I've been toying with the idea of changing to a WM6.5 based ROM, either Miri's or Davideuck's, but I'm so happy with Dutty's Xtreme ROMs that it's going to be a wrench if I do. I love the functionality of TF3D but find it annoying that you have to have a 3rd party UI running on top of Windows just to get a reasonable-looking and easy-to-navigate interface.
The thing that bugs me is the whole Titanium vs Manila thing. Personally, I can't see the point in having both TF3D and the Titanium home screen installed on the phone at the same time.
The Titanium home screen is simple and elegant but links to standard naff-looking WinMo apps (calendar, photos) whilst TF3D has eye-candy aplenty and quite usable and functional manila apps built-in like the calendar, weather and contacts browser (especially in the newest, prettier versions). I'm aware that we can run certain HTC apps within Titanium (Calculator/Album/Camera/etc), but the experience then feels disjointed and not cohesive at all.
So my question (and point for discussion) is this: Can we ever envisage a time when HTC's (or whomever's) bolt-on UIs are not required? Will MS ever produce a UI that is pretty and easy to navigate? Or will we always have to rely on 3rd party apps just to make our phones usable without the need for a stylus?
I quite like the new titanium, don't miss manila at all. Using Miri's 7.2 standard.
I think it will be WM7 that should/will get rid of the stylus once and for all.
The new start menu is more aesthetically appealing, but i find it less functional than the new start menu in manila, my issues w/ the new start menu in manila, is that noone has made a background for all cabs for this version yet, and htc should really have included this by default, seems kind of dumb to me to have only wallpaper support for the home tab.
I've found that even though its monochromatic, i prefer tf3d v2 and its new notifications, context menu's and additional tabs on tf3d more than i prefer what MS has done w/ wm 6.5.
What i like about wm 6.5 is that it gives the visual impression that you have more screen real estate due to the transparent top & bottom bars, but sadly that's only on the start bar & today screens. I also like the new lock screen, and the icons throughout the system, smoother, better antialiasing.
I also miss the ability to select multiple files in file explorer, but i find that functionality has been gone for a while, once the kinetic scrolling was introduced, the ability to block select multiple files was lost. I know that other 3rd party file managers have the functionality built in, but you lose the visual cohesivehness with the operating system.
even though they take up the whole screen and are again monochromatic, i don't know why but i prefer the htc context menus to the wm 6.5 one's, i'm not sure if its the font type or size which could be part of it, but i think the wm 6.5 context menus looks less visually cohesive, even though it shares the theme of the OS.
I honestly am glad that HTC put out the tf3d v2, i wasn't particularly impressed by v1, and took it off the device as soon as i got it, resigned to have to deal w/ wm's ugliness, and millions of menu's, but i think v2 is a noble effort, they've certainly made me enjoy my Touch HD more. a
whole lot more.
Also prefer the HTC calculator, and HTC dialer to the stock MS one's. I'm just over the moon w/ tf3d v2, and i'm also running Miri's rom.
DRTigerlilly said:
The new start menu is more aesthetically appealing, but i find it less functional than the new start menu in manila, my issues w/ the new start menu in manila, is that noone has made a background for all cabs for this version yet, and htc should really have included this by default, seems kind of dumb to me to have only wallpaper support for the home tab. ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is background for all tabs available. mun_rus works great for me and there is another cab available to have both the old start menu and programs tab.
Quite so, but the BG for all tabs doesn't extend to the new Start Menu.
Ive been using Onkolos light WM 6.5 since friday and love it. I havnt used Manila as I like the new Titanium but I have installed Yota contacts and dialer as I dont like the windows contacts and the dialer is faster.
Downside is they dont work in landscape mode but Im using changescreen at the moment to experiment getting windows to rotate but not dialer & contacts. I would prefer to use flip it but didnt know what to enter for windows rotation.
I prefer touch flo and the way htc have tried to hide the boring style of the windows interface. I love all the new htc menus, skins, finger friendly apps etc.
I tried 6.5 but after a while reverted back to manilla because in 6.5 it was still the old interface below. Only the home page and menus had changed. I also tried 6.5 with some htc updated replacement skins and apps but did not like the mix of two styles and preferred to have a consistant theme throughout.
Am using the new topaz manilla 2 - davideuck v5 and am very happy with it and sticking with it. Manilla all the way...
