Flashing LED Notifcations for SMS

[Guest Webreaper]

I think HTC just used the standard "what went before" model. ;)

I use phoneAlarm, which flashes the RHS Orange LED whenever there's a missed call, sms, voice or email.

[Guest InRBigness]

I love this as well. It means that I can look at the phone and see if I missed anything without waking it up.

Is there a way to add an audible alert for missed calls or texts? I am coming from a cell phone and if I missed a text it would show on the screen but also would beep every 20min or so to remind me that there is a message or call waiting or missed. I often put the phone on my desk and forget about it for a while so I may not see the blinking light. This is especially nice when you are at the lake on the weekend and your not thinking about calls/texts.

[Guest Webreaper]

PhoneAlarm will do this - you can set up repeating reminders so that if you miss a text, voicemail, email etc, it can be set up to keep flashing/beeping/etc every 15 minutes/hour etc until you pick it up. ;)

[Guest Phil_UK]

Hi

PhoneAlarm will do this - you can set up repeating reminders so that if you miss a text, voicemail, email etc, it can be set up to keep flashing/beeping/etc every 15 minutes/hour etc until you pick it up. ;)

Yes that maybe something I add, there are programs you can get that will do this already though.

The only issue with repeating reminders is battery power. When a text comes in, the phone is woken up from sleep to sound the alert, it then goes to sleep again. In order to sound another alert, the phone needs to be told to wake up to do it, so all this uses extra power which is why by default Windows Mobile doesn't tend to remind in this way. A flashing LED is okay as this is driven separately and can remain flashing (in the Kaiser anyway) even when the phone is in standby.

Still providing they are far enough part, not like every 1 minute, it isn't so bad on battery power.

Regards

Phil

[Guest Webreaper]

The only issue with repeating reminders is battery power. When a text comes in, the phone is woken up from sleep to sound the alert, it then goes to sleep again. In order to sound another alert, the phone needs to be told to wake up to do it, so all this uses extra power which is why by default Windows Mobile doesn't tend to remind in this way. A flashing LED is okay as this is driven separately and can remain flashing (in the Kaiser anyway) even when the phone is in standby.

Still providing they are far enough part, not like every 1 minute, it isn't so bad on battery power.

Totally agree. As it happens, I don't use the repeating alery functionality of PhoneAlarm, but it's there if you want it. It's also got a couple of related features which solve the above problem:

1. Option to only 'fire' repeat alarms if battery is above xx% (configurable). So if your battery drops below that percentage, the alarms are disabled.

2. There's a couple of config switches which can be set so that the phone doesn't 'wake up' when the alarms trigger (i.e., the backlight stays off) and also so that the phone immediately switches off after the alarm has sounded (so it doesn't sit there on for a minute after the amarm has triggered).

It's very smart. ;) So good, in fact, I even paid for it. :wub: :D

[Guest jjimenezjj]

I love the program, thanks a lot Phil. I have a couple of questions:

1. How does one make it so that the screen doesnt come on when one recieves an email or a sms/mms message?

2. Phil, if you release a newer version of the program in the near future (with an automated timer, etc...) is there anyway to make the LEDs flash at certain speeds? It seems like the Blue LED doesnt blink very fast and I would love it if I got a text message and the thing was blinking quite rapidly... fortunately for me, i'm able to put my phone in a place that doesnt bother me from my sleep yet I can check it at anytime:)

Thanks,

John J:)

Edited September 22, 2007 by jjimenezjj

[Guest Phil_UK]

Hi

There's a couple of config switches which can be set so that the phone doesn't 'wake up' when the alarms trigger (i.e., the backlight stays off) and also so that the phone immediately switches off after the alarm has sounded (so it doesn't sit there on for a minute after the amarm has triggered).

Do you have a link to those switches? I can see that being useful to stop the screen coming on at night.

Phil, if you release a newer version of the program in the near future (with an automated timer, etc...) is there anyway to make the LEDs flash at certain speeds? It seems like the Blue LED doesnt blink very fast and I would love it if I got a text message and the thing was blinking quite rapidly... fortunately for me, i'm able to put my phone in a place that doesnt bother me from my sleep yet I can check it at anytime:)

It needs some more investigation these LEDs. The flash rates seem to be fixed and I haven't found a way to alter the flash rates, yet anyway. I will keep experimenting.

