Vodafone upsets customers with upgrade downgrade Vodafone customers with an HTC Desire, waiting for Android 2.2, instead got a new firmware version packed with Vodafone bloat. Froyo is the new version of Android and adds some useful features to Google’s mobile OS. Vodafone customers have been waiting excitedly for an upgrade their HTC Desire phones, but on installation they …
Bought a refurb HTC Hero from 3 last week. Id rooted and upgraded it to 2.1 within an hour. Just waiting for a stable 2.2 with all the features to arrive then I'll do the upgrade.
Like computers, once you've started it up to make sure its working and not DOA is to format/root it and start with a fresh image. At least then when you have problems later down the line, you've not got the 'freebie' extra's clogging up the system and adding to the complexity of any issue and have a reasonable idea of what is on the system to aid in problem finding.
Also tried an Orange Desire, and the complementary extra's were aweful. Two market places, a paid for traffic app, nasty branding and other such irritating features are not a great way of ensuring love of one of your flagship phones. Again, an hour's work and a newer stock image was loaded, and the phone is now brilliant where before it was average.
Do they do the same with iPhones too, or does Stevey Jobsworth block that?
In VietNam most handphones are sold unlocked and unbranded ... today's youth roll the models over so quickly telco's would have a hard time designing a plan. The pricing is either just below and at par with contract prices in Europe only without the contract.
Supporting this hungry market is a 74-page monthly magazine that highlights ll the latest and greatest goodies. VietNam is also a test market which frequently gets handsets before others.
VietNam has over 140,000,000 active, working cell numbers deployed over 8 networks. The total population is around 90,000,000 so there must be many subscribers with more than one cell phone.
"It's annoying that I have apps installed that I do not want or will never use but it's not really that much of an issue."
If it's not much of an issue, stop whining and do what others do : drag all the stuff you don't want to a folder called "unused" (or some such variant) and stick it on a page of its own at the arse end of the user interface, where you can occasionally visit it to point and laugh.
Alternatively, just jailbreak the fucker and remove them.
I have an iPhone & it's not encumbered at all.... Why don't you look at one and get your facts right before commenting? Apple control the user experience & while that gets complained about by those who haven't tried it, for the rest of us it's one of the great selling points for the phone (same applies to all the Apple kit-no crap ware)
yeah :(
Last I read was that 3 didn't have enough QA to sort out iphone 4 and Desire release. So after kicking a few builds back to HTC, they HAVE finished the 2.1 release, but it's now 'at google'..
And they 'dont know' how long it will be before the release comes out...
http://blog.three.co.uk/2009/12/07/the-htc-hero-with-spotify/
Hmm, though it would appear HTC seem to be hosting a file ?....
http://www.htc.com/uk/supportdownload.aspx?p_id=283&cat=2&dl_id=840
my first few symbian devices were preloaded with crap links and software when i got them from vodafone ireland on prepay. so i switched to sim free phones.
i stayed with vodafone till last year when they changed their prepay plan so that every fecking page had a vodafone banner and crappy links at the top.
so i threw away all my vodafone sims. now using 3, o2 and meteor. no problems from them so far.
will never deal with them again. their loss. coupla hundred euros on prepay credit a year till that time.
It is cheaper, never understood getting a phone on contract from their operator.
Over two years I am saving 300 quid for a phone and I don't get locked in with crap you don't want or need. Go to a shop, buy the phone and get a sim only deal for pay as you go or contract. More expensive upfront, but a heck of a lot cheaper two years later.
....it most certainly isn't cheaper to go the SIM free route. I looked into it with the Desire and found it would be 200 quid more expensive over 2 years to do that.
There is a way to get the unbranded firmware on a Vodafone-supplied phone, using the Gold Card method. It works, and it will not affect your warranty. Most recommended if you didn't buy via a route that already used unbranded phones.
A major fail for Vodafone though, hope they decide to backtrack on this one.
Vodafone are offering very competitive deals on Android smartphones (most of which can be re-flashed with Vanilla Android very easily). For example - free Android smartphone on a 2 year £30 a month contract (I looked at Desire and Nexus One but they have others too).
