Related
Can anybody help me? I have (what thanks to this forum I now know is) a Wallaby, with the original Windows Pocket PC Version 3.0.12039 (Build 11178). A week or so ago it went into a difficult state with the 'phone turned off, and wouldn't turn on any more, and the backlight only flashing intermittently. I could still use the palely visible OS. A soft reset had no effect on this condition, so after doing my best to copy all the files on the device to the SD card I bucked up my courage and did a hard reset. This restored normal working behaviour of the device, and of course also removed all data and everything I had installed, and also put back a lot of programmes I didn't want and had gone to considerable lengths to remove.
However, one thing I needed was missing from the Programmes: Notes. After synching with Outlook on my desktop I had back an only slightly older version of my Calendar, Contacts, etc., including my notes themselves. However, tapping on a note doesn't open it, nothing happens at all. And the Notes item has disappeared from the Start Menu
Can anyone tell me what is going on? Have I now got a new "improved" version of the OS in which they have dropped Notes? (This is what I fear!) Is there a version of the (presumable) programme executable for Notes for this version of Pocket PC anywhere on the Web that I could download? If anyone can tell me where, or offer any advice, I would be most grateful. Thanks in advance.
it's a pretty old rom why not upgrade to a newer rom it's bound to have piles of bug fix's compared to your iceage rom
Rudegar, Thanks for your rapid reply. I am encouraged. What upgrade would you recommend? What could my old hardware maximally cope with? Would a newer rom give me Notes back?
i dont know you can get 2003SE for xda1's not sure if it have issues
and unless you missing notes is a hardware issue which i doubt very much it should
I got my notes back. What a relief. Once again I can read my shopping list! Looking through what I'd managed to copy to my SD card and browsing the contents of my Wallaby, connected to the PC via the USB cradle (using Windows explorer which, unlike pocket File explorer, allows you to see most files and some extensions, though the option "search" suddenly disappears from the right-click menu when you reach the Mobile Device or Card Reader) I found and got back most of what I was missing.
Many thanks to Rudegar for the help. And all others who have read and perhaps thought along. I'm still interested in upgrading if my hardware can handle it. On the other hand I'm a little nervous about flashing my rom (as I depend on my device for a lot more than my shopping list ). I'm very willing to believe that flashing your rom is dangerous, as is pointed out on the relevant page. I think I need to do a lot more reading on this forum and associated sites before attempting an upgrade. Making a restorable backup of my present OS would be a good start, I think.
I hope this little thread is of help to anyone with similar problems.
Hey everyone,
I've been using a WM device for 2 years, a good and old KJAM and now the X7500. As you may have seen in my previous post, I'm going to use the X7500 as a UMPC together with my KJAM. I don't plan to ditch the KJAM, as I'm going to keep using it as my PDA and phone. The main purposes of the X7500 would be browsing (WIFI or HSDPA), watching movies, gaming and maybe some document editing.
I have to say, that I got lost trying searching and reading posts around here, and there seem to be a lot of confusion about many things, so I'm gonna ask some questions that I couldn't find one straight updated answer for. I know that these questions have been asked a lot of times, but as I said, there wasn't any clear answer for them (hopefully there is now).
1. I need a good, fast and reliable WM6/WM6.1 ROM. I don't need many features, just simple and as fast as possible. What do u recommend? By the way, if I flash another ROM will it change my device ID? I have bought a program that is registered to that specific device, and by changing the ID that program won't work.
2. BT mouse. how good does it work with the Athena? Will it slow down the system? Will it work with any program (esp. browsers)? How about connecting a USB mouse through the 4-in-1 cable, would it work?
3. Browser. We have a great device, amazing screen but I feel that no browser is good enough for it. I don't want anything fancy, but I want it to be fast and support tabbed browsing. Opera mini is fast enough, but it lacks an option to browse with XX% zoom out permanently like Opera, Netfront or even IE. All of the above are pretty good by the way, but they are simply too slow. Actually, I don't get that. Why are they so slow browsing with WIFI or 3.5G? Opera mini does the job faster, my desktop with the same connection does it faster, what's causing their lag? I found out that browsing through my desktop with LOGMEIN from the X7500 is even faster (but annoying).
Any browser that will hit the spot? Any way to speed things up?
4. Task manager. I want a program that will give me the multi-tasking capability of a desktop PC without slowing down the device. basically I need instant access to all the open programs in the same way the taskbar works on Windows. If the program will give me the option to choose whether to minimize or close a window, it would be better.
