Restore Milestone XY720 to Stock Firmware ROM

Sometimes, for whatever reason, you will find that you need to restore the phone to its original state. For Milestone XT720, its quite straight forward if you manage to find all the tools.

Firstly, you will need the flasher tool from Motorola. It is called RSD Lite. There is a version 4.9 from this link:
http://www.fileserve.com/file/srXxEhg
Simply install this and you will have the flasher tool and drivers ready.

You will need to hunt for the right ROM to flash to. I had seen some of these ROM around, but the hardest to find is perhaps the Singapore one, which there is a mirror here:
http://www.fileserve.com/file/WJMwZEa

1. Load the RSD Lite and extract the *.sbf from the ROM. 
2. Shut down your phone and take out battery.
3. Hold Power + Camera + Volume Down and place the battery in. You should get a DOs lookalike prompt now. This is the service mode.
4. Plug phone into PC using USB Cable.
5. Load the *.sbf file in RSDLite. Check information to see it is indeed the right ROM for you.
6. Wait until the phone is detected, highlight it and click [Start].
7. There are many steps, but one of them involving checksum may take a while. 
8. When it tells you to manually power off, unplug the phone.
9. Shut down RSD Lite.
10. You should now have the original Stock ROM.

Hope the above helps.

Flashing the HTC Snap S52X Maple

Before the HTC Maple class can be flashed to a custom firmware, the Hard SPL need to be installed. However you can check the SPL version by holding [Volume Down] and doing a cold boot. Mine says 1.24. But I found a way to flash the Hard SPL down to 1.19.

Below are the original instructions:

1. Removed SIM and SD card
2. Connected, established a sync connection w/ActiveSync
3. In JockyW's folder; open "SSPL"
4. Run SSPL.bat
5. If you have a firewall or anti-rootkit running ie. COMODO Internet Security, disable those and the sandbox if your security software has one. I left Bullguard on.
6. Follow commands in command prompt
7. Pop up should show on your device's screen. You may need to dismiss those messages about no SIM cards etc first.
8. The "OK" option is outside of the screen's viewable area, press the trackball or press enter.
9. The phone's screen will shut off but the keyboard will remain lit
10. DO NOT DISCONNECT (Yes, I know there is nothing on the screen)
11. LEAVE ACTIVESYNC ALONE
12. Return to the JockyW folder
13. Run the ROMUpdateUtility
14. It will complete HOWEVER when you start your device, it will stay at the T-Mobile splash screen, but that's okay, given that your device should now be hardSPL'd and you are ready to get a new ROM to install and enjoy, because we know just how much the OEM ROM sucked. For me, the T-Mobile did not turn up.

You need to download the Hard SPL from xda-developer via:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=550620

2FA on the Windows Home Server

With the banks and everyone else tightening up the authentication, it is also no surprise that people like me is also looking at a 2FA solution that log in to my WHS. I had chosen one of the out-of-band solution using the mobile phone. As I see it, this should be the way moving ahead.

I won't say too much about how it is done yet as I am still looking at the implementation, but it is likely I will roll this out this coming weekend and as such all login to the WHS will be disrupted and no longer valid until you have register you handphone with me. :)

I will share out the experience after I complete this exercise.

M1 to replace SingTel shop in Kallang Leisure Park

When a shop closes and get replaces by another, its pretty normal. Except it gets a bit funny in this case.

Why? Because Singtel is closed to be replace by a M1 shop instead :)

Good riddance to bad rubbish ~ SingTel

While I made my request to cancel my line to SingTel, I was told this will take place in 3 days time... I wait 1 week and the line was still active. So I called up again. This time I can't be bothered to wait in the queue which took like 45 mins. I just used one of the I lost my phone or something options to get an operator. I explained the situation and guess what? They notice it was not being processed. Then they tried to hold me back from cutting the line. The proposed a SPECIAL package which is only $6 / month. Emm... What can you get for $6? Well, nothing except 15 mins for airtime... so that whoever call you, you can still tell them you changed number. Lets do our maths and you will notice thats like 20 cents / min. Luckily I passed my maths. This is a really stupid plan as their last attempt to con my money. Without anything free means you will need to pay $5 for CallerID as well. Now, I told them plain and simple. CANCEL. I wont even want to explain why I am so fed up with them or how they had fcuked up over and over again for me. A quick answer, the operator say he can make a new request and it will be cut off before end of the day.

Now, doesn't that makes you wonder why they told me it requires 3 days to cut off in the first place? Anyway, I think I don't mind paying a bit more, but definitely I stay off the Evil Red company for now.

Beware of the SingTel Shop scam!

Yes, althought www.singtelshop.com seems really like a real shop, its a black shop. Look at what happened to me. I sign up, made the payment. Then they called me, told me that they cannot honor the purchase and slam the phone.

Guess what? They already charged to my credit card! I called and they insist they will not honor the purchase and will not send the phone to me.

Tell me if this is not a scam, what is?

I strongly advise anyone to think again if you are really buying from singtelshop.com. Or in the first place, does SingTelShop even belongs to SingTel? they have such differences in prices. For all you know, this is a phishing site!!!

Anyway, I am going to call my credit card company to cancel the purchase.

