Mango RTM build 7720 leaked, flashable to devices (Update)

Whoa! Someone over at XDA-Developers is quite the connected cool kid. User longshot442 has uploaded a build of what he claims to be the official Mango 7720 RTM which is flashable to any device that would have it. Members in the thread have confirmed that it does indeed work without conflict, so this looks like a universal build (similar to Microsoft's own beta builds). There are also instructions on how to do it yourself available here, but be warned that flashing a device is always risky. You could end up with a bricked device, so unless you know what you're doing we recommend you wait!

We're looking forward to seeing any new features pop up in 7720. (If you find one remember that you can always tip us so we can write an article about it.)

Update: Here's the in-progress list of devices that have been confirmed to work with this RTM leak:

• HTC 7 Pro (and Arrive)


• HTC HD7


• HTC Mozart


• HTC Trophy (International and Verizon)


• LG Optimus 7


• Samsung Focus v1.3


• Samsung Omnia 7

Via: WPCentral
Source: XDA-Developers

DFT releases "Freedom ROM", independence for all supported HTC devices

Just a few days ago we had the very first custom ROM for the HD7 come from ansar of XDA-Developers fame, which included the nice perks of instant update to Mango and a built-in Chevron unlock. Now DFT (the ones behind the tools that make all of this possible) has decidedly one-upped ansar's effort and have revealed their own "Freedom ROM". While the latter only supported one specific European type of the HD7, DFT is promising that all of the devices their HSPL/RSPL tools support can flash this ROM meaning every HTC Windows Phone except the Sprint Arrive and Verizon Trophy.

What are you getting out of the deal?

• Mango build 7713 (a build ahead of developers)
• ChevronWP7 unlock
• Clean stock ROM (no carrier apps)

Not too shabby if we do say so ourselves. It's pretty much the same thing as ansar's work, just available for more devices. So if you're ready to give the adventurous new world of Windows Phone hacking a try, check out the official thread over at XDA-Developers Forum.

Via: Windows Phone Hacker, WPCentral
Source: XDA-Developers

First Custom ROM crashes the scene, allows HD7 to upgrade to Mango Beta seamlessly (Update: Now Available!)

Exciting news Windows Phone fanatics! DFT's hard work to create the RSPL/HSPL tools for custom ROMs on HTC Windows Phones appears to have finally paid off. ansar.ath.gr over at XDA-Developers says he's created his (and possibly the) first custom ROM for the HTC HD7. It's not just a useless 'proof of' thing either, as Ansar has promised his ROM will allow the HD7 to upgrade to Mango Beta 2 directly through Zune! Also the ROM jailbreaks the HD7 to allow sideloading of apps (presumably for NoDo only unless you follow steps to preserve it). Very cool stuff.

Here's the full message from the thread:

Dear forum members,


YES!!!


I successfully created my 1st custom ROM for the HD7 Windows Phone with the new HSPL by cotulla

I used as a base this ROM:

RUU_Schubert_HTC_Europe_1.69.401.01_Radio_5.54.09. 21_22.33b.50.10_NoDo_by_ansar

The custom build is has the ability to be unlocked and to upgrade to MangoB2 thru zune

In my next build i will try to include mango and dfrouter for those not sync to zune

Thanks to my giant friends ervious, mamaic, bepe and cotulla

I hope to upload it today and some day to create an hspl too!!


Till next version enjoy!!

Regards, ansar

As you can tell, he's just as excited as you are to share this incredible milestone with the world. So where is the ROM? Ansar has promised to upload it and release it later today so we'll be watching for that download link. Stay tuned!

Update: It's available now! Click on the source link to go get it! Also just a note, the 'unlocking' of the device means it is jailbroken, not that the SIM is unlocked. Sorry about the confusion and we've corrected the article.

Source: XDA-Developers Forum

DFT releases Custom ROM tools for HTC Windows Phones, enters unknown territory

Some huge news out of the Windows Phone development world today: the Dark Forces Team (DFT) have released RSPL/HSPL tools for a slew of HTC Windows Phones. For the common Joe that may not mean much, but these tools should be the gateway for developers to create custom ROMs for Windows Phone. The tool currently supports the Pro 7, Mozart, Surround, Trophy and HD7 and specifically does not support Verizon's Trophy or Sprint's Arrive (we're assuming AT&T's HD7S is supported since its identical to other HD7's).

While Windows Phone doesn't suffer from the normal symptoms (like uninstallable carrier apps) that usually inspire custom ROMs to be developed, there are still plenty of arguments in favor of this happening. Those perks include being able to flash updates instead of going through the somewhat laborious process of backing up your phone's contents, adding new customization options like new accent colors, changes to the operating system's behavior, and more.

