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I'm looking for a simple application that will run in the background, and send the current GSM/UTMS cell-id to a web server on a periodic basis (via HTTP GET).
Basically a program like cellGPS (http://www.vikinggames.hu/product.php?id=11) but for Windows Mobile. I don't really care about GPS info, since that just sucks power (and doesn't work indoors).
What I'm trying to do here is enable my home automation system to know where I am, without sucking my phone's battery to death (especially since GPS won't work indoors). GSM/UTMS cell-id is 'close enough' for me.
The application would just hit a webserver on my home machine with the current cell-id (http://webserver.com/receiver.php?cellid=4233-23) on a definable period. My own app on my webserver would record that data into a database. I can then go back and use that data to let my home auto system know "hey, Justin's almost home, turn on the HVAC, lights, etc".
It needs to be able to run in the background, no annoying icons on the screen, and start up on phone reset.
I figure since it's just sending the cell-id (which is always available), it would be rather efficient and not use much battery power (especially since I usually leave Activesync on "instant" so the data connection is usually up anyway).
Other extensions to this would let my server update twitter/facebook/etc with "Justin's at ... home/work/etc now.".
Any ideas?
wow this would be a great aplication
Two programs come to mind.... Comm Mgr Pro and rk-Location Switch.
I have not really played with these two programs much, but they do Cell tower based switching and might include some of the other features you require (but I do have to admit that they do not have all the features you want).
Dale Lane posted some c# code to programmatically get the cellID of the current tower.
The rest is pretty simple - a place to enter the url and then periodically issue HTTP GET requests.
I guess I could try to cook up something when I have some time.
Well I went and coded a sample app anyway. It just reads the current tower info at the specified interval. Is this the information that you require?
Just extract the zip to the device and run the .exe.
Note: It requires .NET Compact Framework 2.0
this sounds pretty cool. remember that cellid information is good for triangulating to about 1000 meters. you can get "justin's on his way home, turn on the AC" but probably not "justin's in the shower, begin youtube upload"
newb5000 said:
Well I went and coded a sample app anyway. It just reads the current tower info at the specified interval. Is this the information that you require?
Just extract the zip to the device and run the .exe.
Note: It requires .NET Compact Framework 2.0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Works great! even though this topic was supposed to be on logging it to a web database, I am not too keen on that since data charges are expensive. I would be more interested in an internal database where I can simply attach a "friendly name", say the location of the site (ie. corner of main and first st.) to some cell sites (or a group of sites) in the internal database. Similar to what nicetrack used to do on previous WM versions. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=320055
newb5000 said:
Well I went and coded a sample app anyway. It just reads the current tower info at the specified interval. Is this the information that you require?
Just extract the zip to the device and run the .exe.
Note: It requires .NET Compact Framework 2.0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will check as soon as I get my Kaiser back -- I managed to shatter the screen over the weekend. doh. This sounds EXACTLY like what I'm looking for.
Someone else mentioned data charges, which I don't care about, since I'm on unlimited data (AT&T won't even sell the things without the unlimited data plan now).
Actually, I still have my older TyTN somewhere. Let me dig it up and give this a try.
jasonchan said:
Works great! even though this topic was supposed to be on logging it to a web database, I am not too keen on that since data charges are expensive. I would be more interested in an internal database where I can simply attach a "friendly name", say the location of the site (ie. corner of main and first st.) to some cell sites (or a group of sites) in the internal database. Similar to what nicetrack used to do on previous WM versions. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=320055
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's a program that sort of does this now, called Trackme -- but it only does GPS as far as I know. Adding DB code would probably add a whole lot of complexity (and CPU power).
I'm sure it's doable, though, but I would hope it wouldn't be in this app. I have enough crap running in the background eating precious CPU cycles.
I wish I had a Windows machine to do development on. I'm Mac/Linux only, and don't have access to Visual Studio anymore.. I wrote an app to do this for the iPhone, but it can't run in the background due to SDK limitations. It's annoying that Microsoft hasn't made the WinMo SDK work on other platforms (although I guess Apple is doing that with the iPhone, so I don't have much room to talk).
The "goal" of this desired application is to be as lightweight as possible and offload all processing to a real computer. My phone doesn't need to do all of the work.
I can't imagine this would use much bandwidth, anyway. Even if you updated every five minutes, that's far less than 50kb per day, assuming a 64 byte URL + all HTTP and TCP headers. It'd add up to around 1.5 megabytes a month. I'd bet it'd be closer to 800-900kb/month. That's nothing compared to email/etc traffic. I would hope EU/etc carriers aren't so bad that 1.5mb a month would put you over a limit...
jasonchan said:
Works great! even though this topic was supposed to be on logging it to a web database, I am not too keen on that since data charges are expensive. I would be more interested in an internal database where I can simply attach a "friendly name", say the location of the site (ie. corner of main and first st.) to some cell sites (or a group of sites) in the internal database. Similar to what nicetrack used to do on previous WM versions. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=320055
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tested it yesterday when driving home from work. Tower changes were very frequent during my drive home. But lets say that a HTTP GET request (depending on the length of the URL) is on average 100 bytes. Lets say in a day you switch towers 200 times. That would result in just under 20 kilobytes of data usage in a day. I actually calculated this for myself because I also initially thought that one would get a large bill at the end of the month for data usage, but it would seem that this isn't the case.
One could also limit the web requests to only "bookmarked" Cell IDs.
I like the idea of the original poster even though I cannot see how I could use it personally, since I do not have a home automation system.
Regarding more friendly names - I remember that I had set it up on one of my first phones to receive cell broadcast messages from the towers which included the tower friendly name. Haven't tried since, though.
The data that is made available in Windows Mobile is the following:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa921533.aspx
Don't see any friendly names of towers though
I thought of adding a "bookmark" button so that one can bookmark the current Cell ID (and possibly assign a friendly name) but this would be very awkward while driving (and the frequent tower changes).
Google has a database with Cell IDs and uses them in Google Maps but good luck getting a copy of their database
norelidd said:
this sounds pretty cool. remember that cellid information is good for triangulating to about 1000 meters. you can get "justin's on his way home, turn on the AC" but probably not "justin's in the shower, begin youtube upload"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hah!
