Hi All,
Before I get flamed - I have searched for some pointers!
Just taken delivery of a Vodafone V1615, having had a Hermes for a year and wondered how the ROMs I've seen on here compare to the stock operator ROM. I was happy to flash like a london pervert on the Hermes, but am slightly reluctant to frig this one too much if there is no discernable benefit.
Seen DuttyThroys comments on how difficult it is to cook ROMS so would welcome some solid guidance.
TIA
Paul
Hi Paul,
I pondered the same - for about 6 hours
I decided to give it a shot, dumped the shipped ROM and rebuilt it as a backup in case it ever has to go back, and flashed to the HTC ROM. IMHO, the HTC ROM is more responsive than the one Orange ship, and I'm happy that its "How it was intended" when HTC designed the device. The UI is definitely nicer, and more in keeping with the colour scheme!
I decided not to flash the radio stack, just the OS, as I am hoping Orange customised the radio for best performance on their network, however if I start getting call dropouts or poor 3G performance, I will be flashing to the stock radio too.
If you feel happy about backing up the existing ROM so that you can go back to it, I say go for it
Almost forgot to mention...
If Voda are like Orange, your 1615 will be network locked. There are known issues with HTC stock ROM (I believe it to be only if you flash the radio stack, but don't quote me), whereby if the network lock is in place, you loose Phone functionality until its unlocked.
I suggest if you do go down this route and decide to flash, that you try another SIM beforehand so you can determine if it is network locked, and if so, pay Tupisdin a visit over at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=314547 for the relevant
My UK v1615 wasn't SIM locked but that may have been luck of course... It's on a business account and Voda told me that it would be locked before it was sent (they sent four but I've only checked the one I had...) and they seemed surprised when I said my Orange card worked fine...
Related
Hey all,
My wizard is about 1 year old, and I'm getting the need for an upgrade.
I was thinking about trying a WM6 ROM, but can't decide if I should.
My question really are:
1. Is it worth it? Will it feel any different than WM5, other than just new look?
2. What are the chances of bricking the device during the upgrade?
Thanks a lot..
kramerica2 said:
Hey all,
My wizard is about 1 year old, and I'm getting the need for an upgrade.
I was thinking about trying a WM6 ROM, but can't decide if I should.
My question really are:
1. Is it worth it? Will it feel any different than WM5, other than just new look?
2. What are the chances of bricking the device during the upgrade?
Thanks a lot..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let me just say that in January I was ready to throw my Wizard (8125) in the trash. I hated the phone as it was the worst purchase I ever made. It was unreliable, dropped calls, and reset for no reason all the time. It became for me just a PDA, and even then one I barely used since it would reset everytime I started to really need it (or so it seemed). My Nokia 6620 was far more reliable and useful than my 8125 ever was (but due to contracts and prices, getting a new replacement wasn't really an option for me, but I did figure out how to SIM unlock my Nokia 6620 so I was looking at going back to it). Since I had decided to go back to the 6620, I remembered hearing about people flashing custom roms on their Wizard devices, and decided to come back to XDA-Dev (I had found it last September but the term "brick" scared me off), and give it a shot. What was the worst that could happen? Brick it? I was ready to trash it anyway so who cared.
I read everything and decided to give the Faria AKU3.3 a try (WM6 was brand new out and I was intemidated by things I was reading). After I successfully CID Unlocked and then flashed the Tmobile 2.26 rom (which I found hilarious on a Cingular device) I then did AKU 3.3. All I can say is, the rest is history. My eyes were opened. Suddenly this phone became what it was supposed to have been when I bought it. It was fast and reliable. All of my issues (resets, hangs, and dropped calls) were all gone!
So at a minimum, CID Unlock (if you ahve a G3) and put a custom WM5 rom on. You will NOT be disappointed...
But then the ROM flashing bug took over and I'm firmly into WM6 now. I don't think I can ever think about going back to WM5. I just like the feel and ease of things in WM6 (but at first some things I did not like so it takes time to get used to some of the changes).