5. Printer. Can I plug a USB printer, or can I use only network/BT printers with the device?
6. Any other tips of-course would me most welcomed.
I hope you had the patience to read all of those questions, and maybe even more patience to answer them. Thanks a lot to everyone around here....
best rom? athena project 3. cannot be beaten. ther's a rule on here where theres no posting of roms allowed except project kitchen. This rom is made by people working all day on it, and a new version is released like every 3 months. because thats how long it takes to make it perfect. Im fairly sure the new one is being released this week. but dont quote me on that.
You named all the browsers anyone would suggest, so I cant really recommend anything.
For taskbar id say use wisbar if you need loads of features and skinnable taskbar along with cascading start menu like real windows, or wktask for just sortof tabbed taskbar. wktask is embedded into the rom I mentioned.
hope this helps
Rory
rorydaredkign said:
best rom? athena project 3. cannot be beaten. ther's a rule on here where theres no posting of roms allowed except project kitchen. This rom is made by people working all day on it, and a new version is released like every 3 months. because thats how long it takes to make it perfect. Im fairly sure the new one is being released this week. but dont quote me on that.
You named all the browsers anyone would suggest, so I cant really recommend anything.
For taskbar id say use wisbar if you need loads of features and skinnable taskbar along with cascading start menu like real windows, or wktask for just sortof tabbed taskbar. wktask is embedded into the rom I mentioned.
hope this helps
Rory
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, thanks a lot for your comment. I don't really understand what you mean by no ROM postings allowed around here. If I want a lighter ROM than Athena Project, and afraid to cook myself one, I'm out of luck? nobody can even publish their cooked versions of the AP ROMs?
There is no rule like that at all.
If you decide to cook a ROM, feel free to post it. The Athena Project do some great work, but they don't own these public forums.
i dont want to argue about it , but if that's the case, then why is there only one cooked rom avalable? plus check the sticky called proj ct kitchen to see where i got the impression that you cant.
Rory
kramerica2 said:
1. I need a good, fast and reliable WM6/WM6.1 ROM. I don't need many features, just simple and as fast as possible. What do u recommend? By the way, if I flash another ROM will it change my device ID? I have bought a program that is registered to that specific device, and by changing the ID that program won't work.
2. BT mouse. how good does it work with the Athena? Will it slow down the system? Will it work with any program (esp. browsers)? How about connecting a USB mouse through the 4-in-1 cable, would it work?
3. Browser. We have a great device, amazing screen but I feel that no browser is good enough for it. I don't want anything fancy, but I want it to be fast and support tabbed browsing. Opera mini is fast enough, but it lacks an option to browse with XX% zoom out permanently like Opera, Netfront or even IE. All of the above are pretty good by the way, but they are simply too slow. Actually, I don't get that. Why are they so slow browsing with WIFI or 3.5G? Opera mini does the job faster, my desktop with the same connection does it faster, what's causing their lag? I found out that browsing through my desktop with LOGMEIN from the X7500 is even faster (but annoying).
Any browser that will hit the spot? Any way to speed things up?
4. Task manager. I want a program that will give me the multi-tasking capability of a desktop PC without slowing down the device. basically I need instant access to all the open programs in the same way the taskbar works on Windows. If the program will give me the option to choose whether to minimize or close a window, it would be better.
5. Printer. Can I plug a USB printer, or can I use only network/BT printers with the device?
6. Any other tips of-course would me most welcomed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) I will suggest PK3.0 as the fastest IMHO, we are waiting the new WM6.1 (4.0 release) The .NET re-designed will improve the speed as is happening in many other ROMs. We are waiting also the results of the Athena Team tuning: wait the WM6.1 may be in the next week.
I have increased the speed using MEMMAID, (www.dinarsoft.com) as mantainance and optimizzation tool. The rom's speed depends only from chef choices for the first start but later is related to many other things. Manteinance is the best way to keep it fast
1b) Device ID changed? may be not, we will see...
2) I use a wired optical mouse and it works just as is supposed to do
3) opera 9.5 is fast, the beta is out and it is finger friendly and fast . Netfront 3.5 is fast too, I chose Opera
4) wktask is part of PK rom, you can download it here http://soft.photoracer.net/docs/wktask_en.html and it does exactly what you need
5) Yes, BT or network, having jetcet print
ROM cooking is free and WELCOMED here!
rorydaredkign said:
i dont want to argue about it , but if that's the case, then why is there only one cooked rom avalable?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are a couple of others floating around if you search hard enough.
