Lyon's Windows Mobile Tools

LCMinutes 1.55 Is Out

2009-08-03T22:51:00.002-04:00

It has been a really long time since my last update, and I am really sorry for not having answered many comments and/or emails left by some users.

But finally I take some time to fix a long over due bug: double counting of SMS sent out when a threaded SMS application is used. If you have this issue, check the download link on the right to see whether it works for you.

And thanks Jeffc for helping me in solving this issue. I hope this will help other users with this issue.

LCMinutes 1.54 is out for maximum flexibility

2008-07-17T00:38:00.001-04:00

While I am still very busy with my work, I managed to get some time in weekends to update LCMinutes, which is long over-due.

Major updates:

Now all rates for phone call and SMS are set through rates string, similar to previous special rates.
For phone calls, there are always two rates: normal rates and special rates. Both of them will be applied to all phone calls.
Add 2 more free minutes counter: extra weekday minutes, extra special rates counter, in addition to the 4 existing counter: weekday, weekend, evening and special minutes counter. Extra weekday, special, and extra special minutes counter are used through share flags in call rates string as defined below.
Support weekend, evening rates for SMS.
Add 3 new SMS allowance counter: weekend, evening, and extra weekday. Extra weekday SMS counter is used through share flags in SMS rates string as defined below.
Now Today or Home Screen display is based on display format string instead of display flags. The content and sequence to display are fully user definable.

Please read carefully the new rates string format for phone call and SMS, and display format string when defining your rate plan.

Also please note, install this version will erase your existing rate plan and all balance info, but your call logs and SMS, and data usage info will kept untouched. And the smartphone edition doesn't work on my own smartphone, i haven't figured out why yet.

Rates string for phone calls

<weekday rates>/<weekend rates>/<evening rates>/<incoming rates>/<start minutes rates>/<outgoing connect fee>/<incoming connect fee>/<seconds per charge>/<seconds per charge in start minutes>/<start minutes per call>/<free minutes share flags>: [phone number 1], [phone number 2], ...;

Note:

The start minutes defined here is only per call start minutes, daily start minutes is defined in general rate plan.
If both per call start minutes and daily start minutes are defined, only per call start minutes will be used.
The start minutes is counted by seconds.
For incoming rates, -50 is the magic number to indicate incoming call is using the same rates as outgoing call.
The share flags definition:

0x0001: share free weekday minutes.

0x0002: share free weekend minutes, only for weekend calls.

0x0004: share free evening minutes, only for evening calls.

0x0008: share extra free weekday minutes.

0x0010: share free special minutes.

0x0020: share extra free special minutes.

Example 1:

0.05/0.03/0.02/0.0/1.0/2.0/3.0/1/60/120/0x003f:1234,2234,3234;

It means:

This rates apply for all phone number started with 1234, 2234, or 3234;
All phone call with these numbers will first be charged with $2.0 (for outgoing) or $3.0 (for incoming) connect fee;
Then it will be used to consume free minutes: weekend call will only consume free weekend minutes, evening call will consume free evening minutes or weekend minutes if "evening as weekend" is selected in rate plan, but weekday call will consume weekday, extra weekday, special minutes, and extra special minutes, in the order as they are mentioned;
After consuming free minutes, if there're still minutes not consumed, then in the first 2 minutes (120 seconds), it will be charged with $1.0 for every minute (60 seconds);
After the start minutes, then the incoming calls will be free as its rates is $0.0, for weekday, weekend, and evening call, it will be charged at $0.05, $0.03, or $0.02 for every 1 second, respectively.

Example 2:

0.30/0.30/0.0/-50/0.0/2.0/0.0/60/0/0/0x0000:;

It means:

This rates is the default rates, that is, rates for any phone number that are not listed elsewhere. Normal call rates string and Special call rates can both have one default rates, but normally special call rates doesn't need default rates. If more than one default rates is provided, only the first one will be used.
For outgoing calls, $2.0 connect fee will be charged, but no connect fee for incoming calls.
It will not use any free minutes.
There's no start minutes.
The rates for incoming call is the same with outgoing calls. All weekday and weekend calls will be charged with $0.30 per minutes (60 seconds). For evening calls, if there's no evening definition or "evening as weekend" is selected, it will be charged as weekend calls, otherwise, calls in evening is free.

Rates string for SMS

<weekday rates>/<weekend rates>/<evening rates>/<incoming rates>/<seconds per sms out>/<seconds per sms in>/<free SMS allowance share flags>: [phone number 1], [phone number 2], ...;

Note:

For incoming rates, -50 is the magic number to indicate incoming SMS is using the same rates as outgoing SMS, eg has different rates for weekday, weekend, and evening.
seconds per sms out/in is for rate plan that SMS also shares the free minutes.
The share flags can use free minutes sharing flags defined above in call rates, but only weekday, extra weekday, special, and extra special minutes can be shared with SMS.
SMS specific sharing flag definition:

0x0100: share weekday SMS allowance.

0x0200: share weekend SMS allowance.

