Smartphone - Audiovox SMT 5600

Tons of people out there must have this phone by now. I've had it for quite some time and aside from the occasional "weird thing" (which a reboot fixes) the thing has been a DREAM to have.

I was wondering if anyone out there knew how to do away with all those dumb splash screens in the beginning. The phone takes about 30 seconds to start up and that is just insanity. These splash screens (which are really just more like advertisements) would be better targeted toward someone who does NOT own the phone. I already do. It's like they're trying to sell me on something that I already own.

So does anyone know how to either get rid of them or reduce the amount of time they're displayed?

11 Comments

  • I agree that 30 seconds is not that much time. My frustration comes when I travel and frequently need to turn the phone off - I've seen those 4 startup screens at least 250 times now. My point of view is "enough is enough", if you understand. :)

  • Agreed, but I actually think it's built into the firmware. I even notice a similar "pseudo" splash-screen when developing against a Smartphone Emulator using Visual Studio. There's got to be a registry key on the phone that can be tweaked.



  • That's a really good point - I may be able to alter the IMAGE that is displayed, but not necessarily the amount of time that each image is displayed.



    How do you access the registry on the phone? I haven't done that yet.

  • For those with this phone (or any SmartPhone, for that matter): What Service Provider do you use? I currently use Verizon with a non-SmartPhone, and I'm quite discouraged at how they lock the phone down to prevent even installing my own Ring Tone unless I buy it from them. My purpose for getting a SmartPhone would be to customize it however I wanted to, run whatever I wanted to, and make the Ring Tone anything that I wanted to without paying the provider any more than my airtime.

  • I forgot to mention this in my last post. I have noticed the boot time seems to be tied to memory and file count/size. I use a 512MB mini-SD card for videos and map files. The card is almost full and has dozens of files. When the card is installed in the phone, it can take 5+ minutes to boot (when it decides to). I have had it countless times get stuck on the Audiovox screen or continuously reboot after displaying the Microsoft Windows Mobile splash. This seems to happen a lot less without the mini-SD card but still occurs once in awhile.

  • Russ: this phone has a flight mode on it, which you can use instead of turning the phone off when on an airplane. To get to this, briefly hold down the power button and you'll get a menu. Option 2 is the one you want to select.

  • My 5600 is unlocked and I recently had a chance to upgrade it to Windows Mobile 2005. Stratup got better, but maybe simply because new image does not have mMode (which I never used anyway). Still, it is slow.



    5600 is a good phone if you are active cell phone user and never switch it off. I switch it off in planes (I know there is flight mode, but why waste battery charge?) and I actually switch the phone off once in a while just because I don't need it. Often the phone does not switch off (hangs on the Audiovox green screen) so I have to yank out the battery.

  • Hi Matt,



    I know about that flight mode thing. The problem is, why waste battery power? It's not like I can play solitaire on the thing - flight attendants will converge on my position like a platoon of secret service agents if I show a phone that is not turned off.



    Alaska allows "flight mode" phones. Unfortunately, my airline of choice (American) does not.



    It seems childish and a little pathetic to me that I can endanger a plane full of good people with something I bought for $199 a year ago. Do you think there really IS a danger with cell phone use on airplanes?

  • Russ: I believe that the whole idea around turning cell phones off stemmed from airlines wanting to capitalize on the phones in the seat backs in front of you.



    However, for $3.99 / minute, who in their right mind would use that? I have nothing in my life that is *that* important. :)



    I have heard rumours that airlines are slowly allowing cell phone usage (assuming you can get a signal at 35000 feet).



  • does anyone know how to change the links that are on the home page on the audiovox smt 5600. i have an unlocked cingular version and all the links point to the cingular site.



    thanks.

  • I am currently in Bangkok, and the sMT5600 fLIGHT MODE IS ON AND i NEED 2 INSERT A tHAI sIM cARD. HELP HELP, HOW DO I GET RID OF FLIGHT MODE?

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