[MDA III, XDA III, PDA2k, 9090 Software Upgrading] Jiggy:
T-Mobile MDA III UK Upgrade

MDAIII user,

Firstly my sincere thanks for the detailed response you have provided to me. I appreciate the effort that has gone into your response. Rest assured I will be raising as many of these issues as I can. :wink:

All the observations you have made have real merit. Rest assured, I will raise as many of these issues as I can with T-Mobile UK. The main observations I have:

Shipping

There is as you say a real issue with the lack of any backup ROM. This at best seems ill conceived. This is clearly an "industry wide" issue which perhaps is best taken up with Microsoft/HTC? I don't understand why they don't provide it as it flies in the face of common sense.

Availability of Updates/Failure to Provide new Base ROM and Radio

I spoke again to T-Mobile today and the official response is that due to differences in the networks themselves (equipment used etc) they could not simply release a German Update to UK customers. I am not qualified to comment on the veracity of this. Needless to say that I am very unsatisfied with this and will continue to be a thorn in their side.

In addition I made the points about the lack of any update to the Radio. Of particular concern to me on a day to day basis is the call audio quality/stability. This cannot be of satisfactory quality when one of the key features of the phone is substandard and temperamental. When I asked, I was informed that it wasn't in the current upgrade but may (no commitment) be in the next official upgrade scheduled in April/May.

T-Mobile are still to finalise what will be in this upgrade. I asked the question as to why an enhanced radio had been rolled out in Germany (in 1.06 variant) and I was told that the UK network is different to Germany (see argument above). On further enquiry as to whether this was a standalone radio enhancement that should in any event be rolled out, the point about different networks was repeated.

I raised the issue of other networks (O2, Cingular etc) and resellers (Imate, QTEK) being much quicker off the mark with upgrades. The response was that they do conduct extensive testing and have admittedly been behind the game.

I have asked T-Mobile for a roadmap of scheduled upgrades. They have yet to finalise such a roadmap. They did however say that a website is currently being designed to which they can post ROM updates officially. To be frank, the impression I get is that they are some way behind and struggling to get resources - not that they have deliberately only provided the release to those who moan loudest.

The bottom line for me is that I still have the call quality and blue tooth range issues I reported are still there. I hope my constant reporting/raising of these issues may influence the next update. You never know!

The 1.160 Ext ROM Update

I put it to T-Mobile that the only changes in the current ROM compared to the ship ROM, were to include Blackberry Connect Software, Bluetooth 3500 and MMS. T-Mobile maintain that over 160 changes were made between 1.117 and 1.160. Not sure what this really means, as presumably that number of individual changes could be made by these three CABs.

I haven't as yet raised the other issues with them. I have already written to them several times on the faults and on the lack of support of the ROM and will follow up again. Your work has helped provide me with a more informed view.

Again may I ask for any comments you have on T-Mobile's responses above. All counter arguments greatly help.

However, I am but one user and conscious that I am naive and have only recently (Since Nov 04) been a device owner. I would be interested to hear others users views and experiences of these issues. Have they influenced the networks? etc etc. Perhaps sustained and proper email lobbying by all affected users of T-Mobile/HTC and Microsoft would be the best way to get results?

If I may, could I ask for your help on a few points:

The patches you mention in your mail to camera, battery etc - could you direct me to these if they have been put back in Wiki. My technical inability means I can just about handle CAB files :?

One other thing, I asked about the MDAIV and the contact I spoke to had seen an early prototype and it is scheduled for launch in July in the UK and Germany. He told me the version he saw was more or less the same size and weight as the MDAIII. I agree with you that this looks great. He couldn't/wouldn't say whether it would be Magneto or not though :lol:

Thanks again

Jason