Why does Windows Mobile think it is 2016?

Updated happygeek 0 822 Views

Does anyone know just what is happening with Microsoft Windows Mobile devices? It would appear that many users with Windows Mobile powered mobile phones have been getting SMS text messages dated 2016. The first reports came as folk started to receive Happy New Year messages from family and friends on the 1st Jan 2010 and they noticed that those texts carried a date of 2016.

Could it be, as some have suggested, that 010110 is binary for 16 (unlikely, seeing as it is actually 22) or is it just a bug? All the evidence points at a bug, the WMY2K16 bug seems as good a name as any right now.

About the only thing that is known for sure at this point in time is that users of the T-Mobile network do not appear to be affected by the 2016 glitch and that, for those who are, an unofficial .CAB file fix is available.

So, what I'd love to know is: have you been getting text messages from 2016 on your Windows Mobile device? If so, what device, what network and what version of Windows Mobile is it? I would also love to know if anyone has any insight into exactly what is going on here.

Dani AI

Generated

Short summary: this was a real, widely reported problem on January 1, 2010 — many Windows Mobile handsets showed incoming SMS received after midnight with the year 2016 instead of 2010. Reports at the time named affected builds and showed the symptom across several vendors and carriers. (wired.com)

What caused it (concise technical explanation): SMS messages include a Service‑Centre Time Stamp (TP‑SCTS) encoded as semi‑octets (BCD with swapped nibbles) per the GSM/3GPP SMS spec. Some Windows Mobile code mis‑decoded that field (a BCD/“semi‑octet” value for 2010 was interpreted incorrectly as a plain hex/byte), which turns a two‑digit 10 into 16 and produced the displayed year 2016. This is the same BCD/hex nibble confusion that produced other “Y2K+10” issues in early 2010. (itecspec.com)

What to do (practical steps): check the handset OS/build (Settings -> About) and back up the phone and messages first. Look for an official firmware/OS update from the phone manufacturer or carrier — vendors released fixes and carrier/OEM patches in the weeks after the bug appeared. If an official update is unavailable, avoid untrusted CABs; use only vendor‑supplied patches and follow their install instructions. For messages already stored with the wrong date, the usual approach is to export the SMS database to a PC, correct or re‑import after applying the fix, or use a trusted message‑store tool — but always keep a backup before attempting edits. (windowscentral.com)

Context for the thread: ’s question and ’s notes about certain device/carrier patterns match the contemporaneous reports — the problem was implementation‑specific decoding, not a deliberate feature. For historical reference and exact spec wording, consult the 3GPP SMS timestamp definition and the 2010 reporting linked above. (itecspec.com)

Member Avatar for afefaee
afefaee 0 Newbie Poster

Bizarre.

Member Avatar for BeanoFTW
BeanoFTW 0 Newbie Poster

HTC Touch Pro2 Sprint... I started a thread in the htcwiki here:

http://www.htcwiki.com/thread/3597186/SMS+Timestamp+wrong+since+January+1%2C+2010+on+all+Windows+Mobile+phones

It seems like it's affecting certain Windows Mobile 6.1 phones in CMDA networks only.

Member Avatar for BeanoFTW
BeanoFTW 0 Newbie Poster

sorry for double post, but I forgot to mention that 010110 translates to 22 in decimal, not 16.

Member Avatar for Crash~Override
Crash~Override 0 Junior Poster

how about a conspiracy theory?

Someone from the future is trying to warn us usuing text messages...probably those text messages contain hidden warning of some kind!!!

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