So good luck in what you decide. Most claim after upgrading to mine (or many other of the custom roms here) that their phone has new life and it stalls the need to switch to buying a new device... Yeah, I'll probably move to an 8525 (Hermes) sometime, but right now my little Wizard is my best buddy and as important to me as my work computer. I use it for everything now...
mfrazzz said:
Let me just say that in January I was ready to throw my Wizard (8125) in the trash. I hated the phone as it was the worst purchase I ever made. It was unreliable, dropped calls, and reset for no reason all the time. ...
I read everything and decided to give the Faria AKU3.3 a try (WM6 was brand new out and I was intemidated by things I was reading). After I successfully CID Unlocked and then flashed the Tmobile 2.26 rom (which I found hilarious on a Cingular device) I then did AKU 3.3. All I can say is, the rest is history. My eyes were opened. Suddenly this phone became what it was supposed to have been when I bought it. It was fast and reliable. All of my issues (resets, hangs, and dropped calls) were all gone!
.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm... this is a good piece of history. Can it go into the ROM flashers anonymous thread? Please...
kernelguy
So I haven't been here in a while but it seems that everyone and their Mom are making Rom's for HTC devices. Also it seems the tilt is known by a few names so I never am quite sure if I'm reading info for the right phone.
I looked at the wiki but a lot of that information is old. So I guess my 1st question is this:
My company is getting me a AT&T Tilt and the 1st thing I want to do is get rid of the bloatware from AT&T. There doesn't seem to be a catch all for all things related to the tilt.
So what ROM's are stable enough to install?
Are these phones unable to be sim unlocked (not like it matters)?
ISo you can flash the Radio ROM seperate from the Phone RIM (I'm so confused)?
And finally this phone can still be CID unlocked (Which will need to happen)in order to flash a unofficial "cooked ROM on to the handset)?
If there is one post that shows all this info that would be awesome. I've followed a few threads but the information seems disjointed and then others start talking about handsets similar to the tilt but I don't know if it applies.
Soft for all the newbie questions.
I had a TMo Dash and MDA and then a Cingular 8125. That was over 6 months ago. Started a new job and they made me go to a blackberry. Then we got bought by Qualcomm so now I have convinced my boss to get me this phone.
Thanks in advance
It's all here. Your Tilt is an HTC Kaiser and you're in the right forum! Some quick answers:
HardSPL gives CID unlock
No free SIM unlock yet
All ROMs are stable.
Independent radio flashing is limited b/c AT&T's latest ROM features a radio unique to it. Sound is lost if either of the two appear separately. Orange ties SIMLock to their radio so if you flash a different radio on an Orange phone, you will need to sim unlock with several of the free unlockers to get up and running again. However you can flash a different ROM on Orange w/o touching the radio and everything's golden still.
Look at the sticky threads in upgrading for more complete answers. Happy hunting!
Nice executive summary Sleuth, however I have difficulties to understand what you mean with this:
Sleuth255 said:
Orange ties SIMLock to their radio so if you flash a different radio on an Orange phone, you will need to sim unlock with several of the free unlockers to get up and running again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What exactly do you mean with several of the free unlockers?
oops damn, what a typo! I meant "several of the not-free" unlockers....
Try looking here as well:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=341024
Sleuth255 said:
oops damn, what a typo! I meant "several of the not-free" unlockers....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No worries, actually a very interesting phenomenom.
Did any of the guys have to do a double unlock? (i.e. before and after they moved to orange radio). And were the codes different?
hope this helps
hardspl is necessary for ROM flashing (sleuth kinda glazed over it)
when you put on hardspl, it won't look like anything was done, but you can then flash ROMs as much as you'd like.
I stick with at&t ROMs to avoid radio issues.
You could always start by hard resetting and then soft resetting before the at&t customizations install. Either way it's a good idea to test out the stock ROM.
Hi there, i been looking through the forums and i am wanting to flash the phone with a new rom.
I currently have the Orange UK Rom and after installing all the HTC theme, homescreen, touchflow cube i have noticed the performance of the phone dropping so i guess what i am after is a rom with all of this on a standard rom or is there a ROM that someone can recommend me to use?
Thanks in advance
No one will tell you the best rom for your phone, you need to try them to find out which works best for you.
A lot of the ROM cooks have moved here from Hermes and Wizard and produce some great roms so most will work on your phone. May of these are optimised for the US market, so I prefer Schaps (on Hermes and Kaiser) which, for me, appears to be optimised as a rom without country or carrier specific additions and I can then customise to suit.
