I Want My One-Point-Six

LG paying attention to Eve conncerns

2010-01-14T16:52:00.001-08:00

GreatBigDog has spoken and LG is listening...... couldn't resist saying that ;-)
I just received a response back to an email that I had sent to LG. I had sent the email out yesterday and I have to say that they are quick to respond to serious inquiries about their product. LG seems like they are in the mood to listen to concerns that the users of the LG EVE have regarding the status of the current Android 1.5 operating system on the device
The have taken the issue of Android 1.5 on the LG EVE to their engineering department and are currently investigating their options. They are actively seeking feedback from bloggers around the world and are now seeking input from Bloggers in Canada.
Here is the response that I received.

Don,
Thanks for your note. LG has been listening to the conversations online about Android based mobile phones including the LG Eve and is currently addressing this feedback in an engineer evaluation of upgrade. Our engineers and development teams have been reviewing the feasibility of providing an upgrade both from a development, deployment and a cost perspective and will be making a decision shortly. As we speak bloggers from around the world are participating in these discussions in Korea.
We are now inviting bloggers from Canada to participate as well. As the evaluation is currently underway, your comments couldn't be more timely and we will be sharing your feedback directly with our engineering and development team. I encourage you to continue to send me your recommendations on the subject to myself and/or Sheryl Davey from our communications agency. Once we have had a chance to fully evaluated all the feedback, you will be hearing from us with our official plans in the next couple of weeks.
Best regards,
Paul Pike

This is looking good. We should see some sort of official position from LG within the next few weeks, I'll keep you all informed as I learn anything new. In the meantime if you could post any comment that want passed onto LG here on my blog or over at iwantmyonepointsix.com or in the LG Update thread at Android Forms, I will do my best to get them to the folks over at LG as soon as possible.
gbd

Rogers replacing Dreams with a little Magic

2010-01-08T19:45:00.001-08:00

Great news. @RogersMary has just posted to our thread on Android forums that Rogers had deceided to replace the Dreams with Magic's. This will be a limited time offer and we don't have the details yet but it is good news indeed.
Here is the text of Mary's post.

Hi Folks. As promised, I'm here to provide you with some more information
It's great to hear that everyone is pleased by HTC's agreement to upgrade Magic to 2.1. We pushed hard on your behalf and are pleased with that part. When it comes to Dream, we share in your frustration that the device does not have the required on-board memory for an upgrade. We've reviewed this internally and believe that Dream users should be able to have the same HTC Android experience as those who purchased the Magic. So, we are offering our HTC Dream customers a limited time opportunity to upgrade from their current HTC Dream device to the HTC Magic.
We're working on finalizing the details of that promotion now but wanted to let you know the great news as soon as possible. Please be patient as this is not yet available in-store, online or through customer care. I will be back next week to provide you with more information. ‬
Stay tuned!
@RogersMary

I'll be sure to post back with the details as the become available.

The 1.5 Blues

2010-01-07T07:57:00.000-08:00

I'm wondering if the built in Google applications that are included with the HTC Dream are not the same ones that are included with the T-Mobile G1. Google had to do some work to shoehorn 1.6 onto the G1 and MyTouch 3G and maybe it's HTC's add ons and custom applications that are pushing it over the ROM capability on the Dream.

The HTC Magic has no worries because is actually has better specs then the MyTouch 3G. The MyTouch 3G has the same specs as the G1 and our HTC Dream but the HTC Magic has the same specs as the HTC Hero, that's why the Magic is getting Sense UI and 2.1. If it can fit on the Hero it can fit on the Magic, only difference would be the drivers. I can bet that 2.1 will be the last update that you will see for either of these devices as well.

I guess that the more adventurous Dream owners can just wait for Cyanogen or one of the other custom rom builders to get a hold of the 2.1 release for the Magic. You can bet that once they get their hands on 2.1 with the drivers needed for the camera and such, there will be a custom 2.1 ROM available for the Dream shortly afterwards. It might actually be if the drivers surface prior to the release of 2.1 on the Magic that the custom Roms would be available first.

