[PROJECT] SyncManager v0.3 - take control of your ActiveSync! - Touch Pro, Fuze Themes and Apps

SyncManager v0.3
Improve your ActiveSync experience!
Ever wanted to connect the phone to your PC and only have it recharge your battery?
Ever wanted the cable to route internet connection and allow you to view files without constant synchronizing?
Ever wanted the phone to disable wifi once you have ActiveSync connection?
Ever wanted the phone to just recharge and suppress cable connection when you're on wifi?
If you answered any of the question positively, you are in for a treat
SyncManager works silently on background and forces custom behaviour on your ActiveSync cable connection.
Working on program core derived from Lumos it has minimum CPU requirements and it will only go down in future versions.
Please beware the program is still VERY beta and this release is only meant for advanced users who can
1) extract files to your device without CAB installer
2) edit plain text files for configuration (you can use pword but select NO on save)
3) can work with a task manager
4) won't curse me because they had to softreset
5) won't curse me because they had to hardreset but that would have already happened to me (luckie in that matter)
*USERS THAT CAN'T DO ANY OF THE 5 THINGS ABOVE*
= > Go get a cookie and return when this app is done
Archive content:
SyncManager.exe
- main program, launch once to activate, launch again to deactivate
- if anything unexpected happens and program will disable your AS capability, just start it again to activate its failsafe
settings.txt
- you probably know this from Lumos, it's the same core
- some options do not yet work properly, I will keep updating this list with every new version but the file itself contains all definitions.
Options in this code block should work as advertised:
Code:
POLLING_INTERVAL
- daemon polling interval ms, keep this in reasonably long intervals,
there's no reason to poll too often. I use 5000 - 10000 for testing.
KILL_AS_ALWAYS
- inhibits ActiveSync once it synchronize one time, it will never synchronize again
- internet connection and file transfers are available
KILL_USB_ALWAYS
- cable connection in activesync mode will not engage, it will only recharge
- Mass storage mode is unaffected
- no connection is made, therefore no internet or transfer
- if triggered in midflight, it will drop the current AS connection
KILL_USB_ON_CONNECTED_WIFI
- triggers only when wifi is online
- cable connection in activesync mode will not engage, it will only recharge
- if triggered in midflight, it will drop the current AS connection
DISCONNECT_WIFI_WHEN_AS_CONNECTED
- once your device establishes network connection with PC, wifi is disabled
RECONNECT_WIFI_WHEN_AS_DISCONNECT
- if wifi was previously disabled by using [I]DISCONNECT_WIFI_WHEN_AS_CONNECTED[/I],
it will be re-enabled once you unplug the cable
This version is much more stable than v0.1 and it's possible to assign it after start after you thoroughly test its functionality in normal mode.
Be advised that some combinations of settings have not been tested and while it is unlikely to cause any serious problem try to avoid combinations that make no sense
Program should handle any normal scenario without problems.
WARNING1: The program was tested only on HTC Raphael and is not guaranteed to work on older devices, use at your own risk and PLEASE make a system backup first.
WARNING2: Advanced wi-fi options may not work outside Touch series, please test and report your device. Non Touch series users - backup first!
Enjoy experimenting and please recommend any changes here.
If it works well, and your device is not in the list of compatible devices, please report it.

SyncManager Changelog
Changelog:
v0.3
- same config and functionality as v0.2
- less annoying (no repetitive mesages)
- fixed the memory leak (but the memory footprint is still way too high ~719kb)
- decreased CPU usage
- changed colors to black-gold-orange
v0.2
- better ActiveSync detection
- finalized all current features to reliable state
- repaired wifi control (could cause hard-reset-serious wifi malfunction in v0.1)
- decreased file size from 349kb to 16kb!
- decreased CPU usage
- there's a slight memory leak I will fix later
v0.1
- first public release

Tested on devices:
These devices should be fully compatible:
Full functionality:
HTC Touch Diamond
HTC Touch Pro
HTC Touch HD
Samsung i900
Limited functinality:

this sounds great !!!

@nik3r
Though I'll wait for a "later" version since I depend very much on my phone and active sync YOU CAN READ MY MIND
If you answered any of the question positively, you are in for a treat
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have a typo there should say "all" not "any" - LOL
If this software is only half as good as Lumos you've got a winner.

syncmanager
I was thinking that was why the syncmanager that come with the Raphael was for lol
It's far from perfect but since it exist, it can be improved

The manager bundled with raphael is only a switcher between RNDIS and Mass Storage.
Firstly there is no such option as "recharge only", which is great if you're using only mass storage for transfers and otherwise just recharge the phone on USB cable BUT you can't leave the phone on mass storage because you need to access stuff on storage card from phone (SyncManager can actually mutate the Activesync mode to Charge Only while Mass storage works as before if you switch to it).
Secondly when activesync is active, it attempts to synchronize every 5 minutes - seriously slowing down the phone when you least need it (SyncManager can force activesync to synchronize just once and quit while leaving the cable internet connection and file transfers online).
These are just 2 of many scenarios when you may consider needing a tool like this.
And no, it can't be improved, the switching dialog is not just activated on cable connect, it appears to be hard-coded into the RNDIS and MassStorage control DLLs, that makes it quite dificult to change.

