Database Info

Looking for Today Screen plugins to acheive specific layout, any suggestions?

So I took the plunge yesterday and flashed my Kaiser with a custom ROM for the first time yesterday - Laurentius26's WM6.1 image, and I must say I am very pleased.
This has spurred me into trying to get my today screen *exactly* as I want it - I have tried various plugins but most seem to have too much (ie waste screen real estate) in them or too little.
I really like the Ultimate Launcher tabbed menu that comes with the ROM (I think it's a demo) for the gesture based tab switching with rotating cube effect, so I will probably stick with that.
I have done some mockups of what I want, and attached images to this post.
I want the top of the screen to be static, showing the time, date and the number of messages (ie SMS / MMS / Missed calls). I want the time quite big so you can glance at it whilst driving (No clock in car...). and before you say "Just use HTC home" - I do NOT want the tabs at the bottom of HTC home wasting screen space. I tried HHC, but you cannot set the number of tabs to 0 to remove the tabs alltogether.
The bottom half of the screen I want variable depending on which Ultimate Launcher (UL) tab I am on.
I want an "Apps" tab for quick launches. I bought SPB pocket plus which has an excellent app launcher, I will use that.
I want a "Media" tab with something like the HTC audio manager plugin capable of showing current track along with play/pause controls etc. I think this should be easy to do, I just need a player app with a today screen plugin.
I want a "Mail" tab with a list (ie preview) of latest emails / SMSs etc. Not sure what to use here, i own SPB diary as part of a bundle but this seems a bit overkill for this.
I want a "Boarding" tab for when I am planning riding activities for the weekend. (See image #2). For this, ideally I want a quick contacts bit at the top so I can one touch call my riding buddies and a weather strip below to see if it is worth riding this weekend
I need help with this bit - anyone know a quick contact list plugin like the tab from HTC home? Also, ultimate launcher will only allow you to specify one plugin for each tab, when I want two for this tab (Contacts and weather) - so I will need a plugin that can hold multiple plugins on a page and then specify that plugin as the one for the Boarding tab in ultimate launcher. SPB today does this, so I could maybe use that, unless I want to use SPB today in another tab as you can only use each plugin once.
So... suggestions are needed for:
Clock like the big one for HTC home (Found one or two, but none seem to show it just right like the HTC home one - big time with small date)
SMS / MMS / Missed calls / Voicemails counter like the one from HTC home - Does anyone know an app that lists waiting voicemails? Or is this info not available to the OS?
A quick contacts page like the one from the HTC home tab.
A today plugin that can accept other today plugins.
Any ideas?
TIA

I would like to know the same. Especially the part about the HTC Home plugin without any tabs at the bottom. I've tried to do this with rlToday, but the links of the unread mail/SMS and missed calls are not preserved. Any ideas are welcome!

Sounds a lot like my own wishlist.
SBSH PocketBreeze (with PocketWeather!); gives you a tabbed today with calender, tasks, contacts, notes, mail, other plugins and more. Skinable and with tons of settings...
Maybe CTD's BatteryStatus or rlToday for clock and call, sms, mms and mail counters?

Well it looks like I am not alone.
Is it just me, or is anyone else surprised by the number of packages that try to offer an all-in-one solution?
To me, there are two kinds of today plugins:
Ones that provide tabbed pages or some other organisation system and ones that provide the functionality (eg a weather strip, a clock strip). I just wish that people would package them as seperate entities, because you do not have to use a package's organisational system to want to use one of the package's pages.
I would also like to see some kind of system to allow multiple instances of a page. For example, on one ultimatelauncher tab I may want an SPB app launcher with app set A, but on another ultimatelauncher page i may want an SPB app launcher with app set B. currently the only way to do this is to use a different app (ie not SPB launcher app) for app set B. Either that or use SPB launcher's tab system, but I want to use ultimatelauncher to handle the tabs. I wonder if you could take the SPB launcher package, rename it to something else and install it a second time under a different name?

m0o5 said:
Sounds a lot like my own wishlist.
SBSH PocketBreeze (with PocketWeather!); gives you a tabbed today with calender, tasks, contacts, notes, mail, other plugins and more. Skinable and with tons of settings...
Maybe CTD's BatteryStatus or rlToday for clock and call, sms, mms and mail counters?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
rlToday looks ideal for replicating the clock and message counter portion of HTC home, thanks very much!

This is my current Today Screen set-up.... I'm using all Spb apps.

