htc leo

Official T-Mobile HTC HD2 ROM available again

May 28, 2010 | By Surur

Screen-shot-2010-05-27-at-6.12.10-PM

It seems T-Mobile has once again made their updated HTC HD2 ROM available. Version 2.13.531.1 of the software is seemingly the same as the one they pulled last week, at that time apparently due to issues with the ROM itself, but now simply blamed on bandwidth shortages at T-Mobile.

According to comments at T-MoNews, where the story hails from, the update has been something of a mixed bag, with some people reporting persistent problems, and others praising it for finally fixing their HTC HD2.

For those who want to play Russian Roulette with their smartphone, the update can be downloaded from T-Mobile here.

Via WindowsPhoneThoughts.com

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HTC HD2 extended battery demoed

May 26, 2010 | By Surur

Pocketnow have uploaded this video showing the HTC HD2 Official Extended battery in action. They report the 2300 mAh battery, which costs about $50 ad also fits the US HD2, provides up to 2.5 days of active use, which seems pretty low for the bulk, but the kick stand still looks pretty cool and does a lot to make up for the brick-like nature of the resulting unit.

The battery is available from Clove here.

TaskFacade adopted by new developer, now optimized for HTC HD2

May 26, 2010 | By Surur

Task Facade TaskFacade is absolutely the most attractive Windows Mobile task manager, and has been doing “cards” long before WebOS got the idea.

The app has been in somewhat of a limbo, with the last developer no longer working on the project.

Spacepants has decompiled the .Net code and have now released an optimised version of the app for the HTC HD2.

See the changelog below:

4.02 changelist:
1. Fixed a memory leak that occurred when an app was started and closed outside of Task Facade.
2. Cleaned up Layout config page.
3. Cleaned up config file loading to minimize potential errors due to old and incompatible config files.

4.01 changelist:
1. Increased maximum number of frames for zoom-unzoom animation.
2. Added an optional sleep between frames to smooth out animation and reduce amount of resources used by the app.
3. Fixed a minor race condition which sometimes caused an updated icon to flash through just reactivated app.

Download the cab and read more in this XDA-Developers thread here.

Via XDA- Developers.com

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Reader Request: Standard WM 6.5.5 ROM for HD2

May 25, 2010 | By alamfour

With the recent release of the LG Fathom, a very vanilla Windows Phone, with hardly any third party software, reader Alamfour has a request for something similar for the HTC HD2.

Hi All,

Could one of the cooks please create a ROM similar to the following?

I have a need for a Vanilla WM 6.5.5 ROM. That is without sense, htc comm manager, or any htc customizations that are not essential for the ROM.

I would like no Youtube app and viewing youtube videos from m.youtube.com enabled as they are currently disabled and they redirect to youtube app. Also when viewing Youtube videos in IE and I try to go full screen it goes to fullscreen portrate mode, could landscape fullview be enabled also?

If their is already a ROM like this could someone please point me in the right direction as I have been searching for a few weeks now and found none. I did try Energy ROM titanium but it was too customized for my liking.

I would prefer not to have to cook my own ROM as I am not very good at it. I used to cook my own ROM’s for my Touch Diamond but I always had problems so I have given up on cooking.

Thank you

Does anyone have a favourite vanilla HTC HD2 ROM? Let us know below.

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T-Mobile HTC HD2 ROM update pulled

May 24, 2010 | By Surur

The first T-Mobile HTC HD2 ROM update was released on record time, and it seems not soon after it has also disappeared.

It seems the update caused all kind of issues, include general instability and poor screen response, and has now been taken off line, with the company working on further bug fixes.

Keep an eye on www.t-mobile.com/wmupgrade for the re-appearance of the software.

Have you been affected by the wayward software update? Let us know below.

Via T-MoNews.com

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Windows Mobile community raises $1400 in 14 hours for possible WP7 HTC HD2 port

May 20, 2010 | By Surur

HTC HD2 Windows Phone-7 Series port

We joined the appeal yesterday to raise money for the purchase of essential equipment for XDA-Developers hacker and moderator Da_G to further his investigations and development of the HTC Mondrian ROM, and we are happy to report the community has responded tremendously to the request for donations.

In fact, in what is possibly the fastest fund raising event in Windows Mobile history ever, the whole amount of $1400 was raised in only 14 hours, meaning Da_G can now get on with purchasing the needed HTC HD2 and the Trace analyzer to get access to the JTAG (all of which is way over my head).

While this opens up the possibility of a Windows Phone 7 port to the HTC HD2, I am much more heartened by the response of the community itself to the challenge, which makes me proud to be a Windows Mobile user.

For the latest progress of the hacking event, follow this XDA-Developers thread here.

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Mod: Sense 2.5 minus a few clouds

May 19, 2010 | By Surur

Now here is an unusual Sense 2.5 mod. HJ200 reports that for users in colder climes, Sense 2.5 weather can be a bit overpowering and even depressing , with constant cloud cover not just in the sky, but also on their device itself.

