The Samsung Jack is turning out to be a very good Windows Mobile phone, and Windows Mobile Standard remains an equally good operating system. The sliding panels of the Samsung Jack's Today Screen can put a lot of information at your fingertips, but I can't help but feel Microsoft missed the boat when it didn't put a contact panel on Windows Mobile Standard 6.1.
Have no fear, CHome Configurator will make up for the lack of a contact panel and then some. CHome Configurator isn't a stranger to Windows Mobile Standard and is a utility that will allow you to add, delete and modify the WM Standard Panels. To see how well CHome fits with the Samsung Jack, follow the break.
As previously mentioned, CHome Configurator allows you to add, delete and modify the panels on Windows Mobile Standard 6.1. The most current version is 1.1.05 and installs effortlessly as any other .cab installation would.
The main page of CHome shows the panels already in use (in bold print) as well as some predefined panels (grayed out).
The order of the panels can be modified from this screen and here is where you start to make you own panels. Through the pull-up menu, simply choose Panel>New and name the new panel.
Once the new Panel is created you have to start adding pages. In creating any panel, be it contact, application launcher or internet links, each page will be the individual contact/application/link you want included in the panel. With the Panel open to customization, choose Page>New and then choose Template>Contact Dialer. CHome has templates to create pages for internet links or to launch applications, which really makes the creation of these pages simple.
From here it's only a matter of choosing the contact you want highlighted in the Today Screen Panel. To add another contact, simply create a new page within the panel.
When all is said and done, exit the application through the pull-up menu and save the changes. Once saved, you will now have a Contact Panel that will let you speed dial contacts.
I did experience a few errors in running Chome. The first came up when Chome starts up that reads, "Error while loading from the registry InvalidOperationsException". The second error occurs when you go to save the changes to Chome. This one reads, "Error while saving to the Registry; Security\Chome\DefaultSettings. An error message ?? (the countdown timer blocks this word) be displayed because an optional resource assembly containing it cannot be found".
It's my understanding that the Jack's Registry is locked and that could be generating the errors. Hitting "OK" clears the error, and it doesn't appear to effect CHome or the Jack in any negative fashion. Regardless, CHome works like a charm.
Until we see the end result of Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard, CHome Configurator allows you to put some of the missing features into WM 6.1 Standard. For me, CHome adds the Contacts Panel to help me speed dial numbers on the move. For others it may be an Programs Panel to launch commonly used applications from.
Regardless, if you need to add functionality to your Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard phone, CHome Configurator is worth a look at and you can download it here.