Regards

Phil

[Guest Webreaper]

Do you have a link to those switches? I can see that being useful to stop the screen coming on at night.

On the PhoneAlarm 'About' screen (on the last of the settings tabs) click the little icon with the hammer & spanner. Then uncomment (remove the ') before the systemNotifyPowerDown=1 option.

Edited September 24, 2007 by Webreaper

[Guest Phil_UK]

Hi

On the PhoneAlarm 'About' screen (on the last of the settings tabs) click the little icon with the hammer & spanner. Then uncomment (remove the ') before the systemNotifyPowerDown=1 option.

Excellent thanks for that info.

Regards

Phil

[Guest flashflash]

Hi Phil, Once again thanks for your hard work.

I am having a small problem with the Bluetooth and Phone indicators. If I set the phone to Green and Bluetooth to Orange, only the green flashes. Not a problem, so I decided to set bluetooth to none and Phone to green, but I then get no LED flashes at all. I'm not really bothered by the Bluetooth indicator, but would like the phone signal indicator to work.

Any ideas, or is this just my device.

Rgds

EDIT***

It looks like when you turn bluetooth on in the comm manager, it overrides the Phone indicator. When Bluetooth is switched off in the comm manager, all works fine(except if you select orange for the Phone LED it flashes green)

Edited October 5, 2007 by flashflash

[Guest Phil_UK]

Hi

Hi Phil, Once again thanks for your hard work.

I am having a small problem with the Bluetooth and Phone indicators. If I set the phone to Green and Bluetooth to Orange, only the green flashes. Not a problem, so I decided to set bluetooth to none and Phone to green, but I then get no LED flashes at all. I'm not really bothered by the Bluetooth indicator, but would like the phone signal indicator to work.

Any ideas, or is this just my device.

Rgds

EDIT***

It looks like when you turn bluetooth on in the comm manager, it overrides the Phone indicator. When Bluetooth is switched off in the comm manager, all works fine(except if you select orange for the Phone LED it flashes green)

Yes it does override the phone indicator with "none" which really wasn't my intention. I had spotted this and fixed it for the next version which I'm currently working on. I trying to include in the next version the option to schedule the flashing indicators so they turn off automatically, for example overnight, with the option to also turn off the mobile phone at the same time, which is handy for me as I like the phone off overnight but often forget, plus repeating audio/vibrate reminders for new SMS/Text messages as most mobile phones do.

The orange LED is a problem, as I can not find a way to make it orange. We should also be able to get a red and orange flash on the right hand LED as well but that escapes me also at the moment, but working on it.

Regards

Phil

Edited October 6, 2007 by Phil_UK

[Guest getchristylove]

Thank you, Phil!! ;) I just purchased an AT&T Tilt, which is basically the HTC Kaiser and those flashing LED indicators were killing me. It was like the fingernails across the chalkboard madness for me. Much thanks for file. Now, I'll only be a little insane and the flashing lights will not push me over the edge.

[Guest lozzd]

Hey thanks for this awesome app.

Just a question. You keep things to the certain sides of the phone (e.g. you can't choose blue for phone or something like that)

Is there any chance of changing it so that you can choose from a list of "green, left" etc for any task?

Also, I understand having the LED for wifi is a little pointless but I wouldn't mind being able to set a notification LED for GPS, since you can't really tell if that is running or not without the LED (an app might not close the GPS connection properly for example)

Also, is there any chance we can change the frequency of the flashing? So on my wizard I had slow green flashing for phone connection, quick green flashing for when an SMS comes in.

Thanks again

Laurie

Edited October 17, 2007 by lozzd

[Guest lozzd]

Bumping this, Phil_UK, did you ever see my questions? I'm sure you're very busy and if it's not possible then don't worry but I'd love that little bit of extra customisableness.

Also, interesting bug, my (normally) red flashing LED for phone status has changed to a green one! But I think that's because the battery went down to 5%, so it would normally be red. Does red+red = green? It appears to be stuck on green now, I can disable it and enable it but not make it red. I guess a soft reset will fix but want to fully charge first ;)

[Guest Phil_UK]

Hi

Bumping this, Phil_UK, did you ever see my questions? I'm sure you're very busy and if it's not possible then don't worry but I'd love that little bit of extra customisableness.