0x0400: share evening SMS allowance.

0x0800: share extra weekday SMS allowance.

Display Format String

From now on LCMinutes also support fully user defined Today / Home Screen display content. The format string can be anything like:

[Whatever content]<variable 1>[whatever content]<variable 2>...

The predefined variables are:

1: Balance info.

2: Accrued charge.

11: Balance expire time.

12: Balance effective time.

21: Used weekday minutes.

22: Free weekday minutes.

23: Used weekend minutes.

24: Free weekend minutes.

25: Used evening minutes.

26: Free evening minutes.

27: Used extra weekday minutes.

28: Free extra weekday minutes.

29: Used special minutes.

30: Free special minutes.

31: Used extra special minutes.

32: Free extra special minutes.

41: Used today minutes.

42: Daily start minutes.

51: Used weekday SMS.

52: Weekday SMS allowance.

53: Used weekend SMS.

54: Weekend SMS allowance.

55: Used evening SMS.

56: Evening SMS allowance.

57: Used extra weekday SMS.

58: Extra weekday SMS allowance.

71: Used data allowance.

72: Free data allowance.

Enjoy it!

LCMinutes 1.45 is out for bug fixing

2008-05-12T01:16:00.001-04:00

Two bugs should be fixed by this new version: daily and/or monthly counter sometimes are not cleared, which results in incorrect charge calculation, and clear data records doesn't work.

I was quite busy for the past month, and seems will stay that way for the coming month, but I will try to get some time to work on LCMinutes for those features I have promised.

Hope I can keep my promise.

LCMinutes 1.44 Is Ready

2008-04-03T12:11:00.001-04:00

Check LCMinutes change history for details.

LCMinutes 1.43 Is Ready

2008-03-30T03:36:00.001-04:00

Still busy these days, but now LCMinutes supports time based charge for data traffic, the maximum length of special rates string increased to 2048, and a new sharing flag added to special rates to support used shared free long distance minutes before daytime minutes. And the new service message format for balance info from Rogers is supported.

Check LCMinutes change history for details.

LCMinutes 1.42 Is Out

2008-03-14T07:14:00.001-04:00

LCMinutes 1.42 is out with some minor feature changes and bug fixing. Check the change history for details. The main changes are use KB instead of MB as the unit for data allowance (thus support data allowance like 3.8M or so), add character "+" into allowed number char in free number and special rates strings (so user can put number like "+14161234567" into special rates), and fix a call connection fee bug.

In the past half month I am a little busy on my personal stuff, which slow down the updating of LCMinutes. But I will try my best to keep updating LCMinutes so it will be more user friendly, less missing features, especially those important features like roaming charge, time based data usage charge mode, monthly usage exporting, etc.

LCMinutes 1.40 Is Ready

2008-03-02T13:26:00.001-05:00

LCMinutes 1.40 is ready with partially support of font customization, you need a registry editor to do it. And it fix the rate plan setting editing problem on some htc Touch phones. It also fixes error in detecting USA T-Mobile service messages. Check LCMinutes change history for details.

LCMinutes 1.39 Is Ready

2008-03-01T00:48:00.001-05:00

LCMinutes 1.39 is now ready, again, for detecting balance info from service messages of T-Mobile USA and Kuwait Zain. Now user need to manually set their rate plan network id to related network to get the detection work.

What also changed are the charge unit for data usage can be set by user to any number of kilobytes, expire or effective date can now be displayed without year information, view setting for LCMinutes main window is now saved, and more importantly, more traces are added to debug the problem that some editing box for rate plan setting are not displayed in some htc Touch phones. Check LCMinutes change history for more details.

For those htc Touch users that have this problem in rate plan setting, please install 1.39, turn on the main trace, reproduce the bug, and send the trace file (LCMTrace.TXT) to me.

LCMinutes 1.38 Is Ready

2008-02-28T00:39:00.001-05:00

LCMinutes 1.38 adds support to get balance information from service message for T-Mobile USA and Kuwait Zain users, and more traces added. It also change the used data display format. Multiple characters currency symbol is also supported now.

For htc Touch users that experience problems when editing rate plan and/or balance, please upgrade to 1.38 and turn on main trace. Reproduce the bug and then send me the trace file so I can see what happened.

LCMinutes 1.37 Is Ready

2008-02-19T10:40:00.001-05:00

LCMinutes 1.37 is out with support of simultaneously data connection and phone calls, it also fix a bug that change of free minutes and data/SMS allowance is not reflected in balance initially.

Version 1.3x user should upgrade to 1.37.

LCMinutes 1.36 Is Ready

2008-02-18T11:10:00.001-05:00

LCMinutes 1.36 fix the bug that trace setting for display and main application are not saved. For user of 1.35, it's not necessary to update to this version unless you want the trace functionality.

Why my free minutes/data/SMS is not displayed correctly in today plugin item?