I rarely use activesync. In fact, only when I flash ROM / Radio on my phone or if I absolutely can NOT find a .cab file for on-device installation. And every time I look in my task manager, there it is, lurking. Not that it uses really any memory. I do suspect though that it is responsible for annoyances such as my phone not unmounting from computer when in disk drive mode, etc.
Feel free to call this a stupid question / request:
Will this utility be able to disable activesync all together?
From my perusing of this forum, I have seen others claiming they never use activesync either, I am not the only one

just set
KILL_USB_ALWAYS = 1
it will disable AS completely (but of course disables file transfer and networking completely)
it should work.. well it did last time I tried
but if you really want to do this permanently, you can disable 'USB connection in ActiveSync settings when it's unplugged

New version
SyncManager v0.2 has been released
* Still beta without installer.
* We need to test this on as many devices as possible
* Please report your device if it's not listed HERE and SyncManager works for you. I will add compatible devices there.
Please read function descriptins in post #1.
Changelog is in post #2.
If you dare you can create a startup entry after you test it, should be safe for Touch series at least.
Enjoy

New version
SyncManager v0.3 has been released
* fixes some annoying problems from v0.2
* more stable
* memory leak fixed
* nicer colors
Download in here

40 downloads and 0 comments? Come on, no suggestions for next versions, no non-touch phones, no bricked devices?

Tried it on a Samsung i900. So far seems to work fine (but I haven't tested it for long). I find 400kb of memory a little too much... Is it .Net?
As for sugestions how about something similar to ASyncKiller? Currently it doesn't always kill ASync... Shouldn't be too heavy. ASK only takes about 4kb...
Also having a GUI for the config of the app behaviour would be nice (and shouldn't take much).

Well I tried ASyncKiller before and it does exactly nothing on my device.
Anyways the idea of SyncManager is not to kill activesync process so it's not in your task manager. It is supposed to let your activesync connect to PC so that you have network and filetransfer capabilities but prevent periodic synchronization (every 5 minutes I believe) that can't be turned off otherwise. Or to force some special behaviour in case you use alternative network connection. Or make your PC to only recharge the device. If it was to simply kill activesync, I would have final version with 9kb RAM usage by now, it's one line of code in a loop I believe. Sync Manager is now 437 lines plus notify window and configuration module by the way.
I know that 719kb tops may be a bit much on older devices, but it's really nothing on new devices with 256+MB RAM where only thing that really matters is CPU usage. I will however do my best to decrease it cause I don't like it either (it's the darn notification window that takes so much). This is by no means a final version and as every good programmer I make it work first and optimize later
Thanks for reporting your device too.