Touch Commander 3.0
http://www.touch-commander.com/
Touch Commander lets you browse and scroll a Windows Mobile Pocket PC with a sweep of a finger across the screen just like an iPhone or TouchFLO. With just a touch, you'll be able to make quick calls to photo contacts, start applications, browse folders, get and send SMS, view photos and video, etc. Key features include full customization of interface elements, a Full Screen mode, and animated transition effects between screens.
Key Components
* Touch Control - scroll lists, open and minimize applications by finger sweeps
* Today Plugin with clock, weather, launcher and more
* Cube-like Multipage Launcher
* Finger-friendly Start Menu
* Titlebar Battery Indicator

Not a bad app. Not what I want though.
I do like your shortcuts screen in the cube though. Being able to add apps, contacts or subfolders is very cool.

Woohoo! some progress at last!
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
I used rlToday for the top, modified someone else's copy of HTC home to slim it down to 80px, leaving the rest for the ultimatelaunch cube
I would still like a quick contacts manager like the one in HTC home (Instead of the one I have below spb weather), and I would also like a nicer music plugin for the music tab, but overall I really like it - very finger friendly
Oh, and the clock is a transparency, so it works with any theme

Looking good.
Could you share the top bit?
Cheers

evilc said:
Woohoo! some progress at last!
I used rlToday for the top, modified someone else's copy of HTC home to slim it down to 80px, leaving the rest for the ultimatelaunch cube
I would still like a quick contacts manager like the one in HTC home (Instead of the one I have below spb weather), and I would also like a nicer music plugin for the music tab, but overall I really like it - very finger friendly
Oh, and the clock is a transparency, so it works with any theme
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, thats almost exactly what I've been trying to do with my home screen.
Can you post your rltoday skin?

will do soon, I was maybe gonna add a BT / Wifi switch to the left of the clock, and i think it is just over 80px, was probs gonna slim it down to 76px, so when you have a 2px gap above and below, you have used exactly 80px.
I am not sure about the clock also. With a 88:88 behind it to make it more like an LCD display or not? I also think I should maybe centre the clock propery (it's to the left) but it's like that in case the scrollbar comes up, so it doesn't overwrite the date. I suppose I could move the date to the left.
Talking of scrollbars, is it possible to make ultimatelaunch work so that if a page in the cube is too big to fit on the screen, it puts a scrollbar in (just in the cube bit of the screen, not down the whole side of the screen including the clock area) rather than making the cube bigger? I know you can limit the size of the cube, but this just makes anything that spills over get cut off.

New version Touch Commander 3.0
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=375111

FYI, i am looking at abandoning rlToday for the clock as it does not handle screen rotation properly, which just wont do, I want to try and get everything looking *perfect*
I have started a new thread on this with info on the various issues. anyone looking to try and acheive the same interface, please pitch in there...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=1999597

I released a version of this skin on the rlToday skins forum:
http://rotlaus-software.de/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1272

evilc said:
So I took the plunge yesterday and flashed my Kaiser with a custom ROM for the first time yesterday - Laurentius26's WM6.1 image, and I must say I am very pleased.
This has spurred me into trying to get my today screen *exactly* as I want it - I have tried various plugins but most seem to have too much (ie waste screen real estate) in them or too little.
I really like the Ultimate Launcher tabbed menu that comes with the ROM (I think it's a demo) for the gesture based tab switching with rotating cube effect, so I will probably stick with that.
I have done some mockups of what I want, and attached images to this post.
I want the top of the screen to be static, showing the time, date and the number of messages (ie SMS / MMS / Missed calls). I want the time quite big so you can glance at it whilst driving (No clock in car...). and before you say "Just use HTC home" - I do NOT want the tabs at the bottom of HTC home wasting screen space. I tried HHC, but you cannot set the number of tabs to 0 to remove the tabs alltogether.
The bottom half of the screen I want variable depending on which Ultimate Launcher (UL) tab I am on.
I want an "Apps" tab for quick launches. I bought SPB pocket plus which has an excellent app launcher, I will use that.
I want a "Media" tab with something like the HTC audio manager plugin capable of showing current track along with play/pause controls etc. I think this should be easy to do, I just need a player app with a today screen plugin.
I want a "Mail" tab with a list (ie preview) of latest emails / SMSs etc. Not sure what to use here, i own SPB diary as part of a bundle but this seems a bit overkill for this.
I want a "Boarding" tab for when I am planning riding activities for the weekend. (See image #2). For this, ideally I want a quick contacts bit at the top so I can one touch call my riding buddies and a weather strip below to see if it is worth riding this weekend
I need help with this bit - anyone know a quick contact list plugin like the tab from HTC home? Also, ultimate launcher will only allow you to specify one plugin for each tab, when I want two for this tab (Contacts and weather) - so I will need a plugin that can hold multiple plugins on a page and then specify that plugin as the one for the Boarding tab in ultimate launcher. SPB today does this, so I could maybe use that, unless I want to use SPB today in another tab as you can only use each plugin once.
So... suggestions are needed for:
Clock like the big one for HTC home (Found one or two, but none seem to show it just right like the HTC home one - big time with small date)
SMS / MMS / Missed calls / Voicemails counter like the one from HTC home - Does anyone know an app that lists waiting voicemails? Or is this info not available to the OS?
A quick contacts page like the one from the HTC home tab.
A today plugin that can accept other today plugins.
Any ideas?
TIA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Today screen on Wizard using cLaunch plugin. cLaunch categories color coded by my choosing.
The bottom bar is still intact. Cut off due to size of pic.
8125