But the Athena Project roms are so good, everyone seems to use them.
fair enough mate. I have been reading the athena forums for abut 3 months, and never seen any other rom... theres so few posts daily, im sure I would have noticed
Rory
rorydaredkign said:
fair enough mate. I have been reading the athena forums for abut 3 months, and never seen any other rom... theres so few posts daily, im sure I would have noticed
Rory
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the 6.1 porting from Kaiser I think.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=363542
I think a lot of the browser slowness is down to windows mobile itself. Not sure why. Even the Opera Mini Java midlet is faster on the Symbian OS than on Windows Mobile. Netfront and Opera 9.5 are big improvements on what was available last year though, and Opera will no doubt have a few tweaks before its official release. No Flash or Java add-ons though still
Apparently someone has already managed to play youtube with Opera. Not sure if it is true as he has not responded to request for the cab file yet.
edit: This gentleman gave an update. He had earlier managed to make it work by editing the axobjects.ini file to effect the following changes:
[Shockwave Flash]
CLSID={EB8B5B8E-EDB9-4180-9E2E-F8F1632DC171} #FlashLite RAC;/\\ (M
Alias={D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000} #Flash (desktop)
Description=Macromedia Flash Player 7.0 Y8jt_XD;Z
FileExtents=swf|spl|flv
MIMEType = application/x-shockwave-flash|application/futuresplash I_hAgk 04
FileOpenName=Adobe Flash movie (*.swf)|FutureSplash movie (*.spl)|Adobe Flash Paper (*.mfp)|Adobe Flash Paper (*.flv)
Allow=Url|Embed|Object|Scripts
He had posted some screen capture of his earlier success, but found that subsequently it stopped working mysteriously. Anyway, he also said that he is sure when FL3 (instead of Flash player 7) is avaialble this would work.
The trouble is, will adobe release a FL3 for winmo platform...
Edit:
The above works. Make sure you have installed flash player 7 and make the above edit to the ini file.
eaglesteve said:
Apparently someone has already managed to play youtube with Opera. Not sure if it is true as he has not responded to request for the cab file yet.
edit: This gentleman gave an update. He had earlier managed to make it work by editing the axobjects.ini file to effect the following changes:
[Shockwave Flash]
CLSID={EB8B5B8E-EDB9-4180-9E2E-F8F1632DC171} #FlashLite RAC;/\\ (M
Alias={D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000} #Flash (desktop)
Description=Macromedia Flash Player 7.0 Y8jt_XD;Z
FileExtents=swf|spl|flv
MIMEType = application/x-shockwave-flash|application/futuresplash I_hAgk 04
FileOpenName=Adobe Flash movie (*.swf)|FutureSplash movie (*.spl)|Adobe Flash Paper (*.mfp)|Adobe Flash Paper (*.flv)
Allow=Url|Embed|Object|Scripts
He had posted some screen capture of his earlier success, but found that subsequently it stopped working mysteriously. Anyway, he also said that he is sure when FL3 (instead of Flash player 7) is avaialble this would work.
The trouble is, will adobe release a FL3 for winmo platform...
Edit:
The above works. Make sure you have installed flash player 7 and make the above edit to the ini file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's very jerky though. Still better off with the flash plugin. There's an application called EMTube on Symbian devices, would be nice to see it on winmo as it allows access to all the youtube Videos at high quality without loading up the browser at all. There's the Vtap application but that always seemed a bit stodgy to me.
On the subject of Fl3.0 you may have a long wait yet - it's still only been integrated into the N95 8gb, don't know what Adobe are playing at with the rollout for this - it was released as a developers' testing package over five months ago, at this rate someone's going to develop a workaround that screws them over: I HOPE AND PRAY!
That's why there was no excitement in my post.It's not really watchable.
I would still prefer to use PIE with TCPMP to download it first then watch it.
Hello,
I have been using the HTC WM6 ROM HERE and its been great. I wanted a basic ROM with no whistles and bows to get used to the device. Mine had the T-Mobile ROM on, nothing wrong with it but the phone dialer and theme are awful in my view. I tried both opera and net 3.5 and both show great promise, but they aren't ready yet. I ended up just getting one of the IE addon's that hanango do, fine for now. interesting to hear about the things you can use through the USB port. Ive been using the universal and stuff like that doesn't work on it. I think I need to go back and read up more!