2008-02-18T04:57:00.001-05:00

It's because the rate plan has not been updated to balance information. Do following to update the balance information:

Start LCMinutes to change your free minutes for evening (or for weekend, long distance), and save the rate plan setting;
Back to main window of LCMinutes, choose NO when prompted to question that whether you want to apply this changed rate plan to past calls and SMS;
Quit LCMinutes and check the today display.

LCMinutes 1.35 Is Out

2008-02-18T03:47:00.001-05:00

LCMinutes 1.35 fixes a bug that the used data in balance setting is incorrectly imported when it's longer than 4 digits. Users of 1.34 should upgrade to 1.35 if they use data traffic monitoring features.

LCMinutes 1.34 Is Ready

2008-02-17T08:31:00.001-05:00

LCMinutes 1.34 (with the not publicly released 1.33) now can track data connection for Samsung CDMA phones (verified on Verizon Samsung SCH-I760 WM6 PPC), handle concatenated SMS, support one more bit of precision for data rates per KB, and increase special rates length from 512 to 1024. For details, check LCMinutes change history.

And from now on, LCMinutes for Smartphone is open to public. Its editing functionality still doesn't work without 3rd party software helping, so it's still rely on import/export feature to setup the rate plan and/or balance. And its installation steps is different with Pocket PC Phone version. Please follow these installation steps strictly unless you know what you are doing.

And for those who still can't track call, SMS, or data usage, or can't import call logs, SMS, please turn on trace and send me a copy of the trace file so I can have a look at it.

LCMinutes 1.32 Is Ready For Free Long Distance Minutes

2008-02-14T10:38:00.001-05:00

Now free long distance minutes is supported with version 1.32. Other changes are automatic updating of traffic info for long lasting data connections, new special rates format, seconds based starting minutes, displaying used minutes with seconds info, call minutes calculating bug fixing, etc. Please check change history for detailed information.

Polish and Australian users may use the new special rates format to support their network based charging mode while sharing the same free numbers. While other users may now input start minutes per call that is not full minutes, like one minute plus 20 seconds.

LCMinutes 1.31 Is Ready

2008-02-11T02:53:00.001-05:00

LCMinutes 1.31 comes with support of Today / Home Screen display customization, minute beep, and several bug fixes. Check the change history for details.

Minutes beep feature is a little tougher to implement than my initial thought, the main problem is that during a phone call, the default audio device is muted. I have to unmute it make the sound heard. And I am not sure it will work out on every devices.

But in case the minute beep doesn't work on your device, just disable it and let me know. And also let me know your opinion on the volume if you feel it's too low or too loud.

This version should also fix the problem that on some phones (or operator related?) the data traffic is not recorded. For those of you have encountered this problem, please let me know whether this version has fixed it or not.

LCMinutes 1.30 Is Ready And Data Aware

2008-02-02T05:37:00.001-05:00

For those of you that demanded data traffic support for LCMinutes, the wait is finally over. The version 1.30 can monitor data traffic through cellular line (GPRS, HSPA, EVDO, etc), and calculate its charges.

Monthly data traffic limit, or monthly data allowance, is supported, along with rates per kilobyte for extra data. User can also choose whether to round up to next full kilobyte when calculating charges.

If you try it, let me how it works, or not working.

LCMinutes 1.25 Is Ready & Fast

2008-01-25T23:50:00.001-05:00

While LCMinutes 1.24 introduces the great feature to re-calculate charge for past phone call and SMS, its automatic loading of phone call and SMS also slow down the start up process of the main application a lot. Version 1.25 change the loading from automatic to manual. User can choose to load the existing logs by menu.

It also fix the bug the duplicate call logs are imported.

LCMinutes 1.24 Is Ready

2008-01-25T02:38:00.001-05:00

The main features introduced with this version are auto loading of phone call & SMS log, calculating charge for past calls & SMS, support of charging units shared by both call minutes and SMS, and new special rates format. Check its change history for details, and the FAQ for the new special rates format.

The support of calculating charges for the past should be helpful for smartphone edition, as it doesn't need the monitor module running all the time. But again, please contact me for the smartphone edition. It's still in the test stage.

LCMinutes 1.20 Is Ready

2008-01-20T01:16:00.001-05:00

10 days after my last update, LCMinutes version 1.20 is now ready for download. The main update is the support for import/export of both rate plan and balance. So when upgrade to a new version of LCMinutes, user don't need to manually input their rate plan again. Check its change history for more details.

At the same time, LCMinutes for smartphone is also ready to be tested. But I have not uploaded it for download for two reasons:

1. It's not signed, (or to be exact, it is signed with a sample privileged RD certificate), which means it can not be installed on those smartphones that are blocked from installing unsigned software, and unfortunately most smartphones belong to this category.

2. It's only tested on emulators, which means it might not work on actual phones.

For those brave hearts that know your smartphone is ready to install unsigned applications (or if you do have the sample RD certificate installed), leave a comment with your email here, or send me an email, I will mail the smartphone CAB file and detail installation guide to you.

LCMinutes 1.14 Is Ready

2008-01-10T02:10:00.001-05:00

The main change of this version is enhanced support for special rates, and today plugin support for Spb Pocket Plus.

