Ask Saro

I recently got my hands on a HTC Fuze (AT&T’s version of the Touch Pro) as a new mobile phone. I’m a Rogers user, so I went ahead and got a data plan to go with my wireless services. I soon realized it wasn’t as easy to set the whole thing up, especially with the amount of outdated information out there. I managed to piece together all the available information and have the damn thing work in the end as frustrating as it was.

Here’s what you have to do to get it working. Please note that this is for people who have a data plan (e.g. 500 MB, 1 GB, 6 GB, etc.) and not the Vision/on-device WAP browsing plans. For those types of connections, you will have to substitute the APNs for something else.

Step 1: Create the Rogers Internet connection

1. Go to Start -> Settings
2. Connections tab
3. Click on Connections
4. Click “Add a new modem connection” under My ISP (or whatever you have it named)
5. Enter the following settings:
   • Name: Rogers Internet
   • Modem type: Cellular Line (GPRS, 3G)
   • Access point name: internet.com
   • Username: wapuser1
   • Password: wap
   • Leave Domain empty, and don’t touch anything in Advanced. Just click Finish.
6. Press the Ok button and save your settings. You’re done for this section.

Step 2: Switch over to PAP Authentication

Rogers does not work with CHAP authentication, so let’s go ahead and switch over to PAP.

1. Go to Start -> Settings
2. Connections tab
3. Click on Advanced Network
4. First tab, simply choose “Enable HSDPA only”
5. In GPRS tab, select “PAP authentication”
6. In SMS Service tab, select “GSM only”

Step 3: Remove the hidden proxy

Download and run this file on your Fuze. This will now disable and remove the hidden proxy that comes shipped with the HTC Fuze. Opera at this point will not work as far as I have tested, but Internet Explorer and everything else will work just fine, including weather updates on the TouchFLO 3D interface. The fix for Opera is below, keep reading!

Step 4: Soft reset the device

Reset the device by turning it on and off.

Step 5: Enable Data Connections

1. Go To Start -> Settings
2. Connections tab
3. Click on Comm Manager
4. Scroll all the way at the bottom and click on Data Connection to turn it on.
5. Click Exit.

Step 6: Test with Internet Explorer

Launch Internet Explorer and test your connection. It should work at this point if I haven’t forgotten to mention anything. Try going to Google or any other fast loading site, and try doing a search just to be safe that you’re not loading the pages through cache.

Step 7: Remove and reinstall Opera 9.5 (stock)

Basically, the version that comes with the HTC Fuze contains the proxy settings hard-coded into it. Even though you disable the proxy in IE, it still remains in Opera. The only fix I know for this without modifying registry or configurations files is to remove Opera through Add/Remove programs and reinstall it from the official Opera Mobile website. After doing this step, you’re ready to surf the web on your Fuze. Enjoy!

Much to my surprise, my Popcorn Hour A-100 came in the mail yesterday after only waiting one week. I ended up paying import fees, roughly 35$ more, but didn’t mind it so much as comparable units would cost double, if not triple the amount. It took about a month for the whole unit to arrive on my doorstep, from ordering process to unpacking it. Here’s a short review on this little device.

Design - sleek and small, it’s incredible how Syabas has managed to cram so much into so little. I’m able to fit this device among my other A/V hardware with ease. Right now, it’s stacked on top of my DVD player taking up next to nothing in terms of space.

User Interface – I would say one of the most important parts of any consumer device, this puppy is easy to use and it’s very responsive with the provided remote control. The GUI resembles that of Microsoft’s Media Center application (in terms of icons and colours) and that’s not a bad thing either. The whole interface is sleek and smooth, adding class to the device.

Playback - Simply, it plays anything I can throw at it. I started off directly with with some 720p and 1080p Matroska (MKV) files and it didn’t even stutter: the Popcorn Hour A-100 played them beautifully in high definition along with the multi-surround AC3 sound channels. The only problem the A-100 has with these types of files is the fast-forwarding, but I don’t think it’s the device’s fault (I’m pretty sure it’s something to do with MKV files and indexes). Regardless, I also played some WMVs and AVIs (XviD) perfectly over the network. I didn’t try playing any audio files though, but I’m sure the A-100 will do a fine job.