If your phone is Orange UK then it is probably SIM and CID locked to Orange. SIM lock is easy to check by trying SIM cards from other peoples phones. If you intend to stay with Orange then you don't need to unlock the SIM to upgrade the ROM but you will probably need to unlock the CID and possibly (depending on ROM) need to upgrade the radio.
You can CID unlock by using HardSPL - and this is a MUST to prevent heartache if you are upgrading radios.
But before you go any further do a lot of reading about the relationship between Roms/radios/CID/SIM/SPL etc and also read the threads for each rom before you flash it.
And dont flash a rom that has a radio in it. It will SIM lock your Orange device. You must SIM unlock your phone (no free way to do this yet) before flashing to a different radio version.
I'm using Dutty's No.6 with CF 3.5 and it works a treat on a simlocked Orange UK handset.
thanks for your help, i will take a look at the rom that you are using!
i am getting a 260 error when trying to use Hard SPL, any idea what this is or how to solve this?
*subscription added*
interested in seeing and learning about this. Ive just recently got my Tytn II upgrade on orange and would like to unlock its full potential.
after about 5 hours of trying to search for a solution, i attempted the Hard SPL on a different pc and it worked first time, so guessing its my pc that is at fault for the error. After sorting that out, i flashed the phone with the Schaps_WM6Pro_Kaiser_4.22_WWE_Full ROM and so far so good! really happy with this ROM. Only thing i did not do was backup the orange ROM, does anyone know where i can find this in case i need to go back to the standard ROM?
Ive just flashed with the exact same ROM as you. Have you noticed, theres no voice dialing icon?
either that or ive forgotten where it was! but it used to be easily spotted. I need that function cos im a driver by trade and this phone is too complicated to use even at the wheel (which id never do! )
help me get back my voice dialing!
oh and another thing, i cant even figure out how to get my SIM contacts back onto the phone!! (ive only had it 1 day thou)
I'm not too sure what you mean? are you talking about the function that the button on the top left side of the phone?
Also for contacts, i sync my contacts on my pc with outlook before the flash and sync it again after the flash to get all the contacts back onto my phone
ive managed to figure out the contacts, it just started reading from the SIM again.......
but the voice dialing is defo missing. You can set a voice tag by holding down on a contacts name so the menu pops out, but the Add Voice tag... option isnt there no more. I believe this ROM doesnt have it, thats my only explanation. I might have to flash over it again but i dont have the original one no more.
im gonna give Kaiser AKU.0.7.0 Cooked ROM a try, it has Cyberon Voice SpeedDial=1_2_b070717_0 which is what i think i need.
Ooh, so far this looks like the thread I need to be reading.
I will have another go at doing this CID thingy with Hard SPL.
Then i'll try the same ROM as you. I don't need the voice dialling so that shouldn't be a problem.
BTW, does anyone know how much actual memory the TyTNII has? There is another thread where the guy says his ROM has 900Mb of maps on it. I didn't think there was that much storage?
Thanks for your help!
pete_vo said:
after about 5 hours of trying to search for a solution, i attempted the Hard SPL on a different pc and it worked first time, so guessing its my pc that is at fault for the error. After sorting that out, i flashed the phone with the Schaps_WM6Pro_Kaiser_4.22_WWE_Full ROM and so far so good! really happy with this ROM. Only thing i did not do was backup the orange ROM, does anyone know where i can find this in case i need to go back to the standard ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've created a ROM package for the Orange UK ROM which can be used to restore it to its original state, see http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=1709983&postcount=10
You only need to put back SPL 1.81 AFTER flashing my ROM, see http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=335568 for instructions on how to do that.
forza said:
I've created a ROM package for the Orange UK ROM which can be used to restore it to its original state, see http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=1709983&postcount=10
You only need to put back SPL 1.81 AFTER flashing my ROM, see http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=335568 for instructions on how to do that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot for this!!
i dont need the voice dailing thing so not really too bothered about this, i am not sure how much memory this phone has but the rom i used was about 50mb!!
pete_vo said:
Hi there, i been looking through the forums and i am wanting to flash the phone with a new rom.