Check its change history for details and FAQ for new special rates format.

LCMinutes 1.12 Is Ready - With Special Rates Support

2008-01-07T21:54:00.001-05:00

Now LCMinutes 1.12 is ready to download. It now support special rates, which can be used for long distance rates, pay per call service numbers (like 900 numbers), and different rates for different types of phone number, etc. Check the LCMinutes FAQ for details.

Some Links To LCMinutes

2008-01-05T15:08:00.001-05:00

Here are some links about LCMinutes:

LCMinutes in FreewarePocketPC.net and FreewarePPC.com freeware list.

LCMinutes Thread in xda-developers.com's Development and Hacking forum.

Detailed review about LCMinutes in Eten Blog.

LCMinutes 1.11 Is Ready - For Free Numbers

2008-01-05T14:43:00.001-05:00

Now LCMinutes 1.11 is ready for download. The new feature is the support of free numbers. Check this out if you are a T-Mobile myFaves, or Rogers My Five users, or have whatever free calls in your plans.

LCMinutes Frequently Asked Questions

2008-01-03T17:56:00.001-05:00

What is LCMinutes?
What is the system requirement?
How to install it?
How to upgrade it?
How to setup a rate plan?
How to setup a balance?
My plan has no weekends, how to setup my rate plan?
My plan has no evening, how to setup my rate plan?
What is the Adjust in rate plan settings?
How to input free numbers in rate plan settings?
What is special rates?
What is special rates format?
Why my free minutes/data/SMS is not displayed correctly in today plugin item?

What is LCMinutes?

LCMinutes is a Windows Mobile 5/6 application designed to monitor phone usage: how many free minutes, free long distance minutes, free SMS allowance, and free data allowance have been used? what is the current charge? Or for prepaid plan, what's the current balance and its expire date?

What is the system requirement?

Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC Phone or Windows Mobile 6 Professional.

Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone or Windows Mobile 6 Standard.

How to install it?

For Pocket PC Phone:

Install LCMinutes;
Reboot the phone;
Start LCMinutes application to setup a rate plan and initial balance;
Reboot the phone;
Done.

For Smartphone:

Install LCMinutes;
Start LCMinutes: Start -> More -> LCMinutes;
Go to Settings: Menu -> Settings;
Export default rate plan: Menu -> Export -> Rate Plan;
Input a new name or accept the default name, click Save to continue;
After rate plan settings is exported, modify this file based on your rate plan (wireless plan);
Import your modified rate plan: Menu -> Import -> Rate Plan;
Export default balance: Menu -> Export -> Balance;
Input a new name or accept the default name, click Save to continue;
After balance is exported, modify this file to reflect your current balance;
Import your modified balance: Menu -> Import -> Balance;
Back to main window;
Install LCMinutes Today Home Screen Plugin: Menu -> Tools -> Install Home Plugin;
In the open file dialog, go to \Application Data\Home, and select full.home.xml or any other home screen configuration file you want to use;
After home screen plugin is installed, exit LCMinutes;
Change home screen setting: Start -> Settings -> Home Screen;
Change Home screen layout to whatever layout other than the layout you just modified, click two times Done to finish setting change;
Change home screen setting again: Start -> Settings -> Home Screen;
Change Home screen layout to Windows Default, or any other layout you just exported the LCMinutes plugin to, click two times Done to finish;
Return to your home screen, LCMinutes plugin item should be there displaying the balance you just changed;
Reboot machine;
Done.

How to upgrade it?

Uninstall existing LCMinutes;
Reboot the phone;
Remove folder \Application Data\LCMinutes;
Follow the install guide to install the new LCMinutes;

How to setup a rate plan?

Start LCMinutes;
Choose Menu -> Settings to enter setting dialog;
Click Edit button at the top-right corner to enter editing state;
Change the desired rate plan settings;
Click Save button at the top-right corner to save the settings.

How to setup a balance?

Start LCMinutes;
Choose Menu -> Settings to enter setting dialog;
Click Balance tab at the bottom to open balance setting page;
Click Edit button at the top-right corner to enter editing state;
Change the desired balance;
Click Save button at the top-right corner to save the settings.

My plan has no weekends, how to setup my rate plan?

Change the Weekday in Rate Plan Settings to 0-6, which means the weekday starting from Sunday to Saturday.

My plan has no evening, how to setup my rate plan?

Change the Evening in Rate Plan Settings to 00-00.

What is the Adjust in rate plan settings?

Adjust means add some more seconds into every call duration for what's recorded in the phone. This helps to make the charge calculation more matching with the charge forwarded by operators.

How to input free numbers in rate plan settings?

Go to Menu -> Settings -> Current rate Plan -> Free Calls, and then input the free numbers desired into the multiline edit box.

Different free numbers are separated with a semi-colon (;) or a carriage return character.

Partial number is supported: this means if a free number 416 is input, then all phone number started with 416 will be treated as free numbers.

What is special rates?

