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Tired of slow reacquisition of your GSM signal?

Posted by reydiodj, Mar 22 2006, 09:57 PM in K-JAM/MDA BKA: HTC Wizard

Don't you hate it when you briefly lose your signal, then move around to a place where you know you have had a good signal or conversation before, only to wait several minutes before the signal is re-acquired?

Here's what you can do to reduce that wait time:

1. From the Phonepad, open Menu and select Options
2. On the bottom, go to the Network pad
3. Change the Network selection to Manual in the pull-down menu
4. Select your preferred network
5. Select "ok" to save and close

- this should help reduce that time wink.gif It helped on my JASJAR as well!


Note: Microsoft Remote Display Control n/a

Posted by reydiodj, Mar 7 2006, 12:50 AM in K-JAM/MDA BKA: HTC Wizard

Well, I was about to to some screenshots when I was posting some of my directions and to my dismay, it fails. When you try to run it, the following error message is displayed:

"The OS or CPU of this device is unknown to this application"

- this is for Remote Display for Windows CE Version 2.03.

So for now, I'm going to have to use a screen shot program.


Step 3: Reassign buttons on the Wizard...

Posted by reydiodj, Mar 3 2006, 11:43 PM in K-JAM/MDA BKA: HTC Wizard

- for easier one-handed operation.

First, continuing from Step 2b, where we hacked the registry to enable the use of Voice Command over the Bluetooth headset, let's reassign the built-in voice dialer button to also activate Voice Command. This will be helpful when you want to activate it as a regular handset (sans headset).

Proceed to Start>Settings>Buttons (within the Personal tab). In section 1, you may see that Voice Command has already reassigned to what was once the Messaging button. You can reassign that back to Messaging, but I'll get into my suggestion later in this post. For now, go and highlight Button 4 which is currently set for Voice Speed Dial and re-assign it to Voice Command in section 2.

Second, this will really make one handed use easier - you know how those softkeys work at the bottom of the screen and how they are assigned to the buttons directly blow it? Well, why not do the same for the Start and OK/Close functions on the top of the screen too to give similar Smartphone functionality?

Again, while still in the Button settings screen as above, change Button 1 to <Start Menu> and Button 2 to <OK/Close>.

There you go!


Step 2b: Registry Hacks for my must have apps

Posted by reydiodj, Mar 3 2006, 08:25 PM in K-JAM/MDA BKA: HTC Wizard

Yesterday I posted about my must-have apps that I have to have in Main Memory. Now I want to post a couple of Registry hacks that I use to enhance my usage of them.

#1. Enable MS Voice Command activation from BT headset

This is a great tip posted by rilot at xda-developers.com that works on both the Wizard and the JASJAR:

Install Voice Command to the default location.
Fire up a registry editor
Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\OEM\VoiceCommand
Modify the string marked "path" from the default \Windows\SDDialer.exe to \Program Files\Voice Command\VoiceCMD.exe

Now, when you press your BT headset connect button, MS Voice command will fire up and take commands through the headset. It's reponses will be played through the headset too.

#2. Using The Core Pocket Media Player to replace Windows Media

Obtained from the HTC Wizard blog as well as seen on the orb.com forums, this hack makes TCPMP the standard application for streams instead of Windows Media Player which, in my experience has had a harder time streaming video and playlists.

- Associate TCPMP with Windows Media (.asx) in the TCPMP configuration (Options > Settings > Select Page > File Associations)

- Use a Registry Editor to navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shell\Rai\:WMPLAYER
- In the String Value 1, replace wmplayer.exe with the path to TCPMP (“\Program Files\TCPMP\player.exe” when you have TCPMP installed in main memory, “\Storage Card\Program Files\TCPMP\player.exe” when you have TCPMP installed on your memory card). Include the quotes!

If you refer to the link above regarding this hack, they mention also that if you tend to prefer TCPMP, you can associate it with more or even all media types.


Step 2: Sync and Install Main Memory Apps

Posted by reydiodj, Mar 3 2006, 08:25 PM in K-JAM/MDA BKA: HTC Wizard

Okay, well after upgrading the ROM you cannot restore from a backup so you have to start from square one. Why? Because if you do a restore, along with a restore file, there are other system files that would be restored too that can restore old ROM settings and files and just basically undo any of the benefits/enhancements of the new ROM you've installed.

Anyway, I'm not going to get into too much detail as to setting up ActiveSync 4.1 other than I've set up the partnership to sync directly to my Exchange Server (and yes, push email is functioning!) and I now have my Contacts, Emails, Notes and Appointments (I don't sync my Tasks...long story tongue.gif ) all restored to my device. In the most basic sense, I'm back up and connected - I can call everyone in my Contact list as well as able to keep up with my emails. Now we can get into the apps, more specifically my must-have apps.

