Win Mobile

More clever users have discovered how to work around an IME bug in the new MOL2 update which seems to make a lot of .NET Framework applications crash under Windows Mobile 5. Read the thread here.

Basically, you take an older version of a .DLL and register it with the newer software revision, bypassing the broken MOL2 IME DLL.

I had a heck of a time installing the new update to the Motorola Q and that was due to having older copies of P2K.sys and multiple 'ghost' modem entries in my registry on my old laptop. The MSU.EXE program would do the initial scan and find the phone, and then once it put the phone into the black screen IPL 'flash mode', Windows would not find the right drivers for the "new" device the phone became. It technically registers with the Flash interface under a different USB id, but it was always stalling and failing.

The key to getting it working was running "%ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Motorola Shared\MotPCSDrivers\Motorola Driver Installer.exe" and selecting "Clean and reinstall", and then rebooting so that the proper versions of the .INF files and .SYS files are used.

Once I did that, the install completed.

First impressions after 24 hours of use:
Bluetooth serial port applications work without locking up.
Battery life is much improved, I believe, due to the radio firmware changes.
Overall screen performance has improved, even without the GLYPH hacks.
The little 'device' logo no longer looks like a label maker and actually looks like a Q.
The phone shuts down much faster.

I recommend anyone with a Q to do the free upgrade.
Of course you will have to redo the PRL afterwards and reinstall your applications, but I think it is worth it overall.
I just wish someone at Microsoft would invite me into the Crossbow beta.

Using the handy Universal Extractor, I was able to uncompress the .MSI/.EXE from Motorola's site. Looking inside the 'firmwares' directory revealed that there were a decent amount of changes between 01.05.01 and 01.05.06.

I haven't upgraded yet due to not having an XP machine around to load the software on. The software update refuses to load on Vista and even running msu.exe manually is generally frowned upon unless you want to brick your Q. I'll probably use my old Thinkpad 240 to do the dirty work.

Read about it here.

Download it here.

The new noteworthy items are:

1. Support for Windows Mobile smartphones and more Pocket PC devices
2. Enhanced today/home screen: presence status, event notification (missed calls, new chat messages and voicemails)
3. Proxy support: Supports regular HTTP or HTTPS proxies, and authenticating HTTPS/SSL and SOCKS5 proxies

This update leaked to the web a few days early on Motorola's site and it looks like it was pulled until tomorrow (12-12-06) for the launch of the Black Q. I'm curious about the version number - obviously a hex number, but I'm curious if 06.0B.0B references the build date or a reference to black. If it is a build date, it would mean 11-11-2006.

Anyway, you can catch the discussion about the new release here.

If you happen to read this post tonight, there are plenty of secondary links from that site that host the new build, or you can wait until tomorrow.

Other people have noted that the overall speed of the phone has improved and that the Bluetooth serial port is working properly again, which was apparently broken in the older build.

Subject pretty much says it all - you can choose either the gray or the black. I have the gray, with a black rubber casing around it, so I sort-of have a black one already.

From the same blog that the 'Mark all as read' and 'Delete all' add-on came from, is another handy program called Candlelight. Very handy for saving battery life and when you don't want to change your default settings.

Download it from here.

I honestly think this should be included with the OS by default, and believe it or not, it is part of an example source code for programming under Windows Mobile. You can download a pre-compiled version that works great on Windows Mobile 2003 / Windows Mobile 5 from the blog here.