A sim-only deal with the same minutes, texts and data is only £5 a month cheaper, making the cost of the handset just £120. A new unlocked vanilla Nexus One on eBay is still around £400.
For comparison an iPhone 4 (16Gb) from Vodafone with the same contract length, minutes, texts and data would cost you £120 up front and an extra £5 a month for the same contract.
Android is about open. It's not about vendor crap. "We customise phone software to optimise customers' experience of the device on the Vodafone network and to enable access to our services ... " .. yah fine, whatever, now how do I remove that shite? Oh, I can't remove it? Uh huh, so how does that enhance my services?
Always wondered why sony ericsson on voda network sounded crap when my wife's (same model mind) always sounded crystal clear on O2. No crap installed. Or, in the case of games, free stuff uninstalled so you only get trial crap and the super cool option to buy the games.. you already get free from the manufacturer..
Oh, that's right. You read it on teh interwebs. It must be true then.
Bollocks. Android is only about getting the carrier's crap onto your phone; getting google's ads onto that crap and then siphoning your data off for sale to the highest bidder (and the lowest bidder, and pretty much everyone in between). That's the real revenue stream for both the carriers and google. All that talk about openness is just so much camouflage.
Give me the honesty behind the iPhone every time. At least I can see where Apple gets their revenue from and decide how much of their curated ecosystem I buy-into.
>>Give me the honesty behind the iPhone every time. At least I can see where Apple gets their revenue from and decide how much of their curated ecosystem I buy-into.
Oh that is just.. hahahah. uh. hah.. hahaha. Good God, you are such an ass. And a moron to boot. Hahaha..
>>Oh, that's right. You read it on teh interwebs. It must be true then.
Well, I guess that's right, considering the project is on 'teh interwebs'.
http://source.android.com/
http://developer.android.com/guide/basics/what-is-android.html
Moron.
Paris. Displaying more intellect than some folks 9 days a week.
But you didn't buy "Android" did you? You bought a phone which can run Android or whatever the operator decides to push out to it.
"Android is open" is one thing, "Android should be pushed without a ton of crud" another. Complain to the operator, vote with your feet. You have a complaint but nothing to with Android being open or not.
I believe his point was that Android phone's selling point is the way that the platform is open. And as a result, it has become a powerful contender to other touch phones with app store systems.
Any other phone on the market is not expected to be open, since the platform is inherently closed to hobbyist activities. So people choose Android because they want choice, want the ability to choose their "way" when it comes to how the phone works.
To then go and put crap on that cannot be removed (and additionally affects battery life negatively) without rooting the phone is to destroy that openness that caused the consumer to choose the device in the first place.
-That- is the problem as I see it.. and I believe what AC was reaching for.
I'm a Desire owner but not with Vodafone. The comments I've read from users here:
http://androidforums.com/htc-desire/140467-odafone-customers-beware.html
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=743865
indicate that this is an update to 2.1 that adds the Vodafone crap to the Desire. Of course, users rushed to install the update thinking it was 2.2.
Would Vodafone does this to the iPhone....?
Most European operators are pushing out the 2.2 Froyo upgrade for the Desire this week but this latest one from Vodafone is still 2.1. Rather than keeping up with their rivals, Vodafone have been developing this 2.1 update 1 'patch'. This is another reason why so many of us have been expectantly awaiting this software update.
As an enterprise business customer, I'm pretty annoyed at the poor communication and lack of removal for this. Match.com and flirtomatic bookmarks? If my wife found out I had these stored on my browser, I'd be in the dog house for a long time. I couldn't even prove the update produced this as Vodafone have released no documentation that correlates to the results.
So Vodafone... I've been a loyal customer since 2005, upgraded at every opportunity, and took on a shiny new HTC Magic in July last year. You promptly *ahem* upgraded it to Android 1.6 in October.
Now two major releases of Android later, and I still have no new shiny Android. Who knows what my phone is vulnerable to? I haven't had an update in almost a year. My Windows PC would die if I did that to it.
Anyone know how if/how Android 2.2 could run on the Magic?
First chance I get I'm going to an iPhone. At least Apple keep their kit up-to-date.
