Everlink Upgrade Tips

[David McNamee]

This is the text of a newsgroup posting by Microsoft's James Pratt. James worked with Everlink to get the Smartphone 2003 code drop out the door. Read on for some tips from the source:


"Hello all

I noticed that a number of you have upgraded your SC1100s from the dev kit using the upgrade that was launched this weekend. I worked with Everlink
to help them get the pieces in place in order to make this upgrade available so I'm going to try to answer some of the questions that you have. It's important to remember that the SC1100 is advertised and sold by Everlink
as a _developer_ phone. We do not recommend that you use it as your primary handset.

Q : I'm having difficulty upgrading my phone. What can I do?
A : First, I'd recommend you follow the instructions "SC110 Smartphone 2003 upgrade instructions3.doc" from Everlink's ftp site. These instructions have been tested and have provided us many trouble free upgrades. Read these instructions carefully BEFORE you begin the upgrade. Also ensure that you have upgraded your Smartphone to the 02 1055 ROM image before upgrading to 03.

If there's anyone at PDC this week with their SC1100 I *may* be able to arrange to upgrade your device on site. Please let me know if there's any interest and I'll attempt to put something together.

If you're concerned about upgrading the phone yourself, Everlink will shortly be launching an upgrade service where you can send your phone in for upgrade and they'll upgrade and return it for you.

Q: How do I access T9 on an upgraded phone?
A: The build of Windows Mobile 2003 software for Smartphone distributed by Everlink for the SC1100 does not include the T9 IME. In order to keep the upgrade free and to ensure that it was delivered in a timely fashion we decided not to include it. The lack of T9 does not affect the ability to effectively develop applications for the device since the input method used to input information is transparent to the developer.

Q : ActiveSync is unstable after I upgraded my phone. What can I do?
A: This is a tricky one. My initial thought was to recommend an upgrade to ActiveSync as we've just launched ActiveSync 3.7.1. I notice that at least one person has experienced difficulty with 3.7.1. I would recommend that you install ActiveSync when you don't have anything running that might be using it. For example, a device connected or an eMbedded Visual C++ session open. To be ultra careful you might want to reboot your machine first, ensure there are no devices or sync cables attached to your PC then unintall ActiveSync. If you're feeling particularly fruity, you might then reboot again and install ActiveSync 3.7.1. I don't know if that will help but it should ensure the cleanest uninstall/reinstall.

In an ideal world, I'd recommend that you follow the instructions in the appendix of http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...mobileapps.asp These are the instructions we use internally to build developer machines and rarely have ActiveSync problems. This does involve stripping all the tools and ActiveSync from your machine and installing everything from scratch but provides the most stable ActiveSync and developer tool experience.

Please let me know if this helps resolve ActiveSync problems.


Please be patient with me this week as I'm at PDC and may be a little slow responding to any follow ups. I look forward to seeing the great .NET Compact Framework applications that are going to start appearing for Smartphone

Regards

--
James Pratt

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights."

[David McNamee]

This is the text of a newsgroup posting by Microsoft's James Pratt. James worked with Everlink to get the Smartphone 2003 code drop out the door. Read on for some tips from the source:


"Hello all

I noticed that a number of you have upgraded your SC1100s from the dev kit using the upgrade that was launched this weekend. I worked with Everlink
to help them get the pieces in place in order to make this upgrade available so I'm going to try to answer some of the questions that you have. It's important to remember that the SC1100 is advertised and sold by Everlink
as a _developer_ phone. We do not recommend that you use it as your primary handset.

Q : I'm having difficulty upgrading my phone. What can I do?
A : First, I'd recommend you follow the instructions "SC110 Smartphone 2003 upgrade instructions3.doc" from Everlink's ftp site. These instructions have been tested and have provided us many trouble free upgrades. Read these instructions carefully BEFORE you begin the upgrade. Also ensure that you have upgraded your Smartphone to the 02 1055 ROM image before upgrading to 03.