Also, interesting bug, my (normally) red flashing LED for phone status has changed to a green one! But I think that's because the battery went down to 5%, so it would normally be red. Does red+red = green? It appears to be stuck on green now, I can disable it and enable it but not make it red. I guess a soft reset will fix but want to fully charge first :(

Sorry for not replying sooner.

I've been working periodically on a new version that adds audio alerts for new texts/emails as previously discussed, plus also turns off all alerts by a schedule so you can have them turn off overnight and not be disturbed. I'm in the final rounds of testing this currently and will have a new version put up in the next week or so.

Back to your questions. It sounds like perhaps your phone is reporting it has a missed call when maybe it doesn't? There seem to be a few cases where Windows Mobile miss reports the number of messages etc. Maybe you have resolved this now?

The flashing frequency I can not change I don't think. The frequency is pre-programmed in the firmware and it's beyond my abilities to try changing this. The amber LED is also a problem, I have emailed HTC for some help but not heard anything.

Regards

Phil

[Guest lozzd]

I think that was actually user error on my behalf. Bluetooth was on, and I have mine set to flash green when bluetooth is on :(

[Guest flashflash]

Hi Phil,

It's great to know your still working on improvements on the next version, I'm really looking forward to it. It's amazing how such a great app significantly improves the usability of a WM device. Ever since I bought my first SPV I never quite understood why HTC chose colours that never grabbed your attention when missing a call or message. I was starting to get envious of all those Blackberry users!!

On a serious note, I also used to write my own apps for my WM devices but unfortunately don't have time now (18month old daughter!), so appreciate all your hard work!

[Guest Sorix]

How i hated to look at annoying bluetooth led (i have bt headset), now that problem is solved.

Great software, thanks a lot!

[Guest jeffreii]

hi - the #1 thing I'd really like to see from this app is the ability to make missed sms flash the red led. the red led is awesome for missed calls but the blue led is not very useful for SMS. it's noticable but blinks very very slowly...making the red a far superior option.

thanks!

[Guest MatteoC]

Hi

Sorry for not replying sooner.

I've been working periodically on a new version that adds audio alerts for new texts/emails as previously discussed, plus also turns off all alerts by a schedule so you can have them turn off overnight and not be disturbed. I'm in the final rounds of testing this currently and will have a new version put up in the next week or so.

Back to your questions. It sounds like perhaps your phone is reporting it has a missed call when maybe it doesn't? There seem to be a few cases where Windows Mobile miss reports the number of messages etc. Maybe you have resolved this now?

The flashing frequency I can not change I don't think. The frequency is pre-programmed in the firmware and it's beyond my abilities to try changing this. The amber LED is also a problem, I have emailed HTC for some help but not heard anything.

Regards

Phil

HI Phil,

I've tried your software on my HTC P3600 and it work very well.

For the new release I want to ask if it's possible to have:

1) "Blue" for Bluetooth

2) "Red" and "Amber" for Unread SMS/MMS and Unread Email.

Thank'you very much.

Matteo.

[Guest Phil_UK]

Hi

Just a quick note to say I have put up Version 2.0 now. This includes audio/vibrate reminders so the Kaiser keeps having a go at getting your attention for new items that have arrived (like most mobiles do) and the option to set a schedule where LEDs don't flash and it doesn't alert, and optionally to turn off the mobile phone, typically this would be used for overnight.

Regards

Phil

[Guest Transform]

very nice. i might give that a try :(

[Guest NoFate]

Is there a way to increase the blinking speed of the led? i want to increase the speed of the led when an sms is received , 1.5 sec is too long to watch :(

[Guest jeffreii]

Hi Phil,

Can you give us a response as to whether or not it is possible to have the RED LED flash for missed SMS? It's currently not an option - yet the best LED indicator (because it blinks twice as fast as the 2nd best option, the Blue LED).

Thanks,

Jeff

[Guest sc0user_75]

Phil, thanks for updating an already brill app.

But can I please mention a slight glitch in the new version please... I've selected Audio alerts for missed calls. I've set it to Back Off Mins 2, and Max Back Off 60. But Im not getting any Audi alerts. Any ideas here?