I'm currently running CyanogenMod 5.0.8 (Android 2.1) on my Vodafone Magic, and its excellent. MS Exchange synch and tethering built in. Runs smoothly with no noticeable lag.
Tried CyanogenMod 6 (Froyo) RC1, but found that, while it works OK, feels slower and less responsive than 2.0.8.
I am old enough to remember (10 years ago!) when my branded Vodaphone meant an extra menu stuffed full of unique and exciting Vodaphone special services, all of which did no more than dial the same Vodaphone Customer services number and all of which meant signing up for extra cost for some ill defined 'benefit'.
Plus Ca Change
SIM free phones and no contract. Saved me £thousands over the years. Its the only way to go.
Is the reason I have decided NEVER to buy a mobile from an operator again. This kind of Pollution needs to STOP. Unfortunatly I don't see it ever stopping. its impossible to buy a PC (from a highstreet retailer) without it being preinstalled with crap. now its the same now with mobiles.
I have an Orange HTC Desire - Debranded running the Generic (direct from HTC) rom I was able to update to Froyo 3 days ago, and the improvements are great. But even on a Generic device there aree Manufacturer pre installs that cannot be removed. Someone needs to put a foot down to stop this nonsense.. perhaps once the platform is dominent Google will help the little people? because at the moment I cannot agree that they are doing no evil.
PS do voda users get the wifi tether/hotspot app that is in the generic rom? or has voda said no!
My SIM free HTC Desire cost about the same as the Vodafone prepay model. As the phone isn't tied to a network, the 2.2 update didn't install any crapware which is just fine by me.
My experience of SIM free has encouraged me to look a lot more closely when the day comes that I buy a new phone for myself or my wife. Even iPhones can be had SIM free these days. I believe, especially with smart phones that there is little reason at all to buy from a network operator except for people who need the highest tariff.
Classic case of caveat emptor.
The only T-Mobile branding that appeared on my 2.1 Hero update was a link to T-M's web'n'walk site which is hardly a difficult thing to ignore. The wife's Xperia Mini is similarly devoid of 3 bloat.
O2's network is pants and Vodafone are obsessed with this 360 nonsense, reasons to avoid them both in my book.
I'm on Vodaphone, in that I have a Voda SIM, but my phone is not.
Mobiles.co.uk supply all their handsets unlocked, even those that come with an Orange contract SIM.
A plain, unfudged update ROM from the HTC site for me. Why people still wander into high street shops and buy branded, locked handsets is beyond me.
Here's what the latest Vodafone malware does to your HTC Desire :
- Adds a Vodafone splash screen to the startup sequence
- Changes your browser homepage to some Vodafone login page
- Duplicates all your text messages
- Installs a load of Vodafone apps
- Adds a load of bookmarks to your browser including such tasteful sites such as flirtomatic.com and match.com.
- Renames the "People" app to "HTC People" or "HTC Peopl" as it now appears on my home screen.
- Add RSS feeds to the News app
- Duplicates all the custom entries in your dictionary
The RSS feeds are :
- CNET.com
- CNN.com
- Yahoo
The bookmarks include :
- Flirtomatic
- Match
- BBC
- eBay (US site)
- Amazon (US site)
- Lottery
- BBC Sport
- MySpace
- Argos
- Train Times
- Sky Sports
The dating site links are a big hit with your spouse and provide hours of fun for any kids with this handset.
The spam-apps added are :
Music Shop - Doesn't work
360 Shop - Doesn't work
Web - Pointless shortcut to a Vodafone web page ... the same webpage that have already spammed your browser bookmarks with.
360 Updates - An app to update all the useless junk above
i guess voda don't consider the n900 as a mass market device as mine was as clean and unsullied as nokia intended... not a bad thing.. :)
andriod not so much gone down in my estimation, but that this is the inevitable result of mass market acceptance...
for shame telco's, for shame....
what's next, an additional 5er a month to not have adverts pumped onto our handsets?
Got my FroYo (Android 2.2) update yesterday for my HTC Desire purchased from Vodafone IE running on the Vodafone IE network. All went well. No evidence of Vodacrudware on my phone. I'm generally pleased with Vodafone IE at the moment.