Related

WM5 Complete waste of time - don't touch it with a bargepole

Am I the only one to fnd that WM5 is a complete waste of time and not worth upgradong for let alone buying. It is in fact a huge step back from 2003.
First of all the flaky Activesync 4 which has had minimal testing on anything approaching a real world PC. How could any developer worth anything have not tested this on a machine with half-decent secruity measures, especially moving the sync protocol to use the TCP/IP stack. TCP/IP -> firewall -doh! (not the laughable toy Windows Firewall either).
Onto the operating system itself, where do I start?
1. The new "improved" memory management???? where is the improvement. How can you class something an improvement when it slows everything down, makes usability more difficult.
2. The communications manager. ....why???? a dumb interface hiding access to needed functions, especially when you are setting up a wireless access, why put on a pointless window just to be able to "switch on" a function???
3.GPRS why hide functionality again? Why remove the connect option from the icon on the top bar. Why do I have to start an internet explorer session just to connect to GPRS?
4.Messaging. Why remove the send/receive button? now we have to press menu then navigate to the send/receive function. So much easier to use...I think not... and why is Outlook email the default, we are not all corporate clones yet
5.Contacts. Where are all the customisation funtions, why can't i arrange the display to suit me. Why can't i select more than one contact at a time, which bright spark of an MS designer (whose only experience of the real world is the trip to the coffee machine) thought it was a good idea to only select one contact at a time....
6. Uninstall programmes, doesn't work properly, stupid error message about not being able to uninstall completley, then bits being left over even in soft reset, making a hard reset inevitable. double doh!!!
7.Installation failures, for example installing MS own voice command, warns not to install on anything but main memory but then when that is selected comes up with a classic null error message, and takes up over 50% of the program memory anyway.
For those of us who haven't got time to sit and devise brilliant technical workarounds, for us who have to deal with an irate user group having this approximation of an upgrade forced upon them. WM5 is a complete waste of space.
:twisted: :evil: :x
Re: WM5 Complete waste of time - don't touch it with a barge
ColinSlater said:
Am I the only one to fnd that WM5 is a complete waste of time and not worth upgradong for let alone buying. It is in fact a huge step back from 2003.
First of all the flaky Activesync 4 which has had minimal testing on anything approaching a real world PC. How could any developer worth anything have not tested this on a machine with half-decent secruity measures, especially moving the sync protocol to use the TCP/IP stack. TCP/IP -> firewall -doh! (not the laughable toy Windows Firewall either).
Onto the operating system itself, where do I start?
1. The new "improved" memory management???? where is the improvement. How can you class something an improvement when it slows everything down, makes usability more difficult.
2. The communications manager. ....why???? a dumb interface hiding access to needed functions, especially when you are setting up a wireless access, why put on a pointless window just to be able to "switch on" a function???
3.GPRS why hide functionality again? Why remove the connect option from the icon on the top bar. Why do I have to start an internet explorer session just to connect to GPRS?
4.Messaging. Why remove the send/receive button? now we have to press menu then navigate to the send/receive function. So much easier to use...I think not... and why is Outlook email the default, we are not all corporate clones yet
5.Contacts. Where are all the customisation funtions, why can't i arrange the display to suit me. Why can't i select more than one contact at a time, which bright spark of an MS designer (whose only experience of the real world is the trip to the coffee machine) thought it was a good idea to only select one contact at a time....
6. Uninstall programmes, doesn't work properly, stupid error message about not being able to uninstall completley, then bits being left over even in soft reset, making a hard reset inevitable. double doh!!!
7.Installation failures, for example installing MS own voice command, warns not to install on anything but main memory but then when that is selected comes up with a classic null error message, and takes up over 50% of the program memory anyway.
For those of us who haven't got time to sit and devise brilliant technical workarounds, for us who have to deal with an irate user group having this approximation of an upgrade forced upon them. WM5 is a complete waste of space.
:twisted: :evil: :x
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Yes, with Persistent Storage we somehow lost more than we gained. Sure, if your battery goes down to 0, you won't lose your data, but the cost of this is a serious speed decrease. It was one of the reasons I went back to 2003SE. (Note: WM5 is slow not just on BA, but on every device; if you think it is slow because this is a leaked version, its not true...)
2-3. I don't use too much gprs/wifi
4. The loved/hated softkeys...i personally liked them, but most of the ppl hates it and somewhere i understand them too.
5. Pocket Informant rules.
6. It worked well for me..
7. Yes, i got some install problems too.
And one more thing that made me downgrade: ActiveSync 4. That sh*tty thing is:
a) Slow syncing
b) Slows down the device too
c) buggy
d) connection errors
e) slow syncing
f) have i mentioned how slow and buggy it is?...
Active sync problems
I too had problems using ActiveSync 4 Beta. Since this is a beta this is understandable.
As of yesterday, the current version of ActiveSync 4 is version 4.1 (an final version).
It can be downloaded from Microsoft via http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/downloads/activesync41.mspx
Maybe you should try that. It works much bettter (faster, more stable) for me.
Regards,
Roel.
Is that version of activesync (4) suitable for BAs running WM20003SE? And would you reccomend 'upgrading' to it?
BGJr said:
Is that version of activesync (4) suitable for BAs running WM20003SE? And would you reccomend 'upgrading' to it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
#Faster file transfer speed and photo sync via Outlook are only available for Windows Mobile 5.0-based devices. For customers using Windows Mobile 2003 or 2002-based devices, please continue using ActiveSync 3.8
#Remote PC Sync (via Wifi or LAN) has been removed due to Enterprise customer feedback around security issues. If you are using this feature on a Windows Mobile 2003-based device, please continue using ActiveSync 3.x or earlier.
##############################################
As for WM5, the only thing that I dislike the is BT Disable after powering on the BA SX66. As for slower due to the newer storage, I rather have it like WM5 than like WM2003 - period!
ActiveSync, well seems to work okay for me [now that I disable anti-virus]. Version 4.1 (Build 4841). I would expect future versions to be better and most likey buggy in different ways - thats software!
Most of the other issues are corrected with 3rd pary Applications. Since I also used these Applications in Win2003SE it's no big deal to me [since I also disliked the WM2003SE tools].
But you are correct WM5/Active Sync 4 can be a pain in the ass for sure. But I recall earlier versions of WM/Active synce being pretty crappy too. Hopefully over time WM5/Active Sync will get even better and new PDA's "designed" for WM5 will be faster with this new OS.
WM5 VS WM2003 SE
Hi all, i understand your complaints. I think the cool thing about WM5 is the way it looks, it has not been that much faster for me, and i hate the fact that i cannot use my Bluetooth headset.
I have been using WM5 for a while now and i am getting used to it but i am really thinking of going to WM2003 SE (new tmobile rom) so i can use bluetooth. But i want to also wait for a little bit to see if the fix will come soon.
With WM5 when device is suspended, and you get a call, it does not ring right away, you hear the phone ring on the second to last dial tone, so i miss lots of calls and have to call people back.
Did i mention it is slow, u press a button and wait for it to respond.
WM5 is ok, lots of bugs but i will wait a bit before going to the new T-mobile rom, besides, i don't feel like reseting and re-installing, and all the stuff again, had about 3 scares in the past already.

