Custom Plugins for Windows Mobile 6.5 Titanium

Windows Mobile 6.5 introduced the "Titanium" user interface, a touch-friendly home screen built around a vertical sliding-panel architecture. While Microsoft provided default panels for basic tasks like calls, texts, calendar events, and photos, the developer community—most notably on XDA-Developers—reverse-engineered the interface to build custom plugins. This guide details the most popular and functional custom plugins developed for the Windows Mobile 6.5 Titanium home screen, showcasing how users expanded the platform beyond its stock capabilities.

TitaniumWeather (and CWeather)

Weather functionality was one of the most prominent omissions from the default Windows Mobile 6.5 interface. Plugins like TitaniumWeather and CWeather filled this void by parsing data from services such as AccuWeather or Yahoo Weather.

  • Features: Current conditions, animated or static weather icons, multi-day forecasts, and high/low temperature displays.
  • Mechanism: Often powered by MortScript or standalone executables running in the background to update XML data at scheduled intervals.

Application Launchers (cLaunch and Titanium App Launcher)

The stock interface offered limited quick-launch capabilities, forcing users to open the Start menu to launch favorite applications. Custom app launcher plugins introduced customizable application grids and horizontal icon rows directly inside a Titanium panel.

  • cLaunch: Allowed users to add rows of custom shortcuts with custom icons. Swiping horizontally cycled through user-defined apps and system shortcuts.
  • Favorite Programs Panels: Customized plugins that replaced the stock "Getting Started" or "Favorites" panels with customizable multi-column program grids.

Multimedia Controllers (Titanium Music and S2P Integration)

Controlling audio playback required opening Windows Media Player or a third-party app. Multimedia plugins integrated playback controls directly onto the home screen.

  • S2P (Slide2Play) Integration: Brought the popular iPod-style music interface into Titanium, showing album art, artist/track info, and touch-friendly play, pause, and skip buttons.
  • MortPlayer / Nitrogen Panels: Connected standalone media players to Titanium, allowing track navigation directly from the sliding panel without switching apps.

Connectivity and System Toggles (Comm Manager and cVolume)

Managing device hardware settings on Windows Mobile traditionally required diving into system menus. Connectivity plugins exposed quick toggles directly on the home screen.

  • Titanium Comm Manager: Displayed status indicators and one-tap toggle buttons for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Data connections, and Flight Mode.
  • cVolume: Added an interactive volume panel to adjust ringer, system, and media volumes with horizontal sliders directly from the sliding list.
  • Battery and Resource Monitors: Displayed accurate battery percentage meters, free RAM, and storage space directly within a dedicated system panel.

Contact and Social Media Panels

While Windows Mobile 6.5 included a basic "Favorites" panel for contacts, developers created enhanced plugins to mimic high-end OEM interfaces like HTC Sense (TouchFLO 3D).

  • ATContacts: Displayed larger contact photos, integrated call histories, and direct touch buttons to dial, send an SMS, or send an email.
  • Twitter and Facebook Feeds: Social plugins that pulled live status updates and notifications directly into a Titanium panel, allowing users to read recent posts and update their own status directly from the home screen.

How Custom Titanium Plugins Worked

Titanium plugins relied on two core elements:

  1. CPR Layout Files: XML-based formatting files (such as Titanium_240x320.cpr or Titanium_480x800.cpr) located in the \Windows directory that defined the visual layout, fonts, icon coordinates, and sliding behavior for different screen resolutions.
  2. Registry Configuration: Keys located under [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\CHome] defined which plugins loaded, their vertical display order, refresh rates, and associated executable files.