Major_Sarcasm said:
Quite so, but the BG for all tabs doesn't extend to the new Start Menu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what you do is that you set the background wallpaper for the "today" screen as the same background wallpaper for your tabs, and it will be the same. An extra step, I know, but this also extends to your WM6.5 lock screen as well.
skulk3r said:
what you do is that you set the background wallpaper for the "today" screen as the same background wallpaper for your tabs, and it will be the same. An extra step, I know, but this also extends to your WM6.5 lock screen as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Major_Sarcasm & myself are referring to the new htc start menu in wm 6.1 not wm 6.5
Having tried various flavors of it, I don't give a bean about Titanium (MS in general); I find it cumbersome. TouchFlo to me is simple and efficent enough. Now, if there is a Zune phone (with at least 120 gb), that will be the day.
aabye said:
Having tried various flavors of it, I don't give a bean about Titanium (MS in general); I find it cumbersome. TouchFlo to me is simple and efficent enough. Now, if there is a Zune phone (with at least 120 gb), that will be the day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
manila unfortunately comes with a price.....major hi-jack of memory.
no a problem for me,remember we had pda's before manilla ...
Hi, I have bought pocketshield and found it doesn't work in all applications as manila is set as part of my start process. To make all apps work with pocketshield, am I safe removing manila - sorry to be dim but what is it giving me that touchflo doesn't..?
YES, PointUI
I have to say I'm in the Manila camp. Especially the latest versions of Manila from custom ROMs.
It's good looking, and functional.
And with each new version it goes deeper and deeper into hiding the ugly WinMo interface, which is a big plus for me. Also, I have to say that Manila has been surprisingly solid when it comes to speed and stability, especially for someone like me who's constantly digging around the _manila files and playing with them
The biggest minus for me personally is that HTC didn't take in account that people may want to change the colors and graphics, so visual customization is major PITA.
band27 said:
manila unfortunately comes with a price.....major hi-jack of memory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no more than 20-30% free memory, and my device is very fast and stable. Memory is there to be used, why else did you pay for it?
vangrieg said:
I have no more than 20-30% free memory, and my device is very fast and stable. Memory is there to be used, why else did you pay for it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldn't agree more. I don't see a point in saving up free memory. As long as I can run 2-3 large applications simultaneously and still be able to answer a call or read an SMS, I'm perfectly happy with my device.
Zepiii said:
YES, PointUI
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly. It's amazing what it can do
I'm the biggest fan of it
HastaSSSS
im not a fan of the titanium in 6.5 , i like manila better, but i like pointUI even better as the same for ms3 wich i use the most
I rather quite like touchflow as it give you all of the main features of a phone such as the touch HD without the need to run different apps (ie can view newest text messages without running the ms messaging app).
as for if MS will ever make a really nice UI, i think by winmo 7, MS will have to hav made a new UI (because of pressure from iphone OS) and then, as a major release, all the regular apps (windows media player, album etc) will also get a facelift, with the former already having been confirmed for a new release.
thats what i think anyway...
My first smarphone was an iphone 3G,
since 2 months the DHD is my new phone. It is awsome an in most ways better.
but i have something missing :
The abylity to have the apps in horizontal way AND sorting them LIKE I want
ok i could install adw launcher, and set the display mode horizontal, but the apps would be sort by alphabet... that's cool if you know exactly the name of each app (but who always know the name of all his apps ???), and ... well you could replace one of your favorite apps by an other that does more, but don't have the same name... or you could install new apps
so one of the apps you're using would change place
This is making you loose some time, because you need to search your apps each time you add or modify an app...
Whereas, on iphone the app X will stay at the defined place, so you can install 100 apps, it will always stay where you set it to be.
Touchwiz (on Galaxy S) works the same way as the iphone... you can move an app the be on the first app screen (i'm speaking of app screen, not desktop screen ) and that's cool
There is also a touchwiz mod named touchwizGTG ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=822523 )
And i'm curious to know if someone ever tried to install it on his phone ?
As the title suggests, I'm wondering if anybody here with a knowledge of launcher pro's shortcut creator could create a custom shortcut for me. Looking at the shortcut creator, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing and none of the fields for entry make any sense to me. I've done some googling but I can't find any reliable source of info for help with the creator, and it seems like a lot of people are in the same boat.
Soooo....if there is somebody who can help, here's what I'd like the shortcut to do (if it's possible):
activate Advanced Task Killer's "kill all selected" command (which I think is the same function that the ATK widget performs)...so basically kill all running processes that I havent added to the ignore list..
then, kill the Advanced Task Killer process (since it lingers, even if you just use the widget and not open the program) using AutoKiller Memory optimizer (if it helps, the ATK process is nearly always at the top of the list of processes due to alphabetical order).
so basically, I let Autokiller run all the time since it handles the memory presets, but every once in a while I'll use ATK to clear all running processes (except autokiller and other ignored ones of course), then have to go in to Autokiller to kill the lingering ATK process.
somebody please let me know if this is possible...
thanks!
Bump 10chars
Sent from my baked and emotionless SPH-D700
Looking for the same ability and am unable to figure it out
I installed a no - sense rom yesterday (Android_Revolution_HD-4G_3.2 with Android_Revolution_HD_no-sense_Gingerbread_Launcher)
when using menu - settings - personalize, i get sent back to my (blank) homepage -should i see a menu that allows 'personalization'.
tried wiping and reinstalling the rom, this time using No-Sense++3.2 to remove sense, and still the same thing.
could anybody with a vanilla rom tell me what they see when the select the personalize item?