Let me begin by saying this, when installing apps, especially on the K-JAM, due to the limited amount of space in Main Memory, try to install the majority of your applications onto the miniSD card (and if you don't have one yet - you'd better consider geting one!). If any apps have to be installed onto Main Memory, either the developer recommends it or you'd want those programs to remain available on your device should the card go bad or by some reason you lose your card. Here are my top candidates for Main Memory apps:

1.Resco Explorer 2005 v 5.35

IPB Image

Winner of Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine's 2005 Best Software Awards, this is my favorite app that is as full featured as the actual Windows Explorer and more. Resco Explorer consists of: The File Manager, Recycle Bin, Today Plugin, Strong File Encryption, ZIP Compression, The built-in viewer, The Network Browser, The Registry Editor and The FTP add-in. This is a well reviewed product and one I stand behind in having judged for the awards myself. Very easy to use, and has great customer support to boot. Don't be surprised to find this software suite replacing a small handful of apps you may have had to install from several other locations.

2.IM+ Mobile Instant Messenger for Pocket PC
IPB Image

Another PPC Best Software Awards 2005 winner - I've chosen this one because of the richness of features, availability of customer support and especially its compatibility with WM5. If you have gotten used to IM as another form of communication to supplement SMS that supports AOL, ICQ, MSN, Y!, Jabber and even GoogleTalk, then this is the one you'll want to have.

3.The Core Pocket Media Player
The best performing media player (IMHO) and winner of the SPPPCMag Best Software Awards in the Multimedia/Video category that supports the following audio and video file formats: AVI (*.avi); Matroska (*.mkv, *.mka), MP4 (*.mp4, *.m4a), Ogg Media (*.ogg, *.ogm), ASF (*.asf), Mpeg 1 Layer III, Ogg Vorbis, Musepack, Windows Media Audio (on Windows Mobile devices), AC-3, AMR, Adpcm, uLaw, DivX, XviD, MPEG4-SP (plus B-frame support), MPEG1, M-JPEG, Windows Media Video (on Windows Mobile devices). I love using this with a registry hack when streaming content from my Media Center Edition PC and www.orb.com services.

4.Microsoft Voice Command v1.5
Another SPPPCMag winner (is there a pattern here?). A Voice Recognition program that requires no training that I've personally have had no problems with. I use it primarily for the phone features, but there are other capabilities available as well that allows for usage with other programs. Again, there is a registry hack I use for this to enable voice commands from a BT headset.

Well, that's it for now...my next post will be about a couple of those reghacks I've alluded to. wink.gif


K-JAM as of 3/2/2006

Posted by reydiodj, Mar 3 2006, 08:25 PM in K-JAM/MDA BKA: HTC Wizard

Alright, Step 1: Flash with new ROM

So i-mate formally announces their ROM today not too long after it was found on their FTP site. As per i-mate's ROM page, the main improvements from the original AKU 1 Operating System, 1.x.9.x, are:

Microsoft™ Messaging and Security Feature Pack (MSFP):
• Addition of the MSFP allowing Direct Push email, remote device wiping, security policy enforcement and Global Address List Lookup for customers using a Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 with Service Pack 2.

Communication Manager:
• Communication Manager has been updated to allow current data services to be stopped, Direct Push email to be started/stopped using a single button press, and flight mode to be switched on/off.

Specs for the Worldwide English Build:
Rom version: 2.16.9.1
Radio version: 02.07.10
ExtROM version: 2.16.9.101

- so yes, unlike the Qtek ROM, the A2DP profile enabling stereo over Bluetooth isn't present.

Anyway I've just flashed mine and all is well so far - so far...


K-JAM: Player 1...Ready!

Posted by reydiodj, Mar 3 2006, 08:25 PM in K-JAM/MDA BKA: HTC Wizard

Well, I guess now is a good a time as any to start posting of my usage of my K-JAM. I've had mine since last November (shortly after having just received my JASJAR) as part of a early user's test and have taken it through it's paces. Reinstalling apps to test for WM5 compatibility, uninstalling because of WM5 incompatibility, hacking the registry, flashing ROMs, comparing between it's cousins: the Universal and Apache, etc.

So, let's see where this takes us - today seems like a good enough starting point, new i-mate ROM available today, MDA was made available in the US a little more than a week ago, and I'm just getting many questions for help. Hopefully, this'll centralize my focus for discussions here...