hotdog53 said:
Today screen on Wizard using cLaunch plugin. cLaunch categories color coded by my choosing.
The bottom bar is still intact. Cut off due to size of pic.
8125
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A couple I omitted. The yellow cog wheel is the cLaunch settings iicon.

hotdog53 said:
A couple I omitted. The yellow cog wheel is the cLaunch settings iicon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The right ones.

Is Touch Flo3D silly junk?

I disabled touch flo 3d right away because it seems like pointless eye candy. It seems like a sloppy rough integration that is a greater impedance than an assistant. Or is it just me

Have you modified it with the tweaks to enhance the performance? All it is is really just another shell, your preference there.

its the first thing i disabled. in my opinion its pretty darn ugly...except for the weather thing, its kind of cute. but i like having all my stuff on the home screen where i can see it all at once

As you can see, you are clearly outvoted. They had the same poll over at ppcgeeks (How many are still using TouchFlo3D) and of the 320 people who participated,80% were still using it.
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?p=482651
TF3D brings an essential level of style to Windows Mobile.
Surur

Style, schmile!
If I wanted style I'd have the Jesus phone that Apple makes - with one of the great cases from Vaja.
Instead, I want to look at my screen and gain information. On my day, on the stock market, on the weather and on the number of messages I am currently blowing off.
I too liked the weather bit. I also appreciated that TF3D goes a good job at memory management. Maybe when I get the time to learn how to customize it, I'll return to TF3D.
For now, though it is back to WinMob running Pocket Breeze in full screen mode with panels for pA and Pocket Weather.

I really like it. It gives me access to what I need to see when I glance at the screen (except tasks) and finger-touch access to programs.
It does screw up maybe once a day though requiring a soft reset. I applied the mods recommended and they made my TP freeze a lot so I changed them back to default.

It's actually a great enhancement to WM. almost everything that needs to be readily accessible is "touchable" no need to get irritated and use the tip of my nail to make sure I press it just right. Even the corner X close button works almost flawlessly because the screen touch area is now flush.
I know there has been some whining but this really is the best match, easy touch interface for the simple phone stuff, and the ability to use a keyboard and a stylus for things that just aren't feasable to use efficiently with a finger on a touch screen.
I'm a very happy camper with the Fuze... well except for that ****ing GPS crap.
I'd also like to add that I think most of us really created and adapted ways to be able to not use the touchscreen for a lot of things, and with good reason considering how much I hate using a stylus to navigate a UI. So I think a ton of us bring a certain baggage about using our fingers because it just really did always suck that bad. Which thanks to HTC it really doesn't now. Plus this screen may not be like the capacitive Iphone but man it's definitely a lot smoother, the word "silky" comes to mind with how it feels compared to my Tytn.

I'm not sure which one of the 2 voting options is meant to be good

Some people are just afraid of change. As there still millions of windows 98 users out there. LMAO, people need to move with the times

Touchflo3d is indeed the most beautiful interface I've ever seen. It remained for about one month on my mobile phone. After that I still installed pocket plus (the program who puts icons dirrectly on screen and used only one tab in which I put all my programs).
Reason 1: functionality. It takes several moves in TF3D to do simple tasks. For example if I am in the home screen I cannot start with a single click an app. I have to scroll (and be quite carrefull to go in the desired position) and after that start a program etc. Imagine if in Windows you would be forced to use start, programs every time if you wanted to use an program...it'll kill you. That's why we activate programs by clicking the icon on the screen after all...it's the fastest way. All in all, to be clear, if it would be a contest between a TF3D and a Pocket Plus-type of program, everytime the pocket plus device will "click" the application faster, while in TF3D depends on where TAB are you..
Reason 2: familiarity with Windows way of activating programs. As I said before it's more simple for me to simply activate the icon on screen and not bother with some paradigm of displaying emails or SMS (and related to that, do you want to be able that someone can take a look at your info by simply scrolling to that tab? I don't)
Reason 3 -not quite a reason, but a proof that this a better interface in my opinion: the simple-icon-on-display type of interface is actually validated by the Iphone which we all know as a beautiful device at least.