If there's anyone at PDC this week with their SC1100 I *may* be able to arrange to upgrade your device on site. Please let me know if there's any interest and I'll attempt to put something together.

If you're concerned about upgrading the phone yourself, Everlink will shortly be launching an upgrade service where you can send your phone in for upgrade and they'll upgrade and return it for you.

Q: How do I access T9 on an upgraded phone?
A: The build of Windows Mobile 2003 software for Smartphone distributed by Everlink for the SC1100 does not include the T9 IME. In order to keep the upgrade free and to ensure that it was delivered in a timely fashion we decided not to include it. The lack of T9 does not affect the ability to effectively develop applications for the device since the input method used to input information is transparent to the developer.

Q : ActiveSync is unstable after I upgraded my phone. What can I do?
A: This is a tricky one. My initial thought was to recommend an upgrade to ActiveSync as we've just launched ActiveSync 3.7.1. I notice that at least one person has experienced difficulty with 3.7.1. I would recommend that you install ActiveSync when you don't have anything running that might be using it. For example, a device connected or an eMbedded Visual C++ session open. To be ultra careful you might want to reboot your machine first, ensure there are no devices or sync cables attached to your PC then unintall ActiveSync. If you're feeling particularly fruity, you might then reboot again and install ActiveSync 3.7.1. I don't know if that will help but it should ensure the cleanest uninstall/reinstall.

In an ideal world, I'd recommend that you follow the instructions in the appendix of http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...mobileapps.asp These are the instructions we use internally to build developer machines and rarely have ActiveSync problems. This does involve stripping all the tools and ActiveSync from your machine and installing everything from scratch but provides the most stable ActiveSync and developer tool experience.

Please let me know if this helps resolve ActiveSync problems.


Please be patient with me this week as I'm at PDC and may be a little slow responding to any follow ups. I look forward to seeing the great .NET Compact Framework applications that are going to start appearing for Smartphone

Regards

--
James Pratt

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights."

[Wuss912]

has anyone figured out how to add t-9 into this?

[David McNamee]

Q: How do I access T9 on an upgraded phone?
A: The build of Windows Mobile 2003 software for Smartphone distributed by Everlink for the SC1100 does not include the T9 IME. In order to keep the upgrade free and to ensure that it was delivered in a timely fashion we decided not to include it. The lack of T9 does not affect the ability to effectively develop applications for the device since the input method used to input information is transparent to the developer.

[Wuss912]

Originally Posted by David McNamee

yeah but some of us like to USE our phones :roll:

[Ramin]

I agree... the exclusion of T9 functionality was simply inexcusable! :? What were they thinking??? 8O :?:

[Wuss912]

Originally Posted by Ramin

I agree... the exclusion of T9 functionality was simply inexcusable! :? What were they thinking??? 8O :?:

yeah they even managed to get it in the FREE smartphone 2003 emulator so why not in the dev version thats just plain silly

[Soyale]

As with any project there's a balance to be struck between cost, time and features. In this case T9 would have affected cost and time and so, in the interests of enabling the developer community as quickly as possible with an upgrade to this developer phone, T9 is not in the build.

Regards

[aussie]

From my understanding to add T9 to the rom would have cost money in the form of purchasing a license from the company that owns the technology.

My biggest concern with the build and the one that will stop me from upgrading is that I have heard that charging through the USB cable no longer works - my other charger crapped out long ago.

[Wuss912]

Originally Posted by aussie

My biggest concern with the build and the one that will stop me from upgrading is that I have heard that charging through the USB cable no longer works - my other charger crapped out long ago.

i had noticed that ...
will that be fixed?

[aussie]

James / Robert - has anyone been in touch with Everlink to determine if the USB charging issue is going to be fixed?

I would assume that this is an issue that needs to be resolved.

Please advise.

I can live without T9 (drag) but can't live much more than a day without being able to charge the phone.