A stable configuration

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

First reports on the, now, GPS-enabled HTC Trinity

Did you know you can enable the GPS functionality in the new-generation Pocket PC phone, the HTC Trinity (HTC P3600) with a simple, easy, free ROM upgrade? Did you know the latest ROM upgrade offers a significantly lowered boot-in time and slightly decreased (albeit still very bad) A2DP CPU usage, more wireless icons (E for Edge) and, last but not least, SDHC compatibility? If you didn’t but would certainly enjoy the advantages of the built-in GPS unit and the other goodies of the new ROM, make sure you do the following:
download the SSPL-TRIN.zip utility linked in from the first post of this thread (note that you’ll need to register yourself in the XDA-Dev forums to be able to access the file)
download the new ROM upgrade from here (Pacific users may also want to give a try to this Chinese source to see if it’s faster)
decompress both files. From the first, transfer SSPL-TRIN.exe to your PDA and execute it there, after disconnecting your Trinity from your desktop. You’ll see the standard rainbow-color bootup screen.
now, start the large RUU_Trinity_DOPODASIA_WWE_1.23.707.6_6275_1.35.00.11_108_Ship.exe file on the desktop, press the OK / Update / Yes buttons until it gets to flashing the new ROM.
It worked for everyone so far. Note that if there is “Serial” at the bottom third of the rainbow bootloader screen of the Trinity, the desktop PC won’t likely to recognize it. Then, just reset the PDA and, after booting in, just restart SSPL-TRIN.exe. You’ll need to see “USB” for the PDA to be recognized.
Warranty issues
Note that, by upgrading, you MAY lose your warranty, depending on where you've initially purchased your Trinity from. However, as you can flash back a ROM of your operator any time (assuming they DO come out with any publicly available ROM version), this isn’t really an issue most of the time.
Also note that, as SSPL-TRIN doesn’t remove the CID lock (unlike with the older and expensive IMEI-Check service), you won’t have problems with the service folks because of the lack of the CID lock. This is also a huge advantage over the IMEI-Check method.
Advantages
I’ve already listed the major advantages of the new version; most importantly, the enabled GPS functionality. Having GPS support in your phone is just unbeatable. Note that you must use the port COM9:. Also note that you may not want to run for example iGo to find the GPS port automatically because it’ll spend a LOT of time in doing so – just give it COM9: right at the beginning, and you’re all set.
As has already been pointed out, the boot-in time has been significantly reduced between the initial HTC ROM version (1.15.405.5 dated 10/23/2006) and the this one (1.23.707.6, 02/08/2007); according to my tests, it’s 39 seconds now, as opposed to the original 45 seconds. Getting better and better (albeit still can't beat the 36 seconds of the AKU3 HTC Wizard!)
I’ve also made some serious benchmarks with the new version to see whether the problematic areas (digitizer handling, A2DP CPU usage) have been fixed. Unfortunately, they aren’t – read on to see what the problem is!
Acute problems with the HTC Trinity
The excellent XDA-Developers community, lately, has been complaining about two special issues regarding the HTC Trinity, the, in my opinion, best HTC 2.8” Pocket PC right now. Having just received a Trinity myself, I’ve thoroughly scrutinized these problems.
Touchscreen CPU usage issues
(Also see this thread)
Unfortunately, it seems all 2.8” WM5 HTC QVGA Pocket PC phones are particularly sensitive to long-pressing the touchscreen. While none of the other Pocket PC models I’ve tested (HP iPAQ 2210, HP iPAQ hx4700 running WM5, Dell Axim x51v , Fujitsu-Siemens Pocket Loox 720 and the HTC Universal) exhibited any increased CPU usage while constantly keeping the stylus down on the touchscreen, both the 2.8” WM5 HTC Wizard and the HTC Trinity did. The, otherwise, almost-zero CPU usage of gwes.exe raised, on the (non-overclocked) former, to around 17% and about 36% on the latter. This is why, for example, action games like K-Rally or Skyforce (Unlimited) will become next to unplayable when, as is recommended, played with the stylus.
This issue is the same in even the latest (Dopod) Trinity ROM version and should be addressed by HTC as soon as possible. It’s hopefully a driver issue and, therefore, can be fixed in software.
(Note that, again, different HTC phone models exhibit different level of excess CPU usage because of the problem. The new, quick Trinity suffers a lot from the bug, the older, “slow” Wizard suffers a lot less, particularly when it’s overclocked (when overclocked to 240 MHz, games like K-Rally become really enjoyable with the stylus). This, however, doesn’t mean ALL “old” (TI CPU-based) HTC phones fare much better than ALL “new” (Samsung CPU-based) HTC phones – other new, Samsung-based models may behave fat better in this respect.
I really hope HTC really soon addresses this issue as it’s almost completely renders some? several? of their models almost useless for stylus-based action gaming and unnecessarily increases the power consumption.)
A2DP CPU usage issues
Unfortunately, there is another major Achilles’ heel with all Trinity ROM’s released so far: the A2DP CPU usage.
While the built-in A2DP doesn’t consume much CPU cycles in the other HTC phones I’ve tested (for example, on the HTC Wizard, even at the original 195 MHz, it hardly exceeds 30%), the Trinity is an exception. When playing music via A2DP, the CPU usage when used in the default (mono) mode is 52.5%, in stereo mode, 49.5%. (With the original ROM version, the figures were 54% and 51%, respectively – as can be seen, the new version has slightly improved upon the situation, but it’s still much worse than with most other devices.) This is another issue HTC should look into as soon as possible, because it makes the device almost useless as an A2DP player.
(A quick note: the A2DP defaults to mono in this device. If you’re familiar with the Registry and have already read my older A2DP-related articles, you will know HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\Bluetooth\ A2DP\Settings\ UseJointStereo also introduced in my article The A2DP support & sound quality & power consumption of the Microsoft and Widcomm BT stack compared; a lot of new A2DP info. With the Trinity, it’s set to 1 by default; you’ll want to change its value to 0.
