First, a short lesson on Manila files.  They have no file extension.  Some are plain text ASCII XML files and can be opened with a text editor.  Others are Mode9, QTC, or Lua Script, and require special tools to open, edit, save, etc.

Manila Editor allows you to export the images from QTC files to PNGs, or replace the current image in a QTC with your own PNG.

m9Editor allows you to view the XML and Lua Script IF, AND ONLY IF, your copy of Windows is up-to-date, and you have these  developer libraries installed, namely:

• Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable
• .Net Framework 2.0 Service Pack 1
• .Net Compact Framework 3.5

To edit XML, I personally use vi, but you might want something a bit classier.  Be sure to use something with syntax highlighting, it makes all the difference.

Things to note about Manila files:

• You should disable the TouchFLO 3D Today Item before replacing Manila files in the Windows Directory and enable it after the copy has completed.
• You MUST use a third party application on your WM device, such as Total Commander, to overwrite the manila files in your Windows directory.  File Explorer can’t do it.
• OEM Manila Files, like many other OS files, are part of the ROM, meaning that when you copy your own into the Windows directory, you’re not truly replacing the ones that are there. You’re just setting yours down on top of the ROM files, in such a way that yours take precedence over the ROM files.  What does this mean?  You can delete any Manila files you placed in the Windows directory, and WM will revert back to the files from the ROM.  This is a very easy uninstall feature.

So, onto the main point: removing that excessive Sprint Logo from the Home Tab.

Use Manila Editor to open 443d5315_manila and export it to a PNG image file.  Then resize the image to 1 x 1 pixel and use Manila Editor to replace the original.  Save 443d5315_manila to your Windows directory on your WM Device. Voila!

OR: just download this file I’ve already modified and place the extracted Manila file in your Windows Directory.  Of course I might not have made it 1 x 1, it could read FAIL when you re-enable TF3D, and then you’ll have been pwnd.  Like this guy.

While setting a new background on your Home tab might not be a challenge, the same cannot be said about the rest of your tabs.  Here’s the process:

1. Grab whatever image you want to start with, like this one I got from some forum:

Dimensions: 480(w) x 640(h)

2. Next, crop it by 50 pixels on the top and bottom to account for the start bar and soft keys bar:

New dimensions: 480 (w) x 540 (h)

3. Now you need to squash/stretch/skew it to the dimensions it needs to be to embed it in the manila file:

Dimensions: 460 (w) x 512 (h)

4. Next use Manila Editor to Export the current image in 4a087e41_manila using “Save As..”

4. Open your image in MS Paint, Select All, Cut.

5. Open the image you just exported from Manila Editor in another instance of MS Paint, Paste, Save.

6. Next, use Manila Editor to Replace the image in 4a087e41_manila with yours:

7. Open 4a087e41_manila with a HEX editor such as XVI32 and modify the first two lines of the file’s header to the values pictured below, ending with the selected box:

8. Disable the TouchFLO 3D Today Item (Start, Settings, Today, Items, Uncheck TouchFLO 3D).

9. Copy the new version of 4a087e41_manila to your Windows directory with Total Commander.

10. Enable the TouchFLO 3D Today Item.

11. (Optional) Open your original image in Pictures & Videos on your Touch, then click Menu, Set as Today Background, and change the Transparency Level to 0%, Click OK.  Now you should have a background in your Start Menu that matches the one TouchFLO is using

Alternatively, you could download this file, and just follow steps 8 - 10.

Using the pinout from nethopper’s post, I made my own cable using the headset/charging breakout cable provided with my original Sprint Mogul (HTC 6800) pictured here:

So that you may not have to create an account there, here’s the pinout:

After cracking open the breakout cable with a knife, you have access to the pcb with everything on it.  Internally, the headset pins 1 - 6 are actually labeled 6 - 11 on the pcb.  So the pinout for this breakout should be:

You’ll have to desolder the headset connector, and cut the wires from the pcb, but it’s not THAT much work..

Here’s the end result, which surprisingly worked the first time, and I’m terrible with a soldering iron:

Of course, if you don’t care about being able to charge the Touch Pro, you can just use a headset connector and RCA cable.. Just remember that Pins 3 and 5 need to be grounded to tell the Touch that the cable is a video cable and not a headset.

I’ve been a GMail user for years now, so I was a little excited to hear that Google bought out Grand Central.  Mainly because all of the google apps are so nice..  Google Voice would eventually be cleanly integrated into Google’s apps.

So, the first shortcoming with Grand Central was that my contact list was always out of sync with my HTC Touch Pro running Windows Mobile.  Sure I could manually export from one and import into the other, but that’s a bit of a pain.  With Google Voice, I’m now configured to use activesync on the phone to sync to google’s server.

What it means is that my phone and my google calendar and contact list are always in sync, changing one instantly affects the other via push technology.  After an hour or so merging all of my contacts, I ended up with one clean list of contacts.  Now I even have all of my contacts’ email addresses on my phone, something I never bothered to do before.

Now, with all of my GV contacts constantly in sync with my phone, the next issue was calling them with the GV number so that other people would return my calls appropriately, as I’ve disabled my cellular voicemail.  Enter iDialer and iContact.  This clever piece of software allows profiles for use with Grand Central, Google Voice, Calling cards, Cellular, etc..  But the effect is that now; with this fancy dialer, my calls are all routed through GV automatically.  This works by calling my GV#, pressing 2, and dialing my contact’s #.  It’s a fairly acceptable method vs. callback, and for any of us with unlimited calls to our favorite #s, we’ve now got unlimited outgoing calls.  If you don’t mind not having caller-id and using call presentation, you can have unlimited incoming calls too.

Next up, SMS, GV has some nice options for text messages, allowing viewing and responding via the website, but they also enable both via the phone, by essentially bridging the SMS through another number.  This wreaks havoc on my contact list, as I can’t possibly guess which number is going to be used for each of my contacts, but it still works.  I wouldn’t mind knowing if those numbers are static, so that I can save them to the contact.

The voicemail transcription is a bit funny at this point, but I can see it being valuable in situations where the message is well articulated.  I’m still looking for a visual voicemail app, and hope someone will release one in the near future, but until then, I’ll walk to a computer or open PocketIE..

Well, I ran across a nice new, if only to me, IM client for Windows Mobile, among other devices.  I found out about it on this article on Gizmodo.  I’m expecting a ‘pay us’ message to pop up at some point.. Just like Agile did to me, jerks. In many respects, Palringo is a lot like Agile Mobile.  It’s got a ‘push to talk’ feature that sends a link to whatever sound byte you record on the fly.  It will also send pictures, just click the button, capture the picture, and return to the app, it’ll already be sending a link to the photo to your contact.  Very slick overall.  It has support for all the big chat services, I’ve currently got it configured for AIM, GTalk, ICQ, and MSN.  It’s running well at the moment.  My Sprint Mogul’s Unlimited EVDO connection is the only reason I’d want to be online everywhere, all the time…. because I can.

Specific to the Sprint Mogul, I had to make a registry change for the connection to function properly.  Prior to which, Reconnect Pending was displayed on the screen.  This article provided the info, but here’s the change:

[[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Comm\ConnMgr\Providers\{7C4B7A3 8-5FF7-4bc1-80F6-5DA7870BB1AA}\Connections\Sprint PCS Vision]
“AlwaysOn”=dword:00000001

Also worthy of noting, you can download the cab directly from their mobile version of the site.