Ok you have an iPhone and you feel the need to try and use some imaginary bragging rights, but wait lets examine this...
We can legally replace our rom images with one not approved of by your one true god
We can do so without losing a warranty (we may lose a vodafone warranty but not HTC's warranty if we use a genuine HTC rom).
Whichever rom we use we can install whatever software we like - even if not approved by your one true god.
We can do all this for half the price your one true god demanded for his fashion accessory.
We can make calls on our phones whilst holding it in a way not approved of by your one true god - i.e. using our hands!
We dont have to wrap the phone in a 25 quid condom to recieve calls
I left Voda back in the day when they were pushing that Vodafone Live! shit onto all handsets. Seeing as they dumped the idea of dedicated Voda 360 hardware last month it's no surprise to see they have gone back to bastardising other handsets.
Orange are no better, every Series 60 phone they offered seemed to have some crappy customised home screen sucking up RAM for no benefit.
It would be good for Android if every manufacturer were forced into publishing an unbranded update file for each handset on their own website so that consumers had a clear choice, instead of having to go Googling for XDA Developers, which lets face it is not an acceptable recommendation for 90% of the general tard public.
Have a look up on the market place some how all the vodacrap apps seem to have 3+ starts how many employees have they got rating this thing, as I wouldn't even give it one.
Rooting my phone now since I stupidly didn't look at the patch number.
What ROM to go for stock htc or something a little fancier...hmm need something that connect to exchange.
I have a Vodafone bloated Vivaz. Recently I noticed that I was getting charged for data even though I'm on my companies data plan. Vodafone explained that this was because I used Vodafone Live to connect instead of some other way. So I check and Vodafone Live is the only internet access method set on the phone. And it cannot be removed.
So you've been charged for your data even though you are on a 'bundle' with X amount of usage?
I find it a bit odd that you've been told that you are being charged because you're connecting via Vodafone Live. The Live page is just that, a page, the only thing i can think that it may be is the APN.
Most Androids on VF (havnt checked any other operators branded Android devices) only have the WAP (wap.vodafone.net) APN instead of the Internet APN.
So add a new APN, only details you need are a name for it (not case sensitive), APN needs to be internet (case sensitive) and the username and password should be web (case sensitive). Everything else left blank. It wont make a difference in terms of speed of access but may well have an effect on your charges.
Good grief.
Not everybody who has an iPhone is some Jobs-worshipping gullible idiot who can't think for themself. You sound just as obsessed with having "one true god" as those you seek to criticise.
As to your points :
"We can legally replace our rom images with one not approved of by your one true god ... [if we use a genuine HTC rom]"
Not much difference there then. It still has to be HTC-approved or your warranty is out of the window.
"we can install whatever software we like"
So can I, although I'm sure Mr Jobs would prefer me not to.
"We can do all this for half the price your one true god demanded for his fashion accessory."
You've may have me there, but as I'm loaded I don't really care. I don't really think it's that fashionable either. It just does what I need it to do.
"We can make calls on our phones whilst holding it in a way not approved of by your one true god - i.e. using our hands! We dont have to wrap the phone in a 25 quid condom to recieve (sic) calls"
Me too. I had the sense to buy the tried and tested 3GS rather than the sporadically faulty and clunky-to-hold piece of shit that is iPhone4.
Sigh.
.... a Nokia N900. Its open as much as it can be, and its a simple 5 minute job to swap firmware to unbranded... wait, they come unbranded on all networks unless you're on Vodafone, and then all you do is download maemo flasher, and the global firmware image and emmc image, flash and done. Plus you get the latest software updates before Vodafone users, we're on PR1.2, vodafone users unless they flashed stuck on PR1.0 or PR1.1 which is full of bugs!
i don't have these problems, I got a simple phone that allows me to make and receive calls,, send and receive text, the only branding Vodofone got on it is their name on the front and that is because it is their brand of phone.
£10 a month gives me 300mins and unlimited text, no hassle about Vodafone updating the phone and putting anything on there I don't want, as it can't be updated.
All these smart phones are just more hassle
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