If you feel unsafe about editing the Registry, you can also use the excellent, free HTweakC tool. I highly recommend it for all Trinity, Wizard and TyTN users.)
Widcomm BT stack compliance?
Unfortunately, as was the case with the original HTC Trinity ROM, neither the Dell Axim WM5 x50/x51 / HTC Wizard nor the HTC Universal Widcomm Bluetooth stacks work with the new ROM. This is very bad news: first, the Microsoft Bluetooth stack as of AKU3 has still bad sound quality with a lot of Bluetooth stereo headphones; second, the Widcomm BT stack would consume considerably less power on the Trinity (I’d say the third of that of the current MS BT stack.)
Verdict
I’m really sorry about HTC’s leaving so bad bugs in the firm- and/or software of this model – the Pocket PC I, otherwise, recommend the most of today’s Pocket PC’s. While upgrading to the new ROM version is HIGHLY recommended for most people, you still won’t be able to play fast-paced action games and should think twice before using the built-in A2DP sound transfer.
Recommended links
My older A2DP-related articles. I also recommend the two reports I’ve posted today about the news: here and here.
Thanks for your excellent work here!
I really appreciate what you do for the Trinity communitiy!
Thanks for a great summary.... nice to have it all in one post, one of my disadvantages with the Trinity is the bad performance with xvid in coreplayer, due to the ATI graphic chip...
MP3/Audio quality
I've read that some users have experienced highly degraded audio quality after upgrading to the latest test Dopod ROM. Has this final ROM corrected this issue?
psargent said:
...MP3 quality is GREATLY degraded after upgrading to the test rom. Used to be rich with plenty of bass when plugged into my car aux input when I was using HTC rom, now it sounds like I am listening through a tin can!!! Sounds like most of the lower frequencies are not being sent out of the audio output...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
prsnow said:
I've read that some users have experienced highly degraded audio quality after upgrading to the latest test Dopod ROM. Has this final ROM corrected this issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've only checked it through (the crappy) A2DP, not via a wired headset - I couldn't notice any sound degradaton, iot sounded equally bad than with other MS BT stack A2DP implemenations.
Are you sure about SDHC being now supported? From other reports it seems that the problem with disappearing files and folders on 4GB SDHC cards is still there.
Menneisyys said:
Did you know you can enable the GPS functionality in the new-generation Pocket PC phone, the HTC Trinity (HTC P3600) with a simple, easy, free ROM upgrade? Did you know the latest ROM upgrade offers a significantly lowered boot-in time and slightly decreased (albeit still very bad) A2DP CPU usage, more wireless icons (E for Edge) and, last but not least, SDHC compatibility? If you didn’t but would certainly enjoy the advantages of the built-in GPS unit and the other goodies of the new ROM, make sure you do the following:
download the SSPL-TRIN.zip utility linked in from the first post of this thread (note that you’ll need to register yourself in the XDA-Dev forums to be able to access the file)
download the new ROM upgrade from here (Pacific users may also want to give a try to this Chinese source to see if it’s faster)
decompress both files. From the first, transfer SSPL-TRIN.exe to your PDA and execute it there, after disconnecting your Trinity from your desktop. You’ll see the standard rainbow-color bootup screen.
now, start the large RUU_Trinity_DOPODASIA_WWE_1.23.707.6_6275_1.35.00.11_108_Ship.exe file on the desktop, press the OK / Update / Yes buttons until it gets to flashing the new ROM.
It worked for everyone so far. Note that if there is “Serial” at the bottom third of the rainbow bootloader screen of the Trinity, the desktop PC won’t likely to recognize it. Then, just reset the PDA and, after booting in, just restart SSPL-TRIN.exe. You’ll need to see “USB” for the PDA to be recognized.
Warranty issues
Note that, by upgrading, you MAY lose your warranty, depending on where you've initially purchased your Trinity from. However, as you can flash back a ROM of your operator any time (assuming they DO come out with any publicly available ROM version), this isn’t really an issue most of the time.
Also note that, as SSPL-TRIN doesn’t remove the CID lock (unlike with the older and expensive IMEI-Check service), you won’t have problems with the service folks because of the lack of the CID lock. This is also a huge advantage over the IMEI-Check method.
Advantages
I’ve already listed the major advantages of the new version; most importantly, the enabled GPS functionality. Having GPS support in your phone is just unbeatable. Note that you must use the port COM9:. Also note that you may not want to run for example iGo to find the GPS port automatically because it’ll spend a LOT of time in doing so – just give it COM9: right at the beginning, and you’re all set.
As has already been pointed out, the boot-in time has been significantly reduced between the initial HTC ROM version (1.15.405.5 dated 10/23/2006) and the this one (1.23.707.6, 02/08/2007); according to my tests, it’s 39 seconds now, as opposed to the original 45 seconds. Getting better and better (albeit still can't beat the 36 seconds of the AKU3 HTC Wizard!)
I’ve also made some serious benchmarks with the new version to see whether the problematic areas (digitizer handling, A2DP CPU usage) have been fixed. Unfortunately, they aren’t – read on to see what the problem is!
Acute problems with the HTC Trinity
The excellent XDA-Developers community, lately, has been complaining about two special issues regarding the HTC Trinity, the, in my opinion, best HTC 2.8” Pocket PC right now. Having just received a Trinity myself, I’ve thoroughly scrutinized these problems.
Touchscreen CPU usage issues
(Also see this thread)
