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BlackBerry Connect OTA enterprise activation backup, passwords etc.

QUESTION 1
I've been flashing and reflashing ROMs for a couple of weeks now and am very impressed with Dutty's latest endeavor. In anticipation of the v4 release, I'm hoping someone in the community can tell me if it is possible to backup an over-the-air (OTA) enterprise activation of BB Connect. Currently I'm calling our technical support guys who, sooner than later I'm sure, will start asking why I have to have to get a new OTA activation password (which they change as soon as you use it) every 5-7 days.
So, in short: moving from one ROM to the next and want to back up OTA BBConnect enterprise activation. Possible? If so, how?
QUESTION 2
Any BES administrators out there willing to tell me if my Tilt/Kaiser shows up on the BES (v4) differently than a BlackBerry (like the POS 7280 I'm given by the company). If so, is there a way to "spoof" that since my company will not allow non-blackberry devices.
QUESTION 3
When using the stock AT&T ROM, my Tilt respects the (highly restrictive, Bluetooth disabling, password-enforcing, ridiculous) IT Policy pushed by the BES administrator. When I flashed to Dutty's DualTouch ROM v3 Final, this no longer happened. Now, it just reads "default" for the IT Policy. Is this a fluke or some wonderful reg entry that we need to identify and protect like diamonds?
Thanks, all.
Cheers,
Your Local Village Idiot

VillageIdiot said:
QUESTION 2
Any BES administrators out there willing to tell me if my Tilt/Kaiser shows up on the BES (v4) differently than a BlackBerry (like the POS 7280 I'm given by the company). If so, is there a way to "spoof" that since my company will not allow non-blackberry devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We run BES here and indeed non-blackberry devices are reported as the phone model when you look up the phones information.
This could probably easily be spoofed to whatever you like. If you hacked the blackberry connect application, or intercepted and modified the data passed over to BES. You could make it say anything you want at that point.
I'd get "in" with your IT guys and that way they can pull a favor for you now and then with the BES server. Other then that, have the company pay for a blackberry phone and carry two phones around, or refuse to carry a company phone and don't use your personal phone for company resources. If they're blocking your productivity by a poorly guided company policy, make it cost them money. Don't inconvenience yourself to keep your productivity as an employee on par.
Really though, it's not feasible to secretly go behind your employers back with your tilt. I think it's ridiculous a company wouldn't let you use your Tilt -- though probably because the corporation is uneducated or ignorant to the fact that the Tilt can be locked down just as well as a blackberry phone. Too bad the employer has a bunch of pointy haired management types running around who don't know what they're doing and out of ignorance banned non-BB devices.

Jon,
Thank you for your prompt reply and clarification on what shows up at the BES. Hacking the BB connect app is beyond my current knowledge set, but I may look into it if I'm unable to find a simpler solution.
Unfortunately, my company has several thousand employees so my productivity concerns are far outweighed by their misinformed security concerns. I've pitched the benefits of BB connect, WM5/6 devices and direct-push Exchange sync, but my pitch falls on deaf ears. They have provided me a BB 7280 and some get newer 8XXX devices, but beyond that we're expected to be happy with what we have. I'm even buying a non-camera Tilt to replace my two week old Tilt because they won't allow personal camera phones (all BB connect issues aside). You'd think I work for MI-6...
Cheers,
T.V.I.

VillageIdiot said:
QUESTION 1
I've been flashing and reflashing ROMs for a couple of weeks now and am very impressed with Dutty's latest endeavor. In anticipation of the v4 release, I'm hoping someone in the community can tell me if it is possible to backup an over-the-air (OTA) enterprise activation of BB Connect. Currently I'm calling our technical support guys who, sooner than later I'm sure, will start asking why I have to have to get a new OTA activation password (which they change as soon as you use it) every 5-7 days.
im soooo it this situation, any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Here's how you do it
you could use the desktop software instead of OTA. this will activate the phone without requiring you to get a new activation code.
Here's how I back up and restore. This has worked often, and not worked a few times.
Try to follow this exactly for best results.
get task manager v2.7 from fdcsoft
tap the blackberry icon on the taskbar and suspend the service under status
start taskmanager, and go to services. stop the two blackberry services, log and security.
open file explorer, and copy the directory RIM in /application data to your storage card
flash your phone with whatever-
copy the RIM folder back to /application data from your storage card
load blackberry connect (this should be the same version you had, otherwise you may have issues)
tap the blackberry icon in settings-system
instead of installing, you should see a window that says "repairing settings"
your old password should be restored, and the phone will lock and ask you to unlock. use your password you had before the backup.
all of your folders and mail should be back.
This works about 90% of the time.
some issues I've had-
multiple blackberry folders- one with emails, one with nothing.
folders missing, a bunch of email in drafts folder.
older messages no longer sync with desktop
good luck!