There are 3 types of special rates:

Rates that is added onto normal rates: like the long distance charge, or pay per call service charge;
Rates that is deducted from normal rates: like some discount program in some rate plans;
Rates that replaces the normal rates: this can be used to support the different rates for different phone number types.

All these 3 types special rates can be defined for phone call or SMS. The same phone number can appear for 2 times, one for call and one for SMS.

What is special rates format?

Basic special rates string format is: [<phone number> : <rates type> <sharing flags> : <weekday rates> / <weekend rates> / <evening rates> / <incoming rates> : <charge interval> : <Out SMS rates> / <In SMS rates>;], excluding the square brackets ([]) pair.

<phone number>: the target phone number. It can be any format, but for number 123-456-7890, 1234567890 is recommended because it uses less space;
<rates type>: the type of this special rate. It has 3 possible values: + stands for addon rates, - stands for deduction rates, and missing both means this is a replacement rates. This applies to all the rates listed;
<sharing flags>: a number to indicate what free minutes this number (or these numbers) can share before applying these special rates. Currently supported flags are:
- 0x000001: sharing free daytime minutes;
- 0x000002: sharing free weekend minutes;
- 0x000004: sharing free evening minutes;
- 0x000010: sharing free long distance minutes; These flags can use together, but a decimal number should be used. Fox example, if you want to use all these flags, you can put this number as 23, or if you just want to share daytime minutes and long distance minutes, then use number 17. And if no sharing is needed, then put 0 (zero) here.
- 0x000020: used free long distance minutes before daytime/weekend/evening minutes. By default, free daytime/weekend/evening minutes is used first.
<weekday rates>: the price to be charged to outgoing calls happens in weekday for every charging interval;
<weekend rates>: the price to be charged to outgoing calls happens in weekend for every charging interval;
<evening rates>: the price to be charged to outgoing calls happens in evening for every charging interval;
<incoming rates>: the price to be charged to all incoming calls for every charging interval: if the incoming using the same rates as outgoing calls, then use magic number -50 here;
<charge interval>: the charging units: For per minute charge, this value is 60;
<Out SMS rates>: the price to be charged for every outgoing SMS;
<In SMS rates>: the price to be charged for every incoming SMS.

Several examples:

[1234567:0:0.50/0.25/0.25/0.0:30:0.30/0.15;] : it means for any phone numbers started with 1234567, no free minutes is shared, no normal charge should be applied. Its rates for weekday, weekend, evening and incoming call are $0.50, $0.25, $0.25, and free respectively, charged at every 30 seconds. And every SMS sent to it is charged for $0.30 while every SMS coming from it is charged at $0.15;
[1234567:+16:0.50/0.0/0.0/-50:60:0.30/0.0;] : it means for any phone numbers started with 1234567, free minutes for long distance is used first till no free minutes left. All normal charge is applied to it. And on top of normal charge, it is charged for $0.50 per minute in daytime for both outgoing and incoming calls. But it has no extra charge in evening and weekend, for both outgoing and incoming calls. And every SMS sent to it is charged for $0.30 while incoming SMS from it is free.

Why my free minutes/data/SMS is not displayed correctly in today plugin item?

It's because the rate plan has not been updated to balance information. Do following to update the balance information:

Start LCMinutes to change your free minutes for evening (or for weekend, long distance), and save the rate plan setting;
Back to main window of LCMinutes, choose NO when prompted to question that whether you want to apply this changed rate plan to past calls and SMS;
Quit LCMinutes and check the today display.

END.

LCMinutes 1.10 Is Ready

2008-01-03T04:53:00.001-05:00

Now LCMinutes supports even more options to define a rate plan that matches user's wireless plan as much as possible! Please check its change history for more details.

There're still some important features missing, like free service number, support to myFaves or MyFive, long distance charge, etc., but I do believe this version is a worthy try.

I will create a FAQ for LCMinutes about its common usage and its other aspects. But for now, if you have any questions, suggestions, opinions, or bugs to report, please leave a comment here.

LCMinutes 1.05 Is Ready For Windows Mobile 5

2007-12-30T05:10:00.001-05:00

This is a rebuild of version 1.04 for Windows Mobile 5. It also change the initial position of Today Plugin.

It has not been verified on a real Windows Mobile 5 device, but it does works fine on a Windows Mobile 5 emulator - It doesn't before this rebuild. If anyone has LCMinutes works on a WM5 device, I will really appreciate if you can comment here to let me know.

Existing 1.04 users don't need to upgrade to this version, if they are working.

LCMinutes 1.04 Is Ready

2007-12-30T02:49:00.001-05:00

This edition fixes a big bug that the rates in Rate Plan setting is not correctly saved. Check its change history for details.

For existing users, upgrade to this version is strongly advised.

LCMinutes Reviewed By Eten Blog

2007-12-29T03:16:00.001-05:00

Eten Blog write a very detailed review about LCMinutes. Please check to see what they think about LCMinutes.

And they have many reviews and comments about other popular Windows Mobile tools too. If you are interested in maximizing your pocket pc phone, it's a site to keep an eye on.