Take care
Jay
For NEON 400 users only!
Please do not even consider flashing this rom unless your device is a NEON 400. That's the Canadian Telus/Bell version of the HTC Touch Dual. If you don't know how to find out the model number... then I suggest you do some more reading before you consider flashing any roms.
Hey All,
My old phone died so I recently became the proud owner of the HTC Touch Dual NEON 400. Long story short I unlocked it (Thanks to jockyw2001) and found that there are no Chefs out there with this device. There's a couple dedicated dudes out there trying to help all of us NEON 400 users (Talking about you Rataplan, deepankerjha), but since they don't actually have this device it's pretty tough for them to prepare and test a rom for us.
So, I took the plunge. With Rataplan's help (thanks a lot buddy, couldn't have gotten this far without you're help) I've been cooking away and have a solid WM 6.5 ROM here for us. It's based on the Telus stock ROM and WM 6.5 build 21914. I haven't yet cleared all the extra's (so it's a bit fat) but in my testing so far it's 100% functional and bug free (well, as bug free as WM can be )
I can't guarantee how well it'll work on the Bell NEON 400's, but if you have a Telus device, this should do the trick. I'm using it right now on mine.
Please leave feedback if you try this ROM out. I am still a novice chef, but I'll take feedback to heart, and I'll continue cooking and optimizing roms for the NEON 400 as I learn more and get better.
Happy Flashing!
I'll post updates as they come.
UPDATE:
Sorry all, but in my quest to migrate to the Android OS I've ditched my Neon in favour of the Vogue. I'll upload the Lite ROM I was working on for those who want it. The only thing I was having trouble with was the GPS, apart from that the ROM runs very nicely with the extra weight of the cube and other fat removed. Feel free to PM me if you have questions, I'll do my best to help if I can.
Give me a few days to do a fresh build of the Lite ROM and to take one more stab at getting the GPS working.
Okay my final roms are up. Hopefully Rataplan will have the links posted below shortly.
Lite Version: 1.01 - 1.03
-WM 6.5 Build 21914
-TouchFlo Cube removed
-A bunch of other bundled HTC/Telus packages removed
-GPS is still flaky
Version: 2.01
-WM 6.5 Build 21914
-Nothing removed, All stock HTC and Telus packages remain
EDIT I can't post links just yet, so Rataplan's going to help me out with that, check his post below for the download links.
Here are the links:
NEON400_201 Added 19th August
NEON400_Lite_101 Added 9th November
NEON400_Lite_102 Added 9th November
NEON400_Lite_103 Added 9th November
Loaded on my Bell NEON400. Took a while to get to setup and made a few bleeps along the way, now it's at the "Customization" part. Will update as I finish setup and test it out.
EDIT: Finished installation, looks pretty good, will test calling and texting as we go. Any chance we can strip the Telus crap out of it though? Hate seeing "Telus" everywhere when it's not even a Telus phone.
EDIT 2: Trying to set up ActiveSync to sync with my Google Account - it freezes every so often for a short while and won't respond to taps or key presses. Seems to be common in all applications. Also, the keys operate but the backlight never turns on for them (disregard that - they do work, see Edit 4).
EDIT 3: Hitting the X to close a window doesn't kill the app like it did in WM 6.1. Not sure if this normal behaviour or not (first time flasher).
EDIT 4: After a reboot the key backlight is working again. When I try changing the keyboard however to a full QWERTY layout the setting never saves and always reverts to the "touch keypad" or whatever it is (same problem in WM 6.1 so it's a setting issue not a ROM issue - disregard please).
If you could get rid of the Telus branding everywhere and see what's up with the freezing this ROM would be perfect!
Nice job.
got_milk, Thanks for testing on your Bell device. Like I said in the post I wasn't sure what to expect on a Bell phone. I'm working on a lite version right now with the Telus stuff stripped out. I'm also trying to remove the added weight from HTC like the touchflo cube (I really hate that thing...)
I've noticed the problem with the X button not closing apps. It seems in WM 6.5 it just sort of minimizes them. Although if I recall there's a setting somewhere that lets you set it so you can close an app by holding the X instead of just tapping it. I'll look into that some more.
