Open Letter to Rogers
To Whom It May Concern:
I am a Rogers HTC Magic customer who is very disappointed that HTC and Rogers have collaborated in making my three-week old HTC Magic obsolete in the Android world.
The Hardware within the Magic is from what I gathered is practically and virtually parallel to that of the Telus HTC Hero; Qualcomm 528MHz Processor, 512MB ROM, 288MB RAM, 3.2" HVGA Capacitive touchscreen. The differences in these phones are superfluous and made-up. They are the same phones in different shells with different software. However, one is being upgraded to Android 2.0 while the other is forcefully being kept at Android 1.5. Is this fair?
Software-wise, the Telus HTC Hero runs android 1.5 with a proprietary software "overlay". This software is known as HTC's SENSE UI; which was recently promised and delivered for the Taiwanese market as well as Vodaphone subscriber's HTC-branded Magic's. Further upgrades are in the works for the Telus HTC Hero; upgrades to Anroid 2.0, which can only lead us to believe that the Vodaphone and Taiwanese Magic's will also be upgraded to Android 2.0 in due time. T-Mobile has the HTC myTouch3G, a cousin to the Rogers' Magic. With lesser hardware (192MB RAM, instead of 288MB on Rogers' Version) the T-Mobile myTouch is already running Android 1.6 and has been for months.
How is it that the same hardware or sometimes more capable hardware is incapable of running Android 1.6 on one carrier when it is possible and promised for another? How is it that because of not being a Google-branded on one carrier disallows you from obtaining a significant upgrade when non-Google-branded hardware (Telus HTC Hero) on another carrier is?
Rogers as well as HTC have not only disappointed myself but the hundreds of thousands of other Android users in Canada who were promised a "Revolution" in earlier this year with the launch of the HTC Magic and HTC Dream.
These Android phones were pegged as iPhone competitors, and as an ex-iPhone user I find it difficult to believe that Rogers cannot provide a significant update to its Android customer base when it bends over backwards for it's iPhone customers. Rogers, are we not as valuable to you?
I hope that Rogers and HTC can rethink their strategy for their Android phones in Canada, especially since we are not ones to stand by and get treated worse than our brethren's around the world. This is not fair and we will not tolerate it.
~ Idris M. Abdullahi
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