Unlock Codes ?

The following service claims to provide unlock codes for Sony phones, including the walkman series:

http://www.unlocks.co.uk/unlock_sony_ericsson.php?model=W52S

Has anyone tried with success?

AU moves on to LismoPort

AU will no longer support AU Music Port. They have moved on to new software, named Lismo Port (presumably enhancing their tie-in with the Lismo online media service).

I have yet to play with it, other than to attempt an installation. Bad news, it absolutely refuses to install on a non Japanese OS (not even with the trickery involved to install AMP). So I will have to play around with this more. Honestly, I am very likely going to move on to a different phone set anyway. The 42/52 Walkman phones are getting old.

Anyway, since AMP is no longer available on the AU site (nor the USB drivers?) I have put up a page on my own site to hold old CD versions of the software. I don't take any responsibility for a broken system if you choose to upgrade from the old (ca 2006) CD versions.

You can find them at:
http://japandarknavi.com/drp/content/amp

Need the CD?

For anyone who needs the W52S CD, please send an email to:

e_premeaux(AT)hotmail.com (you need to replace (AT) with the @ sign yo)

I'll send you a .torrent file.
Open this file in a torrent application such as http://www.utorrent.com/
You can then download the cd as an .iso directly from my computer.

You can only fetch parts from me (and any other users currently downloading it.. torrent is a SHARE application afterall). my comp is up enough that you should have the whole thing in a few days. Evenings, nights, and weekends are your best bet for long windows of oppertunity.

If there are enough requests, I will put up other support files this way. (such as the W42S cd, Sonic Stage.. etc)

By the way, does anyone know a simple and free online file host (non image.. photobucket and the like wont work)? I would rather just put all the torrent links in a side bar, so that you could just click and download the torrent file directly. (you are not downloading the CD, only a tiny file telling your torrent app how to GET the cd.)

The big update

Hello everyone in W42S/W52S land. Where have I been? Well, I moved house.
The actual process of moving is rather simple and straight forward. Getting utilities is a snap. Getting a van and a driver to move it all in one go: no problem.

Getting internet set up at my new home: rediculously hard.

It took, count it... THREE months to get service. Now, granted, part of this delay was me being lazy on the paperwork, part of it was that string of vacation days last month, and part of it was just the ungodly amount of red tape that exists in Japan for the most trivial of matters. Seriously, getting my VISA was so much easier than this.

I would not normally make a financial recomendation, but in this case, I'm going to plug a service: http://bbapply.com/

If you are planning a move, or a change in internet provider, or want a house phone (land line or I.P. phone) or even if you want more TV channels than the 4 you get with that coat hanger sticking out the back of your set, you need to talk to this guy. He will save you a load of hassle.


Ok, so, back to the phone:

W52S Software Update
There was a software update issued over the last few months for the 52S. I am unsure about the 42S but both are easy to check for. Here is the procedure:

Menu: Functions/Settings - User Support - Soft Update - Update

The phone will then ask to confirm, hit ok, and it will connect to AU and download the update package. It will then ask to install. Select ok, and it will do its thing. It takes about 3 minutes, and will reboot itself.

You may notice that you have autoupdate on, and be asking "Why didnt it do this automatically?" Auto update will update SMALL parts of the software package that wont need rebooting. It does this regularly (checks in once a day). This update is a bit bigger.

I have yet to find any 'features' of the update, and wonder if it is worth it, or if it actually 'breaks' some of the work arounds I use. So far, I have not found any particular reason why you SHOULD do the update, nor have I found any reason NOT TO do the update. Your choice here...


W42S/W52S no longer on Sony Ericsson's website
It would appear that SE will no longer be supporting the phones, as they are stripped from the web site. Also, the link on the sidebar taking you to the USB driver for the 52S is now an invalid location. (Thank you to a user for pointing this out.)

I will attempt to find a permanant web location for the file. In the meantime, bear with me a bit.


Current state of hacking:
Zero
I have not really had the time (what with finding an engineering job, moving, and the stress of thinking I'd have to pack up and move back to the states BEFORE I got said new job) to do much hacking on the phone.

About all I can tell you is that my current experiences with Image Converter 2 leave me questioning my sanity. It finds the photo folder just fine, and will load any images I want quite fine. Video hower is still a nightmare. It will dump them into a folder of its own choosing, and the phone simple does not recognize the folder.
In the past, I was able to convert video, dump it to my root C drive, then copy those videos to the AUINOUT folder. From there, I would find the 'PC Folder' on the phone, and move the files in memory by selecting 'file corresponding'
I say "in the past" because currently, thats not working out so well for me either. I don't get it: I had entire MOVIES (2 plus hours long) on the phone, now I can't even get a simple music video.

