Go Get it!

SCH-i760 WM6.1 update

Update for the i760?

Just read in pdaphonehome forum that a samsung tech has said mid-March will see a patch for the i760. There have been some BT issues. Hope it's true

Mini review part 4

Well I thought I should post an update on my sch-i760 (Which I lovingly refer to as Boris).

So far I have had no problems with it. I wish I could sit here and list all the tweaks I have done, but I haven't really done any. Its been running perfectly. Here is a list of programs I run on it:
Pocketmax PhoneAlarm _
This is a program I cannot live without. It is the ultimate ppc profile and recurring alarm program. I have the full version installed. It takes some patience to setup. Once its all set it works like a charm. It switches my profiles at night, on Sundays, and when I have appointments. If you use this, I highly recommend you check every month or so at the support forum. Bruce from Pocketmax makes frequent upgrades to the program.
Lakeridge Software WisBar Lite
This is a really nice task manager and true close app.
Microsoft Office OneNote Mobile
Honestly I have not used this program. I got a free copy of One Note for Tabby so I loaded the mobile version. I use the decant Notes program and save them to my storage card. Since I started using Exchange Server I do not sync to my comp. So there is no need for are to even try this. I just included it because it is loaded.
Spb Time
I have my cradle on my nightstand, so my "night profile" on phonealarm sets screen brightness to the lowest setting and I use Spb time as my bedside clock & alarm. It creates a full screen analog clock.
MRailing's Short Date-Time
This great little program replaces the battery icon at the top with the date and time. Great way to conserve screen real estate. It was created by one of gadget people I admire most.
SBSH.net PocketBreeze
this keeps my appointments and tasks all neat and tidy on screen.

Not a lot of progs compared to some, but I am a pretty simplistic guy.

I have been keeping the phone in my pocket and at this point don't think I will be getting any find of case. This is so much smaller than any other pda I have used. when I got my i730 2 years ago I bought approx 6 different cases. It just doesn't seem necessary this time.

I reported before about the top and bottom of the phone being rubbery. Let me correct myself on that. It is actually a thin rubber coating almost like rubber paint. It is very slightly chipping off by where the charger plugs in. Also the cap for the charger plug has not broken off. I thought it would by now.

There are a few things Id like to see the hackers work on, mainly front key functions. I'd love to see T-9 input for the keypad when you are typing SMS with the slider closed. Also I'd like to be able to use the directional pad for calculator functions rather than the touchscreen. So it works like the calculator on a smart phone.

You will notice I do not have any over clock programs loaded. I personally don't think its necessary. The only time I notice a hangup is when I am sending or receiving a big email.

Well I don't have too much more to say about it. I rate it a 9.8 Superdave has taken his 760 apart already!! So I predict we will see some cool mods in the upcoming months. If you need a solid Verizon pda/phone or want to switch to Verizon this is the must-have gadget right now.

Let the tweaking begin

Well tomorrow is the official release date for the i760. My work here is largely at an end for talking about the device. Now that superdave and mrailing will be receiving their phones this weekend, pdaphonehome.com will be the place to be to get your tweak on!! Michael sets up a great FAQ that will answer all of your questions. Sure I will still post some about this great phone possibly even a Mini-review Part 4, but I have new gadgets I am longing for, namely a Fujitsu Lifebook I am eyeing and the new tablet from Nokia with built-in GPS

Mini-review Part 3 Accelerated Gravity Test

Well tonight I dropped the phone.





OK I threw the phone onto the floor........hard.

A certain person who never answers their cell phone, a phone that I pay the monthly charges for, did not answer their phone again for the 2000th time today. Today was not a good day to not answer your phone if I am calling. I am still 3 hours behind on sleep and meal times from being in Vegas for 6 days. When I mean throw I mean like a pro ball player spiking a football. The floor was carpeted and it landed flat on its back. I didn't even need to soft reset it.

I have noticed one problem. Sometimes the hardware buttons will not respond after sending a email or text message. The screen responds but not the buttons. Sometimes it will start to work again and other times I have to soft reset. I actually think that this is a problem with PhoneAlarm. I am gonna hard reset the phone and run it without for a day or so. I am not sure if I can run it without PA but I will try.

Mini-review Part 2

How's this for a verdict on the battery life:

The Extended Battery exceeded my expectations.
The Standard Battery was below my expectations.

Frankly the above statements surprised me. Before I go on please remember that this is anecdotal.

