Removing a stuck sim in the Samsung Omnia 7

After attending the call for projects for windows phone 7 I got a lumia 800 from David Henry for submitting three apps in the marketplace.  It took me a while to switch phones but yesterday I finally got to it.  So then I would do what you’re supposed to do when switching phones, switch your sim card from one phone to the other.  That didn’t seem to go well and my sim card broke in half while trying to get it out of the Omnia 7.  Luckily for me it was just the adapter for the micro sim that broke of so the actual sim card could still be used.

I then tried to use some tweezers to get the sim card out but that didn’t seem to do any good. My last option then was getting the metal casing off, which surprisingly wasn’t that hard to do.

The first thing you’ve got to do is go to your usb charger port on the top of your phone and use a needle or screwdriver to get the top off.

When that’s done you’ll see 3 screws, unscrew them.  When the screws are out you can take the top lit off and slide the metal casing of your Omnia 7.

It’s that easy :-)  I didn’t see any warranty stickers or anything that can indicate loss of warranty so I think you’ll be safe on that part.  Removing the metal casing also doesn’t expose any of the electronics inside so there isn’t any risk of damaging anything.

Next posts I’ll try to cover some bits and pieces of the lumia 800.  Until next time ;-)

Three Windows Phone Apps in a day

A couple of months ago I followed a course on windows phone 7 development.  After attending the course, we were told that we could get a free phone if we developed 3 WP7 apps by the end of February. Me being myself, I of course waited until the middle of February to start developing these apps. 

Then I started to come up with 3 apps that I could build in a day (to be honest it took me 5 hours).  So I came up with the following.

A Fart application: I think everyone knows what this app does.  You shake your phone and farting noises will come out of your speakers.

A grenade app: This one took me the longest because I had to photoshop a grenade so I could flip the pin and move the handle.  It basically turns your phone into a grenade.

A card deck app:  Just a simple application that shows you a deck of card where you can pick one card at a time.

I was a bit scared of the certification process at first but it wasn’t that much of a hassle as I thought it would be.  The submission itself took a small 15 minutes because you need to upload some Icons for your application and a proper screenshot.  The screenshot must be taken in the emulator and of a certain size and format, this is what rejected my fart application the first time.  A colleague of mine also told me that his app got rejected because the NeutralResourceLanguage attribute in de AssemblyInfo.cs wasn’t set properly.  I deployed my app worldwide so I had to set it to:

[assembly: NeutralResourcesLanguage("en", UltimateResourceFallbackLocation.Satellite)] 

It basically tells the marketplace which language your app supports.  The attribute is taken into account in the certification process since the mango release.

Something that struck me when trying to certify my apps is how buggy the apphub site is.   The loading time to view an application is very long and when trying to edit my application details I had to switch to chrome because in Firefox and IE the page just wouldn’t load!

To sum it up, I was pleasantly surprised when I found out my apps got certified.  Hopefully they show up in the marketplace soon so I can collect my new windows phone.  I’ll post an update when the app is available for download.

I’ve been busy moving into a new home the last couple of weeks so that’s why you’ve might have noticed it’s been a bit quiet here.  Don’t fear, I have a couple of interesting blog posts coming up so stay tuned! ;-)

Remote Control your PC with Windows Phone 7

I just wanted to share a cool app with you.  It’s called cool remote and it allows you to remote control the desktop of your PC from iPhone or Windows Phone 7.  I’ve installed it this weekend and been trying it out since then and it just works great.  Even on 3G, the connection is stable and good enough to use. 

Default the application tries to use port 80 or 81 but I had to switch it to a custom port (in my case 1222) that I’ve had to open on my router.  Once that was done it was just a matter of connecting to the PC.

Another great thing about this app is that it’s free!

Here are the download links:

MarketPlace

Server side

Have fun!

Must have WP7 apps

Been playing with my Windows Phone 7 for a month now and I wanted to share my thoughts on what my favorite apps are:

Applications

Silvernavigator

I’ve put this one on top because I think it’s great.  It’s a full blown navigation app with turn by turn directions.  The latest update also includes rotating maps.  Very handy to use and a must have if you want to use the phone as a GPS… at least until the Mango update delivers turn by turn navigation with Bing Maps. 

HomePipe

An application that allows you to share a PC folder with your Windows Phone device.  It’s nice to use but I wouldn’t recommend using this with 3G connection because it will actually download the file you get from the shared folder.  The free version is also limited in usage but still more than enough for the average user.  I use this mainly to share large pdf’s and so on.

Tech News

Simple RSS reader that reads from several tech sites and bundles the information for you.  Very good application when you’re bored in a waiting room.

Draw Free

Simple application that allows you to make little drawings with your finger.

Adobe PDF / Youtube

These don’t need any introduction I suppose.  Really must have applications.

Games

Need For Speed Underground

Very addictive game.  Only a shame they’ve made it so easy.  I was really surprised by the graphics in this game. 

Rise Of Glory

Didn’t buy this game because the free level on its own is more than enough for me (I’m not really a gamer).  It’s a flight simulator with some very nice graphics.  Don’t play this in public though because you’ll look like a retard.

Mars runner

Free game in which you have to fly a space craft and avoid the rocks.  In my opinion one of the best free games out there.

Ultra Air Hockey 2

Very simple finger air hockey game.  This one is also free and it’s hilarious when drunk.

Some apps I’m going to try when I have the time for it are:

Touchxperience

A coworker (where I work allot of people have WP7 :p) told me about this app and it looks very promising.  Look at this link to know more about it.

