Related
Hi all,
I've been a reader (lurker) of this forum since the 8125. I have a Hermes 100 from Cingular which I have played around with, as shown on this forum. I am trying to create a fast, multimedia phone, that runs on the Hermes. I am not a techie, like many of you who know how to program, but I do admire what you've done. I could use your help......
Recently, post the last HTC upgrade, I added Black Satin, the Iphone Slider, and SPB Shell 1.5 , Diary and Pocket Plus 4.0, just to see how things work. Some thoughts (and the questions for which I seek an answer).
Do like the Black Satin add-ons, though Black was never really my color, and the HTC Shell and Diary are nice (though with Pocket Plus, gets very bloated)...still, it runs very slow....how can I:
1. Find a basic HTC shell?
2. If I wanted to ad in an interface, would you suggest the SPB Shell 1.5 + Diary or do you think Pocket Plus 4.0 is smooth, fast and multi-talented?
3. Opera or Explorer?
4. I still cannot watch Youtube, and some websites that require flash to show videos do not like Macromedia 7.0 Flash..they say "upgrade!" Thoughts?
5. I downloaded and installed The Black Shadow Video Dial Configuration, to use 3G video phone calls. But, as I am on the Cingular network, neither my brother (with the Tilt, unlocked) or my Hermes can make video calls on the network. Advice?! This would be super cool.
6. Are there "optimal" cingular internet settings that allow fastest access, or unblocked ports for 3G vid calling, streaming etc?
7. what is the best solution in terms of Iphone like scrolling and unlock? I know 4.0 Pocket Plus has it...its just "ok"...I tried to install Slide2unlock, didn't work for me.
8. I also used RealVGA, but didnt' notice a considerable difference. Is it not there, or am I dreaming?
9. Finally, should I just sell this Hermes 100 (its a "new" refurbished one from AT&T, got it yesterday) and buy a Tilt, or can I do everything I want on this baby!? I've had this type of phoen for a half a year now.....
Wow, a lot of questions, and I know you folks could say "read the 500 pages of the forum"...trust me, I've spent hours in these threads. I would appreciate your help, and I've honestly been trying, but it gets a little too technical for me past installing Cabs and following instructions, to be honest. So, any help you can offer would be VERY greatly appreciated.
All the best, George
Ok, here are answers to some points of yours:
4) There is no flash enabled browser for Windows Mobile. Only workarounds exist for watching the flash videos off Youtube and similar pages. So you will not be able to see those pages in near future.
7)iPhone scrolling - I use fTouchFlo - it works in all of the programs but has its flaws, I use s2u2 on my Hermes with no problem. One more thing to note is that Hermes touchc screen is different form iPhone touch screen and what we have (including SPB scrolling) are workarounds that still need a time to mature.
8) RealVGA? You are missing the point - both Hermes and Tilt have QVGA screen - there is no way to get it to VGA (simply because your screen has four times less pixels than VGA screen). It will not work because it is intended for VGA devices not for QVGA we own.
This is a developer forum - if you want less technical focus you can head to HOFO or other fora... I know lots of people in here read a lot... but they do not seem to think about what they read and then they tend to have really stupid questions. If all you want is media phone go for iPhone - there will not be 3G functions - but the scrolling works - there is no hassle with third party applications and everything can be done in only one way - the Apple way. The WM platform lets you do much more but it comes at price - in here I think you should get your feet wet in some basic techie stuff other than installing CABS. Hope I helped at least little...
PS: I had a hard time being new to the WM too - it needs time - I think right now you do not know what exactly you can expect from your device.
Well, first of all:
Thank you for your reply. True, it is called XDA Developers....and I am, in fairness, not. And as for an Iphone, wouldn't touch it with a 10 ft pool - I like the flexibility of this HTC WM6 phone I have...but frankly apart from some BASIC at the age of 9-11yrs, programming is not a forte ;-)
I'll try your solution to the scrolling.....and of course, I'll keep reading, but I figured (a. You folks know this stuff so well, and b). I can't be the first person to come in with these questions. After all, It's not like I'm not trying,...I flashed something like 20 roms yesterday testing them all out! - on that note, I love your benchmark thread.
