Himalaya is the product name used by HTC for its WM2003 tri-band
phone/PDA. Before the Himalaya was released to the public it was Codenamed Andes internally. (The Andes has no relation to the Alpine {O2 XDAIIi etc..} as mistakenly listed on the forum index.)
The device is know by several brand names;
I-MATE 2 is the 'default' branding used on Himalayas supplied to companies who do not apply a brand of their own.
MDA II as sold by the GSM operator T-Mobile
Qtek 2020 as distributed by Dangaard to multiple markets
SPV M1000 as sold by the GSM operator Orange
XDA II as sold by the GSM operator O2
iMate Phone edition
Dopod 696
VPA by vodafone
The Himalaya is two devices in the same case:- there is a 400Mhz XScale WM2003 PDA with camera, and a tri-band (900/1800/1900MHz) phone.
Communications between the two are close enough that the unit appears to be one device. For example, to dial a number the touchscreen is used, and internet applications connect using the phone's GSM dial-up or GPRS connection.
Specifications
OS
Windows Mobile 2003
CPU
400MHz XScale
ROM
64MB
RAM
128MB
Screen
3.5", 240x320, 65536 colours, transflective
Talk Time
3.5Hrs
PDA usage time
15Hrs
Standby time
180Hrs
Dimensions
70x130x19mm (W x L x D)
Weight
190g
Band
Tri (900/1800/1900)
GPRS
Class 10 (4r1t) or Class 8 (3r2t)
Other Features
Integrated Camera
IrDa
Bluetooth
SD(I/O) / MMC slot
Removable battery
ROM stands for Read-Only-Memory. Usually in devices that have a general usage processor, ROM can be used to store the most basic instructions which are loaded when the device is started. On a pocket pc (like the Himalaya) this means that the entire operating system, as well as some core applications (such as the dialer) are stored in the ROM.
In actual fact the "ROM" is not read-only, it can be rewritten ("flashed") which can be done to upgrade all pre-installed programs, including the operating system.
The ROM on the Himalaya is not one 64MB area, but is two 32MB ROMs -
the first 32MB being on-die with the CPU, and the second being flash
ROM on the phone's PCB. The first is where the OS lives (along with applications that are not customized on a brand-by-brand basis, like the dialer), and is therefore of less interest than the second 32MB.
This area is split into two - the most obvious part turns up as
\Storage on your device, and can be used to save data over hard resets
(see Start->Settings->System->Permanent Save). The other part
of the ROM is the legendary Extended ROM, and is not visible by
default. It can be made visible by changing a setting in the registry
and will appear as '\Extended_ROM' on the next reset. There is also a
small utility that can be used to hide and unhide it almost at will,
as well as enabling or disabling writes, which was previously not
possible on most Himalayas. These tools exist elsewhere on this site.
The Extended ROM is where all of the customisation for the OS lives -
this includes things like the camera driver and applications, the MMS
utility and corporate branding. On a hard reset, a small application
(autorun.exe) reads a text file (config.txt) and executes the commands
that it finds within it. The customisation is applied from CAB files,
and each of these is installed, and any programs required are run
in order to configure your device.
This is why a hard-reset takes so long, but it does mean that the
vendor has control over all of the customisations that are applied over
the bog-standard ROM image in that other 32MB.
It is possible to update the Extended ROM independently to the main
ROM, but, in the last round of updates at least O2 chose to force the
OS , Radio Stack and the Extended ROM to all be upgraded together.
Should you want to update only the Extended ROM then you need to
first unpack an upgrade, delete the ROM and Radio Stack updates, edit
the Extended ROM (assuming that you want to change it!) and then
force an update. Instructions can be found in various forums elsewhere
on this site.
Replacing your device's (extended)ROM with a third-party upgrade will usually void your warranty.
Your Himalaya is expensive! If you got it along with an airtime
agreement, then you might not know just how expensive, but your service
provider knows, and needs to ensure that they get their money's worth
out of you when you use the subsidised phone. The way that they do this
is to lock the phone down so that it will only work on their network.
If you attempt to use a locked phone with a SIM from another network,
your Himalaya will tell you that you can't, and request an unlocking
code.
If your airtime agreement has run to term, then you can just call
your service provider and ask for it. They'll probably charge you a
'nominal' fee (their definition of 'nominal,' not yours!) and all will be
well
Some countries require that service providers provide an unlock code after
a statutory term (e.g. after 1 year in The Netherlands, no fee), or even
prohibit them in the first place (e.g. Belgium).
