GetJar recently made a minor change to their mobile site.  The change broke the BoostApps Opera Mini GetJar bookmarklet that lets you download games and apps directly to your Boost iDEN or Nextel USA phone without the need for a PC.

To make matters worse the GetJar desktop site has also been redesigned and the option to download .jar files to your PC has been removed.

Because iDEN phones do not support downloading apps using the browser, that leaves the BoostApps Universal App Loader is the only way to get apps  from GetJar, the largest free mobile Java app store in the world, on to Boost Mobile iDEN and Nextel phones.

I've fixed the Opera Mini GetJar bookmarklet. You just need to reinstall it. Go to boostapps.com/tutorials/universal-app-loader-operamini-getjar/ using Opera Mini and follow the instructions.

I've also made some enhancements to the Universal App Loader:

• FIxed a bug that made downloading .jad files from the full web version of the loader fail with a 404 error.
• Added code to completely regenerate .jad files from information in .jar.  This should fix many, but not all, "905 Attribute Mismatch", "906 Invalid Descriptor" and "909 Application authentication failure" errors.

1. The Universal App Loader is now a menu bar link instead of a sticky post on the front page.  The majority of Boost users coming to the site now have CDMA phones. The Loader is mainly useful for the iDEN phones and having it on the front page seemed to confuse many new users.
2. "Enter Jump Code" has been removed from the menu bar on the desktop site only. This was necessary to make room for the loader link.  The Jump page is only usable in the phone browser and only after you have run the Loader.  There's a link to it on the last Loader page and on the mobile BoostApps site.
3. The JAD link on both desktop and mobile download pages is now on a line by itself with extra verbiage that should make it clear than non-iDEN users should click it instead of the "Send To Phone" button.

I just got word from Sprint that they are aware of the issue with the server that powers "Send to Phone" and are working to resolve it.

The server in question is operated by a vendor and is not under Sprint's direct control.  The vendor has been contacted but there is no estimate on when the problem will be fixed.

Sprint's provisioning system for sending games and apps to Boost iDEN and Nextel phones is down. Which  means that the "Send to Phone" feature for iDEN users is not working.  Based on past experience, it should be up by tomorrow morning at the latest.

On Monday, June 20, 2011 gamejump.com, one of the largest vendors of ad-supported mobile Java games,  shut down without warning.  It's no longer possible to download new mobile Java apps and games from the site or its mobile web equivalents wap.gamejump.com or m.gjmp.tw.  To make matters worse every mobile game or app that was distributed with Gamejump's ad-supported wrapper has stopped working.  When the games start they try to connect to Gamejump's ad server and download ads.  If the game can't connect to the ad server it dies with the message "Connection Failure. Unable to connect. Please check to make sure your phone has service".

I posted about the problem on Gamejump's parent company Greystripe's Facebook Wall and got the following response.

"Greystripe has discontinued all support for the Java AdWrap for Publishers and Catalog programs as of June 20, 2011. This only affects the Java AdWrap programs; we are discontinuing the AdWrap platform in order to focus all our resources on our iOS, Android, and mobile web platforms. Should you have any questions, please email us at publisher@greystripe.com."

So that's it. Any games or apps that used Gamejump's ad technolgy are apparently forever broken. It isn't just the games on gamejump.com either. Lots of sites include GetJar distributed Gamejump AdWrap games. Over the next few days I'll be removing all the Gamejump games from BoostApps because there is no point in wasting BoostAps vistors time with downloading something that will never work on any phone.

Update: I've finished deleting all the Gamejump games from BoostApps.  51 out of the 507 games and apps on the site used Gamejump's ad-server and have been removed.  It's possible that I missed a few so if you find any games or apps that fail with the message "Connection Failure. Unable to connect. Please check to make sure your phone has service" leave a comment letting me know so I can remove them.

GetJar has changed their mobile site again which broke the BoostApps Opera Mini GetJar bookmarklet that lets you download games and apps directly to your Boost iDEN or Nextel USA phone without the need for a PC.

The GetJar desktop site has also been changed and copying  download links from it to the Universal App Loader no longer works either.