Myself, I don't know what I'm going to do. I've only had my Dream for about 1.5 months on the 3 year contract and I can't afford to go out and pay the full price for a replacement, Not like there is anything to choose from right now, even with the Magic getting the 2.1 update.

Don't get me wrong here, I love my Dream but I just wish I could have had the information that I have today when I purchased the phone, I would either of purchased the Magic instead or most likely I would have waited for a better Android offering to come along. I just wish I had the guts to go the rooting method, but as I said, I can't afford to go out and buy a replacement if I ended up bricking the phone.

So fellow dream owners what are your plans.

gbd

Exciting day yesterday

2010-01-06T03:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday started out with an announcement from Sony Ericsson that Rogers Wireless would be the Exclusive Canadian Provider for the upcoming X10. The X10 is running Android 1.6 and looks to be the first device available to Rogers that is running a version of Android past 1.5. Sony Ericsson has stated that they do eventually plan on updating the X10 to android 2.X.

Next we had G-Day and the release of the Nexus One, I watched the presentation online and it looks like one sweet phone. Only problems that I can see with it is that their is no multitouch and it's not available in Canada (yet?)

Finally HTC sent an email to Mike Schmidt of iwantmyonepointsix.com and posted to the 1.6 thread at Android Forms stating that the the Magic and Dream would be getting an update in the next few weeks, In the case of the Magic this would include HTC's Sense UI but still be on Android 1.5. In around the middle of 2010 HTC also has commited to bringing Android 2.1 to the Magic, the Dream however is going to fade into history and remain stuck at Android 1.5.

gbd

Today is G-Day

2010-01-05T04:28:00.000-08:00

It's G-Day, I'm looking forward to hear what Google has to say on it's Nexus One smartphone. You can read my full post on it here.

gbd

Welcome to 2010

2010-01-04T05:06:00.000-08:00

Finally have the holidays out of the way and I'm looking forward to getting back on some sort of routine. The messy job of taking the tree down and dragging it outside is done at home but I still have to pack up and drag all of the other decorations back to the basement for another year. That will keep me busy the rest of the week ;-)

Since Mike has everything under control with Rogers over at iwantmyonepointsix.com, I'm going to apply my efforts to communicating with HTC to see if I can get any sort of commitment out of them for Android 2.x for our devices (yes 2.x, IMHO 1.6 is a dead horse and I'm not going to flog it). I've sent an email to HTC via their website and we'll see what they have to say on the issue of 2.x. The tweets that I sent out to them before Christmas have gone unanswered but I'll try those accounts again to see how I make out there as well. You can try tweeting them at @HTC or @htcromsupport.

Here is what I emailed them.

Now that HTC has determined that they will not be supporting Android 1.6 for the Rogers Dream or Magic phones, or I believe any of HTC branded devices, I'm wondering.

Is there any possibility of a 2.x version being made available for them?

I know that HTC us currently working on a 2.x version for the HTC HERO on Telus network and I'm hopping that your company doesn't forget your earliest Android adopters in Canada.

Looking forward to a positive answer.

Android 1.5 user.

Don Rayner

We shall see that they have to say
gbd

It's not just HTC Dream / Magic not getting updated.

2009-12-31T06:58:00.000-08:00

It looks like the Samsung Galaxy will not be getting updated either. I believe that this is the "NEW" phone just released by Bell that is running Android 1.5.

The Galaxy was launched in September and has been updated a couple of times since, but it seems that the handset won't be getting an upgrade to Android version 2 despite the new OS coming less than two months later. This is a decision that some customers see as a betrayal of the Android promise.

You can read the entire story here.

gbd

G1 and MyTouch random reboot on Android 1.5

2009-12-31T03:36:00.000-08:00

Yesterday evening I was researching to see if my Dream would automatically turn the GPS on when 911 was dialed. I didn't manage to find the answer to my question but I came across this article on CNet. Apperently the T-Mobile G1 and MyTouch (AKA Dream and Magic) had a problem on Android 1.5 that would on some devices reboot the phone after 911 was dialed.

The update will be delivered to customers over the coming days, and though it's not considered to be a major upgrade to the operating system, Android 1.6 does bring a number of new features and enhancements and fixes a bug that would reboot the phone after dialing 911.

