Hello all. I am new to Android – but have done a little research and I am excited about the possibilities of my new phone. Which is…the HTC Desire A8183 with Telstra Branding and the new ROM that fixed the GPS issue and added voice search.
I imported the phone into the US to use on AT&T’s network. I love the OS, the features, etc. The speed on AT&T’s 3G network is incredible – averaging about 200 kB/s.
My Goal: I want to Root the device and probably apply a stock HTC Rom. The reasons: I want to 1. Remove the Telstra crap; 2. Use it for Wi-Fi tethering; and 3. Install apps to the SD Card.
My issues: When I purchased the phone, it came with what I believe was a stock HTC Desire ROM from Europe. However, the GPS DID NOT WORK. I tried every program I could get my hands on. Does anyone know if the A8183 has a different hardware configuration (other than frequencies) and that is why the GPS did not work on the original Telstra ROM? Of course, the only way I could get the GPS to work was to flash the phone with the Updated Telstra ROM from HTC’s website. Piece of cake. However, now I have this crap from Telstra on my phone.
My predicament regarding rooting and flashing another ROM on to this particular HTC Desire model: It looks like all the guides I have found require you to install a new ROM on to the phone. Will I still have the same GPS issues? Have we found out why the GPS did not work on the original ROM and how they fixed it? If so, has anyone ported that solution into a stock HTC ROM?
To be perfectly honest – I just want this Telstra bloatware gone, wifi tethering, and apps on my SDcard. (Obviously, I want all other functions to work as they should…including GPS) If anyone has possible solutions, my mind is open and I can pretty much respond immediately.
Sorry if I used incorrect terms – I’m new.
In advance – Thanks,
Eric
Have a look at this thread over on MoDaCo android forum, it has the solution to your problem.
BTW, where did you buy your phone from?
Related
Ok, this might be a bit of a newbie question but since I am doing this months after everyone else I am looking to learn from those who have gone before
I finally got tired of waiting for Bell to release an official upgrade for the HTC Touch that would enable the GPS. So after months of waiting I finally went the DHarvey route carefully following the popular and often referenced instructions found on PPCGeeks http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=24979
Anyway, long story short, I upgraded my Bell Touch with the Alltel firmware to upgrade the radio. Then I flashed NFSFAN’s "Non-Themed ROM" found linked in the same thread.
Now apparently the GPS is working but I don’t know if it ever gets a “lock”. If I use the GPSViewer app it never gets a fix. In Google Maps the “My Location” feature works (when checking off “Use GPS”) but it is always off by several kilometers. I am in Burlington, Ontario and am trying this outside on a beautiful 27 degrees clear sky day.
Should I be upgrading to an even newer radio version? Or should I be looking at a different ROM (other then the NFSFAN’s Non-Themed ROM)? Do I have to specifically look for “made for Bell” ROM’s? Or can I use any ROM?
Is there a ROM out there that stands up as “the” best ROM for the Bell Touch? Could the ROM I’m using have adversely affected by reception? As in everything works (calls, internet, etc) but instead of getting 3 bars I now get 1 or 2? Or is this my imagination?
Basicly, now that this has been around for several months is there something new I should be looking for? Now that I have broken out of the “must run Bell’s firmware” mode where do I go from here? The possibilities seem endless and exciting.
Best regards,
The Fish
Check my signature for the link to "Touch Tips"
Sometimes - especially after a long time in a building in central london with inexplicably poor 3d reception - my phone just refuses to connect to 3g even when in a strong 3g area. I try turning the mobile connectivity off/on and this very rarely does the trick; more often it either does nothing, or doesn't even complete. It just sits there saying `connecting`. If I turn my phone off and on again then reception is restored. My phone is fine in all other respects (wifi is very fast), and the data does work fine most of the time.
Does anyone else have this problem? Is it just orange? Is there some other way of getting the resetting functionality of turning it off and on without actually doing so?
Orange UK handset? Lots of threads on this already...
Of the various mods I've read about, changing the preferred network type has had the best results. My phone is usable again.
Dial *#*#4636#*#*
Change the network type to GSM auto (PRL)
Upgrading your radio version is the next step and is something I intend to do eventually... the phone needs unlocking first. The above method has made my phone usable in the mean time.
bedeabc said:
Orange UK handset? Lots of threads on this already...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I read a lot of them. None of them make any difference for me.
bedeabc said:
Of the various mods I've read about, changing the preferred network type has had the best results. My phone is usable again.