The Boost Apps  Universal App Loader is the only way to download apps directly from GetJar, the largest mobile Java app store in the world, to Boost Mobile iDEN and Nextel phones so I've made fixing these issues a high priority.

The Opera Mini bookmarklet has been fixed and it works again. You just need to reinstall it. Go to boostapps.com/tutorials/loader-opera-mini/ using Opera Mini and follow the instructions.

I'm working on a way to get the Loader working with the desktop version of Getjar too. That one is more complex and won't be ready for a week or so. In the meantime to get apps from GetJar to your iDEN phone either use the Opera Mini bookmarklet or the iDEN Content Uploader.

There seems to be a problem with the Sprint server that BoostApps uses to send games and apps to iDEN phones. When I try to send an app to my phone I get usually get a BoostApps error reading "Something went wrong while sending the file to your phone. Usually this means that you did not enter a valid 10 digit Boost or Sprint/Nextel phone number..."  The error message is  abit misleading as the actual error is that the Sprint server is not responding.

Once in a while sending to the phone appears to work and a success message is displayed.  However downloading on the phone fails in Download Apps with the message "Failed Download with status code:100 (Assignment Complete)".

Sprint usually fixes these issues fairly quickly but for now downloading to iDEN phones is impossible.

Boost and Samsung announced the Samsung Galaxy Prevail today.  It's an entry level Android Phone running on the CDMA network.  Priced at $179.99, the Prevail will be available at the end of the month.

Features include WiFi, 2 MP camera without flash, 3.2" 320 x 480 screen and Android 2.2.Other than the low spec camera this looks to a very nice phone for the price. Compared with the i1, the Prevail is less than half the price and has a larger screen, relatively current Android version and runs on a much faster network.  If Chirp is important to you, beware that there is no Push To Talk, however.

Early reports are that Prevail can only be used on the $50/month Unlimited Plan (with Shrinkage) and not on the 10 cents per minute Pay As You Go plan.

I've posted more information and links to several hands on reports at Prepaid Phone News.

Motorola finally pushed out the much delayed RBE.3.00 firmware update for the i1.  It has the YouTube app preinstalled and fixes a bunch of bugs including the one that made Skyfire and other alternate browsers crash when using WiFi. There's a full list of fixes here.

To install the update over the air:

• Be sure you have a fully charged battery and a solid WiFi connection (the update will not install over the Boost iDEN network)
• Open Settings, select About Phone, then "System Update".
• After a  short delay you will be prompted to install the update.
• After the download finishes, you will be prompted to "Install".
• The phone will restart during the update process. Do not turn the phone off or mess with it in any way during the update which will take 5-10 minutes to complete. Interfering with or interrupting the update could make your phone unusable.
• When the phone has completely restarted and the normal standby screen appears the update is complete.

There are more detailed instructions with screen shots on the Motorola site

It's also possible to download the update to a PC and transfer it to the phone for installation using a USB cable.  The update file and instructions are available from Motorola.

To check the current firmware on your i1 go to Settings > About Phone > Trace Mode > Unit Info > Software > AP Version. It should say RBE.3.00 after updating.

I've modifified the Universal App Loader to unwrap any wrapped lines.  Hopefully, that will reduce the number of "Attribute Mismatch" errors when using the loader.

The wrapped lines issue also affects some of the apps I've posted on BoostApps.  I've started going through all the apps and fixing any wrapped lines. Most of the ones I looked at were OK but I found and fixed the following that weren't: GoBible Old Testament Part 1-3, Battleship, MultiCounter, Mobile Task Manager, Mobidentica, MobileInvaders, Dilbert,  WebWag, and V-Clinic Weight.

I will continue checking all the apps on BoostApps and fixing any wrapped lines in the JAD files. That will probably take a couple of weeks to finish.  In the meantime, if there is a particular app that's not installing and giving an Attribute Mismatch or similar error let me know in the comments and I'll check it.

Note that there are many things can cause an app to fail with an Attribute Mismatch error on some phones.  This fix is only for one possible error out of many and there will continue to be apps that work on one phone and not another.