In regards to the responsiveness one thing I've noticed is that when memory is low I sometimes have to tap and hold the buttons for a moment before they register. I initially thought it just wasn't reading the hits but found by accident that I could make it work by holding it for an extra moment. Hopefully this won't be a problem once I get my Lite version working.
I highly recommend downloading and installing Finger Keyboard. It's my favourite by far. I can't post links yet, but the thread where I found it is titled:
\\\\\\\\\ F i n g e r K e y b o a r d 2 ///////// v2.1 - NOW ONLINE - all resolutions
One other thought: If you could hook me up with the ROM you're using as the stock Bell ROM I could recreate this 6.5 ROM using it as the base. This might solve some of your problems too.
Thanks again for testing!
Not a problem, thank you more for doing this! I really hate how we're limited to WinMo 6.1, when we clearly have a 6.5 capable device.
I'm using the stock Bell ROM from jockyw2001's HardSPL post (stickied at the top of this forum).
Looking forward to the lite edition, I will certainly test it when you release it.
So, I couldn't stay away (Software Engineering student...lol). I set up my own kitchen and started to cook using a stock Bell ROM. I've managed to strip all the Bell crap + the HTC cube and make a nice clean ROM.
However!
I've encountered one bug so far. On the home screen, where "Text" should be, it's simply blank and clicking it gets me to the main Outlook menu (where I choose Text Messages or Outlook E-mail). I can also not create text messages or reply to them. I know we've hit this roadblock before but no one's said how they got around it.
I also don't have data working at all - it's not being configured automatically (I think the Bell customization wizard does this, but it's disabled).
EDIT: Okay, it's as I suspected. There's a connection.xml file that's part of the Bell scripts that is added to handle data access. Anyone know how I can add data as part of the ROM package?
For sms take a look at this post from 88fingerslukee,
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=6961719&postcount=49
Regards,
That registry edit is just enabling/disabling threaded SMS...in my case SMS doesn't work at all (I can receive and view SMS') but I can't create any new ones or reply to them.
got_milk said:
That registry edit is just enabling/disabling threaded SMS...in my case SMS doesn't work at all (I can receive and view SMS') but I can't create any new ones or reply to them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, did you select webview in the sys-part of your kitchen.
Rataplan said:
Okay, did you select webview in the sys-part of your kitchen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it's essential anyway so I get prompted if it's not included. It's not part of WM build 21914 however...
So I've tried with a bunch of different WM builds, new kitchen setups, and everything I can think of under the sun.
Data works out of the box - it's just not enabled by default. If you go into the comm manager and enable data it seems to work.
SMS is still broken. When it's not highlighted right above the text 'Text' it displays 'No notif...'. Highlighting 'Text' gives you absolutely no text at all and your option for that is 'View', which takes you to your call list.
I've cooked all day and yet I cannot get this to work at all. I'm rolling back to WM 6.1 until I can find a solution.
got_milk said:
So I've tried with a bunch of different WM builds, new kitchen setups, and everything I can think of under the sun.
Data works out of the box - it's just not enabled by default. If you go into the comm manager and enable data it seems to work.
SMS is still broken. When it's not highlighted right above the text 'Text' it displays 'No notif...'. Highlighting 'Text' gives you absolutely no text at all and your option for that is 'View', which takes you to your call list.
I've cooked all day and yet I cannot get this to work at all. I'm rolling back to WM 6.1 until I can find a solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
got_milk, way to go bud! Glad to have another new chef in the kitchen. I wont bother cooking a Bell ROM as you're already on track. My Lite ROM is gonna be a while anyway. Between wife, kids, job, and house... I just don't have a whole lot of time to tinker.
In regards to your SMS problem, I might be able to help. I too had problems getting SMS to work when I started working on my Lite ROM. After some trial and error what I found fixed it was to include two files from the OEMAPPS pkg.
Strip out all the crap from OEMAPPS you don't want and make sure that these two files remain, then include the package in your next build:
234f3319-55a2-46a3-be32-24530a643a0f.dsm
234f3319-55a2-46a3-be32-24530a643a0f.rgu
I'll be honest, I didn't do any research on the significance of these files, I just happened upon it by chance.
Good Luck!
Aha! I shall do another cook tonight and see if that does the trick.
EDIT: You sir, are a brilliant genius. I didn't have the .rgu version but the .dsm was there. Deleted everything out of OEMAPPS but that, cooked and flashed, and texting works now.
Thanks a ton!
Excellent! Glad I could help
So, my two bugs I've noticed so far...