However, these are only the tools to create custom ROMs so it may be a while before we get to see some really cool new stuff available for download. Still, this is exciting new territory for Windows Phone and we cannot wait to see what kind of creative changes and additions inspired developers can come up with.

Via: Windows Phone Hacker, WPCentral
Source: XDA-Developers

Homebrew: Wario's Jewels spotted in new hands-on video, release later today (Update: Available Now!)

  

Eager to see what the developers of Wario's Jewels 7 can come up with? We are too and if the video below is any indication, we're going to enjoy it a lot once it's released. In the video the team confirms that "over 500" classic titles are set and ready to go once the emulator is released. They also answer one of our initial concerns with their cloud approach, saying that games will be downloaded to your device through your games list once and will be saved, so it seems like the emulator won't have to rely on an internet connection.

WJ7 emulator looks extremely promising, and now the developers have sat down for an interview with 1800PocketPC. It's a great read through for anyone interested in the cloud-powered emulator, but here's the best part:

7. So when do you think we can try out Wario’s Jewels 7 ? is it going to have a public beta ? Where do we signup for beta testing ( if any )

The engine of WJ7 is now ready. There is just some small things to correct like themed buttons (boring). the beta testing phase is over now. Thanks to the WJ7 tester team for that !

They have informed us the NoDo version will be going up later today !!!

That's right everyone, you should be able to get your Pokemon on later today if all things go according to plan. Stay tuned for news on the release, or keep up with the WJ7 team yourself via their Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube accounts.

Update: Wario's Jewels 7 is available now! Visit the homepage for the download and go get your retro gaming on!

Source: 1800PocketPC, Wario's Jewels 7

New Hack Lets Your Remap HTC Hardware Buttons, Make Sense of Your Life

Have you ever felt the need to press the Search button to go the Start page? Or what about slightly pressing-in the camera button to go to Bing search? Look we get it, sometimes buttons are just too limiting and even Nokia might agree with you. But for those of us with Windows Phones that still have those old-school buttons on them, what are we to do in order to mix things up in the relationship? Well if you have a HTC Windows Phone and some time to kill, then check out the new button mapping hack from XDA-Developers user YukiXDA. The hack itself isn't new per-say, as it has been done before with several HTC HD2s running Windows Phone, but it's new to the 'blessed' HTC Windows Phones. So in the thread they outline exactly where you need to go inside your phone's ROM in order to make the proper nips and tucks to get those buttons just right, and if you follow the instructions you can now finally make some sense out of those confusing controls. For more about the hack including diagrams to help, visit the thread here.

Via: PocketNow
Source: XDA-Developers Forum

Developers: Mango restricts apps even more from System (including homebrew apps)

We were definitely excited to see all of the new Mango APIs when they were detailed at MIX '11, which meant that apps could be deeper entwined with the operating system. However we were much more excited about the possibilities for homebrew apps as Microsoft was opening up some key accesses that had thwarted eager developers in the past. But it looks like that excitement was premature and we have now learned that Microsoft is in fact restricting apps even more than before with Mango. According to ChevronWP7 member Rafael Rivera,  Mango is going to be restricting apps from making COM calls to the "interop services" found in the operating system's registry and other native resources.

WPCentral's Daniel Rubino attempted to sideload homebrew apps like registry editors and theme changers and was given an error code in response. As Rivera explains it, "Mango won’t officially support the deployment of custom applications with the ID_CAP_INTEROPSERVICES capability flag." So in layman terms, any current homebrew apps that make use of the registry or system access cannot be deployed to the phone thus effectively halting the possibilities for customizations with homebrew.

Mango will still allow apps to be sideloaded via the app deployment tool in the Mango SDK, but don't expect any easy route for developers to create apps with user interface-altering functionality like MobileNotifier for Windows Phone. This pretty much negates everything the development community was excited about with Mango and we really really hope Microsoft is working on that official homebrew plan of theirs.

Via: WMPU, WPCentral
Source: Within Windows

Homebrew: Gameboy Emulator in the works, play some Pokemon Red from the cloud

So you love playing all of those old-school Nintendo Gameboy games, but you finally graduated to a smartphone and you miss them? Well if you were on Android or iOS, you'd probably be using an emulator to get your fix right now but sadly Windows Phone has been left out in the cold. Until now that is!

