Tips and Tricks - AllShadow.com

The Public Library is Now Open for Private Entertainment

Posted by Mike Benton on June 3rd, 2008

Adam Z Lein at pocketnow.com has an informative article about how public libraries offer all kinds of DOWNLOADABLE digital content including movies, music, audio books, and eBooks. I didn’t know about this until I saw the article so I decided to do some checking on my own. Your library might do the same. For the most part you will need your Library card number and PIN. I checked mine, and it turns out that the Greater Phoenix Library system does offer downloads. I conducted a quick grab and check out so I could tell you how well these work. Read Full Entry


Tired of Neo? Download HTC Home

Posted by Brandon Miniman on May 29th, 2008

If you get tired of the Neo Home screen, you’re in luck - there are a plethora of other Home screens you can load onto your Shadow, and heck, we even have a Themes Forum that puts them all under one place.

I recently found a Home screen that I thought to be particularly good-looking: the HTC tabbed Home screen.  If you’ve seen HTC devices like the TyTN II or Touch, you know that they come with HTC Home out of the box.  Good thing we have a version that works on the Shadow - download the CAB here.

To get it going, transfer the CAB to your device and run it.  Then, go into Settings, Home Screen, and choose “HTC” … be sure to set Color scheme and Background image to “default.” Also, in order to get weather updates, you’ll need to be on a data plan or on a WiFi network.

Thanks to ShadowMike for posting this in the forums.


How To App Unlock Your Shadow

Posted by Mike Benton on May 23rd, 2008

Many times a program will need you to Application Unlock your phone (App Unlock). Most of the time the software won’t tell you this needs to happen but someone eventually figures it out. So to alleviate this problem it is best to app unlock your phone early on. Download the App Unlock cab, place it on your Shadow and run it from there. The appropriate registry entries will be made.


Voice Commands

Posted by Mike Benton on May 19th, 2008

The Shadow comes with Microsoft Voice Command 1.6. This little gem can be very handy in a variety of different ways. If you want some in depth information about it go to Start > Voice Command > Menu > Help. Included here is a list of the commands it recognizes. Voice command works with Bluetooth headsets as well and can announce incoming calls, upcoming appointments over the headset if you want it to. The best times to use Voice Command are when you are in a slight rush and don’t have the luxury of looking at your phone’s screen and pressing buttons. If you find you like Voice Command set your Shadow’s shortcut key to launch it quickly. I find the Short Press to be a better option than the long press, there are a few people that like to set the Short Press and the Press and Hold to launch Voice Command.

Keep reading for a list of commands to use with Voice Command Read Full Entry


Handle SMS from the Today Screen

Posted by Mike Benton on May 14th, 2008

If you send and receive a great deal of text messages throughout the day then you might get tired of going back to the inbox all the time. SMS Bubbles to the rescue! From the Today screen you can view the contents of your incoming text message and decide to Save as read, reply, delete and more options from the bubble. There are more settings available in the Programs list under the Start menu once you have it installed. Adding this to Extreme Text and you are practically in text message heaven. Of course it’s free and available for download right here. Enjoy!


Tip: Quicker Inbox Searches

Posted by Mike Benton on April 30th, 2008

If you don’t like wasting time scrolling through hundreds of messages to find just one, or want to remember what someone said earlier than you are in luck. In case you haven’t noticed, the Inbox has a Smart Filter. When viewing any inbox screen on the Shadow just start typing a word and it will immediately begin searching through Recipients, Subjects and Text Bodies for your result. It’s quick and easy and will make your day easier.

There is no software to download, this is a tip about a feature that already exists in Windows Mobile


Manage Your Smartphone from the Web

Posted by Mike Benton on April 29th, 2008

If you sit at a desk with a computer for a good portion of your day then you might like to know about Dashwire. Dashwire is a device to Web 2.0 application that enables you to manage your Windows Mobile phone from a web browser. Your photos, videos, contacts and more are uploaded to your Dashwire account where you can mess with them further. It even allows you to send SMS via your phone from the browser. Got Contacts? Got Skype? You can place Skype calls to your phone’s contacts from your PC. There are tons of options available as well as being able to create a Shared page on Dashwire where others can look at your photos or videos or both. When you first install Dashwire on your device you will want to be on a WiFi connection so when it synchronizes data it won’t take as long. Dashwire.com

Being a Web App that makes life a bit easier I give it 4.5 Shadows

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How to Change the “Waiting” Cursor

Posted by Brandon Miniman on April 23rd, 2008

This is a fun little hack, but here is a caution: if you don’t consider yourself an intermediate or advanced user, don’t attempt this. It’s not the easiest.