LCMinutes 1.03 Is Ready

2007-12-29T01:58:00.001-05:00

Check the LCMinutes Change History for the details of changes.

Previously I plan to add data usage support, but then I found it's quite hard for me:

First, there's no easy interface to get the data usage information;
Second, the data rate charged by my operator Rogers to my prepaid plan is prohibitively high: 5 cents per page, or per kilobytes? I doubt it's per HTTP request.

While I am still looking for ways to track data usage, I am for now focusing on free numbers (service number, myFaves, etc), roaming, and long distance support.

LCMinutes Change History

2007-12-29T01:41:00.002-05:00

Version 1.55:

Bug fix: Fix double counting of SMS sent out when threaded SMS application is used.

Version 1.54:

Bug fix: Change default Roger prepaid plan.
Bug fix: rate plan changes sometimes are not reflected in balance info.
Bug fix: extra weekday and extra special minutes, weekend, evening and extra weekday SMS allowance rollover are not handled.

Version 1.53:

Bug fix: SMS is charged with evening rates when no evening is defined.

Version 1.52:

Feature change: Per call start minutes comes before per day start minutes.
Bug fix: SMS is counted to used weekday SMS even when it's not set to share with weekday SMS allowance.
Bug fix: Free weekend/evening SMS setting is not saved.

Version 1.51:

Feature change: Change Today/Home Screen display setting from flags based to display format string based.
Bug fix: Fix memory leak for rates string without numbers.
Bug fix: Matching numbers saved in call/SMS rates string will fail sometimes.
Bug fix: Weekday minutes is counted for numbers that are not set to share weekday minutes.

Version 1.50:

Feature change: Support rates string based charge mode for all calls (normal rates and special rates) and SMS.
Feature change: Add support for call minutes allowance for extra weekday, extra special: their usage is defined with rates string by users.
Feature change: Add support for weekend and evening charge rates for SMS.
Feature change: Add support for SMS allowance for weekend, evening and extra weekday.
Bug fix: Update trace code so it support re-entrance.

Version 1.45:

Bug fix: Sometimes daily and/or monthly counter are not cleared.
Bug fix: Clear data records doesn't work.

Version 1.44:

Feature change: Add more traces for day and month change.
Bug fix: change free minutes or data allowance is not updated to balance info when user choose to apply new rate plan to existing usage.
Bug fix: +/- sign in special rates not handled correctly.

Version 1.43:

Feature change: Time based charge mode for data usage.
Feature change: New sharing flag for special rates string to support free long distance minutes is shared before free daytime/weekend/evening minutes.
Feature change: Maximum length of special rates increased to 2048.
Bug fix: Support new service message format for balance info from Rogers.

Version 1.42:

Feature change: Character "+" now supported for number in free number and special rates string, along with character "*", which is already supported.
Feature change: Data allowance unit changed from MB to KB.
Feature change: Correct misc setting display for call minute warning.
Feature change: Add more trace for importing phone calls.
Feature change: Add more trace for GetCellTowerInfo in case of failure.
Feature change: Remove trace for signal changes.
Bug fix: call connection fee is charged even when free minutes is still available.
Code optimization: Use constant for bytes per kilobytes definition.

Version 1.41:

Project configuration change.

Version 1.40:

Feature change: font customization for both main window and plugin item partially supported, through 3rd party registry editor.
Bug fix: rate plan setting display incorrectly in editing state for some htc Touch phones when using some fonts.
Bug fix: daily used minutes is not correctly updated when updating balance by user setting or detecting from service messages.
Bug fix: detecting T-Mobile used minutes from service message now working correctly.

Version 1.39:

Feature change: setting for display calls, SMS, data, and balance in main window is now saved.
Feature change: data usage charge unit can be set by user to any number of kilobytes.
Feature change: add network id for rate plan to support monitoring balance info in service messages from Kuwait Zain and T-Mobile USA.
Feature change: support displaying expire date or effective date without year info.
Feature change: add more traces for debugging rate plan displaying problem in some htc Touch phones.

Version 1.38:

Feature change: Monitoring balance info in service messages from Kuwait Zain and T-Mobile USA is supported, along with Canadian Rogers and Fido.
Feature change: used data display format changed: now decimal places or fractional digits is changed to 2 or 1 or 0 based on the size of the used data.
Feature change: add more traces for debugging.
Bug fix: currency symbol with multiple characters supported.

Version 1.37:

Feature change: support simultaneously data connection and phone call.
Bug fix: rate plan change (free minutes, data/SMS allowance) is not reflected in balance.

Version 1.36:

Bug fix: trace setting not saved.

Version 1.35:

Bug fix: used data of balance is imported incorrectly.

Version 1.34:

Feature change: charge for multiple recipients and concatenated SMS supported.
Feature change: trace for LCMinutes today/home screen plugin.
Feature change: special rates length increased from 512 to 1024.
Feature change: Precision of rates per KB for data usage is increased by one digit.
Bug fix: after shared units for call minutes and SMS is all consumed, SMS usage will not add up to used minutes. It will now only add up to the usd SMS count.