I currently have the Orange UK Rom and after installing all the HTC theme, homescreen, touchflow cube i have noticed the performance of the phone dropping so i guess what i am after is a rom with all of this on a standard rom or is there a ROM that someone can recommend me to use?
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Orange rom is very bad. when you click on "goto" (main screen) and try to change your wallpaper by personalising, device gets stuck. i have this brand new phone and showed it to the orange store and they change my device but still the same problem.
i show them again and they want to swop it to another one again. (funny right) so remember to goto ornage "goto" menu (bottom left of the main screen) and try to change the wallpaper, when you need to cancel your contact or claim warrenty. (every ornage kaiser will get stuck 100% sure)
thanks to our graduate pof i have done the hard spl on my orange kaiser and now it is ready to flash the hybird rom. far better than orange rom.
Gah!
I really want to get home and set up my PC to get this done!
I'm using my MacBook Pro atm and I don't think you can use the TyTN II with it.
Really annoyed at Orange though for crippling my phone.
haha orange prob done the worst job on this phone compared to all the other networks
ojfoggin said:
Ooh, so far this looks like the thread I need to be reading.
I will have another go at doing this CID thingy with Hard SPL.
Then i'll try the same ROM as you. I don't need the voice dialling so that shouldn't be a problem.
BTW, does anyone know how much actual memory the TyTNII has? There is another thread where the guy says his ROM has 900Mb of maps on it. I didn't think there was that much storage?
Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mines been working a treat today. The voice dialing is back on the phone, it works just like it did before. The phone functions are all there (well from what i can remember after only 1 day of original use!)
All i need now is someone to be so kind as to show me where i can get a GPS software with maps for my phone gratis
Hi,
I have had my HTC TyTn II from Orange UK for 3 days now, I love the phone but hate the fact that Orange have removed windows live messenger, and customised the home screen (not in a good way in my opinion!).
Here are the version numbers I see as the phone starts:
R 1.27.14.32
G 22.45.88.07H
D 1.81.00.00
I have been reading up on this forum for the past few days and have decided the best way to get rid of the Orange customised screen and the lack of windows live messenger would be to flash the TyTn II with a different ROM, maybe the original HTC ROM??
Obviously my main concern is bricking my phone, and also voiding the warentee, so i'm basically looking for advice on my best course of action?
I have read that the first thing I should do is load HardSPL (which I understand is a modified bootloader?) my current bootloader versions show as: (obtained by powering up the phone with the camera button pressed)
KAIS130
SPL-1.81.0000
CPLD-8
..but won't even this first step of replacing my bootloader void my warentee, or can it be reversed?? Can I take a backup of my entire phone (including bootloader) in it's current state so that it can be restored if need be?
Can anyone give me some advice / point me in the right direction of where I should start, as I am scared of breaking my new phone, as people on other sites have said they have done!!
Thanks in advance,
Regards
Richard
Read this tread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=365497
then:
Read all the wiki's and stickies for Your device (Kaiser, right).
Use Search to find out about things whick is not clear.
Best of luck!
Personally, I would go for it.
yes to hardspl
then I wouldnt settle for a stock rom - I would go for a cooked one- like dutty's.
You will void the warranty, and as far as I know there is no way back from this.
But that is what this site is all about. Ignore the #2 poster, I can see you have read all you can and you seem to have the right idea about this. So go on.
Just do all of the HardSPL steps and then install a Cooked ROM.
You won't look back. At the moment I suggest you stay away from the 6.1 ROMs until a stable one emerges.
I have an Orange Kaiser.. the branding is really crappy compared to the HTC stuff, god knows why they changed it!
Anyway, I thought I'd retain my warranty for the time being.
So I removed the Orange Home app, installed the HTC Home with 5 buttons, the HTC WMP skin, HTC Calc skin and Kaiser Tweak - all from here and it's much better now.
I expect I could save some memory and get it running a little faster without the Orange ROM, but for the time being it's fine.
Rob.
goforboy said:
Hi,
I have had my HTC TyTn II from Orange UK for 3 days now, I love the phone but hate the fact that Orange have removed windows live messenger, and customised the home screen (not in a good way in my opinion!).
