'd give it a bash... included are (if you install the Ext_ROM):
Cyberon Voice Dial
ResInfo
Task Manager
Device Lock Today Plugin
TuMa Keyboard (I think, although it looks nicer!)
Just installed this one today... first impressions weren't very good as many of the apps which were meant to be there couldn't be found on startup... then I realised I hadn't cleaned my Registry Hive before the Flash!! The speed in this one is blinding! Compared to both of the others this one is as fast as 2003SE, again, it uses a Ramdisk so you have added space for installs, and it can also use an Ext_ROM, so you have your choice... so you get 60MB Storage (- whatever you use for Ext_ROM), 93MB Program Memory and a 32MB Ramdisk... available on a clean(ish) install (I installed the MMS/Album/Voice Dial and Resinfo Cabs) is...
Storage: 52.8MB
Program: 71.9MB
RAMDISK: 31.8MB
Total: 156.6MB (Storage available for app install = 84.6MB)
Out of the Box:
BT: What there is available works fine... but no A2DP... not experienced any restart issues yet, but it's ealry days
WiFi: Again, all seems fine
Base OS: As stated above this one is blindingly fast... so much so that I actually forget it's a ported WM5 ROM at times, the Pictures & Videos app works, so that's a biggy on the plus side for me, everything seems to be ticking along quite sweetly...
UPDATE 1: Logout ROM seems to lag for a while after installs of S/W... but it settles down again, had one occurrence of s-s-s-stuttering keyboard, but nothing major, and no 3s delay on phone ring, even without reg hack
Artz (WM5_ArtZ_upgrade_WWE_1.7.1.3400_SDCard)
Iloved this ROM at first sight, it had the Stereo Audio BT profile without any updating, it was clean, smooth and fast, but then I tried using it... I'm not sure what went wrong but it just didn't 'gel':
BT: As stated this looked good from the outside, and it did recognise both my GPS and my headset, and it would connect with both, but, andit's a huge but! It wouldn't get any services from my headset on reconnection, it wouldn't recognise my headset as stereo (even though it though it would recognise the profile?) and as vor a 'normal' BT headset, it just sent my i.Tech headset haywire, beeping, pinging and ringing constantly... I couldn't stop it!
WiFi: Again, issues with this... no matter what I did, this ROM would not reconnect to my AP after a reset or power down...
Base OS: At face value this ROM was excellent, it had all I needed to start setting up my BA, and the option for Ext_ROM from an SD card is great... but with the issues above, and the spped at which it 'slowed down' with apps added it was unworkable
Obviously I will update each of these as I continue to 'tinker'... and wait for Logout 5.4.5 or TuMa 1.5, if either of these fix the little issues I've mentioned (A2DP for Logout and P&V for TuMa) then I'll be in BA WM5 Nirvana!
In summary, heres a little overview (TuMa, Ivan, Logout):
Speed: 3, 2, 1 (And then some!)
Apps: 1, 3, 2
A2DP: Y, N, N
P&V: N, Y, Y
Voice Dial: Y*, Y, Y
Available Mem: 162/89, 156/57, 156/84
*TuMa's is the only ROM I tested with MS Voice command, so BT Mic+PDA speaker for the other two, complete headset for TuMa.
So there you have it... a 'brief' insight into a few days of WM5 experience, personally I'm going to stay with Logout's ROM, the speed is unsurpassed, it has ample space for installs, I get my CallerID due to P&V working, and if there's one thing about TuMa's ROM I could do without it's the 'free' installed apps... I don't use TtlCmd, I don't use Pocket FTP and I don't use Pocket RAR (Resco Explorer covers those 3 and then some), I use Tweaks2k2 to apply most of my hacks, so the GB-Soft Tweak is mostly redundant, and I use Wisbar instead of vBar... but it's a personal preference thing... in the end, it's up to you... (I now use Total Commander loads Thx TuMa)
I'll update this as I try other ROM's or find other benefits/problems/fixes...
*** See my other post in this thread dated 23/06/06 for other issues which I have come across with WM5...***
Logout 5.4.05
I had high hopes for this ROM, 5.4.03 was nearly there, and built on the best of TuMa and Ivan's ROM's...
Out of the Box
An incredibly fast ROM, by far the fastest in basic form compared to all the others available... there are many little tweaks in the software and add-ons included as standard which are useful, such as the SMS Alert Fix etc. It's up to you to make the Ext_ROM, but this is good for 'tweakers' as you can build it to your liking.
BT: Basically, a nightmare! I believe this uses the WidComm stack and as such I can't get the A2DP to work, yes it recognises my Headset, and yes it says there is a 'Wireless Stereo' capability, but when you try to enable that profile it says 'No Device Found'... in addition, and I'm not sure if this is due to the BT switching off fix, my device was switching on at least once every two minutes!!
