End of a great Run ...

Dear All,

I haven't been updating this page in some time, am writing to you all to let you know that I have sold my Asus P320 and move onto an Android phone LG Optimus One.

It was quite an amazing two years with this phone and am sure many of you will also slowly move on to others. Till then I will still moderate comments on the blog to prevent spam from getting added.

Cheers !!

Asus P320 Windows Mobile 6.5 ROM Build 23549

Manas Girdhar has been really busy churning out the latest ROMs for the Asus P320. There has been frenzied activity with various builds adding new feature and fixing the bugs that arise out of the newer builds.

The current version of ROM for Asus P320 is Windows Mobile 6.5.5 Build 23549. Couple of files from the older build have been used but Manas assures us that the kernel used in the build is the 23549 one only.

Based on the feedback received it seems reasonably stable. I however have yet to upgrade to the latest build, probably will do it sometime over the weekend. I have been on the 23085 build for the last couple of months and beside the late ringing of the phone has been phenomenal. The details of that build is available here

Asus P320 Windows Mobile 6.5 ROM Build 23085

Some of the users have mentioned that the new ROM solves the issues that require the Ks20.exe patch as well as the late ringing problem. I will update on this post with my personal experience.

The device is to said to boot up with

Free Ram:23 Mb
Free Device Storage:23 Mb

I will also added screen shots over the weekend for a better look and feel. If any of you people do try it out before I do, do post your comments here.

The link of the ROM is here

http://www.mediafire.com/?vtqe4ozqiwd


The Link of the original posting about this ROM is here

http://winmo.forumpro.eu/p320-f5/wm-655-build-23549-fixed-and-office-build-added-t94.htm


If you do flash this, it on your own risk, however here are a couple of useful pages for everyone who decides to flash the Asus P320 with a Windows 6.5 ROM




In case of missed call problems with this build. Have posted solution for same here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/11/asus-missed-call-problem-windows-mobile.html


UPDATE: I have added a separate blog on enabling the weather plugin for Windows Mobile 6.5 located here
http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/12/asus-p320-wm-65-weather-plugin.html


UPDATE: Incase of any IMEI problems have posted a solution of the same here
http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/12/asus-p320-imei-fix.html


UPDATE: Incase of bluetooth not able to receive files, a solution of the same is available here
http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/12/asus-p320-bluetooth-problem-wm-65.html



The main article on the phone is located here. You might pick up some useful info if you are an owner ...

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

Asus P320 Bluetooth Problem WM 6.5

Since upgrading to Windows Mobile 6.5 I along with others have not been able to receive files via bluetooth. This has been true for the 23016 / 23085 versions of WM 6.5 that have been release for this device at the below locations

WM6.5 build 23016

WM 6.5 build 23085


However recently I came across a post that mentioned how to fix this problem courtesy Hdubli. It requires to make he following registry change.

If you don't know how to do this, I would recommend you go to the following post and download the registry editor

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/02/mobile-registry-editor-for-asus.html

Once you have the registry editor, carry out an active sync with your device and run the registry editor. You should be able to see the following screen.





Navigate to the following key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE --> Software --> Microsoft --> Obex



Right click the screen and say new String Value


Enter the Value Name protocols and Value Data as bth,irda


Say ok, and you need to restart your device, bluetooth should now be working !

Hope this helps, do drop me a comment, would love to hear from you, if your feeling generous you could donate a dollar :)

The main article on this phone is located here ..

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

Asus P320 Reset Options Hard Reset / Soft Reset

Some people have requested this information so I thought a post on it may help





A. Soft reset

Poke the hole at the bottom of the device with the stylus.

OR

Remove the battery, put it back and start it, do this only if the poke doesn't work.


B. Hard reset

Resetting your phone will remove all data from memory and restore the phone back to the factory default settings.

