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I haven't found any threads directly comparing the two... I'm tired of the boring today screen and even HTC Home. Which is better on the Wizard Manilla 2D or SPB Shell 2.1? I've tried Manilla and I really like it but it takes up a lot of resources and disables some apps I've come to rely on. (Battery Status, and Smartskey) I wanted to get some opinions before shelling (he he) out the greenbacks for SPB Shell.
What a stupid question!!!
Well don't I feel like an ass... Here you guys just got Manilla working on the Wizard and I'm asking which is better. I've seen threads for Manilla for a while now and never read any of them. I wasn't really interested in Manilla until I was browsing around and saw some of the skins. I thought I'd give it a try. Since I just went in last night and downloaded it and installed it with no problem, I assumed it has been working on Wizard for a while. In my defence I did search for a comparison but found none.
i vote foe manila
Iv tryed both and Manila is wey cooler and in new to wizard, bur SPB Shell its much much usfull so its your choice
i was a big spb mobile shell user when it 2+ first hit......I must admit...I now use Noonski's rom and I enjoy the device much much more...it's somehow made for our device where as mobile shell is universal plus with all the skins and clocks being rapidly designed and made available you can have whatever flavor you like....as with mobile shell....seems lately the designs are all just versions of the same concept...where m2d is fresh and to me faster as it is cooked into the rom...I had about 43 megs left on mine after flashing and right now I'm just trying to streamline and keep about half that while piling on the goodies I usually enjoy in my phone...using a 2g sd card I'm able to run much from there....unless mobile shell upgrades to 3 I'm going to say m2d wins
wyzepro said:
i was a big spb mobile shell user when it 2+ first hit......I must admit...I now use Noonski's rom and I enjoy the device much much more...it's somehow made for our device where as mobile shell is universal plus with all the skins and clocks being rapidly designed and made available you can have whatever flavor you like....as with mobile shell....seems lately the designs are all just versions of the same concept...where m2d is fresh and to me faster as it is cooked into the rom...I had about 43 megs left on mine after flashing and right now I'm just trying to streamline and keep about half that while piling on the goodies I usually enjoy in my phone...using a 2g sd card I'm able to run much from there....unless mobile shell upgrades to 3 I'm going to say m2d wins
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had forgotten all about this question. Thanks for the answers. I'm back on the kick again and I was wondering if you still feel the same? I have tried M2D as a add on and cooked directly into the ROM. I have still yet to try SPB Mobile Shell. I may just get off the fence and do it. Worse thing could happen is I have to flash back to my HTC Home.
mr.incredible said:
I haven't found any threads directly comparing the two... I'm tired of the boring today screen and even HTC Home. Which is better on the Wizard Manilla 2D or SPB Shell 2.1? I've tried Manilla and I really like it but it takes up a lot of resources and disables some apps I've come to rely on. (Battery Status, and Smartskey) I wanted to get some opinions before shelling (he he) out the greenbacks for SPB Shell.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tested twice solutions, it's my opinion:
M2D:
Positive
- Very excellent look
- Very fast, reponsive
- Switch window animated
- Several weather cities
- Most smart panel
Negative
- Memory leak
- Not stable (plugin reboots unexpectly)
- Memory used (+15Mb storage and +8Mb ram) with all apps needed
- Seems doen't work with S2U2
- Get pad action when using other programs
- Task switch to front automaticaly
- Landscape problems
- cannot show multiple calendar events
- poor weather city
- Must install all HTC programs (music player, pictures, ...)
SPB shell 2.1
Positive
- Less storage and ram memory (- 5Mb ram)
- Compatible S2U2
- Skinable (look of M2D, Xperia X1, WM7)
- Stable
- Cities for weather (Valenciennes is in the list)
Negative
- Less responsive
- M2D skin very slow
- Only one city for the weather
- S2U2 weather does not work
- Cannot have the standard windows taskbar and softkeys
- Today SPB plugin different with M2D today skin window.
- Strange organization of functions...
