If you're the kind of person who just has to wait for official fixes to come out, well, fine. We understand. And official fixes are starting to trickle out for the 2016 SMS bug that we helped bring to light.

HTC has hotfixes for the Sprint Touch Diamond and Touch Pro that in all liklihood do the exact same thing our workaround does. But if you need the HTC stamp of approval, well, here you go.

Edit: The links to the CAB files are being squirrley, so just use the ones above.

Edit 2: Odd. Now the HTC pages are borked. Hang in there, guys.

Until now, if you wanted to run the latest builds of HTC's Manila (TouchFLO 3D), you needed to be running one of the newer generations of HTC phones, as in the Touch Diamond 2, Touch Pro 2, etc. But now Manila 2.5 has been ported to VGA resolution (480x640), and it's already being cooked into ROMs for the HTC Fuze (original Touch Pro). This is all still in early beta, so bugs are likely. But it's good news for those of you with VGA phones. XDA Developers via Mobility Digest

I don't mind admitting that when we announced we were giving away an original HTC Verizon Touch Pro, I was a little worried about what kind of reaction we'd get. But, boy howdy, did you guys and gals deliver. And so, without further ado, the winner is ...

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Who wants a free Verizon Touch Pro? Yeah, it's the original, but it's an HTC Touch Pro, on Verizon, and it's free. And did we mention it's free?

All you have to do is this: Leave a post in our forums. (And for that, make sure you're registered.) And you know the drill: "First!" won't get it done. Your post needs to be halfway intelligent. Contest ends at 5 p.m. EST Oct. 18, so get a'postin'!

For those of you rocking the original HTC Touch Pro on Sprint, and we know there are plenty of you out there, an official ROM update was recently released. Here's what you get:

• TouchFlo 3D updated to improve speed and stability.
• Dialer application enhanced to improve the handling of incoming calls.
• Resolves an issue using the “r” and “w” keys on the virtual keypad.
• Improves contact searching performance.
• Includes a variety of minor bug fixes.

This is a full-on ROM update, so be sure to back up all of your important data first because the device will be wiped in the process.

Also, HTC has released a hotfix for the Sprint Snap that "is designed to correct and prevent a memory block issue that can cause the Sprint Snap to lock up or freeze during boot up."

This one's merely a hotfix, like loading an app. That means your data should be safe (though we'd recommend a backup first, just in case), and you'll need to reload this fix should you ever hard-reset the Snap.

ROM update for Sprint Touch Pro
Hotfix for Sprint Snap

That's right, folks. For a limited time only (we presume) you can get the HTC Touch Pro and Touch Diamond, as well as the Samsung Omnia, for the low, low price of $99. As you well know, all three of those phones are on their way out, so the discount isn't unexpected.

(The Samsung Saga is still at $199, btw, the SMT5800 is $99 the Ozone and Q9m are $49, and the original HTC Touch is $9.99.)

That all comes along with a 2-year contract. So if you don't mind signing away 730 days of your cellular life for phones that while good, aren't the latest and greatest, head on over to Verizon.

Thanks, Elliot, and everyone else who sent this in.

We're gonna pat ourselves on the back here a little bit and pretend that it was our open letter and persistent persistence that finally got Verizon to open up the GPS on the HTC Touch Pro and Samsung Saga – and, finally, the Samsung Omnia.

Note that the update page is up, but the download link isn't yet live. But here's what's getting updated:

• The latest Microsoft AKU Update 1.5.1.
• Enhanced zoom for Internet Explorer.
• Slight UI Modifications.
• Various additional improvements to improve handset function.
• Open Standalone LBS Supported and Performance Enhanced (This may Support 3rd Party Applications).
• VZ Access Manager Supports Bluetooth Connection (SPP).
• Correction of memory shortage issues.

OK, so it probably had nothing to do with us. That's cool. And it's the Saga, Touch Pro and Omnia owners who are the real winners here. Thanks for finally getting it done, Verizon. (And thanks, cplush, for the tip!)

Now, Verizon, about that Marketplace thing ...

Update: Rut-ro. Sure enough, the link got pulled. Keep an eye out folks.

Dear Verizon,

So here we are, halfway through the year and many moons removed from our open letter imploring you to unlock the GPS on your Windows Mobile phones. And in December 2008, you promised to do so in the first half of the year for the Samsung Omnia and Saga, and the HTC Touch Pro. And we rejoiced.

We're now a little past the midpoint of 2009, and indeed the Saga and Touch Pro have had their GPS chips released from the shackles of VZ Navigator, free to get turn-by-turn directions from the likes of Google Maps and Bing, among others. And for that, you have our thanks. While we're not quite ready to overlook you locking customers into (and having to pay for) VZ Navigator in the first place, it still means a lot in this crazy smartphone game when a company promises to do something and then follows through. So, thanks.

But while two out of three ain't bad, the job's not done. We can talk all night, but that ain't getting us nowhere. It's time to get the Omnia unlocked.  No more hacks. No more unofficial ROMs. Let's get that done so we can all turn our focus to some of the great new phones you have coming down the pike and go back to being one big, happy smartphone family.

We're still watching.

Love,

The WMExperts Team

Two hotfixes for the Touch Diamond 2 in less than a week? That's it. Mine's going in the garbage.

Just kidding, folks. Stay out of my trash. Actually, we're more inclined to take the glass-half-full route here. Hotfixes mean HTC has acknowledged problems and has fixed them. Here's what's been addressed:

• Hotfix No. 1 (5-22-09): If you move to the Settings tab in TouchFLO, the top part of the item descriptions under Communications (WiFi, Bluetooth, phone, data) are slightly cut off. If this happens, please download this hotfix to solve the problem.
• Hotfix No. 2 (5-25-09): If you can’t dial out but can receive calls through the PCCW network when roaming in HK, please download this hotfix to solve the problem.

Obviously, these are for non-U.S. versions of the phone because, well, we don't yet have a U.S. version of the phone. (And note that the second fix only is necessary when you're in Hong Kong.) And as with all hotfixes, you'll have to re-apply them if you hard-reset your phone. Hopefully we'll see these baked into a ROM update at some point.

And speaking of fixes, a GPS fix also was released for non-U.S. versions of the Touch Pro. You can get it here.

Look. We don't know PPCGeeks user kidmet. He's probably a pretty cool cat. But we can't imagine it'd be too much fun to ride around in his back pocket all day. We'd just assplode.

And that's exactly what his spare Touch Pro battery apparently did.

I walked into my house early this week to the smell of burning. I couldn't find where it was coming from. Last night as I was gathering my laundry I noticed a burn through the back of my jeans. A HUGE hole. I had a spare Touch Pro battery in my back pocket. It had expanded and obviously started a fire in my jeans. They were in a clothes pile and buried, so I assume that there wasn't enough oxygen to start a fire.

We don't know if this was an OEM battery or if it was straight from HTC. But we're glad your butt's OK, kidmet, and we're glad this isn't an everyday occurrence.