1. Tap Start > Settings > System tab > Default Settings.
2. Key in "1234" to confirm that you want to restore default settings and press OK.
3. Tap OK.
The phone will restart automatically after it is reset.

OR

Press Right Soft Key and tap Reset ( poke the bottom with the stylus) at the same time



C. Flash Reset
Use this option when you need to flash the phone with the new version

Press the Volume down button and hold while tapping reset ( poke the bottom with the stylus)


The main article on this phone is located here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

Asus P320 IMEI fix

For the unfortunate few of us who have managed to screw up our phones while flashing to Windows 6.5 by losing the IMEI information of the phone there is now a solution.

Kalpeshmist over at Asus p320 Winmo forum has found a way to restore the Asus P320 with the original IMEI number.

I have mirrored the files that are hosted there. The instructions are in the readme that is part of the download itself.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/2z3dynzmnn1/P320 IMEI Fixer.zip

Once you get the updated GSM.BIN you should flash it along with your FLASH.BIN for it to work. Many people have responded postively saying it works, needless to say your doing on your own risk.

The link to the thread is available here
http://winmo.forumpro.eu/p320-f5/fix-p320-imei-fixer-t69.htm

The main article on this phone is located here
http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html


Details on using Windows 6.5 on this phone is available here
http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/11/asus-p320-windows-mobile-65-rom-build.html

Asus Missed Call Problem Windows Mobile 6.5

If you are one people who flashed to Windows Mobile 6.5 but have a problem that your missed calls are not getting recorded properly. Often it will show a much older call that you have missed instead of the latest one.

I have faced these issues across various builds of Windows Mobile 6.5 such as 23004 / 23016 / 23085 to the extent I often went back to the stock version of 6.1 because I couldn't afford to not know who had called me.

I would like to credit Rayraven from the Winmo forum for helping me resolve this. By adding a patch file to the windows startup this solves the issue. The file is called ks20.exe as it would built for that phone where users faced the same problem.

The original file is posted on Xda, I have however mirrored it here for ease of use. The program on running will consume little bit of system resources and will only be visible in the task manager process view as seen below.










The file is located here

http://www.mediafire.com/?cz7bevlgf7qxu6s

Put it in the following location

My Device --> Windows --> Startup


The article about flashing to windows mobile 6.5 is located here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/11/asus-p320-windows-mobile-65-rom-build.html


The main page about this blog is available here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

Asus P320 Windows Mobile 6.5 ROM Build 23085

Been some time since builds were available for this device, however the good news is that a new build 23085 is now available for this device.

UPDATE: New build of 23549 is now available here
http://p320.blogspot.com/2010/04/asus-p320-windows-mobile-65-rom-build.html


Credit goes out to DmBob who has taken the pain to put this together for the vast majority of us who required the WWE version.

Most the the earlier release were only in RUS. Please thank him for his hard work on the build and also to include WWE for all future builds.

Am posting the screenshots that he has put up along with a couple of mine. I have flashed and am running this ROM for more the last week. As always all ROMs are provided without any guarantee. Your doing this at you OWN RISK.

Having said that, here you go ....





The new working link to the ROM is here (update 12 April 2010)

http://hotfile.com/dl/37459481/53703c3/ASUS_P320_BUILD_23085_CHOME_WWE.rar.html


The link to the post is here ....
http://winmo.forumpro.eu/p320-f5/build-23085-chome-wwe-t71.htm

Do update on your experience

UPDATE: I have faced missed call problems with this build. Have posted solution for same here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/11/asus-missed-call-problem-windows-mobile.html


UPDATE: I have added a separate blog on enabling the weather plugin for Windows Mobile 6.5 located here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/12/asus-p320-wm-65-weather-plugin.html

UPDATE: Incase of any IMEI problems have posted a solution of the same here
http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/12/asus-p320-imei-fix.html

UPDATE: Incase of bluetooth not able to receive files, a solution of the same is available here
http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/12/asus-p320-bluetooth-problem-wm-65.html



The main article on the phone is located here. You might pick up some useful info if you are an owner ...