WiFi: I didn't get round to test this for the reason above, and also the power up issue causing me major headaches.
Issues: I had too many issues with this ROM to detail them all, a short list would be:
No A2DP
Random Power Ons
Software Not Installing Correctly
Software Not Removing Correctly
Software Not Running (Tweaks2K2, WiFiFoFum and others)
BT Dropping Out (While Powered Up)
OS Locks Out (Random, No Common Factor)
And the speed once a few 'heavy' apps are installed deteriorates dramatically...
I have now resorted to TuMa 1.4... I know I have stated previously that I couldn't use it, but I have found a workaround to the Caller ID issue, and the BT works very well (including A2DP), with both 1.13 and 1.15 Radio ROM's, and I have not experienced one unwanted power up, and the BT has stayed on for ages regardless, in addition as long as I don't install WisBar the speed of this ROM beats all the others hands down once all my other apps are loaded. Also, I have had the BA on for 7 hours now, using bluetooth for 1 hour solid in the gym for music, making several calls, setting up my software etc and the battery is still at 75%... not bad at all in my books.
As I said earlier, bring on TuMa 1.5!
Now this is useful! Thanks for sharing and I give my thumbs up for updating the first post as you go on trying.
I'm very happy to read your review.
I'm surprised you did not mention the battery drain (false indications that your battery is dead, when in fact it is not) with TuMa 1.4
Great Work!!!!
G8 work. Good detailed description which i am sure a lot of people will appreciate. i
Logout Rom = Speaker phone icon does not disappear after call
WMP 10 crackling noise for first 30 -60 sec of song
@snapper - Can't say I noticed it, but then again, whenever I sit down for more than 30mins, my brick goes on to power anyhow...
Why does everybody forget about ArtZ's ROM? :/
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=48215
Not forgotten, just not used,,,
If you read the last couple of para's I do state that I'll get round to Artz's and update the post...
Yup, missed that (was in hurry, checked only the explicitly enumerated ROMs :| )
The Artz of ROM's
Hmm, d/l'ing this one now... expect an update over the next day ot two... encountered a few 'glitches' with the Logout ROM tday, nothing too major, but enough to get my goat!
Is there any reason why, with certain ROM's, certain apps decide my BA is a VGA device? This has cased me no end of trouble today, and I can't for the life of me, work out the reason...
Anyway, expecting good things from the Artz ROM, just read the forum a few mins ago and notice it's a 'clean' ROM with the BT stack! Could be I get my wishlist... let's just see if P&V works...
Mad props for a very well written article.
I've gone down the wm5 road the last week as well. I tried tuma 1.3, tuma 1.4, ivan, and now i'm on logout. I was wondering how extensively you tested the wifi? I have had problems with it on all the roms.
The issue happens when wifi is ON and the device shuts off after 1 minute. Then the device powers back up when i press the power button and the wifi will continually try to reconnect to the AP that it was just on but will never make a connection. Clearing the settings on the connection doesn't work and it inhibits the ability of the device to detect any new networks.
I was wondering if you had any problems like this and if resetonresume fixes this?
Also i'm a little confused about the location of the storage memory and the programs memory in the file structure of wm5. Could someone explain this or send me in the right direction? (aka. search terms or thread link)
willpower102 said:
Mad props for a very well written article.
I've gone down the wm5 road the last week as well. I tried tuma 1.3, tuma 1.4, ivan, and now i'm on logout. I was wondering how extensively you tested the wifi? I have had problems with it on all the roms.
The issue happens when wifi is ON and the device shuts off after 1 minute. Then the device powers back up when i press the power button and the wifi will continually try to reconnect to the AP that it was just on but will never make a connection. Clearing the settings on the connection doesn't work and it inhibits the ability of the device to detect any new networks.
I was wondering if you had any problems like this and if resetonresume fixes this?
Also i'm a little confused about the location of the storage memory and the programs memory in the file structure of wm5. Could someone explain this or send me in the right direction? (aka. search terms or thread link)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this problem on my BA with 03se just a couple days ago so I don't think its related to just 05. I used the vx ip utility to release and renew the IP and I believe that fixed it.. I think it has something to do with the DHCP reservation
Great guide, very handy for begginers. Should be sticked :idea:
willpower102 said:
Mad props for a very well written article.
I've gone down the wm5 road the last week as well. I tried tuma 1.3, tuma 1.4, ivan, and now i'm on logout. I was wondering how extensively you tested the wifi? I have had problems with it on all the roms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using wifi on my BA for over a wk everyday @ work & home, no such problems faced with Ivans ROM, have not tested logout, but will do that this wkend.
