i730/WM5 Setup Guide V 0.6 (The KINDA quick and dirty version)
Welcome: I put a little more detail in here than I thought I would. I also created a custom cab file to help with the setup, as well as including RegEdit. I still suggest that you read the original setup guide, found in the link just below this paragraph. It contains valuable information about editing the registry and doing changes to the phone. Consider it the newbie guide and this guide having at least some assumption that you have read it.
Now this won't be as detailed as that guide probably until a Version 2.0 is released sometime in the next few weeks, but I at least thought I would run through some steps to help you all out, and to make this work a little better. I am NOT going through the detailed steps, just overall steps, and the phone will be setup similar to what mine was last time. Many of the steps are the same, but some are a little different.
PAYING: Although this guide is completely free, if you really want to make me feel special and want to keep me doing things like this (although I probably will anyway) feel free to PayPal me with whatever you want. I don't get paid for helping/moderating/contributing at pdaphonehome.com, I do it because I like to do it. But if this really helps you, then feel free to drop me a few dollars (or $5, or $10, or $20, or $50, or $100, depending on your tax bracket). A lot of work is going in to this guide to compile my information, and a lot of my free time has gone/will go towards it's creation, and future updates.
DISCLAIMER: This is how I, let me repeat that, I, setup my i730 with WM5. You might choose to skip some of these steps, do more, who knows. This is how I like mine, and so far, everything is working with decent speed. I also want to say I take no responsibility for any of your information you might loose by Hard Resetting your i730, so make sure you backup EVERYTHING that you want (and you have to do this manually now, unless you want to buy Sprite). Also do not redistribute, post/copy this information in any other thread/forum, or steal this guide without written permission of myself or pdaphonehome.com. You are welcome to link to this thread or to it's placement in the i730/i830 FAQ, but do not reproduce it other than for your own personal use in a non-public domain.
INSTRUCTIONS: For the time being, these aren't going to be as "Newie" friendly as the last set of instructions, but I will be adding more and more to this guide as time goes on, and if new tweaks and tricks happen, so consider this an EARLY work in progress. I suggest again, that you read the original guide first, all of it, then come here and go through these steps. Eventually it will be as detailed as the other guide for 2003, but for now, it's quick and dirty.
Backup
-------------------------------------------- Since there is no backup option (for free, or installed by default, but you can purchase one), you can't backup your phone before a hard reset, so make sure you have synced the phone, know all of your serial numbers, etc. Because if you do a hard reset, then everything is gone and you start back over.
I have purchase Sprite Backup for WM5, and it does work. I have tested it. So if you do want to buy it, know that you get what you pay for. But if you don't want to buy it, you will have to backup everything manually.
Here are some of the things you will loose, and have no control over:
1. Call Logs
2. Speed Dials
3. E-mails/Text messages
4. Setups
5. Contacts/Calendar/Tasks/Inbox (This can be prevented by making sure you sync before a hard reset)
6. Program settings
7. Registry tweaks
Manual Backup
-------------------------------- 1. So now go through the call log on the phone and write down any numbers you might want, or save them to your contacts. You are going to loose you call log, so do this, otherwise you might have to wait to check out the detailed call list in your account on VZW's website.
2. Text Messages. Go through your text messages and write down any information you need.
3. E-Mail, go through your e-mail account settings and make sure you have them all recorded.
4. Software, go through and make sure you have all your settings backed up inside software. Use the export feature if you must.
5. Perform a sync, and make sure everything is in Outlook, as we are going to Hard Reset and setup everything again.
Software List
------------------------------------ This will be the list of software I choose to install on the i730, and all of these applications and versions will work with WM5, and shouldn't cause any major problems.
Until this section is complete check out these threads:
Hack List
--------------------------- All the hacks are compiled in one CAB file, available in post #8. That post also explains all the hacks that were accomplished in the CAB file.
If any additonal hacks are done, they will be listed here so that you can manually add them, and the CAB file will be updated so you can also load them that way.
The following links are where the hacks were taken from, including threads that you can get more information, or potentially find other hacks that were not included.