Vanilla Android doesn't have this item in its settings-menu.
On Sense roms, this menu will allow you to change wallpapers, add widgets to the home-screen and set ringtones. (and also change Scenes, whatever thats supposed to be useful for)
On Vanilla-Android you can archieve most of that by just long-tapping the homescreen, ringtones are set up in different places and Scenes aren't even available (as they are a Sense feature)
thanks for that, thought there was something strange.
what true 'vanilla android' roms are available that you would recommend?
tried those mentioned below, but seems strange that they have the menu icon for personalize that doesn't do anything??
well, I for myself like Sense, I use Android Revolution HD 4.0 beta 4.
On my Milestone I used Cyanogenmod. It's not entirely vanilla, but I'd say it's close enough At least, you won't find any Sense-related stuff
don't get me wrong, i quite like sense, especially its style and widgets.
being new to android i want to check out the options to find my own personal preference.
have tried cyanogen 7, but unfortunately had problems with the flash plugin not working with bbc iplayer and youtube, and no easy fix that i could find.
after seeing sense (!) i have to say its a nice ui. but wanted to try a rom with vanilla android (i think termed aosp?). i just found it strange the behavoiur of menu - settings - customise in the de-sensed rom i had..
Hey Everyone, I have spent about 3 hours looking here and ppcgeeks to finda ROM that suites what I am looking for.
So i am hoping that some of you out there can help me narrow things down a bit.
my phone is a TMO Touch Pro 2 GSM, unlocked. i currently have a NRGZ ROM installed.
So what I want is to run SPB mobile Shell. I want to be able to use it's SMS messaging features. I want it as quick as possible. I don't need many frills or bloat stuff (though I do like some of the pre-installed stuff on the NRGZ ROM)
I prefer the old top bar with the down arrow (upper right), connection and notification icons up there. (Mind you if there is a way to remove that then I SPB has those same features as well.
Pretty basic, but I can't seem to determine what the best ROM for this would be.
Thanks
Bump.. Please people I am so confused!
I understand that SPB Shell and ROM are different, but tonight after another 1.5 hours on this forum, I am more confused than ever.
Can I change the the theme for SPB Shell and will that over ride all the ROM themes?
Is there a plain vanilla ROM or a ROM that has only the most popular items (total Commander, safeinbox etc?)
Any help would be appreciated. The forums are just overwhelming and my searches aren't helping this cause.
Thanks!
Maybe what I don't like is the touch flo/sense interface.
I don't like the scrolling slider on the footer, or the reading pane step for SMS and email.
Maybe this is why I am leaning towards SPB shell?
Any thoughts on whether this is a ROM issue or is there something I can do to remove the Touch Flo/Sense and the HTC preview pages etc?
Thanks
Rob
Most of the ROMs found here in the forums are WM 6.5 ROMs with HTC Sense cooked and turned on by default. You can disable the HTC Sense completely by going to:
Start > Settings > Home > Items, and remove the check from the "HTC Sense" item.
When you tap OK, HTC Sense will be turned off, and you'll get an empty today screen. Now, you can install SPB Mobile Shell and customize it to your liking.
HTC Sense and SPB Mobile Shell are totally independent from each other, you can have them both on your device and switch between them as necessary. Also, SPB themes will only affect SPBMS and will have no effect on the overall theme of your device.
If you really don't need HTC Sense at all, you could try the Energy ROM called "Titanium" as it comes with only the bare minimum components of Windows Mobile, and is probably the lightest ROM around.
Personally I'd recommend you choose a light ROM with Sense included so you could get back to it whenever you feel bored of SPBMS. Simplicity, Jackos, and NRG Reference ROMs are all suitable candidates for the job.
Hope I answered your questions.
Cheers, and good luck.
Thank you for your help!
I managed to find a the ROM Repository thread and ended up downloading and flashing 6 or 7 of them. I finally settled on an NRG rom, simply because it had the SWYPE input method.
No I have SPB Shell on it and I really like it - almost perfect
Now is there a way I can Change the top bar icons to something more intuitive (IMO)? I saw a thread with a bunch of different themes for these but was unclear on how to install them.
Also, I was wondering how I can change the hard keys functions? I want the HOME hard key to take me back to the today (SPB Shell) screen instead of the program list.
Any ideas on how to do these things?
Thanks for your help!
Rob
You're welcome, I'm glad you found what you were looking for.
And yes, you can change the top bar icons (aka taskbar icons). Just download the appropriate cab file from the thread, and install it on the device memory, and soft-reset.
The hard keys are hard to change, but not impossible. I heard about a program that changes the hardware keyboard mappings, but I'm not sure if it changes the hard keys on the device. Search for something called "keyboard remapper" or "keyboard config".
Other members may shed more light on this...