Anyway, thank you for your help and the help of anyone else who gives it!
best, George
Ehhm to put some things straight...I know even less programming than you do I have a very same opinion of an iPhone - this thing can not be called "smart" phone at all. What you stumbled upon is the fact that there are two basic groups of users of our PDA phones - first ones are user tha want their phones just work - they are not interested why something does not work, they just want a certain standard to work and as long as it does they are happy. Second group is geeks like me (and the majority of users of this forum) that are just happy to upgrade their phones to whatever newer and try it out. The problem is that for example cooked ROMS have bugs/issues (not that official ROMs have none) - issues vary from small glitches, memory leaks, not functioning buttons to random hardresets. If you go way of the cooked ROMs usually you will have to spend more time with your devices than the first group of users just to fix glitches. The other thing is that cooked ROMs and applications there can enable you do much more with your phone - for example resource hogging HTC Home plugin was not intended for Hermes, touch scroll ability as well and we can continue - but folks over here made it possible - that is what makes this forum so great. Butif you choose to go this way you will have to read, read and read again - because nothing is perfect. Our devices have limitations too - hermes processor has computing power roughly equal to Pentium 100 MHz (that is over ten years old processor for desktops) - so some tasks are hard to be adapted (that is why most of the programs we use are watered down versions of desktop programs - as well as screen size is quite limiting for browsing and so on - if you want a VGA screen than you have to count with: your device being a tad slower (4x more data to be displayed over QVGA) and also bigger battery drain (4x more pixels to power up). Said that you can get some of the things you ask for in your questions, but some are still a challenge...
Use vtap for youtube viewing. Just google it.
Opera. Definitely Opera.
Well, AT&T does not support video calls so unless you go out of the country its useless to you. Besides, your phones dont even have the front facing camera, so it would be hard to do anyways.
Mcorrie:
Thanks, I think right now, I am at:
1. A Basic Shell for speed and customization (not sure which yet)
2. Web Browser: Opera
3. YouTube Browser: VTap
4. Scrolling: TouchFlo or s2u2
5. Additional Scrolling: Possibly Touch Commander
6. Maps: Google Maps
7. Wifi Searching: WIFIFOFUM
8: Microsoft Office
9. Phone Dialer (includes 3G Video??): Unknown
10. Camera/Video Program: Unknown
11. Media Player: Unknown
As for Video Calling, I figured there was a way to bypass the Cingular restrictions, but I have not found it yet. After all, it is a pipe...so it should be possible, right?
Some more from me:
4. Scrolling: TouchFlo or s2u2 (s2u2 is only for unlocking! no other scrolling so you can use both))
5. Additional Scrolling: Possibly Touch Commander or Slither's Flash cube (the same effect, but free)
9. Phone Dialer (includes 3G Video??): Schen's Kaiser dialer 2 (or something like this)
10. Camera/Video Program: CoolCamera - this one is commercial, but best there is
11. Media Player: TCPMP 0.81 - freeware plays nearly everything: audio video, with plugin even .flv and so on...
Karhu,
Dakujem for the additions: I am also adding Radio 1.48 as that seems to be the most stable for Brooklyn, NY according to a June report....I'm going to test myself, but as of now:
1. A Basic Shell for speed and customization
2. Web Browser: Opera
3. YouTube Browser: VTap
4. Scrolling: TouchFlo and s2u2
5. Additional Scrolling: Slither’s Flash Cube or Touch Commander
6. Maps: Google Maps
7. Wifi Searching: WIFIFOFUM
8: Microsoft Office
9. Phone Dialer (includes 3G Video??): Schen's Kaiser dialer 2
10. Camera/Video Program: CoolCamera
11. Media Player: TCPMP 0.81
Now, I just need to figure out what else needs to go in this thing! Trying to avoid bloat, but don't want to leave out needed functionality! I think maybe I'll find someone's mostly stripped down Rom and just add in - its a start.
More comments:
I think if you are looking for less bloated system you should stick with basic WM5/6 look - Wisbar advance that can customize the whole look of the system runs on the top of the basic shell and thus takes up some precious RAM space. The same goes for bells and whistles like s2u2 or slither's Cube - function of s2u2 is to lock/unlock the device - but a part of the program runs in background as a service and consumes 200k of RAM even when you use the device - it is not much but as you proceed to customize the device the amount of bloat grows.
