Downgrade HTC Windows Phone 7?

rappleby · #1 (**permalink**) 10-27-2011, 09:08 AM

I recently took advantage of a $0 phone offer with my carrier and got an HTC Surround Windows Phone 7. Unfortunately, I had to return it and went back to my Apache. I loved the phone (what I really want is the new HTC Titan but it is not available with my carrier (yet?)) but Windows Phone 7 is definately not for business use. I'm not interested in Social Media, or games, or tunes, or mixing up my Facebook contacts with my business contacts on my business phone.

What I need is LOCAL sync with Outlook to syncronize my contacts, calendars and tasks. I don't want to use the cloud or third party apps that use Google and I don't have a Microsoft Exchange Server.

Is anyone developing a ROM for the newer Windows Phones (preferably HTC) to run Windows 6.5x so that I can use Activesync or Windows Mobile Device Center to synchronize with Outlook?

eric12341 · #2 (**permalink**) 10-27-2011, 01:50 PM

nope. if u have an email address for ur work wp7 can connect to that and sync it wirelessly with both ur phone and outlook. I would also recommend a brand new hotmail account to enter into the phone first then after that enter ur work email.

rappleby · #3 (**permalink**) 11-17-2011, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eric12341

nope. if u have an email address for ur work wp7 can connect to that and sync it wirelessly with both ur phone and outlook. I would also recommend a brand new hotmail account to enter into the phone first then after that enter ur work email.

When you say "work" are you referring to syncing with an Exchange Server? 'cause I don't have one of those

but I also do not want to use the cloud in any way shape or form or hotmail or google.

eric12341 · #4 (**permalink**) 11-17-2011, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rappleby

When you say "work" are you referring to syncing with an Exchange Server? 'cause I don't have one of those

but I also do not want to use the cloud in any way shape or form or hotmail or google.

u don't have to have one, ur business just needs to have one, if u check ur email and manage ur PIM through outlook with that email address u should be able to access it from the phone once u enter it. And as far as refusing the cloud I don't know what to tell u because that's where computing is heading, its actually more convenient. For example imagine having to get ur phone replaced during ur lunch break and u still have some work to do. U'd have to wait till u got back to the office to recover all ur data when u could've just recovered it all on the fly.

TexasAggie97 · #5 (**permalink**) 11-16-2011, 11:48 AM

Windows Phone 7 is definitely NOT a business-friendly phone, at least in it's original release state. I had to return it after 3 weeks because I couldn't actually do business work on the phone! I "upgraded" it to a Samsung Epic with Anroid. Haven't had any business problems yet!

Maybe Mango might have fixed the issues I orginally had, but it was too little too late for me.

eric12341 · #6 (**permalink**) 11-16-2011, 02:36 PM

@TexasAggie97 yes mango fixed alot of the issues people had with NoDo and the initial release. after I upgraded to mango I couldn't understand how I was able to put up with NoDo soo long. That much of a difference.

eric12341 · #7 (**permalink**) 11-16-2011, 11:28 PM

@Dr.8820 damn that's awesome, sure can't wait for my Tmo Prepay SIM to get to my house so I can get in on that.

v8vogue · #8 (**permalink**) 03-28-2012, 10:16 AM

Hi Chaps,

I recently changed to an HTC Titan running WP7.5 Mango from and HD2 on WM6.5. I might as well have bought an Iphone... I have to use third party software to add items.
It's crazy, yes it's got fast internet browsing but there is no direct access to the inbuilt storage, no drag and drop, no actual MS office on the phone.

I know what you guys are going to say, why did I buy it, well I thought WP7 was the next version of Windows Mobile and how wrong I was. It's the B@stard child of a one night stand between Bill gates and Steve Jobs. I did find a registry tweak that will allow me to drop photos directly onto the phone but that's it. It's locked up tighter than a ducks arse!

I suppose in a few months a dev team will have a jailbreak available so it looks like I'm stuck with this white elephant for a while longer. Anyway I digress, So what's the chance of a downgrade to a more user Friendly operating system?

