It's been a while... time for a bump. I just love this layout and haven't had any desire to try to improve on it.

hehe... crazy frog didn't last too long on my phone...

my current:

I've had my share of cell phones and Pocket PCs and handheld PCs (including the NEC MobilePro 780) I choose the Audivox SMT-5600 smartphone. Here's why:

My Review of SMT-5600 on Modaco

It seems like the older I get, the larger gadgets seem. When notebooks were released, laptops suddenly seemed huge. Pocket PCs made notebooks seem unwieldly. Well, the worm has turned again and with the advent of Windows Mobile-based Smartphones, Pocket PCs now have "brick-like" tendencies.

My latest gadget (an Audiovox SMT-5600 smartphone) was the only electronic device that I took with me on my latest cross-country trip back to NY. As a veteran "mobile warrior", I previously used notebook PCs, and Pocket PCs, plus a cell phone for all of my electronic needs. But this was the first time that I used a single device for EVERYTHING.

My travel pack consisted of my phone, AC adapter, extra battery, both T-Mobile contract and prepaid SIMs, a 512MB miniSD card, Freedom BT folding keyboard, 3/32-to-1/8 stereo adapter cable, and standard "hands-free" headphone/mic.

I loaded up my 512MB miniSD card with: Ocean's 11 movie, Meatballs movie, a few hours of music (Santana, Malo, and UltraLounge), some electronic Bibles, a few games, Pocket Streets Maps, and various notes.

When I boarded the plane for the flight to NY, I put the phone in "Flight Mode" (turns off the cell service portion of the phone) and fired up Meatballs. It was a fun way to kill 90 minutes of the 6+ hour flight. When the movie was finished, I fired up some music and jotted notes on a yellow pad for the upcoming singles character study. Took a break from studying to play a few games of chess on the phone (the computer opponent kicked my butt) while music played in the background. After that, I loaded up the UltraLounge playlist and tried to catch a few winks.

I had a stop-over in Detroit, so I took the phone out of "Flight mode" and did a little web surfing... catching up the news, latest articles on Slashdot, etc. Eventually I made it to NY. Checked the battery level remaining... 80%!

While in NY, I visited with my parents and my brother and his family. I had some music that I wanted them to hear, so I attached the 3/32-to-1/8 stereo adapter to the phone and connected it to the audio inputs on my parent's VCR (yeah I know, but they don't have a stereo system). Music playback from the phone thru the VCR to the TV was surprisingly good. My parents were amazed by the capabilities of this phone.



At night we'd watch the NBA playoff games, and I'd place my keyboard and phone on a folding tray table. I'd do a little nighttime surfing and email reading, as well as use Agile Messenger to IM my wife. Other days, I'd type up my notes for my study.

On the trip back, I watched Ocean's 11 and did more studying.
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I have a T-Mobile contract plan ($19.99 a month) plus their $4.99 T-Zones plan. (I need the $4.99 T-Zones plan for internet access). Unfortunately, it only comes with 60 anytime minutes, and since they charge $.45 a minute after that, I have a T-Mobile to Go prepaid SIM. That only costs $0.10 a minute. So when I run out contract minutes, I swap SIMs and use prepaid minutes.

It cannot be overemphasized how useful it is to have an integrated device that does so much. This phone is a lite-PPC, videocamera, digicam, MP3/WMA player, portable movie player, games, ebooks, notetaker, and PIM. Having Pocket IE with built-in connectivity is more useful than I initially thought. Although I had a 2nd battery, I never needed it. Unlike a PocketPC which will drain completely after 3-4 hours of hard use, this phone was very miserly with battery consumption. No matter how much I used it, there was still plenty of battery life.

Using this smartphone as my only device for a weeklong trip has exceeded my expectations. I was pleasantly surprised at just how much I was able to accomplish with this phone.

My only complaints are that Pocket IE is still as limited as its PPC cousin, and there is no general provision for landscape mode on the phone. Except for those two issues (which are not unique to smartphones, I had to deal with the same issues with a PPC) this has been by far my best experience with mobile devices.

Audiovox SMT-5600 Final Grade: 9/10
T-Mobile, T-Zones, TMO-2-Go final Grade: 9/10

During my last trip, I anticipated a potential problem using my SMT-5600 in Flight Mode. So I started out watching a movie on it in landscape mode, gripping the phone like a bicycle handlebar concealing the keypad. It looked like a portable video player with a funky handgrip. After that, I used it with my folding BT keyboard... and after that, slipped it in my shirt pocket to listen to music.

Bottom line... to reduce/eliminate hassles, don't make the phone look like a phone.

MS Software works great. The only thing that DOESN'T work for WM2003 devices is the ability to send the theme to the phone. But you can manually transfer the .hme to your phone. But I only use the MS Theme Generator to quickly get the colors in the general tones.

As for demos or tutorials, there are far better qualified people to do that. The screens that I design are boring and utilitarian... it would be better if any of the others who create attractive and interesting homescreens provided such a tutorial.