I think you should also look for some decent task managers: I personally like wktask and Quickmenu, but pBar is also nice. HTC xButton is quite a bloat in this matter. You should think what is the main purpose you will use your phone for - CoolCamera is nice but due to hardware limitation of the Hermes those pictures will always look....like taken by a phone.
When it comes to extra lite ROMs beware - they tend to have memory leaks and some Super storage ROMs even random bricking - hardreset needed to make them work again.
Several other variants:
Peek Pocket in wifi scanner (just one small exe)
Core Player instead of TCPMP (Core player is the commercial succesor of freeware TCPMP)
You should also consider some backup program if planning to fiddle more with your phone:
If you want to save your messages, mails, contacts and stuff go for free PIM Backup.
Hope that helps a little
1. Find a basic HTC shell?
What do you mean? If you want HTC TouchFLO-like shell (the basic one is TouchFLO 2D), get ThrottleLauncher. You can install TouchFLO, but you need to flash your ROM. You also can use Spb Mobile Shell 2 with Diamond theme (search Diamond theme for Spb Mobile Shell in xda-developers forum)
UPDATE : Now it's possible, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=541750 It's the TouchFLO 2D from HTC Touch2 (HTC Mega).. Download the "PATCHED MANILA FOR WM6.1 and non-HTC devices" if you have 6.0 or 6.1
2. If I wanted to ad in an interface, would you suggest the SPB Shell 1.5 + Diary or do you think Pocket Plus 4.0 is smooth, fast and multi-talented?
Spb Mobile Shell!
3. Opera or Explorer?
I usually use Explorer for short time browsing, and Opera Mobile for long time or serious browsing, because we must wait for about 5 seconds for Opera to boot up
UPDATE : With Opera Mobile 10, the Opera is not slow anymore, I'm currently using Opera Mobile 10 as my only and favourite browser on my Hermes..
4. I still cannot watch Youtube, and some websites that require flash to show videos do not like Macromedia 7.0 Flash..they say "upgrade!" Thoughts?
Download the YouTube app, you cannot view on the Windows Mobile browser..
UPDATE : With SkyFire browser, you can..
7. what is the best solution in terms of Iphone like scrolling and unlock? I know 4.0 Pocket Plus has it...its just "ok"...I tried to install Slide2unlock, didn't work for me.
Upgrade your Windows Mobile to Windows Mobile 6.1 or 6.5
UPDATE : Use Slide2Unlock2 (S2U2), it works on my Hermes (running official WM6 ROM)
8. I also used RealVGA, but didnt' notice a considerable difference. Is it not there, or am I dreaming?
Hermes's screen is QVGA (320x240), so you cannot force Windows to view VGA (640x480)
9. Finally, should I just sell this Hermes 100 (its a "new" refurbished one from AT&T, got it yesterday) and buy a Tilt, or can I do everything I want on this baby!? I've had this type of phoen for a half a year now.....
No, I think Hermes' body is more sturdy than the Tilt (Kaiser)
Epic necro. Another month and a bit and you'd have had 2 years!
Timing is everything when replying to a thread. Especially when it's almost 2 years old!
I owe both a Polaris and a Blackstone and, in my opinion, TouchCube is far better than TF3D. TF3D looks nice but let's face it... it eats up system resources, it's laggy, when browsing through tabs it's not very thumb friendly (you have to bend your thumb to the max), you can't customize the tabs position (it would help if they were placed on one side because it would be easier to scroll through the same number of items having at least 30% more room to place the tabs), the so called customization... is way too limited (you get to change the fonts, the tab order, the shortcuts... in the end you'll get the same layout), the multimedia section was divided with the unhappy default association of the video files with an application clearly meant for photos...
So... my question: can the TouchCube be ported on the Blackstone and, along with it the Polaris Audio Manager? Can the Album application be "broken" in two applications one handling the photos and the other the videos?
I was thinking just the other day "what happened to the cube?"
It was pretty cool. Think it would be good a replacement for the action screen thats floating about?
Try duttys ROM with new manila, TF3D is uber fast
Sallcho said:
Try duttys ROM with new manila, TF3D is uber fast
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and what about ergonomics?
So... I get it that no developer is interested in porting the Cube to Blackstone
I have never tried it, but how about the option "Cube" under HTC TouchFLO when using Advanced Config. How about changing that to Enabled, will that do the job?