I'm not sure if this bug is also in HTC's version of Android 1.5 but even if we don't get any further upgrades to the OS this should be addressed by HTC if it affects our devices. Hopefully if this bug does affect our devices, the fix is part of the update that they are currently working on.

I still don't know if the GPS turns on when 911 is dialed. When I sent the information on the 911 reboot to @RogersMary I also asked her to look into that for me, I'll post back with any information that I get.

gbd

I have a new blog

2009-12-30T14:31:00.000-08:00

since this blog is all about the Android operating system on our smartphones it should be viewable properly on mobile devices, and since I'm going to take a stab at blogging about more than this one subject. I have created a new blog over at wordpress. This one will be mobile friendly but contain more than posts on the IWantMyOnePointSix campaign. I will still crosspost anything regarding IWantMyOnePointSix here as well.

Michael Schmidt has the cause alive and well over on his blog at http://iwantmyonepointsix.com

My new blog is located at http://greatbigdog01.wordpress.com

G1 is getting 2.x, could Dream be next????

2009-12-29T11:09:00.000-08:00

The last couple of days Rumors have been flying around the blogosphere (Is that a word?) that the venerable T-Mobile G1 (AKA Rogers Dream) will be getting an update to Android 2.x. This unconfirmed rumor seams to have started with a post over at AndroidSPIN and even though they say that the rumor is confirmed, there has yet to be anything officially released by T-Mobile.

If true, what does this mean for any chance for 1.6 on our Rogers Dreams? Well IMHO don't hold your breath hoping for it to happen, you might turn blue and fall over but you still won't have it. The more likely scenario would be that HTC has been working on a 2.X version for it's HTC branded devices but is unwilling to say anything about it until it's ready for release. But then again it could be just like HTC says on it's Web site.

"We believe that Android 1.5 is a stable and reliable software platform that delivers a terrific user experience"

and they will not bother with trying to fit their version of 2.x onto our devices. One thought that I do have though is that HTC did not sell any devices with Android 1.6 installed on them, even the HERO only came with 1.5 and a commitment for an upgrade to 2.x. It could be that with 2.x arriving on the heels of 1.6 that HTC just decided to skip 1.6 completely for any of it's devices.

What's your opinion?

gbd

1.6 - IS IT ROGERS OR HTC?

2009-12-27T12:33:00.000-08:00

Over the last few days I've been going over the information on the status of 1.6 that I've read over the last month or so and I've spent some time thinking on the subject. Here are the facts that IMHO are what have been accumulated during the campaign to date.

1. Google experience phones are branded with Google on the back
2. Non-Google experience phones are branded with Wireless providers name on the back. (HTC Branded)
3. Google is responsible for the OS on all Google branded devices.
4. HTC is responsible for the OS on HTC branded devices. (They took 1.5 OS and modified it, actually made it better than what was available on G1 at the time) and I believe that Android 1.5 OS was the first available on HTC branded devices.

You can see where I'm going here.

5. Google provided 1.6 update for all Google branded phones. (They had to really work at it to make it fit on Dream/Magic)
6. HTC would have to take the basic android 1.6 and then obtain rights from Google to add Google exclusive items to any modified OS they would produce (Google maps, Gmail etc...), add on their own modifications and then try to make it fit on the Dream/Magic as Google did. All at probably a hefty expense.
7. By the time that we made enough noise that Rogers went and asked HTC about 1.6 for the Dream/Magic, HTC was in the middle of producing 2.x for the Hero (They actually say that the Hero will skip 1.6 and go directly to 2.x).

So Frankly IMHO it's HTC that has dug in it's heels and said that they don't want to go through the expense of creating a 1.6 update. You have to admit that the Rogers exclusive items on the devices are negligible and could be probably added to the ROM in a couple of hours (or less). I'm thinking that they are trying to make 2.x fit onto our devices but are unwilling to say anything about it because if they don't produce what they say it would be much worse for them than it is for Rogers right now.

