221 replies to this topic

[PaulOBrien]

I like my Shift. It has some obvious failings (such as the pretty horrible battery life) and also the 'crippled' Snapvue, which is really a locked down Windows Mobile 6 with bits removed. Wouldn't it be great if you could Liberate SnapVue by making it full WinMo 6, and then installing as normal? Wouldn't it be great if this was made really easy? Wouldn't it be great perhaps if the process was demo'd on video? Wouldn't it be great if the software you really wanted was bundled up into easy to use 'packs'? /me takes a bow

Introducing... SHIFTpack.Liberate and SHIFTpacks!

Let me explain

SHIFTpack.Liberate is the first step on the road to liberating your Shift. It's super easy to use, very small, and demonstrated in the video below. It restores your Start Menu, restores CAB assocations to let you install stuff, lets you soft reset without needing Vista and gives you a utility that lets you hook up the WinMo side to the Vista (WMDC) side of your Shift. You'll see the full process in the video and detailed below, but it goes like this...

• Ensure you have access to an email account on Snapvue
  
• Enter your e-mail address in the form below, to send the all important SHIFTpack.Liberate files to your device
  
• Save files in the relevant locations (some trickery here)
  
• Click the Liberate icon in Settings
  
• Click the Soft Reset icon in Settings
  
• Enjoy WinMo 6 goodness
  

Once this is done, you can then use our SHIFTpacks either in CAB form on the WinMo side or (even better) in EXE form from Vista (as demo'd in the video) to restore missing functionality. We will be adding a whole bunch of SHIFTpacks over the next few days, so keep checking back!

At this point, watch the video above!

So you like what you see and you want to get started? Excellent! There are TWO posts below (News page readers, click 'View Topic'). The first is dedicated to using SHIFTpack.Liberate to liberate your device, the second contains additional SHIFTpacks for extra functionality (such as Pocket IE in the video) and will be continually updated as we create new packs.

Read on!

[PaulOBrien]

The step by step guide to using SHIFTpack.Liberate

• First you need to send to your device with those files we mentioned. Either input your email address below...
  
  
  • E-Mail Address for SHIFTpack.Liberate files:
    
    
  or click these links to send them to yourself the hard way!
  
  
  • LNK file
    
  • CAB file
    
  Make sure you have these sitting in your inbox, downloaded and ready to be saved.
  
• We're going to save one of these files in the 'Settings' directory that appears when you hit 'Settings' on the homescreen, so we need to do some cheeky stuff to get access to that. So...
  
  
  • Start a new mail
    
  • Select 'Insert Picture'
    
  • Browse to \Windows
    
  • With the keyboard, navigate so 'Settings' is highlighted, and hit CTRL-X. The folder icon will go a lighter colour.
    
  • Now navigate to \My Documents, and hit CTRL-V. Settings will appear.
    
  • Select 'Cancel Message' to close that new message.
    
  
  
• We're now ready to save the files. Firstly, press and hold on the CAB file, Select 'Save As' and save in the default location. Next press and hold on the .lnk file, select 'Save As' but this time drop down the 'Folder' box and select 'Settings'.
  
• We're now ready to put that settings menu back where it should be.
  
  
  • Start a new mail
    
  • Select 'Insert Picture'
    
  • Browse to \My Documents
    
  • With the keyboard, navigate so 'Settings' is highlighted, and hit CTRL-X. The folder icon will go a lighter colour.
    
  • Now navigate to \Windows, and hit CTRL-V. Settings will appear right down the bottom of the list.
    
  • Select 'Cancel Message' to close that new message.
    
  
  
• Good stuff, we're now ready to actually carry out the Liberation From the home screen, select Settings as normal, and you'll see a new option - 'Liberate'! Select it, say yes to the prompt, and let it finish. Then close the Settings page and reopen it before hitting the 'Soft Reset' item that has now appeared (you'll notice 'Liberate' has now disappeared from here!).
  
• The device reboots, and it is liberated! Hurrah! You can use the 'USB Tool' option that is now in Settings to hook up to Vista (as in the video) and do all the normal stuff you'd expect to do with Windows Mobile!
  