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

Do drop me a comment, would love to hear from you, if your feeling generous you could donate a dollar via paypal :)

Asus P320 Web Camera

It is possible to use your windows Mobile as a Web camera. This would work even if you have upgraded your OS version to Windows Mobile 6.5

There are multiple applications out there and you could do a google search for the same. The one I am talking about is called Ateksoft WebCamera Plus, you could get a trial download here

http://www.ateksoft.com/download.html

It installs a component your computer that lets you view the capture of your mobile camera on your screen. It would need you to be connected to your mobile with activesync running.

There is also a component that gets installed on your device, you could choose to install either on device or on the storage card. You should run the Web Camera Plus application that has just got installed.


It would open up an application that you could see below

It will show whatever the camera is currently pointing ...


The menu options are simple enough, have taken a shot of that as well. You just need to click on start and your good to go. Make sure the PC software is also running.


Hope this is helpful, the main article on this mobile is located here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

Do drop me a comment if you have found this helpful, you could also check out the ads if your feeling generous :)

Asus P320 Windows Mobile WM 6.5

Have been busy the last couple of weeks, but I have been able to try out some of the amazing work of "hdubli" over at xda who has cooked a ROM for the P320 with Windows Mobile 6.5

First things first, this is not supported by Asus and there is a possibility that it won't agree with your hardware so this is on OWN RISK.

Update !! Manas Girdhar been kind enough to share one of the latest builds 23549. Please check out the details here
http://p320.blogspot.com/2010/04/asus-p320-windows-mobile-65-rom-build.html


Update !! DMBob has been kind enough to share one of the latest builds 23085. Please check out the details here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/11/asus-p320-windows-mobile-65-rom-build.html

I have flashed the ROM released on 21st April released from xda here

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=3542813

Its very stable and it looks fantastic as you can see over here


The Today screen has been totally revamped much more finger friendly, it is currently on the time option. There is a weather plugin that can be added as can be seen below to point to your city for the latest weather.


Windows Media player has been integrated into the today screen showing you the latest song player and navigation can be done directly from the today plugin itself


Moving within the option can be done using the direction arrows or by flicking your finger across the screen up or down

The calender is also present and brings up the latest appoints once synced with your outlook, later appointments can be viewed by scrolling your finger across the screen horizontally.


The start menu is completely changed to the honeycomb structure that can be seen below, much more finger friendly



There also now exist a softlock for the screen, might not be as cool as the iphone but is quite function in its purpose incase you don't want to use the asus hard lock on the side.


Another nice thing about the change I would like to mention is the change in the menu, have posted one screenshot of the new menu that is again quite finger friendly as it is much larger.


Do let me know what you feel about the same, would love to hear it from you. If your feeling generous do check out the ads :)


UPDATE: Have added a separate blog on the weather plugin for windows mobile 6.5 located here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/12/asus-p320-wm-65-weather-plugin.html

UPDATE: A newer version of Windows Mobile 6.5 , build 23085 for this device is now available , details are available here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/11/asus-p320-windows-mobile-65-rom-build.html

UPDATE: In case of problem with receiving files in bluetooth, there is a fix for this now available here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/12/asus-p320-bluetooth-problem-wm-65.html

The main article on this phone is located here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

Important update, couple of users are facing issues on losing their IMEI number which is critical for running the device. Would recommend having a full backup using Resco if you do decide to go ahead with this ......

There is however a fix incase you have lost your IMEI number, have a look here
http://p320.blogspot.com/2009/12/asus-p320-imei-fix.html

Asus P320 firmware upgrade

I finally managed to upgrade my phone to the latest Firmware P320_V4_15_0_V4_10_V1_11_0_WWE

So I figured I it would be helpful to explain how it is done. The first step is to go the the asus site and download the latest firmware for the phone.

http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx

Select Mobile phones ---> P Series ---> P320 ---> Windows Mobile

In the firmware make sure you download the latest file for your country.

eg. ASUS PDA Phone firmware P320_V4_15_0_V4_10_V1_11_0_WWE only for India, Malaysia, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Lithuania user of English language version

Backup all your files / data / contacts because everything gets wiped clean.

