Haven't seen it posted here yet, so figured I'd let you all know. Microsoft officially announced it will be releasing a free WM6 ROM update to all manufacturers of keyboarded WM5 devices. Looks like MS is trying to compete with the iPhone release by flooding the market with as many WM6 devices as possible. They're finally doing something right! HTC has said it will release the ROMs for our devices to the carriers, so it's simply a matter of making sure the carriers get that ROM to us.
__________________
AT&T iPhone 8GB, Belkin leather case
Yep. The SDK is being released May 1, so I'd imagine give it 1-2 months for carriers to get the ROM and get it prepped to send out (some carriers are better than others at that). Looks like MS is trying to coinside the release with the iPhone release timeframe. It makes me wonder what Sprint/Verizon plan to do with the AKU 3 update that's supposed to be coming out now. Do they provide a ROM that people will use 2-3 months, or just hold off for WM6? Only they can answer that one.
__________________
AT&T iPhone 8GB, Belkin leather case
Nice to hear that from MS, but it doesn't guarantee that the carriers will officially release or support the WM6 update for the 6700. We could still end up rolling our own.
Yep... sure hope the 6700 WM6 upgrade comes to fruition via sprint and verizon. Although, I too have real doubts, as the update would take away from their upcoming 6800 sales (IMHO). That said, guess I'll believe it when I see it, lol...
On that note, there's a far better chance that private ROM developers will port a generic WM6 version over... long before any possible any CDMA carrier release hits the street.
Nonetheless, still hoping verizon and sprint will do the right thing... Albeit, with very low expectations, lol...
R
I don't want to sound negative, but there is absolutely no chance that Sprint and Verizon will waste the time and money to test and release an update for the 6700. If it were 10 or 11 months until a new model were coming out, there would be a small chance that they would try to pump out some more 6700 sales by giving us an update. But since they are already focused on the 6800, they aren't going to waste the energy on our old phone.
The good news is that as long as the software is out there, someone will be able to massage it to work our phones. And chances are, the end result will have quite a more features than a "blessed" version would have. Especially if you're a Verizon user, everyone knows how they like to cripple software.
I agree that it won't hurt sales, to be honest. The general concensus is that the 6800 is not enough of an upgrade to legitimize dropping the 6700 for it. Hopefully Sprint and Verizon also see this. WM6 is not enough of a change in the o/s that the current extended rom apps would stop working, either. WM6 is still based on WM5 technology. They can pretty much just drop the current extended rom into an update with the WM6 CE rom and be good to go. Then again, we can just do the same.
__________________
AT&T iPhone 8GB, Belkin leather case
I seriously doubt Sprint will release this info. Look no further than the EVDO update for the 6600, or the SMS update for the G1000 (none of these updates ever came).
Besides, I was hoping for some new, better devices anyway. I don't want to upgrade the 6700, I want to buy a CDMA Omni...
The EVDO update never came to the 6600 due to hardware incompatibilities on Sprint's back-end. I was one of the ones helping that cause for the whole run. The 6600 also had very poor EVDO reception due to the way it's internal antenna was designed. I had no EVDO reception with my 6600 where I had a decent signal (not just "bars", either) with my 6700. You're comparing apples to oranges with that one. To be honest, Sprint really did try to get us that update, too. The hardware limitations were why that effort died. With regard to the 6600 and WM5, the 6600 didn't have sufficient ROM space to facilitate an acceptible update as well as the fact that WM2003SE to WM5 was a total overhaul of the O/S. Just throwing that out there too before that comparison gets brought up.
__________________
AT&T iPhone 8GB, Belkin leather case
The EVDO update never came to the 6600 due to hardware incompatibilities on Sprint's back-end. I was one of the ones helping that cause for the whole run. The 6600 also had very poor EVDO reception due to the way it's internal antenna was designed. I had no EVDO reception with my 6600 where I had a decent signal (not just "bars", either) with my 6700. You're comparing apples to oranges with that one. To be honest, Sprint really did try to get us that update, too. The hardware limitations were why that effort died.
Well I know the Verizon model had EVDO, and the beta ROM (for Sprint) actually worked until Sprint killed it.
And the G1000 never got the update for SMS either. In fact, a user on this site made an app that enabled SMS on the G1000 when Sprint refused to release an update.
Bottom line, Sprint has a horrible track record for releasing updates on Pocket PC Phones. The 6600 was the device previous to the 6700, and the G1000 was the device previous to the 6600. So it's not like I'm talking about ancient history here, as these were the most recently released devices prior to the 6700...
Wether Sprint offers it or not is kinda irrelevant because it will find its way to us either way, via hacks or someone converting the rom for our devices. That the beauty of all this hacking stuff. I mean I am running aku 3.5, stable as hell, with more features, and I didnt have to wait for Sprint who are still at aku 2.
Well I know the Verizon model had EVDO, and the beta ROM (for Sprint) actually worked until Sprint killed it.
And the G1000 never got the update for SMS either. In fact, a user on this site made an app that enabled SMS on the G1000 when Sprint refused to release an update.
Bottom line, Sprint has a horrible track record for releasing updates on Pocket PC Phones. The 6600 was the device previous to the 6700, and the G1000 was the device previous to the 6600. So it's not like I'm talking about ancient history here, as these were the most recently released devices prior to the 6700...
The beta ROM allowed you to connect to EVDO, but while you were in EVDO range you could not receive calls or text messages. It basically shut down 1X. This isn't really the thread for that discussion though, I'm just saying that they never released it because it would never have really worked.
__________________
AT&T iPhone 8GB, Belkin leather case
A 6600 on Sprint's EV network could have worked... Sprint just chose not to keep paying Audiovox->HTC after the one "test" EV-DO ROM was released and had bugs. Remember that the hardware is exactly the same in all of the Harrier models. Sprint just made the decision at some point to stop paying for further development of an EV ROM for the PPC6600. At the same time they switched on AN-AAA authentication. With that in place, when you fail auth on the EV base station it will force you onto the 1x tower automatically (which probably accounts for the reception variances you were seeing between the two towers... it's got nothing to do with the phone's antenna).
As for official WM6 on the PPC6700, I highly doubt it will ever see the light of day. Even though MS says they will not charge HTC for it, you can bet your sweet Aspercreme that HTC will charge UTStarcom and UTStarcom will charge Sprint, adding profit in the process. Sprint et al can't (or won't) charge us so they'd end up eating a big loss.
Such is the consequence of having a truly inefficient supply chain. If MS sold directly to the customer then we would actually see a free WM6 upgrade. As it is now though, the middlemen aren't likely feeling as generous as MS is (no incentive to be, really).
Sucks, but such is life.
Last edited by luv2chill : 03-03-2007 at 03:26 PM.
Login
Panel
