If you want to test the software before buying you can download a trial from the developer’s homepage. The full version costs $9.95 and can be purchased through several vendors.
Product page TopNewRingtones: http://www.ranosoft.net/treo/top-new-ringtones/

Download PowerSDHC
Download PowerSDHC trial key

Previously, my only real reservation about switching from SplashID to IDGuard was the lack of the desktop component, I have switched now.  Resco is honing the desktop component for release (there are still a few bugs, although not in the conduit).

More to come when I’ve more fully tested it!

I then found AtomClock which can be scheduled to adjust the time once a day which means your Palm clock will always be correct. It has a simple interface where you select the NTP server (and add your own if required) and then select “Set Clock” if you want to manually sync the time.

Atomclock has 3 themes depending on your taste:

The latest Palm devices such as the Centro (which I have) have no reset buttons. Pulling out the battery for a reset normally messes up the clock. Now my standard procedure after a reset is to run AtomClock. Now I never have to look elsewhere to set my Centro time, I just manually run AtomClock and then schedule it to keep the time correct all the time. My Centro is now as accurate as an atomic clock!

AtomClock is written by Alex Pruss and is available from Palmgear for $4. It has just been updated to support NTP protocol servers as well as TIME servers. TIME servers are being phased out since NTP is a better time sync standard. The latest beta with NTP support can be found at http://www.1src.com/forums/showthread.php?t=145150.

For ages, Palm devices have been plagued by breaking headphone jacks. As I always had issues with headphone cords, Jaybird’s AD2P device seemed like a perfect fit. Unfortunately, Palm OS devices do not support AD2P – can Softick Audio Gateway even up the odds?

The program’s main screen is clear and simple. The toggle at the bottom let’s you choose where the audio goes to. Click one of the icons to launch the corresponding media app. The list at the top allows you to pick your headset:

A variety of quality options are available to “adjust” the tradeoff between sound quality and CPU load. The settings shown below work flawlessly on my Treo 680 – no noticeable speed losses here:

Softick integrated an extra option for silencing the program while a call comes in. Extra points should be awarded to the genius who decided that the ringer should always be played via the speaker…no more missed calls here:

Generally, I am very satisfied with the performance of the product. Audio quality is excellent, and there is no more stuttering or hissing than on a wired headset. My final torture test involved connecting to a headset and a bluetooth keyboard: occasional audio pauses became audible while typing fast.

This review looked at version 1.21.2120 on a Palm Treo 680. The program needs 468KB of memory and can NOT be run from an external memory card.

In the end, Softick’s Audio Gateway fulfills its promise – my Jaybird JB200 headset works flawlessly with my Treo. Seeing that there is no other way to use an AD2P device with a Treo, the product is a must-have. The well-thought-out extra features make the purchase price of 20$ a bargain…

Installing and configuring is very easy. Just install it via Hotsync etc and run it. It will install itself in the system – enhancing your keyguard from now on.

If you want, TopSignalOnKeyguard can hide itself from the PalmOS launcher.

That was it – no other steps are required here.
If you want more information than just the signal status then you need TopGuardEx.
TopGuardEx adds additional items such as Bluetooth state, battery level or a clock.
After installing the software you will find it in the preferences panel. In the settings window you can customize your keyguard.

Here you can decide what to show. Bluetooth state, phone signal and battery level can be shown at the same time while the clock can only be displayed alone. Clock + Battery e.g. doesn’t work.
So your keyguard can look like this:

Or like this:

In that way you can see the most important information just on power-on. There is no need to switch to the launcher in order to check your system status which is very annoying when you are working in another app. Just switch on your Treo/Centro and voilà – there it is.

If you want to have a look on your own at these applications, just visit the developer’s homepage and get the trial!
The full version costs $4.95 (TopSignalOnKeyboard) and $9.95 (TopGuardEx). You can get it via e.g. Mobihand.