Sigh.. I WILL sort this all out. Or I'll break down and buy Image Converter 3 (which, 'supposedly' works perfectly with the phone. Though I have yet to meet a person who has IC3)

SONIC STAGE!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Here is my gift to you - Getting Sonic Stage to work with the W52S!!
BONUS - Works with Duogate AND MICRO SD!!!

Wow. I finally figured this whole deal out. (I am sketchy on a few parts, but I took the 'do it all, because some of them are important, and the others wont hurt' approach.)

This one will be a lengthy/complex procedure so lets get everything together:
1: you need your W52S CD. If you do not have it, please message me and I will email or post the particular package you need.
2: Phone, Cradle, and USB cable (naturally)
3: Duogate OR MicroSD card installed.


Ok, here we go:
1: Download and install Sonic Stage from: http://sonicstage.connect.com/SS-US.zip
(unzip, run the install file. follow directions.. easy)

2: Insert your W52S CD.

3: Explore to: CD:\utility_softwares\SonicStage_CP

4: You will find a single EXE file here. DO NOT RUN THIS FILE! It will simply report back that it cannot install on a non-Japanese OS.
Instead you need to do the following:

• Right Click on the file and choose Extract files. You will then be able to make a folder somewhere to extract the files to. I reccomend Either a new folder on your desktop, or a new folder in the root of your C drive.
  
• Find the folder you extracted to. I called it C:\SSinstall. Inside you will find several sub folders. Go to C:\SSinstall\Common\OpenMG.
  
• Run Is_setup.exe and follow the directions.
  
• If you have not already installed the USB driver, go to C:\SSinstall\Device\Driver\W52S and do so. (You might want to do it just in case, as it may only now make Sonic Stage aware of the device.)

NOTE: At this point, my install path may diverge from yours. Give Sonic Stage a try and see if you can access your memory card. To do so, plug in the cradle, drop the phone in, and choose 2-mass storage on the phone. Run Sonic Stage. In the Transfer tab you will have two new devices: Memory Stick (in my case, drive K) and ATRAC audio device (drive J). Memory Stick is if you have a DuoGate memory stick. ATRAC audio device is for all us MicroSD users.

If you get this far, and it works, please let me know. If not, then continue exploring the folder you made. You will find SEVERAL install packages. I went through and hit them all, just in case.

I hope this works out for everyone and you can enjoy using SS and dump your crappy AMP intall!




A quick review of the projects checklist: (all of these are without AMP, and on MicoSD cards)

• Convert and upload/watch video (full length movies in widescreen, using Image Converter 2) - check
• Download photos and video from camera - check
• Upload PDF files and view them - check
• Convert and upload photos (using Image Converter 2) - check
• Convert and upload music with Sonic Stage - check
• Upload and run games and third party applications - still to do
• Offer support for MAC (I dont have access to one, and wouldn't know where to start. Sorry to all you MAC users) - still to do
• Write user guides for GPS functions - still to do
• Write user guides for EZweb functions - still to do
• Write guide for subscription services (TangoTown, LastTrain search, etc) - still to do

Anything I should add?

Use auMusicPort to load music

I have the preliminary write up for loading music. Please ask any questions, and make corrections. I have not included pictures, but can add them in if anything is unclear.


Music Library Primary Functions

First, open auMusicPort.From the main screen, select Music Library.
There are four icons on the far left. Their function is as follows:

1: Picture of a PC with a play arrow in the monitor - Shows the songs currently in your 'PC play list'. Play your tunes from the pc or phone here.
2: Phone and PC with two directional arrows - Sync function to load songs to and from the phone
3: papers with a pencil on them - I have no clue.. perhaps some sort of tag editor or viewer or rating thing.. whatever, dont need it! ;)
4: Musical Note, an arrow, and a PC - File importing.


Step 1: Importing Music

Click on File import (music note and PC). You will see a spreadsheet. Above this you see the import functions.

Looking at the import features: First is a CD with a drop down bar. You can rip right from a CD drive. The drop down selects which drive to rip from. It only shows valid music CDs in the drop down.
Below that is a file folder, and a LONG button. Click the button. You can now point to a specific file, or a folder. If you point to a folder, it will recurse all sub folders within that folder.
Ok, so you have chosen either a CD or a music folder.

CD: your cd will be ripped, and the file names will appear in the spreadsheet with a rip progress bar.

