[alcook]

After getting a slightly off topic request to post how to Tweak and 'Hack' a HTC Touch Diamond smart phone, I though it best to start another thread.

There are a lot of ways to tweak and hack Smart phones and PDA's and plenty of software / freeware that will make your phone fly, double your battery life and dramatically improve the looks and functionality.

In the first instance, there's an excellent developer site that lists all major phone types and the associated tweaks that can do wonders for your phone.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/index.php

From here select your phone type and have a look through the tons of ways to improve your phone. Mostly for free. Like here, there's plenty of knowledgeable people who can help and advise on minor problems and issues.

Some of the technical items require a fairly reasonable understanding about your phone and will require plenty of installing and uninstalling of software and themes as well as some work in or understanding of the phone's registry. So make sure you're comfortable with this before turning your new shiny Touch Pro into a dead Brick...

So.. for the HTC Touch Diamond specifically

http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=428

Some decent software to get started...

(This is all open source, but please let me know if this breaches any T&C's!)

Performance & Maintenance...

Diamond Advance Config Excellent configuration app for changing memory cache and other performance related items
Diamond Tweaks List of very useful regedit to improve performance in Diamond

Interesting Freeware / Software...

Diamond tf3d config Configuring Touchflo3d (changing tabs order, etc)
Diamond profiles switcherShake your phone to swap profiles
Auto rotation with g-sensor Rotate your screen simply rotating your phone in any app
SRS WOW HD 1.21 Improve your phone sound
Total Commander Good File Explorer Interface
S2P Cool software to play sound and video
New wallpapers for Diamond
GB-SOFT GPRS Tweak (EDGE+UMTS+3G) for WM6.1
Improved Comm Manager for Diamond
S2u2 iPhone type slide to unlock freeware

[stuartrav]

Originally Posted by alcook

After getting a slightly off topic request to post how to Tweak and 'Hack' a HTC Touch Diamond smart phone, I though it best to start another thread.

There are a lot of ways to tweak and hack Smart phones and PDA's and plenty of software / freeware that will make your phone fly, double your battery life and dramatically improve the looks and functionality.

In the first instance, there's an excellent developer site that lists all major phone types and the associated tweaks that can do wonders for your phone.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/index.php

From here select your phone type and have a look through the tons of ways to improve your phone. Mostly for free. Like here, there's plenty of knowledgeable people who can help and advise on minor problems and issues.

Some of the technical items require a fairly reasonable understanding about your phone and will require plenty of installing and uninstalling of software and themes as well as some work in or understanding of the phone's registry. So make sure you're comfortable with this before turning your new shiny Touch Pro into a dead Brick...

So.. for the HTC Touch Diamond specifically

http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=428

Some decent software to get started...

(This is all open source, but please let me know if this breaches any T&C's!)

Performance & Maintenance...

Diamond Advance Config Excellent configuration app for changing memory cache and other performance related items
Diamond Tweaks List of very useful regedit to improve performance in Diamond

Interesting Freeware / Software...

Diamond tf3d config Configuring Touchflo3d (changing tabs order, etc)
Diamond profiles switcherShake your phone to swap profiles
Auto rotation with g-sensor Rotate your screen simply rotating your phone in any app
SRS WOW HD 1.21 Improve your phone sound
Total Commander Good File Explorer Interface
S2P Cool software to play sound and video
New wallpapers for Diamond
GB-SOFT GPRS Tweak (EDGE+UMTS+3G) for WM6.1
Improved Comm Manager for Diamond
S2u2 iPhone type slide to unlock freeware

Many thanks for this you have obviously put a lot of work into this.

I am worried about making the type of changes listed though as I don't want to ruin the phone. There are a couple of changes that I would like to make such as:

1) Have a setting that allows me to decide whether or not the screen switches off during a call. (I saw this listed thorugh your link).

2) Get quicker 1 button / immediate showing of my speed dial no.s when I press the "make a call" button. Currently I have to press menu and then choose speed dial. It was much easier / quicker than this on my old HTC P3600.

3) When I press the "make a call" button and then press down, rather than currently listing all calls made I would much prefer if it scrolled straight into my list of contacts, (again my old P3600 did this).

So there are some things I would like to do but should I / can I easily without risking some serious damage?

I am also toying with what SAT NAV software to load. On my old P3600 I have a version of TOMTOM 6. I know that this works on the Touch Pro as I had it work on my original Touch Pro that I had to send back as it was faulty. However the TOMTOM6 version I have won't let me use quick GPS which is really annoying. So the question is what do I get instead? Wait for TOMTOM 7 or get soemthing else such as McGuider which is really cheap and supposedly has much better mapping than TOM TOM for Poland which is a country I visit for work so it would be handy to have more detailed mapping of this country, (I don't yet know if McGuider willl work, plus critically I don't know if McGuider has a quick GPS function which is important to me as sometimes my P3600 would take absolutely ages to pick up a signal).

Thanks a lot once again for this post. I am just unsure of how much I should try to do!

[alcook]

The only way to turn you phone into a Brick is to really start messing with the ROM. Majority of the software and reg tweaks can be removed after a soft reset.. so no issues there.

Serious reg editing and tweaking can lead to a hard reset. This means putting your phone back to it's original Touch Flo config and loosing your settings and contacts (Not from the SIM), Takes 5 mins..... If you use SPB Backup or something similar then youc restore in another 5-10 and away you go...

ROM cooking is particulalry advanced and needs some balls... but none of the stuff I've linked gets into that realm...

For your points..

1) As you say, there's a few reg tweaks to keep the screen on during a call. Easy, safe and well proven

2) Only thing I can bring to mind is to use a Key programmer such as SoftKey manager or Resco Tools that changes one of your softkeys or hard buttons to do anything you want... Simply Programme one of the buttons to bring up that menu....

3) As above.....

4) Not sure about the Tom Tom question... you may find your answer on the forum.. But there's alternatives such as iGo which may be what you need?

If you're comfortable using a Windows reg editor to alter some of the settings then you're good to go on all of the links. As you would on your PC, just take a backup of your device and restore if you do anything silly... Just don't go beyond your ability and knowledge and ask before doing anything you feel unsure about... I'll be happy to advise or help whenever...

The improvements you can make to your phone in terms of performance and battery life are well worth the effort!! The software available to give you a Home or Today screen that fits your needs is enormous... experiment...