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Mugen Extended and Standard Batteries Review

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Palm247/WindowsMobile247/MoreMobile247
Product Name:  Mugen Extended and Standard Batteries

Supplied by: Eten Workshop  http://shop.eten.hu

Price: Various, dependant on size and phone

Reviewer: Gavin Fabiani-Laymond

Packaging- The battery. New phone back for extended battery.   Charging instructions. Clear Packaging.

First Impressions- Well designed and solid feel.
 
Hardware Highlights- A range of longer life standard size replacement batteries and extended batteries offering superior run time.

Firstly, I would like to thank Eten Workshops for sending 2 Mugen batteries; a Mugen Standard Battery for the HP 214 and the extended battery for the Samsung i780. Eten Workshop sells a wide range of batteries for most popular devices.

I have now had the chance to test both these batteries for over one month and I first tried the Mugen extended battery for the Samsung i780. The picture above is the extended battery with larger battery cover and this battery is nearly 3 times more powerful than the standard Samsung battery. Whilst the rear cover is larger, it actually makes gripping and using the i780 a lot easier. Also, the run time of the phone is enhanced by nearly 3 times that of the standard battery which makes the added size a small price to pay.

I am a very heavy use; wifi, gaming, calls, Bluetooth, internet, push email etc. and using my i780 constantly, it still managed to last for 3 days (one week, in a 2G area). The only downside is that none of my custom cases fit the phone now, so I am using a universal case instead.

I also had the option of testing the Mugen standard fit battery for the HP 214 which is 10% more powerful than the standard HP battery. Consequently, I was able to achieve that little extra run time which equated to an extra 30 mins on average (1 hour over the stock HP battery).

Conclusion- I have been more than impressed by the Mugen batteries. The extended battery really has proven its weight in gold and actually made my Samsung i780 more useable in terms of on-time and the better grip. HIGHLY recommended.

Build Quality-  10/10
Ease of use-     10/10
Value for money- 9/10
Total score- 92%

New cooked i780 WM6.1 ROM

Take a look at this thread over at XDA Developers, which contains a Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM for the i780. As always, be very careful when upgrading to cooked roms!”>this thread over at XDA Developers, which contains a Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM. As always, be very careful when upgrading to cooked roms! Thanks to Giova.

Samsung i780 LED problem solved

Gavin has found a fix for the i780 LED issues. More details and download link at this thread- “here’s the first release.

1. Currently the patch will keep the LED blinking for SMS notification only. Both Palm threading message application and default Pocket Outlook, are supported. Although the program is designed to support other 3 notifications, namely missed call, voice mail and email, they are currently disabled due to lack of testing.

  2. Default duration that determines how long will the LED light keep blinking before it times out, is 60 minutes. If you want to extend or shorten the duration, you have to manage this in registry (sorry, no GUI at this moment!)  Go to HKCU\Software\Zenyee\Notif Blinker  and change the key value Duration to the desirable length, in minutes. Of course, if you happen to read or dismiss the new message notification before the time limit, the LED will stop blinking. Becareful of setting a long duration(e.g. 240 minutes), because it will affects the battery life somewhat. (not the program itself, but any malfunction program will take advantage of this ‘unattended window’ to eat up the battery juice)

  3. You can personalise the colour of the LED to your liking, but this is device dependent. For Samsung i780, the colour index for the LED is as follow;  Green (1), Blue (2), Red (3), Yellow (5). The index should be updated in the registry HKCU\Software\Zenyee\Notif Blinker\LED Color. Take note that if you choose yellow as the blinking LED colour, it will not show up if your device is connected to a power source.”

Can you help?

Can you help Stephen? “Hello Shaun

What an excellent site you are running!  I have only just come across it today.  I have just bought my i780 from Orange to replace my TyTn and have come across 3 problems and wondered if anyone on your site has answers to them or could point me in the right direction:

1.  In order to get the built in GPS working with TomTom6 I installed GPSGate and all works well.  However, I cannot now enable my Bluetooth – and so there is no handsfree working at the moment!  Something may have got upset when I did the installation and I cannot get it back, even with uninstalling.  I am hesitant to do a hard reset because of all of the time it takes to set everything  up again.  This is what happens:

When I go to the Wireless Manager and click on Bluetooth (to switch it on), I get the circular cursor for about 20 secs as though something is being done, then the cursor returns to normal, but the Bluetooth still remains off.  I can keep repeating this to no avail.  Does anyone know of a fix?

2. On my previous PPC, a HTC TyTn, you could map a button to point to the voice recorder (ie the recorder as used in the Notes section which gets synchronised back into your PC within Outlook notes).  On the i780 you can use the voice recorder within notes but I cannot find an application to map to a button to get it to record.  I need it mapping to a button so that I can do a speedy memo without hunting through menus.  I tried putting the voice recorder.exe from the HTC in to the i780 but it did not work.  Does anyone know how to get the built in voice recorder working from a button press and not through menus?

