hack

Amazing hack adds Wireless Charging from the Palm Pre to the Nokia Lumia 800

April 30, 2012 | By Surur

One of the coolest features of the doomed but still pretty cool Palm Pre was wireless charging using the TouchStone Dock.

In the above video we have Oli Gill voiding his warranty on video by adding this feature to his Lumia 800.

Wireless charging would be a great feature on the next Lumia handset, and has been rumoured in the past given Nokia’s designers documented obsessions to make as seamless a device as possible. Here’s hoping we can get this feature without ripping our devices apart.

Via WPCentral.com

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Homebrew Windows Phone 7 Folders hack update in the works

April 27, 2012 | By Surur

Windows Phone hacker is working on an update to his Folders Homebrew app.

The app has been rewritten with a new user interface, better sorting and the ability to add folders to the app list for better organization. This feature does require a rooted device.

WPH has not released the app yet, but is taking feedback on his site here.

Via WindowsPhoneApps.es.

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Homebrew Lock Screen Widgets final now released

March 29, 2012 | By Surur

WindowsPhoneHacker’s Lock Screen Widgets has now exited beta and the final version is available to download.

The hack allows a number of widgets to appear on your lock screen and requires a device with full root access, available either via a custom ROM or using WP7 Root Tools.

The app features:

Weather widget
RSS widget
Twitter @user widget
Memory widget
Puts widgets on your lockscreen.
Daily Bing wallpaper
Custom background

Read more about the hack at Windows Phone Hacker here.

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Homebrew Lock Screen Widgets beta now available

March 20, 2012 | By Surur

WindowsPhoneHacker has released a beta XAP of their Home Screen Lock Screen Widgets app for Windows Phone 7.

As usual a hack of this level needs a fully unlocked handset, not just developer unlocked, but most of the ROMs found on XDA-Developers are so enabled.

Read more and find the XAP at windowsphonehacker.com here.

Thanks Jesus for the tip.

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Hack to bring Visual Voice Mail to AT&T Windows Phones

March 4, 2012 | By Surur

We reported some months ago that, while Mango brought support for Visual Voice Mail to Windows Phone, AT&T was not working on implementing it, despite support by T-Mobile.

Now a hack has shown that Windows Phone already has all the right plumbing to make it work, and AT&T simply needs to allow Windows Phones to register for Voice Mail on their system.

For the hack to work the phone needs to be running Windows Phone Build 8107 which is likely the most complicated part of the hack (some instructions can be found here). One also need to borrow an Android LTE phone to register Visual Voice Mail on AT&T’s system and edit the APN settings on your Windows Phone, but people who tried it report in this XDA-Developers thread that it works pretty well.

The instructions are as follows:

1. Update your phone to 7740
2. Update to 8107
3. Insert sim card into an AT&T Android LTE phone
4. Go to att.com and switch plan to Data Pro 4g LTE plan. If the website does not work you may need to call customer support.
5. Setup VVM on the borrowed Android LTE phone (make sure your friend knows the VM password so they can re-add it when they put their sim card back in.)
6.Insert sim card back into Windows Phone
7. Call Voicemail
8. Wait for VVM to show up on phone (mine showed up after calling voicemail).
9. If sync error, edit the APN as follows

APN settings (delete the internet_line APN)
Create a new APN

APN Name: pta
Profile Category: internet (always on)
APN: pta
Auth type: None
Username:
Password:
Proxy address: proxy.mobile.att.net
Proxy domain:
Proxy port: 80

Before anyone goes flashing their phone with a 8107 ROM however there is a rumour that when 8107 does eventually come to AT&T Windows Phones, it will bring Visual Voice Mail support with it, and it may be safer to simply wait it out.

Read more in this XDA-Developers thread.

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Video demo of Bluetooth File Transfer Hack on Windows Phone 7

February 24, 2012 | By Surur

WindowsPhoneHacker have uploaded this video demonstrating the DFT hack which allows Bluetooth File Transfer on Fully Unlocked Windows Phones.

As can be seen, while the transfer process seems relatively simple, the file system on Windows Phone seems to be quite messy and never intended to be seen by mere humans, making the whole process seem less than desirable.

In the end this is a problem which Microsoft needs to solve, and one I hope they realize is a very real problem, especially as they plan to advance Tango phones into emerging markets where Bluetooth file transfer is the norm.

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Homebrew SMS Backup Tool now does contacts also

February 21, 2012 | By Surur

SMS-Contact-Restore-180x300

WPxBox have updated their homebrew SMS Backup and Restore tool to allow the backing up and restoration of contacts also.