I'll make it my next project
I'm currently finishing an animated today screen for this phone while docked but when I'm done that that I'll start work on a cube launcher that replaces the current Program's tab with a custom app that gives you a cube with multiple options for launching programs... icon view, rotate to list view, rotate to cover-flow view etc
Did you try the cube here : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=336234
Maybe you just have to adapt to wvga screen ?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=336234
I tried this one instead... installs ok but it's for qvga it starts and then it goes to the top-left corner. the animations work just fine, some of the links must be rebuilt... and that's about it. But... i mus admit it... i don't have the knowledge to port it to WVGA...
I know it won't be free, but what about something like SPB Mobile 3 due out at the end of March? Have a look at around 58 seconds in here:
http://www.wmexperts.com/update-spb-mobile-shell-3
edit...
Just found a video showing it on a Touch HD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv8DDNE3lgA&feature=related
Cookie999
I appreciate the work of the people at SPB. It seams they did a good job. But... I am not a phonecentric person and something like the cube suites me better. SPBM3 looks like it requires a lot of time to be customized and even when you think you got it you wake up with a fully texted today screen and a directions map to help you swipe through screens...
The HTC TouchCube might seam blunt compareing it to SPBM3 but this is what I like about it... an easy way to launch/hide, easy recognition of the page you're in... i can't explain it very well but for me... the TouchCube is more natural, more organized and a better interface than the windows start menu when it comes to basic tasks.
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! SPB Mobile 3 looks great... forget what I wrote before. No need to write what they have already written
Cookie999 said:
I know it won't be free, but what about something like SPB Mobile 3 due out at the end of March? Have a look at around 58 seconds in here:
http://www.wmexperts.com/update-spb-mobile-shell-3
edit...
Just found a video showing it on a Touch HD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv8DDNE3lgA&feature=related
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude! That looks freeking awesome and just think I neally bought an iPhone 3G
=]
nice i like it...
Cookie999 said:
I know it won't be free, but what about something like SPB Mobile 3 due out at the end of March? Have a look at around 58 seconds in here:
http://www.wmexperts.com/update-spb-mobile-shell-3
edit...
Just found a video showing it on a Touch HD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv8DDNE3lgA&feature=related
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
looks great!!
it moves really good!
Please resize the cube for vga/wvga would love it!!
yea spb mobile shell 3.0 does look good buuuuuuttttttttttttt its not free cost almost $30 and to be honest like many of you have been saying, i do miss the cube app from the htc touch...that app was very cool an useful plus i loved how when you needed it you just swiped up an when you were done you swiped down an that was that... SO I TO HOPE THAT IT CAN BE RESIZED FOR VGA AND WVGA!!!!!
Mrferrari23
If only I could... I'd do it myself
If it was posible id like the touchcube too, it's more finger friendly imo and it's faster to use. Like said before, if I knew how to do it myself, I would..
Bell UI
Browsing the internet I found the Bell UI. Looks quite nice.
To all the chefs out there... is there a chance to port this to HD? 'Cause I'm kinda' giving up the idea of the Cube being ported to the HD...
Anyone disabled TF3D and kept the original WM home screen interface? I personally disabled it and kept the original interface even though I don't like how the WM SMS look. I disabled it because I don't like the default TF3D colors and I tried changing it black, but it's a no go. I don't know why! I did change the background and the drop menu all black which looks pretty neat since anything black looks good. What I really want is the WM6.5 Zune interface so I can't wait for WM6.5 official release!!!
Let us know what you have.
TF3D does not appeal to me!
TF3D is pretty, so people "oooo" and "aaah" over the phone and buy it.
However, I still think that TF3D is a bunch of useless kitsch that gets in the way of actually using the phone effectively. After a few hours of it interfering with what I want to do, I turned it off. (At least this time it took a few hours and not a few minutes.)
This is especially true of the messaging (it's just in the way), and the photo album. (who wants to see tiny, slanted, distorted versions of the pictures?) It's been a while, so I cannot remember the other specific things that annoyed me.
TF3D was the first thing I disabled on the device... I don't like that I cannot choose my own programs and way of working.