In conclusion, there is no perfect version, I reloaded Clean Rom and re-used standard WM today screen (battery status, calendar, time, messaging...)
ed_bracam said:
Negative
- Memory leak
- Not stable (plugin reboots unexpectly)
- Memory used (+15Mb storage and +8Mb ram) with all apps needed
- Must install all HTC programs (music player, pictures, ...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Yes there is a bit of a memory leak but with tools like QuickMenu and Oxios Hibernate you can reclaim this
2) The issues with this plugin being unstable can be overlooked by the price tag
3) What taskmanager are you using ? M2D Built into wizflo weighs in at 5mb storage and 3.5 mb ram.
4) You dont need all the HTC Programs, use M2DC to disable the tabs you dont use
Great info guys. That is the kind of input I've been looking for. Thanks.
mr.incredible said:
Great info guys. That is the kind of input I've been looking for. Thanks.
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Click to collapse
I have tried SPB Mobile Shell many times i made my custom made configuration and i think it works great, i have never had problems with it. I was wondering that it worked fast enough on HTC Wizard. No problems with cities in weather. It consumes a bit more of RAM and storage and it is necessary to install it in the device memory. Another bad thing about SPB mobile shell is that after installing it on the Wizard it booted very slowly after soft reset it took about 2 minutes until the device boot up. But anyway all these apps M2D, SPB Mobile Shell, TouchFLO etc are looking great but i do not like em. I like standard WM today screen with battery status, messages, today agenda, it is the only way to see all the necessary things on the today screen!
BEtter?
M2D is free..
spb yooou have to buy....
I am a believer of the bet things in life are free...
Any tips for some simple and whats important fast today screen replacement with some launcher function? Something intuitive like touchflo, from which I use only home/sms/launcher and maybe calendar (but its not really important).
Tried Manila (eats resources like ...), SPB Mobile Shell, WAMD, Inesoft Phone - all of them seems to me bit overstuffed with unneeded stuff, effects and so on. Liked ThrottleLauncher, but its slow and choppy on my X1.
I would like to have something like iContacts style app for desktop. Fast, nice and simple gfx, finger friendly...is it just hard to find? Or there is no such app at all?
Have you tried the basic HTC Homeplug? It takes just half the screen and handles weather, calls, music, progs, people, comm. You can get rid of a couple of tabs if you want too. I ran schaps HTC Homeplug with the stock today screen calendar program for a looong time and it did everything I needed.
Yeah HTC Home plugin, one of the best today plugins. Tried Manila2d but I still switch back to HTC Homeplug..
Any tips how to instal Home Plug to X1 with WVGA?
Tried one from this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=344533 but gfx is messed up and all icons are so small...
I use Ultimate Launch and Love it - It would do everything you want - And supports plugins - Unfortnately I don't know how it would look or even run on your x1
Okay guys & gals,
Just thought I'd start a topic about our Today Screen.
I love a good launcher program (which I believe is simply what a today screen is). It took me a while to get to like WM6.5, but I do now. The disadvantage is that I still have to press my Start Menu for other apps... and for 64MB Uni's the disadvantage is only too obvious.
I hope you don't mind me quoting, but this is what started me thinking...
gewin said:
What I would like to do is set the programs screen ie the screen full of icons as the default when you start up the Universal. One less step and simpler for the end user.
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Click to collapse
phezthie said:
home screen plus is what yu need, i guess....
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Click to collapse
Yeah, oh for a simple Today Screen. I'm with you there.
Why do we have one method of accessing our apps on the Today screen, and yet another from the Start menu. (And for me a third when I want to choose a game to play).
I suppose nobody has come up with something that everyone agrees on!
Hence we have such platforms as Android, maybe.
As phezthie says, HomeScreen PlusPlus is a cool app. However, if you can't find a theme that someone has made that you like, you must be willing to write a script. Personally I love this app, but spend too much time tweaking my scripts! Ouch
Another one is ThrottleLauncher. A lovely graphic approach, but a bit heavy/slow and a few bugs. Very easy to set up, though... but perhaps more of an interest with 128MB devices and maybe a little restricted.
Anyone got a great Today Screen or Launcher they think others would like?
.
Hi Jonny
Interesting thread indeed
I used for a long time HTC Home large VGA by pj07 and I was very satified as I had all I needed on that home screen.
Now I´m using titanium but I´m agree with your comments above.
(attached)
Cheers,
I use Titanium too and its going pretty well for my needs till now.This his a good idea.