I like Touchflo3d, but I missed my usual today screen setup.
The easy answer is to use secondtoday, that way I get the best of both worlds, one tap on the screen switches between them.

Gigs said:
Touchflo3d is indeed the most beautiful interface I've ever seen. It remained for about one month on my mobile phone. After that I still installed pocket plus (the program who puts icons dirrectly on screen and used only one tab in which I put all my programs).
Reason 1: functionality. It takes several moves in TF3D to do simple tasks. For example if I am in the home screen I cannot start with a single click an app. I have to scroll (and be quite carrefull to go in the desired position) and after that start a program etc. Imagine if in Windows you would be forced to use start, programs every time if you wanted to use an program...it'll kill you. That's why we activate programs by clicking the icon on the screen after all...it's the fastest way. All in all, to be clear, if it would be a contest between a TF3D and a Pocket Plus-type of program, everytime the pocket plus device will "click" the application faster, while in TF3D depends on where TAB are you..
Reason 2: familiarity with Windows way of activating programs. As I said before it's more simple for me to simply activate the icon on screen and not bother with some paradigm of displaying emails or SMS (and related to that, do you want to be able that someone can take a look at your info by simply scrolling to that tab? I don't)
Reason 3 -not quite a reason, but a proof that this a better interface in my opinion: the simple-icon-on-display type of interface is actually validated by the Iphone which we all know as a beautiful device at least.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pocket Plus sound like exactly what I need!
nuke1 said:
I'm not sure which one of the 2 voting options is meant to be good
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bunk = bad and handy gooey is handy GUI or handy Graphical User Interface
migsims said:
It's actually a great enhancement to WM. almost everything that needs to be readily accessible is "touchable" no need to get irritated and use the tip of my nail to make sure I press it just right. Even the corner X close button works almost flawlessly because the screen touch area is now flush.
I know there has been some whining but this really is the best match, easy touch interface for the simple phone stuff, and the ability to use a keyboard and a stylus for things that just aren't feasable to use efficiently with a finger on a touch screen.
I'm a very happy camper with the Fuze... well except for that ****ing GPS crap.
I'd also like to add that I think most of us really created and adapted ways to be able to not use the touchscreen for a lot of things, and with good reason considering how much I hate using a stylus to navigate a UI. So I think a ton of us bring a certain baggage about using our fingers because it just really did always suck that bad. Which thanks to HTC it really doesn't now. Plus this screen may not be like the capacitive Iphone but man it's definitely a lot smoother, the word "silky" comes to mind with how it feels compared to my Tytn.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
maybe thats why I'm having so much trouble with the touch screen. I tap something,,,, wait 5 seconds,,, tap again,,,, wait 6 seconds then give up and get out the stylus. Maybe I should re-enable touchflo to stop this problem
surur said:
As you can see, you are clearly outvoted. They had the same poll over at ppcgeeks (How many are still using TouchFlo3D) and of the 320 people who participated,80% were still using it.
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?p=482651
TF3D brings an essential level of style to Windows Mobile.
Surur
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats interesting. Thanks for the link. Maybe I should give touchflo 3D a another shot.
chetmichaels said:
its the first thing i disabled. in my opinion its pretty darn ugly...except for the weather thing, its kind of cute. but i like having all my stuff on the home screen where i can see it all at once
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me too. Thats why I copied and pasted the links that are in folders within the program folder back up to the program folder. I like having everything in 1 spot. I wish it was alphabetized though.
kareem9nba said:
Have you modified it with the tweaks to enhance the performance? All it is is really just another shell, your preference there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Performance wasn't really the issue for me. It just seemed like pointless eye candy.

James, you'll really find SPB Pocket Plus really nice. The thing with it is to remove all the tabs, as they really only generate useless clicks to navigate where your program is, and in final squeeze in one tab only the icons you need. I have 3x5 icons(with no text and large size enabled) and if I really think some of them I don't really need - like powerpoint and so on.To give an exameple this is what I consider usefull:Comunication Manager, Resco Explorer, HTC Album, Igo, Camera, Excel, Word, Coreplayer, sms, activesync,radio, opera, 1-calc (a very nice calculator) and notes. And supplimentary I have enabled the calendar and date plugins in today screen. This is a very nice setup - eficient - and if you set a non transparent background, very nice, kinda stylish look. Now, I have seen that you complained about precision of tapping - beware that in the margins and corners of display you'll have sometimes to get out the stylus. Give that pocket plus a try.It really made my days.

kareem9nba said:
Have you modified it with the tweaks to enhance the performance? All it is is really just another shell, your preference there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Care to share those kareem?

jamespaulritter said:
I disabled touch flo 3d right away because it seems like pointless eye candy. It seems like a sloppy rough integration that is a greater impedance than an assistant. Or is it just me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Definitely NOT at all. We must be on different spectrum of the universe. I like TF3D a great deal, make navigating the phone intuitive and seamless. It is just you.
Without TF3D, my Sprint TP would just be any other run of the mill Win Mobile big screen phone. My 39 cents.