I only need 1000 meter resolution. GPS is definitely more accurate, but it would kill the battery in 6 hours flat.
Maybe when the third generation of GPS sats start going up in a few years, GPS receivers will use less power (since the sats will be much more powerful and supposedly will reach inside most buildings).. but that's 2015 at the earliest. Who knows what HTC/etc will come out with by then.
jmat said:
I will check as soon as I get my Kaiser back -- I managed to shatter the screen over the weekend. doh. This sounds EXACTLY like what I'm looking for.
Someone else mentioned data charges, which I don't care about, since I'm on unlimited data (AT&T won't even sell the things without the unlimited data plan now).
Actually, I still have my older TyTN somewhere. Let me dig it up and give this a try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only saw your post after I posted mine.
There aren't any web requests yet though, I just wanted to confirm that I was on the right track (through you testing it ). I'm willing to give it a bash because I'll learn something through the process.
Some questions arise:
Should the app dial a connection automatically, or just not send out requests if there is no active connection?
Still need to figure out how to get it to run in the background properly
I'm wondering how it should function if the phone is in standby
newb5000 said:
I tested it yesterday when driving home from work. Tower changes were very frequent during my drive home. But lets say that a HTTP GET request (depending on the length of the URL) is on average 100 bytes. Lets say in a day you switch towers 200 times. That would result in just under 20 kilobytes of data usage in a day. I actually calculated this for myself because I also initially thought that one would get a large bill at the end of the month for data usage, but it would seem that this isn't the case.
One could also limit the web requests to only "bookmarked" Cell IDs.
I like the idea of the original poster even though I cannot see how I could use it personally, since I do not have a home automation system.
Regarding more friendly names - I remember that I had set it up on one of my first phones to receive cell broadcast messages from the towers which included the tower friendly name. Haven't tried since, though.
The data that is made available in Windows Mobile is the following:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa921533.aspx
Don't see any friendly names of towers though
I thought of adding a "bookmark" button so that one can bookmark the current Cell ID (and possibly assign a friendly name) but this would be very awkward while driving (and the frequent tower changes).
Google has a database with Cell IDs and uses them in Google Maps but good luck getting a copy of their database
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tower switching will happen quite fast in big populated areas. That's why I was just going for every few minutes and not "as the tower changes".
It's too bad the towers don't "advertise" their GPS coordinates along with the other tower data. It seems like that would have been really easy to stick in the UMTS standard.
I'm surprised Google hasn't open sourced that database, or at least made an API library for it. Afterall, their users are the ones who discovered it all, not them -- Google Maps just records GPS coordinates + cell IDs and uploads them when you run the Google Maps location. I've seen that app upload several hundred kb during some runs.
Going back to the 'post on switch' thing. That might be a neat option -- to send a GET on every tower switch.. I'm going back and forth in my head on if that's a good idea or not. It'd be interesting to see how that hits battery life, though. (Since I have ActiveSync with "always push" enabled, I bet it doesn't make much of a difference).
First beta
Hi guys,
Apologies for the delay - I've been terribly busy.
I managed to create the app so it's ready for testing.
Attached is the cab file. The app consists of two components - the configuration utility and the service. The service is responsible for making the web requests and is launched at startup. You can use the configuration utility to adjust the settings as well as monitor what the service is doing.
The service will automatically dial your data connection when a web update is necessary, but it can also work via WiFi - although I don't see why you would use it via WiFi. It also supports websites that require Windows Authentication (Kerberos or NTLM should work, but do test it).
I think the app should be pretty self explanatory, but please do post if you have any questions or experience any problems.
FIY - the last error (if there is one) is stored in a log file located in:
Program Files\CellID Updater\cidlog.txt
Hope you like it!
EDIT: An update is available on the next page. I'm leaving this attachment as is just for reference purposes, but you should download the one on the next page.
CommMgrPro is creating a very big database automatically with operatorID-Cell/LAC-GPS coords sent (automatically) by the users (they can track their movements in realtime with googlemaps). Obviously GPS coords are only sent by GPS enabled devices. You can change the URL where the data is posted (HTTP GET) to point your site and I can give you a free license. Currently 3000 cells registed with gps coords and growing as the users moves....
Dani
newb5000 said:
Hi guys,
Apologies for the delay - I've been terribly busy.
I managed to create the app so it's ready for testing.
Attached is the cab file. The app consists of two components - the configuration utility and the service. The service is responsible for making the web requests and is launched at startup. You can use the configuration utility to adjust the settings as well as monitor what the service is doing.
The service will automatically dial your data connection when a web update is necessary, but it can also work via WiFi - although I don't see why you would use it via WiFi. It also supports websites that require Windows Authentication (Kerberos or NTLM should work, but do test it).
I think the app should be pretty self explanatory, but please do post if you have any questions or experience any problems.
FIY - the last error (if there is one) is stored in a log file located in:
Program Files\CellID Updater\cidlog.txt
Hope you like it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey all - my first post.
I must say, it's outstandingly honorable that you share your skills with us. So good.. (haven't installed the tool yet, hope it's no virus or tv-on/off-switcher)
One question @jmat: How do you process the cellid once it is http'd to your server? Is there a webservice that maps cell-ids to gps?
Frouk
frouk said:
I must say, it's outstandingly honorable that you share your skills with us. So good.. (haven't installed the tool yet, hope it's no virus or tv-on/off-switcher)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks and no, it's not a virus / trojan / <insert something bad here>
One thing I forgot to mention is that if the device goes into standby, the service will be "paused". Then, when the device comes out of standby, the service will resume where it left off. I'm not sure whether this is acceptable behaviour for the app, but I considered the alternative - preventing the device from going into standby will drain the battery very quickly. So you would choose when the service should send out updates by taking your device out of standby.
Another thing: you can configure how often the service checks for a new tower and whether it should send out an update if the tower is different or the same since the last check.
I'm still wondering how I can put this app to good use, personally. I don't have a home automation system and I don't need to be tracked by anyone at home. Any ideas on what other uses this app could have?
newb5000 said:
Thanks and no, it's not a virus / trojan / <insert something bad here>
One thing I forgot to mention is that if the device goes into standby, the service will be "paused". Then, when the device comes out of standby, the service will resume where it left off. I'm not sure whether this is acceptable behaviour for the app, but I considered the alternative - preventing the device from going into standby will drain the battery very quickly. So you would choose when the service should send out updates by taking your device out of standby.
