Another new Focus owner...

[gunarpants]

Howdy.

Bought my Focus on Monday, coming from a BlackBerry Bold 9700. So far, so good. I love it. Not entirely used to the software keyboard yet, but I'm sure that comes with time...

I have to say, getting this phone was ****. The people at my local AT&T store tried to get me to buy a Samsung Infuse 4G, or an HTC Inspire 4G among other Android phones, I can't stand manufacturer-designed overlays on Android like TouchWiz and Sense, and the lack of updates would just drive me crazy. Finally I convinced them that I actually knew what I wanted (imagine that...) and they let me have my way. Oh well, got the phone for $19 on contract (wasn't even an upgrade for my line, so I don't care, hahah!)

It's a rev 1.3 which from what little I've seen on these forums is a good thing...

The only thing I've not liked (okay, this is actually a huge deal for me) is the lack of custom ringtones....does anyone know if this is coming in Mango? I know you can do it with homebrew, but I'm really not comfortable hacking my devices.

Also, does anyone know if there are multiple volume controls? If I turn the volume up loud to watch a YouTube video with friends or something, why does my ring and keyboard sound volume get turned up really loud as well? It kind of makes sense, but it sucks to have to go up and down and up and down all the time. You know what I'm saying?

Thanks guys, glad to be here.

 

[jimski]

Welcome to the WP world. On your ringtone question, it was reported that a ringtone API will become available with Mango, meaning that third party developers will be capable of getting custom ringtones on your phone, and I am certain they are already working on it. I have also seen a reference to a Ringtone Manager, but I think it relates to the third party solution. Nothing has been stated about Zune desktop providing a way to load ringtones directly on your device.

Ironically, your device already has a folder labeled; My Documents/My Ringtones. Drop any MP3 or WMA file in this folder and you have a custom ringtone. My device is dev unlocked and loading ringtones was relatively easy.

Sent from my HTC Surround using Board Express

 

[Dave Blake]

Anyone who starts a thread with howdy is alright by me. Welcome to the WPC were glad you could join us. On ring tones /\ what he said.

: nunja: Dave

 

[enahs555]

Ironically, your device already has a folder labeled; My Documents/My Ringtones. Drop any MP3 or WMA file in this folder and you have a custom ringtone. My device is dev unlocked and loading ringtones was relatively easy.

Please explain further how to do it this way?

 

[Spyral]

It's worth mentioning that Samsung Focus users do not currently have file system access to the My Documents/My Ringtones folder. There are other apps like RingRing7 and Windows Phone Device Manager/TouchXperience that can install ringtones for you, but I have not tested these.

 

[jimski]

It's worth mentioning that Samsung Focus users do not currently have file system access to the My Documents/My Ringtones folder. There are other apps like RingRing7 and Windows Phone Device Manager/TouchXperience that can install ringtones for you, but I have not tested these.

Really. I was not aware that file system access wasn't yet available for the Focus. Interesting that these other apps can drop files into the folder though. Guess that's better than nothing.

Sent from my HTC Surround using Board Express

 

[jimski]

Please explain further how to do it this way?

Assuming your phone is dev unlocked and you can install TouchXplorer or some other file explore app.
-Create the ringtone snippet on your PC and strip out all the artist, album & other info, and give the file any name. Put the files in the music folder you sync with Zune
- They should show up in yourZune desktop Collection under Artists as Unknown Artist. Sync these files with your phone.
-On your phone, to to My Documents/Zune/Content/0100/02. Note that my files get dropped in 02, but of you have additional sub-folders, they may be somewhere else.
-All the files are labeled like; 5f.mp3 and 55.wma. Scroll through the list and look for files (probably at/near the bottom) that are in KB vs. MB, so 276KB instead of 6.75MB for example, assuming your ringtone is a 20-30 second snippet. Tap on each file and listen to identify/confirm each.
-Copy/paste these files to My Documents/My Ringtones and rename each to something familiar, like RT-JimsTone.
-That's it. The ringtones are now available to use.

Sent from my HTC Surround using Board Express

 

[Spyral]

Really. I was not aware that file system access wasn't yet available for the Focus. Interesting that these other apps can drop files into the folder though. Guess that's better than nothing.

And in the same day my post becomes obsolete. Today, Heathcliff74 over at XDA has released WP7 RootTools 0.5, which allows registry editing and full file explorer access.

[XAP - Updated 2011/06/24] WP7 Root Tools 0.5 alpha - xda-developers

The TouchXplorer method that jimski offered works great, but until now, it was impossible to delete the ringtone unless you factory reset the device. I didn't want to be stuck with a ringtone I potentially disliked, so I waited for file system access so I could do the process manually. (and undo it if I so desired)

The above post outlines multiple ways to copy a ringtone to your device.