Here's a few of mine that I rotate:

I no longer "rip" my DVDs, but "capture" them. Using my TV tuner card (in my notebook's docking station) I hook up a DVD player to it, and on-the-fly capture the film using Windows Media Encoder directly to a wmv file formatted specifically for my SMT-5600 smartphone. My videos weigh in at about 80MB for each hour. So a 90 minute film is about 120MB.

Here's a few screenshots of playback:


The nice thing is that capture time is the length of the film itself, and audio/video sync is always perfect.

Absolutely. The C500/SMT-5600 is virtually perfection. Video, music, ebooks, PIM, email, IM, web browsing via PIE or Opera, Bible Reader, notetaker, games... everything that I need in a PDA, phone, portable media player... all in one device for the price of one.

With a 512MB mini-SD card, external battery extender, folding BT keyboard, and headphone adapter cable I can do everything with this phone that I needed to do with my iPAQ 2215 Pocket PC...including word processing... sweet.

When I first bought my iPAQ, it replaced my notebook PC on trips. Now my phone has replaced my PPC on trips. Technology is amazing.

Here's my current favorite:

I don't remember what I installed to get that option, maybe it is TUGZip

I open the My Documents -> My Device Themes folder, right-mouse-button click on the .hme and select "EXTRACT". A new folder will be created (with the name of the .hme file) and in the folder will be the .jpg used for the background and the .scheme.xml file.

Yes. The best and free way to design homescreens is to learn the XML.

First, I design the graphics for the background. Figure out where I want things to be. Then when I get the image the way I like it, I use MS' SmartPhone Theme Generator freeware to design the color scheme that is compatible with the background graphic I just created.

I unpack the .hme file and extract the .scheme.xml. I then cut-n-paste that < scheme > ... < /scheme > section from the .scheme.xml and paste it into my homescreen .home.xml file.

I then tweak the .home.xml to select the plug-ins and specify placement.

By embedding the scheme definition and specifying the default background image in the .home.xml, it's a simply matter of copying the .jpg and .xml to the device. And if "DEFAULT" is selected for color scheme and background image, then changing homescreens is a simple matter of selecting the homescreen itself. (everything else changes automatically)

Yep... one and the same.

Okay... I ended up abandoning the OSX-inspired homescreen. Too boring.

Here is a new layout with interchangeable backgrounds:
(uses RJShortcuts and SmartMonitor)

I'm using the BT Freedom folding keyboard. It's not IR, but Bluetooth. The driver is slightly flakey, but not enough to impact usability. It provides all of the necessary keys to fully control the phone via the keyboard (unlike keyboards for the PPC that would often times require touching the screen)

I really like it.

Nice images, but they contrast needs to be turned down for them to be great homescreen backgrounds.

The crosshair cursor is nice, but not at the expense of screen real estate, IMO.

Here's my latest using SmartMonitor and RJShortcuts.

Examining the .xml, yes it appears so. It is the use of a "button-image" with transparency that gives it a unique look with the crosshairs.

I've been digging around the home.xml files and experimenting with some of undocumented keywords and values. Here's my work so far. Eventually it will include support for more plug-ins, custom icons, and other screens.



Here it is tweaked for use with SmartMonitor:

I got my 5600 unlocked using Florin's site. He's the man! Super fast service, decent price.... well worth the cost.

Ruttensoft's Homescreen Designer is okay, but I think that it is geared more toward the C500 than the SMT-5600 or other smartphones. I can't get it to configure the standard plug-ins so that they appear the same as they do in the default screens.

I prefer to use a good text or HTML or XML editor and manually created my homescreens. I use Microsoft's Theme Generator Smartphone freeware to design color schemes. I then cut-n-paste the resulting XML into my homegrown homescreen XML.

It is probably an issue with how the video was encoded. I encode my WMV videos to 220 x 176 which is fullscreen landscape and it fills the entire screen. However, if I encode a widescreen movie, I'll get letterboxing on top and bottom. That's normal.

WMP10 works great on the vox SMT-5600. BetaPlayer is everyone's darling, but I prefer to use WMP.

This site works for me and seems to have (at least) the major lottery systems:

http://www.allwinners.com/illatest.php

It really depends upon your needs. I've had Pocket PCs for over 4 years and I just sold my latest (iPAQ 2215) and bought an Audiovox SMT-5600 Smartphone.

It does everything that I needed in a PPC... wma/mp3 playback, wmv video playback, Bible Reader, Maps, notetaking, calendar, contacts, and more. It has the added benefits of being a single device (rather than carry two)... and because they are "merged devices" I can surf using Pocket IE. The Bluetooth folding keyboard makes it very convenient for use as a PDA.

I got tired babysitting multiple devices, charging them, customizing them... and grabbing them when I walk out the door. I've been extremely pleased with the smartphone. Granted it has only been a little over 2 weeks, but I have enough experience with gadgets that the rosey-glow of a new device wears off pretty quickly.