TF3D is totally kickass! I love it for everything. Althought I do wish they had the map intergration that they have in TF2D. I also want the stocks tab and am waiting for the hd manilla to be perfected . Other than that, the original htc theme, with q-style font, my personalized background, tweaks from diamond config, and stock fuze rom, it runs pretty darm fast. Only did a soft reset once and that waas because I was attempting to run a qvga application and it crashed.

Gigs said:
James, you'll really find SPB Pocket Plus really nice. The thing with it is to remove all the tabs, as they really only generate useless clicks to navigate where your program is, and in final squeeze in one tab only the icons you need. I have 3x5 icons(with no text and large size enabled) and if I really think some of them I don't really need - like powerpoint and so on.To give an exameple this is what I consider usefull:Comunication Manager, Resco Explorer, HTC Album, Igo, Camera, Excel, Word, Coreplayer, sms, activesync,radio, opera, 1-calc (a very nice calculator) and notes. And supplimentary I have enabled the calendar and date plugins in today screen. This is a very nice setup - eficient - and if you set a non transparent background, very nice, kinda stylish look. Now, I have seen that you complained about precision of tapping - beware that in the margins and corners of display you'll have sometimes to get out the stylus. Give that pocket plus a try.It really made my days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. Let's not turn into a bunch of iPhone cattle. They stick to their phones like cult even when plagued with numerous problems.
Get SPB mobile. It blows TFTD out of the water.

dgduris said:
Style, schmile!
If I wanted style I'd have the Jesus phone that Apple makes - with one of the great cases from Vaja.
Instead, I want to look at my screen and gain information. On my day, on the stock market, on the weather and on the number of messages I am currently blowing off.
I too liked the weather bit. I also appreciated that TF3D goes a good job at memory management. Maybe when I get the time to learn how to customize it, I'll return to TF3D.
For now, though it is back to WinMob running Pocket Breeze in full screen mode with panels for pA and Pocket Weather.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't know the Lord makes phones
Back to the subject, it's all a personal preference. I think it's great, and makes the phone a lot more fun and a little easier to use, you don't, but nobody is right or wrong on this one.

ababrekar said:
Care to share those kareem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are stickied in the Raphael subforum
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=413562
BTW I have been using TFL3D since when I got my TP in August. SPB Shell seems outdated now but I have it installed anyway, accessible via Second Today

are people still using tf3d?

like the title really,
I couldn't wait to get my hands on my TP, however soon after I got it I realised that TF3D seemed to be all form and no function.
I immediately replaced it with Mobile Shell which I find much easier to use.
for example, when I want to phone someone, I hit the contacts button and I have a screen with 16 faces, I hit one and press call. In TF3D, I have to hit (or scroll) to the contact button, then scroll down again to find the person etc.
For text messages, I like to have the list on the screen that I can easily scroll through. In TF3D I can see one at a time only.
The downside...is that MS seems to be lagging behind on the themes front, and I like to have a theme that matches my mood...which is xmas at the moment.
so, my real question is what wonderful options are available to make TF3D more usable?

Unfortunately you don't have many options if your talking about changing the way that TF3D functions. There are a number of speed increases, and a few small tweaks such as the zoom function cab that lets you increase and decrease the size of the text messages in TF3D. If you like having all the contacts on one scren though, TF2D is like that. All the pictures are laid out like tiles. But with TF3D you can just click the contacts button on the bottom right of the screen and pull up all your contacts. TF3D wasn't really meant to be a full-fledged os; just a today plugin that you could use to see a good amount of information.

SPB replaced mine as well
Moved to Fuze (p4600) from p3600. Was using SBP mobile shell. Tried tf3d for about 2 weeks. HATED IT. Looks pretty, but takes too many steps to get to real work. Back to a snappy SPB Mobile Shell on my Fuze.
Regis

How would you improve wm 6.5?