Hello thank you for starting this thread,as i am obsessed lately with this subject. I tried EVERYTHING that i could find,and so far,on my 64 MB uni,i can say only that i managed to find NOTHING in my taste.
Throttle launcher is awesome but no way it can work on my device,buggy and extremely slow,same as Pointui Home 2, with the POINTSENSE suite 2.0.0.6 looks awesome but useless on my device. For everyone with a 128 MB device i would recommend it,there are many many interesting skins/themes and applets on the Pointui website http://www.pointui.com/
Also,i am waiting for a new or fixed version of Touch Shell Pro ,which looks promising also,has some nice skins too, version now is 1.1.0.17,but has too many issues still,on my UNI at least.
http://www.touch-shell.com/
Also i tried FEWidgets Ultimate,again nice idea but too slow on my UNI.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=544874
There is now also this Sense UI Theme for FEWidgets Ultimate.
http://www.freewarepocketpc.net/ppc-download-sense-ui-theme-for-fewidgets-ultimate.html
As for launchers,i tried plenty,most of them too slow ofc,the nicer ones
Easy Today Launcher is a nice today plugin,you can combine it with some others to make a nice today screen also :
http://www.loffactory.webs.com/
MyAction is a nice launcher you can pick up here versions 1.1 and new 2.0 :
http://www.8080.pl/
This one looks real nice but was way too slow on my 64 mb - Touchlaunch :
http://www.freewarepocketpc.net/ppc-download-touchlaunch.html
And for last,the best thing i found to be part of my today screen,is a skin for marsware weather panel 2009 - here is the whole thing :
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=401781
When i get time i will put some more up,when i remember them,i really tried a lot of things out. And i really really wish that my UNI has 128 MB
I never looked back since getting SPB Mobile Shell 3.5, I think it's the best. In fact, once I got it, the ROM UI became irrelevant, I even have WM5 on one of my Unis in order to have the VC and not suffer much.
Complexity
Jonny
Thanks for starting this thread. I have also played with a number of the Today screen graphical setup programs, some are quite good. However, since upgrading to 6.5 I quite like the standard program screen that comes up when you select start.
My question is why do we need any of these today screen programs, when the icons and screen are already there. We really don't want to add any more complexity to the setup or anything else to use up precious memory.
I originally asked the question to see if there was just a way of bypassing the today screen altogether, so that the standard program screen came up by default.
Now thanks to you we have the collective minds thinking about it.
@gewin:
I actually got your idea. But couldn't find the function OS calls (@shell32.exe) when you hit on start menu.
Once we get then it is just the easy part....
I use SPB Pocket Plus, because it can handle other today plugins in different tabs. And it runs quickly on UNI64...
Thanks guys, this has been very informative. Especially to PalDragon for all the review... I'm going to give some of those a try. Cheers. What do others think?
MyAction - I found I didn't like. It looks ok if you use all the icons, otherwise you have half a screen full of blue +'s. I would prefer slide to screen, rather than use of a Prev/Next button. You also need to add all the apps yourself, it wasn't self-populating.
TouchLaunch - like. However only 1 item per line means a lot of scrolling, and the scrolling can be quite slow. Nice that you can make categories. Latest version here. Smooth (on my 128MB Uni)
EasyToday Launcher - @gewin, this is what you want! It's not self-populating, but I do like it. And as PalDragon pointed out, you can add other Today items with it, if you wish.
enigma1nz said:
I never looked back since getting SPB Mobile Shell 3.5, I think it's the best. In fact, once I got it, the ROM UI became irrelevant, I even have WM5 on one of my Unis in order to have the VC and not suffer much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i completely agree, its not free though but worth it...
Hi Jonny.. can you please attache some pics of your today screen if you haven't yet, I use HTC Home its got all i need even wheather, Messaging etc... But i wonder if its possible to add some applications to the wm6.5 on that cool up down slide. This made me stop using HTC Home but now i have some app's missing on my today.
my today screen is unintersting. I use WM6.5 'Ron Arad Orange' with CHome editor* for my apps (piccy1). I used to have weather plugin* but this seemed to make my GPS navigation freeze intermittently. I use QuickMenu* for my task switcher (piccy2) and iReflect icons* in my start menu (piccy3) with honeycomb start menu*. (Also, once used ATContacts widget*).
