HTC Touch Diamond

PocketGravity updated to support the HTC Touch HD

January 4, 2009 | By Surur

PocketGravity is an innovative piece of software for Windows Mobile phones which allows one to create 2 dimensional objects and then run physics simulations on it. The objects can react to the real world using the G-sensor found in today’s advanced smartphones, and has now been updated to support the HTC Touch HD.

The updated software can be downloaded from this XDA-Developers thread here.

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DredSensor for HTC Touch Diamond

December 31, 2008 | By tjlikes3G

Do you own a Diamond and get frustrated trying to maneuver when playing your favorite game? Don’t worry, the folks over at XDA Developers have the answer.

Dredger97 has written a program that he calls DredSensor, to lock the four keys on the Diamond, allowing the user to reassign the “Pick-Up” and “Hang-Up” keys to be implemented for moving left and right. Brilliant.

This should help to keep you gamers out there from accidentally hitting the Home key or opening the dialer by mistake, all while you are trying to reach the next level playing that favorite game of yours.

To read more about what DredSensor is capable of or to snag your own copy drop by here.

Let us know in the comments how you like it.

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Telus HTC Touch Diamond ROM upgrade

December 29, 2008 | By Surur

Just a reminder for our Canadian readers who may have been to involved in the holiday celebrations to keep track of the latest news. The Telus HTC Touch Diamond has had a ROM upgrade delivered on the 16th December which apparently brings much needed performance improvements, especially in TouchFlo3D, and also has some extra goodies, like a streaming media app.

Download the ROM upgrade from HTC here.

Thanks Jared for the tip

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New Commerical G-Sensor game – Marble Worlds 2

December 27, 2008 | By Aleis

Marble World is a version of “guide the ball down the hill“- game which has been around since the ZX Spectrum. Whats different these days is that we are not controlling the ball with our joystick anymore.

Marble Worlds 2 is only the second commercial game I know of that uses the G-sensor, the other being Resco Bubbles.

In Marble World 2 you guide your Marble through the isometric 3D scenery of Marble Worlds collecting gems and solving puzzles as you go. The game is large and you can explore one hundred play areas across 5 different themed worlds.

Use features such as bounce pads, air blowers, jet holes and exploding bombs whilst avoiding the evil marbles. Marble Worlds is a highly addictive and playable challenge, and hours of fun.

The game now features full touch screen control and but also supports the accelerometer on the HTC Diamond series devices. I have tried it successfully on the HTC Touch HD, where it gives an amazing giant-screen experience. Improvements over Marble World 1 include a new gaming engine which now supports more detailed graphics, an updates user interface, and many additional new features.

Touch screen control
Accelerometer (tilt control)
Air Blowers to float on
Rebounders to bounce off extra fast
Trampolines to bounce extra high
Energy draining water
Slippery Ice
Switches and changing scenery
Bombs and exploding blocks
Bridges to cross gaps and chasms
See through fences and glass panels
Jet holes to propel your marble sky high
Portals to warp from one place to another
Evil marbles that zap your strength
Checkpoints and save game feature
Popup hints to aid puzzle solving
Practice level feature
High score table!

The game is on sale for $14.95/£9.95. While this is well within the range of most Windows Mobile games a rather contentious issue is that 4Pocket sells the same game for the iPhone for only $2.99 with essentially the same content.

We hope to have a full video review later.

Read more about the game at 4Pocket.com.

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Windows Mobile design concepts

December 22, 2008 | By Surur

An advantage of having a UI that could certainly not be called the prettiest in the world is that it presents an irresistible challenge to design companies who want to fix it.

The Astonishing Tribe is just such a company, and besides designing the Sliding-Panels-like UI seen in the picture above, they have been trying their hand at attractive device locking software for the HTC Touch Diamond. Nothing they have designed is available yet (they are likely trying to sell to OEMs) but is certainly looks pretty and may inspire some of our developers to implement their good ideas more generally.

See their unlocking designs in video below.

Do any of these designs look practicable to you? Let us know in the comments.