[Q] Office Mobile fully functional?

Hi guys,
I've searched this forum and haven't found an answer to my question, so I'm gonna post it here. (Hopefully I did the search right and didn't commit the felony of a double post. )
I'm planning on buying a new phone, mainly because my old HTC Charmer (WM 6.1) doesn't support SDHC cards and the maximum of 4GB of the cards I can use with it is just not enough any more.
So far, I've read quite some disappointing details about Windows Phone 7:
- No more "free" apps (by which I mean apps programmed by someone and offered somewhere, now it's the same sh** as with an iPhone or an Android phone)
- No direct USB-sync, which means you have to send your private information to the cloud in order to sync
- No "real" support for SD-Cards (and getting more storage space is the whole da** point here, otherwise I'm quite happy with my Charmer)
So, basically I thought about getting a second hand HTC Touch Pro II running WM 6.5 AND supporting NORMAL SDHC cards (meaning ALL cards which comply with the standard, not just the ones "certified by Microsoft").
But there might be one killer feature which could make me, well, not really forget, but maybe turn a blind eye to WP7's SHAMEFUL flaws: The new Microsoft Office Mobile. Often, I have some Excel spreadsheets which I need for work at different places. This is the only reason I have to take a laptop computer with me, apart from that my phone would be fine.
Office Mobile in WM 6.1 (or 6.5) couldn't display / make use of all the features the Desktop-Version offered (like extremely complicated formulae or spreadsheets and of course macros), and, moreover, after having worked on and saved an Office document on a phone, the features would even have been removed from the file in the conversion process, so the file was useless on the desktop as well.
Thus, I'm asking the following questions (which surprisingly haven't been answered on the net so far, or am I just too stupid to google it right?):
- Is the Office in WM 7 fully functional, meaning you can work on Excel sheets with the most complicated formulae and macros, or, asked more simple, can you do everything you can do with the Desktop version on your phone as well?
- If it doesn't offer everything the desktop versions offers, does it at least keep everything that was there in the original file after you change and save it on your phone? I mean, even if I can't use macros on the Windows Phone, it might still be helpful to open an .xls file on the phone, make a few changes (which don't require macros), save the file on the phone and after putting it back on a desktop computer having the file "unharmed" (meaning except for the small change I made on the phone everything else is as it was)?
Hopefully, I made my point clear enough, if not, I'm happy to answer questions on what it is exactly that I want to know. I think many users here already having a Windows phone will have tried working on Office documents on their phones and I hope those will share their experiences with me.
Many thanks for reading my post and even more thanks for answering.
Peter

Firstly,in terms of the functionalities of the excel,I don't think WP7 is suitable for you.
Furthermore,personally I prefer USB drag and drop the documents to my device,maybe you can call me old school.I just find the office useless for me since I don't have sharepoint,I don't want create a dropbox account just to upload my file to cloud and download it to my device again and I don't have a data plan.Therefore,until now, I still didn't use the office app once.
In your situation,I think you need an android phone to handle your job this moment,you can just purchase quick office,docs to go,depends on your personal preference.In addition,the only office app available is just microsoft office,no other choices.furthermore,as you said,you want transfer it back to your desktop unharm,therefore it is good to have drag and drop file transfer function rather than rely on dropbox,upload to the cloud and download on your desktop again.
On the other hand,there is no clear information about the mango updates which add more features to the office.So,I'll would suggest you to go with Android or iOS for this moment.

Thank you for the answer.

No more "free" apps (by which I mean apps programmed by someone and offered somewhere, now it's the same sh** as with an iPhone or an Android phone)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Free, in cost, there are plenty. Free as in not first checked by MS, kinda but no. You can developer unlock your device and sideload apps. However, that being said, MS are pretty good, they're only blocking apps which don't meet quality control standards (which I think is a good thing) or, somewhat contentiously, are "adult". They're not playing the same game as Apple.
I'm confused by you saying Android though. You can easily download and install programs (apk) on your device from any source (you just have to choose that option in the settings).
Office in Mango is improving - specifically:
1. Better support for formulae
2. Skydrive sync
So, yes, formulae can be created and manipulated in Excel, though I wouldn't say it's a replacement for the real Excel. It certainly can't run macros.
Skydrive is still "in the cloud" however, you're automatically registered to the free account by the virtue of having a live id. I still believe we should have USB file transfer but at least this is better than nothing.
Casey

