Panasonic Toughbook phones £20 on Ebay

[RustyNissanPrairie]

just a heads up really, but there's quite a few ex-british gas Panasonic toughbook CF-P2 phones on Ebay going for £20-Ideal for chucking in a landrover

I've just bought one myself as Im a regular destroyer of mobile phones. It turned up today and its a winner for £20 to be honest, its fairly big-probably a third longer, nearly twice as thick and a quarter wider than the usual bottom of the range metal cased Nokia phones but it does have a decent sized screen. Runs windowsmobile 2003SE/pocket PC so will run Tomtom/Memorymap/IGO8 etc. Excellent condition considdering its a few years old

Fairly well protected/armoured with a soft rubber grip round the outside,standard size sd slot-not sure if they take SDHC or not.

Mine came with an sd card allready in it with a cracked copy of Tomtom!

[RustyNissanPrairie]

found the dimensions from the instruction manual

58mm x 20mm x 145mm and weighs 199g, screen size is 2.83 qvga 65536 colours

Just to clarify-Im not a seller/selling any, I just though the forum might be interested.

[landmannnn]

The challenge with these is that new batteries are hard to find. Still these are good value considering a sonim is 400 quid.

[Se7enUp]

The challenge with these is that new batteries are hard to find. Still these are good value considering a sonim is 400 quid.

These are currently on ebay

[landmannnn]

These are currently on ebay

True, but a used battery will not hold the charge like a new one.

[Tetsu0san]

Just bought one and it was locked down (or crippled as they call it on other forums) so that there were hardly any applications on it and you couldn't use anything else except for the phone.

I finally figured out how to unlock it so if anyone gets one and can't do anything with it, let me know.

[RustyNissanPrairie]

Just bought one and it was locked down (or crippled as they call it on other forums) so that there were hardly any applications on it and you couldn't use anything else except for the phone.

I finally figured out how to unlock it so if anyone gets one and can't do anything with it, let me know.

mine was the same, it had the british gas install rather than the full WM2003SE setup, there's a good thread here that explains how to 'open them up' (post 167)

http://forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic/462956-new-toy-17.html

[hattymender]

Do these need a plug in antenna for GPS? What sort?

[RustyNissanPrairie]

use a bluetooth GPS dongle;

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/COPILOT-BLUETOOTH-GPS-RECEIVER-MOBILE-AND-LAPTOP-/280546119779?pt=UK_CE_GPS_Accessories_Software_ET

or equivilent

[RustyNissanPrairie]

The challenge with these is that new batteries are hard to find. Still these are good value considering a sonim is 400 quid.

`

a Fujifilm (or equiv) NP-120 battery fits exactly like the original. Loads on Ebay

[Briarston]

`

a Fujifilm (or equiv) NP-120 battery fits exactly like the original. Loads on Ebay

Or you could try "Eurobatteries.com". Got a couple for older Motorola mobiles from

them no problem.

[Cartman]

Just picked up one of the CF-P2 and it seems OK will make calls and receive after I dropped in the SIm and did a reset. Function wise from Start I can get to games/IE etc. So it doesn't seem crippled?

Now I need to work out how to get internet access through my existed Vodaphone account

[RustyNissanPrairie]

landrover logo for these phones (and any other pocket pc)

http://handheld.softpedia.com/get/Themes/Land-Rover-Logo-AMF-Theme-for-Pocket-PC-56741.shtml

[Sirocco]

I managed the hard reset which has opened it up from its British Gas origins. Backed up the original on SD card, how do I get TomTom back on? very confused! now the bluetooth looks like its working I can use my Garmin mouse BUT I no longer have the TomTom App!

any thoughts?

G

[Cartman]

landrover logo for these phones (and any other pocket pc)

http://handheld.softpedia.com/get/Themes/Land-Rover-Logo-AMF-Theme-for-Pocket-PC-56741.shtml

Downloaded this .tsk file to my laptop desktop now to get comms with the phone via bluetooth. The phone displays 'BM error 0x64-bluetooth is now disabled....' when I try to activate?

[Cartman]

Full manual available here ---> http://pc-dl.panasonic.co.jp/dl/docs/006325?dc%5B%5D=&no=13&page=2&q=cfp2&score=1.60563850402832&sri=124557&trn_org=2

[tomcat404]

Just bought one of these phones from ebay and its come completly unlocked , The only issue i have is the Blue tooth disabled bit anybody managed to get past this point?

thanks nath

[hattymender]

Just got one and I've a little problem. The SD card. I tried a 1Gb SD (not SDHC, or at least I don't think so). It worked, but now it doesn't. Must admit I was mucking about with the settings but there's nothing that would turn the SD off is there?

[hattymender]

The CF-P2 Odyssey

Moderators. Accept this goes well OT but I'll drag it back to Land Rovers. Honest.

The wife knows the syndrome; I read a thread, get glazed expression, and disappear into garage. Before the thread started I was blissfully unaware such a thing as a CF-P2 even existed, but it's dominated my spare evenings for the last couple of weeks.

Please note that I'm writing this to give a 'numpties' advice to fellow 'numpties'. By definition most of the advice you find on the net is written by the IT literate, but sometimes they assume knowledge far beyond mine. Please also note that there's a vast amount of software available on the net, some more legal than others. Please don't blame me if the SPG batter your door down.

Anyway, the starting of the thread coincided with me 'washing' my mobile in a ditch. Again. So I was in the market for an 'indestructible' phone.