If you are still under contract, then you need to use one of the tools
that you can find on this site. Which depends on your radio stack version -
If you are running an older radio stack, then you need to run
the 'old' unlocking tool, or upgrade and run the newer tool
If you have a newer stack, just run the newer tool.
What these tools do is different. The older tool needs the phone to be
put into bootloader mode, and will report the unlocking code to you. It
does NOT unlock the phone. The newer tool unlocks the phone for you.
Unlocking your device will usually void your warranty.
How do I perform a Soft Reset?
Look at your phone, screen up, speaker at the top. On the lower left
edge, as you look at it. there is a small hole. Take your stylus and
... stick the point in the hole. Done!
DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! It may brick your device (You've been warned. Do this only if ALL ELSE FAILS and you absolutely need to upgrade/downgrade the ROM on your Himalaya.
1. Completely remove the plastic power button from the device.
2. Take a paper clip (metal) and put it about 1cm down, slightly to the right of where the power button used to connect to the motherboard (in line with the text section of the Contact button on the top left of your XDA). Make sure you have turned your XDA/IMATE on before doing this. You'll find that when you find the right area, your device will turn off, or the screen will go dark (like holding the power button for a second or giving it a quick tap) or it will flash on and off.
3. If you manage to hold it there for the right period of time, while pressing the other bootloader buttons, then you will be able to enter bootloader.
This may take a long time the first time you try, but you eventually get quicker.
Now it gets tricky - do a hard reset at the same time as holding the
5-way rocker switch (sometimes called the 'action button') down. Harder
than the Vulcan Nerve Pinch!
Yes you can! Which tools you use will depend on whether you
are a Linux or Windows user, but all that you need can be found on this
site. Remember to change the config.txt, though!
Furthermore, not only can you change what is in the Extended ROM, you can also change where the operating system looks for the Extended ROM, including searching for it on a storage card.
The Microsoft BT stack, as found in the orginal ROM versions
was, frankly, horrible and would give you trouble with anything
but the simplest, most basic headset. Furthermore, the headset
profile was pretty much all that you got other than the ability
to perform some black magic to use Activesync over bluetooth.
The later versions of the ROM have some improvements - the headset
profile is improved, there is a serial port profile for activesync
and some talk (but, apparently, only talk) of carkit support.
All-in-all, better, but still many problems. You can,
however improve the situation somewhat by adding the Pocket
Bluetooth Tools http://bluetooth.i-networx.de/index_e.html
or, more drastically, by replacing the entire bluetooth stack with
the WIDCOM stack that can be found on this site.
OS 1.72 was an improvement, no longer needing ?BthTools for Serial Port Protocol.
Whatever you decide to do, read the articles associated with Bluetooth
on the XDAII, and be patient!
WM6 has much improved Bluetooth support, but still many prefer the Widcom stack over the Microsoft stack.
Well, strictly speaking you can, if you define 'remote' to be within a few
millimetres! The problem is that the infra-red sender on the unit is not
'consumer grade.' It is possible to get, or build, a repeater that will
allow you to use the device as as remote control, but it does man that
there's another box to carry around with you, which defeats the object.
P.S Try Novii remote's new version, still dodgey but works well under a metre.
Pair your bluetooth GPS device with your Himalaya first. After this, make sure to choose the advanced option which will give you the choice of choosing the serial connection and then which port you want to use. I always choose Com 5 as this seems to work fastest, most stable etc. After this, you then leave bluetooth on and in discoverable mode.
After this, load up your software. The correct com port should then appear in the list of possible com ports for you to choose from (Com 5). After that, all should be well with the world.
The reset seems to be caused when your Himalaya looks for an external bluetooth GPS device on the incorrect com port.
Here are a few ideas on how to save battery life:
1. Check Task Manager regularly and close down all applications which you aren't using.
2. Use the ?CamRecSvc function to switch off your LEDs
3. Clean the terminals on your battery and on the section of the phone that the battery connects with, to ensure a clean conenction
4. Lower your screen brightness settings.
5. Change your backlight power-off and device power-off timing. Make it short enough that it doesn't stay on too long after you stop using it, but long enough that the device and light don't have to constantly be switched on.
6. Turn off bluetooth when not in use
7. Disable "Receive Incoming Beams" when not in use
Have you installed any sort of TouchFlo software such as ?FTouchFlo or ?FTouchSL? Some programs that use gesture recognition can interfere with transcriber. You can either try adding the specific program (Ie pword.exe) to the softwares exclusion list in its configuration settings, or alternatively, disable the gesture recognition software and restart your device, and then restart the gesture recognition software after you have finished using transcriber. Note: You will have to do these last steps every time if you chose not to simply add the program to the exclusion list.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=332215