I just want to start a thread on what people genuinely think about the adjustments Microsoft© have made for the Windows Mobile 6.5 beta which was leaked everywhere.
Please dont just come on and say you hate it or just start complaining.
Just balanced and constructive suggestions. (could admins plz remove single minded complainst etc..)
Microsoft© wont ever learn anything about what people really want if there is nowhere that people can collate their ideas about improvements.
Please just state what device you have and which rom, then your point/s.
Ill start it off:
Im running wm6.5 (pdaviet rom) on my Elfin.
1) When i lock my phone, it hangs for a couple of moments before locking. Its only very short, but its still annoying. So, that could be faster.
2) When locked, It would be easier to use if you had the button at the top and have to move it down (or visa/versa) possibly an entry in the settings menu for editing the location of where you want the button to start and end to unlock?
3) I find if a problem when scrolling through the start menu and it stops after four lines of links. I think it would be much easier to remove this limit and let it scroll freely. The user can then stop it where they want.
4) seriously, make some new interface for the basics like the callendar app. They are always included, but it seems pointless making a more usable interface overall when you have to pull out the stylus the second you get into a default, simple app. Many people nowadays are simply resorting to 3rd party apps with better interfaces. (I have actually made my own design rework of the callendar app)
5) The menu given for start menu items needs to be extended to having an option for moving an item around. This should either have a selection of "move (up, right, left, down)" or you should be able to drag icons around.
6) The titanium today screen needs more options which should be customisable from the settings menu. This is what people on this forum have been doing, so i think it should be there by default with the ability to add more simply.
(This could possibly attract a little bit of attention from developers?)
7) Create a view for the contacts app where you simply scroll through a grid of the pictures associated with contacts. This would only be used by people who have pictures, but if this feature was available, it would prompt people to get pictures of the people in their phonebook.
8) Solitare - Make it look better. New backs for the cards? Better ending when a game is won - possibly more similar to the latest desktop version?
9) Make it easier to turn on/off/connect with bluetooth and wifi. I dont know too much about any other connections, but with these two, its more hastle than it should. What i currently have is an icon in my start menu. One with the bluetooth logo, the other with the wifi logo. These simply start and stop them. Also, when you connect to a bluetooth device, it would be nice if it displayed a menu of things you could continue to do, like "send (contact, file, etc)
10) Include a better way of turning the phone off or soft resetting it. Having to hold down the power button or poking the little hole with the stylus is reminiscent of having to hold down the power button on a PC when it crashes. A software alternative to this, included with windows mobile, would be well recieved.
11) some form of backup/restore solution. This would help reasure users that might be afraid of loosing their contacts or other data.
12) after going through the start menu into an program, or further into the settings and into a setting app, it would be nice to go back to the start menu upon closing the program. Its annoying when your altering all your settings and each time you go through a bunch of settings, you have to go through the start menu again to find the next lot of settings.
13) final thing: the scrolling is nice and smooth, but this added ease to scroll up and down seems to have sacrificed being able to select things easily. It takes several attempts to go into folders in the file explorer without scrolling up or down.
Positive things about 6.5:
The honeycomb menu makes the start menu easier to poke at.
The swiping between tabs in programs, and pictures in the "photos and videos" app is handy.
The enlarged menu lists are much more finger friendly (but the large buttons at the top and bottom hinder them slightly.)
Titanium is fun simply because of the three different ways of moving between tabs (its a simple thing, but it keeps me happy)
The calculator looks very nice
The little curves on the tabs is a nice change, more smooth looking
The whole UI looks better
I was a bit dubious of the start button going strait into the programs menu, but it grew on me very quickly and now i think its great.
Please add any ideas you have.
I hope Microsoft looks at this and takes the ideas people put into consideration before the official release.

I wish 6.5 have:
- A completly renewed UI that is really FINGER FRIENDLY in all aspects and in all menus, not just on the today screen...
- Totally removed the super ugly honeycomb
- A really noticeable better performance

Come on folks! give some more ideas!

Jaxbot's Windows Phone 7 theme 2.0.0 for the HTC HD2 [Stand-alone/complete rewrite]

Hello! It's been a while, I know, but hopefully this will be well-worth the wait:
Introducing...Jaxbot's Windows Phone 7 Theme for the HTC HD2, version 2.0.0!
For those who are not aware, this is a complete rewrite of the very first Windows Phone 7 theme for Windows Mobile, which you can find here.
You may be wondering, what makes this different from the other Windows Phone 7 themes out there? While the other themes may be better as far as eye-candy goes, my theme is completely stand-alone application, meaning PointUI/WAD2/etc isn't required. Secondly, my application is designed to not only look like Windows Phone 7, but also function like it. Check out the video below for more details
Since this is a complete rewrite, several things have changed from the previous version. In fact, too many things for a complete changelog. So let's cut to the chase...
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Features
Smooth Kinetic scrolling
Facebook integration
Pictures hub, Office hub, People hub, and Me hub
Based off of the WP7 design
Dynamic, movable tiles
Pin contacts, websites, and hubs to your start screen
Smooth, drop down lock screen
WP7 themed text notifications
...and more
Screenshot 2:
Instructions
Download the cab file from the site at the bottom of this thread.
Install it onto your device, and (if desired) disable HTC Sense. This will give you some more performance and should help fix a few HTC Messaging bugs.
Customize the tiles as desired
To customize the tiles, hold down on a tile you which to move/remove. To add a tile, hold down on a blank spot on the homescreen.
To add a start menu item, hold down on a blank spot on the start menu.
Facebook
If you wish to use Facebook integration, go to the launcher to the right, click Settings, and check "Facebook". Then press Close app and re-run the program.
Known issues
Facebook sometimes asks for the password twice. Trust me, it's the APIs fault, not mine. The application never sees your password.
...Probably some more soon. Let me know.
Upcoming features
More hubs
Integration with Twitter, Flickr, etc.
...Give me suggestions!
Video
Video of the theme in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iELNrSq1Q_M
Download: http://windowsphonehacker.com/wp7theme.php
Games icons thanks to: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=642831