However I am still looking for a good 'app launcher' for games. I use fexploreext* set to 'Icon View' (see piccy4&5). Sadly fexploreext doesn't seem to work in WM6.5.1
I did once create a HomeScreen++ theme* for back when it was BatteryStatus, but haven't kept it up to date. It also had weather. The funny thing about weather widgets is that whenever I want to look at the forecast, I always want to update it ... so it seemed reasonable to stick with weather from an internet page! (perhaps because in UK weather is so changeable, I don't know!)
however, I am beginning to like SPB Mobile Shell (unsure how long the trial is for). What themes are people using? enigma1nz? phezthie?
FEWidgets and throttlelauncher seem similar, but a poor mans copy?
*if you want any of these files, just PM me.
spb mobile shell is really impressive and powerful (the latest is v3.5), ive been using ms v2 since tomal's 8.5. however, based from my experience, v3.5 is not advisable using tomal's wm6.5 roms (v9 & 10) due to slow response and occasional freeze. same with other wm6.5 cooked roms i tried, the reason why ram upgrade is imperative, at least for me, to enjoy the latest rom with latest spb.
off course, another solution i think is if our great uni rom chefs will always consider releasing vanilla of their great work...
UltimateLaunch
http://www.ultimatelaunch.de/index_en.html
Setup is a bit of a hassle (I've been messing around in Android, so a lot of Windows Mobile/Phone stuff seems more complex to customize), but if you're willing to put in the time, it's a rock solid-app and can customize to a T. It's also the least memory-hungry of what I've tried.
The only thing I don't like is that it doesn't accommodate rotation very well unless you count out pixels and just set it up so that in landscape it looks good even though the bottom of your screen is cut off.
I've tried Lakeridge (think Titanic, flashy, but *will* crash), ThrottleLauncher, Win6.5, SPB, SBSH. I keep coming back to this.
I used most of the GI app there and i liked WAD2. and i used with my custom theme when i was in wm 6.1, now with 6.5 due to memory issue i can not run it. so i'm using titanium with some customization.... see pic's below...
Hey Rajiv
Jane is so beautiful!!
Yes, very nice Jane, mate
orb3000 said:
Hey Rajiv
Jane is so beautiful!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
enigma1nz said:
Yes, very nice Jane, mate
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanx a lot Guyz...
i envy you mate
phezthie said:
i envy you mate
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Click to collapse
He he
common guys no comment on titanium ....
Hello guys, i own HP Ipaq voice messenger(wm 6.1), and i am a little bit disappointed about homescreen.. sure there are loads and loads programs for customizing homescreen, or even whole menues and stuff but all of them are for touchscreens only(SPB mobile shell for example).. Only one i could find is Facade, which is not exactly the thing i am looking for..
So my question, are there any other homescreen customizing programs for non-touchscreens? Thanks in advance
At present I'm using trhe newest Energy ROM. Nice work.
I just wondered if there was any ROMs made for easy of visual use.
I'm a but long in the eye now and find using the phone sometimes a strain on my eyes. Age and all that
The Energy ROM is very good but I probably only use about 1/20th of the apps and stuff it loads. Some of the ones it installs I don't even know what they do
I would love to see a ROM made for vision clarity, bigger fonts and more simple but just as useful front screens.
Is there any of the cooks that can advise me on this ?
Thanks
maybe it's not a rom, but a software that you need, like point ui : http://www.wm6software.net/utilities/pointui_1_5.html
not the lame 2.0 which tries to do exactly the same as touchflo, spb etc, but the 1.5, which was very very eye and finger friendly, especially on small screens like the one on touchpro, with big icons, big texts, big lists etc..
so can I get a ROM with none of this HTC touch slide screen and Sense, maybe just a really basic front end.
well I've installed that app, started it and all I get is a blue blob start up screen than nothing happens.
Rom
If you are looking for a simple rom with a good user interface I usually go back to the basic Euro Touch pro rom. I then add a few apps by cab that I need but I also add SPB Mobile shell to it. Retains all the hardware funtionality. I of course turn off TF3D.
