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 …
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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