Unfortunately, it seems all 2.8” WM5 HTC QVGA Pocket PC phones are particularly sensitive to long-pressing the touchscreen. While none of the other Pocket PC models I’ve tested (HP iPAQ 2210, HP iPAQ hx4700 running WM5, Dell Axim x51v , Fujitsu-Siemens Pocket Loox 720 and the HTC Universal) exhibited any increased CPU usage while constantly keeping the stylus down on the touchscreen, both the 2.8” WM5 HTC Wizard and the HTC Trinity did. The, otherwise, almost-zero CPU usage of gwes.exe raised, on the (non-overclocked) former, to around 17% and about 36% on the latter. This is why, for example, action games like K-Rally or Skyforce (Unlimited) will become next to unplayable when, as is recommended, played with the stylus.
This issue is the same in even the latest (Dopod) Trinity ROM version and should be addressed by HTC as soon as possible. It’s hopefully a driver issue and, therefore, can be fixed in software.
(Note that, again, different HTC phone models exhibit different level of excess CPU usage because of the problem. The new, quick Trinity suffers a lot from the bug, the older, “slow” Wizard suffers a lot less, particularly when it’s overclocked (when overclocked to 240 MHz, games like K-Rally become really enjoyable with the stylus). This, however, doesn’t mean ALL “old” (TI CPU-based) HTC phones fare much better than ALL “new” (Samsung CPU-based) HTC phones – other new, Samsung-based models may behave fat better in this respect.
I really hope HTC really soon addresses this issue as it’s almost completely renders some? several? of their models almost useless for stylus-based action gaming and unnecessarily increases the power consumption.)
A2DP CPU usage issues
Unfortunately, there is another major Achilles’ heel with all Trinity ROM’s released so far: the A2DP CPU usage.
While the built-in A2DP doesn’t consume much CPU cycles in the other HTC phones I’ve tested (for example, on the HTC Wizard, even at the original 195 MHz, it hardly exceeds 30%), the Trinity is an exception. When playing music via A2DP, the CPU usage when used in the default (mono) mode is 52.5%, in stereo mode, 49.5%. (With the original ROM version, the figures were 54% and 51%, respectively – as can be seen, the new version has slightly improved upon the situation, but it’s still much worse than with most other devices.) This is another issue HTC should look into as soon as possible, because it makes the device almost useless as an A2DP player.
(A quick note: the A2DP defaults to mono in this device. If you’re familiar with the Registry and have already read my older A2DP-related articles, you will know HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\Bluetooth\ A2DP\Settings\ UseJointStereo also introduced in my article The A2DP support & sound quality & power consumption of the Microsoft and Widcomm BT stack compared; a lot of new A2DP info. With the Trinity, it’s set to 1 by default; you’ll want to change its value to 0.
If you feel unsafe about editing the Registry, you can also use the excellent, free HTweakC tool. I highly recommend it for all Trinity, Wizard and TyTN users.)
Widcomm BT stack compliance?
Unfortunately, as was the case with the original HTC Trinity ROM, neither the Dell Axim WM5 x50/x51 / HTC Wizard nor the HTC Universal Widcomm Bluetooth stacks work with the new ROM. This is very bad news: first, the Microsoft Bluetooth stack as of AKU3 has still bad sound quality with a lot of Bluetooth stereo headphones; second, the Widcomm BT stack would consume considerably less power on the Trinity (I’d say the third of that of the current MS BT stack.)
Verdict
I’m really sorry about HTC’s leaving so bad bugs in the firm- and/or software of this model – the Pocket PC I, otherwise, recommend the most of today’s Pocket PC’s. While upgrading to the new ROM version is HIGHLY recommended for most people, you still won’t be able to play fast-paced action games and should think twice before using the built-in A2DP sound transfer.
Recommended links
My older A2DP-related articles. I also recommend the two reports I’ve posted today about the news: here and here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I upgreaded as instructed and put the new rom. My problem is I see no GPS icon in the Systems folder or anywhere for that matter to set it to Com 9. Furthermore, when I installed Tomtom it said i have no gps on my Trinity Can you help advise where my GPS icon is
Another thing that is bugging the hell out of me is the network configuration. how can I get it rid of it completely so that everytime i soft reset, i don't get that annoying message?
Second, please advise, if I remove My Connect, does it make a difference to the device? I live in Canada and do not own a dopod but a HTC unbranded Trinity instead.
Third, What is the CAM program. What does it do?
Many thanks for any help you can offer and best regards,
Gilbert
Gilbert said:
I upgreaded as instructed and put the new rom. My problem is I see no GPS icon in the Systems folder or anywhere for that matter to set it to Com 9. Furthermore, when I installed Tomtom it said i have no gps on my Trinity Can you help advise where my GPS icon is
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hold - one thing at a time
1) Once you have upgraded the ROM you have to configure TomTom to use the internal GPS, so start TomTom, go to "Change Preferences", go to "Show GPS Status" , then "Configure" to choose your new GPS. Select "Other NMEA GPS Receiver", baud rate = 115200, "GPS on COM9".
2) You will not see any "GPS setting" anywhere unless you hack the Windows Registry. You need a registry editor to do that. Go in HKLM->ControlPanel->GPS Settings: get rid of any DWORD there and make sure to add a new DWORD with the following values: "Group"/0x02. Once done SoftReset and you will have your GPS icon into Settings->Connections.
3) BTW, if you do that registry hack you will be able to map the GPS to other COM ports as well.
Hope this will help!
Anubis
anonimo said:
Are you sure about SDHC being now supported? From other reports it seems that the problem with disappearing files and folders on 4GB SDHC cards is still there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes; unfortunately my 4GB Transcend SDHC card still behaves in this way with the new rom.
Anubis1965 said:
Hold - one thing at a time
1) Once you have upgraded the ROM you have to configure TomTom to use the internal GPS, so start TomTom, go to "Change Preferences", go to "Show GPS Status" , then "Configure" to choose your new GPS. Select "Other NMEA GPS Receiver", baud rate = 115200, "GPS on COM9".