3. Is there a simple button remapper with 1, 2 or 3 key presses to do a function.  I have downloaded AEButton but it will not install from my PC running Vista64 and so I cannot try that.  Is there a good and simple alternative?

Many thanks

Stephen.”

Hinavigator v1.5 released

Hinavigator v1.5 has been released and it is looking better than ever. HiNavigator – Touch To Go is a software package that allows you to launch programs, make calls, view weather information, access Phone profiles, do ALT-TAB, turn on/off today Plug-ins, and navigate your device by only one hand.

HiNavigator works on Windows Mobile 2003,2005 and 2006 devices. Let see what HiNavigator brings to you.

Highlights

Comprehensive Today’s plug-in with Finger friendly design

Stylish Tabs on Today screen

Support Advanced Phone profiles

Photo contacts as special shortcut for speed dial and quick send SMS

Weather forecasts panel on Today

Easy to Lock the device and change phone profile from Today

Quick access to Date and time, Missed calls, Unread messages, Battery status

One Tap to setup Alarm and Clock

Supports many power shortcut to system settings and system tools as: Soft-reset, power off, screen off, volume adjusts, rotate left/right

Shortcut to turn on/off other today Plug-in

Skinnable interface

Fully customizable look-and-feel

Stylish Weather forecasts for 7,8 days

Easy to see weather in your favor cities

Show all essential information as temperature, humidity, pressure, and winds in detail screen

Separate forecasts for morning, day, evening and night

Day switching by touch

Easy city switching

Support quick update and auto update

Powerful Touch Engine

Unique touch engine to help you browse and scroll Pocket interface by one hand

Create two new event for smart ALT-TAB on every screen, the special feature allows you to do quick task switching or sequential task switching

Faster and smaller to save your time and device power

Support quick update and auto update

Advantageous Task manager
Quick task switching

Support Screen Capture

Show Memory & CPU Usage and more…

CrazySoft hits the 320×320 road

From Gavin- “Some titles just been updated – all support 320 x 320

Final Battle- just updated, now supports All resolutions supported 240×320, 320×240, 480×640, 640×480, 240×240, 320×320, 480,480, 240×400, 400×240, 480×800, 800×480

Lost in the Pyramid and Snake Deluxe.”

Resco Brain Games now fully supports the i780

Resco has announced an update to Brain Games which adds full support for 320×320 screens. Yipee!

In just 5 minutes a day, you can have the brain you always dreamed of. Improve your mental capabilities by testing your memory, analytical skills and calculation skills. Concentrate more and increase your brain reflection speed with 36 brain training games.

And don’t forget, it will also be fun so you can exercise and enjoy it every single day!

iPhone Cases for the i780

From Gavin- The beyzacase I had reviewed for the i780 also turns out to be the slip case for the iphone! A bit of invesitgation reveals that several cases might fit the i780 that were designed for the iphone. And there are some swanky iphone cases. Investigating further

4ustuff Samsung i780 Cases Review

Date of Review – 25th June 2008

Available from – http://4ustuff.com

Prices – $25-28

4ustuff manufacture cases and accessories for a range of devices. They kindly sent me a selection of their cases for the Samsung i780.

Leather Hang Case with Cover and Belt Clip

First up is the Leather Hang case with screen cover. The design is different to any case I have reviewed but actually is a wonderful and simple idea. The leather cover has room for one micro sd card and an sd memory card. It has a magnetic enclosure built into the end of the cover so it simply attaches with ease to the side of the case and doesn’t bounce off either.

The leather is of good quality and the overall leather depth of the case adds minimal profile to the overall size compared to other i780 cases reviewed previously. Also the camera side button is protected inside the case. There is a marking on the side of the case so you know where to press. The case also comes with a belt clip which attaches to the rear of the case if required.

   

All cutouts for all the bespoke functions of the i780 are included. An unusual design, but one which I like a lot.

Horizontal Leather Case

Another well designed, good quality case. Room for memory cards, credit cards and a spare stylus, this is another excellent case from 4ustuff.

The bottom of the case includes cutouts for the mic and allows you to easily remove the phone from the case if desired. The top of the case is open.

The other sides of the case are equally as impressive.

This is another excellent case design, with the ability to hold credit and memory cards and a stylus.

Vertical Leather Case with Belt Clip

Similar to the horizontal case, this has storage for memory and credit cards, but not for a spare stylus. The case has a cutout for the front camera, and once again the side camera button is under the case with a marking on the outer side of the case to show you where to press.  This case also comes with a belt clip if required.

All in all, another well designed case.

Summary

I liked all the cases by 4ustuff, but my personal favourite is the Vertical case.

Review by Gavin Fabiani-Laymond