I remembered by friend had a T-Mobile MDA (HTC Wizard) forever ago and had bought the first iPhone when it came out. So in my quest to build a makeshift handhelp GPS (by Bluetooth SPP sync to my Qstarz BT-Q1000X GPS receiver with the awesome MTK-II chipset) I asked if he still had it and he did. He mailed it to me for free just to get it off his desk, haha.
So the first thing I did was make sure I could pair to the GPS and it did so perfectly. I installed a few basic GPS apps to verify it worked. Then I bought two MicroSD 2 GB flash cards and the MiniSD sleds required to adapt it to the phone. I put Garmin XT on one flash card (1.8 GB) and iNav iGuidance (1.6 GB) on the other one.
I found the Garmin XT software much more responsive while driving at high speeds and for basic touchscreen interaction, but it was much more difficult to use (cumbersome UI) and I didn't like the way it did some things. iGuidance is brilliant and I've used it for three or four years on my notebook PC, but the latest version (2009) was too big and kludgy to work properly on the 195 MHz ARM processor in the HTC Wizard.
Solution? I found OmapClock, a program that can overclock the CPU! From what I've read, the CPU was actually designed to run at up to 240 MHz, so if you clock it up to that, there's no risk off melting or otherwise damaging it, and the only reason it was "downclocked" to 195 MHz to begin with was to offer longer battery life. But at 240 MHz the entire device is much more snappy, and iGuidance isn't nearly as laggy. It can now keep up with highway speeds in 3D mode nicely! Yay!
So the next thing I was determined to get working on this old smartphone was Pandora. After much searching I finally found a working Windows Mobile installer cab, and it's brilliant!! So now I can use the phone for GPS nav, geocaching, exercise tracking (walking, running, hiking, biking, with SportyPal), and plug it into my stereo to play Pandora!!
The only two things I have yet to figure out are:
1. Why it only charges when attached to the computer USB port and won't charge from any normal "power-only" AC-to-USB adapters.
2. If there's any possible way I can turn the USB port into a host-type port so I can get it to dial up to the Internet with my VZW EVDO aircard instead of relying on WiFi for Internet connectivity. (I don't actually have a SIM even in the card, so no carrier service.) If I could get it on the Internet via the aircard I could use it for sat nav & pandora in the car, all without needing the lappy out at all!
I also put the SkyFire web browser on there and it's brilliant.
So see? There is PLENTY you can do with this old WM5 195 MHz phone!