Friday I unplugged Boris at 6:00am. Made approx 60 mins of phone calls, ran push email, did approx. one hour of web surfing (which is unusual for me), received 8-10 text messages and from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm the phone was inside a building switching back and forth from coverage to no coverage. I plugged him back in the charger at 11:00 pm that night and the battery had 25% charge left. I bet you can guess I was using the extended battery.

Sunday I took him out of the cradle at 6:30 am sat in the same building from 9:00 am to 1:30 pm ran push email made 15 mins of phone calls and ran BT tethering with my nokia for approx 80 mins and battery was at 20% at 4:30 today. That was using the "sub"standard battery. Yesterday was no better. If I had a busy day at the funeral home with tethering and phone calls I'm sure it wouldn't last til noon. I guess I thought I would be able to get it to 5:00pm with 20% left to the battery on 70% of the days I would use it.

Well at least the extended battery is so slim. I am definitely ordering another one. If you do any amount of BT use or heavy data, just plan on using the extended battery.

I have also used the holster for a couple days following my repair. I know many of you wouldn't have done what I did but A:It's my money and B:I wanted a clip holster and since so many have been reported to break, an exchange was out of the question. The holster is a "face out" style and so is worthless for anything other than very light "suit and tie" use as I call it. I am going to use it this week when I go to the mall to show off to the kiosk cell phone workers ;)

The cradle is nice to use. I really like that you can rotate it to landscape. It's a definite improvement over the 730 holster. My only gripe is that you can't use the side "ok" button and the volume button is partially obscured. This can be solved by simply opening the slider and using the phone in landscape mode while in the cradle. You can remove the stylus.

I have hard reset Boris twice. The first time was because I loaded up too much crap I was testing. It was totally my fault. The second time was to benchmark test. I wanted a fresh unit. I another upcoming entry I will talk about how to set your device up and what I do when I need to hard reset.

I am getting ready for a trip to Las Vegas on Saturday so My main objective is to get all my gadgets organized and ready to pack for the trip. I think a new laptop bag purchase is in order. It really isn't made for all the cords and cables I bring. I also wanna try not bringing my ipod this time and load all my tunes onto a micro sd to use in Boris. The last few devices I have had I basically just had the same setup as I did when I used the i730 daily. I really wanna try pushing the envelope this time around when it comes to getting the most out of this.

I think I should be a hand model

Ok you asked for it, you got it. Here's a close up hands-on video of the i760.

I promise I am going to sleep now

Yes it's late, yes I haven't shaved and yes my son took this picture. He has the flu bug and can't sleep so I recruited him to take a pic when I realized something. When the phone is in landscape mode the side buttons (start and ok) are very handy to use. Check out my index finger placement. Right on top of those buttons. I ditched AE Button Plus for the time being. I am trying to run Boris as stock as possible but I just can't work without Pocket Breeze and Phone Alarm. Ok bedtime.

Sammy and Nikita??

Well Nikita was as close as I could come to Nokia. Nikita is a foreign name and it runs on linux which is "foreign" to me. Actually I don't like Sammy so I want a different name for him...
OH WAIT
Boris and Natasha!!!
Sweet.

OK heres what I promised. I'm not the best at direction writing.
If you've never seen a Nokia 770 Internet Tablet Click here. I got mine on woot! for 135.00. I was looking at the n800 but this was too sweet a deal to pass up.

1. So you get Natasha to her control panel and click on Phone and then click on New. She's nice because you do not have to manually turn on her BT. She automatically starts looking for devices around her.
2. Turn on Boris's BT and set to "Make this device visible...".
3. Natasha will find Boris and give you a four number passcode. Select ok and wait for Boris to ask for the passcode.
4. Once they pair Natasha will tell you that Boris does not support File Transfer and will only support Dial-Up Networking, click ok.
5. Boris will pair but will not show any services available. THAT IS OK. Just click save.
6. Now go to post 39 in this thread and download the zip file. Take the .exe file thats in the folder and place it in Boris wherever you want. When you click on it a pop up window will tell you that Bluetooth modem services have started.
7. Now in Natasha's control panel select "Connectivity" then Connections then New then Next.
8. Name the connection whatever you want and make sure you select "Packet Data". Click Next
9. Select CDMA Network then click OK
10. The dialup number should already be there (#777) Username is yourtendigitnumber@vzw3g.com Password is vzw. Click OK.
11. You will be back at the Connectivity Menu. Where it says "Connect without asking" I have it set to "Phone Connection" I never use wifi. Click on the tab marked "Idle Times" and make sure the "Packet Data Idle Time" is set to unlimited.
12. You should still have Boris's BT turned on and the bt-modem prog on. The last thing you gotta do is if you use Exchange Server set it to manual and then disconnect the data session. I haven't found an easy way to do this except through using a special profile in Phone Alarm (thats a profile setting program I use). It will set my Active Synch to Manual and automatically turn on btmodem but I still have to end the data session. I need more expertise to make that part easier. Hopefully when it's officially released someone will be able to improve on that. btmodem is an old prog from the i730.
13. OK open a webpage on Natasha and you should see a little phone in the upper corner blinking for a few seconds, Boris' screen will light up, and then Natasha will tell you she is connected.