[PaulOBrien]

Additional SHIFTpacks

• Notes - EXE download (for use via Vista) or CAB download (for use in WinMo directly)
  
• Office Mobile 6.1 - EXE download (for use via Vista) or CAB download (for use in WinMo directly)
  
• Phone Pad - EXE download (for use via Vista) or CAB download (for use in WinMo directly)
  
• Pictures & Videos - EXE download (for use via Vista) or CAB download (for use in WinMo directly)
  
• Pocket Internet Explorer - EXE download (for use via Vista) or CAB download (for use in WinMo directly)
  
• Remote Desktop Mobile - EXE download (for use via Vista) or CAB download (for use in WinMo directly)
  
• Restore 'Today' Items - EXE download (for use via Vista) or CAB download (for use in WinMo directly)
  
• Windows Media Player - EXE download (for use via Vista) or CAB download (for use in WinMo directly)

[greeny]

Hi i'm very impressed about this work - gratulation

I recieve my shift in the middle of april. it would be a german version. does yoou know if your package also work on a german version of shift?

regards

greeny

[Menneisyys]

Wowz! Great work! Will cross-post a generic annoncement of it.

[PaulOBrien]

greeny, on Mar 19 2008, 09:35, said:

Hi i'm very impressed about this work - gratulation

I recieve my shift in the middle of april. it would be a german version. does yoou know if your package also work on a german version of shift?

regards

greeny

Should work fine!

P

[PaulOBrien]

Menneisyys, on Mar 19 2008, 09:49, said:

Wowz! Great work! Will cross-post a generic annoncement of it.

Thanks

P

[REem]

Does the phonepad actually add the functionality to make voice calls (over gsm) with the shift and not only just data use ? Otherwise there isn't a reason to add the dailpad ?

[PaulOBrien]

No, phone pad is a text input method. Nothing actually to do with phone calls, it gives you predictive text like a normal phone dial pad.

P

[randomelements]

Paul,

The guys over at GottaBeMobile.com have come up with an interesting point: do SHIFTpacks infringe upon any licensing agreements (i.e. is the Shift licensed for full WinMob 6)?

Now I know most people aren't really that worried when we hack our devices to bits (especially with the stuff we get from XDA-devs) but it's worth considering.

I don't know if you've checked this out at all - the GBM guys are apparently asking MS.

That aside, this is a great piece of work and may encourage some to shell out where perhaps they wouldn't have considered it with the Shift in it's normal "crippled" state. It will be intersting to see if there is any impact on sales. I still, however, think the device is overpriced and will need a price reduction before it really takes off.

Colin.

[PaulOBrien]

Interesting piece on the sales aspect! I think you're also part of a majority who feel the Shift is overpriced, at least at current specs. Bump the battery life and put an atom proc in there (or a core solo?) and i'd be happier with the cost.

P

[randomelements]

Paul (MVP), on Mar 19 2008, 15:36, said:

Interesting piece on the sales aspect! I think you're also part of a majority who feel the Shift is overpriced, at least at current specs. Bump the battery life and put an atom proc in there (or a core solo?) and i'd be happier with the cost.

P

Still, the atom's aren't all they're cracked up to be are they (at least not from the performance side of things). I would expect at least 3 hours from a device such as this but obviously the more the merrier.

[Dade]

Nice one Paul. Question though - is there a way to hard reset the WM6 side of the SHIFT and if so does the liberation survive?

Dade

[PaulOBrien]

You can hard reset from the settings menu, but no, the liberation doesn't survive.

P

[randomelements]

Paul (MVP), on Mar 19 2008, 16:03, said:

You can hard reset from the settings menu, but no, the liberation doesn't survive.

P

Makes sense as you are not overwriting anything in ROM. You would need to create a new ROM which included the liberate files and flash that.

[Dade]

Paul (MVP), on Mar 19 2008, 17:03, said:

You can hard reset from the settings menu, but no, the liberation doesn't survive.

P

Guessed that was the case but thought I'd ask a leading question.

[PaulOBrien]

Added Office Mobile 6.1 and Notes SHIFTpacks.

P

[Zeke_NL]

Hey Paul,

Great work, my Shift is running the stuf you created and is running perfect now.
I would like to download the latest 2 ads but thats not working, cant download the files.

It gives this message:

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /shiftpack/SHIFTpack.OfficeMobile61.CAB on this server.


Regards,

Bert

Edited by Zeke_NL, 19 March 2008 - 07:00 PM.

[Jack5225]

Hello,

I tried to "liberate my shift" using the method outlined. I followed it and received the liberate command in the settings menu. But when I click on it, it begins and then says "Installatino of Shiftpack.liberate.cab was unsuccessful".

Please let me know if there is something else I need to do. Thanks.

[PaulOBrien]

Zeke_NL, on Mar 19 2008, 18:57, said:

Hey Paul,

Great work, my Shift is running the stuf you created and is running perfect now.
I would like to download the latest 2 ads but thats not working, cant download the files.

It gives this message:

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /shiftpack/SHIFTpack.OfficeMobile61.CAB on this server.
Regards,

Bert

Fixed!

P