Answers on a postcard...

2 Bunny · #9 (**permalink**) 04-11-2012, 07:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by v8vogue

Hi Chaps,

I recently changed to an HTC Titan running WP7.5 Mango from and HD2 on WM6.5. I might as well have bought an Iphone... I have to use third party software to add items.
It's crazy, yes it's got fast internet browsing but there is no direct access to the inbuilt storage, no drag and drop, no actual MS office on the phone.

I know what you guys are going to say, why did I buy it, well I thought WP7 was the next version of Windows Mobile and how wrong I was. It's the B@stard child of a one night stand between Bill gates and Steve Jobs. I did find a registry tweak that will allow me to drop photos directly onto the phone but that's it. It's locked up tighter than a ducks arse!

I suppose in a few months a dev team will have a jailbreak available so it looks like I'm stuck with this white elephant for a while longer. Anyway I digress, So what's the chance of a downgrade to a more user Friendly operating system?

Answers on a postcard...

Sorry you ended up with that. The real problem is that there are no good mobile operating systems today because not only did MS quit "real Windows Mobile", they kept a similar name and just threw the next version number on there as a real dirty trick and slap in the face to people like you and me. At this point, if you bought that thing on a contract (in which case I'm extremely sorry for the pain you're gonna be in for for the coming years), I saw this thing on YouTube where this one guy managed to run WM6 on top of WM7 (has to be custom rom/fixed for this to be installed) on his machine. I don't know if this is specific to that device or if it works on anything, but look around in an internet search and on YouTube to check out that one thing (I'm pretty sure it's actually not an emulator).

If you can evade that contract, the only choices left are to either get another normal Windows Mobile 6 device, or try Android. It's not a step up, but at least it does work to some degree (with the exception of PIM related syncing - there is absolutely no way to just plug in a usb cable and sync, an option that has been present on every useful smartphone since 1995. There are a dozen third party solutions, none of which actually fully work)(that and it closes running programs whenever it feels like it) and it does look kind of nice without being completely useless.

Sorry there wasn't better news for you, but that's just the "Microsoft Effect".

Good luck.

- 2 Bunny

eric12341 · #10 (**permalink**) 04-11-2012, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2 Bunny

Sorry you ended up with that. The real problem is that there are no good mobile operating systems today because not only did MS quit "real Windows Mobile", they kept a similar name and just threw the next version number on there as a real dirty trick and slap in the face to people like you and me. At this point, if you bought that thing on a contract (in which case I'm extremely sorry for the pain you're gonna be in for for the coming years), I saw this thing on YouTube where this one guy managed to run WM6 on top of WM7 (has to be custom rom/fixed for this to be installed) on his machine. I don't know if this is specific to that device or if it works on anything, but look around in an internet search and on YouTube to check out that one thing (I'm pretty sure it's actually not an emulator).

If you can evade that contract, the only choices left are to either get another normal Windows Mobile 6 device, or try Android. It's not a step up, but at least it does work to some degree (with the exception of PIM related syncing - there is absolutely no way to just plug in a usb cable and sync, an option that has been present on every useful smartphone since 1995. There are a dozen third party solutions, none of which actually fully work)(that and it closes running programs whenever it feels like it) and it does look kind of nice without being completely useless.

Sorry there wasn't better news for you, but that's just the "Microsoft Effect".

Good luck.

- 2 Bunny

once W8 is released the concepts behind WP will be better understood. There is also to some degree drag and drop support, but it is not directly on the phone. if one drags and drops to a folder that the zune software recognizes then the files will sync up with the phone accordingly. also there is a trick I found somewhere on the web that will allow for skydrive integration in windows 7 explorer which would provide better integration. I absolutely enjoy how office connects and interfaces with skydrive, for example I can start a word file on my phone, save it to skydrive and then open it and edit either within the browser or within word, either way it saves the changes seamlessly across all screens. something that isnt accomplished with drag and drop.