Important note! If you are running a non-English rom, you will need to edit \Wp7Theme\wp7_start_path.txt to wherever your Start Menu programs list is, for example, \Windows\Start Menu\Programs.
If you don't, you won't be able to add any programs to the start list.

It works on HTC Tilt 2

Great work, it's the best I have seen so far. Think about customising after the important stuff, like color schemes. Will report back later. Keep it up I look forward to your future progress.
Phone:
HTC HD2 Leo TmobileUS
CHT2.0 beta
Cookies home tab 2.0 beta

it looked really nice
but only ran once..
then when i restarted my phone, it would load then just stop

Thank you for that.
But I've installed it on my HD2 (Goatrip 5.9 - WM 23139, german ROM) and I had to move the program folder from "Programme" to "program files" to get it working.
It's possible to start it from there but it will crash whenever you try to add a program in one of the hubs... (program path.... blah, blah) :-(
So I think it will work fine on english ROMs only.

MyRho said:
Thank you for that.
But I've installed it on my HD2 (Goatrip 5.9 - WM 23139, german ROM) and I had to move the program folder from "Programme" to "program files" to get it working.
It's possible to start it from there but it will crash whenever you try to add a program in one of the hubs... (program path.... blah, blah) :-(
So I think it will work fine on english ROMs only.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the program has to be installed into Program Files only, so non-English roms may have some issues. I'll try to find a solution for this, stay tuned

Jaxbot,
Nice to see the final release I haven't had much time to play around with it yet - but I will
A couple of problems:
Sometimes clicking the right arrow will just bring up a blank page i.e. the all programs/settings etc menu does not drop down (maybe a resources problem)
This build appears to not have the pictures hub - your last beta build had a page much like WP7, this release seems to only bring up my Camera Shots album - EDIT: Ah. I see that the pictures "hub" only works when signed in with Facebook. Intentional?
I see in your screenshots, that your Pictures tile is customizable - mine isn't...
Oh and it is probably advisable to save this program to your device and not the storage card for performance!

Casey_boy said:
Jaxbot,
Nice to see the final release I haven't had much time to play around with it yet - but I will
A couple of problems:
Sometimes clicking the right arrow will just bring up a blank page i.e. the all programs/settings etc menu does not drop down (maybe a resources problem)
This build appears to not have the pictures hub - your last beta build had a page much like WP7, this release seems to only bring up my Camera Shots album
I see in your screenshots, that your Pictures tile is customizable - mine isn't...
Oh and it is probably advisable to save this program to your device and not the storage card for performance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To address some:
1) Try flicking down/up with your finger, sometimes the physics engine will push the tiles out of view. If not, it's back to the code with me
2) The pictures hub is only enabled when Facebook is enabled, and later with Flickr/etc. The HD2's pictures are in a resolution that can't actually be loaded by the .NET framework (anyone care to help?), so without service integration, it will just take you right into the HTC Album program.
3) The tile displays the background of the Pictures hub when Facebook is enabled, which is typically your most-recent upload. Once Flickr/etc is added, this will probably make more sense.
Also...if any .NET developers have figured out a way around the OutOfMemoryException when loading the HD2's photos, do let me know

Hello,
I'm downloading it now and testing on Miri's Standard lite v23 ROM. Will let you know how it feels
Edit-Just tested. Here are my first impressions
1) The people tile is very laggy when scrolling for contacts.
2) Text tile pulled up an error "The following program failed to launch: Argument: messaging_client.exe", I guess your program depends on the HTC Messaging client, which I dislike.
3) Pictures tile pulled up a similar error with "Argument: HUB_PICTURES"
4) SIP Input icon disappeared when I switched input from Keyboard to Swype when adding new icon and entering label. I head to restart WP7 theme to see it again.
5) When I added a contact with picture profile and email and address to the main screen, there's only a blue square, and when and I tap on the tile, i can only choose to call or send text to the mobile number.
6) I accidently clicked on the trash can and then on the settings icon, and I can't exit the program.
7) Adding a new program after using a big SIP (like HTC EZ Input or Swype) makes it hard to select an icon because of (4)
8) Moving the tiles is a bit of a chore
Aside from the contacts thing I mentioned, lag is minimal and quite acceptable, speed is not an issue on the HD2.
Looking forward to more improvements and a new release