Upgrade procedure:
1. After downloading P320_V4_15_0_V4_10_V1_11_0_WWE.ZIP, please unzip it

2. Please directly copy folder “2577” into the root directory of your micorSD card. Please insert microSD card into P320 after the copy

3. Keep the battery in charge during upgrade procedure

4. Please follow the steps on the phone to upgrade

5. Press and hold Volume Down key (on left side, shown below) and poke reset button (on bottom side), the system will boot up. Then release reset button and continue to hold Volume Down key until the screen shows writing percentage

6. The system will start installation automatically

7. It will re-start when system installation is completed

8. System will start upgrading after touch panel calibration and date/time setting

You should know be on the latest firmware ! Do drop me a line if this worked for you. If your feeling generous you could donate a dollar via paypal :)

The main article is located http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

Asus P320 File / Communication Manager

Windows Mobile 6.1 does have its own file manager but its quite limited in its capability. There is the really neat application that I use called Total Commander. The main screen of the application looks like this ....


Just like the windows file manager you can browse all your directories including the storage card by just clicking on each of the items. You can do the standard stuff like copy a file, renaming it, moving a file, creation /deletion of directories and file as seen below



Additionally for viewing there are various options to see the files and folder via a tree mode / large icons etc for your easy navigation. This can be brought up by selecting the show button at the bottom of the screen as shown below.


Now onwards to the really cool part of the application :)

It has an built in text editor, that allows you to type and create files a shown below.





It has the capability to browse zip files, they show up as a small cube, on selection you could extract it to your required directories.

It also has the three following plugins for

ftp / LAN / Registry editor, to activate this select plugins in the root directory as shown below


It will show the following options


On selecting ftp, you will get the following screen pop up which requires the details for setting up an ftp connection as shown below


It also has a functional registry editor that can be used for minor changes for the registry, the navigation is similar to that of the file manager as seen below


The best part is that the application is free and is available here ....

http://www.ghisler.com/pocketpc.htm

Hope you find this useful, do drop me a comment would love to hear from you, if your your feeling generous do click on an ad :)

The main article about this phone is available here ...

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

Asus P320 Remote Control

MyMobiler is this nice application that I have been using to bring you all the content especially screenshots of my phone to all you users out there.

It is currently freeware and is located at the following location

http://www.mymobiler.com/



Once installed you can connect to your computer once an activesync connection has been established. Hence it will work either through the wired connection or even the wireless bluetooth connection.



The key features that is allows are

- Mimic touching the device physically by clicking on your mouse
- Mimic motion on the device by holding your mouse button down and moving
- Type text to the phone that is typed on the key board. (very useful to send sms)



- Allows saving the screen as a jpg image, (all pics on my blog are taken using this)
- Allows for saving of videos
- Paste data into the phone
- Rotate the phone into landscape mode

The main article for this phone is located here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

Do let me know if found this useful, if your feeling generous you could click on an ad :)

Asus P320 Music Player

If you are looking for a cool interface but basic music player then S2P is the player for your Asus P320. It has a complete touch interface.


It plays wav, mp3, wmv files. Regarding all the other formats I haven't tried but I believe that most of us out there have our music in the mp3 format. At the bottom is the volume control that can be dragged left or right. The other buttons on the bottom are for the next and previous song.

The back arrow on the top left brings you to the complete song list that can be seen below.


If you run your finger down the screen you can move to the album browser as you can see below two screen shots




Unfortunately the album browsing is really really resource intensive and slows down like crazy. This is like the one time I really wished that the phone had a faster processor on board.