The weather animations is however one of the stand-out features of Sense 2.5, and he did not want to sacrifice it completely.

The solution was to remove a few cloud from the animation, resulting in clearer skies and a more usable device.

If you are in the same situation his mod can be downloaded from this XDA-Dev thread here. Remember to soft-reset after installation.

Thanks HJ200 for the tip.

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New HTC HD2 Desktop stand supports portrait and landscape mode

May 15, 2010 | By Surur

HTC HD2 Desktop stand

Many HTC HD2 owners have had thoughts of using the official HTC HD2 car kit as a desktop cradle. Now a much cheaper 3rd party version is available which looks pretty good and will also be many times cheaper.

The KIDIGI cradle supports will hold your device securely in both portrait and landscape mode, and does not include an integrated microUSB plug, which is actually a plus, as these often damage the device.

A user on XDA-Developers reviewed the cradle as below:

I just received this stand. Here is a little review:
The +ve
I really like it. Looks elegant on my desk.
The bottom has a non slip rubber, the part where the device goes in is plastic and the leg is made of steel. The 90 degree rotation is very useful. There is cut outs for the usb and earphone plugs. I am using the device on it with no issues, it is stiff and its not shaking at all.

The -ve
I bought it from here www.4u-mobi.com
I got it within two weeks, the thing is don’t expect any customer service from these guys. They don’t even send you an email of purchase confirmation.
Despite contacting them several times- No reply.

The cradle is only $21.99 from 4u.mobi.

See some more pictures after the break, and read more about the user experience in this XDA-Developer thread here.

Continue reading →

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HTC HD2 accessories selling out

May 15, 2010 | By Surur

HTC Accessories sold out

I would certainly not have believed it, but it seems HTC HD2 users are pretty passionate about genuine HTC accessories. Clove.co.uk. reports on their blog that their first shipments of the HTC HD2 official extended battery and car kit have already sold out, less than a week after availability, and they have had to order a new lot which will only arrive next week.

Both of these accessories are pretty expensive, with the car kit running at £64.62 (around $100) and the extended battery £41.13 (around $65) and both are of course pretty scaled down from the first renders we saw prior to availability. They also both have much cheaper alternatives available, which I guess mean HTC HD2 owners have an eye more towards quality than value

Do our readers think these authentic HTC HD2 accessories are worth the price? Let us know below.

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For Developers: HTC HD2 video capture rendered on a DirectX plane

May 15, 2010 | By Surur

Baldido has managed, after overcoming many obstacles to render video from the camera directly onto a 3D DirectX plane.

He writes:

After a long and bumpy road, I finally managed to create a camera preview and render the output on a Direct 3D plane.
Problems I had to deal with while developing this application:
- Camera capture is YV12 and rotated. Wrote a custom 90 degrees rotation routine. (not required for this demo, but handy for capturing movies).
- There is no hardware Direct 3D drivers supplied by HTC. Installed the HD2/Leo 3D Driver Patch v2.0. ( See: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showt… ) Not sure if it sells with hardware OpenGL support, but if it does I’ll port it to OpenGL. Being required to install extra drivers sucks.
- DirectShow has no YV12 to RGB converter. No support for YV12 texture, so had to write a YV12 to RGB color space conversion. ( See: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libra… )
- Had to write a custom DirectShow to Direct3D texture renderer. DirectX has no out of the box DirectShow texture renderer.
- HTC doesn’t seem to hand out the API to access the build in G-Sensors and Compass. Used code to directly hook into the HTC Sensors DLL.
- Had to optimize a lot of settings to get a near smooth performance.

While this was obviously quite an achievement, it seems rather a pity he has had to work so hard to manage what should be a basic feature of the API. Having done this now, the technique would be useful for augmented reality applications or games, and hopefully Baldido will share his code with the community soon.

See another video after the break.

Continue reading →

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HTC HD2 vs HTC Evo 4G

May 14, 2010 | By Surur

Pocketnow have published this video showing HTC’s two 4.3 inch monster devices being compared with each other..

Am I wrong in saying the HD2 looks a lot better?

Lets us know your opinion below.

T-Mobile HTC HD2 gets a ROM update

May 13, 2010 | By Surur

T-Mobile HTC HD2

The US T-Mobile HTC HD2 has received a ROM update, bringing it from 2.10.531.1 to 2.13.531.1.

As usual the update will wipe your device, so make sure your data is fully backed up.

Download the update here.

Via Pocketnow.com

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HTC HD2 on Attack of the Show

May 12, 2010 | By Surur

The iconic HTC HD2 has made an appearance on the the Gadget Porn section of the famous Attack of the Show segment, and the review was surprisingly informed and even handed, unfortunately also bringing up the lack of a Windows Phone 7 upgrade which is stopping many from recommending this great handset.

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