[Vibrant General] masterotaku:
The relative success/failure rates of the recent JI6 OTA, and the level of noise it's added to the forum have got me thinking about people's expectations.

I suppose at the end of the day this is just too subjective a topic to glean anything objective from. But only so long as people keep trying to have it both ways. That might seem harsh, but follow along with ye olde rant here. ;)

People have different levels of both expertise and experience when dealing with such a "gadget". Because of this expectations and experience can conflict. Toss in lingering buyers remorse and how you "feel" about a device can have as many variations as the hairs on your head.

We all color our interpretations with our own experiences in other words. In my experience this is the best smartphone I've ever owned or played with for any length of time and I've played with and owned quite a few including Palm OS phones and two previous Android phones (G1, BeholdII..eww) of my own and a smattering of HTC, Motorola, and Apple devices my friends have.

One thing I can say with near certainty, is that people who venture into a place like this to mod their phones and then have issues with a carrier OTA are potentially setting themselves up for a bad experience.

This phone is ridiculously easy to mod WITHOUT KNOWING WTF YOU JUST DID. Expecting a carrier OTA to account for every possible scenario encountered with a phone (even a bone stock one that can still be running any of 70,000+ 3rd party apps) is a bit much. Granted, this reality leaves you at the potential mercy of your local T-Mobile rep if you get backed into a corner with a dead phone post-OTA, but this is just how it is.

If you've had OTA issues, people here can help you resolve them. But getting angry about it here misses the point. Focus that anger and get T-Mobile to fix your phone if it's really that important to vent.

Let's be honest, OTA's are not for people like us. They are for that android toting friend of yours, the one you have to continually help figure out their new doodad every day because they came to their smartphone from a Moto Razer. :)

That's not to say I've never experienced angst with this phone. The initial shipping stock JFD firmware had way too much lag. Resolving that and experimenting quite a bit (without knowing WTF I was doing in the beginning) left me staring at an expensive brick many times.

My latest specific firmware progression has been flawless, smooth, reliable, and enjoyable. That progression required...

- Odin JFD repartition after a full wipe (if you're not prepared to full wipe, you're not prepared to safely and

usefully provide feedback

about ANYTHING)

- Odin JI6 after a full wipe

- Bionix 1.8 w-OC/UV Voodoo (wipes for you)

- Bionix 1.9 w-OC/UV Voodoo (wipes for you)

I've gone back and forth with the Voodoo lagfix the last few days, which admittedly isn't a long enough time to really evaluate lag long-term, but I don't think I really need Voodoo at this point. And yes this is a totally subjective interpretation. YMMV

Apologies for going off on that tangent, but I did so to make a small point. I think perhaps anyone dissatisfied with JI6 should at least try the basic progression I listed...

- Odin JFD repartition after a full wipe

- Odin JI6 after a full wipe

At least with this you can make a fair evaluation based on your experiences with the actual non-polluted firmware.

If Odin is too scary and/or if you're not willing to wipe and start over...well, then maybe your better off just letting your local T-Mobile reps resolve your issues, or just consider another phone if you're within the return period. I won't go as far as to say that if you're too scared of Odin you don't need to be here in the first place, but I will say you need to be honest about your expectations when it comes to precisely who is responsible for your grief.

A lot of the OTA angst here, I just get the impression that at least SOME of this is people who've gotten in over their head because of all the free and easy to apply stuff here, who are either unable or unwilling to take responsibility for stepping outside of what T-Mobile is responsible for supporting.

Modding means you're taking responsibility for what you do, and letting T-Mobile off the hook. Just as it's not fair to expect a provider to give you shoddy equipment and service, it's not fair to violate terms and expect T-Mobile to care.

And I say that having made T-Mobile basically bow and lick my feet in the past when they've dropped the ball (free Vibrant, release from 2 year contract, discounted data service). So believe me I'm not a T-Mobile apologist when I say these things.

Having it both ways is fine and all, until it doesn't work anymore...