Ok, not going to give up the fight! I've got a new post on my blog, including my reply to the email I received from HTC's PR company (the same info they posted in the forums and on blogs).
Here is the email I sent to HTC & Rogers in reply to HTC.
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Dear Ms. Goldstein,
Thank you for the information regarding HTC's plans for the Android operating system on the Rogers HTC Magic and Dream phones. Obviously Magic owners are thrilled with this information, however if you have been watching the forums and blog you will know that Dream owners feel betrayed and insulted that they have been offered nothing. Minor updates to Android 1.5 are not enough for Dream owners, and we do not intend to give up our public shaming of HTC and Rogers until something more is done for them.
I don't know how familiar you are with the specifics of the issue, and I imagine anything I have to say in this letter will be passed by you on to those at HTC who will compose any actual answer, but I will try to summarize what we in the user community know to be true about the Rogers HTC Dream.
We know that Android 1.5 for the Rogers HTC Dream was customized for Rogers (at their request) both to include Rogers branding, to work with Microsoft Exchange, and (apparently) to work specifically on the Rogers network. We also know that in order to provide an update to Android 1.6 or above would require the same, or similar customization.
We have been told by you, by representatives of HTC, and by representatives of Rogers that the HTC Dream hardware is incapable of being upgraded to 2.1, however we know for a fact that the HTC Dream is capable of running Android 1.6, and potentially even Android 2.0. There are users who have already "rooted" (hacked) their Rogers HTC Dream phones to run Android 1.6, and there are reports that some users have managed to install Android 2.0 on the HTC G1, which is similar hardware to the HTC Dream.
Given that we know Android 1.6 will work on the Rogers HTC Dream, and given that HTC and Rogers have agreed to offer Android 2.1 for the Magic, but not 1.6 for the Dream, many people are speculating that this is a cost issue, and that the truth it that either Rogers or HTC is unwilling to commit the capital required to customize 1.6 to work for the Dream. It is speculated that instead the decision was made to pay for only one update, that being to 2.1 for the HTC Magic. As a community we would like HTC to officially clarify this issue. Specifically, would Rogers have to pay for any updates offered to Rogers Android phones, and would it be necessary to pay extra for an update to 1.6 for HTC Dream owners?
Again, to be clear, we know that Android 1.6 works on the Rogers HTC Dream, so please don't try to assuage us by telling us that it is a "hardware issue". We accept that it might be impossible to provide Android 2.1 for the Rogers HTC Dream, but Android 1.6 should not be a problem.
We believe strongly that this issue is a special case in Canada, because unlike in the United States, the Rogers HTC Dream and Magic debuted at the same time. As a result many buyers were under the impression (since the Android operating system on both phones looked and behaved almost identically) that the only real difference between the two was the hardware keyboard of the Dream. Furthermore, many Rogers customers were told at the time of purchase that they would be able to get the Android 1.6 update for both phones. This was happening as recently as Christmas Even to me, and I am looking into a report by one of the visitors to my blog that a customer was told only just the other day that the Rogers HTC Dream would be updated to 2.1! As a result of the misinformation, as well as the perception of similarity between the two phones because of their simultaneous debut, buyers had confidence they would get a phone that would be updated when they bought the Dream. If they had known the truth then (in fact, if Rogers employees had understood themselves and provided correct information) surely the majority of Dream buyers would have NOT purchased a Dream, but a Rogers HTC Magic instead.
As a result of this misleading debut, and the misinformation provided by Rogers employees (including as high as the office of the president) there are now Dream owners who will never be able to enjoy the benefits of Android 1.6, including increased functionality and access to applications in the Market that require Android 1.6 to run. In fact, as application developers create new versions of their applications to work with 1.6, if they are unable or unwilling to make the application backwards compatible to Android 1.5, the older version of their app will disappear from the store. This has already happened! There are now apps missing from the store that used to be available for owners of Android 1.5 devices.
I hope you will be able to pass along this letter to someone at HTC who will be able to accurately and truthfully answer the questions I have posed above. If HTC hopes for Rogers HTC Dream owners to accept this decision (something highly unlikely to happen) they will need to do a much better job of explaining their reasoning, because as a group we are a tech-savvy bunch, and we already know the truth about the capabilities of the HTC Dream hardware.
I am CCing this email to Rogers management, as well as Jason Mackenzie of HTC. I will be posting the content of this email on my blog at
I Want My One Point Six - Demanding Android 1.6 for our Rogers HTC Magic & Dream, and LG Eve Phones and mentioning it on Twitter. As I've said, while we are very pleased that HTC and Rogers have done the right thing for Magic owners, they have miserably failed where Rogers HTC Dream owners are concerned and have, effectively, treated them as "second class citizens" which has created horrible repercussions for the HTC and Rogers brands in Canada.
Yours truly,
Michael J. Schmidt
I Want My One Point Six - Demanding Android 1.6 for our Rogers HTC Magic & Dream, and LG Eve Phones