Thanks marios96 for the links.

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TouchLockPro v1.9 First Impressions

December 22, 2008 | By tjlikes3G

Ever have issues with missed calls? Ever recieve a call and mistakenly hit the ignore tab instead of the answer tab? Or maybe you reach for your Touch Pro, which is resting safely in your pocket, only to accidentally answer that call from your ex-girlfriend that would have otherwise been ignored? Well have no fear, the solution is here. Enter TouchLockPro v1.9.

TouchLockPro is a general purpose locking program for the latest and greatest HTC handsets. It fully supports the HTC Touch Diamond, Pro, and supports most functions on the HD. The software was developed by XDA Developers member ZuinigeRijder just fix these nasty mishaps.

The installation I chose was in the form of a .CAB file wich was as easy as pie to get to the device. After running the .CAB, I had the application in my Program Menu and I was off and running. The basic functions of this handy application are pretty easy to decipher, however after really digging into the software itself and following this post on XDA it became apparent to me how much customization could actually be done with this utility. I chose to keep it simple, skip any registry editing, and stick to the options that the settings menus provided.

I tried several different options in the settings menus such as Locking the device on an incoming call, Turning the screen off when connected and Unlocking when connected. There are numerous choices on how to have TouchLockPro set up, and even more ways if you invoke the option of registry editing. The TouchLockAction menu can be opened in a variety of ways however, I found the simplest way for me to do this was to just tap the BattClock area located at the top right side of the display. Here are some screenshots from my AT&T Fuze.

This action screen will pop up after tapping the BattClock icon.

First row:

LockScreen (and keep the display on, temporily disable unlock on light sensor and suspend on backlight off)

LockSuspend (and suspend immediately, screen off)

Exit the Action screen

Second row:

Open the Configuration settings

Soft reset your device

Power off the phone completely (you do no longer need to long press Power Off)

Above are screenshots of the four setting screens. As you can see this application can be configured quite a bit without any further registry edits. Of course, if you don’t find these setting options to your liking, much more tweaking can be done through the registry. Several ways to do just that can be found at here, as well as the application download itself.

After getting the settings the way I wanted them, the operation of this utility was flawless for me. Unlocking the screen is as simple as three taps on the capacitive area of the hardware, which can be customized to the individual users preference.

I personally prefer to lock my device intentionally as opposed to having to unlock it every time I awaken the device. This program allows me to have my device set up in this manner, and also affords me another clock and a more detailed battery meter to accompany my icons at the top of my display. For me, this application is a keeper.

Give TouchLockPro a try yourself and let us know what you think in the comments.

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Finally, Pedometer software for HTC Touch Diamond/Pro/HD

December 13, 2008 | By Surur

After a very long wait, and having seen much more exotic G-sensor software developed, we finally have a Pedometer application for HTC’s latest Windows Mobile devices.

The author, lightsailpro, developed the software after a futile search himself.

The application features:

–It uses HTC Touch Diamond’s built in Accelerometer.
–Only .Net CF 2.0 is required (comes with Diamond).
–You can pause and reset the step counter.
–It displays steps, distance, calories and time duration.
–You can use the Hide button to save battery.
–You can set the step length and calories per mile value.
–You can save, delete and view the historical data.
–The historical data is stored in Microsoft SQLCe compact database.
–It can play the sound when the step is detected.
–It can sound an alarm when the set distance is reached.
–Tested with the US unlocked version of the Diamond and Sprint version of the Diamond.

In testing the application, the step detection could do some work, but seems accurate enough on average. The author notes the application can only work accurately if your Diamond is held in the vertical position.

Read more and download the application from this xda-developer thread here.

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GScroll Reviewed – worth at least $5

December 8, 2008 | By Surur

The arrival of GScroll by mobileSrc has been quite exciting. We have seen software use the g-sensor and the light sensor and the navi-wheel and even the stylus sensor, but the large capacitive pad on the front of the HTC Touch Diamond and Pro has sadly gone un-utilized.

