westbros

OK, here comes a somewhat technical question. I am going to buy a Desire in the near future. It is quite possible that I will be moving to Scandinavia during the lifetime of my new contract, and I would very much like to switch the phone language to Norwegian or Swedish. I also need to be able to send text messages in these languages - I know there is a Scandinavian Keyboard app that will allow me to do this, so that is not the issue here. But I would like to be able to set my phone in Norwegian/Swedish as well.

I thought I had solved the problem when I discovered an unbranded and unlocked demo Desire in my local 3 Store, as this included my required languages. But when I went to look at a phone with a view to buying, I discovered that 3 now brand and lock their phones. For obvious reasons I need an unbranded and unlocked phone if I'm moving overseas. So I tried the Carphone Warehouse, but their unbranded unlocked phones include only English, French, Spanish and Italian.

I suspect that the language availability must be set in the software. I have jotted down the details of the software on the 2 phones I have looked at:

3 UK
Firmware 2.1 Update 1
Baseband 32.30.00.28U_4.05.00.11
Kernel 2.6.29-97da29ed htc-kernel@and18-2#1
Build 1.15.405.4 CL155070 release-keys
Software 1.15.405.4
Browser WebKit 3.1

CPW
Firmware 2.1 Update 1
Baseband 32.41.00.32U_4.08.00.09
Kernel 2.6.29-0cb9f166 htc-kernel@and18-2#1
Build 1.21.405.2 CL174215 release-keys
Software 1.21.405.2
Browser WebKit 3.1

Does anybody know what specifically in the software determines the available phone languages? What am I looking for in the software info that would indicate the language availability? It would seem that the software on the 3 UK is older that the CPW one. How can I get a more up to date software that includes all the languages? Is this possible at all, and where can I find it? Is there anything I need to know about this sort of modification, such as impact on warranty etc?

Sorry for the long posting. I hope someone can give me some pointers. Thanks.

philarmer

I got my phone from CPW which had the above firmware. Languages on my phone are

English (UK)
English (Ireland)
French
Italian
Spanish

As for the 3 handset I don't know, hopefully someone else with a 3 handset could shed some light on this.

I think you can add other languages but this requires you to root the device