Sling Media today released updated versions of SlingPlayer Mobile for Windows Mobile Professional (touch-screen) and Standard (non-touch-screen) devices.  The primary feature addition in the new release is official support for new screen resolutions: 800x480, 640x480, 400x240, and 320x320.  15 new phone models are officially supported:

• Sprint Treo 800w
• Sony Ericsson X1
• Palm Treo Pro
• Sprint HTC Touch Diamond
• Sprint HTC Touch Pro
• Verizon HTC Touch Pro
• Verizon Samsung Saga
• Verizon Samsung Omnia
• AT&T LG Incite
• AT&T HTC Fuze
• AT&T Samsung Epix
• HP iPAQ 910
• AT&T Pantech Duo
• Sprint Samsung ACE
• Verizon XV6900

Other devices which share these resolutions, such as the HTC Touch HD, should also work with the new release.  The new WM Professional version is 1.6.0.111 and the new WM Standard version is 1.6.0.59.  SlingPlayer Mobile is available as a free 30-day trial so new users can ‘try before they buy’.  As always, we officially support phones with 3G and/or WiFi, but it may run, unofficially, on EDGE-only devices.

But new screen resolutions aren't the only additions:

•    Updated channel logos in US and UK
•    Minor/major channel number support (using the ‘.’ IR command, eg channel 89.1, 89.2, etc) for ATSC and QAM
•    Active Sync install fix so SP2.0 users get Slingboxes transferred to device when installing over USB cable with .exe installer
•    Roaming notification.  Users will receive a warning message if they connect while connected to a network that is not their home network.

To download the software:

US: http://downloads.slingmedia.com/go/slingbox-mobile-us

UK: http://downloads.slingmedia.com/go/slingbox-mobile-uk

Canada: http://downloads.slingmedia.com/go/slingbox-mobile-ca

If you had previously installed the older version of SPM on a phone that was not yet supported we recommend removing that version from the phone before installing this new release to ensure that your new install isn't contaminated by bad settings from the old, incompatible version.  One of the main issues will be GDI rendering.

GDI Rendering
Many new devices, particularly CDMA HTC devices that use the TouchFLO interface, perform much better with GDI rendering on.  Specifically, the following devices should have GDI rendering turned on:
•    Sprint Touch Diamond (repairs vertical tear)
•    Sprint Mogul (repairs vertical tear)
•    Verizon Touch Pro (repairs vertical tear)
•    Sprint Touch Pro (repairs vertical tear)
•    Verizon Samsung Saga (repairs screen freeze)
•    AT&T LG Incite (repairs intermittent screen freeze)
These devices default to GDI rendering on for fresh installations, but if you install as an update it will not turn GDI on if it wasn’t on already.

There are some quirks with this release with the Incite and Omnia, but we decided they're minor enough that it was better to go ahead and release support for these phones rather than hold it back.

400x240 resolution
The LG Incite and Samsung Omnia have 240x400 resolution.  Since these came out too late for us to really target this resolution, this causes some screens to display a little oddly, such as the privacy policy and about screens, but otherwise everything seems to work OK.  Just a heads up on this.

Accelerometers
The Verizon Samsung Omnia and the AT&T LG Incite both use accelerometers to switch between portrait and landscape.  Unfortunately, they came out too late for us to target them in this build.  That said, they work pretty well so we would like to support them.  A couple guidelines for using these two devices, and any other devices that come out with accelerometers:
•    You should connect in portrait mode before switching to landscape.  If you don’t the remote control UI will be distorted and appear stretched and off the left edge of the screen.
•    Once connected, you should use the accelerometer to switch between portrait and landscape.  If you use the landscape/portrait toggle button the device can get confused between the accelerometer and the button about which state it’s in and weird things can happen.
               
AT&T LG Incite wifi issue
Based on our testing it seems the only way to use WiFi on this device for anything but email is to go to Start -> Programs -> Tools -> Proxy Manager, click on "Disable Proxy", and hit OK.  This will disable on deck activities for AT&T but everything else should work OK.

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