TopSignalOnKeyboard at MobiHand (Download Demo and purchase)
TopGuardEx on ranosoft.net (Download Demo and purchase via serveral vendors)

OffFlush has a very simple, self explaining UI:

When the handheld is powered off and the free DBCache is below the threshold, OffFlush delays the power-off and attempts to flush the DBCache. This process usually takes 30secs to 1 minute on my Treo 680 and can not be aborted.

The program needs 10k of RAM and cannot be installed onto an external memory card. It has not caused any crashes so far. This mini-review looked at version 2.0 of the program, it can be downloaded here.

In the end, one question remains: what for? This program can automatically flush your DBCache – but do you need it flashed automatically? My Treo 680 has never had any DBCache issues, so I say no. People having a Palm TX or a Treo 650 could consider it useful, though…

When starting UltimatePhone for the first time, the product presents you an eight-page tutorial about some UltimatePhone features(unfortunately leaving out the core functions):

After closing the tutorial, UltimatePhone displays its regular start screen. The currently-empty squares in the middle are ‘photo containers’ – they can contain contacts, web sites and/or applications that are opened when the square is tapped(look at our DialByPhoto review for more info).

The squares can be aligned in a variety of styles:

Like with the regular phone app, typing letters allows you to browse contacts. Alternatively, a skinned dial pad is available:

Alternatively, voice dialing can be used if VoiceDialIt is installed(never was a fan of that feature…all hail the duffergile )

The new feature in UltimatePhone is the web view – pushing the right nav key opens a tab where you can place your favorite web sites for one-click access:

Both web pages and call are handled by the native phone/web browsing applications. However, the product can now bind the launch button. It then replaces the standard launcher and allows you to launch applications by typing their name:

As always, the product’s look can be customized heavily – you can adjust the background picture, and choose overlays,…:

Unfortunately, international users can not use the included fonts – they lack accented,.. characters:

This review looked at DialByPhoto version 1.5007 on a Treo 680. The product needs about 3MB of RAM. It was exceptionally stable in the testing period, and the periodic slowdowns seen in DialByPhoto have also been reduced significantly.

In the end, UltimatePhone is not an application that should be rated on its merit or usage value – that simply is not the point of the app. It is intended to give your Treo a fresh new look – if that’s what you want…get it for 20$ and sacrifice the 3MB…

LightSpeed usually takes about 5secs to start up – it then displays a list of all applications in RAM:

Unlike most other overclocking tools, LightSpeed does not support the definition of a ’system-wide’ frequency. Instead, you must select all applications and tap the change button in order to set the CPU frequency:

The frequency setup itself happens in two stages -bus frequency and multiplier can be set up independently. The program automatically takes care that the processor’s frequency isn’t overclocked beyond 624MhZ:

Newly-installed programs always ‘default’ to the standard frequency:

The evaluation version of LightSpeed randomly pops up annoying nag screens when changing from application to application:

Last but not least, the program also displays a bit of info about the installed CPU…

So far so good – here are a few performance snapshots made with Speedy:

260×1.0 STABLE
Calc Test 0.66 sec
Mem Test 0.14 sec
Graph Test 0.37 sec
Total 1.17 sec ~256 MHz
1282 % / Palm Vx

156×4=624m; NOT STABLE
Calc Test 0.26 sec
Mem Test 0.21 sec
Graph Test 0.21 sec
Total 0.68 sec ~441 MHz
2206 % / Palm Vx

208×3.0 = 624, highest possible FSB, STABLE
Detail [now]

Calc Test 0.27 sec
Mem Test 0.16 sec
Graph Test 0.19 sec
Total 0.62 sec ~484 MHz
2419 % / Palm Vx

My Treo 680 has survived quite a few PalmPI stress tests at 624MhZ – the secret seems to lay in staying away from multipliers beyond 3.0.

