Windows Phone 7 offers very less in terms of User Customization. The only theming options are to change the Tile Colors and thats about it.

Folks over at XDA have managed to allow us to do even more by making it possible to Change the Background Color as well as use Custom Tile Colors of our choice.

You need a Developer Unlocked Device for this hack.

You can follow this thread over at XDA to Dev Unlock your WP7 Device.

1. Download Registry Editor and Deploy it to your WP7. Download Registry Editor for WP7 from here.

2. Download Advanced Configuration to add Custom colors of your Choice for the Tiles.

Next to use a Custom Background you will manually need to modify some Registry Settings. (Note this is risky and only advanced users should do it)

Use the registry editor to modify the background of the dark theme go to those Keys and change the value to your favorite color in HEX.

To modify the “Dark Theme” edit the following registry keys :

[HKLM\ControlPanel\themes\1\Basethemecolor]
[HKLM\ControlPanel\themes\1\TextHighContrast]
[HKLM\ControlPanel\themes\1\TextBackGround]
[HKLM\ControlPanel\themes\1\pageBackGroundColor]
[HKLM\ControlPanel\themes\1\SysTrayBackGroundColor]

You might also need to change the Font Color
[HKLM\ControlPanel\themes\1\TextNeutralColor]
[HKLM\ControlPanel\themes\1\ListPickerBackgroundPre ssed]
[HKLM\ControlPanel\themes\1\ContrastColor]

To modify “Light Theme” Background Edit these:

[HKLM\ControlPanel\themes\0\Basethemecolor]
[HKLM\ControlPanel\themes\0\TextHighContrast]
[HKLM\ControlPanel\themes\0\TextBackGround]
[HKLM\ControlPanel\themes\0\pageBackGroundColor]
[HKLM\ControlPanel\themes\0\SysTrayBackGroundColor]

You might also need to change the Font Color

[HKLM\ControlPanel\themes\0\TextNeutralColor]
[HKLM\ControlPanel\themes\0\ListPickerBackgroundPre ssed]
[HKLM\ControlPanel\themes\0\ContrastColor]

You can get Hex color codes from this site

[xda]

The HTC HD2 was launched more than a year back and is still receiving tremendous support from the Developer community. Windows Phone 7 for the HTC HD2 was launched just a couple of weeks back by the famed Dark Forces Team.

I’ve been personally using WP7 on my HD2 for 2 weeks now and I’ve to say that I’m really impressed. This comes from someone who’s vigorously used iOS and Android on a daily basis. Sure, WP7 lacks some features but it makes up for it in terms of User Experience and overall Speed of the OS.

I highly recommend anyone with a HTC HD2 to go ahead and Install Windows Phone 7.

To Install Windows Phone 7 on your HD2 make sure you have HSPL 2.08 or higher installed.

If you don’t have HSPL installed follow this post to Install HSPL on your HD2.

Once you’ve confirmed that you have HSPL, download the following:

Tools you need:

• WP7 ROM
• MAGLDR 1.12
• LATEST LEO512(EU) OR LEO1024(T-MOBILE) RADIO

You can download all of these from Click here

Now follow the Video Tutorial below by XDA Member 96edwy :

The HTC HD2 is a device with a lot of tricks under its belt. Not only can it run Windows Mobile 6.5 but a lot of other really cool stuffs like Custom ROMs, Android, Meego, Ubuntu and also Windows Phone 7.

But to do all this you first need to flash in a patched Bootloader which allows running of unsigned code and as a result allowing you to run all these other Operating Systems and Custom ROMs.

Why install HSPL and not SSLP?

Installing H(Hard)SPL is the most safest way to try out different third party ROMs on your device. In case you brick your device, HSPL will force the phone to enter into Bootloader Mode from where you can simply flash another ROM incase something goes wrong while flashing the previous one.

Pre-requisites before Installing HSPL on your HD2 :

Make sure your current SPL version is 1.42.000

To check your SPL version. Restart the Phone while holding the Volume Down Button

Installing HSPL 3 on your HD2 :

__________________________________________

1. Download HardSPL package from Click Here and extract to an empty folder.
2. Connect your HD2 to your Windows PC in ActiveSync Mode. Make sure Windows Mobile Device Center detects it correctly.
3. Run HSPL3_PKG.exe from your PC and read all the text carefully
4. Click Next in the HardSPL program
5. The program will now check the usb connection and Enter Bootloader screen (Tri Colour)
*You can select between SPL2.08.0000 or 2.08.HSPL. This is to avoid people with 1024LEO’s installing an incompatable version and bricking their device*
6. Select 2.08.HSPL for HardSPL and click NEXT.
7. Your choice will be flashed to your phone.
8. After the progress bar reaches 100% your Phone will restart.
9. Click Ok to Exit the program.
10. Congrats, you just flashed HardSPL.

