HTC Desire> Unbranding and Froyo update

[tinto de verano]

Hi there,

Anyone out there with a branded HTC Desire, stuck with Eclaire 2.1., still waiting for Froyo to be sent OTA by the different carriers...? Fed up?

I would google "Mike Southby", and maybe also "Updating To FroYo (Official OTA) For Network Branded Handsets".

The guy has compiled a very easy to follow guide on debranding you HTC Desire and updating it to Froyo. And there are lots of help and advice... And my comments. :respect-048:

I finally did it last Sunday... and it is really worth it.

Have fun.

tinto de verano

[drpaulos]

Alternatively, the HTC Desire section of the "Android Forums" and "XDA Developers" sites have this well covered also.

Luckily for me, my Desire is unbranded / unlocked, so got the Android 2.2 update OTA on release day.

[tinto de verano]

Lucky you, drpaulos.
I am glad you did not have to do anything special to get Froyo.
Oh, and thanks for the other places to look for info.
tinto de verano

[barry]

Hi to you both,

I have recently received an unbranded HTC Desire from O2. Its taking time to get used to it but I will give the places you mention a try. Is this Froyo update much of an improvement?

regards, barry

[tinto de verano]

Hi Barry,

Unbranded, no O2 sw, or sim unlocked?

If unbranded, I think you should be able to get the Froyo update OTA, either automatically, as sent by HTC, not O2, or manually by selecting Menu->Setings->About Phone->System software updates->Check now.

Here are some improvements, you can of course google (android froyo market, maybe) it and find many more:

I AM GLAD I DID IT AND FOUND (my own experience after upgrading):
*Froyo to be even faster and smoother than Eclair.
*Google Earth finally available.
*Some icons (bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi…) look much nicer.
*You Tube widget is better and includes HD.
*The music widget seems/looks, and even sounds better, I think.
*There is now a new shortcut for Videos. It actually shows thumbnails (instead of a grey square) for some music DVDs I had ripped and converted).
*Camcorder now has 720p. o-ption!
*Weather widget works properly again for my town, not just a general England (might not be Froyo related).
*Wi-Fi signal/reception seems much stronger.
*Many tiny improvements everywhere.
*Voice Search and Google Search. I still nedd to get it to recognize my non USA accent. (a trick is to change recognition language from English UK t US, by the way)
...

tinto de verano

[drpaulos]

For me the main features were:-

1. Flash video now works (includes BBC iPlayer and Youtube via web)
2. You can move some apps to the SD card which frees up ROM space
3. Wifi hotspot enables Desire to work like a Mifi

[tinto de verano]

Three good points indeed, drpaulos, thanks.

Oh, and battery life seems to have improved as well.
Which reminds me, there is a trick that allegedly callibrates the battery and makes it last longer... even double the time, they say.

I tried it today and... I will keep testing... but I would say that it works... we will see in the next few days:

You only need to do this once:
1.Turn your phone on and charge it for 8 hours or more
2.Unplug the charger
3.Turn your phone off and charge it for one hour
4.Unplug the charger
5.Turn on the phone and wait 2 minutes
6.Turn your phone off and charge it for one hour
7.Unplug, turn it on and use as normal. Your battery life should now be a lot better.

Hard to believe, I know, but still worth a try.

Enjoy.

tinto de verano

[barry]

Hi tinto de verano and drpaulos.

Thanks for your help and advice. I have just tried an update as you described but, the phone tells me I have the latest version 2.1 update 1, which of course is not correct.

I had not seen any O2 branding or software other than wallpaper but your initial query would seem to very relevant, I must have missed something.

I am downloading the 'official froyo market fixed zip' file right now but the desire has to be 'rooted' and I think I could be getting out of my depth here.

The phone has a 14 day return option which expires next tuesday so I dont want to mess it up. I dont want to return it, I like it and have ordered a 32gb sd card for it.

The battery life is pretty poor which is a shame, so I will try what you say as I know I can manage that.

I will do a lot of reading on the xdadevelopers forum before I do anything more and will let you know how I get on.

Thanks again,
barry

[tinto de verano]

Hi barry,

My HTC Desire was a Virgin one, not O2.

If you look on Mike Southby's guide, who also had a Virgin HTC Desire, you will find some people who had an O2 one, like a certain fguk, who said:

"All done on an O2 branded desire. Needed to use generic 1.21 ROM from the link in the comments (August 2nd 10:20), everything smooth apart from that."

And acertain Soton, who said:

"... excellent guide i managed to update my o2 branded desire with froyo ... "

Also, look for the issues Mysh had.

As far as I know, Mike's guide is not about rooting, but about creating a gold card to remove the (Virgin or other) branding, which will then allow the Froyo update to be installed. Did you create a gold card?

Also, be careful, if your phone is quite new, it might have a superLCD screen instead of the AMOLED one, and a new HBoot ("This guide assumes that you have HBOOT 0.82 or below, if you have HBOOT 0.83 this method will not work and you will get an Error 140 during the RUU process. ").

Good luck.

tinto de verano

[barry]

Hi tinto de verano,

Many thanks for the additional information.

I didnt do anything yet because I have until tomorrow, tuesday, to return the HTC to O2

I called them this morning and although they really had little idea what I was talking about, they did confrim that the phone is not branded or locked and gave me a landline number for HTC.

Although HTC tried to be helpful, when I gave the IMEI number they could not give a date when the update will be available which sounded a bit ominous. Apparently the phone checks automatically for an update, every 2 weeks.

They also advised the last updates would go to the branded/locked phones so at least I should not be last.

I dont really wish to return the phone so, I may give the update a go, I just need to feel a bit more confident.

Thanks for your guidance as to where to find the relevant posts

regards,
barry

[tinto de verano]

Hi barry,
Just a reminder: if it is not really O2 branded, remember to check manually: select Menu->Setings->About Phone->System software updates->Check now.
So you d ono thave to wait for the 2 week auto update...
good luck
tinto de verano

[barry]

Hi tinto de verano,

I have checked manually as you suggest and the reply is that my phone is "up to date" but, of course it is not. It does, as you thought, have the Sony SCLD screen not the Amoled.

Reading through the information and advice you have given me, it would seem that it will be difficult to update manually.

The H Boot is 0.83 - 0001 and the Radio is 4.08.00.09 and I think I read, that the H Boot needs to be less than 0.82 for it to be flashed.

Its all very frustrating, I suppose I will have to learn to be patient.

In the meanitme I will keep pestering HTC, maybe they will then give me access to the update earlier than planned.

Thanks once again for you help,
barry

[tinto de verano]

Hi barry,

OK.

Well I guess you could always try and search in the other places drpaulos suggested. Or you could also look back into the mike southby guide, look at what tim said on August 17th, 2010 at 17:51.

Maybe you can still do it.

Good luck.

tinto de verano