total n00b to smartphones, just got a MPX200, some questions

[Guest Shirakani]

Hi to all, I'm in Australia, and just decided finally to upgrade from an old bomb of a phone to a more current one. The MPX200 is what i eventually decided on. From initial fiddling around, it looks very nice, and from browsing through the Games forum, looks like there's a lot that can be done, but i have some initial n00b 'lets get em outta teh way for total base understanding of what i'm on here' questions;

1) I bought the phone outright, no service, no plan, and mostly am going to use it on prepaid. No plans to use mobile internet as it costs way way too much. Would it be locked or cert'd to any carrier? I bought it from an independant shop.

2) What OS is the phone running on exactly? I've read things here and there about SPV, SmartPhone 2002, 2003, Windows Mobile. What are the differences? The manual says it's running windowsMobile, is this the same as SmartPhone 2002/3? (yes, this is a pathetic n00b question, sorry)

3) What format must apps and stuff be in? If i were to go to say, pdarcade.com and download some PocketPC or PalmOS apps, would they work?

4) Does Java work? as in straight flat J2ME jar files? Or is a J2ME emulator needed? I'm guessing .sis (symbian) is out of the question.

5) Where do i find all the emulators i see people talking about? I've so far heard of a gameboy color, nes, snes, and genesis. Are there homepages for all these? (assuming they are freeware). If they are commercial, i don't mind also.

6) The 'down-left' issue....was this ever resolved or did motorola never release a fix? If this can't be fixed, is there an alternative workaround?

7) What're some good resources for both free and commercial software, besides monolithix.org that is?

Thanks in advance for answering :D

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

Welcome to the site :D

1) I bought the phone outright, no service, no plan, and mostly am going to use it on prepaid. No plans to use mobile internet as it costs way way too much. Would it be locked or cert'd to any carrier? I bought it from an independant shop.

It depends where the shop obtained the phones from, but I would have expected it to be unlocked otherwise you would have been sold a contract as well.

2) What OS is the phone running on exactly? I've read things here and there about SPV, SmartPhone 2002, 2003, Windows Mobile. What are the differences? The manual says it's running windowsMobile, is this the same as SmartPhone 2002/3? (yes, this is a pathetic n00b question, sorry)

Not a stupid question as this can be confusing, the MPX200 comes with Smartphone 2002 OS, the Windows Mobile has been added to help to differenciate between MS Smartphones and non MS smartphones ie symbian OS as used in Nokias etc.

3) What format must apps and stuff be in? If i were to go to say, pdarcade.com and download some PocketPC or PalmOS apps, would they work?

All software for your phone must be Smartphone 2002 compatable, ppc and palm software will not work correctly as they need touch screens and they also have different screen resolutions.

4) Does Java work? as in straight flat J2ME jar files? Or is a J2ME emulator needed? I'm guessing .sis (symbian) is out of the question.

Java will not work on your phone as standard, there is a jave app that runs on the mio Smartphones but installing it on your phone would be ilegal as mio own the copyright and only their phones are aloud to run it.

5) Where do i find all the emulators i see people talking about? I've so far heard of a gameboy color, nes, snes, and genesis. Are there homepages for all these? (assuming they are freeware). If they are commercial, i don't mind also.

You can find emulators and freeware at www.monolithix.org but as with roms to use please do not ask here as this site does not encourage warez and piracy.

6) The 'down-left' issue....was this ever resolved or did motorola never release a fix? If this can't be fixed, is there an alternative workaround?

Nope no fix unfortunately but to be honest it does not make a massive differance in actual game play.

7) What're some good resources for both free and commercial software, besides monolithix.org that is?

Is there another site??? :D seriously though there are a few around and mono's site also has a large links page to other sites. Personally I only like to recommend sites that have asked permission or give credit to the author to host their work, most of the other sites around do not do this :lol: