Newbie questions regarding Touch Pro

[Guest jim76]

Hi all

Aplogies for the newbie post. I've had a trawl through the Rafael section and also on XDA-dev (a bit over my head some of their stuff!) but haven't really found a definitve answer to my queries.

I have just aquired an XDA Serra (touch Pro) in a good deal with some satnav software. I'm going to be using it on t-mobile with web n walk, mainly in the London area, UK.

I've read that the Serra has issues with GPS, although these are helped by the download of QuickGPS from O2. I just wondered if there are any other major gripes with the stock ROM? And also which is the widely accepted custom ROM to upgrade to and what benefits will it offer over the stock ROM?

Also on XDA-Dev they keep talking about changing the radio, what on earth is that about and what improvements will it make? Should you change the radio first or the ROM, does it matter?

I'll mainly use the phone for calls, text, email, web browsing and watching .Avi files (converted into the best format for the phone so they play properly!).

I'm aware of a utility to speed up the SD card performance to help transfer rates and video playback from SD card.

Are there any other tweaks i should be making that may not be covered in a decent custom ROM?

I have had various smart phones in the past (SPV incarnations on orange etc) but have never got involved in flashing the ROMs before so a little nervous! I keep seeing things like HardSPL mentioned. Is ther a complete idiots guide walkthrough somewhere as all the replies on XDA-dev are a little techie! This forum seems a little more plain English!

thanks in advance, sorry for the waffle!

[Guest UndeadDevil]

QuickGPS is a essential, Why o2 left it out of the default ROM is beyond me but it is included in almost all ROM's. You do however also need to upgrade the Radio ROM to improve GPS lock times as well though.

A simple guide for the Touch Pro Flashing is at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=416211 (HardSPL, Radio ROM, WM ROM), its a easy process and those instructions are simple to follow. (Hint: Click on Bible links for Image Step by Step Page)

watching .Avi files (converted into the best format for the phone so they play properly!).

Huh? Even my old HTC Hermes can play native MPEG-4 AVI at DVD Resolution perfectly... What player are you using as i've never once had a issue in CorePlayer.

Edit: Also check out the xda-dev Wiki, you'll learn more there than you would by reading the forum posts...

Edited February 27, 2009 by UndeadDevil

[Guest jim76]

thanks for the advice. Sory it took a while to get back to you, my internet at home has been playing up.

With regards the radio, is there a particular one you could recommend? Do certain ones give better reception in certain areas, or do they just improve the reception for all locations?

thanks

[Guest crazyc]

thanks for the advice. Sory it took a while to get back to you, my internet at home has been playing up.

With regards the radio, is there a particular one you could recommend? Do certain ones give better reception in certain areas, or do they just improve the reception for all locations?

thanks

You need to try them yourself. Major isues are some will have better reception for calls, some will have better battery life etc or vice versa. I tried a few a found a couple that ate my battery at around 10% per hour on 2G with no calls etc. Depends on your network. It has been a while and so I think I will go back and dabble with some of the latest radios soon.

With regards to ROMs, there are now some pretty fully custom roms that are excellent - give them a go. If you feel adventurous, the Windows 6.5 builds are now getting pretty useful so it seems.

I used Da_G's simple kitchen to build my own, combined with UC (search if you don't know what that is), and added a few packages /files from elsewhere. I dont really like/use Touchflo 3d tho. I use Phone Alarm combined with Touch Commander.

The GPS issue is just a slight lag, its still useable. trust me I use it a lot.

Edited March 3, 2009 by crazyc

[Guest crazyc]

Quick note re simple kitchens if you are interested:

Basically, the kitchen takes a rom file (.nbh) and breaks it down in about 4 or 5 steps into its constituent parts. there is then a tool made by the great Bepe which turns some of these into 'packages'.

you end up with a series of folders some of which contain packages (a package is a folder containing all the files and registery entries etc pertaining to a specific function or programme).

You can either delete packages, add packages, or change them.

Then you basically reverse the process from the start to combine everything back up into a rom.

(This is a very simplistic way of explaining it)

What Da_G and others helpfully do, is share the kitchen at the halfway stage. Hence with the simple kitchen, when you unzip the files, you will get a directory with everything you need already set up in packages etc. You run a piece of software that basically provides you with a list of packages, all with tick boxes. choose the options you want, hit Go and the rest of the process is fully automated and produces a final .nbh that can be flashed to your phone.

Adding packages in is easy, just drop them in the packages folder (making sure they have an option.xml) and they will apear in the list for you to choose.

This way, the rom already has some of Da_Gs tweaks that are a little more complex for the average noob like me.

This is the easiest way of 'cooking' although it is really reheating. I use the other full kitchen to break down other roms to get packages to insert into mine.

Some roms are protected and cannot be broken down in this way. There are plenty of chefs who continue to share however, with Da_G being excellent.

Just my thoughts in case they help.