With so many phones available these days, it’s hard to keep up with what’s available. Seems like every day phone companies are airing some ridiculous commercial with a phone dropping from space like Gort and changing the world. (That would have been a much cooler analogy had The Day The Earth Stood Still not be re-made.) With all of these new phones comes a plethora of new functionality that most users have rarely seen.
I’ve had a Windows Mobile phone for the past 7+ years going all the way back to Windows Mobile 2003. I’ve since upgraded several times and am currently running Windows Mobile 6.5, albeit on a dismal wireless network where I live (not even 3G….). Through those years, I learned a good bit about Windows Mobile, the ins and outs of its programming, tweaks, and more importantly, how to recover when I totally jack it up.
Here are some tips I’ve learned on how to get the most out of your phone:
1. Get a backup of your phones’ OS. Nearly every supplier has a ROM backup of your phone that it was shipped with. These ROMs are invaluable when restoring your system after making OS modifications, changing the wrong registry key, or some other disastrous event.
These ROMs are usually carrier specific, with each company getting a slightly different “flavor” suited to their needs. Check with your carrier to see if they have it. If not, you can always check out http://www.xda-developers.com/ for a backup.
2. Learn to restore. If you do make a mess of things, use the backup ROM and restore your phone. You’ll lose all your data on it, but it will reset everything back to the manufacturer settings. Typically, the ROM restore will be an .exe that will prompt you through the restore process. Follow the onscreen prompts and you shouldn’t have a problem.
3. Try a new theme. Windows Mobile comes with a few very nice themes. These can change the look and feel of your phone, which is often just what the doctor ordered for a complacent user. Go To Settings and try out some of the other themes. Also, you can download themes to your phone. There are several sites offering free .tsk files, which will change the look and feel of your phone quickly. You can download those to your phones’ storage card, or to your Windows directory on the phone itself.
4. Sync it up! One of the most widely used features of Windows Mobile enabled phones is synching directly with Microsoft Exchange. I personally use this feature every day and it helps me manage all of my appointments, contacts, and emails.
Some people chose to use Direct Push to always keep their phone in sync with their work email. I personally do not, due to the battery drain. Over the years, I’ve just become accustomed to performing a manual sync during off hours and that works out best for me.
To make the most of it, I also sync other accounts. I use my work email to check my personal POP3 account, of which I send to a particular folder inside of Outlook. I then choose that individual folder and sync those emails as well. My work machine is constantly checking mail, so I can easily sync both accounts at one time.
5. Tweak the registry. Windows Mobile is just like other Microsoft OS’s and uses a registry. By default, it doesn’t come with a registry tool, however, there are several available. I prefer Total Commander (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Commander) for its simplicity. It allows you to quickly access the registry and update keys as needed. There are several sites with many registry changes to speed up Windows and improve performance.
NOTE: Editing the registry is a potentially dangerous business. I would only recommend it to advanced users who have a backup ROM on hand, in case things get messed up.
6. Get a custom ringtone. Windows comes with a number of small, cute ringtones for you to use. Additionally, you can use your own mp3’s and .wav’s if you know where to put them. To copy them directly to the device, use the [Device name]/Windows/Rings folder. If you want to store them on the storage card, just copy them into the root and they should appear in the list.
NOTE: If you want to use a file larger than the “standard” file size, you’ll need to modify the registry (see above) to allow a larger file size. Here are some instructions on how to change it:
1. Browse to HKEY_Current_User / ControlPanel / Sounds
2. Under the Sounds key, you should see a value by the name of FileSizeLimit
3. Highlight the FileSizeLimit value and edit it
4. The default Value Data for this value is 307200 (May vary by phone) Change this to a value that better suits your needs.
5. Save your changes and you should now be able to select those larger files as your ringtones.
7. Limit your installs to the device. Phones are great and have a decent amount of storage available. However, if you go all nuts and install things left and right, you’ll quickly run out of room on your device which will slow everything down. I highly recommend getting a SD storage card (1 gb+) and installing any programs you can there. I like to use Bing Mobile, Yahoo Go!, Google Maps, and a handful of other programs, all of which I install on the storage card. This helps tremendously with the phone’s speed and storage.
I hope these tips help you get the most out of your phone and make your life easier. Enjoy!