Version 1.33:

Bug fix: data traffic monitoring now works on Samsung CDMA phones.

Version 1.32:

Feature change: free long distance minutes supported: now user can use free long distance minutes before applying long distance rates for their phone calls.
Feature change: new special rates format: now it's possible for special rates numbers to share free numbers before applying special rates. This should be helpful for some Polish and Australian users.
Feature change: data traffic is now dynamically updated on today screen before it's disconnected and charged.
Feature change: used minutes is now displayed with seconds if the charge interval is not exact 60 seconds.
Feature change: start minutes is now second based in stead of minute based, so user can set a start minutes like 1 minute plus 20 seconds.
Bug fix: the call minutes is now rounded up to charging interval for start minutes if the call is shorter than the start minutes.
Bug fix: call time calculation error for phone call surpass two days and using special rates.
Bug fix: exporting balance before opening balance tab will export garbage data.

Version 1.31:

Today / Homescreen display customization: now user can choose what to display on their LCMinutes Today / Homescreen plugin.
Minute beep support: timing and period are both user defined, incoming call and outgoing call can have different timing and period. So user can define a half minute (or whatever seconds he wants) beep period if his/her charging unit is 30 seconds instead of 1 minute.
The data allowance limit can be 4T bytes, instead of 4G bytes, in maximum.
New data connection type support: this should fix the problem that data traffic is not recorded on some phones, or some operators.
Effective date support when importing balance: this enable user to set a balance for a past date.
Data traffic sample timing now can be changed by user.
Trace mode support.
Some minor code optimizations.

Version 1.30:

Feature change: support for data traffic, user can set monthly data limit and rates per kilobytes for extra data traffic, and whether to round up to the next full kilobytes when calculating charges.

Version 1.25:

Feature change: load call & SMS logs not automatic any more. Application start up is fast again;
Bug fix: duplicate phone calls when importing now are avoided;

Version 1.24:

Automatically load call & SMS logs in phone, automatically calculating related charges;
Support re-calculating charge for past call & SMS after updating rate plan or balance;
Balance effective day can be any prior date;

Version 1.23:

Update the support of charging units concept: now user can set SMS to share the free units with call minutes, and user can set how many seconds equals a SMS.

Version 1.22:

New special rates format: now support different rates for weekday, weekend, evening and incoming calls. And rates for phone call and SMS is now combined together.

Version 1.21:

Support treating SMS as one call minute: so one SMS is sent, it's counted into the free minutes as one minute until all free minutes are used, and then it will be charged with SMS charging rates.

Version 1.20:

Windows Mobile 5/6 Smartphone is supported, but only verified on emulators.
Import/Export rate plan and balance is now supported.
Call and SMS display in main window is changed: now 2 digits is used to display year, e.g. year 2008 is displayed 08. And the direction of call and SMS is moved to the second line, while "Out" is replaced with "<=", and "In" is replaced with "=>".
Now rates for weekday, weekend, evening, and starting minutes have one more digit after the decimal point than balance. So now if the balance has 2 digits after the decimal point, then rates for weekday will have 3 digits.
Balance setting screen is scrollable now if the screen is too small to display all contents.
Exclude special rates minutes from minutes counting when the rates is zero.
Some minor code optimization.

Version 1.14:

Support special rates for outgoing and incoming calls and SMS: special rates format changed.
Today plugin now compatible with Spb Pocket Plus.

Version 1.13:

Record phone call & SMS into balance database even its charge is $0.0.
Limit special rates for outgoing calls only.

Version 1.12:

Support special rates:user can use this feature to support long distance rates, pay per call service numbers (like 900 service numbers), or even different rates for different type of phone numbers, like the different rates based on phone number types seen in Australian operators. Check LCMinutes FAQ for the details.

Version 1.11:

Support free numbers:user can now input their free numbers into the rate plan to get them excluded from charge calculation. This should help the users with features like myFaves, My Five, free in network calls, etc.

Version 1.10:

Support user defined charge interval, from per second to many minutes;
Support different charging interval & rates for starting minutes (user defined) for every phone call, or every day;
Support per call connection fee, can be both way or outgoing call only;
Support using only starting rates: which means a phone call started in daytime is charged as daytime minutes entirely, and vice versa;
Support tax calculation;
Support weekday definition: e.g., define weekday from Sunday (0) - Saturday (6) means there's no weekend;
Support unused minutes, SMS rollover;
Better support for postpaid monthly plans;
Some codes and UI optimization;

Version 1.05:

Recompiled for Windows Mobile 5 Professional: it still works fine on Windows Mobile 6, and it works on Windows Mobile 5 now;
Changed the Today Plugin initial position to the last.

Version 1.04:

Fix a bug that rates in rate plan setting is not correctly saved: now the biggest number can be saved is 429496.00;
Fix a bug that sometimes a call is not charged.

