Windows Mobile 5.0 on iMate PDA2K!!!

Yes!!! The wizards on xda-developers.com have done it again. For those of you who do not know, mamaich and company have successfully hacked up a WM5 software load for the HTC Blue Angel class of pocketpc phones.

Click "read more" for details and step-by-step instructions.

The upgrade process is non-trivial and not without risk, but definitely worth it in my opinion.

After reviewing the experience of those who took the leap (including many who decided to revert back to WM2003 SE), I decided to give it a shot this morning. Well, after several hours of use and tweaking, this puppy is staying on my machine beta or not!!!

Here are some impressions:

• UI rocks - the improved look is sweet. Not a major revision but definitely new eye candy without empty calories. This means that not only does the UI look great, there are definitely usability improvements.

  Here ia a shot of the Today Screen showing soft buttons on the bottom and Pocket MSN icons below the appointments panel:

  
  
• Soft Keys are an improvement - this is definitely an area of controversy for those accustomed to the old Pocketpc ui on devices with lots of hardware buttons (like the Blue Angel). Smartphone users are accustomed to this so no issue for them. I found that I could have the best of both worlds by using mamaich's patch to restore the old wm2003 SE button operation then simply assigning the left and right soft keys to the Windows/Start button and OK buttons respectively. I then reassigned the Recorder button to activate the Start menu.
• I am still experimenting with button assignment, but the Left and Right Soft Keys are definitely staying. They took a bit of getting used to, but I find them very flexible and intuitive after some use.
• PIE is much improved - I like the expanded screen real estate, the full screen mode and the interaction with the soft keys a lot. Here's a shot of the new and improved PIE showing the contents of the Menu softkey:
  
  
  
• Contacts is greatly improved - better presentation of information and much nicer feel. See the Contacts detail view below:
  
  
  
• Pocket MSN is really neat - This is one of the more impressive and most improved aspect of the device. We now have a unified email and I'M client on the device. It also looks great.
  
  
  
• While I was at it, I also upgraded the radio to version 1.13. This has cleared up the annoying problem where GPRS would fail to connect after a voice call. The only way to get past this was to turn off the radio then turn it back on. Needless to say, this was very annoying. But no more -- the radio upgrade fixed the problem and so far the radio is working like a charm. Check radio version in the image below:
  
  
  

Net-Net:

All-in-all I wholeheartedly recommend this upgrade for the ExtremePPC users among us with PH20B devices (more below). With this upgrade I no longer feel the need to even consider a replacement PPC to get WM5 since the PDA2K was super functional to begin with (WiFi, GSM/GPRS, Bluetooth, 128MB RAM, Keyboard and more) with a form factor that I am very comfortable with.

In fact, The only desirable feature my "new" PDA2K is lacking is GPS; however, a tiny Bluetooth-enabled Pharos GPS unit can be added for $199 -- which is a lot less than the $500+ that newer GPS-enabled devices are likely to go for.

My parting advice to the adventrous is to follow the instructions exactly as stated -- including application of the patches. There are some reported sound problems with PH21B Blue Angel devices. So be sure to read the accompanying posts thoroughly before making the plunge if you have one of these.

Upgrade details and step-by-step instructions can be found here.

Godspeed.

xman
"How come everything I think I need always comes with batteries?" -- John Mayer