hack

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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Free Developer unlock may be coming

December 15, 2011 | By Surur

chevronhacked

The ChevronWP7 team recently revealed that they have unlocked 5000 phoned for $9 each, making $45000 from their venture so far. If you rather keep your pennies to yourself wphonehacker has hinted that they may soon have a free solution available to most Windows phone 7 users, except of course the beleaguered Dell owners.

The ChevronWP7 team responded that theirs is official and will survive updates, something unlikely with a hacked version, but of course if its easy enough one and does not bork updates (something that is never guaranteed with a hack) one would of course lose nothing by trying the free version first.

What do our readers think – $9 and official or free and risky? Let us know below.

Via Professeurthibault.fr

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Wow! WM Opera Mini ported to fully unlocked Windows Phones

December 10, 2011 | By Surur

operamini

There was a time when the mere survival of Windows Mobile was dependent on Opera’s software, so bad was IE Mobile.

Thankfully we are no longer in those days, and alternate rendering engines are not only not needed, but in fact not available on Windows Phone 7.

However if you yearn for those nostalgic days, or merely looking for al alternative, Ultrashot on XDA-Developers appears to have achieved the impossible. He has created a XAP wrapper for the Windows Mobile version of Opera Mini that will run on Windows Phone 7.

The handset does however need to be fully unlocked, like the DFT ROMs, not just Developer unlocked or even InterOp unlocked.

The only limitation is that it does not support rotation, but Ultrashot says this is coming.

He reports that it may be possible to port the full Opera Mobile, but that this has more dependencies.

Read more in this XDA-Developers thread.

Via WPSauce.com

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New hack available to customize built-in tiles–Do you want?

December 6, 2011 | By Surur

customthemesq

Jaxbot has been hacking at Windows Phone, and has found a way to change both the background and graphics on the built-in Live Tiles.

Windows Phone Hacker is asking gauging interest in a public release of the hack, which only requires a Chevron Labs or similar unlocked device, not a more difficult Interop unlocked.

Are our readers interested? Let us know below.

Thanks Necro for tip.

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Possible Interop unlock found for the Nokia Lumia 800

November 25, 2011 | By Surur

It seems OEM apps with their high level of access and poor security is a gift that keeps on giving, at least to the hacker community.

The latest is the Nokia Network Setup App, which has a vulnerability which could allow an Interop Unlock, which gives full access to the device at a root level, to be achieved by deploying a specially crafted provisioning file.

The vulnerability and associated exploit was discovered by Heathcliff74 on XDA-Developers is is still in testing.

Update: Nanapho.jp reports that after the exploit has been made public Nokia has unpublished Nokia Network Setup from Marketplace. The XAP can still be downloaded, but can now no longer be installed.

Registry edit to enable A2DP audio while playing video on Windows Phone 7

November 19, 2011 | By Surur

2-26-07-dr-bt21g A repeated annoyance of some Windows Phone 7 owners is that when using A2DP sound over Bluetooth, this will be disabled when playing video.

Of course the reason for this is somewhat understandable – when decoding video, transcoding sound to the A2DP audio codec takes processor cycles which then lead to sound dropping out or low frame rate for video.

If however you want to take your chances and have an Interop unlocked device or a device with a built-in registry editor like some LG ones, Fabcal has a simple registry edit which will fix the issue.

With your unlocked handset and WP7 root tools or other registry editor, edit:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Zune\Playback\Video\A2DP\CapsSet1

Change dword value DisableA2DPPLayback from 1 to 0

Reboot immediately afterward and enjoy Bluetooth Stereo Audio playback while watching video.

Note that as the Bluetooth antenna is often the same as the WIFI antenna they can interfere, making the solution better for playing local content than streaming content from the internet.

Read more in this XDA-Dev thread for methods of editing your registry on Windows Phone 7.

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Bootloader hack may bring Android dual-boot to Windows Phones

November 19, 2011 | By Surur

focusdb

It remains to be seen how desired this is, but work by the Dark Forces Team to port the the MAGLDR bootloader to the Samsung Focus may mean Android dual-boot could be coming to certain Windows Phone 7 handsets.

This would result in a similar situation to the HTC HD2, which it seems has been hacked to run every mobile OS under the sun.

The work is being initially done on the Samsung Focus v1.3, but Cotulla writes that the next version will support the Samsung Focus 1.4 and Samsung Omnia 7 also.

Have any of our readers been waiting for this development? Let us know below.

Via Slashgear and WPCentral.com

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Windows Phone 7 home brew folder hack updated, now includes IE and native app links

November 4, 2011 | By Surur

folderconfig2

WindowsPhoneHacker have updated their Windows Phone 7 folder hack, which allows users with unlocked devices to add folders to their Start screens, to allow users to add websites and system apps like Zune to their folders.

Besides bug fixes the full list of new features include:

System applications: The tool now allows select "system" (built-in) applications to be added directly to folders. The list includes main built in applications (Zune, Marketplace, People hub, Games), as well as some other useful links (WiFi settings, Flight mode, etc).
Homebrew XAPs: Simple little import function now opens homebrew XAPs and extracts the info/icon, making it much easier to add homebrew programs into the folders.
Websites: Enter a URI and an entry for the site will be added to the folder.
Support for extended/non-default tasks: Add a /TaskName to the end of the GUID to launch non-default tasks (For the techies). Examples include 5B04B775-356B-4AA0-AAF8-6491FFEA5660/_default?StartURL=example.com for navigating to IE pages, etc.

Live tiles will remain unsupported, and due to complexity is not in the roadmap at all.

Read more and find the download at WindowsPhoneHacker here.

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Tip: Smart work-around allows screen capture from XNA Games also

November 2, 2011 | By Surur

We recently saw the release of a screen capture tool for Windows Phone 7 which allowed screens from silverlight applications to be saved.

The tool did not however work for XNA games, merely producing black pictures.

Nanapho.jp however thought of a creative work-around. By holding down the back button, the screen shots can be taken from the multi-tasking screen, where the OS itself does not seem to have an problem capturing screen shots of games, videos and even the camera viewfinder.

Screen shots are at a reduced size of 432 × 259, but that of course is still perfectly fine for illustrating something on the web, and miles better than taking a photo of the screen.

Read more about this simple ‘hack’ at Nanapho.jp here.

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