WM5 i730 Setup Guide - Hard Reset & Format SafeStore
Before we Hard Reset the phone, download and rename the MRailing Phone Tools.cab found just two posts down in #8. This will help us setup our i730 after the hard reset. After downloading the file, rename the file extension from .TXT to .CAB. Keep the file handy as we will copy it to our phones after the hard reset using the Guest account through ActiveSync. (or if you have an SD card, you can copy it to that for easier installation after the hard reset).
1. Format SafeStore & Hard reset at the same time - Luckily with WM5 you can do a hard reset and format SafeStore at the same time. I do this to completely get my phone back to factory settings and completely clean.
So Click Start -> Setting -> System Tab -> Erase Memory.
Check both boxes, and when clicking each box, you will be prompted to type in 'YES' after clicking each one. Now if you look at the right softkey it says "Format", so hit the right softkey to format SafeStore First, and then on the reboot, it will Hard Reset your phone (otherwise known as Formatting Root...).
That's it, pretty easy....
If you want to Hard Reset because of a problem. Hold down the Menu Key and the Slider and while continueing to hold them down, press the Reset hole, and DON'T let go of the slider and Menu key until you see Formatting Root...
-date/time
-Name/information
-Initial Sync
-Settings area
-Install MRailing Phone Tools
1. So now our i730 is sitting at the WindowsMobile screen telling us to "Tap the screen to set up your Windows Mobile-based device." So tap the screen.
2. You are then prompted to Align the screen, so go ahead and align the screen by clicking each of the + icons, directly in the middle of them. It might take a little more pressue than you are used to, and you might have to hold it on the + for a second for it to register. You will do it in the middle, top left, bottom left, bottom right, top right, and then taken to the home screen.
Now we are going to setup the MRailing Phone Tools.
ALSO if you haven't already done so, you will need to install ActiveSync 4.1 found here.
3. If you have already used ActiveSync, and have partnerships, we want to delete those. So open ActiveSync on the computer and click File -> Delete Mobile Device, and do this until you can't do it any more. This will remove the partnerships still on the phone.
4. So if you haven't already, download the MRailing Phone Tools from the post below, rename the extension from .TXT to .CAB and save it to your desktop.
5. Put the phone in the cradle, but when prompted by ActiveSync, just hit cancel (We will setup our partnership later). This will get the phone in to Guest Mode. Now in ActiveSync you will see a button on the toolbar that says Explore, click that, and you will open up the "hard drive" on the i730. Double click on "My Windows Mobile-Based Device", and you will see the root of the i730. Double-Click on SafeStore to open it. We are going to put the MRailing Phone Tools in SafeStore, so if something happens to the phone, or it's accidently hard reset, you have this file available. So drag the file from your desktop in to the Explorer window with SafeStore Open. It might say that ActiveSync needs to convert the file, just click Yes/OK.
6. Take the i730 out of the cradle. The rest of this section will be done on the i730, so lean back and get out your stylus. Click the Start Button then Programs. Then Click "File Explorer". You will be in the "My Documents" folder. Click the left softkey to go to the "root" of the phone, and you will see the SafeStore Folder, click that folder to open it. You should see one file. "MRailing Phon..." which is the MRailing Phone Tools.cab file. Click it to install. If you prompt you saying that this is an UNKNOWN application, choose YES to install (Left Soft Key). This is one of the fixes of the CAB file. It turns this prompt OFF while installing software.
Now it asks where you want it installed. Choose "Device" and click the left softkey again, for Install. Once installed it says that "You must restart the device to complete installation. Select OK to restart or Cancel to continue". Choose OK, the left softkey to restart. If you aren't prompted for this, then manually do a soft reset.
When the phone reboots, all the changes from Post #8 are complete, and you will no longer see the Owner Information or Pocket MSN on the Today Screen, which is normal.
Now we need to setup the reset of the phone.
7. Setup Owner Information - Click Start -> Settings, and click Owner Infomration, type in your information. (also as a tip, put a phone number OTHER than your mobile number. If someone finds the phone, they can call the other number. Just a suggestion. Also click the other tabs and select any other options as needed, like if you want your information to appear when you turn on your device. When finished, click the OK in the upper right corner.
