Do you have a Windows Mobile 6.1 powered device and use either POP3 or IMAP4 with SMTP? Have you encountered problems sending email or seen the error message below?

If the answer to either of the questions above is yes then read on as what you are seeing is actually a bug that affects all WM 6.1 powered handsets!

Background

I first discovered this problem a few months ago while using my HTC TyTN II. I have access to two Exchange servers but, as you’ll probably know, you can only set up one Exchange activesync partnership per device. So for the other account I have to use IMAP4 and send over SMTP.

I’ve been using the setup for about 18 months and it works perfectly well for me, well until HTC released the WM 6.1 update for the TyTN II it did.

I installed the 6.1 update on the TyTN II and set up my Exchange and IMAP4 accounts. Was able to receive email with both accounts, no problem. All was well until I tried to send an email from my IMAP4 account (through SMTP). Upon trying to send mail I simply got presented with the error message above. I checked the account settings, they were all correct, but still unable to send mail.

I then restored the original WM 6.0 ROM to the TyTN II and the problem went away! This lead me to think that there was a problem with HTC’s implementation of the 6.1 ROM. However later test revealed this to not be the case.

I set up my IMAP4 email on my new HTC Touch Diamond and was able to send one email, but subsequent emails then failed with the same error message. Deleting and recreating the account allowed me to send one or two more emails before it then failed again. One sending failed the account never works again!

So I contacted one of our friends at Microsoft to try and work through the problem.

Having worked with the guys at Microsoft for the past 6 weeks or so (including the top Outlook Mobile chap in the US) and having sent them my TyTN II to test we have discovered the following bug affecting ALL Windows Mobile 6.1 devices.

You can see more in the email excerpt from Microsoft below:

We are done with it and just checked in a bug fix last week to address what turned out to be a severe product bug that will affect all WM 6.1.x devices until they receive a fix or upgrade to WM 6.1.4. Your help both made us aware of the issue before it bubbled up through the forums and your device actually did help us debug the issue.
 
We are driving the issue with our response team and pushing to make a fix more broadly available independent of a device update.
 
More details on this bug:
Symptoms:
At some point sending e-mail stops working for a given e-mail account.
This will happen if the there is *any* failure to connect to the SMTP server – ever. After that point the user cannot send mail with that account again.
 
Recovery:
The user must delete their e-mail account and recreate it each time this happens.
There is no way to prevent this from reoccurring.

So as you can see, the problem is pretty severe and affects all devices with WM 6.1. The work around, if you can call it that, is to delete the affected account and recreate it.

I also suspect that this bug is related to the problem that many people report with GMail on their mobile and the reason why you must delete and recreate an email account if any of the account credentials change.

Microsoft are working on the problem at the moment and are hoping to make an independent update available. Let’s hope that it will be available in that format rather than part of a full ROM update as I suspect that it will take time to filter through the manufacturers and the operator supply channels.

If you are affected by this issue then do drop me a line and I’ll endeavour to keep you updated with the progress of the fix.

EDIT: Please see this post for a potential fix to the problem!

Posted by: Matt

With Google showing off an HTC Dream like handset at the recent Google Developer Day in London it now looks set to be officially released.

Google Developer Day

OK so it not such a secret now as it was a few months ago but it does look like the official release and press day will be this coming Tuesday at a press event in New York City. Just what this device is we can only assume (HTC Dream)?

Anyone Seeing the Resemblance?

It will be the usual day out at the press release with Google & T-Mobile being there since it was decided that T-Mobile should be the first network to get their hands on the Android based handset.

Unfortunately I have no passport or an invite to the press event but I do promise to keep you updated through the wee hours of the UK morning with updates on the 23rd.

As for the hands on treatment I am going to try working my Scottish charm on the guys over at HTC to see what they can offer us in way of a shot of this device. I will be sure to keep you all updated.

Posted by: John

I just went over to have a look at our YouTube channel and videos and was surprised to discover that our collective 99 videos have been viewed over 2 million times! Apparently that puts us in the top 40 YouTuber’s in the UK. I’m sure it wont be too long before we exceed the 100 videos mark as well!

So a quick thank you to everyone that has watched our videos, we definitely appreciate your feedback so if there is anything that you think we should be doing differently then please do let us know.

If you haven’t seen our YouTube channel then you can find it here, some of the videos go back almost two years already!

Posted by: Matt

Well it looks like the guys over at HTC are churning out their devices in a mass way. We now see another new release in the shape of the HTC Touch 3G.

HTC Touch 3G

Are they now showing that the iPhone is not the only trendy looking touch phone on the market with this device which will be running on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional?

The HTC Touch 3G comes with HTC’s next generation TouchFLO covering over the sizeable cracks in Microsoft’s long serving Operating System.

Various Views of the Touch 3G

Connectivity wise, the Touch3G comes with HSDPA/WCDMA (Europe/Asia: 900/2100 MHz) offering up to 384 kbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds, and quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, Bluetooth 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for stereo wireless headsets and IEEE 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi. Naturally, there’s GPS and A-GPS onboard.

There’s a 3.2 megapixel camera for stills and video onboard with a microSD slot for expandable storage, plus HTC’s ExtUSB 11-pin mini-USB 2.0 and combined audio jack forcing users to fiddle about with proprietary headphone connections. Maybe one day…….soon, HTC and the others will realise that people want 3.5mm audio jacks!

The rounded, pocketable phone (102 mm X 53.6 mm X 14.5 mm) weighs in at 96 grams and is powered by a Qualcomm MSM7225 528 MHz processor supported by 256MB ROM and 192 MB RAM, with the 1100 mAh battery promising up to 360 minutes for WCDMA/400 minutes GSM talk time and a standby time up to 450 hours for WCDMA and 365 hours for GSM.

The exact release date is still unknown and but we expect to see this in shops sometime in September / October / November (ok, so I just don’t know) so why not head over to either Clove or Devicewire and pre-order yours now?

The device will come in sophisticated black, noble gold, sparkle blue and modern brown and the official stats on the handset are:

• Size: 102 x 53.6 x 14.5 mm
• Weight: 96g
• Connectivity: GSM/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz & WCDMA / HSPA: 900/2100MHz.
  • HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
  • HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
• Software/Operating system: HTC TouchFLO with Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
• Display: 2.8 inch QVGA screen
• Camera: 3.2 megapixel
• Internal memory: 256 MB flash; 192 MB RAM
• Memory card: microSD™
• Bluetooth®: 2.0 with EDR
• GPS: GPS/AGPS
• Interface: HTC ExtUSB™ (mini-USB and audio jack in one; USB 2.0 High-Speed)
• Battery: 1100 mAh
• Talk time: WCDMA: Up to 360 minutes*** / GSM: Up to 400 minutes
• Standby time: WCDMA: Up to 450 hours*** / GSM: Up to 365 hours
• Chipset: Qualcomm® MSM7225™ 528 MHz

Posted by: John