Here are the version numbers I see as the phone starts:
R 1.27.14.32
G 22.45.88.07H
D 1.81.00.00
I have been reading up on this forum for the past few days and have decided the best way to get rid of the Orange customised screen and the lack of windows live messenger would be to flash the TyTn II with a different ROM, maybe the original HTC ROM??
Obviously my main concern is bricking my phone, and also voiding the warentee, so i'm basically looking for advice on my best course of action?
I have read that the first thing I should do is load HardSPL (which I understand is a modified bootloader?) my current bootloader versions show as: (obtained by powering up the phone with the camera button pressed)
KAIS130
SPL-1.81.0000
CPLD-8
..but won't even this first step of replacing my bootloader void my warentee, or can it be reversed?? Can I take a backup of my entire phone (including bootloader) in it's current state so that it can be restored if need be?
Can anyone give me some advice / point me in the right direction of where I should start, as I am scared of breaking my new phone, as people on other sites have said they have done!!
Thanks in advance,
Regards
Richard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do it.. BUT READ EVERYTHING ON THIS FORUM FIRST RELATING TO FLASHING ROMs. Once you have read it, read it again and ensure you understand it. That way it is unlikely you will brick the device.
I had my TYTN II for a week or so and then flashed it to a new ROM... would never consider going back to the orange one...unless of course it needs to go back as a faulty device. ( there are original orange ROMs to revert back to on here if you ever need them)
It's interesting to see you have the .32 radio on yours.....Mine was shipped with .29 so I may now consider flashing my radio ROM.. how are your signal strengths and GPS lock times??
c.b said:
It's interesting to see you have the .32 radio on yours.....Mine was shipped with .29 so I may now consider flashing my radio ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With what? I had the .32 and couldn't find a copy of it anywhere. I wanted to keep a backup in case of warranty return but I inadvertently flashed the wrong rom yesterday resulting in a new radio and SIM lock
Obviously removing the SIM lock was easy enough but now I can never revert back to my original radio.
The main reason I wanted to re-flash the radio was to see if my wifi problems could be resolved since most of the reports I have seen about the wifi issue relate to UK Orange phones... No luck there either and it's really starting to stress me out
Someone has told me they might have a contact at Orange dev to get a copy of the original rom but I'll believe that when I see it
Anyway, back on topic... even though I've no way to revert back my radio for warranty return, I'm glad I'm rid of the Orange bloatware and will never look back.
Duttys rom looked and felt nice but I had Bluetooth issues with that so have gone back to stock HTC rom for now. HTC home plus the Home customiser, some new icons, quickMenu and that'll do it nicely for me
One word of advice though.... after you've installed hardSPL, CID and SIM unlocked, you'll never be able to put the device down. I don't even want to think about the amount of time I've spent flashing and playing with it since then
foobar1977 said:
With what? I had the .32 and couldn't find a copy of it anywhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have seen a couple of references to it somewhere in the 248 page Dutty V4 thread. I may try and find it when I find enough time to trawl through it...search yeilds nothing sadly.
foobar1977 said:
One word of advice though.... after you've installed hardSPL, CID and SIM unlocked, you'll never be able to put the device down. I don't even want to think about the amount of time I've spent flashing and playing with it since then
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the most truthful thing I have ever read on here Just wait till you get HTC home customiser installed....hours upon hours of wasted productivity at my desk due to that.
okay so got my phone today, but i'm abit annoyed
is it possible to get this phone on contract with vodaphone without all the branding?
i was hoping the touch pro would come with the sleek black theme it was shown with on all the reviews i checked online, instead i have a branded vodaphone touch pro with a red theme, the htc logo has been replaced on the front with vodaphone as well
just wondering if its possible to not have this on the phone? and i should have said something over the phone
thanks
Leoncc said:
okay so got my phone today, but i'm abit annoyed
is it possible to get this phone on contract with vodaphone without all the branding?
i was hoping the touch pro would come with the sleek black theme it was shown with on all the reviews i checked online, instead i have a branded vodaphone touch pro with a red theme, the htc logo has been replaced on the front with vodaphone as well
just wondering if its possible to not have this on the phone? and i should have said something over the phone
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As its a contract phone, its branded and i doubt very much that they will have any unbranded, as they tweek the sofware to remove things that they dont want you to use. However read the other posts that bascially ask the same question you have just asked. You can flash the device with the generic HTC ROM, which will give you the full functionality and the looks that you have seen. However this does invalidate your warranty if all goes wrong, but that is slim and there are many people on this site that can help. Before you ask ..... read the wiki on how to flash a custom rom.
