I've heard the news about Froyo coming for HTC Legend soon, and unbranded phones will get it first as in the case of other phones.
However I can't really tell whether mine is unbranded or not.
I've got it from Vodafone in Australia. It has no physical branding on it at all besides the HTC on the front and back.
Bootscreen is also standard HTC. There are no specific Vodafone apps or anything, just a 'SIM Toolkit' one, which basically has all the functions of the "Vodafone Live" which is usually branded into their other phones (non smart phone), such as Account balance, pay account, paying for crap like tones % pics, news, sport info, etc.
However the phone is locked to the Vodafone network.
I'm really pleased with the lack of branding, however still not 100% sure it's technically unbranded
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I read a really great article detailing a crisis that is currently afflicting the WM world.. To read it, go here.. It basically bemoans how a lot of carriers are locking down their GPS to only work with their branded GPS software.. I hope this will at least be an interesting read for you... I for one support them
What do you think can be done to cause this to stop?
Would flashing to a non-carrier branded rom unlock the GPS? (On the HTC Fuze)
I figure this, all ROM's released to date, from VZW, all have the GPS "locked", but there have been ways to work around it. I say if it's there, then we can somehow utilize it. VZW, just released the Touch Pro, I'm interested in what it's capable of doing. I believe it comes stock with a functioning GPS, but you have to pay for the VZW service.
If it really gets so bad that nothing can be done, and providers dumb down these powerful devices anymore, I'll have to move to a new platform.
I purchased an unlocked zinc to use with my existing t-mo 2yr contract and gps works fine with no sim at all (phone icon must be lit in 'comm mgr').
Are you referring to carrier locked phones specifically?
Hey all,
I have the Bell unlimited mobile browser with my Samsung Impact. I used to have an HTC Touch that was older, but had much better capabilities with the umb but unfortunately was damaged. If I were to get, say an unlocked Samsung Galaxy and put my sim card and and enter the proper asn settings, would Bell know I'm not using my Impact and charge me data rates? Thank you
Amazing, I am literally in the exact same scenario. I had an HTC touch, it broke, bought an impact because I was told it was the highest level of phone that could still use the Unlimited Browser.
I am looking at a Samsung wave. I talked to customer service, and the woman told me that I could use my wave by simply switching the sim card, and still access the browser. She said she uses a blackberry smartphone, and it works that way. But I havent bought the wave yet, so I havent verified this. I guess I will find out once I attempt it. Have you gotten any info back on your question?
The way carriers know which phone your using, in general, is they have a database of IMEI numbers. But only the phones that they sell you directly (the ones with their branding) are in their database. So if you, for example, took an unlocked Roger's phone and put a Bell SIM card into it, they wouldn't know what phone you're using. But if you put your Bell SIM into a Bell Galaxy S (even if it's unlocked), they would know and probably alert you that you need to change your plan. This is how AT&T caught iPhone users on the cheaper feature-phone data plans over here in the states.
tl;dr: As long as the phone you want to use doesn't have Bell branding on it, they won't know.
Hello All,
is Vodafone Sensation 'Locked to Vodafone Sim card only? anyone can test it? thank you.
Yep is it, i was in Vodafone shop today asking about it. They said it's locked but with pay monthly customers, they can unlock it...the girl said she had done it a few times with android devices...they just need a code she said.
Barff1984 said:
Yep is it, i was in Vodafone shop today asking about it. They said it's locked but with pay monthly customers, they can unlock it...the girl said she had done it a few times with android devices...they just need a code she said.
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im sure i read that someone here has put a tmo sim in and it worked
cant find the post right now but would suggest its not simlocked to vf
cqms13 said:
im sure i read that someone here has put a tmo sim in and it worked
cant find the post right now but would suggest its not simlocked to vf
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fair enough
I'm just going by what the vodafone girl told me. I had a play with one of the phones in the shop, she did a little personal unboxing for me haha
Sense didn't lag at all. Had Vodafone branding on turn on and off and had those crappy voda apps.
My 3 sim works, so must be unlocked.
Are they selling this PAYG as I was debating using my monthly Vodafone SIM in it?
yes it is..
im sure i read that someone here has put a tmo sim in and it worked
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That was me!
My HTC Sensation from Vodafone was unlocked straight out of the box.
asdfliuchen said:
yes it is..
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Thanks. Actually a bit surprised at that because normally they keep such new flagship devices for contract only. That's why I hadn't really looked for it on PAYG.
Thank-you all.
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using XDA App
is there any way by telling whether the phone is branded or not from preferably the box? ie, so i can go to vodashop and get one on contract, but checking the box labels first to make sure i get one unbranded...the one i had a play with in the shop today had the voda logo on start up and kinds of put me off as i'd like quick updates as-and-when they release...instead of waiting for voda
there is nothing showed 'vodafone things' on box, and nothing on outside of phone.
there is vodafone flash when turn on this phone, and several vodafone software already installed, and not allowed to uninstall (just several times, hope I didn't operate wrongly).
hope this helps.
everyday48 said:
there is nothing showed 'vodafone things' on box, and nothing on outside of phone.
there is vodafone flash when turn on this phone, and several vodafone software already installed, and not allowed to uninstall (just several times, hope I didn't operate wrongly).
hope this helps.
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perhaps there are different codes or something on the box.