Developer Samuel Blanchard has been working on a new ">Gameboy emulator dubbed WJ7 (aka Wario's Jewels 7) and boy does it look awesome. It's currently at v0.4.5 but Blanchard promises the public release date "should be very soon". So you may be wondering what the heck took so long for a real emulator to come out for Windows Phone, and the main reason is that Microsoft's APIs are just so limited that it was hard as hell for homebrew developers to figure out how to sideload their own content for their apps. In the case of an emulator, you need to load ROMs of each game into the emulator in order to actually play it but apps in Windows Phone are siloed and therefore unable to read ROMs from anywhere else you may be storing them on the device.

Luckily it looks as if Blanchard has figured out a way around this little setback through the use of GameLists which generates an XML file after you add whatever games you want to play to it. From there you input the XML file link into WJ7 and BAM!, you can play Gameboy games! If that's too complicated for you, think of it like this: the actual game file is in the cloud and you use your phone to 'stream' the game. Now, the only limitation we can see from this method is that it may require an internet connection to play (or at least to load up the game at first) and therefore it could suffer from lag.

We'll try to find out more from Blanchard and if you'd like to follow news about WJ7 direct from the source, you can follow the Twitter account here and the Facebook page here. Also, of course, you can read the original thread at XDA-Developers forums right here as well. If you want to see just how GameLists work and how to prepare your own, jump past the break for a quick YouTube video tutorial.

Update: We have been informed that BadCam3 is not in fact the head developer but rather Samuel Blanchard is. Post has been updated to reflect that.

Via: WPSauce
Source: XDA-Developers Forum

Homebrew: Stream Your Windows Phone to a Monitor Wirelessly with 'WP7 Screen Recorder'

One of the biggest things Microsoft has missed out on with their first generation of Windows Phones is proper audio/video output. All of these devices are supposed to be high-end yet completely lack either a HDMI output or at least a USB A/V output like the Zune HD had. Well whatever Microsoft doesn't do, the homebrew community does instead and this time we're looking at fiinix's 'WP7 Screen Recorder' homebrew app.

The work-in-progress app is based on The DllImport Project and the developer is hard at work optimizing the app while its in Beta. As you can see from the video, the almost unusable frame rate is priority one but the app shows a ton of promise. The first video above is an example of the Windows application paired with the device through a cable, and there's another video below which shows the app wirelessly stream to the computer's monitor via Wi-Fi. This is one of the coolest homebrew apps we've seen so far from XDA-Developers and we can't wait to see it's progress continue.



Via: MonSmartphone
Source: XDA-Developers Forums

Developers: ChevronWP7 Labs Unlocks Your Phone For Less, Microsoft-Approved

Have you been sitting on the fence waiting to become a Windows Phone developer? We suppose you're trying to figure out if the platform will really take off or if you're better of with Android or iOS. Of course, then there's actually paying to become an app developer which is expensive on any platform. Microsoft itself charges $99 to join their App Hub and only then can developers unlock their phones to start some serious work.

Well that may become a thing of the past thanks to the geniuses at the ChevronWP7 team. Yesterday the group announced an upcoming service called ChevronWP7 Labs which promises to make development more accessible. How? By unlocking (jailbreaking) your Windows Phone for less than 99 bucks. Details are light as of now, but apparently their method will be in fact Microsoft-approved and the team promises it will only be a "small fee". Anything to encourage Windows Phone development is a win in our book, and we can definitely see this giving a huge boost to the homebrew community.

If you're a potential or current developer, what do you think about this move? And should ChevronWP7 be sticking to their free tool or is a cheap paid method a better solution?

16-Bit Color Is a Microsoft Requirement, Registry Fix to 32-Bit Available

    

16-Bit (left) vs. 32-Bit (right) on Samsung Focus

Last month when HTC devices were being updated to NoDo, users noticed that the picture quality suddenly had a banding issue similar to what Samsung's Super AMOLED screens experience. The issue was caused by a change in color depth from 32-bit to 16-bit that HTC was required to change on Microsoft's request. Earlier this week, a Microsoft Answers moderator told a user that the 16-bit depth is a requirement of Microsoft in order to ensure a consistent experience while using the OS. WMPoweruser later found out that Mango was going to fix this and change phones to 32-bit color instead.

Sucks right? Well nobody said you have to wait until this Fall in order to fix the 'issue' because 1800PocketPC has a quick tutorial to help you out. Please note that this requires your Windows Phone to be developer unlocked or jailbroken in order to do, but if you qualify you can get to it right away and it's relatively easy. We did the fix ourselves and we saw a pretty huge difference on our Samsung Focus's display (seen above, click to enlarge). Visit 1800PocketPC for the tutorial and you can find their how-to video below.