And it would be great if it was;

Cheap (most important. I'll probably break it)

Have useful functions like Excel to calculate fuel consumption and .pdf reader for manuals. (I'm always printing pages off manuals only to lose them in wind when working outside, wouldn't it be great to have them 'on screen'?)

Be able to run GPS software (destroying Sat Navs is another hobby of mine)

The CF-P2 looked ideal, so after a couple of tense evenings spent bidding I possessed one for the princely sum of £17.99 plus P&P.

On arrival it turns out to be the 'full version', unlocked but no TomTom. A quick forage in the spares draw found an SD card (not SDHC, they won't work) and I managed to transfer the Land Rover 'skin' by loading it directly to the SD card plugged into my PC then putting it in the CF-P2 and launching the file. A promising start. But a fluke, lead me to believe you could load other programmes easily. I now know better.

Data cable.

To get programmes transferred to the phone you use ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Device Centre (WMDC) if you've got Vista . After a long struggle I discovered that the version of Vista on my PC had a crippled version of Active Sync, I had to go to Microsoft web site to download Mobile Device Centre, it's free. This will work via Bluetooth but it's easier with a cable. But CF-P2 data cables are as rare as rocking horse poo so you have to make one. A Panasonic G87 cable is the same 'format' and can be had off Amazon for £1.99, so I ordered 2. You have to take the connector apart, de-solder the existing connectors and solder on an 'ordinary' USB cable (the USB end of the supplied cable has a little PCB attached full of wiggly amp stuff that upsets things. Better to just nick the cable off some old device like a mouse and solder it on). The connections are:

1=gnd

2=usb host D+

3=usb host D-

4=usb sync D+

5=usb sync D-

6=usb +5v in (usb detect)

7=i2c bus clock (this bus seems to output system data to somewhere???)

8=i2c bus data

9=audio out to car speaker

10=gnd

11=audio in from car mic

12=cradle detect (input,active low)

13=external power/charge

14= cradle int??? (input,active low)

For the cable you'll need 1, 4, 5, and 6.

Transferring programmes.

I'd never done this with a CE device before and had a bit of trouble. There are two types of programme that run on mobiles .exe and .cab. Slightly different procedure for each.

First experiment was with Acrobat (this is a .exe). I downloaded the mobile version onto my PC from the Adobe site, then found it using Explorer in WMDC. At first I dragging and dropped it onto the SD card in the CF-P2. Hit the .exe and it wouldn't run. Check the internet. Ahhh! You have to open WMDC and hit the .exe while it's still on the PC! Then your PC does magic things and puts it on the mobile, icon in 'programmes' and all. Loaded the parts manual and workshop manuals by drag and drop and they all work nicely. It's a bit tedious to browse on such a small screen, but for specific data like torque figures it's great.

.CAB files. A lot of CE stuff comes as .CAB files. This normally takes the form of a package of files in .zip or .rar format. You download them onto your PC then click on the .cab from Explorer in WMDC. What you don't do (and I did) is unpack or extract them first. If you hit the file 'as it comes' WMDC sorts it out and puts it on your device, for reasons beyond me it doesn't work if you extract the files first.

Sat Nav.

I ordered the CoPilot jobbie listed above. Turned it on, turned Bluetooth on on the CF-P2 and launched Bluetooth manager. This found the CoPilot and using 'properties' I created a shortcut so it launches automatically when I turn Bluetooth on. Easy! For once. (What wasn't so easy was my current Bluetooth hands free. The CF-P2 finds it, connects, then drops the connection about 10 minutes later. I don't know why, yet).

For satnav software this site is very useful but you have to become a 'sponsor' to download. http://www.simplesatnav.com/

Actually using the thing.

Indestructibility? Much better than normal devices. But in demonstrating how good it is to a friend I dropped it on the floor and the battery popped out. And clever boy hadn't backed up his settings so two hours to get it back to where I started.

Battery Life? In standby mode it seems to last at least 48 hours, but I've been farting about with it too much to confirm actual life. In operation it seems to last about 5 hours.

Fitting it to a 110

I had a 'universal' mounting that sucks to windscreen so this was pressed into service. This used in conjunction with a cassette adaptor for 'hands free' has worked well enough, but needs plugging in every trip and basically lacks ambition.

But I'd bought two G87 cables? The second one was used to make a 'docking station'. Pins 1 & 13 for 5v charging, pins 7 & 8 for audio.

A forage in the spares bin brought up an old USB/Phones to front of PC thingy. This was cut up and lashed to the bottom of my home brew centre console (the product of reading another thread on this forum). A cig lighter to USB adaptor. A lot of wiring and ….. It works!

FM transmitter from Amazon (bit naffy looking but works)

As a bonus the unit nicked from the PC has two sensors for monitoring chip temperature. A quick test showed these still work and are quite accurate 'in air'. So I can now monitor internal and external temperature. Which with 110's heater is much the same thing.

[RustyNissanPrairie]

If you go into 'programs' there should be 'panasonic backup' use this to backup to either the internal memory or the SD card so it dosnt matter if the battery is removed.

You can get a standard SD 4gb non SDHC card-made by Transcend that works in the CfP2.

A data cable isnt really required; any program for Windows Mobile that is in an .exe format contains .cab files-install the program eg. Age of Empires-Gold Edition on your PC, goto the search tool on your PC and search for file type .cab files. Once you've them just copy them onto the SD card via a card reader, pop it back into the Cfp2, use file explorer to locate them on the Sd card. Double tap the cab file to install onto the SD card rather than the internal memory (which is shared between processing and storage)

[markt]

Accessories for the cf-p2

http://www.pan-toughbooks.com/panasonic-toughbook-cf-p2-accessories-86-c.asp