The app, which requires an unlocked and possibly Interop Unlocked handset also, allows the pimIndex.vol to be moved from protected storage into Isolated Storage, where it can easily be moved to the desktop using the ISO Storage Tool.

Unlike the SMS Backup, for which no alternative exists, contacts can of course be synched to the cloud, but if you want to restore your handset rapidly after a hard reset it offers an easy alternative to the cloud.

The hack is obviously for expert users – the rest of us will continue waiting for an Microsoft solution which we believe is still on the way.

Read more and find the download links for the software at WPxbox here.

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Dark Forces Team release HSPL for all first generation HTC Windows Phones, including CDMA HTC Trophy and HTC Arrive

February 16, 2012 | By Surur

Good news for CDMA Windows Phone 7 users. The Dark Forces Team, who have been on a tear recently, have released a Hard SPL for all HTC’s first generation Windows Phones, including the CDMA HTC Trophy and HTC Arrive.

The release of the SPL means custom ROMs, including fully unlocked ROMs can be cooked for both devices, which have included some pretty incredible hacks recently, including booting Windows Mobile on Windows Phone.

Loading a HSPL on your phone is of course likely to invalidate your warranty, and can brick your device, so should only be done at your own responsibility.

Rafael Rivera running an App Settings Back-up hackathon today

February 1, 2012 | By Surur

Rafael Rivera has given himself the challenge of creating a backup solution for Windows Phone Mango which will allow users to migrate to another device and still maintain applications settings and data, such as high scores for example.

He plans to start in an hour and aim to finish within 12 hours.

His goals for the app are:

Must support backup of Marketplace-derived apps. (e.g. Plants vs. Zombies save state)
Must use sockets for easy PC<->Phone communication. Fishing crap out of Isolated Storage manually is unacceptable.
Must work on his Samsung Focus (v1.3) devices running Mango.
Must succeed in using saved app. state on restore target.

If I succeed, he plans to release the XAP and any information needed to use it/further development.

He is planning to live blog his progress, so keep an eye on his site here.

While the goal is laudable, even full success will still require an unlocked device, which means Microsoft better get a move on providing an official migration solution for Windows Phone 7 users wishing to move to second generation devices.

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SMS Backup and Restore for unlocked Windows Phones demoed

January 31, 2012 | By Surur

Windows Phone will get a full featured backup system eventually, but until then moving to a new handset means losing all the SMS messages on your current one.

Thankfully for the more adventurous users with unlocked handsets there is a solution – SMS Backup, which WPXbox demoes in this video above.

For more detail on the process, which needs at least a ChevronWP7 or developer-unlocked handset, read more at WPXbox here.

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Kinect and Windows Phone used to create "holographic" game engine

January 24, 2012 | By Surur

Here is a pretty cool Kinect hack using the Kinect beta SDK and a Windows Phone.

The demo uses a simple game engine utilizing the pseudo-holographic effect. A Kinect "sees" the position of the viewer and the 3D engine adjusts the image accordingly to give the illusion of a real 3D object. The 3D engine supports anaglyph 3D (red/cyan glasses) for a better effect in real life.

A simple WP7 app controls the application and the helicopter using the accelerometers of the phone.

See more great demos at Programming4Fun’s channel here.

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HTC HD2 WP7 Multi-touch issue fixed

January 3, 2012 | By Surur

The HTC HD2 may be the greatest phone in the world, able to run Windows Mobile, Android, Linux and even Windows Phone 7.

However under Windows Phone 7 the phone had a multi-touch bug , requiring a user to touch the screen with both fingers at the exact same time when trying to pinch-to-zoom a picture or webpage

XDA-Developer AnDim has however squashed the bug in the touchscreen driver, enabling proper multi-touch.

A ROM with the updated driver can be found here or the new 2.1 version of the upgradeable ROM by Yuki and xboxmod. Or, if you’re running version 2.0 of the Back to the Future ROM, wait for a CAB file to easily update to the new driver.

Any of our readers still rocking a HTC HD2? Let us know below.

Via XDA-Developers.com

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Homebrew hack lets you install other OEM app stores

December 25, 2011 | By Surur

htcappstore If you are the homebrew hacker type with an unlocked device (be it developer or chevron unlocked) you can now install a XAP that will give you access to the application stores from other OEMS e.g. the HTC store on a LG device.

The hack is by GoodDayToDie and can be found on XDA-Developers here.

He notes a restore point is advised, but that the store will revert to your native OEM one automatically in a few days in any case.

Read more about the hack and find the relevant XAP on XDA-Developers here.

Via 1800pocketpc.com

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