I use Wisbar Advance and Wisbar Desktop
on my personal Touch HD I much prefered the TouchFLo interface to the standard windows one - saying that, that was running a Dutty ROM
However on my work TP2 - I have it disabled as it gets in the way of my business apps - i.e. MS Communicator etc.
TF3D has bad things an good things.
The biggest failure and that's why TF3D is just crap is because it's not intuitive and easy to use. Way to many steps to get things done, pretty useless taskbar (exepts for the killing programs part). You can do to much information on one screen at the same time and too little. It's nice that they include things like a calendar, but it's pretty useless and in many ways TF3D makes the use of third party software actually harder.
The very good things about touchflo 3d is the push pages, the scheduels, and the best thing is the fueture to see all of your conversation with one contact. I really love it. Next to that it's snappy and pretty.
Well I treid SPB mobile shell 3, but it just doesn't do it. Also many features, but the fact is: when I use my phone it's to get something done pretty quickly. I just want to be able that I have a good view of all the info I need (messages, appointments) in the least ammount of time and to be able to do something in little time. The regular wm is just very easy. Start - settings/programs - choose- done.
Seeing my messages when there is a new one I get a popup and pres view and I there. I do not have to click the task baar. Get a new screen there push on the button, then being transported to the touchflo tab and then have to choose the message.
THats 2 clicks vs 4/5 clicks.
I kept the default TF3d for now, as soon as the official WM 6.5 ROM will be available, I'll switch to the Titanium UI.
Bright.Light said:
TF3D was the first thing I disabled on the device... I don't like that I cannot choose my own programs and way of working.
I use Wisbar Advance and Wisbar Desktop
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will give Wisbar Advance a try. Thanks!
I prefer Manilla2D over TF3D.
how
how do you disable tf3d??
cavenger said:
how do you disable tf3d??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
go to Settings>Personal>Today>, Items Tab & untick the TF3D then click OK
ty!! Need to find something to replace it now.
henh said:
go to Settings>Personal>Today>, Items Tab & untick the TF3D then click OK
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mschaffer said:
TF3D is pretty, so people "oooo" and "aaah" over the phone and buy it.
However, I still think that TF3D is a bunch of useless kitsch that gets in the way of actually using the phone effectively. After a few hours of it interfering with what I want to do, I turned it off. (At least this time it took a few hours and not a few minutes.)
This is especially true of the messaging (it's just in the way), and the photo album. (who wants to see tiny, slanted, distorted versions of the pictures?) It's been a while, so I cannot remember the other specific things that annoyed me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I totally agree!
SPB Mobile Shell 3.0. I like having one-touch access to everything I need (email, sms, weather, contacts, favorites, apps, etc...) right on the front page.
FEWidgets Ultimate 1.0b7
cavenger said:
ty!! Need to find something to replace it now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
An interesting 'Widget' based replacement for TF3D I came on when I was looking around on XDA.
"FEWidgets Ultimate" by nicodega.
It replaces TF3D completely as a 'Today' plugin.
Basically one just has to install the CAB.
(Note: it will not show up under All Programs, but as a Today plugin only)
> Go into Settings> Today>
> Remove check next TF3D
> Enable Check next to FEWidgets Ultimate
Two versions- Large widgets and Small Widgets for anyone who needs a whole bunch of widgets.
I did try it out on my TMO TP2 and both versions basically work when I tested each separately.
Though I haven't tried fine-tuning each widget for my TP2 yet.
Enjoy.
i kept my TP1 and gave the TP2 to Dad whose TmoWing crapped out. Had to disable TF3D for him today. The last straw was contacts/call history will not allow you to dial out, it's link to the phone dialer was broken or something. I don't know if this is a result of a tweak I did or if the Tmo's TF3D version has a bug. After disabling TF3D, you can press the contacts again to call out. For future reference, anyone know the cause/solution?
Like above guy said, now I need a replacement for tf3d. The last version of BatteryStatus that I used was 1.04build266 from this time last year, which has since been replaced by HomeScreenPlusPlus or something like that. Anyone know of a stable version for the TP2? Stable enough for Dad?
Today Plugins
I kept the default TF3D, but with HDWall, because I love the eye-candy of the interface and I find it very intuitive to use. I have also tried other today plugins, such as PointUI Home 2, FEWidgetsUltimate and iPhonetoday, but none of them felt as smooth and easy to use as TF3D for me. Out of the other interfaces I tried I find FEWidgetsUltimate to be the best.