2) You will not see any "GPS setting" anywhere unless you hack the Windows Registry. You need a registry editor to do that. Go in HKLM->ControlPanel->GPS Settings: get rid of any DWORD there and make sure to add a new DWORD with the following values: "Group"/0x02. Once done SoftReset and you will have your GPS icon into Settings->Connections.
3) BTW, if you do that registry hack you will be able to map the GPS to other COM ports as well.
Hope this will help!
Anubis
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got:
GPS program port: COM9
GPS hardware port: COM6 (randomly chosen) with Baud rate 115200 (what does Baud rate mean?)
Access: automatically
In TomTom I use COM9, but when I switch the program with the hardware port, TomTom tells me that the GPS still has port COM9.. weird.
Anyways, is this correct? Thanks in advance!
BTW: this goes a looot quicker if you choose the other NMEA GPS Receiver than if you use "other external bluetooth" thanks!
BTW2: you can use "http://www2r.biglobe.ne.jp/~tascal/download/pocketpc/tre_e.htm to edit the register.
Thanks Menneisyys for the summary.
Regarding the cpu consumption I am not so sure everything is HTC related.
can you give me a device which is performing very well with this samsung cpu?
it is fast: 400 Mhz. ok, on paper. but in real life it needs a lot of cycles to do things...
40% if you press the screen.
85% for 320*240 simple divX with tcpmp (more than the OMAP 200 from Wizard)
55% to encode A2DP stream.
and it gets on and on, and does not improve with new ROMs.
I start to wonder why nobody is blaming samsung there. Is there proof somewhere of its effectiveness?
I have HTC-P3600 purchased in US. So far I have no problem using Cingular service and I like the phone.
But why I am posting. I want to update to the latest ROM with the GPS activated.
When I run SSPL-TRIN I get only "SERIAL" in third line.
I have tried three times and same result. I there a something else I need to change to get "USB" activated.
Thanks in advance Peter Simek
psimek said:
I have HTC-P3600 purchased in US. So far I have no problem using Cingular service and I like the phone.
But why I am posting. I want to update to the latest ROM with the GPS activated.
When I run SSPL-TRIN I get only "SERIAL" in third line.
I have tried three times and same result. I there a something else I need to change to get "USB" activated.
Thanks in advance Peter Simek
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to have it connected to USB when you run SSPL-TRIN.exe.
mdacfan said:
@chenchon
my way:
1. extract RUU_Trinity_DOPODASIA_WWE_1.23.707.6_6275_1.35.00. 11_108_Ship.exe with WinRAR to XP PC (NewFolder)
2. connect phone to windows XP PC (activesync status green)
3. copy the SSPL-trin to the device ie. \temp (memory) - not storage card
4. run the SSPL-trin (Trinity Display must then show "USB" at the bottom) - wait until XP detects a new USB device
5. run from the extracted file on XP PC (NewFolder) the file "ROMUpdateUtility.exe"
6. Pass all Upgrade questions and wait about 10 Minutes to finish the upgrade from 0% to 100%
7. Softreset Trinity after the successfull upgrade
No SuperCID required if you use SSPL !!
good luck,
Gerhard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Worked well for me.
Tomtom 6.03 freeze
hi,
does anyone with tomtom 6.03 as any problem of freezing while u r navigating?
i think the problem was when i selected the gps in tomtom config... i selected "use own gps" (the built in gps) but now i choosed another cable gps nmea on com9 and with 115200. Tomorrow i'll feedback
another experiences with tomtom 6.03 are welcome.
best regards,
aprt
Lost Voice Dialing
Hi All,
I have done the ROM upgrade, but seem to have lost voice dialing. Is this something available only on the original HTC ROM? Can I download this seperately?
Thanks
Small Problem
I have updated both the test and final rom,I have noticed a strange problem. As I am using a third party keyboard because of the arabic language i can not switch the keyboard to any installed one rather than the preinstalled SIPs.
I tried two different arabic software plus Resco keyboard all the same. som times it works and many other times it does not.
Any Idea?
I started noticing problems too.
When I soft reset, Pocket Informant always start automatically and hangs the phone.
Before that, the Network guide started and hung, every reboot, so that I had to hard reset.
It works for about one hour, regardless of which programs I install.
GPS works though..
NOT Blaming Samsung
meroupow said:
Thanks Menneisyys for the summary.
Regarding the cpu consumption I am not so sure everything is HTC related.
can you give me a device which is performing very well with this samsung cpu?
it is fast: 400 Mhz. ok, on paper. but in real life it needs a lot of cycles to do things...
40% if you press the screen.
85% for 320*240 simple divX with tcpmp (more than the OMAP 200 from Wizard)
55% to encode A2DP stream.
and it gets on and on, and does not improve with new ROMs.
I start to wonder why nobody is blaming samsung there. Is there proof somewhere of its effectiveness?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the case of TCPMP it is not anything todo with solely the Samsung chip itself but more todo with the Imageon Chip being not properly utilised in the ROMS and also TCPMP not being able to make use of the Imageon with the Samsung/ATI combo.
I did a small test once where I had one video that didn't cause screen flicker with the Imageon being used in TCPMP and I got a MASSIVE improvement - posted the benchmark results in another post I will look for them.
The A2DP Stream in my opinion is more todo with the Bluetooth Stack i.e if it were WIDCOMM then we woudn't have these problems.
As for the screen press I am hoping it is down to the Samsung Chip and ROM combination as a pose to just the chip being flawed.
And yes they should put more effort in tweaking these flaws and provide fixes for software and ROMS faster - but these are money making corporations that like to take shortcuts.
The joys of early adoption!
Hello,
Everyone seems to talk about 115200 baud but in Tomtom the highest you get is 57k+ for baud speed. I read once that it should remain on 9600 baud to work well. Where do you all see the 115200 baud? is it through the hack of the registry to enable the GPS icon? Hope someone can help me here.
Best regards,
Gilbert

