Guest agent.m Posted June 24, 2005 Report Posted June 24, 2005 (edited) They were advertised on CoolSmartphone.com last year and have finally opened to the public. The best bit is if you register now you get 4 homescreens for free. http://www.phonethemes.com/Default.aspx?&Nav=Home&strLang=en PhoneThemes has Launched! The Development Team at PhoneThemes would like to thank everyone who applied and took part in the PhoneThemes Beta Release Trial and for the susequent feedback we received from you guys in the field! An email will be sent to the address you gave us detailing how you can access your PhoneThemes account! PhoneThemes is an innovative company developing visually stunning animated theme content for the mobile device user. During this launch we will be supporting Windows Mobile Smartphone 2003 and 2003 Second Edition devices. Plans are already afoot to also support the PocketPC version of Windows Mobile 2003, Symbian Series 60 devices and other 'smartphone' device platforms capable of playing full quality animated themes. Everyone who either already has an existing account with us or who creates an account now will get 4 free themes to download and enjoy on their phones (details below). Who are PhoneThemes? PhoneThemes is an innovative company developing visually stunning animated theme content for the mobile device user. Formed by a group of young technical and business professionals who wanted to offer the mobile phone market an exciting alternative to the current static wall-paper and ringtone offerings. In the rapidly developing world of value added mobile services PhoneThemes offers consumers high-quality animated content and businesses secure revenue generation from the distribution of original content; meeting the expectations of customers in a range of markets and cultures. PhoneThemes works with copyright owners and a global network of over 150 theme authors to develop exciting animated mobile device skins that can develop new revenue sources in your customer base. We can help your company create individually tailored packages that appeal to your specific target markets. What are 'phonethemes'? Phonethemes are animated themes that restyle your entire mobile device! Phonethemes bundle together the background images, color schemes, theme animation and, depending on the theme a ringtone to add that "Wow!" factor to your mobile. Because they reskin the entire device you should set the 'Colour scheme' and 'Background image' settings to 'Default'. Windows Mobile phonethemes are also extremelly efficient and have a power-management utility ensuring minimal impact on the battery life of the phone. Installation is easy and using them is even more straight-forward (see the 'Quick Start User Guide' below) to get a head start!. Edited June 24, 2005 by agent.m
Guest Jamma14 Posted June 24, 2005 Report Posted June 24, 2005 Looks very cool so I signed up but still couldn't get the free homescreens...what do you have to do?
Guest chucky.egg Posted June 24, 2005 Report Posted June 24, 2005 They seem to have quite a few to choose from (at $0.95 each) but all of the "homescreen" elements (MRU, calendar etc) look like they were thrown together on Homescreen Designer in about 30 seconds.
Guest Jamma14 Posted June 24, 2005 Report Posted June 24, 2005 They seem to have quite a few to choose from (at $0.95 each) but all of the "homescreen" elements (MRU, calendar etc) look like they were thrown together on Homescreen Designer in about 30 seconds. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yeah, but you can modify them, you are paying for the animation really.
Guest chucky.egg Posted June 24, 2005 Report Posted June 24, 2005 Yeah, but you can modify them, you are paying for the animation really. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I'll pass then Are many people really going to pay for a Homescreen that you have to edit to suit your purposes anyway?
Guest Disco Stu Posted June 24, 2005 Report Posted June 24, 2005 Looks very cool so I signed up but still couldn't get the free homescreens...what do you have to do? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Logging out and back in again did it for me. They're not that impressive really. Certainly no more than the MadBeetle creations.