MobileSrc has finally broken that dry spell by releasing GScroll. The app makes good use of the area to replace the unreliable scrolling function of the D-pad on the HTC Touch Diamond and Pro, and also has a few more tricks up its sleeve.

The D-pad has 2 sensitive areas on the left and the right of the scroll wheel, and each area can be used to scroll up, down, left and right. Unfortunately one can not perform a long scroll by going fully from the right to the left of the device, crossing two pads. The amount of scroll can also be varied – from a line by line scroll to a full page down or up movement.

The software also allows one to use the g-sensor to scroll by inclining the device while touching the center D-pad. I have not been able to get this to work on the HTC Touch Pro.

A further great feature is launching apps by double tapping the 4 buttons on the navi-pad lightly (without actually depressing it). I ran into a few bugs, and found while this function worked well to launch apps, the file explorer to add shortcuts to launch did not work at all.

In short, GScroll is far from perfect, but do not let the criticism put you off. The application is a diamond in the rough, and brings much needed functionality to your Diamond or Pro and I am sure the bugs will be fixed pronto.

At $5 it is a real steal.

SnowStorm 2 – graphics- accelerated G-sensor enabled snow globe simulator

December 8, 2008 | By Surur

Continuing with the Christmas season feeling, a new version of SnowStorm has been released. Versus the older version, the application features the following improvements:

- Using the OpenGLES SDK to create a “pseudo” 3D layout.
- Snowflakes will be larger in the front then in the back.
- If the PDA is laying horizontal, snowflakes will “disappear” to the back-end or stay on the front after a while
- Pseudo horizon, fixed at about 50% of the screen.
- Simple graphics, trees are placed randomly, snowman is fixed
- Simple turbulence (any pointers to good algorithms are appreciated)
- Snowflakes disappear behind trees/snowman, depending on their position in space. They will travel through them however
- Simple collision detection, only sides of the “frustum” are checked, as well as the artificial floor.

Click on the top part of the screen to quit the program. Click on the lower part of the screen to restart the app.

See the video below for the app in action.

Download the app from this XDA-Developer thread here.

Via 1800pocketpc.com

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GScroll – finally software that uses the capacitive navi-pad

December 8, 2008 | By Surur

Software that actually take full advantage of the large capacitive sensor area on the HTC Touch Diamond and Pro have been long in coming, and now seem to have finally arrived.

GScroll uses the area on the front of the HTC Touch Diamond and Pro very logically as scroll pads (like your laptop’s mouse pad) and also has other features e.g.:

‘Swipe’ to Scroll
GScroll allows you to swipe your finger left/right/up/down on the touch panel to scroll or navigate. This functionality will work in any Windows Mobile application that supports scrolling or navigation via the directional pad.

‘Tap & Tilt’ to Scroll
GScroll allows you to use your built in accelerometer to scroll or navigate any application. Simply double tap the center circle, and then begin tilting. To exit ‘Tap & Tilt’ mode, simply tap the touch panel.

Double-Tap Launch Zones
GScroll allows each of the 4 quadrants of the touch panel to be assigned to a custom application. Double tapping the quadrant will launch the application of your choosing. You can also assign custom actions to the hotkey, such as ‘Open Start Menu’ and ‘Close Current Application’.

Smart Scroll Mode
For both ‘Swipe’ and ‘Tap & Tilt’ scroll settings, you can either always scroll, always navigate (directional pad), or choose Smart Scroll Mode. This mode will choose the best suited method to control the current application. For example, PocketIE will scroll webpages, while swiping on the home screen will navigate up/down/left/right.

I have not tried the software out yet, but I am pretty excited to give it a go as soon as I receive a review copy.

If you cant wait for our video review you can download the trial cab directly from here or buy the full version from Handango for a low $4.99 right now.

Navtris – navi-pad and G-sensor enabled Tetris game for HTC Touch Diamond/Pro

December 6, 2008 | By Surur

Navtris is a small Christmas-themed Tetris game for the HTC Touch Diamond and Pro which makes use of the unique hardware on the devices.

