Rogers Dream 1.6 Update

[mjschmidt]

Who is working for Rogers CS you or Mary?

Klenya, I know what you mean! It's pretty bad when the _users_ have better info that the company providing the product, but that seems to be the way with Rogers.

 

[JackTheMan18]

Does anyone know how Rogers customized the SPL?
I can't imagine that putting in Rogers wallpaper is that difficult, or requires customization.
What did they put in?

 

[Andy2010]

Does anyone know how Rogers customized the SPL?
I can't imagine that putting in Rogers wallpaper is that difficult, or requires customization.
What did they put in?

I am not sure but i know the radio is different. It's not just wall paper. You know when you boot up your phone it says "Rogers" ? T-mobile phones start up says Android. That's where the difference is.

 

[mjschmidt]

UPDATE: About a week ago I contacted CBC tech writer Jesse Hirsh via Twitter and told him what was going on with Rogers. We corresponded briefly via Twitter, and today he posted about it on his blog here: Rogers & Android: When the Carrier is the Bottleneck | Jesse Hirsh (You can also see my rather long-winded reply there)

He also said he'd try, if he could, to mention it on the CBC.

Also, I received an email from the OotP in response to my email asking why we were getting two different answers from the OotP regarding the status of the 1.6 update (do they have it now, or are they getting it at the end of the month).

Here is their non-response which doesn't really give us anything new:

"Thank you for contacting the Office of the President. At Rogers we take
customer feedback very seriously and we are committed to offering the
highest customer satisfaction.

I have reviewed your concerns with Sherry from Office of the President.
As you indicated in your email, she had reached out to the experts in
this matter and was advised from the Director of the Device Management
group we would be working on the testing and evaluation for the Android
1.6 OS update from HTC. I can appreciate you frustration in this regards as you have heard conflicting information.

At this time, Rogers is currently investigating which software would be
better for our network and our customers. We do not have any additional
information in regards to the definitive release date however we can
assure you when it's available, the information will be provided to our
customers thru Rogers.com.

The feedback you have provided will help to ensure all agents are equipped with accurate information in this regard.

As any Rogers?s customer, we appreciate your business and loyalty and we would like to thank you for taking the time to bring this to our attention and for being a loyal Rogers?s customer.

Thank you for your time and patience in this matter

Sincerely,

Jennifer Jones| Rogers Communications Inc. | Advisor | Office of the
President |
855 York Mills Road | Don Mills, Ontario M3B 1Z1 "

Also very interesting, as of at least the last 30 mins or so, the Rogers complaint page (http://your.rogers.com/contact/complaint.asp) has been returning a "500 - Internal Error: Page not found" error. I think we must be bugging them. ;-)

 

[cdstewart]

http://androidforums.com/updates-cupcakes/21188-sense-ui-htc-magic-rogers.html


Opinions?

 

[Klenya]

Here is their non-response which doesn't really give us anything new:

You're actually wrong - this is a very clear answer!
Rogers has no plans to update Android phones.
How Rogers called Android phones? "Revolution is here"? Empty slogan as usual.
It's just amazing that Rogers doesn't understand the biggest advantage of Android phones - the OS itself supported by Google.
How exactly they want to sell these devices? I'm personally wouldn't ever consider to buy device with Android 1.5 with questionable possibility to upgrade it to 1.6 when latest version already above 2.0 !

 

[bunhead]

I received a call from the Office of the President this evening. I unfortunately was taking a nap so I could be ready to play hockey later on (hey I am old and I need a nap before I play hockey now ;-) ) so I didn't catch the guy's name as I was snapping out of half groggy sleep. He was calling about the THREE unanswered emails I have into support as well as the flood of tweets I have had with @RogersMary and @RogersHelps.

I explained to him that the 1.6 update is basically a required update to the HTC dream and magic as well as the LG eve. After he feigned knowledge of 1.6 for a little while he offered up that MAYBE rogers was going to just go right to 2.0 (I had made no mention of 2.0 at this point). I also made my point several times that this is the second smart phone I have had with rogers and it is now the second phone that rogers has not provided any software updates to and in both cases the phones are still FUNCTIONAL but with horrifically out of date software. I explained that it is like running Panther when Snow Leopard is available and will run on your machine (for you windows guy running windows 2000 when everyone is running windows 7 ). I also made it very well known that I fail to see why it is so hard to get a date out of these guys. I told him "if you tell me that you are going to provide the update in Feb then I will be mad that it will take that long but I will have a date, and that will make me mostly happy. Right now all I have is conflicting information.".

I was promised a call back with some answers in a day or two. I made it very clear at the end of my call that if rogers is not planning on supporting my phone (which they said they would on MULTIPLE occasions) then I would want out of my contracts (yes contracts I have television, Internet and cell service with them) and I would not be paying any penalties as in my mind this is breach of contract. I got stunned silence on the phone for a good 5 count then I was told that sounded reasonable.

I will wait and see what happens in a few days. Anybody else out there getting calls from the Office of the President?

 

[johflo88]

i did 3 yrs ago and i cannot get back on,who cares.i am now on with bell.

 

[GreatBigDog]

Since @RogersMary didn't bother to respond to my tweet yestreday, I sent her a new one this morning

@rogersMary Guess you didn't get my tweet yesterday. Android 1.6 / 2.0 for dream. When/If I'll see it? Need it to run Google maps navigation

 

[bunhead]

I am doing me best to remain both patient and hopeful that rogers will do the right thing. I will do my best to remain quiet (as far as tweets and emails to rogers) for a few days. If I don't get an answer, ANY answer in a few days (December 11th is my cut off date) I will start to pursue cancelling my contract. I realize that legal options are both pointless and well outside my means so I guess I will just have to hold my breath until I pass out.