Dial *#*#4636#*#*
Change the network type to GSM auto (PRL)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like this one, for example.
bedeabc said:
Upgrading your radio version is the next step and is something I intend to do eventually... the phone needs unlocking first. The above method has made my phone usable in the mean time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've no interest in unlocking or flashing my phone. I just want to use the internet on my phone. Apparently this is a problem on the Desire.
Assuming you're on Orange? You didn't say.
They've got their branded 1.21 OTA update in the pipeline that will almost certainly include a radio update that many have reported improves signal and 3G/HSDPA pickup.
If you want that now, you can flash to a generic 1.21 ROM using a goldcard. You'll need to buy an unlock code for around £15.
You can either wait for Orange to release the update (keeping your warranty), Or go get it yourself now. Woth bearing in mind that you'll get Froyo faster if you get a generic ROM...
bedeabc said:
Assuming you're on Orange? You didn't say.
They've got their branded 1.21 OTA update in the pipeline that will almost certainly include a radio update that many have reported improves signal and 3G/HSDPA pickup.
If you want that now, you can flash to a generic 1.21 ROM using a goldcard. You'll need to buy an unlock code for around £15.
You can either wait for Orange to release the update (keeping your warranty), Or go get it yourself now. Woth bearing in mind that you'll get Froyo faster if you get a generic ROM...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I'm on Orange UK. I like the idea of generic roms, but I'm sort of put off by all the reports of people bricking their phones. Also, I'm used to HTC's sense UI. By all accounts the standard Android interface is a little dull. It's actually the HTC widgets I'd probably miss most, though. I guess it depends on exactly what is in 2.2, really. Functionality is more important to me than a wizzy front end, and Orange have made something of a mess of 2.1 on the Desire (breaking reflow on the browser, removing google talk but leaving the service running, putting loads of crap on like facebook which you can't remove and which gives me a daily reminder that there are updates available which i don't want and can't disable).
poldie said:
Yeah, I'm on Orange UK. I like the idea of generic roms, but I'm sort of put off by all the reports of people bricking their phones. Also, I'm used to HTC's sense UI. By all accounts the standard Android interface is a little dull. It's actually the HTC widgets I'd probably miss most, though. I guess it depends on exactly what is in 2.2, really. Functionality is more important to me than a wizzy front end, and Orange have made something of a mess of 2.1 on the Desire (breaking reflow on the browser, removing google talk but leaving the service running, putting loads of crap on like facebook which you can't remove and which gives me a daily reminder that there are updates available which i don't want and can't disable).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why not flash a custom ROM like Pays Desire Sense: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=674688
It's not Froyo but it's a great 2.1 ROM that will get rid of all the annoying **** from the Orange/Generic ROM and adding some nice new stuff, all while keeping Sense and all the HTC UI stuff.
I had the problem with the data connection as well but it's fixed now I flashed the radio after unlocking. You can get an unlock code for £10 and it's actually an investment in terms of resell value for the phone, plus of course you can then use whatever radio you want rather than waiting on Orange OTA updates.
You can always reflash to Orange stock if you ever have any warranty issues.
It can seem a bit daunting at first if you are not used to flashing ROM's but as long as you can follow a handful of well documented step by step instructions that are given it's easy, and there is so much to be gained.
Don't put up with what you don't like when there are relatively easy fixes.
Hi Guys!
I have the australian Desire because of the 850MHz 3G frequency needed in my country. I upgraded to froyo (not rooted device) "in the air" and got this:
- Android 2.2 version;
- 32.43.00.32U_5.09.00.20 baseband version;
- 2.6.32.14-gf9c0527 kernel version;
- 2.09.405.8 CL218634 release-keys;
- 2.09.405.8 software version;
- wbekit 3.1 browser version.
Besides the sometimes poor reception of the radio I´m also having notifications problems:
1- The phone, when in vibrate mode, doesn´t receive calls, the phone do not vibrate at all going to "not available" for the person who calls me and a missed call symbol appears on the notification area.
2- The phone do not ring at all in normal mode and a missed call symbol appears on the notification area.
3- SMS messages do not ring and/or vibrate when in normal/vibrate modes, specially when the threaded messages are opened.
