HTC Desire 2.2 Upgrade: What is happening in SA, HTC?

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AK65

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I've been reading on the wires, and Desire owners worldwide are getting 2.2 updates but in South Africa, there is a black hole. No information, no plan, nothing.

I must admit, I'm pretty gatvol. So I've written an email to HTC asking what the hell is going on. I'm not the first, but more pressure can't hurt.

I really don't want to do a manual update, I know that I can.. To me it's really an issue of principle. What is so special about South African handsets that it takes months to do what's already done elsewhere in the world.

Here goes:

Hi

I have recently bought an HTC Desire with Android 2.1 OS on the MTN network in South Africa. For some time now, it seems that overseas OTA Froyo 2.2 updates have started in the UK and other countries but there is absolutlely zero information or communication from the local distributors, LEAF, about South African Desire owners.

Most desire owners are tech and net savvy, so we know exactly what is happening in other countries around the world. I have received absolutely NO communication from LEAF or HTC. Upon enquiring I got answers like 'the update will be available soon', 'we're working on it', and 'there is no date by which the update will be available'.

This is totally unacceptable, and only serves to alienate and antagonise HTC customers in South Africa. Bear in mind that Desire owners are early adopters of technology and therefore many will want to update to 2.2, especially since in early July, HTC was announcing upgrades in the UK. It's now almost the end of October and there is a vacuum of information from the local distributors, LEAF about this.

At the very least, I would expect some explanation by way of press releases from HTC to explain to South African Desire owners 1) Why the delay 2) What the problem is 3) A firm date When 2.2 can be expected to be rolled out to users.

I must say that I feel very much like a second class HTC owner, since I have already met people who have bought Desires in the UK with 2.2 already installed. It seems like South Africans 'don't count'.

Also, answers from HTC have been non-commital, patronising and seemingly, hiding truth behind a host of quasi-technical terms such as 'software conflict'. Many of us Desire owners are technically capable, work with software and other technically complicated systems, so explanations like the one above carry absolutely no weight.

I would also like to know what modifications, if any, are made to the HTC Desire sold in South Africa as opposed to, say, the UK. I suspect very few, if any modifications are made.

Please give me, and other users, some direct, concrete answers to our concerns.

I have read some of your previous answers to similar concerns, and to be blunt, they are pathetic.

Please note that my email, and your response, will be published on mybroadband.

Yours
Click to expand...
 
Ya

Am aware of the androidza forum, and their manual upgrade. But IMHO, HTC and Leaf have a lot to answer to.

Depending on their response, I'll then make a decision to upgrade manually.

Not holding my breath though :D
 
Obelix said:
Ps - doing the upgrade manually is NOT rooting your phone - so dont worry about that...
Click to expand...

Yep, its the official Froyo update with HTC Sense.

It's just MTN (AFAIK) that are not pushing the update out to their clients.
 
OK. I might just give it a whirl tonight.........
Anybody experienced the 'software conflict' excuse that HTC is trotting out?

quote below from: http://ubuntu-za.org/aggregator/sources/22

Dear Mr Marius ,
Thank you for contacting HTC.

Kindly be notified that your Issue has been escalated to the next level of which we are going to make sure we keep in-touch with Leaf and make sure all HTC users are on the same level with anyone else around the globe,however , the delay in the 2.2 was due to software conflicts that were discovered while testing the software for the Middle East and Africa not just South Africa and currently we are working hard to bring it as soon as possible and we really understand that we promised to deliver it sometime ago.
Leaf is an official HTC retailer in Southern & Sub Saharan region and whatever is provided they deliver.

If you have any other inquiries, don’t hesitate to contact us again.
Please note that you can contact us via support line which is a toll free number 0800 982 773. For further details, please go tohttp://www.htc.com/europe/CA_Hotline.aspx , Thank you so much for using HTC products.

Respect & Regards,

James Namauka

HTC Technical Support Team
Click to expand...
 
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Why do people even still worry about rooting their phones? It's so common it's not even funny anymore...
 
FarligOpptreden said:
Why do people even still worry about rooting their phones? It's so common it's not even funny anymore...
Click to expand...