Oh, here's a pic to show you the happy couple. The first one is Natasha with her metal cover on. I can actually carry her in my pocket and not realize she's there. Even with the metal cover she is still a skosh thinner than Boris. I had been using her for websurfing and rss feeds, but she can do so much more that I haven't even looked at yet. I can also pair her with my BT keyboard so now that she is tethered too I have all the makings of a very mobile office! Who doesn't like a thin versatile woman with an exotic name!

My rating just went up to an 8

In a meeting til 3 but wanted to share that I got my nokia tablet tethered to sammy early this morning. Will post directions later today. Guess I will have to name the nokia now. Maybe since sammy is a boy the nokia will be a girl. :)

Thank you all!

Holy feedburner Batman! My subscribers tripled in the last couple days! (No Floydwing, this doesn't mean I have three subscribers...including me.). I just want to welcome everyone and I gotta give some thanks (mad props yo!) to the following super-cool websites that linked my mini-review:
Gear Diary
Pocket PC Thoughts
Also if you want the real skinny on the sch-i760 head over to pdaphonehome.com. Most of what I post here will be there also. Just that here, all of my thoughts are in one place. I can guarantee I will be ordering mucho accessories for this baby once it's released officially so there's lots of fun ahead.

Full Benchmark tests

Autoatep was running at 520.

First drop

Well it was bound to happen sooner or later. Sammy took a two foot drop off the bathroom sink and bounced off the wood trim mopboard. Yep he bounced, the bottom has the same hard rubber as the top does. Not a scratch. Need to order some egrips this weekend.

Nice Cradle, suckey holster

This holster actually showed up broke!! I ran out to the garage and took the clip off an old Krusell clip. If you do this DO NOT use the pin that came with the holster. It is so cheap you can actually bend it using the powers of your mind.

The cradle on the other hand kicks butt!


I don't know what these people think. They don't include a cradle with the phone and then don't include a way to charge the phone with the cradle. It only comes with the sync cable which only plugs into the cradle. They make something nice and then just fall short to make it a total quality package.

NOTE: The sync cable that goes from the cradle to the computer appears to be the same as the one that was used with the i730.

Comparison of Autostep use for i760

Speed tests

Got a copy of SPB Benchmark. Many thanks to SPB Software. One of you asked for some speed comparisons to the 730. They were pretty predictable.

I ran two tests with my 730 and 760 both hard reset. Yes, I hard reset my 760.

Keep in mind I have never done this before. I ran two tests. Some kind of CPU speed test and a test to see how fast they could copy a 1mb file

WOOHOO I uploaded a video!

Finally got a video uploaded. Those of you who have been waiting weeks to see me drag race my truck....maybe today you will.
This is a video I took with the i760. Its pretty bad.

Nice case

Dug this out of storage (pile behind my recliner). I bought it early this year for an old ipaq rx series. It fits perfectly for sammy. Even with the Extended Battery!!! Has two slots inside case for memory cards and a magnetic closure. It's got a fixed belt clip on the back. Don't remember if it is real leather or not. Got it from Pocket Solutions.
UPDATE: I have been playing with the case and the magnetic closure turns the screen on and sometimes sets it to landscape mode briefly when inserting or removing the phone. I have heard about this with some phones but never seen it before.

Autostep

Tweaks are meant to either make things easier for you or faster. On my ole i730 I ran a program called Autostep. It was created by the legendary superdave. It made the ppc run at a certain rate of processor speed all the time. It's simple and worked great. Well tonight I thought, what the hell lets load it up and see what happens. Sure enough other than one small glitch new sammy i running much faster. I spose I should get SPB Benchmark or something to validate the results, but it sure seems faster.

The glitch is that on new sammy there is no Autostep icon at the bottom of the screen. You have to go to File Explorer/Windows/StartUp and the click on AutoStep to set the speed then select Minimize.


If you want a copy of AutoStep just click here. I have used it on all my WM5 devices.

Accessories

Should have the Car Charger, Cradle and Holster tomorrow. Will have pics here when they arrive.