Version 1.03:

Support 4 digit precision for rates & balance: this means rates like $0.1225 per minute can be input;
Support different currency format based on Regional Settings: so user can choose different currency symbol (instead of just $), and different precision;
Default name for the generated rate plan changed: active operator name and owner name are used;
Fixed the today plugin bug: now the today item can be moved to any position;
Some minor code optimizations.

Version 1.02:

Change the format of minutes & SMS usage information display in Today Plugin and the balance bar in main window.

Version 1.01:

Support of VGA screen;
Support displaying of minutes & SMS usage information on Today plugin and the balance bar in main window for postpaid plan;
Fix a bug that when updating rate plan, the balance is not updated accordingly.

Version 1.0:

The initial version.

LCMinutes 1.02 Is Ready

2007-12-27T16:41:00.001-05:00

Based on suggestions from a Not-To-Disclose-Here user in xda-develops.com, I changed LCMinutes a little bit and uploaded the new version.

Following is what it looks alike.

Change History:

Version 1.02:

Change the format of minutes & SMS usage information display in Today Plugin and the balance bar in main window.

Version 1.01:

Support of VGA screen;
Support displaying of minutes & SMS usage information on Today plugin and the balance bar in main window for postpaid plan;
Fix a bug that when updating rate plan, the balance is not updated accordingly.

Version 1.0:

The initial version.

LCMinutes 1.01 Is Ready!

2007-12-26T21:13:00.001-05:00

I just uploaded LCMinutes Version 1.01. This is a minor version change, adding 2 new small features and fixing a bug.

Change History:

Version 1.01:

Support of VGA screen;
Support displaying of minutes & SMS usage information on Today plugin and the balance bar in main window for postpaid plan;
Fix a bug that when updating rate plan, the balance is not updated accordingly.

Version 1.0:

The initial version.

What LCMinutes Is About

2007-12-24T00:47:00.001-05:00

Basically LCMinutes is an application that keeps track of phone calls and text messages (SMS), calculates their charge based on user defined rate plan, and thus keep user informed of the up-to-date balance information: like current charges, used free minutes, used free messages, expire date for prepaid plans, etc.

Main features:

Monitoring all phone call and text messages: all incoming and outgoing calls and messages are traced;

Calculating every phone call or text message charge: depend on rate plan, this could mean real charge, reduction of free minutes or free messages, or nothing;
Support time based monthly charge and daily surcharge, and reset of counter for free minutes and free messages;
Support user manually adjusting of balance, expire date;
Provide today plugin for easy checking of balance;
Support very flexible rate plan: prepaid or not, different rates for weekday, weekend, evening, different rate for starting minutes every day, different rates for incoming and outgoing messages, etc;
Support importing existing phone call logs and text messages;
Support deleting single call/message/balance record and deleting all the records.

Features to be implemented:

Data plan & MMS charge support;
Free number support: like free service number, like myFaves feature of T-Mobile, etc;
Roaming charges;
International long distance.
Making notes for any phone call, message, and balance record.

Installation

To try LCMinutes:

Click the Download LCMinutes link at the right sidebar to download it;
After download, copy it to the target pocket pc phone and click the downloaded file to install it;
After installation, reboot the phone;
After phone is rebooted, the LCMinutes today plugin should be displayed on the today screen, click on it to start LCMinutes main application;
Choose Menu -> Setting to setup the rate plan;
Choose Balance setting to setup an initial balance;
Done.

Screenshots

Check the slideshow below to see how it looks like.

Disclaimer

This application is provided as a free tool to monitor phone plan balance. It's just for reference. There's no guarantee that the calculated charges are accurate, and they should not be used to dispute the service charge by operator.

And while this application runs fine in my own htc TyTN, there's no guarantee that it will run well in any other Windows Mobile 6 Pocket PC Phone. Please use it at your own risk. No responsibility will be taken for any damages caused by using this application.

LCMinutes Is Online Now!

2007-12-23T23:27:00.001-05:00

After learning, designing, and coding for 3 months, most of which I went to sleep only in the early morning, the application I have invested so much of my energy and passion is at last ready to be tested.

LCMinutes is an application to monitor mobile phone plan balance: unused minutes, unused free SMS, charge for every phone call, SMS, and the up-to-date balance, etc.

It can also be used as a phone call history and message manage tool. You will no longer be limited by 300 phone call history.

Currently it runs on Windows Mobile 6 Professional mobile phones. And I have verified it on htc TyTN only. But it should run well on all htc series Windows Mobile 6 Professional phones.

If you have often wondered how many free minutes or free SMS for this month has left, when your prepaid balance will be expired and what the balance is, or how much you have spent on your mobile phone this month, (so not to get shocked like this poor guy), this application may be interested to you.

If you have a htc pocket pc phone, you can click LCMinutes.CAB to download and install it. Just remember to reboot your phone after the installation, and then start the application to setup your rate plan.

About This Blog

2007-12-22T00:42:00.000-05:00

This blog is about the tools I designed for Windows Mobile phones, their releases, feature changes, their bugs, and everything I feel worth of writing during its development.