Another thing: you can configure how often the service checks for a new tower and whether it should send out an update if the tower is different or the same since the last check.
I'm still wondering how I can put this app to good use, personally. I don't have a home automation system and I don't need to be tracked by anyone at home. Any ideas on what other uses this app could have?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The configuration is just perfect - that way one can decide when to update just by letting the device go to sleep or not. Another thing: am I right that this app will never be as accurate as Google maps "my location"? It uses triangular approximation with more than one cell-id, right? I experienced it to be very accurate, even being on the train it exactly locates my position, amazing.
I personally intend to use such kind of app for reality/virtuality games where website visitors can track something or someone on the web and then go outside into the real world and do something or meet someone.
But jmats' idea is also amazing.
Cell name
Years ago I had Ericsson R320 (BTW great phone). It showed cell name e.g. "city centre" on the screen besides op name. I dug up my eric from the closet and this option still works. It would be great to have this as a today plugin Do you know something like that?
Handy Use of App
newb5000 said:
I'm still wondering how I can put this app to good use, personally. I don't have a home automation system and I don't need to be tracked by anyone at home. Any ideas on what other uses this app could have?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you could mount a web server in your home pc (pretty simple) and track your device if it gets lost or stolen... It would be nice to recover your $700dlls phone right.
I have seen few apps that are capable of doing this over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB. But I am more interested in something that can do it over 3G. At work my desktop PC is not on a wireless network; there is Wi-Fi but on a spate subnet with no easy access to the main network. I do have Bluetooth / USB on my main desktop but I work from different PCs therefore its not very convenient for me to pair/connect it each time I go to a different PC. And I don’t use Wi-Fi at home either.
Then there are other benifits to using 3G like I can still access the phone even if I forget it somewhere (i.e at home in the car etc). The new HTC Sense services for HTC Desire HD will have remote access to SMS, call and location information , which is exactly what I'm after. But for now SMS alone is enough.
I came across one App called SMS2PC which can connect to a computer over 3G. But from what I gathered, with that the phone connects to the PC and pushes notifications, not the other way around. This is not going to work for me because at work I am behind a corporate firewall, so my phone cannot access the desktop.
Any other solutions ??
EDIT : i know SMS backup can backup text messages to google, but I can't reply from there. So that wont help much. And I'm not in US, therefore I dont have access to Google Voice service, so replying through that is not going to work either.
Is Google Voice avilable to you (specifically, you will need a Google Voice phone number)? If so, that will be my recommendation. In addition to free SMS and visual voice mail, you can use your Google Voice anywhere that you have access to a web browser. It doesn't have to be your phone.
foxbat121 said:
Is Google Voice avilable to you (specifically, you will need a Google Voice phone number)? If so, that will be my recommendation. In addition to free SMS and visual voice mail, you can use your Google Voice anywhere that you have access to a web browser. It doesn't have to be your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No google voice is not available ( as mentioned in my last line , coz I knew some one would suggest that).
I wonder why no one has made such an app so far.
Maybe I'll have to write my own.. haven't done any android programing yet, guess its about the time.. waiting for a break from work to start playing around with it a bit...
PhoenixFx said:
I have seen few apps that are capable of doing this over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB. But I am more interested in something that can do it over 3G. At work my desktop PC is not on a wireless network; there is Wi-Fi but on a spate subnet with no easy access to the main network. I do have Bluetooth / USB on my main desktop but I work from different PCs therefore its not very convenient for me to pair/connect it each time I go to a different PC. And I don’t use Wi-Fi at home either.
Then there are other benifits to using 3G like I can still access the phone even if I forget it somewhere (i.e at home in the car etc). The new HTC Sense services for HTC Desire HD will have remote access to SMS, call and location information , which is exactly what I'm after. But for now SMS alone is enough.
I came across one App called SMS2PC which can connect to a computer over 3G. But from what I gathered, with that the phone connects to the PC and pushes notifications, not the other way around. This is not going to work for me because at work I am behind a corporate firewall, so my phone cannot access the desktop.
Any other solutions ??
EDIT : i know SMS backup can backup text messages to google, but I can't reply from there. So that wont help much. And I'm not in US, therefore I dont have access to Google Voice service, so replying through that is not going to work either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use smstools. It is in every major repo. However - from your non-technical wording - I assume that you use the gamerz OS (Windos). Worry not, you can easily compile the program yourself, or google for binaries.
HelloH said:
I use smstools. It is in every major repo. However - from your non-technical wording - I assume that you use the gamerz OS (Windos). Worry not, you can easily compile the program yourself, or google for binaries.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I use Windows mostly . Thanks for that link, but I don't think thats quite what I want either. That seems to use the phone as a modem to send and receive SMSs; which means I'll have to connect the phone to a PC locally (i.e USB, IR, BT etc..).
I'm looking for a solution that allows me to connect to the phone remotely over the internet (phone online on 3G) to access and send messages. A setup where there is a PC client which polls the phone periodically for new messages and a server running on the phone allowing the PC client to gain access to its messaging service. So I don't have to connect/disconnect every time when changing PCs, it will also allow me to connect even when the phone is not with me (left behind at home / car ).
Ah, I got it now!
Well, of course you could compile SMSTOOLS for your phone
Or take a look at RemoteSMS or similar apps!
Also possible to remote control your handset via vnc-server. That one has far more possibilities than remote SMS-ing...
HelloH said:
Ah, I got it now!
Well, of course you could compile SMSTOOLS for your phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I’m coming from Windows development side, so pardon me for my ignorance on Linux dev. But from the little I know, you can't compile Unix/C code to Android, am I wrong ? At least not in a straightforward manner... You can only develop apps using their customized Java (Dalvic) , right
Even if its possible, I think developing an app from ground up is far more easier than trying to integrate smstools in to android. Besides, that doesn't solve my problem at all, because accessing the phone from the PC is the issue, and I don't see how running smstools on the phone is going to solve that.
HelloH said:
Or take a look at RemoteSMS or similar apps!
Also possible to remote control your handset via vnc-server. That one has far more possibilities than remote SMS-ing...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
RemoteSMS only works over Wi-Fi and BT, no 3G support .
