Electronic engineers have been encapsulating or potting electronics in resin’s for decades usually for vibration dampening or moisture control its just I decided to make it look presentable

Source: Rupert Hirst / Runaway Brainz

With modern cell phone plans in the US, we rarely have to deal with “Roaming” charges, but this term is used just to refer between towers owned and operated by your service provider (Sprint, Verizon, Alltel, US Cellular, etc…) and towers that your service provider doesn’t own but has roaming agreements to.

Updating your PRL updates which towers your phone can access, and can help with signal strength in areas where you have fringe coverage. This is usually due to changing roaming agreements between cell phone service providers, so keeping the PRL updated can improve consistency and coverage if you are in an area that does not have very good coverage.

Here is what you need in order to update your PRL:

• Your phone
• A registry editor for your phone
• A MicroSD card reader/writer, or the USB cable for your phone

Here are the step-by-step instructions on how to update the PRL on your Sprint HTC Touch Pro 2.

1. Get a .prl file for your provider (Sprint, in my case) – I used this thread [ppcgeeks.com] and save it to your MicroSD card root
2. If the PRL file you downloaded is zipped, you may need to unzip it to get the .prl file.
3. You will need your MSL code for this next step, if you don’t have it, here is how to get it:
   1. Get a Windows Mobile registry editor tool like CeRegEditor [free!].
   2. Go to HKLM\Software\HTC\ATDbgLog
   3. Edit item called “Enable” and change from “0″ to “1″, and save your changes
   4. Reboot your device
   5. Go back to the registry editor and change the setting back to “0″
   6. Reboot your device
   7. Open File Explorer and go to the folder “\Atlog” in the root directory of your device.
   8. You should see a file called “ATDbg0″ (the “0″ may be another number like 1).
   9. Open the file and locate a line containing “RMSL”
   10. You should find a line item that includes a 6 digit number, this is your MSL code. Write it down
4. Open up the phone dialer application and enter this combination: ##775# – you do not need to hit “Send”, it will automatically enter a hidden menu after you enter in that combination.
5. It will ask you for your MSL code, enter it in now.
6. Select “Menu” then “Edit”, and find where you have extracted the PRL to. It should be on your MicroSD card.
7. Select the PRL file and hit “OK” twice
8. Your phone should now prompt you to reboot. Go ahead. After the phone boots up, you can dial ##778# to verify your new PRL!

All was good, I graduated and moved back home with my folks since I didn’t have a job lined up yet. Where I live, zip code 08867, is literally in the middle of nowhere. It takes me 15 minutes of driving to get to the closest store, and there was absolutely no cell phone service for Sprint there. None. Turn phone on, NO SERVICE. Well, Verizon wireless had recently installed a local repeater there, so while friends and family enjoyed full signal, I was stuck between NO SERVICE and a one-bar roaming level. Every once in a while, the phone would jump over to the Verizon Wireless repeater that was down the street, and I would get full bars of wonderful 3G coverage, but as soon as I tried to do anything, it would puke and die, sticking me back with the one bar of roaming.

Not to mention, this also had a dramatic effect on my battery life. The Palm Centro was never known for its specatular battery life, and this only worked to make it worse. In Florida, an overnight charge was enough to juce up the Centro for about one full day’s work, from 8AM to about 9PM with no problem as long as I wasn’t surfing the ‘net too much.

Back home, a fully charged battery would last for about 3 hours. That was it. If you turn on the service indicator (Apps -> Prefs -> Sound & Alerts -> Phone Alerts -> Coverage In/Out) the phone would be mad with beeping every two or three minutes. There was no calm, and my phone would be going absolutely batty looking for something it could stick with.

A few calls to Sprint were in order. The first call, I asked for the cancellation fee to be waived since I moved to an area with absolutely no coverage, and I needed the phone for potential job interviews (which, actually isn’t a lie, I did have several interviews lined up). The first representative said no problem, he would have to see proof of my street address faxed in (bank statement, bill, w/e) and he would wave the early termination fee. I took his name and extension and said I would think about it.

I called the next day and said I had the paperwork, and I would like to cancel. “Hold on a moment” he says, and before I know it I was transferred to a retentions agent. Hmm, Sprint retentions agents have been known to do almost anything to keep you as a customer. Last time I called, they paid for my Verizon early termination fee so I could stay with Sprint.

The nice lady asked why I wanted to quit. I explained that I needed a reliable phone where I was living since I was expecting calls for job interviews. Before I knew it, she offered me a magical device called the Sprint Airave, which is basically a local Sprint repeater. She offered it to me for free (usually costs $100) and free two years of service (usually costs $5/month) and offered to ship it overnight to me. Well guess what, I took the bait, hook line and sinker.

It’s not only the SERO users, but the Simply Everything Plus users as well. If you log into the Simply Everything Plus page on Sprint, you’re greeted with this message:

Because of unprecedented demand, the Palm Pre is not yet available to Everything Plus^SMReferral Program shoppers.

Which, actually is just a polite way of saying “Sorry, you can’t get them yet,  because there are suckers willing to pay more for them right now and our bean counters say we make more money off of them”

Fine, I don’t have a problem with that, business is business. At least throw us a bone and let us pre-order or put down a deposit so we can get one when they do become available!

Speaking of suckers willing to pay more for them right now, if you check eBay, there are phone selling for nearlt $600, the full retail price of the phone without contract.  I’m not aware of any outages right now, but it seems like the fat populus just doesn’t want to leave their nice comfy chair to get the phones.

Rapid Repair Guides have also posted their disassembly of the phone, and estimated that the cost in components only (in bulk of course) is around $170. Not too bad, good job to Palm for making the Pre attractively price for those under contract, unlike the $600 iPhone when it first came out.

The result of being unbelievely bored. Video taken with a Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000, heavily post proccessed with VirtualDub. Interesting story, I was looking for a camera replacement for my aging Quickcam Messenger. One night the whole family takes a trip out to do some shopping. I decide to go to the Circuit City to check out some of the closeout deals. They still had absolutely insane prices, $60 for a Everquest expansion that was out nearly 6 years ago? $650 for a computer in “As-is” condition with missing parts? No thanks, I go next door to the Target. What do I see? A clearance boxed Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000 sitting on the shelf for the incredible price of $49.99 – at least $20 cheaper than online, and no shipping costs either. According to Cowboy Frank’s Webcam Review site, this was one of the best webcams on the market right now. I bought it. Screw you, Circuit City.