vB Easy Archive - some gx40 questions

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some gx40 questions
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Posted by: gx40

I know not many people here have the GX40, but in Greece it was released early, so I got it at Christmas but I have some problems with it, they may be similar to the V903 one or whatever, because the FW versions are close.

1) The ebook function works only with .txt and xmdf (.zbf or .zbk) files, but when I select to change folder inside the ebook it says:
Folder E-Book1
Folder E-Book2 (greyed out, can't be selected)
Other Documents
Other Documents (SD)
PDA (Doc.) (greyed out, can't be selected)
PDA (Zau.) (greyed out, can't be selected)
MMK Folder (greyed out, can't be selected)
Other Folder (greyed out, can't be selected)

What interests me is the PDA DOC feature. Does that mean that the phone can read PDA Doc ebooks but it is just locked for my phone (btw it is Vodafone Greece)? If not why is it there. I inserted some .pdb files but they can't be opened at all. same happens with the standard micrososft .doc files. Is there the possibility that I can unlock the PDA DOC feature so that I can open those files with the EBOOK application? Also what is MMK?

2) Another thing with the ebook feature are the text files. If I open a txt file from the standard menu I can see characters in Greek (well only if the txt file is encoded in UTF8 code). This works because the txt files is opened with the intergraded broswer (openwave). However I don't like that way for opening text files because they have 40kb file limit and also you can't scroll easily in big files. So I open them with the EBook program that has absolutely no limitations on file size, and you can also scroll easily and has more features. However I can't make the Ebook to display Greek Characters at all. Only English are visible. Whatever encoding I do to the txt file, I can't see Greek. Anyone knows any solution to that?

3) Anyone knows where I can find GX40 firmwares or updates? There is nothing about that phone on the internet as I have seen.

4) Anyone knows if the 1GB or 2GB miniSD can work on GX40? Manual says max 512MB.

5) Do V903 and the rest newcomers have themes? Cause GX40 has theme support but there are only 3 ones preinstalled and I can't find any other on the net, not even Vodafone Live. Is there any theme creator for sharp phones?

6) For the FM radio to work you need to insert the handsfree headphones, but the headphones themselves are very unconfortable to carry, So I kind of want to find a way to hear radio from the speakers phone without inserting the whole headphones. I thought of buying a second set of sharp headphones and cutting the cable close enough to the adaptor to make it versatile. Anyone knows if the radio will be activated that way?, or it has to detect the whole handsfree equipment/phones to work?

Thanks

Posted by: wikka

wow .... whats a gx40

Posted by: AL9999

I'm going to answer your questions based on my 903 rather than your GX40, which use similar firmware (the GX40's is newer).

1. I've noticed the same thing with my E-Book reader, the Switch Folders menu has all these extra folder options greyed out. I'm yet to work out what they do, but you should know that the E-Book reader officially supports text files and XMDF E-Book files (.zbk and .zbf files) only. The only thing I can think of is that the XMDF specification can tell the phone what folder it should be placed in (ie whether it's designed for a Zaurus PDA (PDA Zau.) or something else).

Interesting to know that the E-Book reader can directly access the Other Documents folder now. The 903's one can't.

2. The E-Book reader only understands 3 character codes (on the 903): Shift-JIS (Japanese), Latin1 (West European) and Latin9 (West European with updated characters, eg Euro currency symbol). It doesn't support UTF-8 Unicode, so if your text file is encoded in Unicode it will display in the Openwave browser, but not the E-Book reader. Try saving it using the ANSI standard in notepad on your desktop and seeing it if works in the E-Book reader that way (it probably won't work in the Openwave browser anymore though).

3. You'll find GX40 support very limited because it's only been released in Greece, Malta and Switzerland. Service centre is your best bet at this stage.

4. I would say 1GB would be fine but 2GB might be troublesome. Take a look at 903 threads for more info.

5. GX40 is the first phone with Euro firmware to support themes with customisation (on the 903/703 it was supported in Japanese firmware only, and without customisation). Because the GX40 only got released in three countries, I doubt Vodafone live! is supporting themes yet. At this stage we can only hope that Sharp get a European version of their custamo.com website for us to use (has a huge amount of themes for their Japanese handsets).

6. I wouldn't recommend this. I'm sure it will be difficult as it is getting a second pair of Sharp headphones with an FM antenna built in, knowing Sharp's pathetic accessory distribution throughout Europe. Also the FM radio antenna is probably spread throughout the headphone cable, so cutting it short could mess it up or at the very least, lower reception.