YOu can buy a new battery cover to remove the branding that i believe is on the back, however without taking the phone apart, you can not remove the branding from the front.
ardsar said:
As its a contract phone, its branded and i doubt very much that they will have any unbranded, as they tweek the sofware to remove things that they dont want you to use. However read the other posts that bascially ask the same question you have just asked. You can flash the device with the generic HTC ROM, which will give you the full functionality and the looks that you have seen. However this does invalidate your warranty if all goes wrong, but that is slim and there are many people on this site that can help. Before you ask ..... read the wiki on how to flash a custom rom.
YOu can buy a new battery cover to remove the branding that i believe is on the back, however without taking the phone apart, you can not remove the branding from the front.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the prompt response, i have read the wiki and have a good enough understanding to go ahead and flash my device, though i can't seem to find the rom you said on the forums as theres so many.
Hey my phone is vodafone as well. ROM flash is a bit extreme unless you are confident, suggest you read how to change themes - I use HTC 3d buttons applied using the TF3d config utility, removes those red icons. You can then experiment with the bigger themes (HTC Black, spiderman etc)although some do seem to slow the phone down and shrink the middle working part of the screen! These theme changes are however easily removed if they don't work and a hard reset would put you back in warranty should anything happen. You will also find that youtube is missing but you will find several alternatives including core player and the original app in the diamond forum. I am a whole week ahead of you and now have a far different phone to the one delivered (including working Tomtom7), unfortunately many of the posts ramble a bit and it takes a lot of reading (however the wiki draws together some of the threads, read this one and the diamond wiki) but I'm afraid the printed logo on the screen will have to stay!!
Leoncc said:
okay so got my phone today, but i'm abit annoyed
is it possible to get this phone on contract with vodaphone without all the branding?
i was hoping the touch pro would come with the sleek black theme it was shown with on all the reviews i checked online, instead i have a branded vodaphone touch pro with a red theme, the htc logo has been replaced on the front with vodaphone as well
just wondering if its possible to not have this on the phone? and i should have said something over the phone
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have my TP with vodafone... But I don't have the vodafonbe bullsh*t.
Yust bought a 'general' phone.. without any provider logo etc.
also without simlock so I can insert every sim I want. I'm gonna use vodafone 4 a few months so I have my TP with vodafone.. but without all the vodafone crap
I am 4 weeks ahead of you ,
But flashed my ROM with the 1st day of having the phone.
Go on become the Phantom Flasher
Its worth it m8ty
I also flashed my ROM the same day I got my phone
I've updated mine to have black/white background.
There's a thingy available for download - the manila theme that's the orginal that came with the device:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2358935&postcount=225
Which'll let you turn it to something a little more elegant looking. I think that's the one I installed.
Look for a different supplier if you want unbranded
Leoncc said:
okay so got my phone today, but i'm abit annoyed
is it possible to get this phone on contract with vodaphone without all the branding?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I have a TyTN II on Vodafone contract (well my 12 months is now up actually), sure it's possible to get an unadulterated, HTC branded Touch Pro on contract with them but you'll likely have to get it through a different supplier than a Vodafone shop. The thing to do is to make it a black and white requirement (when agreeing your contract) that any supplied phone must not be Vodafone branded in any way and then if it turns out to have branding, you can reject it as not being according to your wishes. The more people do this, then eventually maybe the networks will wake up and stop changing the phones around. It's understandable for them to want to lock the phone to their network/sim card but with the exception of networks which use proprietary/non standard radio technology and therefore require special radio coding programmed in, that should be the limit of any customisation in my opinion.
If you contact HTC or go through their website, that'll tell you where you can get their 'native' device and some of these companies will offer them on contract also. It'll likely cost you more than a carrier modified version (in some cases much more) but thats the price you pay for 'the real thing'.