bluntegg

*SOLVED: SEE BELOW*
so i just picked up the htc dream in canada. of course rogers is stupid and removed the soft keyboard even though the OS is technically 1.5

No big deal, I can just install chompSMS and steel right?

I did, and I can't see any keyboards. Is there some option I am missing? Is it possible this rogers version of the phone blocks all soft keyboards in apps?

chomp I just dont see anything other than the flashing cursor for me to type in.

steel loads to a black page with this 3/4 circle inside a square in the bottom right corner of the screen. I can type in to google using my physical keyboard, but then this black transparent overlay covers the page and the 3/4 circle thing is still there.



can anyone confirm that I don't have to do anything special to view the keyboards in these apps? If rogers has somehow gimped this i will be mighty angry... and I guess next question is if anyone knows if it's safe for me to switch to the US cupcake... but that's another topic.

edit: worth noting that the Setup Wizard under About Phone still gets you to try the the soft keyboard... of course us canadians just click in the field and nothing happens... oh rogers, when will you ever learn.

EDIT 2: SOLVED! See my last post below... there is a VERY easy way to install the keyboard into rogers dreams.

Last edited by bluntegg; 06-05-2009 at 05:50 AM. Reason: figured it out.

pacothebandit

That is odd considering I just flashed this ROM to my US G1 and I have the HTC soft keyboard. hmmmm I bet this has more to do with the person who produced it... Haykuro

So, If you want Im sure you can flash the same rom and we all well and good, it would take some effort tho and im not sure if you have to have root access or not.

As far as Steel goes, I had the same issue when I went to cupcake, its not really that compatible with cupcake so your most likely not going to want to use it.

I would think you can use the US cupcake, you may have to change your APN so your network can still talk to the Rogers Network...thats all I got man, hope it helps some.

__________________
Cyanogen 4.2.7.1
Link---> How to Flash the Latest SPL from Haykuro

bluntegg

ok cool, yeah that makes sense. not a huge deal in the end, just one of those things i'd like to uncripple on the dream at some point (for quick text replies, short notes while out, etc.)

it blows my mind that the soft keyb was removed from cupcake for the canada release, oh well, it's only a matter of time until someone figures out a way.

i'm tempted to try the steps at this link

Cupcake, do it yourself update(FROM YOUR G1, NO PC needed) - Android Community Forums

but don't want to f up my phone on day one... I'm sure it would be fine, but just in case. I'll wait a while and see if anyone up here has success with it or a workaround.

pacothebandit

Well, there is an amazing Youtube video on how to root your phone and the whole process takes about 1.5 hours.

Justinjimjpc also has a tutorial in his signature but the videos may be easy to follow cause you have something to look at.

bluntegg

just installed the pre-cupcake version of chomp and soft keyboard works fine in it.

pacothebandit

sweet

bluntegg

actually i lied... it works initially, but crashes all the time. oh well. wasn't meant to be.

i'll take a look at these vids. is Justinjimjpc a user on this forum? couldn't find him on here or youtube.

thx!

justjimjpc

I can't believe that PacoTheBandit got my name wrong !!! Shame upon him!!!

__________________
Help Us: Submit FAQ's You have answered over and over! I will add them to OUR FAQ LIBRARY. Check out our FAQ's.... Also Check out our Tag Search.

Running 2 G1's & a MT3G(dMd64) : 1.) Legit G1=1.6 DRC83 // 2.) Rooted G1=CM's 4.2.15.1 (03/08/10), Recovery =RA 1.5.2

Link for --> G1 Dream ROOT GUIDE ///// Link for --> UN-ROOT GUIDE
.

SpEnTBoY

This answers a question I had although I still have no idea why the hell they'd remove the soft kb?? is it because they want people to buy the Magic and dont want to sell two HTC phones with software kb's? anyway ... if anyone ever finds out why or if you can safely put it back on our devices please let me know. I'd love to not be forced to use the full kb for one offs like replying to a text with "ya".

Time to start asking some people wtf they were thinking

pacothebandit

HAHAHAHA OH SNAP!!!!! Well to be honest my real name is Justin, LOL that got me confused I guess.

pacothebandit

Well like I originally told him I am using a version of the Rogers rom that I got from here... Rogers ROM - xda-developers

BUT! There is some work you must go through in order get this. And anyone who may know otherwise can correct me if im wrong. Now, I am unsure if you have to have root access in order to flash this rom (install on your phone) but I do know you will have to flash the latest SPL and have the latest Radio.