Disable WMDC (ActiveSync in Vista) autostart

Hi,
I was wondering if it's possible to disable auto starting the Windows Mobile Device Center automatically starting when you connect the USB cable. I don't use MS way of syncing, all I need from the connection is file transfer with retaining device access to the SD card, and internet connection routed from my PC to PPC. Technically I just need it to update my RSS feeds once it's on cable and to have access to files.
I was ultimatedly able to disable WMDC by renaming C:\Windows\WindowsMobile\wmdcBase.exe to something else. Raphael synced much faster, I was almost immediatelly able to access files on the device. The problem is I lost internet access on the PPC by doing this.
Sooo the ultimate question is:
Is there a way how not to start the annoying green ugly thing that takes up whole screen when you most need it clean and only thing it does is slowing your initial file sync, BUT retain the network feature as well.
Or is there a way to make the Device Center start completely hidden at least?
I just hate when Microsoft tries to make an app idiot-proof and in the same time makes life miserable for the advanced users...

Active sync alternative program?

Heya guys, what would you suggest in terms of a program that is a good alternative to active sync. i'm getting really really pissed off with active sync claiming that some of my stuff is not matching and it resyncs and wipes all my special ringtones as well as my contacts in my Peoples tab in tf3d.
I share your frustration but have found a sort-of solution. When you get the error "There has been change made on your server that requires re-syncronize all items on your device" I do a hard reset. You will loose all your changes since the last sync, plus you have to reload everything.
Many may dissagree with me on this, but here is how I have deleted this problem.
1) Hard Reset
2) Set Owner Name
3) Connect to PC and Sync. Do not disconnect from PC.
4) Open Active Sync or WMDC and change your Sync content to your preferences and let it sync again.
5) disconnect from PC and turn off "Advanced Network Conection or Enable faster data synchronization" (depends on WM version) on the phone: Start>Settings>Connections>USB to PC
6) Soft reset, and you are good to go.
7) reload all apps.
Personally I do not reload from a back-up as I find the problem can reappear. Others may find this overkill, but this problem bugs me so much, I am wiling to go to consderable effort to get rid of it for good. If you ever turn on the fast/advanced connection again, the problem will resurface.
I think the problem has to do with the high speed data transfer. Probably a polling timing or something. I think the PC or Phone is looking for a response and not getting it fast enough which causes the full resync. By disabling the advanced or faster USB connection, it works fine for me.
Other uses have also reported that syncing via BT eliminates the problem,but I have never tried this.
I used to get this about every 4-5 weeks, but since I maded the changes described above, I have not had the problem for over a year unless I forget to turn off the advanced/fast usb sync after a ROM flash.
Hopefully this will work for you as well. It is frustrating when you cannot trust the phone to keep your data entered between syncs.
Doug M.
I would suggest using PIMBackup, it runs from your phone and saves everything or just the items that you choose onto your storage card. It is way faster saving and retrieving your contacts than active sync, It also allows you to restore without a computer so if you mess up your phone and have to do a hard reset when you are away from your computer you can get your contacts back without going out of your way to get to a computer

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