Re: New A700 firmware (XL08) enables access under bitpim

Let me clarify some things.  There has been a lot of noise about
BitPim and the MM-A700.  The following is what I believe to be the
true situation.  Please correct me if you know from FIRST hand
experience that things are otherwise.

1.  There has never been a problem reliably accessing the MM-A700
filesystem, independent of firmware version.

2.  There has never been an instance of BitPim lock up an MM-A700 hard.

3.  What browsing the filesystem can do is get the phone stuck in
filesystem mode so that even rebooting the phone can't put it back
into modem mode.  This means that sync programs such as Spapsync and
Datapilot can no longer access the phonebook.  It also means that the
phone can not be used as a modem.  (It is not clear that this is
really be an issue as using a phone as a modem violates Sprint's terms
of service.)  Being stuck in filesystem mode does NOT impact the use
of the phone as a phone.  There is no indication that being stuck in
filesystem mode impairs the ability of the phone to do any thing that
it normally can do without a data cable attached.

4.  A while ago, a command, common to many phones, was found that can
allow BitPim to put some phones back into modem mode.  There is some
indication that this command (available in the filesystem browser)
will return an MM-A700 to modem mode, but it is not clear that the
firmware upgrade is also needed.

5.  There has been no BitPim development work for the A700.  The only
MM-A700 specific work on BitPim was an apparantly unsuccessful attempt
to make BitPim refuse to go into filesystem mode for the A700.

If #4 is indeed true (it has yet to be confirmed by my most reliable
sources), then it is conceivable to add phonebook support to BitPim
for the A700.   The best way to help is to document the phonebook
protocol support for the A700.  Samsung phones all seem to have a
similar protocol and anyone can help get phone specific details by
using kermit, hyperterminal or some similar terminal emulation
program.  Look in the BITPIM souce code CVS tree for the file dev-docs
dev-doc/samsungnotes.txt where there is information about several
Samsung phones.  Of the phone described in that document, the SPH-A620
(VGA1000) is probably the closest as it is also Sprint.

None of the developers have an A700, so getting that phone added to
BitPim will require someone to do some work documenting the protocol
and someone to be able to run BitPim from source in order to test code
and do some light programming.

Stephen

On Fri, 18 Feb 2005 11:47:11 -0600 (CST), Gerald Fountain
<[email protected]> wrote:
> There is a new version of firmware for the MM-A700, XL08, that seems to
> enable reliable access to the filesystem of the MM-A700.  I see from the
> archives that there was development for this phone for a time, but that
> there were issues of it locking up hard.
> 
> My coding skills are not what they were in the past (and I don't know
> python enough to write code, but it's easy enough to read).  Was someone
> developing code for the A700 still interested?  I've got an A700 and am
> willing to volunteer being a guinnie pig for testing.  So far, I've been
> testing the A700 in filesystem read-only mode to pull photos and video
> with good success (meaning I'm getting the files and not locking up the
> phone :)
> Email me if interested in a victim...errr...tester.


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