I guess remote desktop is one solution, but I prefer a much simpler app. Besides VNC will not send me any notifications, I have to manually check. ..
Looks like I'll have to write my own app for this . Havent done any android development yet, looks like this is going to be my first project..
Wifi Keyboard works on 3g (yes dumb but )
3G might be blocked by some carriers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So it's means it can be used over 3G
PhoenixFx said:
IAnd I'm not in US, therefore I dont have access to Google Voice service, so replying through that is not going to work either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need to be in the US to get a Google Voice account or use it for SMS. I am in Canada and use it for SMS all the time.
See this link. Note that despite the title this will work for any country.
http://www.wifitalk.ca/iphone/howto-google-voice-in-canada/
brunes said:
You don't need to be in the US to get a Google Voice account or use it for SMS. I am in Canada and use it for SMS all the time.
See this link. Note that despite the title this will work for any country.
http://www.wifitalk.ca/iphone/howto-google-voice-in-canada/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I'll give it a try. Are SMSs free for international numbers as well ?
EDIT : I don't want to login through some unknown proxy server and give out my credentials. Besides, it is not a permanent solution. another dead end
Waiting for new ideas
exadeci said:
Wifi Keyboard works on 3g (yes dumb but )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PhoenixFx said:
Waiting for new ideas
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hum ..... Have you tried it ?
PhoenixFx said:
I’m coming from Windows development side, so pardon me for my ignorance on Linux dev. But from the little I know, you can't compile Unix/C code to Android, am I wrong ? At least not in a straightforward manner... You can only develop apps using their customized Java (Dalvic) , right
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Linux is a kernel, and Android is a Linux kernel based operating system. You can compile anything (that compiles for GNU/Linux for the given architecture) for Android/Linux as well. It will be native code however (as opposed to DALVIK, which is VM code). You have the option to cross-compile on your PC, or to compile code right on your phone. It is a command line affair... not some nice one-click task.
BTW I did not see in their own advert, that RemoteSMS would be limited to wifi... you sure? (Would be pretty weird move from them, since communicating over wifi and 3G is not really different from the programmer's point of view)
Found this today , posted on XDA : talkmyphone.
Exacly what I was looking for .
YAY!
Thank you! I have been looking for something like this because I am also behind a corporate firewall at work.
Anyone know of any apps (current or in development) that allows for text messages that come in to an android phone to be answered and responded to from a tablet?
I know theres similar functionality for answering from a computer, but this would be great over wifi or bluetooth.
(Also thinking out loud here, if the two are paired over bluetooth, would it be at all possible with some kind of development to use the tablet like a headset to answer or place calls from the phone?)
These are things that I dont expect people to say "Heres an .apk" but want to get these ideas out into the open to see if anyone has anything to contribute or point us in the right direction.
text
Try using Google voice on both phone and tablet with the same account then you can get ye messages and text.
Thanks but...
1) Google voice isnt currently available for the Xoom.
2) I'd like something that doesnt require me to notify all my contacts of a number change and have them be confused about which is actually my cell phone number.
Google voice works fine through the browser
Yes you can. You can send texts from your phone on your tab using the free app Remote Web Desktop.
This app gives you your phone desktop on your tab, send texts, add files to your SD card, etc.
Gotta admit, that one is pretty great, i can see myself using it on my comp.
A little sluggish and slow on the tablet going through the browser though.
What im looking for is essentially the functionality of that on the phone side, but a dedicated app on the tablet, obviously optimized for the screen real estate and interface that will refresh on its own, have its own notifications on the tablet etc.
Basically an app that looks and acts like a dedicated sms client on the tablet, only its doing all the actual sending and receiving on the phone side and pulling it over wifi or bluetooth.
This is basically what HP has in store for the touchpad and pre3 so im not exactly expecting someone to just link to it and move along. I'm really hoping someone developing some kind of similar solution sees this and reaches out to the community.
Thanks for the suggestions and please keep them coming...always love seeing new apps.
WHY?
gbenj said:
Anyone know of any apps (current or in development) that allows for text messages that come in to an android phone to be answered and responded to from a tablet?
I know theres similar functionality for answering from a computer, but this would be great over wifi or bluetooth.
(Also thinking out loud here, if the two are paired over bluetooth, would it be at all possible with some kind of development to use the tablet like a headset to answer or place calls from the phone?)
These are things that I dont expect people to say "Heres an .apk" but want to get these ideas out into the open to see if anyone has anything to contribute or point us in the right direction.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am wondering why one would want to do this? just really curious as to your thought behind the question....
Kent_Davis said:
I am wondering why one would want to do this? just really curious as to your thought behind the question....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I want this kind of app too... heres my reason. My phone sits on its dock once i get home in the bedroom and i tether the wifi to my tab. So i dont have it nearby but my nook always is
Sent from one of those missing Droids
Another reason is that its much more comfortable to text and type from the tablet. (Its amazing how tiny my Incredible feels after using the Xoom for a few days.)
Like the previous post says, if I can be sitting on the couch with the tablet, leave the phone plugged in in my room, and get notifications etc on the tablet that would be great.
Plus, if i'm gonna be using the tablet more and more around the house, it would be much easier to sit there with one device on my lap instead of constantly switching between the tablet to the phone when I get a text.
Think of it as a phone extender where the main phone functions are accessible on the tablet over WiFi or bluetooth, whatever is easier.
I just wanted to throw my +1 here. I feel silly juggling my phone and tablet. I'd love to be able to walk away from my office and only have to worry about grabbing one device.
Didn't find it sluggish, xoom tethered to my N1 on Tmo's fast network. If you find something else, please share, thanks!
There is definitely a need for this. I use the google voice app on my iPad for SMS more than on my N1. I also use the talkatone ios app for voip google voice calls as well. Not having a google voice app for Honeycomb is ridiculous.
Ditto I will be needing some sort of app like so. Reason- I dont own a cell phone but I wouldnt mind pay the $20 a month for the data service and being able to text using sms.
Basically he (and me too) is looking for something that acts like Motorola's Webtop App.
neonerz said:
I just wanted to throw my +1 here. I feel silly juggling my phone and tablet. I'd love to be able to walk away from my office and only have to worry about grabbing one device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This.
thefoss said:
Basically he (and me too) is looking for something that acts like Motorola's Webtop App.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly!