Becasue when the time comes for a warranty call the providers may get sticky and i really dont have the energy to fight with them. So untill i can root my phone , and then unroot it ( ie get back the original stuff ) i wont consider rooting as an option.
 
Obelix said:
Becasue when the time comes for a warranty call the providers may get sticky and i really dont have the energy to fight with them. So untill i can root my phone , and then unroot it ( ie get back the original stuff ) i wont consider rooting as an option.
Click to expand...

+1 On that. I already have some issues about the touch calibration. Toward the top of the screen, whatever I touch, the incorrect object below it is selected. Anybody else with the same issues? There doesn't seem to be anyway of calibrating the touch screen properly. BTW, the Samsung M8800 and Samsung Star I had before this phone did not have such issues. The touch functionality was very accurate...
 
Herewith response from HTC
Dear Mr ****;
Thank you for contacting HTC.

In regards to your inquiry,kindly be advised that we are currently working on the testing of the update of your phone and it will be available soon.
We are currently targeting the middle of next month for a release of the update, as we are
making sure everything is in working order when we deliver the update to you. Please remember that
this is a target date and could be changed if we encounter issues that we need to resolve before
delivering the update.

If you have any other inquiries, don’t hesitate to contact us again.
Please note that you can contact us via support line which is a toll free number 0800 982 773. For further details, please go to http://www.htc.com/europe/CA_Hotline.aspx , Thank you so much for using HTC products.
Respect & Regards,
Ntando.
HTC Technical Support Team
http://www.htc.com
Click to expand...
There you have it. From the horse's mouth. Typical non-committal response from a corporate. God only knows what they are 'testing', and why it takes so long. Expect the target to slip....
'Losing customers 101' by HTC. I won't be buying another one.....
 
Well

Upgraded manually to Froyo on the weekend. A very painless experience. No thanks to HTC or Leaf though....
Loving it.... :D
 
The problem here has been mentioned in quite a few articles on MyBB. Leaf has to do the upgrades OTA according to some mandate set by el Goog and Leaf does not want the cost of the update to be carried by the cusomer - they want the updates to be free.

This means that the problem is not with HTC or Leaf, but with the service providers not having the infrastructure to do FOTA updates yet. I, for one, love HTC devices but I hate Leaf, so I'll probably carry on buying them but I'll also probably carry on rooting them - if only to have tools like Titanium, SetCPU and MarketEnabler available to me.

Sent from my Plain Biff Dream using MyBroadband Android App
 
+1

Couldn't wait anymore for update.

Did the manual update without rooting phone and now it's like a new phone :D
 
FYI, the update is controlled by Leaf, they need to make it available but they are just a sh** company
 
Masataka said:
FYI, the update is controlled by Leaf, they need to make it available but they are just a sh** company
Click to expand...

I'm not disagreeing that the updates are controlled by Leaf, but I disagree with the notion that they are the only ones to blame. Here is one of the articles that I spoke of. Leaf wants the updates to be free seeing as we have astronomical mobile broadband costs. I think it's the right move, but I have to wonder why on earth it's taking so long for the infrastructure to be put in place by the carriers.
 
I got my Desire in on 02/10/10 from Nashua mobile and the Android version is 2.2. I haven't had to upgrade or anything like that at all. Anybody else had this experience?
 
b_crazy said:
I got my Desire in on 02/10/10 from Nashua mobile and the Android version is 2.2. I haven't had to upgrade or anything like that at all. Anybody else had this experience?
Click to expand...

Thats pretty cool :)
 
Just as a heads up ... if I'm not mistaken, you can take your phone directly to Lead for the upgrade ... not sure where westville is though ... if it's in Durban and you are on Vodacom, the shop at the Pavillion might be able to help.
 
eitai2001 said:
Just as a heads up ... if I'm not mistaken, you can take your phone directly to Lead for the upgrade ... not sure where westville is though ... if it's in Durban and you are on Vodacom, the shop at the Pavillion might be able to help.
Click to expand...

Pavilion is in Westville :)
 
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