No data. EV-DO is available, looks like it has to be set up manually. Anyone know how we can incorporate this into the cooking? I've tried ADC but it doesn't work, says it's not a valid Pocket PC application every time the phone boots up.
Also, the buttons along the top (sound, data, etc) work normally in the home screen, but enter any app and while the icons remain the same their functions have now been shifted one to the left. (Volume becomes Close, Data becomes Volume, etc).
When I first started a Lite ROM I stripped my Operator EXT packages. That killed my data. I put'em back to work on the OEM pkg's. I haven't had time to dissect the EXT packages yet to find the pieces we need for data. Whichever one of us figures that out first will have to share it with the other
For now I'm still picking through the OEM packages finding all the pieces I want/need to keep.
Not sure about your taskbar buttons, might be related to that handy tasks dropdown item that's usually on the far right (like a quickview task manager you can use to close running apps) I don't know if that's a WM feature, or something HTC bundled in.
That's an HTC bundled application (TaskManager.exe in OEMApps). I removed it and the bug's still there. You don't have this problem?
Data is handled via Connection.xml which is injected - somehow - during the "Customization" process. You CAN do it yourself manually - simply add a new connection and have it dial #777.
There's not much in the EXT packages - and what's there is impossible to tell for now, I'll dissect more and see what's there.
Strange, when I hit any of the buttons along that top taskbar it just opens up a bubble with icons for each of the options available, and then select an item from the bubble. Individually the icons along the top don't actually do anything for me, they all just open this bubble.
Right, which is the normal behaviour - it's when you actually select an icon from that bubble that everything appears to have shifted one position to the left.
Try it at the home screen and then in an application.
Also, looks like data is handled via "Connection.xml" which is placed inside the Windows folder (I'm back to stock 6.1 to check file locations). If I try to put that inside OEMApps or whatever and have that copy over though it doesn't end up in the Windows folder as far as I can tell.
I'm also trying to strip out the more unnecessary stuff, however, the camera always breaks and says the app is missing files to run. I can get rid of the cube, and everything else, but I'd like to leave the camera function behind (strips 30MB off the ROM if I clean everything else out). But the camera doesn't work.
got_milk said:
Right, which is the normal behaviour - it's when you actually select an icon from that bubble that everything appears to have shifted one position to the left.
Try it at the home screen and then in an application.
Also, looks like data is handled via "Connection.xml" which is placed inside the Windows folder (I'm back to stock 6.1 to check file locations). If I try to put that inside OEMApps or whatever and have that copy over though it doesn't end up in the Windows folder as far as I can tell.
I'm also trying to strip out the more unnecessary stuff, however, the camera always breaks and says the app is missing files to run. I can get rid of the cube, and everything else, but I'd like to leave the camera function behind (strips 30MB off the ROM if I clean everything else out). But the camera doesn't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok it seems that you found each other, hopefully it will result in a perfect NEON400 rom, whish you guy's all the best and if I can help, just ask.
Some usefull links:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=564130
http://winbreak.com/winmo/voguegoodies/
Greetz,
Hi guys,
just found this app from a german software dev:
http://www.softmaker.de/ofa.htm
You can download it for free but you have to register with your email to get a licence key, after that its completely usable and free. Right now TextMaker (word), PlanMaker (excel) and Presentations are available.
I just installed it and took a first look at the TextMaker and it really seems better than anything else i used before. It has support for all common text files including .docx. It also seems to support keyboard shortcuts for our dock, for example Ctrl+A to select all text is available, something i always missed in Polaris. Also it has auto syllabification and support for auto correction.
When writing with the dock it seemed to have a little lag while typing though. But its still beta so i guess they figure that out until it gets released. Also it FC's sometimes and has some other bugs still.
Really looks promising though
I can only find Windows, Windows Mobile, and Linux.
I found info on the app, but nowhere to sign up for a beta.
wynand32 said:
I found info on the app, but nowhere to sign up for a beta.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only available from the German page
razgriz8426 said:
I can only find Windows, Windows Mobile, and Linux.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here we go, guys
http://www.softmaker.de/ofa12betareg.htm
The Presentation app renders PPT files pretty well, the best I have seen on Android.
Going to try this and see if I like it better, thanks.
