Another 15 minutes

Ever since I noticed that TouchFlo 3D (also known as Manila) got updated on newer phones, but not on my HTC Touch HD, I have been thinking of doing it myself with one of the multiple custom ROMs available for this phone, made by enthusiasts of the Windows Mobile community. The newer versions of Manila has alot more nice functions and much better looks that I want, my phone comes with version 1.3 so it’s pretty basic. The procedure seemed a bit complicated though, and I didn’t want to risk my warranty on the phone. But after e-mailing HTC asking whether or not the HTC Touch HD (Blackstone) would ever get an upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.5 and newest version of Manila and they replied…

- We currently have no knowledge of any planned updates for the HD. It is unlikely to be updated to 6.5 or beyond as Microsoft have made some hardware restrictions on devices that can use 6.5 that the HD does not meet.

… I decided to go ahead with my plans, since I know that many people use Windows Mobile 6.5 and later versions of Manila on their Touch HD’s and it runs just fine. I’m gonna go for Dutty’s “Leo” ROM with Windows Mobile 6.5 and Manila 2.5, since Dutty seems to be the most popular and skilled ROM cook out there, and here’s a step-by-step guide on how I did it.

continue reading…

On April 7th HTC released a new ROM version for the HTC Touch HD for Europe (English (Pan Europe and UK), Italian, Dutch, French, Finnish, Portuguese, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish). The fixes are:

1. Updated the Connection Setup Database.
2. Improved emergency call connections while using Airplane Mode.
3. The GPS position updating speed has been enhanced.
4. A Title bar display flicker in TouchFLO 3D has been corrected.
5. Fixed multiple browsing issues.

I will try to backup all my data and then upgrade to this new 1.56.413.0 version, from the current 1.14.413.0 version and update this post with the results. I hope some bugs are fixed in the mp3-player also.

Update: I have now installed the update. The update itself with without problems, but I encountered several problems with this new ROM.

1. Memory card kept getting disconnected after scanning for music, and couldn’t be mounted again until a reboot. Memory card was not available and not found.
   
2. Phone hanged during media synchronization, had to remove the battery, I hope it was a one time deal.
3. WIFI was not available in the communication manager, worked after a hard reset.
4. Phone was very slow after Windows Update attempt, had to reboot.

I did a hard reset of the phone, clearing the memory and doing the first setup once again. I also deleted all my music from the memory card (deleted the Music folder) and transferred it again with Windows Media Player. For now it seems to be working, the memory card is still there.

The contacts synced with no problem, along with the contact images, but you have to re-create the favorite-list manually.

It’s a shame HTC have these difficulties with ROM updates and bugs, I never experienced this with Nokia phones. I hope this is working like it should now, and that the most annoying bugs of the previous version being fixed along with the improvements they listed. But so far I am not impressed, it took me several hours to get it working somewhat satisfactory.

Update #2: I’m glad to see that the annoying bug with the TouchFLO 3D music player not being able to scroll through large playlists is now fixed. And also there were no problems for me to sync my music with Windows Media Player, I didn’t even have to reboot for the playlist to update and all songs worked, at last!