I concur. This is one thing I did like about the Galaxy Tab before I sold it for the Xoom...I could answer email and TXT from one device. When you're at home using your Xoom it does make a difference in lifestyle having to grab my phone every time it beeps for a TXT...lets face it most people don't talk as much over the phone as they used to.
Very much needed app. I'd be willing to pay $10 easy for it too.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App
I believe that this on the new HP Toucpad when its synced with WebOS phones. This would be awesome!
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Still rocking DJ05 with Voodoo5 Blazed Eclair 1.2ghz with GingerLiberty
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DungeonDefendersUsername: TheSonicEmerald
I've been thinking about this alot over the past couple of days even to the point that I began to investigate and play around with the Android SDK to see what I might be able to do, which is not alot at the moment.
I thought of this app functioning as follows:
1) We currently have a bunch of applications that allow the user to view and respond to their text messages through an interface on the browser or computer application using an app on the phone that "broadcasts" the messaging features of the phone out over either WiFi or bluetooth. (For example, the ones mentioned earlier in this thread.)
2) We also have something called "Remote Notifier" that sends out a "ping" when a new message is received to a listening service on a computer which notifies the user on the desktop.
3) If the existing functionality of those two are combined, we have an application that can put together a list of the messages on the phone (primary location), send it out to a secondary location (in this case a tablet), while also notifying the secondary location (tablet) of a new message received.
The app on the phone also gives the secondary location the ability to respond and edit the message list on the phone.
4) The second piece of the equation we would need is an app for the tablet, preferably optimized for the screen size in a 5manner similar to the way Gmail and the native email client handle messaging, (with a list of messages on the left, and the conversation view on the right) that allows the user to browse their messages on the phone and reply within the app.
If the app on the tablet could "look" to the phone as the service provider instead of the network, I could even see notifications being created from within that app and displayed on the tablet just as if it was actually receiving the texts itself.
While I am technical enough to debug a little and troubleshoot alot, I don't have the programming background to create this from the ground up. Is there anyone out there that would be interested in working with me to build something like this?
I feel as though I have the Idea of how this will function pretty well planned out, and if there is someone who wants to do the legwork involved in the building/programming, I can definitely write and draw up use cases, user flows, and wire-frame designs for how both sides of the application would work in both the front and back end.
So, is there anyone out there interested in and capable of helping to put this together for the community? I really feel that if it is done well enough, it could take off and maybe even Google would take notice and build it in natively moving forward...If they're not already working on it.
Thoughts, questions, concerns? I would appreciate any and all feedback.
Thanks for reading....this has been a long post
if you really want to try without having to code anything try the appinventor.appinventor.googlelabs[dot]c o m/learn/setup/[/url]
ill try messing around with it later once im finished working on my woodshop project (im 14). But it you want to id try it out.
Hi everybody, I would like to make a list of those features that lacks on windows phone, even if we are only at very early stages, maybe with the arrive of unlocks some of them could be added, in future..If you have any suggestions I can edit the list
P.S. I consider the GDR3 improvements alredy achieved (like a decent task manager, FM radio..)
-A FILE MANAGER
(yeah, I know that on the market already exists something, but they are definetly FAR from a real file manager. Anyway nokia/microsoft said that in the next months would come out http://www.tuttowindowsphone.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/nokia-lumia-file-manager.jpg , we will see..)
-FLASH PLAYER
(on windows RT exists and works, as in future the WP8 kernel would be almost the same of WinRT, probably we will se it..or at least I hope so)
-LIVE TILE TOOGLE
(Right now we have only shortcuts to settings, would be more useful if the live tile would act directly as a toogle. Maybe someone will give it an attempt :fingers-crossed: )
-A NOTIFICATION LED
(some phones does have the windows logo acting as a led, BUT it works only to notify some battery status (a bit useless..). If it should be used as a proper notification led would be amazing..or at least the camera flashlight could be used for that (ok, this is a desperate suggestion LoL)
-COSTUMIZABLE RINGTONES AND ALERTS RELATED TO THE APP
(A different sound for whatsapp, sms and e-mail. I personally use the phone at 90% in vibration/silent mode, But I know that it could be useful)
-A CUSTOMIZABLE LOCKSCREEN
(I mean lock-patterns and some other useful features..I mean, windows phone 8 lockscreen can be used better, you know..)
-A QUICK WAY TO MANUALLY ADJUST SCREEN BRIGHTNESS
Sometimes the Authomatic sensors don't work well and is necessary to switch the brightness manually.
-A BETTER PUSH NOTIFICATIONS MANAGEMENT (thank's to @Life'sGood for reporting and to @GoodDayToDie for explainations)
Sometimes are delayed
This really belongs in General; it is neither a question (or answer) nor related to troubleshooting.
With that said...
The only thing really standing in the way of an on-device file browser is the need for somebody to write it, but that doesn't mean it'll be worth much to do so right now; until I or somebody else gets more permissions working (ideally, all of them), the amount of the file system which is readable (never mind writable) is extremely small from an app's perspective. To get an idea of what I mean, take a look at my Webserver Native Access app - the all-capabilities version, if you have a Samsung phone - and see for yourself just how little of the system is accessible.
Even completely leaving aside the permissions issue (ha!), Flash player support is somewhat unlikely. First of all, it struggles a little even on the Surface RT, which has nearly twice the CPU power of any WP8 model right now (GDR3 opens the path for quad-core WP devices, but they aren't here yet). Second, the kernel may be the same but the user-space libraries are not; a lot of system components that Flashplayer depends on are probably missing from WP8.
Believe me, such toggles have been attempted, and they will go on being attempted. It'll happen eventually...
Some phones actually have a notification LED, even. There are (unofficial) APIs that could probably be used to control it, too... I wouldn't hold your breath on this one, though. In any case, you won't get colors unless there's actual multiple color elements there to work with; the best you could di is different flash/fade patterns.
Update 3 (GDR3) brings some additional controls over notifications. However, I believe you're right that they still don't offer per-app sounds (though you can set the sound for apps, as a class, I think).
Lock patterns are pretty darn weak and easy to break, but in general I agree with the concept of having more control over the lock screen, and additional features.