Guest awarner [MVP] Posted June 24, 2005 Report Posted June 24, 2005 While I appreciate the work gone into producing some of the more interesting themes, there are so many free themes around now including well over 700 just on modaco alone so it makes paying for them an option I would never consider. I wish them luck on their venture but I'll give paying for themes a miss in favour of the excellent submissions we get here :)
Guest PhoneThemes Posted June 24, 2005 Report Posted June 24, 2005 (edited) Hi Guys, Thanks for your comments and apologies to those of you who experienced an intial difficulty in downloading the freebie themes - after the coolsmartphone announcement we were swamped for a bit! But, following a little tweaking everything is now working fine. The themes that are on the site intially are the first set we have. While we do like these themes we're also busy generating a whole bunch more and we've also got a modified Home Screen Designer toolkit to allow people to create their own ones. We are actively looking for theme designers who can come up with slicker and sexier themes so if any of you are interested then please contact me through the 'Authors' section on the site. I appreciate that there are a lot of themes out there already in the market place - although other than PhoneThemes and Mad Beetle I think the majority of them are static themes which really don't compare with the animated ones. It has been a long road to get here today - but I think what we've done is pretty cool; one highlight of this was being featured during Bill Gates MEDC keynote speech last month in Vegas. I appreciate all your comments and thanks to everyone who visited us today! Jim Hunt PhoneThemes Edited June 24, 2005 by PhoneThemes
Guest gpcarreon (MVP) Posted June 25, 2005 Report Posted June 25, 2005 Hi Jim! Welcome to MoDaCo. Will contributing authors get to download other phonethemes for free? :) I miss doing animated homescreens/themes.
Guest agent.m Posted June 25, 2005 Report Posted June 25, 2005 Hi Jim! Welcome to MoDaCo. Will contributing authors get to download other phonethemes for free? :) I miss doing animated homescreens/themes. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I may be speaking for myself but you are now at a level where you should be getting paid for your effort :D
Guest agent.m Posted June 25, 2005 Report Posted June 25, 2005 hey jim is there an update to the man utd skin on the way or can I modify it. I love the look but some players have left :)
Guest Disco Stu Posted June 25, 2005 Report Posted June 25, 2005 Yeah, and they're now called MU Glazers ! And the franchise will be moved to Miami next year ! :D :) :D Sorry Agent. Leeds Fan couldn't resist Anyone have problems with these skins after a reboot ? Animation stops on mine and an error message is displayed. Same with several different ones.
Guest Confused Stu Posted June 25, 2005 Report Posted June 25, 2005 I've had no problem getting any of the four to play, but can I uninstall the Aquarium freebee from the phone? Can I b*ll*cks!!! Every time I go into Remove Programs, it quite happily reports "Cannot uninstall program". I've switched to another homescreen, used Task Manager to kill the process, used SmartExplorer to delete the files, removed the registry entried from Phonethemes, and it STILL won't let me uninstall the program! Anyone else have any problems with this theme (the other three ones uninstalled just fine)?
Guest Confused Stu Posted June 25, 2005 Report Posted June 25, 2005 OK, sorted that problem. For anyone else experiencing it, I re-installed the homescreen over the non-uninstalling one (after several messages that I had to OK) and then uninstalled it. Job now done! Cool- I was feeling a little like my phone was possessed there!
Guest agent.m Posted June 26, 2005 Report Posted June 26, 2005 Yeah, and they're now called MU Glazers ! And the franchise will be moved to Miami next year ! :D :) :D Sorry Agent. Leeds Fan couldn't resist Anyone have problems with these skins after a reboot ? Animation stops on mine and an error message is displayed. Same with several different ones. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> had to happen sooner or later :roll: :lol:
Guest gingerninja Posted June 26, 2005 Report Posted June 26, 2005 Nice one Disco Stu. Fellow leeds fan :) :D :D :lol:
Guest gnagis Posted June 26, 2005 Report Posted June 26, 2005 what is the difrence from this and madbeetle ?