I really hope there's a quick way without having to physically ask the assistant to turn each phone on in the hope they have an unbranded one. guessing it'll just be one of the 2 though....a batch of branded or unbranded...can't imagine it's a mix
Barff1984 said:
is there any way by telling whether the phone is branded or not from preferably the box? ie, so i can go to vodashop and get one on contract, but checking the box labels first to make sure i get one unbranded...the one i had a play with in the shop today had the voda logo on start up and kinds of put me off as i'd like quick updates as-and-when they release...instead of waiting for voda
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Click to collapse
As always if you want the quickest updates you have to go the SIM free route and I cannot see the Sensation being any different.
I yesterday moved from O2 to Vodafone and got the Sensation on a monthly contract. It is UNLOCKED and I still use my O2 SIM with it, waiting for my O2 number to port to Vodafone. As menntioned above. the Vodafone logo shows when power is turned on. I assume this means that it is branded and we will need to wait for software updates from Vodafone ruther than the general update.
It is unlocked and branded - but minimally.
Apart from the fugly Vodafone boot screen there were at least 3 Vodafone apps installed initially - the first one is visible as soon as you turn the phone on as it puts a nasty red icon in the notification bar!
First thing I did was load the "Vodafone 360 updates" program and disable automatic updates. I then ran the one outstanding update it was showing. The update downloaded and ran and then the other handful of Vodafone apps suddenly self-destructed! They all disappeared from the application drawer (for example there was initially a ****ty Vodafone Shop and Vodafone Music app). Now only the updates program is left and is set to be invisible.
I guess the Vodafone crapware was so crap that the self-update deleted all the apps! Excellent
Oh and I forgot to say. My last phone was the HTC Legend. When the froyo update came out for Legend, Vodafone had bribed HTC to release it on Vodafone branded handsets first and to hold back to unbranded handsets for a month's exclusivity! I suppose another benefit to branded handsets is that they should be correctly configured for the network - I never did manage to get O2 MMS working on my unbranded Legend.
Super Chimp said:
Thanks. Actually a bit surprised at that because normally they keep such new flagship devices for contract only. That's why I hadn't really looked for it on PAYG.
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They sell it PAYG or I misunderstood it?
Because I really want to buy it without any contract o-o
DSensation said:
They sell it PAYG or I misunderstood it?
Because I really want to buy it without any contract o-o
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On the Vodafone eforum a Voda mod stated that it will be contact only to start with, at a guess while they have it exclusive. Also all Vodafone contract phones are sent out unlocked apart from iphones and fully exclusive phones like the first blackberry storm was.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA Premium App
The branding is VERY minimal on this. Quick Vodafone icon on boot up and shutdown, but it doesn't stay for long thankfully
how much does it cost at vodafone? and is it available on all of their shops?
Hello,
I have been wondering about the substantive difference between the carrier and manufacture branding, but couldn't find anything on google or here about this subject.
Basically, it's common knowledge that carrier-branded phones get updates when the carrier wants you to, but is there also a delay if the phone is not carrier branded but manufacture branded?
For example, I bought my HTC phone through retail so it is not branded by a carrier, but it still has the HTC branding on the phone. Does this mean that updates will be pushed whenever HTC decides to push it instead of as soon as Microsoft releases it?
If so, would it be worth flashing the ROM to get rid of the HTC branding too? Is this even possible? The threads on de-branding and flashing HTC phones seem to all link to HTC ROMs instead of generic Microsoft ones, do they even exist?
Thanks!
Ok, so I have a kind of a weird issue here.
First of all, I want to make it clear: I do NOT want to S-OFF my Sensation, and I do NOT want to root my Sensation.
Ok so back to the point,
A little over a month ago, I bought a brand new HTC Sensation from a local retail store here in Malta. I paid full price for it, it was sealed, and it came sim-free from factory. Also, there was absolutely no apparent branding on it - not even in the deepest area of the phone.
I was happy, until I realised that my friend's Sensation updated to 2.3.4, whilst mine is stuck on 2.3.3. I contacted HTC, and they told me the reason is that I have an O2 UK branded phone (and O2 UK hasn't released the updates yet). I told them that mine is evidently (i.e. when using it) unbranded, at the shop I was told it's unbranded, there is no branding on it or the box at all, came SIM free and was sealed. HTC told me there is nothing I could do.
I feel frustrated at having a brand new phone, bought at full price, which I cannot update.
Browsing the Internet, I saw something about RUU. Is it possible to debrand the phone using RUU without ever making it S-OFF or rooting it? I want to keep it intact!
Also, if it is possible to debrand it with RUU, will it update OTA? Or am I stuck to RUU forever? (Since my IMEI shows up as branded with O2 on HTC's servers).
Or should I forget it? Or should I go to the shop and make him change the phone since it was paid for at full price (supposedly for an unbranded phone)?
Browsing the Internet, this seems to be my current software:
RUU_Pyramid_O2_UK_1.34.206.1_Radio_10.43a.9007.00U_10.51.9007.27_M3_release_196476_signed
Thanks
*bump* anyone?
francocm said:
*bump* anyone?
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You have 3 options I guess:
i) live with it;
ii) Take it back and get a refund, "not what was promised", i.e. it turned out to be O2;
iii) S-OFF and change cid and install the latest RUU or any other custom ROM.