SDA tips, tricks, and questions thread

[kdenninger]

I don't have Exchange, sorry......

The CD appears only to have ActiveSync 4.1 on it along with a few other things - no firmware update.

[richy240]

2. When paired with a BT headset, the ringtone DOES NOT play through the headset. Ever. At all. You get the generic bluetooth ring that your headset supports (hope it supports one!)

This was the case with other Windows Smartphones as well, in my experience.

5. There is no indication of an EDGE connection. HOWEVER, there IS an active GPRS connection bar (not just "available") which replaces the little phone antenna when an active GPRS connection is up.

That totally sucks.

7. The phone will NOT play music or other media through a BT headset. It simply refuses. This sucks; I understand that the fidelity through standard BT isn't great, but for something like watching a TV show over ORB it is plenty good enough.

I wasn't aware WM5, or the SDA specifically, supported the audio gateway BT profile...

8. The date/time do not autoupdate off the network and there is no way to change that. The date on my phone was set to 11/5/2005 with a pacific timezone.

Time updates are accomplished through ActiveSync. Check Tweaks2k2 - this software has a internet-based time sync function.

RF is incredible and Wifi works as expected. The screen is also awesome - no complaints there at all. The media player is quite nice - except for the headset screw job.

That is good - quality RF is a major plus. I played with one (SIM-free) in the store and I agree that the screen really was NICE.

[kdenninger]

I wasn't aware WM5, or the SDA specifically, supported the audio gateway BT profile...

The 6230 doesn't support that profile either, but it WORKS.

Its not difficult - its just a redirect of the audio stream. There's hard things to do and then there's easy things to do. This one is easy.

[mmeyer4663]

Yeah. It won't be long before people who buy it pick up on this stuff.

I haven't looked at the CD yet that came with the phone - there may be firmware update on it, as it has a date later than what was in the phone for the "date and time" when I turned it on.

If I find an update I'll load it and post more, but as things stand right now there's definitely "issues".

And no, you DO NOT need AD2P to stream audio to a BT headset nor to play your ringtone through it. My lowly Nokia 6230b does both QUITE WELL, thank you very much!

Does the CD come with UBS driver??????

[richy240]

The 6230 doesn't support that profile either, but it WORKS.

Its not difficult - its just a redirect of the audio stream. There's hard things to do and then there's easy things to do. This one is easy.

I understand that it should be easy to do, but if it isn't supported on the phone I don't see how it can be labeled as a bug. Trust me, I am not defending Microsoft or T-Mobile - I have had my share of problems with both companies.

[kaplanfx]

8. The date/time do not autoupdate off the network and there is no way to change that. The date on my phone was set to 11/5/2005 with a pacific timezone.

I'm going to guess this one is intentional. The phone is part organizer/pda and will most likely get its timing info from the computer it syncs to. This way the schedule is synced to the time on your PC (they should be close anyhow).

-Kap

[kdenninger]

Does the CD come with UBS driver??????

I do not see a USB modem driver among what the CD installed. Looks like bluetooth only for tethering unless I'm missing it.

[Delta5]

Thanks for the FYI, kdenninger. Glad to hear a real person who actually owns the phone comment on it.

Blah! If this is true (and I suspect all of these points you made are legit), then it's yet another PPC/WM5 machine that has great potential but is spoiled by a botched implementation. Didn't T-Mobile beta test these things a couple months ago? Hello, McFly?

Why in the world weren't these caught before the release? This phone has been out in Europe for what, like over a year already. I've been hanging on to T-Mobile for the past 6 months without a contract just waiting for the SDA/MDA releases.... I hope it wasn't for naught!!

OK guys here's the poop on the SDA, which I now have (and have had for a few hours)
....
RF is incredible and Wifi works as expected. The screen is also awesome - no complaints there at all. The media player is quite nice - except for the headset screw job.

[kdenninger]

BTW, EDGE data speed, tethered, on the 600kb file:

Mobile speed test
191 kbit/sec

1.464s latency
26.475s d/l time.again.

THAT's damn good.

T-Mobile BADLY needs to issue a ROM update for this thing. The blown icon stuff is absolutely inexcusable. The lack of an apparent USB cable driver for tethering is not going to make people happy who don't have Bluetooth (I personally don't care, but others WILL since they have to plug in to charge anyway!) and the other BT issues are, IMHO, serious for mobile professionals.

I don't know if the apparent memory leak issues are real or not. I'm going to run with it for a day or so without turning it off on purpose and see if it runs out of memory.... I suspect it will, but I could be wrong.

ROM updates CAN be loaded over the USB port - its a pretty trivial process - the phones DO NOT need to go back to have that done.

[richy240]

Yeah, I am very surprised that the memory leak problem is evident - I hope it is worked out sometime soon. Also, where will we go to get ROM updates, provided they are released?

[kdenninger]

You're gonna LOVE this!

I just used AS to load a couple of programs - and as soon as I did, the problem with the icons linking to the wrong place DISAPPEARED!

[kilcher]

Wow, I have never been this happy with a phone...EVER. I am completely ecstatic! I have siriusWM5 running, and I'm streaming sirius right now as we speak.

There is a big thread on Modaco that has a lot of very good information. For example, I have now installed all my programs on my 1gb memory card saving a lot of precious space.

If you guys have used PIE on here, you know the cache literally EXPLODES with just a few uses. Last time I checked, my cache was over 4mbs large!! There is a little tweak that allows you to put all the PIE files on the Minisd, again saving space.

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to link to the modaco thread. Someone chime in?

The memory leak can be annoying, but I have not experienced it fully as kdenniger. I hope it is just an isolated incident as this would be a major downpoint on this otherwise excellent phone.

I did the mobile speed test and got very good edge speeds as well (183kbit/sec with the 600kb file). I think I'm just jumping for joy, because I don't have a data plan!

This is my first smartphone, so there is a lot of learning to do, but I'm sure it'll be a fun process. lol

[kilcher]

Is there any sort of data counter on the SDA? I would like to know how much I'm data I'm using up. I've been streaming sirius for about 2 hours now... at 35k/s, that's a lot!!

[kdenninger]

There's no data counter that I can find.

[shivers316]

well I say thumbs down folks...I will be bringing it back for the MDA