Guest PhoneThemes Posted June 27, 2005 Report Posted June 27, 2005 (edited) Hi all, Lots of question to answer! Ok, first the uninstall issue: yes this does sometimes happen and the answer is simply to install and then uninstall - what should happpen is that the system should prompt to user that the phone needs to reboot to complete...still I will continue to investigate and keep you posted. I'm really interested in the problem you're getting Disco, can I ask you a few questions: 1. Can you repeat the problem without fail? 2. What does the error message say? 3. What device are you running? 4. What version of Windows Mobile are you using? 5. What operator? 6. What regional language is the device set to? If you prefer to take this conversation offline then email me through the contact page on www.phonethemes.com and we'll take it from there. Provided we can get the software to run on your device I'm happy to give you a couple of free extra phonethemes in exchange for you helping me here. Differences between PhoneThemes and Mad Beetle (excuse me if I sound like I am mis-representing MB - it's not intended, I think it's a cool product) are subtle and the advantages are partly directed at the end user and partly at the content authors: 1. Phonethemes can optionally include a ringtone 2. A phonetheme can be placed anywhere on the screen, not just inline - allowing for interesting layouts - for example 'PrettyGirl' has the animation placed on the left of the screen with the standard OS plugins like the clock and SMS to the right - as far as I am aware Mad Beetle can't do this (apologies if I am wrong) 3. Phonethemes incorporate digital rights management - each phonetheme is licensed to the user that purchased it and will only play on that user's specific device. Of course I understand that to the end user this may not seem like an advantage but to the authors this guarantees maximum revenue for their phonethemes. 4. We only sell licensed content. Finally, all theme authors are paid for their themes when they are sold on the site. We sell our own content but most of the phonethemes will be from other authors - we have a toolkit (currently in Beta) which is an enhanced Ruttensoft Home Screen Designer. Hope you find this informative and interesting - meaning I hope I haven't bored or annoyed the lot of you! Thanks Jim PhoneThemes Edited June 27, 2005 by PhoneThemes
Guest Disco Stu Posted June 27, 2005 Report Posted June 27, 2005 I emailed you yesterday (or Saturday) from my AOL address. 1. Can you repeat the problem without fail? 2. What does the error message say? 3. What device are you running? 4. What version of Windows Mobile are you using? 5. What operator? 6. What regional language is the device set to? 1. The first 3 themes I tried failed to reanimate after a reboot. The 4th fired itself up only after I mashed the keys for a bit ! :) 2. From memory : "Activate Animation" displayed across (still) screen 3. Orange C500 4. 2003SE v4.21.1088 5. Orange with ROM 4.1.1.4 6. UK English HTH
Guest Disco Stu Posted June 27, 2005 Report Posted June 27, 2005 After much installing / uninstalling / rebooting I think I have a clue as to what is causing my problem. I believe BlindLemon's Font Installer is conflicting with the themes. Both are loading at start-up and presumably need some of the same resources. How's that for perceptive insight ? :roll: :)
Guest craig4wd Posted June 28, 2005 Report Posted June 28, 2005 Ok I give up. I tried logging out and in again but I can't find any option to download the free copies to try. Keeps asking for payment and a cc Remove Description Platform Total -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PrettyGirl MSSmartphone $0.95 SnowMountain MSSmartphone $3.95 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total $4.90
Guest Pagemakers Posted June 28, 2005 Report Posted June 28, 2005 (edited) Is the server down? It keeps saying there is a problem when I try to register a theme with my C500. Edited June 28, 2005 by Pagemakers
Guest Pagemakers Posted June 28, 2005 Report Posted June 28, 2005 (edited) Anyone else having problems? Edited June 28, 2005 by Pagemakers
Guest Chiz Posted June 29, 2005 Report Posted June 29, 2005 I emailed you yesterday (or Saturday) from my AOL address. 1. The first 3 themes I tried failed to reanimate after a reboot. The 4th fired itself up only after I mashed the keys for a bit ! :) 2. From memory : "Activate Animation" displayed across (still) screen 3. Orange C500 4. 2003SE v4.21.1088 5. Orange with ROM 4.1.1.4 6. UK English HTH <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I am having exactly the same problems with these. They seem to work correctly as soon as installed after reboot and then are static. Sometimes the "Active Animation" is displayed and sometimes not. For Jim. The answers to your questions for me are identical to Stu's above.
Guest Disco Stu Posted June 29, 2005 Report Posted June 29, 2005 Chiz : Can you get the animation going if you go into the programs menu and back out again (or mash the keypad for a bit ) ? Got anything loading at startup that might be conflicting ?
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