Folder: you will be prompted with a popup box. You are given a few options. The default selection is ALL known file types. the other options or for such options as WAV, WMA or M4A. It's important (and sad) to note here that MP3 files are NOT on the list. Unfortunately AMP only reads those three file types. You will have to convert your mp3s to WMA, or use Sonic Stage to convert them and then load to a M2 card. :( booo hiss..The top section of the popup allows the file type selection (default to all) while the bottom section allows you to choose Scan Whole System, or In a folder only. It should be pretty obvious to you how to use this function.
Left button is Ok, right is Cancel

So, hitting ok will default to all. Now all files in the folder are shown in the spreadsheet.
Its important to note that amp is a bit slow on this process.. watch progress bar. I strongly advise you point to a folder only, as the full scan initially will take FOREVER and grab all those silly sounds from the OS...

Now that you have a list, you can choose what to convert to phone format. Throw check boxes in the songs you want, using shift to select groups at a time.

Finally click the large square button with the CD icon and down arrow. You will now see progress percentage as the files are converted. When everything is 100%, move on to the next step.


Step 2: Uploading

Your tune is now in the PC library. You can even play it by clicking on the first large icon on the left (PC with a play button). Go ahead and check the quality.

When you are ready to transfer, click the icon of the phone and PC.You now have two spreadsheets. The top is your PC library, the bottom is the phone library (likely empty at first).
Highlight the songs from the top list you wish to transfer. You can use Shift and Ctrl click options to highlight groups.

Between the two lists, are 4 buttons. One has a down arrow and Japanese, then two with Japanese, then one with an UP arrow and PC.
The first and the last should be pretty obvious. The third is "Resetsuto" Im not sure what number two does, but I have had good luck with number on (down arrow) and number two for loading songs to the phone.

You can now disconnect the phone and find the music either in the phone memory, or the memory card (be it microSD or M2). The Default location is the memory card when installed.

Your music will play from either folder via the Music Menu. You can also move the songs to the other memory area from the normal file menu, and they will be found again when you re-open the Music Menue.

Loading video to the W52S

Ok.
I finally figured this all out. Turns out its REALLY simple.

Myths:
1: You need M2 to use video. NOT TRUE. You DO need a memory card. Either SD or M2. You can watch full length movies off SD memory, or transfer it into the phone. Your choice. Phone vs MMC may affect things like answering messages or answering a call. My guess is copying to the PHONE will be better then using the MMC.

2: You need Sony Image converter 3 in order to load video. NOT TRUE.
What IS true, is that you need Image Converter. Im using I.C. 2.



Method:

1: Obtain any version of Image Converter. To be honest, ANY might not be true. I have only tested it with 2.. and obviously 3 will work. Anything previous to 2 may or may not work. The only thing I can think of as important, is the output file. So, I'm certain there are freeware apps that will do the same job. Mileage will vary. All directions assume IC2.

2: Convert some files. In IC2, your files will dump SOMEWHERE in a folder called MP_ROOT. Unfortunately, IC is ment to load to a memory device. So, you can only point it to a ROOT of a drive. Example C:MP_ROOT will be your storage folder.

3: Jump into the folder in Explorer. Notice your files names are just a bunch of numbers. You might want to rename them something more meaningful. Refrain from too much punctuation, spaces and what not. Keep it short and sweet. Its gotta fit on the phone screen afterall.
Next, Delete the files that are not .MP4.. you dont need them.

4: Get ready to copy to the phone. Put it in the cradle, plug it in power and USB. Select Mass Storage on the phone to get into drive mode.

5: In Explorer, browse to the phone folder K:\PRIVATE\AU_INOUT
K is my drive letter, yours may be different. WARNING! There are TWO drive letters that come up. Look for the drive who's size matches the memory card size!

6: Copy your videos into the folder.

7: You cant play them on the phone from here. Disconnect from the computer. On the phone hit Menu, External Memory, PC folder. You will see your files. Hit option.
At this point, decide if you want to put them on the phone, or leave them on the memory card. Use option 4 - 6 to copy or move to phone or memory.
When the location comes up, choose Data Folder, File Corresponded.
This will put it in the video folder, and link it to the system index!

8: Play it! Look in the Data folder for ether the memory card, or the phone, and you will now see EZmovie... its an easy job at this point.

9: Delete the files out of the PC folder. Save some space for the next transfer.

NOTE:
The same general method works for copying PDF and html documents to be viewed in Pixel.. if you want a seperate tutorial, I'll write it.. but its essentially the same.