Pictures hub
Hi Jaxbot,
Thanks for your reply. I have a suggestion for the pictures tile (thanks for putting the Facebook album names btw).
My current pictures tile:
View attachment 415633
The actual Windows Phone picture tile:
Thus, my suggestion for my pictures tile:
View attachment 415635
Thoughts...
Casey

UranusHertz said:
Hello,
I'm downloading it now and testing on Miri's Standard lite v23 ROM. Will let you know how it feels
Edit-Just tested. Here are my first impressions
1) The people tile is very laggy when scrolling for contacts.
2) Text tile pulled up an error "The following program failed to launch: Argument: messaging_client.exe", I guess your program depends on the HTC Messaging client, which I dislike.
3) Pictures tile pulled up a similar error with "Argument: HUB_PICTURES"
4) SIP Input icon disappeared when I switched input from Keyboard to Swype when adding new icon and entering label. I head to restart WP7 theme to see it again.
5) When I added a contact with picture profile and email and address to the main screen, there's only a blue square, and when and I tap on the tile, i can only choose to call or send text to the mobile number.
6) I accidently clicked on the trash can and then on the settings icon, and I can't exit the program.
7) Adding a new program after using a big SIP (like HTC EZ Input or Swype) makes it hard to select an icon because of (4)
8) Moving the tiles is a bit of a chore
Aside from the contacts thing I mentioned, lag is minimal and quite acceptable, speed is not an issue on the HD2.
Looking forward to more improvements and a new release
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, this is the first release of the rewrite, so there may be a couple of issues, which I hope to sort out ASAP. Thanks for the feedback
To address some things:
1) The kinetics seem to have issues, I'll look into it. But you can jump to a contact by clicking on the letter at the top of each "section."
2) It's designed for the HD2, and while other WVGA devices may work, there may be some performance issues. I might add tmail.exe support in the future, though.
3) It uses HTC Albums for the picture tile.
4) You can close the SIP, click another text box, then click back to the text box to re-enable the SIP. I'll try to make this smoother.
5) You must have a contact picture, or a name that the app can display onto the square (not sure why it would only be blue.)
6) I should probably disable that, but for now, taskmanager should help
Everything else, hopefully I will have improved in the next version. Thanks for the feedback
Casey_boy said:
Hi Jaxbot,
Thanks for your reply. I have a suggestion for the pictures tile (thanks for putting the Facebook album names btw).
My current pictures tile:
View attachment 415633
The actual Windows Phone picture tile:
View attachment 415634
Thus, my suggestion for my pictures tile:
View attachment 415635
Thoughts...
Casey
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I admit to having "thrown-together" the pictures hub towards the last minute, I'll be sure to make it more WP7-esque by next release. Thanks for the reference mockups!

Hi. I'm wondering if is there any way to make this theme workable on HTC Mega: touch 2? It's a QVGA screen. Thanks.
This theme you've created is awesome.

Its Great!!!
But im using a german rom and have the same problem as "MyRho"
Please help us to use your great WP7 theme without problems

skiez said:
Hi. I'm wondering if is there any way to make this theme workable on HTC Mega: touch 2? It's a QVGA screen. Thanks.
This theme you've created is awesome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This theme only works on WVGA devices, and that at, newer devices. I chose the HD2 because the Snapdragon processor really boosts the performance.
QVGA is too small to display all the information.
resa73 said:
Its Great!!!
But im using a german rom and have the same problem as "MyRho"
Please help us to use your great WP7 theme without problems
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm trying to think of a way to get around the path limitations...thinking maybe a path file that can be manually edited, or is there an environment variable that will give me \Program Files\?

Sorry i don´t know.....i user the latest Dutty ROM from HTCPedia in german
(sorry for my bad english)

resa73 said:
Sorry i don´t know.....i user the latest Dutty ROM from HTCPedia in german
(sorry for my bad english)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll be looking into the code at some point to see about changing the Program Files and Start Menu directories to language-independent variables. Until then, you technically could copy the files into \Program Files\Wp7Theme (create the folder), but that's a little messy.

This is GREAT
I'll test it tonight ....
THANKs

looks great will give it a try can it be uninstalled too?

resa73 said:
Sorry i don´t know.....i user the latest Dutty ROM from HTCPedia in german
(sorry for my bad english)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
malkrae said:
looks great will give it a try can it be uninstalled too?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, through the normal Windows Mobile Remove Programs page.