WM 6.1 or 6.5 ROM?
 

Hello all,

I've bought what I suppose is the last WM-based modern phone in the universe. That's a perfect device and I'm very glad to own it. Unfortunately, the OS is WM 6.5.x which I've never used before... I mean not just held in hands for several minutes, but customized as well. That's were my troubles began.

I've been using Wisbar Advance since 2007, as it lets explicitly minimize/close windows, show 2 rows in the clock area, make my own buttons for custom actions, which work for any app etc.

Unfortunately, Wisbar Advance doesn't work well with 6.5.x. After minimizing, an app is often not being invalidated/redrawn, two rows don't make the title bar higher, skinning apps feature glitches and as I've found out, WA doesn't support its own Start button at the left-top corner, even as a duplicate of the existing one in the bottom. The worst of all, Lakeridge, WA developer, abandoned WM development at all, so no updates for me anymore. Also, WM 6.5.x looks and feels similar to WinPhone Metro style, which if I liked, I'd bought Lumia instead.

So after reading forums and articles on how to make WM 6.5.x look like 6.1, I concluded that I need a custom ROM, built on top of 6.1 or maybe 6.5 (not 6.5.x), since 6.5 UI is (possibly) not corrupted enough to make WA broken.

I saw ROMs descriptions here with Manila (HTC-like shell, right?) and with no Verizon apps. Is there a ROM without both Manila and the apps, based on 6.1/6.5? At least, can I build one on my own? Or maybe I can just replace some Windows files or fix the issues another way?

Thank you for any help and answers.

Regards,

Re: WM 6.1 or 6.5 ROM?
 

Hi,

I am not 100% sure, but I have yet to see a Windows Mobile 6.1 or 6.5 ROM for the Fathom as of yet, as we don't have a 6.1 or 6.5 base to start with. The phone shipped with 6.5.3, which I would assume could be downgraded to 6.5, but it would take plenty of trial and error to get it done.

I personally don't have enough time between school, personal life, and family to try building a 6.5 or 6.1 ROM, but I don't see why at least a 6.5 ROM wouldn't run if done properly.

If you need a device to test on, I have 3 Fathoms sitting in my desk that I can flash without you needing to risk your own personal devices.

I hope that helps.

Re: WM 6.1 or 6.5 ROM?
 

Oh, thank you, this is very kindly. No, I have 3 units myself, so if I brick one accidentally, there will be at least 2 others.

Could you please give me some clue on what I have to do. Download 'LG Kitchen'? Get a standard ROM, unpack and add the drivers? Just several suggestions on my initial steps. All the rest I'll do on my own and share the result.

Re: WM 6.1 or 6.5 ROM?
 

If I understand the process correctly, You should be able to just copy the OEM folders onto a 6.5 or 6.1 base, compile, and flash. If it doesn't work right, try copying more files. I'd suggest you keep some of the changes that we've developed in there just to retain some of the safety that we built into it. (when we first started building ROMs, the ROM would revert the USB mode to something difficult to recover from a bad flash, but some of the tweaks keep USB mode in recovery mode, along with other changes.)