 

[JackTheMan18]

A number of questions have been asked about the advantages of upgrading (as mentioned previously, I haven't bite the bullet just yet).
The stakes just got higher!
Perhaps the most exciting new app for android phones just got released - Google Goggles! Read about it here
Overview : Google Goggles (Labs) - Mobile Help
A Hands-On Tour: Google Goggles Visual Search - PC World
What is interesting is that it is only available for android phones running 1.6 and higher.
Another key matter is the issue of tethering. For many who use their phone on the road, and who don't pay for a mobile internet stick, this option is a very handy approach to mobile broadband access.
Furthermore, the release of turn by turn navigation is another feature that is only available to upgraded phones.
The final advantage is the better organized and faster performance through a better user interface.

 

[mjschmidt]

http://androidforums.com/updates-cupcakes/21188-sense-ui-htc-magic-rogers.html


Opinions?

Sense UI is not Android 1.6, it's sort of like a skin with some added bells and whistles. As with 1.6, however, Rogers has to request it to get it, and given that they didn't seem to know about 1.6 until we started complaining, what are they chances they have any clue about Sense UI!?

 

[mjschmidt]

he offered up that MAYBE rogers was going to just go right to 2.0

Perhaps some one can correct me, but I am not sure if the Dream and Magic can support 2.0? The Magic maybe, but I believe Andy2010 said something about 2.0 still has some bugs to iron out with Dream?

 

[mjschmidt]

Here is a link to the official Rogers Wireless forums: Rogers Community Forums / Phone & Device Support

I will be making an account to ask about Android 1.6.

 

[bunhead]

I am on my way there now to either add to your thread or start one of my own.

 

[Andy2010]

Perhaps some one can correct me, but I am not sure if the Dream and Magic can support 2.0? The Magic maybe, but I believe Andy2010 said something about 2.0 still has some bugs to iron out with Dream?

Mjschmidt, take a look at this link that I posted

http://androidforums.com/rogers/23501-2-0-eclair-dream.html

There's a video on Hero running 2.1 sense ui on dream. It's still early but looks promising.

 

[PascalS13]

Man, Rogers should hire those guys (cause it sure as hell ain't woman that made this j/k) that made the 2.0 and 2.01 work on the Dream. We would have the updates in no time

 

[GreatBigDog]

Here is a link to the official Rogers Wireless forums: Rogers Community Forums / Phone & Device Support

I will be making an account to ask about Android 1.6.

Added to the thread that you started. Not really expecting anybody from Rogers to actually answer the question but I know that they and other of their customers will be reading it.

gbd

 

[GreatBigDog]

Sent an email to Stephen Shankland of CNET with a link to this thread to see if he would find it interesting enough for a story. He had done a story back in May about Rogers getting the Android phones.

gbd

 

[Andy2010]

Sent an email to Stephen Shankland of CNET with a link to this thread to see if he would find it interesting enough for a story. He had done a story back in May about Rogers getting the Android phones.

gbd

Good to see you guys stepping up.

 

[GreatBigDog]

Here is a link to the official Rogers Wireless forums: Rogers Community Forums / Phone & Device Support

I will be making an account to ask about Android 1.6.

An FYI for you Gmail users if you try to register at the Rogers Community Forurms. Gmail filters the reply with your password as spam.

gbd

 

[bunhead]

Thanks, I was wondering why I had not gotten my password yet. I checked my spam folder and there it was. I get better support in this forum than I get from rogers

 

[RatTub]

I think that people should stop pointing out that "Maps navigation" is the reason why they need 1.6 or 2.0.

Google Maps navigation will not be available anywhere other than the US for quite a while. The reason for this is simple; Google is not allowed to offer navigations in areas where maps are provided by Tele Atlas. It's part of their agreement. In the US however, they have their own maps with the data collected by the Street View cars. This is why Navigation is not available in Europe either, even though 1.6 is already available to them. (There are, of course, other means to install it, but you won't find it in the market.)

That being said, there are more and more apps that require 1.6 or above. For example: Google Goggles (Visual Search) and the most recent update to Maps (3.3.0) which adds a scale bar, terrain layer, popular categories, a layer button, and a compass arrow.

 

[cdstewart]

K

Sense UI is not Android 1.6, it's sort of like a skin with some added bells and whistles. As with 1.6, however, Rogers has to request it to get it, and given that they didn't seem to know about 1.6 until we started complaining, what are they chances they have any clue about Sense UI!?

Thanks bud but I'm fully aware of what the sense ui is, and that it is not 1.6, you basically just repeated exactly what I know, congrats.

 

[Andy2010]

I think that people should stop pointing out that "Maps navigation" is the reason why they need 1.6 or 2.0.

Google Maps navigation will not be available anywhere other than the US for quite a while. The reason for this is simple; Google is not allowed to offer navigations in areas where maps are provided by Tele Atlas. It's part of their agreement. In the US however, they have their own maps with the data collected by the Street View cars. This is why Navigation is not available in Europe either, even though 1.6 is already available to them. (There are, of course, other means to install it, but you won't find it in the market.)

That being said, there are more and more apps that require 1.6 or above. For example: Google Goggles (Visual Search) and the most recent update to Maps (3.3.0) which adds a scale bar, terrain layer, popular categories, a layer button, and a compass arrow.

Reason for me is to have VPN and it runs smoother. Text to speech is another feature.