HTC does not have the right to put the Google version of Android 1.6 onto Non-Google branded devices and they do not have a version of 1.6 that they have produced for any devices. This is why the information first showed up on HTC site, they are the ones responsible for weather there is an OS for Rogers to request or not.

Rogers, in their rush to be the first to have Android Phones available in Canada did not really do the research required to see what they would be getting into. Their Customer and Tech support people were ill prepared to deal with Android customers and they did not understand the client base that they would be tapping into with this operating system. Because of this lack of understanding and the misinformation that it caused to be disseminated to Rogers customers, we have ended up with devices that we thought would be supported going forward but in actually are not.

As long as the one-point-six campaign sets it's sights exclusively on Rogers and mostly ignores HTC, I can't see what kind of incentive HTC would have to produce their version of Android 1.6.

So who do you think is the company that is really responsible for 1.6?

gbd

Forum hits 1000

2009-12-23T12:55:00.000-08:00

The forum has hit the 1000 post mark and has a whooping 26300+ hits. I managed to snag the #1000 post for myself although I didn't have much to say ;-) I can't believe the ammount of information that is containded on that thread. It's been quite a ride so far and as long as Rogers wants to dance we'll keep the pressure on. Christmas holidays are coming up so I'll have a bunch of spare time on my hands to keep pushing that thorn deeper into the side of Rogers, everybody reading should do the same. Keep on getting the message out

Rogers
I WANT MY ONE POINT SIX

Take a look at Mikes blog over at iwantmyonepointsix.com. He has posted a response from @RogersMary to some pointed questions.

gbd

Insulted by Office of the President

2009-12-23T08:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday evening I received an email from Rogers Office of the President. In the email I was told that the best that they could do for me was to take $250.00 off of the ETF, leaving me an ETF of $250. I wasn't even offered a Blackberry like some others have been. Well talk about insulting ( They didn't even have the decency to call me even though they had my number )

Needless to say, I was pissed. I fired back a letter to Rogers the content of which is posted below.

Hello Again D'Arcy,

Let me tell you a little story. I once was a loyal customer of your company back before it was Rogers, before AT&T was involved and it was just plain old Cantel. I had a cellular phone with your company in the late 80's when all you could get was fixed in car sets and I remember the first Motorola hand sets your company carried. Anyway I started off with a fixed in car set, migrated to a bag phone and then to a Panasonic handheld. I was happy with my service even though my plan only gave me 30 free minuets for $30.00, After awhile I started getting calls from your company (I think it was Cantel/AT&T at that point), apparently there were only a few of us left in Canada left on the plan that I was on and I was asked if I would consider switching. Since I never went over my time I just said no, I'll keep the plan that I'm on. Eventually I wasn't asked and my plan was just changed without my consent. When I called to complain about the change, I was told that it was a mistake on their end but since the plan I was on no Longer existed I couldn't be put back on it.

I canceled my service on the spot and went out the next day and got service with FIDO (Was not owned by Rogers then). I stayed with FIDO until it was purchased by Rogers at which time I switched to Bell. I had no reason for leaving Bell to go back to Rogers, except that I wanted to get an ANDROID phone and Bell didn't have one. The 15% discount by bundling with my EastLink cable sort of helped too.

Anyway all that aside, I'm the technical person in my family and my circle of friends. When anybody wants advice I'm the one they all go to. I have to say that for many years after leaving your company the first time, I always recommended against Rogers. Now you seam to want to put me in the same position.

I would much rather be a satisfied Rogers customer than a disgruntled ex customer. But if it is as you say and $250 off of ETF is the best you can do for me, then we have a problem. After all, I was misinformed by one of your sales associates that there would be a 1.6 upgrade to the Phones OS. Weather it was purposeful or not, the fact is I ASKED!!!!

I was one of the more vocal customers in trying to get an answer on when to get an upgrade but I have laid low for the past couple of days to see what you would say. I'm not sure if I'll take you up on your offer or not but you need to understand that presenting me with an insulting offer like this is not going to be the end of it. I will make sure that I will cost Rogers as much new and repeat business as I can. I'll make sure to send a tweet to @RogerMary every time I get someone to get their service elsewhere. I'll send you an email from time to time to update on my progress.