Guess its a hardware issue! again, thats just a guess
Yaantra
Great info!
This is great info and was very useful to me. I am on WM2003 and have not yet upgraded. With 2003, my only issues are that MS voice command won't work via the BT headset, the 80211b wireless requires a reboot to turn on and off, and the phone requires a reboot perhaps once a week. Otherwise it works well and I want my 2005 to be equal or better. I thin TuMA 1.5 will be it.
Has anyone actually got a working MMS Client primarily for Logout's new ROM
WiFi Issues...
@ will...
Yes, I noticed on first flashing that, even though I had entered the settings for my AP, when the system resumed then it would not reconect, after using the resetonresume reg hack all was well...
I also noticed this on Artz's ROM which I will be adding to my first post over the next day or two, as well as a few other points/comparisons...
All I will say at the moment is that all has not been a bed of roses in my WM5 world and backward steps may be ahead... (unless Logout 5.4.0.5 or TuMa 1.5 are here soon... and they deliver on our expectations!!)
Tuma / Logout roms
sounds to me that you will be heading back to wm2003. main reason for saying this is how you use your pda. Your demands are high (as they should be) and you use your pda very heavily (wifi, bluetooth etc) hence functionality and speed are your highest priorities.
having said all this i think and hope tuma/logouts new roms will hit the spot (i have faith).
FYI just upgraded to 1.15 radio and the sound quality is good!!!!!!
Issues, concerns and resolutions...
Well, the first post will be updated later today, but just as a heads up, I experienced BT issues with all ROM's except the TuMa 1.4, and various other 'niggles'... issues which I couldn't live with unfortunately:
BT: I like the A2DP functionality, I use GPS heavily and need them to work every time, with the other 3 ROM's I've tried I experienced various problems such as BT not reconnecting to paired devices, BT connecting but causing mayhem with my headset (in Artz' update later), crackly sound, dropouts, no phone, no voice dial, ad infinitum...
WiFi: This worked fairly well in all the ROMs, I managed to get all 4 tested to reconnect after standby/soft reset/battery change etc.
Battery: The experiences I had with battery life weren't actually that bad, yes it was heavier than 2003SE, but that's to be expected... my main issue was that on a couple of the ROM's I experienced the 'no Radio ROM' syndrome after a battery change, not major, but a pain in the butt anyway!
Usage: These are all ROM's that are designed for 'newer' machines at their hearts, and as such, as soon as you load up some heavy apps the whole system starts to drag, I cannot afford to wait over 1 minute for my PDA to boot after soft reset, or 30 secs for an app to open... and I certainly don't like it to be 'hit or miss' if an app opens when I ask it to!
Summary: I really love the WM5 interface, the smoother way that notifications are dealt with, the 'soft-menu' buttons are a godsend, the built in GPS management, and any of the other 'tweaks' MS have included make it a PDA users dream, unfortunately, at the moment it's just that, a dream... the BA is not 'Designed for Windows Mobile 5' and until TuMa, Logout, or Artz [I believe Ivan has left for a new device ] manage to get it 'right' (and major kudos to them all for their perseverence in what must be a most frustrating endeavour) I, as an everyday, heavy, PDA user will remain with WM2003SE... I'm not happy about it, but needs must
Re: Issues, concerns and resolutions...
spkr4thdd said:
Usage: These are all ROM's that are designed for 'newer' machines at their hearts
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just FYI that is incorrect, Artz and Ivan's ROMS are based on an actual BA BEAT build of WM5 that was made by microsoft, that has been patched and edited with later versions of the components, whereas TuMa and Logout's Rom are based on a Wizard ROM.
spkr4thdd said:
the BA is not 'Designed for Windows Mobile 5'
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read up, Basically every WM2003SE device has a WM5 Version made for it, however the operators in thier infinate wisdom decided that they didnt want people having WM5 on thier 'old' phones and would rather that people brought new ones.
Re: Issues, concerns and resolutions...
Midget_1990 said:
Just FYI that is incorrect, Artz and Ivan's ROMS are based on an actual BA BEAT build of WM5 that was made by microsoft, that has been patched and edited with later versions of the components, whereas TuMa and Logout's Rom are based on a Wizard ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I stand corrected... I was under the impression that all the ROM's were 'ported' from different devices, I believe that was the case originally wasn't it?
Midget_1990 said:
Read up, Basically every WM2003SE device has a WM5 Version made for it, however the operators in thier infinate wisdom decided that they didnt want people having WM5 on thier 'old' phones and would rather that people brought new ones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read my post!! WM5 wasn't released when the BA came out, so it was built around WM2003SE, the fact that a ROM became available, albeit not publicly, doesn't mean they redesigned the handset!