8. Buttons. Click the Buttons and set them up how you want. Keep in mind that with WM5, it changes the upper two buttons to be the softkeys, so you can either leave it this way as WM5 was designed, or go back to WM2003 way. If you do it as WM5 is designed, then the pictures won't match with what you are clicking, but that's ok. You also now have the ability to assign the VoiceSignal button to what you want, as well as doing long presses of buttons. Click OK when finished.
9. Input, we don't have to worry about anything in here, as the MRailing Phone Tools have already fixed it.
10. Phone App - Click Phone to setup the phone app. If you want, put in your password for the Voicemail on the first page. (i.e. *86pp12345) The two 'p' include a 2 second pause each. So it calls your VM and pauses for 4 seconds then types your password automatically. Replace the 12345 with your real password. If you have a lot of people that use your phone, and you don't want them to know the password, then don't put it in, as anyone with access to your phone can access your password.
I change the Ring type to Vibrate and Ring, so do that if you want. Under the Option Tab, I click "Call Answer by the slider open." Then makes it answer when you slide it open. I then go to the Service Tab, and turn Voice Privacy to Standard. I still think it makes clarity better on the phone I then Click ok, all the options I change...
11. Today screen. Really you don't need to adjust any of the settings here, unless you want to change the theme, or turn back on owner information, pocket msn, or turn off one of the other today screen plugins (Wireless maybe?). If you went in, click OK when finished.
12. Now go to the System Tab. Click About, then Click the Device ID tab, and give your i730 a Name. No spaces are allowed, so put an '_' for where you want a space. Click the OK when finished.
13. Backlight. We don't need to adjust backlight, unless you want to have some settings different than mine. The MRailing Phone Tools already sets it up per the instructions for it. If you go in, click OK when finished.
14. Clock & Alarms - Since the i730 no longer prompts us to setup the time when it's first back from a Hard Reset, we need to setup the clock before Syncing the first time. So open the Clock and adjust the "Home" area to the correct time zone. Then click the More Tab and check the box to "Display the clock on the title bar in all programs". This makes the clock appear on the title bar in every area but the Today screen, which you can't get it on "yet". Click OK when done, and it will ask if you want to save changes to the clock, click YES.
15. Click Error Reporting. Click Disable Error Reporting to turn it off, this will save some memory.
16. Click Screen - Click the Text Size tab, and then adjust the text size. I like the second from the left. Now click the OK button.
17. Click the X in the corner to close the settings menu. You might also notice the Wireless Manager restarting. This is normal because of the one of the registry keys I changed. This should fix one of the problems we have been having with WiFi not showing up occasionally in the Wireless Manager.
18. Remove WOWTray from startup - I like to do this because I don't use it and I want the memory back. Click Start -> Programs -> File Explorer, and now navigate to \Windows\Startup\. Delete the WOWTray shortcut. Do this but doing a Click&Hold on it and choosing Delete. Close File Explorer with the X in the corner. We now need to Soft Reset to "unload" the SRS Audio Tray Utility. So soft reset.
19. We now need to sync the i730 to put your information back on the phone. So put the phone in the cradle and you will be prompted with ActiveSync, click Next. Now you are prompted with options for ActiveSync. I click the Calendar and then click Settings button. I adjust it to 6 months, as I like to have my calendar pretty far back. I then select e-mail and then settings and adjust it to 1 week and 1 KB for size. I don't include attachments. I check Notes and I make sure that Files, Avantgo, Media, and in my case SlingPlayer Mobile are all UNCHECKED. Also uncheck any other programs that you might have on your desktop, but not on your phone yet. Click Next, then Click Finish.
20. It will start to Sync, and then prompt you about overwritting the files, and you want to choose, "Replace the items on my device with the items on this computer". Then click OK. This will sync your i730 with the computer.
