TechHackz

With the release of Windows Phone 7 it’s good to see that Windows Mobile is still getting some love and that the XDA developers are still working on new apps for it. petititi is working on a new application called WinStart which is a replacing the stock Start Menu of Windows Mobile. What sets it apart are the new animations included with the Start Menu replacement.

WinStart is in beta mode but it is already promising as you can see in the video below:

To install it simply go to http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=827006 and download the CAB file. Then install it on your device using a file explorer.

WinStart works on any Windows Mobile 6.x version and any screen resolution.

As WinStart is in beta you can expect a few bugs [from XDA]:

BUGS

• click Settings icon and I get an error message saying 'The file " cannot be opened...'
• Sometimes, when opening a folder, it gave me a blank page
• After uninstalling and deleting the WinStart folder, startmenu doesn't recognize 99 % of my icons anymore
• sometime bottom softkeys freeze
• when i go into certain folders it just crashes

Strange behaviors

• icons for programs pinned to the original windows start do not appear
• Trying to change icons' images and then canceling without changing gets you distorted images
• Anytime I install a new program, it doesn't show up in the start menu until I soft reset.
• If desactivated, after subsequent usage the start menu activates again
• the top bar on the left when pressed takes you to the start menu instead of drop down box for file explorer
• from Sense, 'All Settings' softkey will not work
• WQVGA on the scrollbar on the right is not visible
• bottom of words is "cutted".[?fixed in beta2?]
• Text field are buggy (text out of box and keyboard on top of input)
• quality icons is not good
• Text is printed top-down for chinese devices

Wanted features

• change sart Menu text color
• disable icon caching
• resizing the icons so that you can always see every icon in that folder
• maybe a shortcut to the config exe ?
• one might choose the option to lock, because I use S2U2
• we could have the programs "favorites" or "regulars," added the menu open first?
• is possible move for the icons with d-pad?
• "Drag and drop" to move icons
• browsing option
• Alphabetical order

Functions details

• action "restore layout"
  "restore layout" is useful when icons are not positioned correctly, or to restore hidden icons.
• Registery settings:
  All the start menu is located under [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Security\Shell\StartInfo\Start\]
  To hide an icon, add this key :
  To remove an icon permanently, just add "falseLink" key (value is not important)
  To change position of icon, use "ItemPosition" (0 is the first one)
  To change the name, use "name"

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