I recently got an HTC Imagio from Verizon running Windows Mobile 6.5 and have been very happy with it so far. Like all things gadgety though there are a lot of things to learn and tweak to further improve how much one gets out of them. I’ve noticed I’ve been making little tweaks here and there and learning about many that I wanted to keep track of as I was sure I’d eventually have to go back to some of them over time which led me to consolidating them in this post.

Below are a collection of tips, links, and other stuff that may be of interest to anyone who also uses an Imagio (and similar models). I’ll most probably update this post over time with newer information I find useful so feel free to check back over time.

Best places to find a thriving Imagio user community

  • PPCGeeks: Great site for all Windows Phones really but also nicely categorized by model to find specific tips too. This is the first place I look whenever I’m wondering about something.
  • XDA Developers: Another great resource and often linked to from PPCGeeks. Lots and lots of great information can be found here as well.

General usage tips

  • Customization
    • Want to change the lock screen background? Open up the “Pictures & Videos” app (note that it’s the Microsoft app, and not the HTC’s “Album” app. Open up the image you want to use as your background, tap on “Menu” and select the “Set as Today Background…” option.
  • Typing
    • Tired of hitting the symbol key to type number or other special character? The easiest and most efficient way to input those characters is to use the tap-n-hold approach. For example, if you want to type in an ampersand just hold down the ‘s’ key and you’ll see the ‘&’ key show up above it after a short delay. Drag your finger over it and it’ll be added to your text and you can go right back to typing the rest of your text.

Browsing the web

  • Opera browser
    • Wondering if there are more browser settings to tweak than what you can see from tapping on the browser’s “Settings” command? There definitely are. Just navigate to “opera:config” using the browser itself and you’ll find a ton of settings. Many of which can make browsing a much nicer experience than the default settings. The page is called the “Opera Preferences Editor” and I highly recommend you bookmark it as you might be experimenting with it a lot over time.
    • Not happy with how large the font seems to be by default when browsing mobile versions of sites? Head over to the “Opera Preferences Editor” (i.e., browse to ‘opera:config’ and in the “Fonts” section, change the first number in the “Normal” setting to something smaller than what it already is. It defaults to 13 (I think) but try something like 10 or 11 and see if you like that better.
    • If you’re curious to try out a newer version of the Opera browser, you can get the Opera Mobile 9.7 beta release here. I tried it but ended up going back to the stock version (9.5) but it’s worth a look.
    • If you end up trying out one of the newer version but end up going back to a previous version, check out this post with details on how to set the browser you want as the default browser on the device.

Great apps to consider

  • Windows Marketplace
    • This app is already installed on your Imagio and it’s the place to get apps like Bing Mobile, Netflix Mobile, Facebook Mobile, etc.
  • If you use Twitter, you should try out:
    • TouchTwit – This is the one I use most of the time (that is, whenever I’m back in a Twitter using phase). (Not free)
    • PockeTwit – Very interesting and unique UI. (Free and source available)
    • TinyTwitter – Haven’t used this one in a while but it’s been around for a long while now so worth considering.

Great sites to bookmark