I don't recommend this if you are new to it. I read a lot before I was comfortable. Other then that YOU may have to assign a Rogers APN which will allow you to connect to Rogers network since it was made for US users. If you need to know how to flash the new SPL....PM me and I will get you the instructions.

I would say this is a little more advance but if you can follow the directions then you can do it. There are just a few variables. Like if you don't have a PVT board then you DO NOT WANT TO FLASH THE NEW SPL and if you dont have the new radio then you MUST FLASH THAT BEFORE FLASHING THE NEW SPL.

Just before you do anything read read read and know what you are getting yourself into and always have a backout plan just in case but trying to go back can be just as risky. And know that even experience rooters have had issues, I know Justjimjpc has had his fare share of problems and he is very experienced and well known in this community. I myself temporarily bricked my phone but luckily was able to get it back up and running.

AGAIN do this at your OWN risk. You have to decide if you really think it is worth all the time you WILL invest.

Now if all you want to do is Root your phone that is easy enough. Just refer to Justjimjpc signature and follow those instructions. Untill you have done that don't worry about the rest of this stuff, just take it one step at a time.

SpEnTBoY

Well I think I'll do a little more reading first then and Thank You for the thorough reply!! ... I'm not horribly new to hardware hacks or flashing devices (Linux on handhelds (ipaq etc), PSP, Seam edits on other phones) but there is a lot of new terminology here that I honestly don't know enough about. I'll do some more research and then if you're still ok with it, I'll PM you regarding the new SPL.

For now I will just hunt for more info and make sure I understand what I'm trying to do here lol. pacothebandit thanks a lot!!

pacothebandit

NO PROB! haha im alway ok with it. I am actually thinking about making video instructions on how to do it. That is how I even learned how to root my phone. So yeah, hit me up when ur ready! im around.

SpEnTBoY

Just got this from another thread of someone trying to root a Rogers HTC Dream "The Rogers HTC Dream won't take the RC29 ROM. I flash it twice and it still startup as Rogers ROM. This is the first step to get root and I don't think you cannot use the method out there. I think the bootloader and SPL are different."

So if we can't flash the vulnerable ROM we're dead in the water no? I'm just getting more confused I think. I was going to follow the tut you mentioned in justjimjpc's sig but I think it relies on the nbh file to roll back to RC29.

So far everything is for the US phones too so I'm not sure what all I'd have to mangle to get it working in Canada (where it's already working now). Anyone wanna throw me a bone here? I'll keep reading either way

thanks

aggtrfrad

theoretically, you cannot flash any image, you first have to root the phone so you can change the "image signature" settings...
secondly, whatever you do, do not flash the rogers dream radio, with the T-mo G1 radio. The image contains the radio's firmware which is different between the USA G1 and Canadian Dream. You will brick your phone.
Last, there is no way to root it "yet", but haykuro is working on it. He says it's possible to do it from the SPL boot screen (camera button + power).

bluntegg

man don't bother I found a way* to do it using only Apps Installer.

-download Apps Installer from Market.
-go to 4shared.com and search for 'HTC_IME.apk', download it.
-put that apk somewhere on your SD card.
-install with apps installer (if you need to remove for some reason you can under Manage applications, there is a keyboard calibration one in there, but also a touch input... so maybe it's both? I didn't look before I installed, maybe someone can confirm this for me. EDIT: uninstall touch input if you need to get rid of it.)
-then go to Locale & text and turn on Touch Input, adjust settings, try the tutorial.

suck it rogers! go sell your magics somewhere else.

*pulled from this thread at xda-developers.

Last edited by bluntegg; 06-05-2009 at 06:07 AM.

SpEnTBoY

Sweet ... freaking ... deal!!! Thanks a TON for this man!! I'm going to do this as soon as I get to work!! also know a few others that are looking for this s I'm going to hook them up with this post as well. I'm still interested to see if rooting is going to happen but this was the main reason for me to do it lol thanks bluntegg!!!

SpEnTBoY

I grabbed the (2) version and the other one but I was hoping for a non skinned one lol ... either way I dont care ... I have a soft kb!!