Leaving all handling oddities aside, LightSpeed 3.0 does an excellent job at speeding up your Treo. My 680 has seen a 50% increase in performance without any other features being affected – if you feel like playing around with your Treo’s clock frequency, get this by all means!

So I had a look at PowerDigi, a calibration tool by Dmitry Grinberg (Palmpowerups.com). It uses special technologies and algorithms in order to make the recogntion of touches more accurate. Dmitry told me that even owners of Palms with cracked touchscreens may have a chance to use their device again.

There are three versions of PowerDigi (PowerDigi320, PowerDigi440 and PowerDigi480). The first version is for devices without Graffiti area (Tungsten C, Treo smartphones, …). The second one is for devices with a Graffiti area (Tungsten E2, Zire 72). The third will run on PDAs with a 320×480 screen (Palm TX, LifeDrive, …). The user interface of PowerDigi is very easy to use. There is one button for calibrating the screen and one to test the digitizer. Using the checkbox “Enabled”, you can enable PowerDigi’s calibration.

When you start it for the first time, you have to calibrate your screen before PowerDigi can be activated. There are three calibration modes. The first one (“fast”) needs 12 taps, the second one (“medium”) 35 taps and the third one (“accurate”) 70 taps. The more taps you make the more prober is the calibration. This is the first reason why PowerDigi can help you: Palm’s calibration tool only needs three tabs.

According to the developer, the “fast” or “medium” mode should be enough in the most cases. Only if your digitizer is almost completely broken or even cracked, you may need the “accurate” calibration.

Tapping the screen 30 times and more at special positions can be very annoying. But the developer had a good idea: if you tap at a wrong position, you can repeat this tap by pressing the down button. By pressing the up button, you can cancel the calibration. I also see the second pro of PowerDigi: Palm’s calibration tool will not save your calibration if it “thinks” that the position you tapped at is too far away from the target. But this may happen if your screen is old or broken. Then you even cannot exit the calibration. In my case, I either had to do a softreset or to tap 3 mms to the left of the target so that Palm’s tool accepted the calibration (which was, of course, very decalibrated). In contrast to that, PowerDigi accepts every tap you make, no matter where you tap and where the target is.

This may help owners of broken screens, but can also be dangerous. I tried this feature and made a completely wrong calibration (e. g. when the target was in the upper part of the screen, I tapped into the lower, ..) and in this case, you cannot use your screen because PowerDigi takes your wrong calibration. Even Palm’s calibration tool could not help. So I did a warm reset and deleted PowerDigi’s calibration data (PowerDiGi2 DB.pdb). After that, I could do a soft reset again and record a new calibration.

The image below shows some grids I made in Note Pad using a ruler and my stylus, the first one using Palm’s calibration, the three other ones using PowerDigi (and its three calibration modes):

As you can see, not a single line is exactly straight. This may be because of little inexactnesses during the calibration. But this is not a problem. I have used my Palm with enabled PowerDigi for some days now, and all my screen problems are gone. I can tap all buttons, even the small ones which appear in some programs. And also drawing detailed sketches is no problem anymore. When I draw a line and (later) want to continue it, I just need draw a new line starting on the old line’s end. Without PowerDigi, I couldn’t exactly reach the end of the old line – my Palm started drawing 2 mms above it.

In my opinion, PowerDigi is a must-have for all Palms with a screen that has calibration problems. Working with a decalibrated screen can be very annoying (I did it for more than one year now). According to the developer, it supports almost all Palms with OS5.x. The included install instruction manual mentions 25 different devices, but there may be support for other ones. So I recommend testing the program before buying. If it works on your device and you buy it, your screen problems should be solved. The $16.95 may sound a little bit expensive – but I think they are cheaper than buying a new digitizer. PowerDigi at Palmpowerups.

I must also praise the support for the program. Dmitry Grinberg was immediately availible on Google’s chat and could answer my questions about PowerDigi. He told me that he also offers support via e-mail, Yahoo, MSN and via phone.