Not a problem that I've had, but I can see how it could be. This probably falls under the toggle tiles request, actually; have the ability to create tiles that increase or decrese the brightness.
Sorry for the bad section, I was looking at the same moment at general section and at Q&A and I chose the wrong browser tab, my fault (don't know how to change section)
Anyway thank you for the reply I think that the main problem for indipendent developers is time, because every 18 months windows stops the support on the actual OS and switches to another new (WP8 support is planned to be killed in july 2014, after that it will be an update to extend "phone life" of 6 months, in total: 2 years). After that date will come out another OS but nobody knows if it will be "similar" to WP8 or something totally different (probably the latter option)..and everything probably would start from the scratch. I think that all the OSs producers are making BIG efforts to make you change phones after exately two years LoL
P.S. When I talk about brightness control, I can't figure out how a live tile could directly make it (swiping on it?), it can only turn on/off. My idea was that could be useful something like a swipe on the status bar on the top of the screen, like cyanogenmod does (I don't want to compare android to windows because they are totally a different concept, so I generally don't want to mention functions present in other OSs that could be ported, IMHO it's quite useless thinking in this way.) but I suppose that this is quite impossible on a programmative side :s
You'd have two (small) tiles for brightness control, one to increase and the other to decrease. It would be a little messy and would need to go in significant steps, but it's possible.
I think it's not a bad idea I've just found out that on offical WP8 site exists a section dedicated at suggestions about features to add to windows phone, and many pepole voted on that site..but Microsoft NEVER listened to them LoL probably the task manager improvement in GDR3 will be the first feature accepted by Microsoft from that lists. Anyway the requests on the officiale site are quite the same on my post (file manager is STRONGLY requested)..nobody is asking for flash player or for led notification (quite strange IMHO but that's it).
P.s. any idea about how to reach bootloader (I'm talking about ativ s)? I suppose that with a simple boot is impossible, even pressing a combination of buttons will not work..
There have been multiple items implemented from uservoice, although the custom SMS tones and application closing are certainly notable for having been long-requested and taking until now to be provided.
No idea on the bootloader. I haven't been looking for it in particular, though; not my area of interest.
Technically, you can implement a media stream source to support flash (i believe there is one already on the interwebz).
However, flash is really not meant for mobile devices (which is why very few mobile OSes support flash out of the box), because it wasn't intended to be used on devices with such low computing power. So even if you were to have a flash player, you wouldn't be able to do much with it until your battery drops dead or your phone starts turning into plastic(or aluminum in some cases) soup.
There is also an increasing abuse of flash advertisement all over the internet (which is bad from many points of view), which hurt mobile internet browsing quite a lot on devices with flash support. I just wish google & adobe would stop supporting this dark ages format and move on to HTML 5
Yeah but..just to make a famous example, look at youtube. Many videos are locked down for mobile devices. Combining a flash player and a browser that supports desktop as user agent, you can go beyond this limit. Ok, the result is that it works quite bad, but at least it works..
gigsaw said:
Yeah but..just to make a famous example, look at youtube. Many videos are locked down for mobile devices. Combining a flash player and a browser that supports desktop as user agent, you can go beyond this limit. Ok, the result is that it works quite bad, but at least it works..
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I don't think that the format (flash) is the problem here, you can always watch these videos with an unofficial app, like Metrotube or Tunetube. And I doubt they use some kind of flash player, it's just not allowed on mobile devices by the uploader/youtube I think.
To the OP, what do you mean with "features that lacks in Windows phone 8", something MS should fix or hackers should provide as features? Because a file manager would completely be against windows phone's locked OS, every app is sandboxed and can't access other app's storage, which has its reasons for security. A file manager will never be possible, except for th case they change the whole OS. On iOS, it's pretty much the same, and with a jailbreak you get a file manager (if you want to). And you can brick the whole system, can make apps crash or even modify them, which would cause a lot of trouble for Microsoft.
I have to try those unofficial apps, I've never considered to use them Regarding the lacking of features I mean that with a system well locked down like WP8 is, I think that microsoft should put more effort to provide some features that nowdays are considered basic (you know, a notification led is useful and doesn't require any particular effort from microsoft or manufacters. Even (real) toogglers are essential but they are not in here..don't know why ) Of course I understand that not all the features can be provided by microsoft due to security reasons, and here comes developers' work
P.S. regarding file manager I suppose that, if it will would ever come out, would have been thanks to developers, but as I said in OP, nokia probably would provide it. Don't know if it's true, but let's see what comes next! Some hours ago at Abu Dhabi, at lumia phablet presentation, came encouraging signals to encrease the number of the apps for windows phone. Ok, it doesn't mean anything and Personally I don't use instagram but more apps means more people that will adopt WP8..and more people will call more developers (hopefully) and micosoft ecosystem would finally start (even if there's to solve the "problem" of Windows RT/Windows Phone, first).
As you said even iOS is closed-source but (even if I don't like making comparisons between OSs because they aren't meant to work in the same way) I think that the interest in that platfom made possible to create the powerful mobile substrate, to make even heavy modifications to the system.
But even without moddings, I mean..iOS now has quite al the essential features that a phone requires (quick and real toogglers, a camera flash that tries to act as a notification led..ok, not a file manager but it has a download folder, a quite "useful" lockscreen, battery percentage..), so IMHO is quite usable out of the box because apple now provides many of the basic features expected to be on a phone. So I think that for apple devices jailbreaking is not as necessary as was in the past. WP8 on the contrary strongly needs a jailbreak because is not a fully mature OS..
ANOTHER FEATURE THAT LACKS (IMHO): the new versions of office are not as useful as office 2010 in windows mobile. Who remembers WM, office 2010 was so similar at the desktop version (even fonts could be changed and added!!!)..but since then, the most part of features disappeared, so office mobile stopped being as useful as it was before for business people nobody will care about that (developers can't do anything for this, and microsoft will never provide those features..but I miss it. So I didn't put this in the list because it's more a "personal" thing.
And I was thinking that even a windows phone with the stylus would be useful especially with one note, that on PCs and tablets is ready to be used with a stylus and I found this fantastic. But even this is a "personal" desire that will never come LoL
::facepalm::
snickler said:
::facepalm::
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Why? I don't think I'm that wrong, there's no real possibility to have a fully featured file manager on WP, is it?
th0mas96 said:
Why? I don't think I'm that wrong, there's no real possibility to have a fully featured file manager on WP, is it?