Using the device sensors, the Tetris bricks can be moved and rotated based on the readings from accelerometer and scrollwheel sensors.

Playing instructions:

Bricks can be moved by tilting your device to the left or right, or by using the left or right key.

Bricks can be rotated by using the scrollwheel (both directions), or by using the up/enter key (only clockwise direction).

Bricks can be dropped to the bottom by using the “down” key.

See the video below for the app in action.

Cab files for installing the game can be downloaded from this XDA-Developer thread here.

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New update for Vodafone HTC Touch Diamond owners

December 4, 2008 | By Surur

A new ROM is out for for Vodafone HTC Touch Diamond owners, bringing the version up to 1.97. As far as I know (and I have not been keeping a close eye) this is the first new version after 1.92, which fixed numerous TouchFlo issues.

Unfortunately Vodafone did not say what this update is meant to do, but if you upgrade please let us know in the comments.

Download it from here.

Via Coolsmartphone.com

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HTC Diamond & Touch Pro still have graphics performance issues

December 2, 2008 | By Surur

Last year’s HTC Kaiser driver fiasco is still fresh in the mind of many Windows Mobile users (and also ex-Windows Mobile users). DSF from Mobilewave.ro has been disappointed to find HTC’s latest devices are not free from the self-same issue.

He writes:

Unfortunately the latest HTC devices devices with Qualcomm MSM7201A chipsets suffer from poor graphics performance.
More exactly, game experience and video performance are affected.

Let’s make some comparisons.

Game performance

1) Quake 3 Arena – hardware accelerated game

Nokia N82 – Symbian S60 QVGA
TI OMAP 2420 @ 330 MHz, chipset launched in 2005
Graphic: PowerVR MBX
In action:

Dell Axim x51v – WM VGA
Intel XScale PXA270 @ 624 MHz, chipset launched in 2004
Graphic: Intel 2700G5 Multimedia Accelerator
In action:

Touch Pro/Diamond – WM VGA
Qualcomm MSM7201A @ 528 MHz, chipset launched in 2008
Graphic: embeded ATI Imageon
In action:
(the device in video is a touch pro)

2) Picodrive emulator – emulating Sonic 3.

HTC Tornado (SPV C600)
TI OMAP 850 @ 200 MHz, overclocked at 252Mhz, chipset launched in 2005
In action:

HTC Touch Pro/Diamond
Qualcomm MSM7201A @ 528 MHz, chipset launched in 2008
In action:

Video playback performance

branko.savic from xda-developers tested a video on multiple devices using CorePlayer 1.2.5. He used the optimal settings for each device. Here are the results:

Samsung Omnia (Raw framebuffer): 442.74%
HTC Universal (Direct Draw) 165.28%
HTC Touch Pro: QTv display: 152.44%

Personally I’ve tested another video and got the following results:

HTC Tornado overclocked (262Mhz) max performance: 174.22%
Touch Pro max performance (528Mhz): 172,67%

3) Other games

Other games that you can test by yourself:
- Rats!!
- Ubulis TSE
- Spore
- DragonBall
- Prince of Persia HD
- Assasin Creed HD
- etc.

Those games should run smoothly on TouchPro/Diamond, but unfortunately they don’t.

As you can see in the videos, HTC Touch Pro/Diamond is below in all tests, it is bypassed even by a OMAP 850 chipset produced in 2005.

Also, in landscape mode you may notice an annoying redraw issue (Sync to VBlank), it’s noticeable on the left corner while dragging or when showing menus, for example.

Here’s some youtube video to see it exactly:

HTC Tornado (180Mhz) vs HTC Touch Pro (528Mhz)

Please note that the Samsung Omnia does not have this issue.

It seems that HTC didn’t work too much on the video drivers after all.. or is Qualcomm hardware poor on graphics tasks? When a decent driver/solution will come?

For more information please check the thread over at xda-developers.

Written by DSF from Mobilewave.ro.

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