An office suite with shortcuts similar to office would be great but what I really need is some reference manager software like endnote. Lots of PDF managers out there but nothing to get references formatted into documents.
clouds5 said:
Hi guys,
just found this app from a german software dev:
http://www.softmaker.de/ofa.htm
You can download it for free but you have to register with your email to get a licence key, after that its completely usable and free. Right now TextMaker (word), PlanMaker (excel) and Presentations are available.
I just installed it and took a first look at the TextMaker and it really seems better than anything else i used before. It has support for all common text files including .docx. It also seems to support keyboard shortcuts for our dock, for example Ctrl+A to select all text is available, something i always missed in Polaris. Also it has auto syllabification and support for auto correction.
When writing with the dock it seemed to have a little lag while typing though. But its still beta so i guess they figure that out until it gets released. Also it FC's sometimes and has some other bugs still.
Really looks promising though
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How about Ctrl-S for save? That is strangely a huge omission from many of the current Android Office suites.
Just signed up for the beta release, got the email with the install links hope to install tonight.
Today at lunch I used the Polaris Office app on the TFP to work on drafting my year goals for work.
I decided that I was going to save my work to a SD card so in Polaris Office I created a new file from the location where my SD was mounted at. After drafting two paragraphs of outline work, I switched over to the stock browser that I had running as I was trying to get on to the web. When I switched back to Polaris Office my entire document was blank.
Thinking maybe I cleared it by mistake I tried the undo command (CTRL+Z), I don't think the app recognize undo, clicked recent docs to see if I might have created a new doc by mistake nothing except existing docs I created in MS Office.
So I chocked it off as a fluke, thinking it probably could be from not ever hitting Save while I was working on it, so I rewrote the outline over again, and this time made sure to save the document to the SD card and giving it a specific name as it prompts for when you click Save for a new document.
When my lunch was over I took my tablet back to my workstation ejected the SD card from the Prime and inserted into my workstation PC. The PC detected the SD and gave me the option to browse the SD card. I browsed to the folder where I save the document working in Polaris only to find that the file was not there. The file never saved. WTF.
Now I can overlook the lack of spell check, broken bullets, but this app should be able to do a simple word processing function of creating and saving documents to removable storage.
now I certainly cannot recommend the Prime or it's bundled Polaris Office for educational productivity as with these performance results you will be screwed to try to do any writing reports on this device.
Have anyone here have similar experiences? discuss.
Use OnLive Desktop it's the best app for writing word documents
office suite pro is also pretty nice, much more options than polaris and autosave feature. It was on sale recently maybe its still.
Also there is a german software company called softmaker that is building full featured office apps, its currently in open beta status. You can download it for free.
The apps need some polish, but i think in a few months we'll have really nice offline office apps. With wifi around you can always use splashtop or onlive of course.
Google Docs
I had the same exact experience within the first few weeks with my Prime, and even worse, it was with a collaborative essay, so my pals were mad at me too! I was bummed, because Polaris was nice, but clouds5 is right, if you can afford it, OfficeSuite was by far the best I tried, and I darn tried every one out there. It's worth trying the trial right now. But my default now is the Germany Softmaker that he also mentioned. It has a great load of features that I was missing (Capitals at start of sentences, fix DOuble CAps, etc.) BUT, many of these features are hidden in the settings menu, so you have to scope them out. But get this, it also has user-defined AUTO SAVE!!! So even when I don't have Wi-fi and cannot use GoogleDocs, the auto save always has my back. I highly suggest you give it a try.
Totally agree with the op. Trying to use polaris and office suite through out my day proves to be buggy and frustrating. I gave up with them and haven't messed w trying to find one that will actually work.
Same happened to me also, hit save and it turns out polaris never saved it.
Lost a good chunk of my meeting notes.
Uninstalled it right away, been using gdocs or onlive desktop depending on my mood at the time
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2
Just tried saving a word document on a usb stick from polaris, it worked fine, also plugged the usb stick in a pc and the file was there.... so not sure why it didn't work for you, although you might have selected sdcard which is actually the internal memory, i selected usbdsk1 in polaris when saving file.
edit; just tried an sd card, it also worked fine, made sure i chose "SD" to save too not sdcard.
diablosv36 said:
Just tried saving a word document on a usb stick from polaris, it worked fine, also plugged the usb stick in a pc and the file was there.... so not sure why it didn't work for you, although you might have selected sdcard which is actually the internal memory, i selected usbdsk1 in polaris when saving file.
edit; just tried an sd card, it also worked fine, made sure i chose "SD" to save too not sdcard.