SpEnTBoY

http://www.droiddeveloper.com/hrbuilds/htc_ime.zip

Thats the one I used. There's also a lib packed in the zip, you only need the apk

droncadin

k, i gave this a whirl, kinda lost here. 1. by apps installer r u refering to ASTRO?? 2. i saved
(2) HTC_IME.apk to my card - then installed with astro. then tried to use messages or chop and still no on-screen keyboard?? am i missing something here??

this is a htc dream i got from rogers on thier lauch date

droncadin

never mind - locale & text is under settings - duh!! any who, you fkin rock!!!! a huge EH!!!! to you from all us Canadians!!!

MrLuigi

it does work but my keyboard looks all corrupted. Anyone else get that?

SpEnTBoY

Some of the keyboards are "skinned" or themed ... use http://www.droiddeveloper.com/hrbuilds/htc_ime.zip the file in this link I put up a few posts ago.

The only file in this zip you need is the apk file. It's just the defacto standard keyboard.

MrLuigi

Ya I downloaded that one right after. Made a ton of difference. My wife doesn't like typing on the soft keyboard but hey it aint her phone

plainbrad

I found that doing a battery pull after installing this and before setting as my keyboard has helped tons with any crashes this keyboard may have.

Inferno

TY TY TY TY TY TY TY TY!!!!!! it worked amazingly!
i used the other link posted for an unskinned version but had too unzip and install the apk file heres the link if anyone else needs it

RapidShare: Easy Filehosting

mxporkchop

Thanks for this post and the tips.

I got the APK from http://www.droiddeveloper.com/hrbuilds/htc_ime.zip

Needed to download and install ASTRO first to handle ZIP format.

Having a hard and soft keyboard is wonderful!!!

DigitalRonin

This has completed my Dream as the ultimate phone.

Thank you sooo much.

happyally

how do i uninstall the skinned version?
I should have read the whole thread before doing this

happyally

never mind, i wasn't using ASTRO and I should have been... used astro to uninstall the skinned keyboard and then to install the unskinned keyboard... works awesome! loves it!

g-man

Hi,

I ask, because I am getting conflicting messages. Some people say forget it, if you can't even flash the phone, you can't root it.

But then I see in some people's signatures that they have flashed their phones!

So I am confused. Can someone please clarify? Can I flash the phone? Can I root the phone? Because in theory, if I can root it, I can have tethering.

Ultimately, I want the tethering feature. In fact so badly, that I am basing my entire HTC purchase decision on whether I can have tethering or not.

So please help me decide so I can take advantage of the $30 for 6GB/month deal.

Thank you, thank you, thank you,
G-man

John

I've got a US G1 I bought of Ebay back in sept of 08, workes great, using Fido network, and T-mobile send the cupcake update back in may (not sure how cuz I'm on fido, but it poped up asking me to update, so I did.) My soft keyboard works fine (but I have to admite the soft keyboard on the iphone is much more responsive ) and my internet works fine as well, however i'm only able to get a EDGE connection. I assumed that onece rogers started selling them I'd be able to get 3g but still it only ever connects on edge. does anyone have a suggestion? and no i dont have only connect with 2g checked.

if I can pass off any experience from the past few months to my new canadian newbies, it would be to get the following programs as a must have.....Locale, Owner, ahome lite, toggle settings, sazam, cab4me, shopsavvy, flashlight (sounds like an odd choice, but many a night it helps out with little thinks like finding keys from car floor), imeem (make an online account and upload all your mp3s from your pc), meridian, funambol, parkmark(I use free old version) and of course the most obviouse, start using a gmail account, if you don't have one get one, this phone absolutly sucks for things like MS office, but if you link all your contacts, calendars, names, e-mails and such to a free gmail account, this phone really shines and is pretty much unbeatible right now. (this should not surprise anyone since google made the OS, its obviouse to the users advantage to use google products)\

Oh and I can absolutly tether it to my laptope for internet access, no issues. phone cost $270 off ebay, that includes shipping, and its mine, much better than rogers 599.00 byeout and I've got no contract, can stick in any sim and it works great, fido, rogers, whatever.

Last edited by John; 06-13-2009 at 02:34 PM.

zuluzkiller

I did the soft keyboard install using Apps Installer method and it worked perfectly. Why would Rogers even cripple phone like that, what else did they "removed/blocked"?

Icefaery

thanks so much for posting how to add the osk, with the exception of the dream being dead end as far as upgrades, I won't have to wear out my phone! You rock.