Jaxbot Releases TaskViewer Homebrew App, Android Owners Feel Right at Home

In the Android world, there's a huge debate between users over the use of task managers. Some firmly believe that Android was designed to let programs run in the background because it is self-sufficient without the need of user management; others say that Android lets programs run without proper management and could result in the weak battery life or slow performance of phones. Luckily for us Windows Phone owners, we don't have to deal with any of that because we know Windows Phone is self sufficient. But just in case you're the type of person who is a teeny bit paranoid and wants to see exactly what their phone is up to at all times, Jaxbot has stepped in to fill that void.

Jaxbot, the same mastermind behind the amazing Multitask7 homebrew app, has taken to XDA-Developers Forums to unveil TaskViewer. Here's his description of the app:

Here's what it is. I was curious to see how WP7 handled memory usage and running applications, and this program made it much easier to view this information in a convenient manner. After some cleaning, I figured I'd share it with you guys, and see if anyone has some suggestions. No, this is not a task manager, as I don't know how to get around the privilege issue. But once I do, I'll be sure to update it.

Also, it served as a basis to experiment with background threads. If you have dehydration enabled, I've programmed it to listen for the VolUp/VolDown combination. If detected, it'll bring up a message box in any running application with the current memory information.

[...]

Features:
-Displays memory load and total physical memory
-Displays device uptime
-Lists all running processes
-Displays a message over the current application with memory load information upon pressing VolUp+VolDown (dehydration hack must be enabled)

If you want to join your Android brethren and start watching your tasks (even though you can't actually manage them) then visit the thread on XDA-Developers for the download and check out the video above.

Source: XDA-Developers

"Walshed" Phone Support Tool Released to Public

Well it looks like Chris Walsh has come through on his promise to Microsoft. Today Chris Walsh of ChevronWP7 released the official "Walshed" Phone Support Tool which will help any of those who used the Updater tool in order to get an early NoDo fix. This is the Microsoft-approved method of getting your over-eager Windows Phone back on the right path and a guarantee that you will receive future Microsoft updates. Walsh on the creation of this fix:

With the existence of an update I was able to further test my tool on how phones would behave with future updates.  Which led me to realise, in CERTAIN scenarios phones wouldn’t update, but yet others would.  Which led to the creation of this tool.  This tool has been tested by Brandon and his team and I have approval to release it to users for use. As screenshot shows, you just need to CAREFULLY select the right languages installed on your phone, and click “Continue”. This will REPAIR your “Walshed” phone and put you back on the official update path.

If you're one of those affected by the tool, visit Walsh's blog and get the download for your PC.

Source: Chris Walsh

Microsoft Approves Fix for "Walshed" Windows Phones (Update)

Official word coming from the ChevronWP7 Twitter page confirms that Microsoft has just approved a possible solution to phones that used the team's Updater to force the NoDo update. No details yet, but they are forthcoming and we officially have a confirmation.

Update: Brandon Watson just took to the Windows Phone Developer Blog to divulge the details of the supposed fix. Watson confirms that the Updater tool has prevented phones from receiving future updates, specifically yesterday's 7392 update, saying the tool "performed an incomplete update" when forcing NoDo:

With Windows Phone update build 7392 going out to phones via the official update mechanism, those people who have used the unsupported method of forcing 7390 onto their phones will find that their phones will not update to 7392. With the official update process there is a requirement that the package on the phone also be official in order to update itself. 

Phones updated via the unsupported method do not contain an official image and cannot be updated further at this time. Due to scheduling of engineering resources, we did not anticipate having to undue the changes made to phones by these unsupported methods. While we are not ruling out having a fix in the future, for now there is no fix. 

However, Watson goes on to say that the ChevronWP7 team has taken up the responsibility in order to provide a fix:

However, the creators of the unsupported tool are a clever bunch, and wanted to get a timely fix created for customers who have put their phones into this state. They believe they have created a way to get these phones back on the officially supported path. We will work with them to validate their solution and applaud the team for taking responsibility to do this.

So as of today, any "Walshed" phones will not be receiving the 7392 or any future Windows Phone updates. Fortunately for those who did use the tool, it's clear ChevronWP7 is admitting their mistake and will be providing a fix sometime soon. In the meantime, just be extra careful while browsing suspicious websites or opening unknown emails on your Windows Phone in order to avoid that security hole yesterday's update patched.

Source: Twitter, Windows Phone Developer Blog