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I am now starting a new Essential app series, but more specifically for the Treo 650 (although some may work for the 600 and 700p). Although many of the programs I’ve discussed in the essential app series may work fine on the Treo, I feel that I should discuss programs that work specifically for the Treo device that addresses issues and fix glitches that apply for the Treo.

If you’ve used your Treo 650 for a while, especially the Phone, you will notice that the Treo has a tendency to “dim” the screen so much that it’s practically blank after about 30 seconds into your phone call. So, while you’re on the call, and you wish to do something, (like put it on speakerphone while you dig up something in the Treo like an address or memo or whatever) it’s almost impossible to “see” anything on screen.

What has happened is that the screen isn’t “completely” blank and “off” but the backlighting is practically turned off so that it’s almost as good as turning off the screen, unless you try to view the screen at an angle and maybe be able to see it. Obviously, Palm has implemented this to conserve energy, but had they somewhat “dimmed” it just a bit so that it’s still viewable, rather than practically blank the entire screen, it would have been better.

Anyway, there’s a third party program that can prevent the Treo from automatically “dimming” the screen completely to black, and keeping the screen “on” so that you can go and do all the other stuff on the Treo while still on the call.

StopDim from GoTreoSoftware will stop your Treo from automatically turning off the screen shortly after you’re engaged in a call so that the screen will remain “on” and viewable during the call. No more pressing the green Phone button to keep the screen turned on.

Besides this, StopDim will also fix a bug due to the Cingular ROM update 1.15 which will automatically revert the auto off time to 30 seconds after every call. Well, I have an unlocked GSM Treo 650 purchased in Hong Kong and my Treo also exhibits this auto off behavior, regardless of which default auto off time has been set. So, for me, normally, I have to go into AlwaysOn and change the auto off time whenever I experience this. But, with every soft reset, the 30 second auto off is reverted back. I find it quite annoying. After an email to Jeff Gibson, he sent me an update version 1.27 which apparently fixes this auto off glitch even in my unlocked GSM Treo.

Here’s a Flash simulation to show what the program looks like.

Simulation of StopDim

The simulation will play through to the end unless I’ve inserted a pop up note to explain specific points.

To continue playing the simulation, press the or button.
To go back to a previous paused segment, click on the or button.
To pause the simulation at any time, press the button. To continue after it’s paused, press the button again.

To scroll forward or backward in the simulation, click anywhere on the left (to go back earlier in the simulation), or right (to go forward in the simulation) on the progress bar.

PLEASE NOTE THAT MANY FREE HOST SERVERS MAY HAVE POP UP ADS. PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOU DISABLE POP UPS BEFORE CLICKING ON THE FLASH LINKS

Originally, I was trying out version 1.22, which is posted on the website and found that the screen still dimmed after 30 seconds into the call. I sent an email to GoTreoSoftware and got a reply back from Jeff Gibson with the latest version 1.27 which apparently fixed the screen dimming during calls as well as the 30 second auto off problem. After a few emails between us, I got the program working. So, I decided to purchase the program because it worked and Jeff was quick at addressing problems and concerns.

So, if you find that you’re annoyed at the screen dimming during your call, you may want to give StopDim a try. At the price of $5 it’s actually not bad and it looks like Jeff is fast at addressing emails. First, try version 1.22 which is still available from the website and test whether it works. If not, email Jeff and he will provide you with 1.27 which hopefully will fix the problem.

My only gripe about StopDim is the moving GoTreoSoftware banner in the program. I would have preferred to not have it moving, but that is very minor preference as I don’t normally need to launch the program as this is one of those programs where you only launch once, configure the settings and don’t need to run again.

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