Loading up the HP Glisten
I've been using the HP Glisten since January and I'm impressed at what a fine Windows Phone it is. The 3G signal I get with the HP Glisten is better and more consistent than any of my other 3G phones and I haven't experienced any disconnection problems with it.
The HP Glisten is definitely a business device. It's a fairly pristine phone insofar as it doesn't have many superfluous applications already installed to it. I prefer a barebones phone over one that is loaded with lots of third party software that cannot be deleted or updated, so I don't consider this a drawback. Nevertheless, I was surprised to discover that the Glisten does not include some software that I have come to expect on a mobile device: Google Maps, Instant Messenger, Windows My Phone.
If you get the Glisten, you'll probability want to install some software to it to make it functional enough to meet your needs. Here are mobile links to the "must have" software I've installed to my Glisten:
Free Applications
Opera Mobile: One of the best Windows Mobile browsers around. Just input m.opera.com into your phone's mobile browser to tap the link to download the software directly to your phone.
YouTube: I don't watch much YouTube on my computer, and hardly ever watch YouTube on my phone, but this seems to be a popular thing to do on a windows mobile device, given the number of threads I see about it on the HP IPAQ forum and other windows mobile forums. Just input m.youtube.com into your phone's mobile browser to find a link that you can click to install the software directly to your phone. (See "Viewing YouTube on a Windows Phone" if you need more information.)
My Phone is Microsoft's free web-based backup service. You can backup contacts, appointments, tasks, pictures, text messages, and other documents to this service, although it is not a complete replacement for Outlook & ActiveSync syncing - so you should still plan to sync your device to your computer. See these articles for more information about Microsoft My Phone:
Live Mesh is one of Microsoft's "cloud" computing services. Live Mesh allows me to synchronize files from my HP Glisten to my computer through the cloud. It's an easy way for me to keep my most used files available and up-to-date on any computer or most windows mobile devices. See "Cloud Computing with Windows Live Mesh" for more information.
Total Commander 2.52 beta 2 is a great file management software and one of the first applications I install to all my Windows Mobile devices. See "Take Charge of Your Files" for more information about this software.
PockeTwit: I tried out a couple of different twitter applications on my windows phones, but I always come back to PockeTwit.
Null Keyboard doesn't do much except prevent the onscreen keyboard from popping up.
Palringo is a nice, free instant messaging client that lets you login to multiple instant messengers (MSN, GTalk, iChat, Yahoo, AIM, GG/Gadu-Gadu, AOL ICQ, XMPP/Jabber, and Facebook chat) at the same time. Just input www.palringo.mobi into your mobile browser to download and install the application directly to your phone.
Of course, if you are a fan of Windows Live you can also go to Windows Live for Mobile and get Windows Live Messenger:
Purchased Applications
Profile applications: Today screen plug-ins are not needed if you plan to use the Windows Default today screen, but you'll probably want to install some kind of profile manager to automate the ringer and other things on your phone. I used Phone Alarm on the IPAQ hw6925, but I installed Phone Weaver on the Glisten
SKTools is my Windows Mobile Swiss army knife. I've written several articles about this wonderful application and I find new uses for it all the time. SKTools is an indispensable application that I highly recommend.
AgendaOne is a fine PIM application that is easy to navigate either through the 5 directional toggle or by finger scrolling through the option. Here are screenshots of the Contacts, Tasks, Agenda, Daily, Weekly and Monthly views.
Mobile Navigator 7 is my GPS software of choice for the HP Glisten. You can purchase Mobile Navigator 7 at PocketGear or Smartphone.net, and it's on sale for under $50 until 6/14/2010! Mobile Navigator is all inclusive, which means you don't need an "always on" data connection to use the software - the maps are stored on the windows phone so you'll need to reserve 1.5 GB free on your SD card for the maps.
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Thank you Julie!
I finally made up my mind and ordered a smart phone wm 6.5 pro
Looks like it could be a lot of fun.
//Kaj
This might be a stupid question but... any idea how I get my wallpaper to stretch to fit the screen rather than be tiled? I cannot for the life of me figure that one simple thing out and can't find anything about it on the internet or in the manual. Any help would be much appreciated as this is now driving mecompletely insane! :-/
The Glisten has a 320x240 screen (landscape orientation). Most of the themes you'll find for Pocket PCs are for screens that are in a 240x320 format or portrait orientation.
You'll need to use themes are are designed for landscape orientation (320x240) screens or else the picture will not be wide enough to cover the entire width of the screen. You could also create your own themes, sized to fit the screen size and orientation of the Glisten, using a theme generator. I use ThemeGenCE to create my own themes and recommend it highly.
Wow I've owned the Ipaq for a few months now and its drove me crazy not having yahoo messenger. This information is extremely helpful. And I love the opera system. Thank you so much for sharing you've made me ALOT happier with the phone.
I'm glad the article helped you find some great applications for your Glisten. I think it's a really good phone and enjoy using it tremendously.
Thanks for dropping by the blog!
Dear all,
i have imported a Glisten from USA to Germany, because this Phone is here not aviable. Thank you for the Null Keyboard Tool I was searching for weeks...
The only thing I missed was a todayscreen to get all Informations like missed calls, messages, emails etc. on one look. I have installed SPB mobile Shell V. 3.5 and now the Glisten is perfect for me.
http://spbcom/pocketpc-software/mobileshell/
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Zdrave