Now I say again for one last time. Is that the best you are willing to do?

Regards
Don Rayner

GMail treats mail from Rogers as Spam

2009-12-21T06:04:00.000-08:00

For all of you that are contacting Rogers Wireless through their website and giving them a Gmail address to contact you back, you have to be aware that any messages you get may be treated as SPAM by Gmail. So if you are expecting a response from Rogers, make sure to keep on checking your SPAM.

I WANT MY ONE POINT SIX

2009-12-21T05:12:00.000-08:00

Took the day off again yesterday (quite the slacker I am) to finish getting ready for Christmas. When I did manage to get back into things I see much has happened. MJSchmidt has started the iwantmyonepointsix.com website and setup a Twitter account IWMOPS. Great job Mike!!
I have made a stab at updating Wikipedia, process is quick to catch on to and I am going to continue with this process. You can see my first attempt here, the change I made is under the "update" section. If anyone else is going to try making changes or additions to Wikipedia, please make sure to only post verifiable facts.

gbd

The fallout

2009-12-19T18:32:00.000-08:00

It's been about 32 or so hours now since @RogersMary made the announcement that Rogers / HTC will not be supporting the Dream / Magic past Android 1.5 (I wonder where this leaves the LG Eve). The posting in the form today has been slower than yesterday but at a steady pace. Members of the forum have spread the news to some online media outlets who have picked up the story and written about it.

The first reported online media story was from The Boy Genus Report. Rogers’ HTC Dream and Magic to be deprived of Donut Boy Genius Report.

Second story come to us from MobileSyrup.com. Confirmed: Rogers HTC Magic and Dream not getting Android 1.6.

Android Central was the next one that we learned about. HTC tells Magic, Dream owners on Rogers: No Donut for you! | Android Central.

I did see a link on the form to Slashdot. But I didn't see anything about our issus. Here is the link, maybe you can see the story, I'm just kinda tired right now. Been a very busy day.

The last story mentioned on the forum today was by Android in Canada. Confirmed: No Android 1.6 For Rogers HTC Dream/Magic.

I will add permanent links to these online news stories to the top of the page before my next post as we need to keep them easy to find for everyone.
Our member mjschmidt has been very busy since the @RogersMary announcement and has done an incredable job of getting the word out. Everybody please pass on some kudos when you meet him on the forum. All the work he as done sorta makes me feel like a slacker for going off and dealing with the entire Christmas thing today ;-)
I see that messages have been sent off to CTV and CBC, hopefully they will decide to pick up the story now. It would help them take notice if some more of us sent in to them as well, I'll be doing that myself before bed (OMG I'm tired but no rest for the wicked).

On a last note. I do see one similar thread running through all the posts. WE WERE MISLED INTO BELIEVING THAT THE OS WOULD BE UPDATED.

gbd.

Firestorm on the Forum

2009-12-18T12:13:00.000-08:00

Starting to see the lurkers coming out to post on the site now. This announcement is creating quite a firestorm in our thread. Did Rogers foresee what kind of backlash this would cause? I wonder how many current and future customers this is going to cause them?
But........ now that I've been thinking about this, I am starting to wonder if maybe this has all been caused by HTC in the first place. After all I wouldn't expect HTC to come running to the aid of Rogers with that change to their site if they hadn't been the source of the problem in the first place.
Maybe all our efforts have been directed at the wrong company, maybe Rogers was just caught in the crossfire because of a little misinformation out of HTC. But then again maybe not. You decide, let everybody on the forum know what you think.

gbd

THE DISAPPOINTMENT

2009-12-18T09:26:00.000-08:00

Well it looks like we have an answer to our burning 1.6 question and it's not the answer we were hoping for. @RogersMary posted in Android forums with Rogers / HTC official position on the Dream / Magic and 1.5 / 1.6 OS's. It looks like the information that just showed up on the HTC site is the way it is and will be.
Mary did however say that there is an update that will be coming out for 1.5 and that HTC / Rogers will continue supporting that platform going forward. Mary has also asked for our input as to the reasons why we are looking for 1.6 on our phones to see if there is anything that can be done in respect to these concerns. If you want to get your .02 input onto the forum over the next few hours, I promised Mary that I would create one post with a synopses of what concerns people had. I'll then tweet her with the post number.
Now is not the time to be silent. We still have the attention of Rogers, so while we have it lets give them the information that they need to at least know why we want 1.6.

