[geekmaster]

In conclusion, and to summarize this thread, the PW3 that was boot looping (plus a dead PW2) has been transferred to my possession (in exchange for a K5 3G).

The PW3 had a dead (bloated) LiPo battery, so I swapped in the good (identical) battery from the PW2. I experienced problems (partially hardware, partially a learning curve) trying to set up the PW3 now that it has a good battery.

A factory reset removes the home and settings menus until AFTER you scan for wifi networks in a partial attempt to register. After wifi scanning, you can choose "register later", and then the home menu appears. This was all complicated by the fact that the touchscreen on this PW3 periodically quits working (sometimes predicably) and this made getting past initial force registration difficult to understand (when tapping links or buttons did not work).

I since discovered that the touchscreen (almost always) works after going into (and returning from) screensaver mode, so a double-tap of the power button reactivates the touchscreen when it quits working (though may take up to 10 seconds to begin working in some cases). Returning from USB storage mode seems to always lock up the touchscreen (as do some other predictable events). I am now in the habit of tapping the power button when tapping the screen fails to work on this device.

Conclusion: This PW3 device is totally adequate for me to add and test support for this device to my code, and to know what I am talking about based on hands-on first-hand experience when trying to help others who have problems with their PW3 device. Because of the similarity to the PW2 (other than screen resolution), it may also help me support the PW2.

Thanks to all involved in helping me get this device operational, and I will try to get that K5 3G shipped out today (but I wonder if its 3G can be configured to work in Switzerland?)...