Goodbye SingTel! Hello Starhub

Let me share a story. I love the LG Viewty Phone, well for the price vs function anyway. I had been a SinTel Page, Mobile, Landline user for like since they started. So when my contract is ending, I gave them a call to see if they can work something out for me.

On the phone, I speak with the operator for hte latest promotion to renew. They apparently had nothing much. Their LG Viewty is $250 more than Starhub. So after some ping pong, she directed me to the manager. I asked her again to see if they can do something to keep a old customer. Guess what? She told me to go to a fair somewhere in Parkway Parade where they can give me further discount... I asked how much? She replied $50 less. OK, maybe their maths is not very good or they think my maths is not very good.

So, it was Starhub for me. I called them as well. I told them straight I am with SinTel and I asked if they can make me an offer I cannot reject. Straight away, they gave me $100 voucher for ANY plan with them for 2 years. Great, that makes a $350 difference with SinTel now. Ok, if consider the Parkway fair, $300 difference. Then the operator was pretty nice. I swear I did not sweet talk her, but she suggested I check the newpaper... There is a better offer... Oh, OK. So I did. One of Starhub's reseller was offering a further discount and package which is another $50 less plus free gifts. Emm, so there I was, grabbing my phone and line. Total. I saved $350 compare to if I stick with SinTel. But SingTel I had Caller-ID for Free due to the SingTel-UOB Card. So, in a way its kinda $60 more per year for me. But Starhub was willing to give me 3 months for free which means its $60 + $60 - $15 = $105 more for the whole 2 years contract. Big deal.

At this point, I need to stress that SingTel-UOB has scrapped that benefits without warning and its no longer FREE. And on top of this, Starhub has extended my 3 months to 1 year of FREE Caller-ID. That means that comparing SinTel and Starhub, I had a savings of $60 instead. Totalling my savings from the start to $410.

Niow, about the FREE gift. As I was no big fan of Jeff Chang, I gladly sold away the pair of tickets at low cost taking back another $120. Total, that means $530. Ok, I wont say how much I pay for the Viewwty, but apparently if you maths is not too bad, you will know its not just free. I have nett profit instead for changing a new phone...

You guys in the red, I don't know what else is holding you, but the patch is definitely greener here.

I DO NOT work for Starhub nor SingTel. This is totally based on my own experience and is not fictionous.

SingTel - UOB Card Caller ID is no longer FREE

There were some good reasons to switch over to the other providers. I had the SingTel-UOB Card who promises as long as you hold the card, your Caller-ID will be FREE. I guess contract means nothing to these corp nowadays. They can change it whenever they like it.

If you cannot read the babove, you can always read it here:
http://home.singtel.com/upload_hub/consumer/st-uob_promo08.asp

Its funny why this is even put inside PROMOTION... Apparently, if you are not using Classic, Premium 700, Premium 1500 or mio plan, they will CHARGE you for Caller ID without warning from 1st April onwards. I mean, WTF? At least they should have the courtesy to tell me in advance in Feb or March about this change. All a sudden you will all receive a phonebill with charges for Caller ID. Then I seriously doubt whats the whole point of holding this card? Or for that matters stucking up Red's ass.

There is always a Greener patch out there... I will leave that in another article. P.S. The Green company gives you Caller ID for free for 1 year. In your face, SinTel.

Shanghai Photo Slideshow

Ok here is the Shanghai one as requested. As usual, its poorly taken because I am blocked behind glass windows mostly. Despite all effort to negate the mirroring effect, it still exists. Some of these are taken using my W660i because (accident do happens) I run out of battery on my C750UZ and the closest store is like 400m away.

SE W660i Reprise

Oh ok, this is not the best camera phone around. That quite sum it up for the camera. But I had decided to pay for what I need and a simple basic camera is all I care for now. Its not powerful enough for a 2.0 MP against a 3.2MP K800i. Its does not come with BestShot(tm) which you can choose out of 9 shots which one you want to keep. Its does not have flash (which is pretty much useless and sometimes a hinder when you want to take photo without other people knowing. Animal photography sucks as well.

Now, the good part. The Walkman software is quite good. In fact, its so good you can actually continue to listen to your walkman and take photo at the same time. This is definitely not what K800i can do. The MegaBass(tm) is solid if I had not mention it before and its probably the most important thing I bought this photo for. TrackID is pretty much like online DB regconisation which is so common on the PC already. However, when using it with GPRS, it cost money. So i do not forsee myself using it much. I pretty much know what I put into my walkman phone anyway.

In all, take some give some. W660i is not the top of the line phone around but well worth the price and its beats anything that plays music I know. However, for someone who wants the best of both world AGAIN, there is W960i coming... 3,2MP with NegaBass(tm). Well big deadl, K850i is already 5MP. But I have decided I will use a REAL camera and forget about camera phone for now.

From Hero to Zero. Phone (Down/Up)grade

Welcome to the W660i. The Black with gold side plated version. I own the SE K80oi in case you missed my blog about 1 year plus ago. I had yet to test out everything, but I can assumed that this choice for downgrade as some will say is totally a switch of camp from camera priority to music priority. I drop the camera from 3.2MP to 2.0MP, but in turn gain the MegaBass(tm) again and better music management. The weight is much lighter and its much much thinner.

So, let me play around with it for a few more days and I will be writing my review here.