hack

Looks like a good morning for Samsung users! Taking that diagnostic menu one step further has allowed folks to figure out how to tether their Samsung WP7 devices, in addition to (the less exciting) MAC ID address.

The hack is pretty straightforward, though it will hose your Zune-over-3G sync option (leaving Wi-Fi sync intact). Overall it sounds like a good solution, so long as you don't run over your cap (2GB for most on AT&T).

Registering may fail on the first attempt, but try a second time and it should succeed.

1. Open your phone and dial “##634#” then press call. You’ll go into the Diagnosis Menu (going forward this icon appears in your programs so you don’t need to dal that again). This is just a phone dialer with a little icon and note on top.
2. In diagnosis mode (phone dialer) dial “*#7284#” and a dialogue will pop up letting you change the settings from Zune to modem or “Modem, USB dialog.”. You want to go with “Modem, Tethered Call”. It will restart you phone after a few seconds. Once it restarts, connect to your PC over USB and drivers will be installed on your computer. Now go to your connections on your PC and you’ll see that a Samsung modem was added.
3. On your PC you need to change the setting for the Samsung modem. If you set it to prompt for user name you’ll be able to put in the login info. This is all it is:

number: *99***1#

user name: WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM

password: CINGULAR1

Source: Mobility Digest

While the Windows Phone Marketplace is available in many countries at launch--17 in all to be exact--last we checked the world is still a bit larger. If you're one of those with no access to the Marketplace, but are able to import an unlocked GSM device, then you may be interested in this ability to switch your Marketplace region documented by E's Phoneblog.

We'll post the directions after the jump--it's actually very simple to do and only has a few steps. But before we do this we should point out something:  This is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. So while this works, you can't undo it later, meaning that in the future you can't just easily "switch" to your country's Marketplace, not without having to create a whole new LIVE account. Caveat emptor.

Still, for those with no immediate prospects of a localized Marketplace (we feel for ya), this may be your best bet.

Back in the day, we had an app on Windows Mobile called CityID (Flashback: 2006!). It recently reared its dormant head on the Verizon Imagio (see full review). The app was basically an area code database that compared that was compared to an incoming phone call, resulting in a City, State caller ID.

Very useful stuff.

Turns out that many HTC devices, likewise, have a database that stores states, but not necessarily anything else. Saumaun, who is quite well known in various Windows Mobile communities, managed to whip up a detailed registry change to give us back that function. He basically included all the major metropolitan areas and referenced them via area codes, giving a pretty decent shot at city accuracy.

The best part of his "hack" is that there is no running programs or increased resources--it simply uses the device's registry to enhance caller ID. ROM chefs are encouraged to incorporate it into their builds and end-users can just download and install the simple and tiny .cab file, found in this thread.

Brilliant!

One neat feature found in the "Leo" TouchFLO aka Sense 2.5 is the ability to set the update frequency of the weather tab.

For folks using Sense 2.1 aka the "Weather clock" version, this option does not exist--you only have "update automatically" which seems to go about every 2-3 hours.

Seeing as Windows Mobile fans are united in their desire to tweak and set every feature on their Windows phone, it was no shock that people were clamoring "fix it, fix it, fix it, fix it!" (to quote  philosopher Philip J. Fry).

Well, it's been fixed. Seems XDA member Notaliberal found the registry entries that control the frequency:

Create this DWord entry in the following key:

• HKCU\Software\HTC\Manila\

• Dword Name:  Weather.AutoDownloadInterval

• DWord Value: 30 (Decimal)

Change the value to whatever time you want in minutes. Reboot. Voila!

And if you don't like trudging through your registry, here are some pre-set .cab files made by WarlockW to install at XDA or PPCGeeks. Just remember, this will have a negative effect on battery life!

Update: like a lot hacks, this sometimes works and sometimes doesn't . Seems it is depenedent on what software version you are running and other unidentified factors.  So while this works for many, for some it won't.

In the later "Leo" builds of HTC Sense (version 2.5) found on the HTC HD2, there are some neat advanced ringer functionality available under the Settings tab.

One of those is called "Be Polite" and in essence uses the built in accelerometer to detect when you are moving the phone to answer it.  In turn, since you are already on the way to answer or ignore the call, the device can significantly lower the ringer for you--hence the "Be Polite" part.