Thanks to a post in the forum started by theDante, we now have a way to change the “waiting” cursor to any animation of our choice. Right now I have the Windows Vista blue spinner in the place of the boring circular thing, and it’s added a bit of charm to my phone.

Read Full Entry


How To Take A Screenshot

Posted by Mike Benton on April 14th, 2008

Whether you are a developer showing off your new application or an end user demonstrating a tip or a problem you are having, sometimes it is easiest to show what you are talking about. This is where screenshots come in. We mentioned it in our 6 Essential Freewares post, SmartSS is a screenshot capture utility. You can download it from LouTerrailloune.com. After installing SmartSS, access it from the Start Menu. Once it loads do not press ‘Exit’ instead press your Home key and then go to the program you want to take a screenshot of. Once you are at the screen you want press the * key. You might hear a soft beep.

Once you are done taking your screenshots go back to Smart SS (Start > SmartSS) and press Exit. You can find your screenshots in the My Documents folder saved as bitmaps. Enjoy!


How To Quickly Add an Appointment

Posted by Mike Benton on April 14th, 2008

This is a simple functional How To, meant to show you something you might not have known about your Shadow. I add appointments on a constant basis and they aren’t just long appointments. Many times I will set an appointment at the time I leave to go home to remind me to pick up something on the way.

When you press Start you are shown the list of installed programs. When in this view, if you press a number 1-9 it will access the program in that position.

So to quickly add an appointment in this case simply press Start > 6 to access the Calendar then you can press Menu > New Appointment.

Another way to access the Calendar is by assigning it to a Speed Dial key. Move the highlight over Calendar in the grid view and press Menu. Select ‘Add Speed Dial’ and choose a number. Now from the Home Screen you can press and hold the key you assigned and it will open the calendar.


Keep Up on New Windows Mobile Device

Posted by Brandon Miniman on April 13th, 2008

PDAdb.net is a fantastic resource for anyone that uses a Windows Mobile device. Not only do they have detailed datasheets on every Windows Mobile device ever released or conceived (and there’s been a lot of vaporware over the years…they’re all at PDAdb.net), but you can use the PDAMaster feature to filter out phones based on any parameter (screen size, device width, connection speed, etc).

They also add new devices every day, and you can monitor the new additions by looking at the left pane of the site where it says “New & Upcoming Models,” or by subscribing to the RSS feed.

To see more than you ever thought you wanted or needed to know about the Shadow, check out its datasheet. There is a “Detailed View” button on the top right for even more specs (did you know the Shadow has 8KB of Level 1 data cache?).


Kill the “Message Sent” SMS Notification

Posted by Brandon Miniman on April 7th, 2008

I text message a lot, but in Windows Mobile, there’s an annoying “Message Sent” notification that pops up three seconds after you send an SMS. If you go on to do something else on your phone after sending the text message, the notification can be bothersome and get in the way of what you’re doing.

ShadowMike has posted a way to remove this notification. To do so, use your registry editor to do the following:

Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Inbox].
- Create a New Key and call it “Settings”
- Click on “Settings” and create a New String Value
- SMSNoSentMsg = “1″ (without the quotes)

And…no more notification!

Alternatively you can download and install this cab to do the same trick smsnosentnotify


Yet Another Method to Watch Online Video

Posted by Mike Benton on April 7th, 2008

 

If this keeps up we are going to need to create a category for all the Y.A.M.W.O.V.s people are finding. CyberBuddhah has come to the rescue again with an easy to use app that helps the Shadow make use of the RTSP protocol so more online video streams can be watched. In short you can finally watch videos from m.youtube.com.

Go to this thread on the streaming application and download the cab file to your Shadow. Install and restart your phone. Then open PIE (Pocket Internet Explorer) and type in m.youtube.com in the address bar (Menu > Address Bar). Selecting a video will begin automatic playback. Easy!


How to Install Those Free Mobile Java Games

Posted by Mike Benton on April 3rd, 2008

I’ve had a few requests about how to install those free mobile java games we mentioned previously. There are two basic methods, OTA and via PC. The preferred method is OTA (Over the Air) and Via PC should be second choice. Read the full article for the details Read Full Entry


6 Essential Everyday Freewares

Posted by Mike Benton on March 28th, 2008

These aren’t power toys, or even hard to setup. They are just freewares that I have found essential to the Shadow’s everyday use. They fill several needs nicely while at the same time enhancing the power of the Shadow. They enable me to communicate via chats, photo and voice messaging, find my way, take screenshots of the device screen, find the time easier, use the Shadow as removable storage, manipulate zip files, edit the registry and even use FTP sites. Read on for a short description of these fine applications. Read Full Entry


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