Rogers Dream 1.6 Update

[davidelewis]

Signed the petition!

Hundreds of signatures may make us Android owners feel better, but may not be enough to change Rogers (so far) lack of support. However, thousands of signature will be effective!

 

[thevaultron]

Signed the petition.

 

[mjschmidt]

Hey, y'all, PM me with an email address where I can contact you if you are okay with that. I will send out a group email with some ideas I have.

 

[onlyafterdark]

Sent this to Michael Geist tonight:

Hi Michael,

I just wanted to quickly pass along some information regarding Android phones in Canada, particularly through Rogers. As Im sure you are aware, Google Android phones hit the Canadian market through Rogers this past summer. It was great that Canada was finally getting the phones, but as the months past by and core OS updates were released by Google and pushed to phones in the US, Rogers remained and continues to remain completely ignorant on the subject of support.

Through an Android forum (found here: http://androidforums.com/rogers/10647-rogers-dream-1-6-update.html ) Canadian users have been trying to get a straight answer out of Rogers about whether they will actually give us an update (Android 1.6) to our phones. They so far have been content giving customers completely false information or not saying anything at all other than they strive to give consumers the best support they can and that they will let us know of future updates if applicable.

Now I dont really expect Rogers to come through with any actual support for the phones they just released since it has already been two months since Android 1.6 has been pushed out the door (with Android 2.0 already out in the US), but I do think this further adds to what you have been talking about with respect to the lack of competition in the telecom industry in Canada. The fact that a company can lock people into three year contracts and then not even bother to give them any support for their smart phones is completely unacceptable. It is almost downright criminal considering the pace that the operating systems for these types of phones are updated. And the worst part is, potential buyers have no idea what they are walking into when they look at purchasing an Android phone through Rogers.

Also signed the petition.

 

[coop3422]

Careful! You are giving Rogers one less reason to give you an upgrade!

true, but it's not like I ever give rogers money for hardware. I get all my phones through other sources, rogers is ripoffs for hardware lol, that and I dont want to resign a 3yr term. Once my contract is up, I may swicth depending on how things go for the remainder of my contract

petition signed

 

[ace862]

I've been following this thread for a bit now with the hopes of seeing some good news.
I did happen to see this in the Globe and Mail tonight - Canada prepares for Android invasion
Keep up the good work folks.
Cheers!

P.S. Signed petition

 

[bunhead]

Well I got my call back from Ethan (from the Office of the President) and he said "rogers would be receiving the 1.6 update in late December and if all things went well rogers would be releasing it to the public in early 2010". When I asked for that answer in an email I was told "I will have to check out if I am allowed to do that or not". I will wait with baited breath and hope that they are true to their word. I will keep pestering them though as to WHY it took so long to get an answer, the fact that I don't believe them is irrelevent really.

 

[cdstewart]

@cdstewert: sorry about that, I'm a douchebag

Regards,

mjschmidt

yup

 

[mjschmidt]

Well I got my call back from Ethan (from the Office of the President) and he said "rogers would be receiving the 1.6 update in late December and if all things went well rogers would be releasing it to the public in early 2010". When I asked for that answer in an email I was told "I will have to check out if I am allowed to do that or not". I will wait with baited breath and hope that they are true to their word. I will keep pestering them though as to WHY it took so long to get an answer, the fact that I don't believe them is irrelevent really.

While that's the same thing Sherry from the OotP told me, Mary from the OotP told Andy2010 they were testing it right now, so... take it with a grain of salt, since they can't seem to get their answers straight, and when I asked them about this, they didn't "correct" Mary's version, they just gave me the line about how they were looking into the update.

 

[mjschmidt]

I've been following this thread for a bit now with the hopes of seeing some good news.
I did happen to see this in the Globe and Mail tonight - Canada prepares for Android invasion
Keep up the good work folks.
Cheers!

P.S. Signed petition

I registered on G&M and left the following comment at the end of the story. I am also going to try to contact the author.