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Yeah, I just did some tests and had no problem either, although I did have to use the Save As option and browse to the correct folder to make it save the document to my flash drive (/Removable/USBdisk1), and I noticed it defaults to back to /mnt/sdcard (which is actually the Prime's internal storage, oddly enough). So maybe some of those "missing" files are actually sitting there in /mnt/sdcard?
You guys should Google search Polaris bug. I love it when people judge the entire platform based on a flawed FREE app.
goodintentions said:
You guys should Google search Polaris bug. I love it when people judge the entire platform based on a flawed FREE app.
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True. I don't blame Dell because Word 2010 sucks so much. Now, I blame Dell for many, many other things, but that's not one of them.
To get back on topic, I've actually taken to using Evernote for all of my draft writing. The latest version has an excellent autosave function--a note is saved (first to a draft until intentionally saved) every time you switch focus away from the app. It's outstanding, and so far bulletproof. Then when I'm back in Windows, I copy the text into Word and format as needed (which I would do anyways; no Android office app can handle any complexity at all).
In fact, I think that's how ALL Android apps should work, at least those that create and edit documents of any kind. Lose focus, perform a save, because it's entirely possible--maybe even likely--that the app will close in the background. I'll have to check out out Office Suite Pro handles it--for when I actually need to work on a Word document, it would be my choice if it handles saves any better.
I hate to bump this thread simply because of the thread title, but I don't want to start a new thread to throw in my displeasure with Polaris Office.
Gary or Asus, et al. if you are reading this thread, pay attention.
This program is disastrous.
You should consider dropping Polaris Office from all Asus stock ROM's immediately.
I have read about the big in the past, but it has never happened to me personally so I always assumed it was an ID 10 T error.
Yesterday, just after I finished my 7 page annual self appraisal I saved my work. I opened ES file explorer to ensure it was there and saved properly before I closed out of Polaris office.
Yes, it was right there saved on the sdcard/documents folder.
I switched over Gmail to email it to myself so I could reprint it at work and gmail would not find the file.
I switched back over to Polaris Office and the UI was at file browser as if I had just started the program.
I browse back to sdcard/documents. The file is not there.
I switch over to ES File Explorer. The file is not there. Fortunately I had a saved copy on my flash drive that was about 2/3 done, so it was not an unmitigated disaster.
This is not Asus's fault by a long shot, but if Asus does not listen to feedback and continues to keep this program alive with now updates from infraware, then Asus's reputation will decline because of this.
I wonder why the Polaris update function on the prime doesn't work. On the S II its even if it returns there isn't any updates.
all office apps on android suck. i recently tried creating an excel using polaris, office suite and google drive, they are so tedious to work with. Good for reading but definitely not for drafting docs. windows and office are still the de facto
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2
onlive question
tylermaciaszek said:
Use OnLive Desktop it's the best app for writing word documents
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Apparently on liveis not available in my country. Do you know if i need a windows computer to synch with this app? Also is it a monthly fee service or a one time purchase? I currently use ubuntu for my laptop os. Thanks in advance
tried kingsoft office on the prime last night and love it more than polaris. It performs pretty well.
crystalstylez said:
tried kingsoft office on the prime last night and love it more than polaris. It performs pretty well.
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I actually dislike Kingsoft Office, because of the fact that it lags so much on my prime compared to Polaris Office.
Also you can not write notes in the "notes section" of power point slides, where Polaris office can.
I'm always save using "Save as" now that "Save" isn't reliable in Polaris Office.
Although...
I use polaris office for a power point editor, and it seems that sometimes the file gets corrupt after I save it. So next time I open the power point file, polaris office freezes and then closes. Try to re-open the file, then a few seconds later, repeat, closes it self.
I don't really think tablets are the the right device for writing documents (except maybe the Transformer + keyboard), but when I do have to take notes I prefer Evernote. It syncs reliably, and I can access it from the web later to cut-paste into a Word doc if that's what I need to do.
tinnymarlin said:
I don't really think tablets are the the right device for writing documents (except maybe the Transformer + keyboard)
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i agree, i did use my prime at the beginning of the year for Uni essays and such, but i found the software is nowhere near up to scratch at this stage. it is missing too many simple things to be usable, especially when doing collaborative work (and a lot of my course is group based work). its too much of a pain fighting with file formats, lost formatting data, lack of auto-save features and much more. my prime now is just used to take notes, LibreOffice on my desktop does the real work.