You can read the @RogersMary post here.

Roller Coaster Day

2009-12-18T05:31:00.000-08:00

Well yesterday was sort of a Roller coaster day. We had high hopes that some of our members would get some information from their contacts at Rogers Office of the President (OotP). As it turns out our members were contacted but no news was available, we are going to have to wait until later today but (in my opinion) probably until next week for any news. Boy am I ever starting to feel like a fish on a stringer..... You can read about one of the conversations here
Another one of our members posted about a conversation that he had with Rogers Tech Support regarding 1.6 / 2.0. Depending on how you read it, it might look like we will be getting 2.0 instead of 1.6 or it could be read as phones released before 2010 stay the same and new ones will be getting 2.0. You can read the post here and make up your own mind.
Another member found some changed pages at the HTC site. It looks like they added some new pages. One page in particular is now saying that there will be no 1.6 for Rogers Dream and you can read about that here. Are Rogers and HTC now trying to do some damage control? Is Rogers pressuring HTC to take the heat off of them for no 1.6 update? Is this their way to try and get us off their back? Are they now going to come back and say that according to HTC there is no 1.6 update for the Dream? Read about the discussion regarding this in the thread Rogers Dream 1.6 Update starting at post# 483 and make up your own mind.

gbd

2009-12-17T05:39:00.000-08:00

Another one of our members heard from the Office of the President (OotP)yesterday. You can read about the conversation here. It looks like we have 3 persons from that office sort of in sync, stating that they will be getting the update from HTC around the end of December or beginning of January for testing and evaluation. We still although have one person from the OotP that said that they already have the 1.6 upgrade in house undergoing testing and one other that said on behalf of Rogers CEO (Nadir Mohamed) that we would not be getting any updates.
Well we can look forward to hopfully hearing something today from Neil who is supposed to call our member mjschmidt today.
On a side note I see that our Thread in Android Forums is now up to 475 posts and has a whooping 13,000+ views.

Petition hits 100

2009-12-16T07:14:00.000-08:00

I just checked in to see how our petition is doing and I see that it has hit the 100 mark. This is great progress, put we need to keep on getting the word out to other Android users. If you haven't signed the petition yet you can go sign it here. Rogers to Supply the Android 1.6 Update.

Keep up the good work.
gbd

BIG UPDATE !!!!!!!!!

2009-12-15T16:41:00.000-08:00

One of our members in the Android Forms has received a phone call from a Mr. Brian Szeto from the office of the President. It looks like Rogers is starting to take notice of the pressure that we are starting to apply. According to the phone call Rogers is beginning an investigation into the whole issue and will be getting back to our member on Thursday.

It's good to see that Rogers may be willing to at least start communicating with the Android community regarding the issues that we have. Time will see if this contact bears any fruit, but for right now I guess we just keep our fingers crossed.

You can read the entire post from mjschmidt in the thread Rogers Dream 1.6 update on the Android Forums, it's post number 427

Overview

2009-12-15T07:31:00.000-08:00

Adopters of the Android powered wireless devices in Canada currently have their devices stuck on version 1.5 of the Operating System. This while other users of Android devices through out the world are enjoying the benefits of having their Android version upgraded to 1.6, or in some cases 2.0.

The phone manufacture (HTC) has had the 1.6 upgrade available for several months but Rogers Wireless has so far chosen not to make their version of the upgrade available to any of it's customers. Repeated attempts by many of Rogers customers to get an answer to the availability of any upgrade have resulted in either a canned non-committal or conflicting information.

You can get caught up on the current status of our quest for an answer from Rogers Wireless by following the links posted at the top of the page. I do encourage you to contact Rogers and add your voice to the growing crowd requesting this update from Rogers.

As any significant events occur in our quest I'll keep this blog updated with the news.

gbd