Thinking of installing SPB Mobile Shell

[Cmass]

Originally Posted by pdub73

Cmass...
just a question, is this ur first windows mobile phone? and if so Lemme be the first to say WinMo is like a child, you need patience to get it to do what u want it to do...
anyway...what are you trying to do, and I will see if I can help....
first lemme say I use Spb Mobile Shell and Pocket plus together...
I looked at ur pictures and yes those menu arrows are small, but once u have the programs set up the way u like u wont need to use them that much anymore...
I don't use phone suite if u want to customize the phone application I don't have any suggestions for that except to wait for one of the genius' here to create some...
just bear in mind even though Spb Mobile shell and pocket plus work well with the Omnia I doubt very highly spb has tested it specifically with the Omnia...so with a new phone like this we have to do some waiting for the software we want to catch up...

Thanks for your input.

Maybe I should let my 3 yo have a talk with this thing! Perhaps he could better communicate my behavioral expectations to it.

Here is what I am trying to achieve:
1) Large, clear buttons on the front screen that I can custom assign to any task, program or location on the phone. Similar to my PC desktop where I can click on an icon for a file folder or a media player, Contacts, Internet or Email. In fact I'm surprised they don't just use the same vocabularly to describe similar concepts. It appears the "Today screen" is the same as my "desktop". ? ?
2) This thing is still supposed to be a "phone". It has been hard enough for me to give up my rugged, easy-to-hold flip phone with raised tactile buttons in favor of an akward-to-hold, thin rectangle with no "real" buttons. But, the Phone Book induces cursing every time I open it up. Thus far I have found basic phone functions to be completely unacceptable - much of it explained in the above post. Some of it also has to do with how and when the screen locks.
I would like to be able to more easily see the name & number of the person calling me. It should also be very quick and simply to SEE the last few people who called and be able to either call them back or log them. But, at the moment, the buttons are too small and the screen set up so wierd, I cannot control many fuctions without stopping and pulling out the stylus.
3) I want the programs to actually close when I close them and I want the memory to stay clean. I want to prevent "memory leaks" if possible. At the recommendation of another forum member I downloaded "Magicbutton" that supposedly does this. At first, it did indeed appear to close out programs, but it appears it only did it when I had the device connected to my PC. After checking it now I notice that once again, there are 5 applications running in the back ground.
4) Whatever interface I choose, it should be easy to configure and update.
5) A simple and configurable player with an EQ. I thought I had this with the Pocket Player I am trying out but but thus far it has been so painfully sluggish - sometimes taking so long to respond (even to tilt screen changes) that it locks up.

I do NOT want to use a stylus - especially when this thing has no stylus holder.

There are more....but those are the basics...

To answer your question, yes, this is my first Windows phone - but not my first Windows device. My first was an older HP iPaq PDA.....and as I go up this learning curve/mountain I am recalling the difficulties I had with it as well. In fact, the iPaq had so many bugs that an Spb product was the only way I got to to perform even moderately well.
The iPaq has been sitting unused for several years after I got sick of it loosing ALL data every time the non-replaceable battery drained. Well, that and the fact that it hung all the time and there were more application conflicts than I could count.
Why the Omnia then? I had a very sturdy LG for several years but wanted to move up to a more Internet capable phone and a better camera, so I got the LG Dare. (I use the camera function a hell of a lot so this was important) This was a decent phone but it was "not quite there" in terms of it's Internet capabilities. For example, it would only let me see the text of Emails and the built-in browser is quite bad. Since I was beyond the trial period for the Dare, Verizon would not take it back but they did offer the 1 year pricing for the Omnia. If I can get this Omnia working to my satisfaction, I will sell the Dare, otherwise, I will keep it and take the Omnia back. Problem is, I have only a few days left to get all this figured out before my return period expires on the Omnia!! Thus some of my panic.

I understand there is a price to be paid (in blood and money) for the advantages of a fully customizable device such as the Omnia but as is often the case when I take on a new "project", getting up to speed can be very painful. I also have my eye on the fact that I am unemployed and now spending more money/month for the data package. If it works the way I thought it would, it can help me. If not, then it is only costing me more money and headache at a time I can ill aford either.

[Phantom27]

Originally Posted by Cmass

But, the Phone Book induces cursing every time I open it up.

Ok, this I can help with. I have about 500 contacts and find the phone book and the contacts page a nightmare to deal with. But... I have a solution that I only recently learned about!!!!

When you go into your phone application and you have the numbers showing (you know the one you dial from), just start typing the name you want. It will start weeding out the contacts that don't fit what your typing. If you want to call John Wayne, just start typing "J" "O" "H" "N" and it will narrow down all your contacts to the johns. This also works with last names, first names, and even phone numbers. It's an amazing tool. I have found that I don't even use speed dials or photo contacts anymore, I just start typing the name of the person that I want and it comes up, then I just click on their name (with my fat fingers) and then push call. Works like a charm.

Let me know if you didn't figure it out.