(By the way, Microsoft? You may want to start doing those sorts of things too--they are after all what makes smartphones "smart".)

Anywho, many of us don't like using Sense 2.5 because it was not build for the Touch Pro 2/Diamond 2, therefore does not do landscape and lags on our wee processors. However, Apristel has found that a lot of the Sense 2.1 builds in fact have "Be Polite" built in, but not activated. Installing his cab will un-hide this feature for you to use.

Now the catch: On some ROMs this works and on others it does nothing. So your mileage may vary.  Good luck!

Yesterday we warned about a possible threat to basic Windows Mobile security. Turns out things are pretty serious across most GSM-type phones. ZDNet breaks it down:

An attacker could exploit the hole to make calls, steal data, send text messages, and do more or less anything a person can do on their iPhone, researchers Charlie Miller and Collin Mulliner claimed at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas.

That's certainly not good. And it's not limited to just the iPhone.

Meanwhile, a bug in the code written by HTC that controls the user interface on Windows Mobile devices could also be exploited via the SMS messages to create a situation where there are no buttons to push, so the phone cannot be used, said Miller.

Yep, that's bad. The good news is that Miller and Mulliner say it would take a couple of weeks for someone to compile the code needed for such an attack, and they're working with carriers and manufacturers to patch the exploit.

So are we worried? Not too much. It sounds serious, certainly. But we're not going be pulling our batteries while we sleep. If it's that bad, the carriers and manufacturers will patch it.

We hope.

More at The iPhone Blog and Technologizer

Not one of the many who use Microsoft Exchange on your Windows Mobile phone? Totally understandable as it either costs hosting fees or requires you to work for a company with an Exchange server.

But if you're not using it, why can't you just delete "Outlook Email" from the email client, eh?  That sucker is just an empty void that you skip over to get to your real email accounts and alas, WM won't let you just delete it. Curses!

Have no fear, as it's all in the registry baby!  Diigibio at XDA documents how this is done, repeated below. Just use your favorite registry editor (or read our how-to) and navigate to this area:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Inbox\Svc\Activesync

Simply back up your device or that registry value and delete the \Activesync folder, followed by a soft reset.  Bam, no more "Outlook Email" folder to skip over.

Thanks, Scientific!

Update: Yeah, people are having, um, varying results with this one. Use at your own risk. And be sure to back up your phone first.

Here's a bonus tip of the week for you folks with TouchFlo 3D, courtesy of FuzeMobility [via].

There's no denying that TF3D is a sexy little UI, but it'd be nice if the e-mail preview envelope showed a little more text. And, as with all things HTC, the wizards at XDA Developers have found a hack. Here's what you'll need to do.

1. In the Windows directory on your phone, back up the following files. 77fb7fad_manila and 21449ae5_manila. We're going to overwrite these. While you're at it, go ahead and back up your phone. (But you already knew to do that, right?)
2. Head over to the XDA thread. You can either download the replacement files themselves, or a couple of handy on/off cabs.
3. Go to your today screen settings, and turn TouchFlo 3D off. Repeat: Off. Not on.
4. Either run the proper cab file, or copy over the new individual files into the Windows directory.
5. Turn TouchFlo 3D back on. You may need to soft-reset.

That's it. The envelope should now be behind the e-mail preview, allowing you to see more with a quick glance. Let us know in the comments how it worked for you.

Seems as if that popular tweaking app Schaps Advanced Configuration program and perhaps other GSM-based "tweak" apps (e.g. Diamond Tweak) might be causing a nasty side effect on CDMA (Sprint & Verizon) phones.

Problem: Ever had an incoming phone call and when you answered it lagged big time?

Turns out that this occurs when you have an active data connection.  In theory, the phone should immediately shut that connection and you should be able to answer the call instantly.  And it does...unless you inadvertently change some registry settings, specifically ones related to "force data disconnect".

Thanks to ppcgeeker snovvman, you can verify if you have the problem. Simply open up your favorite registry editor (see our great guide here) and look under:

--> HKLM/Comm/ConnMgr/Planner/Settings/SuspendResume

If that value reads ~GPRS, you have a problem;  Its should be set to #777 (a least for Sprint users).  While manually editing the registry is probably the best way, Juggalo_X created a .cab file which may work for some.  Remember to wait about 10 seconds and then soft-reset to take effect.

[Read more here]