Upgrades - Advice to HTC, Sprint and all others..

[usualsuspect]

So here is my proposal to HTC and every other lazy manufacturer that won't upgrade our phones. Not to mention Sprint....

The manufacturers load their custom skins on to our phones to differentiate their products. Then they blame the skins as the reason we cannot have our phones upgraded.

The phone companies load our phones with a bunch of garbage that we could care less about..

Both of these entities do this in an effort to differentiate their products and sell more phones. But once we buy their phones they could care less about us. The upgrade for the HTC evo to 2.3.4 is probably never coming and either is the upgrade to 4.0. I am frankly disgusted by them and will probably never buy anything from either entity again...

But here is some advice - since you obviously dont give a s*** about us - then why waste your time skinning the latest versions? Why waste time adding bloatware?? We have already bought your phone. So provide us a vanilla experience. At least then we can have the newest functions of the software. This upgrade would be so much easier so why waste time reskinning for 4.0? Just give it us as is...

I can say for one my phone is dog slow - loaded with self launching aps, sprint's network sucks and android is dog slow...

 

[cgardnervt]

Not everyone wants a "Vanilla experience". I for one think Sense is cool and I like the UI. If you dont like the UI then go with a GOOGLE PHONE. Or better yet just root your phone. Then you can flash your phone to whatever fits your needs best. And having an HTC Evo 4G/3D there are a TON of custom ROMs out there to pick from.

HTC as a company updates it's phones pretty quickly compared to others phone manufactures. (Samsung anyone?)

All I can say is if you want a TRUE vanilla phone then you should have gotten a Google Experience phone...Or just root then your all set!

 

[usualsuspect]

For sure I will never buy another Android phone w a skin on it. My phone is so slow it's pathetic. I have no space left on the phone for apps and can't remove the bloatware.

HTC is fast with upgrades??? Just because there are manufactures that are faster does not make HTC fast. V2.3.4 was released on in April of this year - so going on 7 months. How is that a fast upgrade? Just because the other manufactures set the bar so low doesn't make HTCs upgrade path acceptable. I would actually like to use some of the functions in 2.3.4 like video chat.

As for rooting my phone and putting on a custom ROM - yes I can do that but it also voids my warranty. So basically if I brick my phone i have to spend $600 for a new phone...

Honestly I hated apple for my own reasons but at least they are able to get upgrades to their phones when they are releasted..

 

[EVO28312]

Do your self a favor research and see if anyone has ever bricked there phone without going back into your bootloader and reloading your saved back up.

 

[Chris3D]

Honestly I hated apple for my own reasons but at least they are able to get upgrades to their phones when they are releasted..

To be fair, Apple's method has it's own set of issues - namely performance on older phones. Sure, I can (and did) upgrade my 3G to the latest iOS 4, only to discover it was as slow as molasses and several apps, which I paid for, are pretty much unusably slow and/or constantly quit. Furthermore, while I *can* downgrade back to an earlier version of iOS, it's a far more complicated process than rooting an Android, and probably has a much greater potential to brick the phone. And on top of that, several of my, again paid, apps, were upgraded since purchase and now only run on iOS 4+

So is the grass greener? Not in my view.

Android - you might be stuck on an older version of the OS, your only option being to root and install a 3rd party rom.

iPhone - even your old phone can most likely be upgraded to the very latest version of iOS, but it's performance is highly likely to be questionable at best and your downgrade options are involved, risky and, in some cases, may be impossible.

As for your premise of offering upgrades in the form of stock Android, you have to understand how the whole Android system works. The carriers make deals with 3rd party companies to preinstall their app on phones. For example, Verizon was paid, I'm sure, a hefty sum from Microsoft to include Bing as the default search engine on some of their phones. Verizon then contracts Samsung/HTC/Motorola/whoever, to configure their phone according to Verizon's own desires and contractual obligations they made with 3rd party companies.

When it comes time to upgrade, Verizon is still bound to the agreements it made with the 3rd party companies to have their apps included on the phone. Since you buy the phone from Verizon, and Verizon provides the support, it's not up to the manufacturer to provide you with direct support and/or upgrades. Doing what you suggest - a manufacturer providing a stock OS upgrade would be an end-run around the carrier who still wants their apps included, and likewise, the carrier providing a stock OS upgrade would be an end-run around the 3rd party companies who paid to have their app included on the phone.

Put simply, what you're suggesting.... will never happen. Not that it's not a good idea, but much more so than the iPhone, Android provides a means for a lot of companies to get their hands in your pocket. It sucks, but that's just the way it is, and it's unlikely to change.

 

[cgardnervt]

Yeah Apple has no issues getting upgrades out, Do you know why? Its all in house. Android has to go through its phone manufacture and the cell phone company. Not making up excuses. I hate it too but that is what we bought in to when we got these devices.

Buying a Google phone next time I am sure will fix your issue. Or sounds like it would...

As far as rooting goes I would wait a year...There for your warranty is gone anyways and have it on the insurance through Sprint. If you brick it then it would only cost you $100 to replace. A lot better than the $600. On the other hand I have not heard of to many horror stories of phones bricking them selves. But yes it can happen. So that are some options you may wanna look at for now.

HTC if anything will rise the bar on updates. I'd love to see the other companies come up to their standard and maybe even rise it more for HTC. Trust me I am all for it if it happens. I was just saying compared to others out there.

 

[usualsuspect]

Looks like I am rooting the phone. I was just trying to hold out for 2.3.4. I guess my frustration lies in the fact that I did not anticipate upgrades to take well over six months from the original release date. I bought the EVO right when it came out and there wasn't much written at the time about upgrades taking such a long time.

 

[Paul627g]

As many have already said here...

- Root your device and install what you like plus have options to remove whatever you want.

- HTC is actually one of the better devices for faster updates.

- If the above mentioned doesn't satisfy you then you should consider Pure Google... Nexus S/NS4G or hold out for the upcoming Galaxy Nexus on your carrier.

 

[trivor]

For sure I will never buy another Android phone w a skin on it. My phone is so slow it's pathetic. I have no space left on the phone for apps and can't remove the bloatware.

HTC is fast with upgrades??? Just because there are manufactures that are faster does not make HTC fast. V2.3.4 was released on in April of this year - so going on 7 months. How is that a fast upgrade? Just because the other manufactures set the bar so low doesn't make HTCs upgrade path acceptable. I would actually like to use some of the functions in 2.3.4 like video chat.

As for rooting my phone and putting on a custom ROM - yes I can do that but it also voids my warranty. So basically if I brick my phone i have to spend $600 for a new phone...

Honestly I hated apple for my own reasons but at least they are able to get upgrades to their phones when they are releasted..

You know, if you hate Android so much why don't you do us all a favor and buy a WP7 or iOS device. Last I looked no one is holding a gun to your head to buy these horrible devices. I think everyone forgets how much bloatware there is on Windows PCs (even now - you have Norton, trial Office 210, etc.). You know what's on there - if you don't like it, don't buy. Also, you know there are no guarantees about upgrades so don't expect one. If you don't like the way your phone works, return it and find one that does. If you don't want bloatware get a Nexus S or the new Galaxy Nexus or go to iOS (no bloatware).