[Q] Remote Administration of Multiple Android Handsets

My situation:
In my company we have about 30+ handsets currently running Android (standard and custom ROMs from XDA). The handsets include HTC Desire HD, HD2, Desire S and Desire Z. The users cannot be trusted not to brick the phones if they are allowed to download apps and modify them in anyway (not to mention they are business phones so shouldn't have facebook etc on them any way).
I've heard about admin tools which allow control of handsets remotely.
Requirements:
So, if possible, what i would like does something along the lines of...:
1: Blocks further apps from being added to the handset without a password
2: A lock to keep as many of the settings as is originally provided (wallpaper etc)
3: A master admin tool which i can remotely manage all the handsets from (download requested and approved apps, wipe, lock, locate and reset the phones if lost...etc)
What i have done before to stop the users adding further apps is register my email address to Android Market on all the phones, then changed the password using my desktop). While this stops new apps from being downloaded from the market, it does mean i cannot remotely roll out approved apps as they are no longer signed in to the account.
Is there anything out there which does any/all/some of the above?
Is there one tool which can manage all these tasks? Or will it have to be seperate apps like Norton Mobile Security (such as) etc?
Can anyone get their heads around this?
Thanks!

The market lets you download apps to a phone.
Lookout Security does all of the security tasks you want.

Thanks, that would take care of the remote wiping, locating and locking.
Does Android provide any corporate setup for administration of lots of handsets? Surely this is a niche in the market for some devs to jump on if there isn't something like that already.
And i know Android Market allows you to remotely download apps to multiple phones but i want to make it impossible to download through the phone itself. (so i can add apps but the user can't)

Something that performs like MFormation Enterprise Manager but avoiding the $20k price tag! (a tall order i know)

Sonic_Sonar said:
Something that performs like MFormation Enterprise Manager but avoiding the $20k price tag! (a tall order i know)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
Have you found any apps that fit your needs? Do you use them? If no, is your organization still interesting in mobile device management service?
I'm asking because I'm working for http://bloove.com (personal phone management service) and we're going to expand our offer to small and medium companies.
This new service will combine existing contact, sms, phone log and bookmark backup for personal phone with MDM features like centralized app management, location and wipe service etc.
We're looking for early adopters who will have a chance to add their custom requirements to the service and get this service for free for up to six months.
Please let me know if you're interested and want to discuss this further.
Thank you,
Rostislav
[email protected]

Please use the Q&A Forum for questions Thanks
Moving to Q&A

I did something like this ...
I first installed openssh server, plus a script that checks a specific URL for remote access needs (had to do it that way since my carrier blocks connections on all ports).
The server side is a simple php script that you call like this: check.php?deviceid=[ID]. The script checks a DB to see if there is anything new for that device ID and acts accordingly. I implemented three features: Tunnel, Script, Install APK. So, If I want to install an APK to all devices, I just upload it on our webserver, and on the MySQL DB I add devices id = all, action=install, file=/apks/whatever.apk. If, for instance, I want to do something more complex on certain devices, I add: id = all, action=script, file=/apks/whatever.sh. I write the script, then all phones check for updates on this check.php every 5 minutes, if they find a script, they'll download and execute. If it's an APK, they'll download and install. If I insert a line with deviceID=[deviceid], action=tunnel, file=[PORT NUMBER], then the phone will SSH into a remote server and do a reverse port forward, on [PORT NUMBER]. Then I can just SSH into localhost:[PORTNUMBER] on the server, and I'll have a terminal inside the phone to do whatever I need.
This doesn't address the restrictions issue, but it does allow you to control the phones however you want.
Regards,
Almafuerte.

[Q] Any way to show or download FREE hidden provider apps in Marketplace ?

I want to download a FREE application (Orange Cineday & Orange et Moi) in section "Orange" ... but i can't show it !
Have you a soluce to do please ... or just give me a soluce to have the GUID of these apps ?
Thankx,
Poloche,

If your phone is for some reason not showing the carrier marketplace, it may be possible to get it to appear using a XAP similar to the OEM Marketplaces XPs (see my signature). It'll require a little investigation, and the file that specifies MO marketplaces is a slightly than the one for OEM marketplaces, but it's not that complex.
If you'll read through the thread, you'll find enough info to get started yourself.

@GoodDayToDie Can you make XAP for different carriers (similar to the OEM XAP you made so far)? I have 2 Samsung Focus on Tmobile network but couldn't see the carrier marketplace. Thanks!
Also, now that an Omnia W ROM is available, can you look into why Call Blocking is not working on 1st gen Samsung devices? The newest Call Blocking app version is 1.8 from Marketplace.