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In my inner eyes i see next user/professional developer asking if there was a patch to adjust screen brightness to personal needs in more than just the dictated three steps.
Answer: Buy an other phone or program your own OS.
A very simple feature is missing, App update notifications from Store.
WP8 now doesn't seems to be telling me when the apps on my phone has been updated unless I went to look for them. Its only then that the tile shows 1 update available. HELLO???!!!
So that means I have to list out the apps I've downloaded and look for each and every single one of their updates?
How can Microsoft and OP miss this one out?
And my clock isn't synced even if I set it to auto, sometimes it jumps AM/PM or even months!
Life'sGood said:
A very simple feature is missing, App update notifications from Store.
WP8 now doesn't seems to be telling me when the apps on my phone has been updated unless I went to look for them. Its only then that the tile shows 1 update available. HELLO???!!!
So that means I have to list out the apps I've downloaded and look for each and every single one of their updates?
How can Microsoft and OP miss this one out?
And my clock isn't synced even if I set it to auto, sometimes it jumps AM/PM or even months!
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Added in OP
@Life'sGood and @gigsaw: That's a problem with your phone, not the OS as a whole. I guarantee you that WP8 fully supports app update notifications and clock sync. If yours doesn't, that's a problem with your phone, specifically. Blaming Microsoft for it is nonsense and won't help you fix the problem.
Now, as for fixing the problem... do you have an active SIM card in the phone? If so, does it have a data connection? That's most logical reason I can think of for the app update notifications to not appear; no connectivity when the phone tries to check. The clock can sync off the towers as well (also needs a SIM, I suspect) but it can also sync off GPS satellites (which have extraordinarily accurate clocks, and broadcast time signals that anything with a GPS receiver can pick up even if it can't get an accurate locations fix).
The most likely solution, honestly, is to hard-reset your phone. You might want to call support or take the phone in to a Microsoft store or something first, though; hard-reset will wipe the data (though that's most likely what they'll tell you to do anyhow).
GoodDayToDie said:
@Life'sGood and @gigsaw: That's a problem with your phone, not the OS as a whole. I guarantee you that WP8 fully supports app update notifications and clock sync. If yours doesn't, that's a problem with your phone, specifically. Blaming Microsoft for it is nonsense and won't help you fix the problem.
Now, as for fixing the problem... do you have an active SIM card in the phone? If so, does it have a data connection? That's most logical reason I can think of for the app update notifications to not appear; no connectivity when the phone tries to check. The clock can sync off the towers as well (also needs a SIM, I suspect) but it can also sync off GPS satellites (which have extraordinarily accurate clocks, and broadcast time signals that anything with a GPS receiver can pick up even if it can't get an accurate locations fix).
The most likely solution, honestly, is to hard-reset your phone. You might want to call support or take the phone in to a Microsoft store or something first, though; hard-reset will wipe the data (though that's most likely what they'll tell you to do anyhow).
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Please let me explain why I though it was microsoft's fault: I had an WP7 with a different SIM (but same phone number) and those problems were there for almost Every app I had to update and clock often changed hour. After that I had an Android, at least with date and time no problem..with store of course I can't say after a year of android I switched back to WP8 and the market/time problems happened only a couple of times..but I thought that was something wrong in my phone because here on xda nobody has never talked about it. But I notoced that even whatsapp sometimes misses or delays some notifications with wp8 (with android never happened), and, at least in my country, this is a common problem with many users that complain abouth that, so at least for whatsapp I'm sure it's not my problem. I contacted the support of whatsapp and they said to me, if I remember well, that whatsapp notifications pass trough Microsoft servers, so in their opinion the fault of this problem was microsoft's. So I was thinking that even the other problems are related with Microsoft server's sync..so when another user said to have almost same problem As mine (but As I said, with WP8 happened to me only a couple of times, I don't know if other user has those problems more often), I convinced myself about my theory LoL of course I can imagine I am totally wrong because I don't know how those syncs works and if they work alla in the same way..what do you think about it? Before re-editing the OP I wanted to explain to you the whole situaton because you have for sure better knowledge about that
Push notifications for apps are completely different from update notifications. The latter are polled for, by the OS, at pre-determined times and without the app in question being involved at all; you'll get the update notifications even if you've never run it.
That said, push notifications on WP (7 or 8) are not as quick or reliable as on Android, it's true. The battery impact of push-using apps is lower, though.
Thank's, anyway I will hard reset my device. I have just realized right now that if the glance screen could be ported in future on other devices, a led notification becomes useless (of course, I don't know what is the battery impact on an AMOLED screen..and it's VERY important)
GoodDayToDie said:
@Life'sGood and @gigsaw: That's a problem with your phone, not the OS as a whole. I guarantee you that WP8 fully supports app update notifications and clock sync. If yours doesn't, that's a problem with your phone, specifically. Blaming Microsoft for it is nonsense and won't help you fix the problem.
Now, as for fixing the problem... do you have an active SIM card in the phone? If so, does it have a data connection? That's most logical reason I can think of for the app update notifications to not appear; no connectivity when the phone tries to check. The clock can sync off the towers as well (also needs a SIM, I suspect) but it can also sync off GPS satellites (which have extraordinarily accurate clocks, and broadcast time signals that anything with a GPS receiver can pick up even if it can't get an accurate locations fix).
The most likely solution, honestly, is to hard-reset your phone. You might want to call support or take the phone in to a Microsoft store or something first, though; hard-reset will wipe the data (though that's most likely what they'll tell you to do anyhow).
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afaik i'm not seeing these features. I did a hard reset but I've yet to see the Nokia Camera, network+ (call filter) update.
I googled and found out this is a system wide issue with almost everybody having this issue. So does a half f'ed apple still counted as an apple?
App update notification this feature is simply not available.
I have a SIM and data connection for my 1020, on Wifi most of the time. Clock doesn't sync at all neither.
Is there an application that can password protect certain apps that I choose?
And please do not say Kids Corner as it does not do what I am asking.
It's probably possible (though far from easy), but I'd actually be more inclined to help if you hadn't opened a duplicate thread about this.