LINK - iPhoneToday
LINK - FEWidgetsUltimate
LINK - HDWall
LINK - PointUI
EDIT: On my previous device I tried SPB Mobile Shell - LINK
I also got rid of TF3D. IMHO that is eye candy for people who don't know how to use a computer - and that is still a large number of people out there using phones. W/o TF3D I get things quicker done and have more flexibility to set up the phone the way I use it best.
Aquila-169 said:
I kept the default TF3D, but with HDWall, because I love the eye-candy of the interface and I find it very intuitive to use. I have also tried other today plugins, such as PointUI Home 2, FEWidgetsUltimate and iPhonetoday, but none of them felt as smooth and easy to use as TF3D for me. Out of the other interfaces I tried I find FEWidgetsUltimate to be the best.
LINK - iPhoneToday
LINK - FEWidgetsUltimate
LINK - HDWall
LINK - PointUI
EDIT: On my previous device I tried SPB Mobile Shell - LINK
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the link! HDWall and Mobileshell looks nice.
It is VERY usefull for me! I can't use without! I'm bored by WinMo interface.
I too found TF obtrusive and unintuitive so switched it off. I used to use SPB Mobile Shell on the Kaiser and liked it, but I'm a bit fed up of the way it doesn't integrate with Informant and Flexmail, so I'm back to the WM interface and don't miss all the bloat.
I am a current owner of a Verizon XV6800 and am searching the forums daily for news of Verizon's release of the Touch Pro 2.
With the improvements in the TouchFlo 3D interface, what are users going to find to be the biggest improvements with Windows Mobile 6.5? I'm not an expert, but it seems like TouchFlo 3D steals a lot of thunder from this upgrade. Other than the honeycomb screen (which I assume won't be utilized if using TF 3D) and access to the Windows Mobile store, I don't see anything earth shattering.
Thanks for any answers!
From my limited experience usinf wm6.5 (mostly from the old tmobile wing rom) I can't think of too much advantage of wm6.5 with touch pro2 either.
The biggest advantage of wm6.5 on wing was enlarged pop up menu and scrolling, which is already handled elegantly here with touchflo. So to me, wm6.5 upgrade is nice but certainly not necessary.
I'm anxiously awaiting my TP2 in the mail, but the biggest advantage I've found so far with WM6.5 on my current Tilt is the text messaging screen. Nothing is really different other than the icon next to each text showing if it has been replied to or not.
Pretty sure TF3D takes care of that in its own messaging window, though
One thing I really want out of WM6.5 in the newer builds is the new taskbar.
I'm seriously not a fan of the honeycomb start menu. I've just tried out one of the 6.5 ROMS, and it's a real turnoff. Don't understand why Micro$oft thinks anyone would want icons arranged in such a way. I've since flashed back to the latest stock HTC ROM...
Curious... I see a lot of good programs on here named over an over but there's also **** I've come across and haven't seen many people mention..
I see a lot of SPB mobile shell talk, and its GREAT software.. also heard about PointUI (wasnt a fan though)
But I never heard about Winterface? And so far I like it better then both.. maybe because I was used to SPB an this is new but I'm lovin it, it's a simple interface, runs real smooth, and does everything I want..
Other programs I heard rarely or just missed the memo on..
BeeJive IM
Panoramic MoTweets
SK Tools
Speed Booster
UCWEB
Opera Mini (through java)
Task Facade
I don't use task facade now that I been using Winterface.. didn't with SPB either, but it was nice with TouchFLO
Any others ya'll have come across but never really were told about?
And anyone using Opera 10 beta? I got it but it seems to close before I get to do much in the browser, I'm guessing cause it's beta it must not be completely compatible? The whole interface and options are WAY better then the 9.5 one that comes with NFSFans ROM.. personally the 9.5 runs slow for me I'm forced to use opera mini through java its the smoothest browser I've ever used but it doesn't do videos (not even sure if opera 9.5 does? I know the explorer that came with the ROM does but I don't like that either really..)
Kinoma Play- slightly memory intensive, but it's my favorite music player. I'm still on Vin's lightning fast 23506 ROM so I don't really miss any of the memory it uses.