"A correction to your story, and a warning to potential Rogers Android customers:

"(The Milestone will likely be the first phone available in Canada running Android 2.0, the latest version of the operating system. The other Android phones still run on the previous version)."

In fact, the current Android phones do NOT run on _the_ previous version of the OS, they run on _a_ previous version of the OS. At the moment in Canada, Rogers Android phones are stuck on ver _1.5_ of the OS. Ver _1.6_ was released at the beginning of October, and has already been pushed Over-The-Air (OTA) to US customers (and elsewhere around the world). With ver 2.0 on US phones now (and 2.1 in the works), Rogers Android phones are already _two_ OS versions behind.

We should care about this, because apps are starting to appear in the MarketPlace that _only_ work with ver 1.6 or later. That means if you currently have a Rogers Android phone you can't use those apps.

There is a growing group of upset Rogers Android customers who have been contacting customer support all the way up to the Office of the President for the last two weeks, and Rogers still refuses to even say if they _will_ update the phones, only that they "test every update that becomes available to them". From my conversations with Sherry at the OotP, it seemed Rogers didn't even know an update was available from HTC until I called to complain. They will now only tell us that it is in testing now, or that they will be getting it for testing in late December. There is also no guarantee from Rogers that they will update the phones once they've finished "testing" it.

You can read more here: http://androidforums.com/rogers/10647-rogers-dream-1-6-update.html

Sign the petition here: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/CanadianAndroids/index.html"

UPDATE: I found the author on Twitter and sent him a tweet.

 

[GreatBigDog]

Well I got my call back from Ethan (from the Office of the President) and he said "rogers would be receiving the 1.6 update in late December and if all things went well rogers would be releasing it to the public in early 2010". When I asked for that answer in an email I was told "I will have to check out if I am allowed to do that or not". I will wait with baited breath and hope that they are true to their word. I will keep pestering them though as to WHY it took so long to get an answer, the fact that I don't believe them is irrelevent really.

Try to get them to post it on their website for all to see.

gbd

 

[GreatBigDog]

Just posted this in the HTC Smartphone WIKI on HTC's site. You can add to the thread at Rogers Dream - HTC

If you are from Canada and are looking to purchase an Android based smart phone from Rogers, you must beware. The phones are running the old outdated version of Android 1.5. Even though HTC has provided an update for the Dream to Android 1.6 it is not compatible with our hardware. It is up to Rogers to work with HTC to get version 1.6 capable of running on our hardware.

Rogers has not been forthcoming with any information on when/if we will ever see the update for our phones in Canada, all the while they are continuing to sell phones with the outdated 1.5 software. You can follow the discussions on this subject at.

http://androidforums.com/rogers/10647-rogers-dream-1-6-update.html
Rogers Community Forums / When will Rogers update Android phones to ver 1.6

 

[boualem]

Isn't Adobe Flash 10 expected to run on Andoid version 2.0 or newer?

Shouldn't we be asking for Android 2.0/2.1?

 

[boualem]

Here is a link to an article

 

[GreatBigDog]

Isn't Adobe Flash 10 expected to run on Andoid version 2.0 or newer?

Shouldn't we be asking for Android 2.0/2.1?

The manufacture (HTC) does not have a version of 2.0/2.1 that will run on the HTC Dream / Magic / Hero yet. It would be unfair to expect Rogers to make available an OS that the manufacture hasn't made available.

gbd

 

[GreatBigDog]

I see that Bell's just released Samsung Galaxy has Android 1.5 on it as well, Looks like we might have company in the near future.

Update.... I checked on it further and it seams that the version 1.5 android on this device is because of the manufacture not Bell.

gbd

 

[boualem]

While that's the same thing Sherry from the OotP told me, Mary from the OotP told Andy2010 they were testing it right now, so... take it with a grain of salt, since they can't seem to get their answers straight, and when I asked them about this, they didn't "correct" Mary's version, they just gave me the line about how they were looking into the update.

I wouldn't accuse anyone of lying. The fact that people of the OotP contacted people back is a good sign.

