While surfing the web, I found some interesting news, that there was a leaked beta for my cell phone, a HTC Mogul (HTC Titan, PPC 6800) which finally enables the GPS and EDVO-Rev A. I decided to look into this more, as well as give it a try.

** WARNING: I assume no responsibility if you brick your phone. Be sure to spend at least 1 HOUR reading thru all of the directions (in the forums) before proceeding. Also, BE SURE to back up your PST settings **

Resources:

• This post at http://www.xda-developers.com has a ROM by a member named DCD, who has done plenty of home brew ROM's in the past. In addition to the ROM, you need an unlock utility and the 3.27 Radio ROM.
• This post at http://www.pcgeeks.com has links to the "official" leaked beta.
• For both, you will need this unlocker

I was having issues getting the ROM and Radio updates to go over active sync, but I found these instructions on how to flash the ROM from an SD Card.

1. First open the ROM or Radio exe file with WinRar. There will be a .nbh file. Extract that and rename it to TITAIMG.nbh
2. Next format a microSD card with FAT 32 (you will most likely have to do this as most are FAT16 by default). Copy the file TITAIMG.nbh to the root of the sd card with a card reader.
3. Finally place sdcard in device and reset into bootloader mode (press and hold the power button and the camera button while pushing the reset button). The flash will proceed from the SD card and it should work fine.
   1. The 3 color boot loader screen showed briefly (you should see that it's version 2.4), then it went into a gray screen with the words "Loading...".
   2. It should say loading for a couple of seconds, then some other stuff comes up and then it should say TITAIMG.nbh at the top with some other stuff below, and finally, Press power button to start update image.
   3. After the upgrade has completed, it will say complete in blue letters. Perform a soft reset to reboot the phone with the new ROM.
4. After the ROM update the phone will reboot and "hang" at the Sprint Screen (if you have a sprint phone). You need to reset the phone and go into the boot loader (see step 3) to flash the radio.

I also tried this using a different computer and sync cable, and had much better results then the first computer I tried (which led me to use the SD card version). 

At this point I had my phone flashed and it was booting into Windows Mobile. However, I was unable to use it except as a PDA as some of the required settings were missing. I went into the PST (##PST#) menu and reset the MSID and MDN values. You will need your MSL key in order to edit the settings (search for a program called GetSCP or GeSPC on xda-developers).

I started setting my phone up, and ran into issues getting my phone to sync over the air with our exchange server. Turns out, I was using the wrong URL. It had been such a long time since I first set the phone up that the start of the URL should have been mobil.X.com instead of webmail.x.com. After that issue was resolved, I had no other problems. The rest of my email accounts are all setup, custom programs, etc.

So, what about the GPS. All I can say is, IT WORKS! I was able to acquire a location fix on Google Maps, as well as a free program called VisualGPSce which has a couple of screens which remind of of traditional screens found on older GPS devices. In doing some additional research I found this thread on XDA-Dev which talks about GPS software and issues with the Titan. Most of the commercial software like TomTom, you need an app like Google maps, or VisualGPSce to "start" the GPS. There are several links to launcher applications, which enable the GPS and keep it running in the background.

So about this time, I went back to the post with DCD's ROM, and saw he had released a 2.1 version. So I was off and running again, updating my ROM, then reinstalling everything. His 2.1 version is running Windows Mobile 6.1 as an added bonus, removes the extra crap sprint installs, and has a nice black theme/skin, including a new skin for the dialer (a new skin is a must for the dialer, as you can actually press the buttons with your thumb). He has another ROM in the works which will add more optimizations based on WM 6.1

I've started keeping all the applications I run on my MicroSD card so I can share them with other people (like my Dad who just bought a Mogul yesterday). This is what I currently have installed:

• Google Maps
• Quick Menu
• HTC Home Plugin (for HTC phones running WM 6 only)
• TCMP
• VisualGPSce
• WiFiFoFum

Stuff that I am considering

• Point UI (if they are able to extend the UI to more screens)
• Astro GPS Launcher (If I get a commercial GPS Package)
• Commercial GPS software
• HTC Home Customizer

The driving factor in the commercial GPS software will be if I can find an acceptable car mounting kit. I would like to find one which has integrated power, such as this one. I do NOT like the idea of using the FM transmitter, as it eliminates my ability to listen to music at the same time. They do sell one with an amplified speaker, but I don't know if they have one specific for the mogul.

This brings up an interesting question, can I get the turn by turn directions, and music from the Mogul thru my Stereo? I wanted to get the Blue Tooth adapter for my Alpine Deck so I could have hands free phone calls. I wonder if I could pipe the turn by turn directions, and possibly music from the Mogul to the deck via Blue Tooth. I've seen a 6GB micro SD card on Amazon for around $50, and heard of the Mogul being able to support at least an 8GB card. I only have an 8GB MP3 player hooked up right now, and I'm not even using all of that space. So I could get most of my favorite music, 1-1.5GB of map data and still have around 1GB free for files. Defiantly something I will have to look into. I would be one step closer to the all in one device I have been waiting for.