Opera 10 beta is really nice(I haven't had it crash??). I just miss the zoom bar occasionally, but I've just started using the d-pad to select links instead of zooming down to where I could click them. It has it's own ideas sometimes on how to deal with long or complex websites, but overall I enjoy it's aesthetics. If you're having trouble with it go back to opera's website and make sure you have the latest release.
I use Bing more than I thought I would. I really like its phone book/yellow page functions.
I tried using Task Facade a while back when I was running NFSFAN v12 or so and at that time I thought it was to slow and laggy. Now that I'm running Vin's speed demon 23506 ROM I have started using Task Facade and I really like it. There is almost no lag and with it mapped to the camera button I don't miss having HTC's Task Manager at all.
yeah i had used it with NFSFan and it worked fine, task facade was a great program
ill re-install opera 10 im not sure what it is, like i said tho maybe it isnt compatible with NFSFans ROM.. cause he has the 9.5 that comes with it, probably for good reason
I'm liking opera mini. It seems to load a lot faster then opera 9.7
Yeah unbelievably faster.. I do like Opera 10 beta though
skyfire 1.5 is my fave
Showcase Task Manager.
Manila 2d like interface. EXTREMELY nice and fingerfriendly.
also. fartmachine. (immature there) and pocket noise (both xda+ppc devs included). extremely amusing.
Does anyone have any good programs involving things like...
Stocks?
Stock information/updates?
Are there any alternative web browsers worth looking for other than these...?
UCWEB
Skyfire
Opera
Iris
Netfront
Anyone know of any good skins for Winterface? (the original is the best, the others have to big of icons for me)
I'm tryin think of more things... hmm..
Anyone have any programs they've always wondered about and never came across?
I just flashed Vins V_4 and have been using the M2DC manila customizer by Mpenguin14 and its a great program for anyone using M2D.
I like your initiative. Some titles are not so popular because not every developer pays for the marketing. And most users buy what they are told to.
Regarding your list and internet browsers I've seen an interesting one, I think it was called touch browser, very similar to the Android one.
I like:
Thumbcal
G-Alarm
Resco contacts
All three greatly improved WM funtions and make them more finger friendly.
Another program that greatly improves the "finger-friendliness" is SMS-Chat by Vito Tech. The stock SMS for WM has never been very good, which is something I hope changes with WM7, but in the meantime this is a great substitute and has some really nice skins that you find right here on XDA.
im a huge fan of SOTI pocket controller. Granted its not exactly PPC software, but it really is nice for when im working on my desktop/laptop and need to access phone files or send out a text.
Or when tinkering with it in general : )
S2P
TCPMP
Advanced Config
PocketCM Contacts
PCM Keyboard (much lighter than Fingerkeyboard 2.1)
Gen.Y DualBOOT
CleanRam
PHM Regedit
Notepad
File Explorer Extension
A good Android build
I use a lot more stuff, but these are really the essentials for my Vogue (IMHO).
I was using PCM keyboard, recently switched to zoomboard before i flashed to android, seemed to work a touch better for my big dumb fingers.
These make WinMo tolerable for me:
Windows Mobile 6.5.3+
ArkSwitch Task Manager (for 6.5.3+)
PhonEx Dialer (for 6.5.3+) -- sooo much better than any dialer out there, including the HTC GSM Dialer. You get a great full-screen predictive dialer, with smooth contact swipe scrolling. Only contact manager where swipe scrolling works on the vogue (without me accidentally dialing someone). Also it preserves the stock WM dialer for phone codes, and is fast! Comes with slide-2-answer.
EzInput 2.1 / Swype
Things I hate / want to die:
Going through three screens to acknowledge or answer a text message
The above, for missed calls
Internet browser -- None work well, Opera Mobile 10.5u seems the best, but I much prefer the Android browser
Battery life is the only reason I haven't switched fully to android yet.
You always hear a lot of talk about Swype, but you rarely ever hear about the similar, but much smoother SlideIT keyboard. I've used Swype and Shapewriter, but SlideIT is probably my favorite keayboard.
I'm a big fan of SPB Radio. Best app on WinMo.
A great app for music is nanogroove, you can stream your music and custom playlists from the grooveshark.com website. I also use SPBMobile Shell and zoomboard. All excellent software.