Hydro Thunder Go

So much commotion about this game that I’m looking forward to try it out 

Voxofon

I’ve installed this some time ago but haven’t had the time to use it.  It promises VOIP communication.

I probably didn’t even scratch the surface of all the apps out there so if you have any good applications you’d like to share, just let me know J.  Till next time.

Developer license windows phone 7: how to deploy step by step

Yesterday I got a phone call telling me that the WP7 developer license is ready to be used.  Here is my user experience with deploying my first application.

At first I had to register the phone as a developer phone.  This was pretty easy, all I had to do was type Windows Phone Developer Registration in the start menu and select the tool to do this.

Then the tool launched and I was given the option to input my credentials.

One small notice is that I had 2 errors in the beginning

1.    I got a network error telling me it could not connect or my credentials were wrong: this was due to the fact that I am behind a corporate proxy that blocks the zune traffic.
2.    I got an error telling me my phone was not connected but that was solved by just reconnecting it.

Ow yeah, and don’t forget to unlock your screen to…

Then when the registration was completed I could open up my solution and start deploying my project.  You can deploy in two ways.  Either you deploy from within Visual Studio or you do it manually with the Application Deployment tool (just type it in the über start menu).

Again a small notice is that I got an error (again) telling me that my phone wasn’t connected.  If that’s the case then just reconnect it.

In Visual Studio you just have to change the device you want to deploy at in the top menu and start debugging or deploying (= right click project and deploy…).

That’s how easy it was =)

Next time I’ll give a small showcase of the KCalorator app we’ve build.

Windows Phone 7, I've got one! Yaaaaay me!

I recently got a Windows Phone 7 and wanted to share my thoughts with you on the OS and the phone.  The phone I got is the Samsung Omnia 7.  At first I was thinking of getting the LG optimus 7 but boy am I glad I went for the Samsung.  

The screen is truly superb.  The colors are vivid and even when using the phone in full sunlight the screen is more than readable.  I believe that Samsung uses a special manufacturing process in their Super AMOLED screens to make them more readable in the outdoors.  

Also performance wise this phone is truly amazing.  The 1 GHz processor is more than capable of running the WP7 operating system.  Even when browsing heavy sites, I have yet to see this phone flinch.

The build of the device is also very solid.  The back is made out of aluminum, so the phone feels expensive.  The slider on top of the phone to cover the micro usb port is also good instead of the cheap plug that some devices use.  One negative point this phone has is the power button that is positioned on the side of the screen.  Especially when making a phone call this can be truly irritating.  I only have the phone for five days but I’ve managed to turn it off by accident more than enough.  Also the battery life is pretty disappointing.  When the phone is in use for a full day while using 3g and wifi turned off, the battery is dead empty at the end of the day.

Overall I think Samsung has delivered a really neat device, so what about the OS?

The Samsung Omnia 7 runs the Windows Phone 7 operating system, hence the 7 in Samsu…  never mind. At the beginning it’s a real change from what I was used to (mainly Symbian and Android).  The design is basic but very clean.  I was very skeptic about the tiles on the home screen and I thought all the fuss about it was nothing more than a hype.  Yet I must say that it really is very fun to use and very innovative.  They give you a sense of personalization and interaction.  What does disappoint me is the main menu.  The main menu in Windows Phone 7 is nothing more than a listbox with the datatemplate set to a stackpanel with an image on the left and a textblock on the right.  Ok… I get it, you want to keep it basic, but damn that’s reaaaaaaallyy basic.  Maybe it’s a good thing they kept the games you’ve installed under the Xbox live hub, so the list doesn’t get to long. 

This brings us to the hubs.  Hubs are groupings of data / application.  One good example of this is the peoples hub.  Not only can you view people you know from Windows Live, Facebook, ect.  You can also see their status updated, make phone calles, see their profile, write on their wall, email them.  In essence everything you want to do with a person, you can do in the peoples hub.  Using this concept, I think Microsoft makes WP7 very accessible to users and allows them to distinguish themselves from the competition.  I let my girlfriend play with the phone for 10 minutes (under strict supervision surrounded by white pillows while glued to the chair) and she had no problem navigating and using it.

For business users this OS offers a nice integration with Exchange.  One can synchronize everything from contact to tasks to meetings, but that is more of a requirement than a feature these days.  PDF and office documents are viewable by using either the office hub or adobe pdf reader.

Other applications are available for download using the marketplace.  It is apparent that the marketplace for Windows Phone 7 contains allot less apps than on the IPhone of for Android.  The most obvious apps are their like adobe, youtube, facebook, ect.  But you can’t help it but feel the market place is still a bit empty.  It also strikes me that there are allot of applications available for programmers like a mini ‘C# in the cloud compiler’ or a programmers guide to .NET.  Could this mean that the majority of the WP7 users are .NET developers at this time?   The good thing about a less crowdy marketplace is that the applications that are available are of pretty good quality and you have to filter out less nonsense.  It is also the perfect moment for developers to start Windows Phone 7 development because the competition is less fears then oooh let’s say the app store where It’s a struggle to get you app noticed. 

Conclusion

I’m really glad I’ve got this phone.  I respect the competition but I wouldn’t trade my WP7 phone for any android or apple device out there.  The device and OS is lighting fast and rock solid.  Hopefully this Thursday I get to play with the WP7 developer license and start deploying custom apps to the phone. 

I’ll keep you posted!