In trying to reconcile these versions, I would say that it may mean that they are:

• currently testing 1.6
• Receiving 2.0 by late December and testing it

Keep in mind that HTC is officially working on an upgrade to 2.0 for the Hero see link

 

[mjschmidt]

I wouldn't accuse anyone of lying. The fact that people of the OotP contacted people back is a good sign.

In trying to reconcile these versions, I would say that it may mean that they are:

• currently testing 1.6
• Receiving 2.0 by late December and testing it

Keep in mind that HTC is officially working on an upgrade to 2.0 for the Hero see link

@Boualem: Unfortunately that's _not_ what they mean. I can say this with all certainty because I was the one who spoke with Sherry twice, and I specifically ONLY asked her about 1.6, not 2.0. During our first conversation she put me on hold to talk to "tier 2" support. When she came back on the line she told me she had them check HTC's web site and they found out there was an update available, so they would have to look in to it. In other words, until I called to complain, they seem not even to have been aware of the availability of 1.6.

In my second conversation with her, she said that, after speaking with the director of device management for Rogers Wireless, they would be getting it from HTC for testing & evaluation in late December, and that we _might_ get the update in the new year, but she would commit to nothing. Again, I only asked her about 1.6, I never mentioned 2.0, and neither did she.

Andy2010 spoke to Mary in the OotP and also asked about 1.6. Mary said they were testing it _now_ (and that was at least a week ago).

So Sherry says they are getting 1.6 in late December to test, and Mary says they are testing it now. They can not both be correct.

 

[bunhead]

Also don't forget that I talked to Ethan from the Office of the President and he said that they would be getting the update in late December and releasing it in early 2010.

 

[gnugu]

Hey guys,
I was thinking about writing Android application that would help us to get more signatures to our petition.

Any suggestions what it should look like?

I was thinking about just a simple text explaining the situation and then one button to bring people here and the other to bring people to the petition site.

Anybody good in English wants to contribute with the "simple text"?

@mjschmidt You are a graphic designer. Want to throw 48*48 transparent PNG icon at me?

 

[jdodds]

Also signed the petition! Keep up the good work everyone, it sounds like we are making some progress with the OotP. Sherri and Ethan now saying the same thing!

On a side note: I attempted getting an answer out of one of their live chat support people, but basically got stonewalled with no progress at all. Was going to attach the transcript, but the attachments button seems to not do anything at all and the transcript was pretty useless anyways.

I have now sent in a contact us form and will proceed through the steps from there.

 

[gnugu]

Hey, y'all, PM me with an email address where I can contact you if you are okay with that. I will send out a group email with some ideas I have.

How about writing a story here NowPublic.com | The News is NowPublic ?

 

[bunhead]

So is everyone waiting on responses from rogers or are we waiting for the end of January to continue our pursuit?

 

[RatTub]

The more I think about it, the more I want to wait for the Milestone and switch. But then again, who knows if Telus will upgrade past 2.0?

 

[Andy2010]

Okay guys, I've got a called from Simon who answered behalf of Nadir Mohamed the CEO of Rogers. I wrote to Nadir a few days ago regarding the firmware upgrade. Now Simon confirmed that there will be no update for 1.6 for HTC dream. I asked about magic but he said he don't know. Now he said there's a possibility that magic may not get it too. He also said that when Rogers signed an agreement with HTC, upgrade was not part of it. He also said that if there is an upgrade, it will still a 1.5 upgrade patch, not 1.6. He said we are push them to get the 1.6 out is because of the warranty. Basically he thinks that we want to hack the phone and don't want to void the warranty. I told him that is not the case. I said to him that Rogers don't understand about android phone. He said 1.6 may have cause some problem to Rogers network and yet he told an contradicting story that Rogers will be releasing new phone with 1.6 firmware. So basically is pure BS. If other handset will run on 1.6, i don't see dream will have the same problem. Again they failed to understand why firmware upgrade is important. Anyway, my next business is going to be with Telus or Bell.