SPB can replace your start menu and for bigger fonts go to start\settings\system\screen and enable cleartype and adjust your font size.
When I install this rom I usually install the following apps for basic and a little advanced user functionality:
SPB Mobile shell 3.5 (UI) -Worth the money-
Advanced config 3.3 (changing pagepools and storage locations)
Total Commander 2.5 (self-explanatory)
GPSTest 1.04 (for GPS locking)
SKtools (easy tweaking and cleaning-latest version-I bought it at pocketgear.com)
Bing (directions, searching, Navigating etc.)
Lumos (latest version for backlight control)
Touch Response (latest version-simulated haptive feedback)
Microsoft MyPhone (Secondary sync)
Of course it is all based on taste. Just thought I would stick that out there for ya.
Font size is at its largest, isn't enough
I have to say out of whats on the phone with this energy ROM i think I only use 3 things, and one is now missing in the new ROM.
Phone
Wi-Fi Router
Notes and Tasks.
Google Maps
Facebook
SMS
Freecell
Mostly hooked up to my PC with MyMobile so I can use my big screen. never browse now as the screen is to small.
Just looked at thr Captains basic ROM
2010-02-25_Cap_Special_NO_MANILA_23541
BorgCymru said:
Font size is at its largest, isn't enough
I have to say out of whats on the phone with this energy ROM i think I only use 3 things, and one is now missing in the new ROM.
Phone
Wi-Fi Router
Notes and Tasks.
Google Maps
Facebook
SMS
Freecell
Mostly hooked up to my PC with MyMobile so I can use my big screen. never browse now as the screen is to small.
Just looked at thr Captains basic ROM
2010-02-25_Cap_Special_NO_MANILA_23541
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why don't you try my Titanium ROM then ? It's pretty basic, IMO
Trouble I have is reading through all the threads on a ROM, theres just to much old rubbish per thread. I can't filter out whos going on about which version and which ROM is which.
Pruning should be compulsory
They get all wrapped up in tech speak and CHt HTc DDL ROM RAM NND GGH OOH, which doesn't mean a thing to me, or probably a lot of people
Ill try yours out now
What else would I need. I want the Wi-Fi and a few tools but none of the
ArkSwitch ( no idea what it is)
Backup Fav ( never use Fav to start with)
CHT ( turned that off straight away)
Shake and whatever ( why)
World Card ( Useles)
XDA UC ( no idea)
BINg
well you get the picture
There was a good simple task manager in the last ROM but its missing now
And I liked the page with all short-cuts to you most used apps. It looked like the iPhone, very handy to use.
TAEL roms are pretty good
OK I'm lost wheres the Energy Titanium please
SiL3nTKiLL said:
TAEL roms are pretty good
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Click to collapse
TAEL, is that a ROM type or the maker of the ROM ?
Thanks
Rom
Yes TAEL is the chef of the rom.
I am currently using captains manilla 2.1 rom. Pretty basic uses the old TF3D type interface. but still has newer features. The only thing missing would be the facebook app. but that can be installed via cab. Seems to be simple enough yet has plenty of tools to get the job done. It has the simple HTC task manager as well.
Does Pointui.Home.1.5a.Wm5. work on it
Ahh I see it says WM5 I wonder if that why it doesn't work on mine.
Trying the Cpts one, systems font seems smaller and I can't seem to find any O2 UK set up cab anywhere
Font size???
It does enlarge through screen settings but I can try and find a magnifier that could swipe across the screen. Of course most of the chefs have knowledge enough to make a "handicapped" rom as microsoft sells it in windows. (Magnifier , speech etc.)
What would be good is an App like the iPhone one that turns the phone into a magnifier. I could deff use that when I was out to read labels and small stuff.
Using
TAELROM_v4.23569_STANDARD_21MAY10
Cpts one I couldn't get the O2 settings for.
i have found something that might help you http://handheld.softpedia.com/get/System-Utilities/Enhancements/WinMobile-Magnifier-27412.shtml
Well I gone and brought an iPhone, please don't shout , Only way I can see if it is suitable for me is hands on.
Probably wrong place to ask but anyone recommend a decent iPhone forum ?
Thanks
Still got the HTC so all is not lost