Only made second thread about this to attract some attention, 7 months passed since that guy opened his thread and nobody could give a good answer.
To me it's weird that nobody tried to make an app like this still, it would be very popular and help users very much.
Anyways, thank you for replying.
Really, just bumping the other thread was enough, but since we're here anyhow... my idea for how to approach it (and this would take a *lot* of hacking) goes something like this:
1. Create an app (call it X) that has the capability to launch other apps, and filesystem write access.
2. Have X take another app (call it Y) and encrypt its binaries. This prevents anybody from launching it by any means.
3. Tweak the app database to make it so that when you try to launch Y, it instead launches X and passes the id of Y as a parameter to the launcher.
4. X prompts the user for a password to Y. On getting the right one, it decrypts Y's binaries and writes them back to the correct location, then launches Y.
5. When the user (or OS) closes Y, a background process of X notes that Y is closed and re-encrypts it.
Currently we know how to do... well, some of #1, and we think the rest is possible. Given that, #2 isn't too hard. #3 is something I don't have the least notion how to do *right now* but I'm sure it's possible. #4 shouldn't be too hard given #1 and #2. #5 will be a trick - currently, apps have no way to know what other apps are running - but I'm sure it can be done.
It's a large engineering problem blocked by an even bigger research and hacking problem, though. Nothing we'll have soon. You'd never be able to publish it in the store, either, and it would only work for people with hacked phones. It's exactly the kind of *useful* thing that would be possible if Microsoft were willing to let up the restrictions on third-party developers a bit, of course, But for the time being, there are *reasons* nobody has done it yet.
Well the word that I actually was thinking after reading your post was "crap".
It seems only with time (and a whole [email protected]#$ing lot of it) will wp become a true competitor to android, but to be honest I don't think it will come to that.
Thanks for replying GoodDayToDie, I'm freakin' sad that there is no app that can suit my needs, I even tried with kids corner but the screen still needs the password entered like the normal one. Nothing really can make up for what I have in mind.
Cheers mate.
as soon as we can interop unlock all WP devices, it will be pretty easy... if you're able to provide the XAP (uncrypted of course )
i'll be able to "mod" this in for you... which app are we talking about?
@GoodDayToDie: i do'nt think he is looking for real data security here, so encrypting the whole thing shouldnt be required... i think it's more about preventing his gf to read his private messages or something like that
oh btw.: you would need a dev-unlock to deploy the modified XAP then...
tfBullet said:
as soon as we can interop unlock all WP devices, it will be pretty easy... if you're able to provide the XAP (uncrypted of course )
i'll be able to "mod" this in for you... which app are we talking about?
@GoodDayToDie: i do'nt think he is looking for real data security here, so encrypting the whole thing shouldnt be required... i think it's more about preventing his gf to read his private messages or something like that
oh btw.: you would need a dev-unlock to deploy the modified XAP then...
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You're right tfBullet! I need it for whatsapp, photos, message and games app, mostly to prevent from friends but gf too.
I was thinking it might be possible to mod an app and add password before it can be accessed, although I have no experience in this domain. Many apps in store have this function, like wallet or prive photo apps.
My phone is dev-unlocked as I started a few days ago to study and try to create a simple app for me and my friends.
Modding an app like that would actually be quite hard, because it would break the signature and prevent the app from running. The encryption thing really isn't too hard, although you could skip it anyhow too.
If there was a way to run a program in the background that monitors when certain apps are selected and then prompts when its activated would work, but it would need an unlocked phone. And even under home brew I don't know if its possible to run apps in the background. Yet.
Sent from my Nokia 521 using XDA Windows Phone 8 App
The encryption thing really isn't too hard
Yea, but that's a little extreme. If you can create that password program that runs in the background you could probably have it watch files, apps or pretty much anything. You'd have to password protect the cofig file. And maybe if you can't remember the password after so many attempts you can have the program email the passwords to your email. Just some ideas.
Sent from my Nokia 521 using XDA Windows Phone 8 App
Running software in the background is actually shockingly easy. The trick is getting it to run with better-than-app-sandbox privileges. We're still working on that one. In the meantime, apps can't even read, much less write, to the install location of other apps.
GoodDayToDie said:
Modding an app like that would actually be quite hard, because it would break the signature and prevent the app from running.
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@GoodDayToDie: actually these .NET apps are pretty easy to decompile, if you're willing to fix the bugs that the decompiler leaves you with...
so there is not really a need for a valid signature, if you're able to compile & sideload the app yourself
the only thing is: you need the decrypted XAP, as far as i know these get decrypted while installation and can be pulled from a interop unlocked device?!
It would be nice to get my fingers on some OEM (Nokia etc..) XAPs, to see if we can find any exploit in them
I know better than probably 95% of this forum what it takes to decompile managed code; I have reverse engineered huge numbers of apps. However, you are missing several important points.
1) Modifications like you suggest are very complicated to automate. It's certainly possible, but it's not simple.
2) Re-installing the app would be a pain. You would really want to do this as an in-place modification, and that means (for store apps) that it would still be signature-checked.
3) Not all apps are managed code; WP8 supports purely native code.
4) Even with managed code, obfuscation can make tinkering with the binary nigh-impossible.
It's just so incredibly stupid that WP is so limited. I know it's under Android big time, but I think even iOS more customizable, right?
Also, is there a message app in the store that has pass option? I searched but found nothing...
I don't believe iOS is any more customizable, no. It has some feature that WP lacks (it ought to; it's been out for years longer and Apple completely controls the hardware it runs on) but it's also missing some features that WP8 offers. In any case, this isn't the thread to have that discussion in.
GoodDayToDie said:
I don't believe iOS is any more customizable, no. It has some feature that WP lacks (it ought to; it's been out for years longer and Apple completely controls the hardware it runs on) but it's also missing some features that WP8 offers. In any case, this isn't the thread to have that discussion in.
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But with the jailbreak and MobileSubstrate, iOS is extremely customizable, and there are tons of tweaks, that's where Apple gets its new features from
Back to topic, I think the OP would be happy with a solution that locks the "normal" user of his phone out of some apps, so it wouldn't be necessary to modify anything of it, just making the standard launcher (I don't know how it's called, but I mean when you launch the app via home screen or with a toast) ask for a password should be enough.