This problems occours randomly, sometimes occours and sometimes not.
Is there anyone also having this?
Thank you all!
Are you locked to Telstra? I didn't think they had upgraded to Froyo yet, because I've got one, and just checked.
Anyway, I've rooted the device (using Unrevoked) and installed OpenDesire on it, and don't have any of the problems you're having. However, if you don't want to void your warranty, I can see the reasons for not wanting to root/flash your phone.
BrockAtkinson said:
Are you locked to Telstra? I didn't think they had upgraded to Froyo yet, because I've got one, and just checked.
Anyway, I've rooted the device (using Unrevoked) and installed OpenDesire on it, and don't have any of the problems you're having. However, if you don't want to void your warranty, I can see the reasons for not wanting to root/flash your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I´m not locked to Telstra. When I bought it on eBay I did simply put my chip from Vivo on it and started talking. I do not care about warantie, I just like the HTC widgets and messages, email, dialer and other stuffs and don´t want to have an instable OS, or a modifyed one with icons and stuffs that don´t have the "factory default appearance", got it?
But I have not discarted rooting my device...
Is your from Telstra too? Was it locked?
Thanks!
Australian Desire in Brazil
cristianomc,
I'm no expert, but since you updated your desire 'over the air' I wonder if you have firmware from your mobile carrier that is incompatible with the telstra firmware that was on the telstra branded desire?
Telstra Froyo updates are not out yet, but should be in a week or two.
These would be available 'over the air' in Australia, but perhaps they would also be available online from HTC or telstra.
HTC had a telstra update some months ago for the desire and posted it here : www*htc*com/au/SupportViewNews.aspx?dl_id=941&news_id=640
Perhaps you should check this page in a week or so and see if the Telstra 2.2 update is there for download and try insalling that over the top?
Alternatively, since you haven't "rooted" your phone, but just used an incompatible 'over the air' updtate in Brazil, e-mail htc support, and they may be able to help?
Good luck,
Richard
Australia
Hey everyone, I just got my tp2 in the mail today, this thing is much slower than I anticipated it being. this is saying something as I am coming form a WM5 HP HW6925 model. It just seems to take forever to get from one option to the next i dont know if Im missing something.
Is there anything I should know about, there is such a wealth of knowledge on here I dont even knew where to begin.
first of all, if you did not have the latest official rom, be sure to flash it (you can get it from HTC's official site).
in order ot really speed up your device, you probably need to root it and flash custom rom in my opinion. it adds a lot of feature and also makes the device much faster. check the custom rom section/.
Ok one thing that's got me lost is the GPS. On my old phone I had a file I had to download every 3 days that informed the phone where the satellites were in order to allow the GPS to get a quicker track. On this phone I see nothing mentioning the GPS besides A-GPS.
I do not have a data plan, but I have used the internal GPS on my old phone just fine without it, is this going to be an issue with this phone?
I used the standalone TomTom for my old phone, i see tom tom may not be an option currently on this phone but I can find other non data requiring programs, but does the GPS depend on data? or is AGPS just based off the cell signal?
thanks!
So I have the HTC One m8 on a small-town carrier called ChatMobility (formerly Cellular 29 Plus) out of rural southwest Iowa. It's a CDMA version, and although it seems hardware-identical to the Sprint version, I'm not 100% certain it has the same model number. I'm curious about how to go about unlocking and flashing custom ROMS to it, as the only information I've read is specific to the major carrier versions. I tried plugging it into WinDroid HTC Universal Toolkit, but it didn't recognize the device for some reason, no matter what I tried. Anyone have any suggestions? How do I go about achieving S-Off and root, and what ROMS/recoveries are safe to flash? Thanks in advance guys.
No one has any ideas? I thought XDA users knew everything
EDIT: Well, looks like Verizon ROMs are the way to go if you have Chat Mobility for a carrier. Unfortunately, as you might expect, this results in Verizonified themes and apps, as well as reaching Verizon customer service when dialing the usual customer service numbers. Anyone happen to know where I can get a stock dump for Chat Mobility for restoring purposes? I forgot to make a backup when I flashed to nV ROM.
Everything does seem to work fine, though.
EDIT2: Breaks your MMS doing this! It loads the default VZW pic messaging servers, not the correct ones from Chat Mobility.