@nepi: The MO marketplaces typically don't have their own section, but "ought" to load automatically on the phone. If you're on TMO-US, even if the phone wasn't originally TMO-branded, do a search in the Marketplace for "Family Room" or "T-Mobile TV". If they don't show up, then you can't access the TMO-US marketplace. I guess I can make a XAP for that one easily enough (it's my carrier, so I just pull the the relevant file off my phone, package it into a XAP, and post it). Honestly though, the only TMO-US app that I've found worth having at all is My Account, and that rarely (and it wouldn't be useful to anybody not on TMO).
Call Blocking (and the other gen2-specific Samsung apps) can't be used on gen1 phones pretty much by design. Samsung changed the drivers in their firmware that apps (both official and homebrew) with ID_CAP_INTEROPSERVICES use to do things outside their sandbox (call blocking is definitley not allowed from within the sandbox!). Some (but not all) of the gen1 apps are compatible with a backward-compatiblity interface in the gen2 firmware, but the gen2 apps are never going to be compatible with gen1 until/unless those new drivers are back-ported. That's not something we can do (at least, not until the Samsung bootloader is unlocked) ourselves, because the drivers are baked into the ROM, and nobody has yet figured out how to make a driver that's not in the ROM work.
I have a few theories, but it'll be some time before I can do anything with them. They're related to my current project, which is executing native homebrew EXEs on WP7 (specifically, I'm currently looking at modifying the Policy system to allow this). It may be that the Policy system is also behind the driver issue, but until I manage to modify the policies, that's a moot point.

poloche said:
I want to download a FREE application (Orange Cineday & Orange et Moi) in section "Orange" ... but i can't show it !
Have you a soluce to do please ... or just give me a soluce to have the GUID of these apps ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- Install WireShark traffic sniffer
- "Reverse tether" your phone to PC (connect via USB cable)
- Start WireShark to listen http traffic
- Install these apps on your phone
Post whole request data here and I'll answer your question

I want to download "Orange Cineday" specific ORANGE Marketplace... Can you please give me the GUID ?
@GoodDayToDie
Please, explain me the registry key to show the "Orange Section" in my phone ? ... I have an interOP-Unlock Omia 7

Please read the OEM Marketplace XAPs thread (linked in my sig). The file that needs to be replaced is different from the one those XAPs replace (OEM market, you need the MO market) but it's stored in the same location and the structure of the file is similar.
I don't know what the identifier for ORANGE is, although "ORANGE" would be a decent thing to try! This is a pretty basic hack, requiring mostly just some time to experiment; give it a shot yourself. I prefer to use 7-Zip for modifying the XAP files, as it handles the path traversal nicely.

@GoodDayToDie: I'm in Seatte, too. The first day when I carrier unlocked my Focus and put in T-mobile SIM I saw the T-mobile My Account app on the Marketplace. However, after I reset the phone it's no longer there and I can't find it again. Can you post the appID for My Account app here? I want that app to check account status, etc.
Also, here is the app ID for Call Blocking version 1.8 from marketplace. I can't post direct link because of my poor post count. I just post this incase anyone wants to download it but can't find it in the marketplace. (I can see the app when the link is opened in my Focus but no option to install it "Not compatible with your phone..etc...")
Call Blocking version 1.8: appID=e23ef9a7-e785-4fc6-ab6c-500034b5226d

[Q] Is it possible to use MS.Internal somehow in a normal app?

Is it possible to somehow use classes from the MS.Internal namespace, things like MS.Internal.TextBoxView which is the type of a sub-object of the ContentControl of a textbox?
I mean use them in a "normal" app on a locked end-user phone, and getting away with it as far as certification is concerned so it can appear normally in the Marketplace?
The Visual Studio debugger is able to display information about such objects somehow, that's where I got the knowledge of the existence of this TextBoxView class in the first place, but of course that does not mean that a normal app can do likewise.
Googling for "WP7 reflection" showed me hits in other places like StackOverflow with info that probably this will just run into security exceptions anyway, because MS does not want devs to use "undocumented APIs", but I am curious whether somebody here has tried to "hack" this and can report first-hand.

rbrunner7 said:
Is it possible to somehow use classes from the MS.Internal namespace, things like MS.Internal.TextBoxView which is the type of a sub-object of the ContentControl of a textbox?
I mean use them in a "normal" app on a locked end-user phone, and getting away with it as far as certification is concerned so it can appear normally in the Marketplace?
The Visual Studio debugger is able to display information about such objects somehow, that's where I got the knowledge of the existence of this TextBoxView class in the first place, but of course that does not mean that a normal app can do likewise.
Googling for "WP7 reflection" showed me hits in other places like StackOverflow with info that probably this will just run into security exceptions anyway, because MS does not want devs to use "undocumented APIs", but I am curious whether somebody here has tried to "hack" this and can report first-hand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I highly doubt.. more towards no for this. Microsoft pretty much will deny anything in the low level APIs from being accepted in the Marketplace. A way to check this is to use the Marketplace Test Kit in VS 2010 (Project -> Open Marketplace Test Kit). It will tell you if something you're using will fail as it does the same type of quick test that happens when you upload a XAP for submission.