If you press on the top right of the screen as shows below you will be taken to the mini album browser





You can make a selection and get back to the main screen. Ofcourse if you want the album art to come up on the screen while playing the music you need to tag all your music with the respective album art. This mean you need to store the music of each artist in their respective folder and keep the album art image in the same folder with the name folder.jpg

The software is currently free and is located at the following location. you could check and download the latest version.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=417511

The main article for this phone is located here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

If you find this useful do drop me a line, would love to hear from you. If your feeling generous you could click on an ad :)

Asus P320 Antivirus

There have been some requests for a good antivirus for this device. I Mean a large number of us out there using this phone have a windows based PC and know that it is suicide to work without an antivirus program to secure us.

Now before we get to the antivirus programs out there there is this fundamental question that needs to brought up. Do we actually need an antivirus for our mobile devices ? The truth is that I am honestly not very sure.

I have come across articles that clearly define the need for the same and others that totally debunk. As a user out there what I believe I can do for you is help point you to couple of these discussion / writeup and let you take a call for yourselves.

As for me my personal view is to give this a pass as for now. I believe with safe behaviour I could do without the burden of having to spend money to lull myself into a sense of security as well live with the fact that my device will slow down considerably with the AV continuously running in the background.

For now, I believe making sure that my Bluetooth is currently not on when not required. Not accepting incoming files from people I don't know and not installing application from sites / places I do not trust is something I can very much live with. Please note moving forward in time with the popularity of the Windows Mobile platform gaining in the mobile market this could possible become a necessity tomorrow. If I do decide to move there I will definately update this page.


Regarding the list of softwares out there

1. Airscanner
2. Trend Micro Mobile Security
3. F-Secure Mobile Security
4. Bullguard Antivirus
5. Symantec AntiVirus
6. kaspersky mobile security
7. Mcafee (as part of Total Protection or McAfee Internet Security Suite)

There is this interesting article by Tyson Greer that you could read here

On the other side of the debate there are two discussions I had come across on a forum debating the need for the antivirus for Windows mobile that can be found here and here

Hope this helps, do drop me a line , would love to hear from you. The main article on the phone is avaiable here http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

If you feeling generous do click on an ad :)

Asus P320 Document Capabilities

There have been couple of questions / requests about the document capabilities of this mobile and I thought I'd share with you people out there with what is possible and what is not.

In brief , Office Mobile is bundled along with this device which has support for the following extensions files

document .doc
excel .xls
text .txt
powerpoint .ppt (viewer only)

Pdf does not have any built in support but it is possible to view such files.


First on what is already available

Start --> Programs --> Office Mobile


You should see the following icons to load the individual programs


On loading Excel Mobile, you will be able to open any xls file as show below


Keep in mind that it has very basic capability and it allows for entering information into cells and few calculations. Don't expect to do much though I haven't tried too much myself.



On loading Word Mobile , you will be able to open any doc / txt as show below


Its a good option to take notes especially if you turn on transcriber to translate your handwriting. You can save you files as well.


On loading Powerpoint , you will be able to open any ppt /pps as show below.



The major difference between powerpoint and the other applications is that you CANNOT create a ppt or even edit one, I could only get to be able to view the ppt. It automatically rotated the screen to the landscape for a better view. On finishing it rotates back to the normal view.


For pdf files, there is no in built support but there is an application called pocketxpdf located here

http://pocketxpdf.sourceforge.net

It has a 1MB size and can be installed on the storage card as well. On installation you should find the icon at

Start --> Programs --> PocketXpdf


On selecting open you will get the list of pdf files that can be opened



On opening the required file ...



It allows for basic functionality such as zoom, rotating, find etc

Hope you find this helpful, the main article is linked here

http://p320.blogspot.com/2008/11/asus-p320-how-what-where.html

If you find this useful do drop me a comment would love to hear from you, if your feeling generous you could donate a dollar via paypal