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Here’s a Video Tutorial showing the above steps in action :

Windows Phone 7 misses out on a lot of important features, Internet Tethering being one of the major missing feature. A lot of us out there use our Mobiles as Modem for constant on the go Internet for our Laptops/Netbooks.

Although I have no doubt that Internet Tethering support will eventually come to WP7 in future updates, currently most of us cannot afford to miss out on it.

The folks over at XDA have came upon a solution that allows us to use our Windows Phone 7 Devices as Modem.

The procedure is not as simple but if you really need Tethering right now, follow the steps below :

Note: You need a “Developer Unlocked Device“. At this point, the only way to Unlock your Device is to use the Chevron unlock hack.

_________________________________________________________

1. Download the DFRouter App from : Click Here

2. Download HTC Sync Software from HTC Site. (Note that this is for Android phones but contains the required Modem drivers for tethering)

3. Deploy the .XAP file to your Phone. You can use Tom XAP Installer if you don’t have the WP7 SDK Installed. Remove the USB connection from PC when done.

4. Turn off Gprs on your Phone. To do that Goto Settings > Cellular > Data Connection Off.

5. Open the deployed application “DFRouter” and select “HTC Modem”

6. Connect your Windows Phone to PC. You will see a new device called “HTC USB Modem”

7. Open HTC USB Modem, click on the Advanced tab.

8. Add the following command :

+cgdcont=1,”ip”,”APN”
(APN = Your carrier’s Access Point Name. Ex: “airtelgprs.com”)

9. Create a new connection with HTC USB Modem, dialing number is *99#

10. Connect without entering any Username Password.

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[Xda]

Windows Phone 7 Series is going to have an entirely new and very unique User Interface. Microsoft calls this the Metro UI. The speciality of this UI is that it focuses on the Content rather than graphical elements like Icons.

Information is shown in big bold letters and the Start menu is composed of a concept called ‘Live Tiles’.

Microsoft disappointed everyone by leaving out any existing Windows Mobile Phone from getting a WP7S upgrade. But that doesn’t mean you can’t try out the new UI on your current Windows Mobile.

Many Modders and Designers out there are trying to get the Windows Phone 7 experience onto your WinMo device.

The Best WP7S theme I came so far was one by ‘arley12’ an XDA Forums member.

His Theme is based on the Throttle Launcher Shell UI.

Check out the Theme in action, its almost indistinguishable from the actual WP7S Interface :

The Theme is still not 100% complete and is a work in progress. Here’s what we have so far :

- Scrollable home page and apps launcher
- Animated real contacts on home page
- Animated pictures tile with different thumbs from user selected folder
- Animated "Me" tile for owner info (customizable photo)
- Animated contacts tiles for People hub
- People hub
- Games hub
- Ability to select an Xbox LIVE Avatar (animates on home screen)
- Five color patterns for the tiles (Blue, Red, Green, Dark Blue, Yellow)
- Custom taskbar with a clock (can revert back to standard WM taskbar)
- Custom WP7S soft keys (can revert back to standard WM keys)
- Battery indicator(Graphics by HDOwner)
- Pin favorite apps on the home page

How to Download and Install :

Tools needed :

• Throttle Launcher 1.0.1
• WP7S Theme

Instructions :

1.) Download and Install Throttle Launcher.
2.) Download the ZIP file from above link and move the extracted WindowsPhone7 directory on your phone to \Program Files\ThrottleLauncher\Setups\
3.) Go to Start menu and start ThrottleConfig. Select Windows7 in Themes.
4.) Go to Start menu and start Throttle Launcher

Most of you Windows Phone users might already be aware that Windows Mobile comes with a built in Remote Desktop application support. Although I personally feel its no where close to the intuitiveness and Ease of use some of the Remote Desktop applications on the iPhone but it does the job.

The foremost problem is setting is up. Its not as easy to Setup if you want to Control your PC from the Internet.

Follow this nice Guide written over at XDA to setup Remote Desktop correctly between your Windows Phone and Windows 7 based PC.

Remote Desktop on Windows 7 (For Mobile and PC)