**** I've updated this post with a bit more information here ****



Recently I decided to purchase a new cell phone. My M.O. is to get whatever phone comes free with a renewal of my cellular contract. My philosophy was that I only needed to make calls. I didn't need a camera/mp3 player/GPS tracker/coffee making cell phone that cost my first born. This year I wanted to change things up a bit and get a smartphone, something that would allow me to use homebrew apps. Being a software engineer I decided on the AT&T Tilt as it's based on Windows Mobile 6.

Unfortunately what I got was a large lump of horse shit. The phone, as a poor mans business phone, isn't half bad. The tilty screen and QWERTY keyboard are a blast to use and the number of apps pre-loaded on to the system is amazing. That being said the phone is slow as molasses. At first I didn't think anything of the problems. I've never used a smartphone before and I thought that perhaps the slowness was a byproduct running an operating system and touch screen. Boy was I wrong.

After getting the phone I decided it would be cool to have some free games to play. Fuck paying $10 dollars for some Java based piece of shit game I could code by flopping my dick on the keyboard for an hour. This lead me to Morphgear, a modular emulation platform for GBA, NES, and SNES. Unfortunately this is where problems began. The program runs at a blistering 3 frames per second. Basically that is like watching someone pop and lock in slow motion. It doesn't look good. Scouring the net I found the problem. Apparently HTC, the makers of the phone, are the keepers of cell phone douchebaggery*. They didn't release the video drivers necessary for allowing games to use hardware graphics acceleration. Instead the system uses software acceleration.

*Douchebag:

So what can you do if you own said phone? Not a damn thing. HTC continues to claim it's not in their best interest to produce said drivers. Bullshit. What it allows them to do is pimp their next generation Diamond phone by making it look that much faster. There is apparently a class action lawsuit on the web waiting for a litigator. The only option open to users currently is to wait for the XDA developers to come up with a homebrew graphics mod.

In the mean time you can make the phone suck a bit less by following these instructions:
1.) Drop some knowledge on your ass about ROMs and the homebrew community.
2.) Back up your current phone settings/contacts/messages/etc with PIM Backup.
3.) Optional: Backup your factory ROM. The XDA site has all of the original ROMS should you need to back up to ATT factory settings. Oh and here is the link for reconstructing the pieces from your backup. Small Edit: It's not readily clear how to use these tools from the forum post. You actually run pdocread from your computer's dos prompt. It should autodetect the device if it's plugged in. You may need to put the utility .dll file in to the Windows folder, I'm not sure. In my attempt to get the program working I copied over the dll's but I can't be sure if they were required. Once this is done just follow the forum's example.
4.) Download HardSPL which allows you to flash your Tilt/Kaiser/Tytn II with custom ROMS.
5.) Follow the HardSPL instructions exactly. Make sure to do a HARD reset afterwards.
6.) Troll the XDA forums looking for ROMS. I highly recommend the ROMs by Dutty. They are frequent, well written, and stable. They also offer some decent performance boosts.
7.) Make sure to download the correct Radio. Radio, in the sense of cell phones, is the module that handles bluetooth/wireless/gps/etc. Basically anything that sends/receives a signal.
8.) Enjoy.

I don't recommend following these steps if the tutorial in Step 1. didn't make any sense to you. Also, unless I'm mistaken, flashing a new ROM to the device voids the warranty. Although a nice side effect to this whole process is that your phone will be unlocked. And please, don't ask questions about how to upload ROMS after reading my post. The XDA website will have all you need to know.

Hopefully pressure from litigation and user disgruntlement will force HTC's hand and we'll see some hardware support. If I could load my own games on to my phone I'd be all set on trips.

HTC DOS Prompt: As far as I know there is NOT a dos prompt on the HTC Kaiser Tilt. That being said you can pull up a 'Run' command line thingy by holding the middle button and holding your stylus over the top bar for a couple of seconds. Let go and you'll have the options 'Run' and 'Clock'. There is also a mtty program that gives you a DOS like environment but you run it from you PC, not the Kaiser Tilt.


[ view entry ] ( 99 views )   |  permalink  |   ( 3.1 / 62 )

---

<<First <Back | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Next> Last>>