Value - When I first heard about the A-100, I thought it would cost somewhere near 300 to 400$. When I found out it was only 179.00$ USD, my jaw dropped. “There must be a catch” I thought. But doing a quick search on Google resulted in many high praises for the units and people with working units. Without hesitating, I ordered a unit right away. Comparing the A-100 to the likes of the other media players on the market, this is the cheapest and most powerful unit out there. Previously, to playback 1080p video, I built myself a basic low-end computer that cost me 434$. That’s roughly 200$ more than Syabas’ unit, at a fraction of the size of a desktop computer. I wish I knew about this puppy long-before I built myself a new computer to do high definition video playback.

So far, I have no complaints about this unit. I installed a temporary 120GB hard drive into it but didn’t have time to test it out. I’ll have a follow-up guide/review once I settle in with this new media player.

he XPERIA X1 phone is not out yet, but a white paper was released touting all the cool new features of the device last month. Just by skimming over the document briefly, this phone looks jam-packed with all sorts of goodies. I have a feeling that the iPhone will soon be getting its ass kicked when the X1 is out. Apple should definitely rework the new 3G version of its phone if they want to stay head of the game!

The X1 has these buttons referred to as “panels” on the main home screen (they’re clickable shortcuts pretty much). Some of the pre-loaded panels are news updates, finance, weather info and shortcuts to applications found on the phone. There’s also the Media Experience Panel which is probably a multimedia (audio/video) playing application. A Slideshow Panel is included for viewing your pictures and videos in an organized manner. The Today Panel is like any Window Mobile-based PDA’s today screen. There’s also a 3D Fish Panel that is a screensaver for eye-candy purposes, something which I’ve seen on the iPhone (since, you know, having fish swim around in your phone is really cool).

The long list of features found on the XPERIA X1 include:
• 3-inch Wide-VGA (WVGA) (800×480) TFT 65K colour LCD
• XPERIA™ panel concept
• Unified Media Experience
• 3.2-megapixel AF camera with touch focus
• Video capture and playback upto 30 fps
• Integrated WiFi
• Integrated A-GPS
• Handsfree headset with a 3.5 mm audio jack, USB charger, USB cable provided in the kit.
• Internet Explorer Mobile browser
• HSDPA 7.2Mbps, HSUPA 2Mbps
• YouTube support (3GPP playback)
• FM radio, streaming audio/video
• Video telephony
• Bluetooth™ 2.0
• HW 3D Graphics
• Supports microSD™ High Capacity memory card
• Exchange /IMAP/POP3 email
• Special effects (Illumination, animation, transitions)
• Quad-band EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
• Upto Tri-band HSPA (850/1900/2100 MHz) (900/1900/2100 MHz)

I seriously can’t wait for this phone!

I just got an email this morning that my Popcorn Hour A-100 (ordered last month) has finally been shipped by Syabas. It’s coming all the way from California! Most likely it’ll take four or five days for it to get here, max 1 week. For those who don’t know what this is, it’s a device that can play multimedia files of all kind, such as H.264, XviD, MPEG2 & 4, VC-1, MP3s and more. It even does Matroska (.MKV) files and 1080p playback. It’s featured with a Windows Media Center look-alike user interface for easy navigation, and it’s all packed into a small portable unit. HDMI, RCA, Coaxial, Component and S-Video connections are included. I have been on a waiting list for almost a month and it’s good to see them delivering ahead of schedule. You need to sign up on a first-come, first-serve basis list to actually get one of these babies. I will review this unit as soon as mine gets here!

Yesterday, I pre-ordered the Syabas Popcorn Hour A-100 media center device, and I can’t wait until it gets here. This device is so popular right now, you have to register and be put on a waiting list to actually be able to order it. Basically, it’s a very popular embedded media player that plays H.264, XviD, DivX, VC-1 and MPEG2/4 codecs, not to mention MKV (Matroska) and M*V containers, up to 1080p playback. This unit is extremely powerful from the looks of it. Features include the ability to install an internal hard drive (IDE only, unfortunately), a 10/100 mbps Ethernet port (no WiFi, but not suitable for 1080p HD playback anyway) and two USB ports for external device hookups. Audio/Video inputs are the standard deal: components, digital Coaxial audio, HDMI 1.1, S-Video and basic three-color RCA. One thing I would’ve loved to see is DVI/VGA, but beggars can’t be choosers as the total cost for this unit is an astonishing 179.00 USD. Total cost for me with the shipping came up to 222.00$ CDN.

Some other cool features are the built-in Bittorrent client, NFS, SMB, Windows Media Connect support, YouTube videos playback, RSS feeds, direct ISO playback and FTP connectivity. I could go on and on about the features, but you’re better off reading the site for more information. When I get the unit in (approximately mid-April) I will post a detailed review up for you guys.