I have compiled all the "best" registry changes, as well as a few other changes in to one file for EASY install. This will NOT require you to edit the registry, and will make the i730 as fast as it can be with the current known hacks. Below is a list of what this CAB file does:
File Management
--------------------------------------------- 1. It places the WOWtray icon normally found in \windows\startup\ into \windows\start menu\programs\, and also renames it to SRS Audio (this way if you want to use it, you just click the SRS Audio file to launch the tray app, not the full SRS application).
Now since some people like the Tray App to run so they can use it, it is not going to be removed from startup automatically. So if you want to save a little bit of memory, you can navigate to \windows\startup\ and remove the WOWTray shortcut, just click&hold on it, and select delete. Even if you have deleted the Tray shortcut already, it will still be placed in Programs.
2. Puts the SoftKeyAppletEX.cpl in the \windows\ directory. This application allows you to EASILY edit the soft keys found on the bottom of the screen. To access the application, click Start -> Settings -> System Tab -> Soft Key.
3. Put a copy of PHM RegEdit in \program files\MRailing Phone Tools\. Also places a shortcut of RegEdit in the Programs directory for easy access.
4. Puts an "empty" carrierlogo.gif image in the \windows\ directory. This overwrites the Verizon Logo image that shows up on the Phone Pad. If you want "some" image to show up, just place your own GIF image (77 x15 pixels) in the \windows\ directory, and name it "carrierlogo.gif".
Registry Tweaks (39 registry changes and tweaks)
------------------------------------- 1. Change IE Cache, Cookies, History to \SafeStore\Internet\
2. Change IE Cache size from 15 MB to 2 MB
3. Turn off SMS Delivery Notification (Still can turn this on per message, but off for all by default, and will not notify you that the message has been sent)
4. Turn off "Installation File Security Warning". You won't be prompted to accept files when you run them.
5. Performance Tweaks (all the various Cache Size changes, and disabling of animations to increase the speed)
6. Show 'busy status' in Calendar Agenda View. (free, busy, tentative)
7. Change Word Suggestion when typing from 1 to 4. This will give you 4 suggestions after you have type 2 letters of the word, and if you select one of the words, it will automatically put a space after it.
8. Change a Wireless Setting to Restart when resuming from suspend (should help some of the WiFi Problems). It was found on BlueAngel devices that by having this registry setting it made WiFi work better after it was enabled, and the phone went to sleep. This might fix some of the problems with WiFi vanishing from the Wireless Manager.
9. ALWAYS prompt for location when installing. Some cab files are programmed not to request where they are to be installed. With this setting it makes it so it ALWAYS prompts you. Note that some programs might NOT like to run from a memory card.
11. Change to NEVER delete any cab file after installation. Some cab files after you install them are programmed to automatically delete themselves. With this setting, they stay where you put them. I like this because I like to keep the cab file handy incase I need to reinstall any of the software.
12. Include 12 mobile friendly favorites. Favorites inside of Pocket IE. These are some handy sites (including the PDAPhoneHome Forums) in mobile versions.
13. Changes the home page to: http://www.google.com/xhtml. This is the mobile friendly version of Google. I like this because it loads fast and I normally want to search when I am on the web. The original start page was (http://vzw.msn.com), which is a branded MSN mobile page for Verizon. The non-branded version is in the mobile favorites.
14. Removes the "Owner Information" and "Pocket MSN" from the Today Screen. I want the scree realestate, so by default I remove the Owner Info and the Pocket MSN Today plugin. This just saves me some time.
15. Changes screen backlight timeout to 2 minutes when on battery, and 10 minutes when plugged in. I hate having only 30 seconds with the backlight on, so this is changed to 2 minutes for some extra time. Also when plugged in the backlight stays on for 10 minutes.
This file version date & time stamp is = April 2, 2006 / 2:34 PM EST
When you download this file, you will need to rename the TXT extension to CAB. Detailed instructions for installing are in the previous section (but in general, copy to the phone, run on the phone)
This can be uninstalled using "Remove Programs" in the Settings Menu if need be. All settings will be back to what they were before the install, except if you delete the WOWtray, it will still be gone.
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