I wanted to get an LG EVE phone w/ Rogers, but I'm not so sure anymore after knowing theres no options for upgrading the OS and probably allot of applications that I won't be able to run.
If its available elsewhere why the hell wouldn't they make it available in Canada?
If the phone supports the OS, it should be an option.

Ben

LG Eve/GW620R (i think) ya i hate my 1.5 and have been waiting for a bit now for at least 1.6. Anyone know why it went from 1.6 to 2.0 so fast? My android market sucks, i hate that alot and any rogers person looking at this, why did you call me? :P

Also do you have to login w/ facebook twitter and disqus or can i make an account here, im really confused here.

I moved to Rogers from Telus and have an LG Eve. Now I need a firmware update to get some of the features I had on my blackberry. When will the 1.6 upgrade happen?

Bring 2.x for the eve too please!

Stay away from rogers!

I can't believe I got scammed by rogers. Not only are we not getting any future updates. But we can't even access paid apps from the Market. I got my Htc Magic for the sole purpose of developing paid apps. So they just screwed with my business plan. I shouldn't have to root my phone!

below is from the support section from HTC's page regarding rogers:
===========================================================
"Can I upgrade my Rogers Magic device to Android 1.6?
HTC is not currently planning any Android 1.6 upgrades for Rogers Dream or Magic. Android 1.6 was only made available for “Google”-branded devices such as the G1. It is not available for HTC-branded products such as the Dream or Magic, which use Android 1.5. We believe that Android 1.5 is a stable and reliable software platform that delivers a terrific user experience "

That's all changed now, HTC will be updating the Magic to 2.1 by mid year, The HTC Dream will not see anything past "one" minor update to 1.5. Rogers is offering a limited time "Free" upgrade to Dream owners to the Magic. This offer is only available until Jan 26/2010. See iwantmyonepointsix.com for the details on the upgrade offer from Rogers.

gbd

I think Rogers acts to show the CRTC we need international competition in the mobile phone industry. Rogers is backing Globalive by its attitude. I'm with Rogers for my wireless needs since eleven years. But the Dream I bought from them is the last one. I'll switch all my business business (20 BB, iPhones and Droids) to Globalive asap and buy furture phones directly from Google !

This will not be the first time that Rogers has screwed me over with updates to their hardware. I recently had an HTC TyTN Windows Mobile 5 which was sold to me as a "Vision Phone" being told that rogers will be releasing an update, Window Mobile 6, to activate the front facing camera. 2 yrs into my contract they later told me that it will not be released and that tech support is no longer working on this phone.

Recently swicthed to the android HTC Dream again being informed that Rogers will be releasing updates.

Alas, Rogers has once again F#(ked me and others over.

When is Rogers going to step up and take responsibility. When is Rogers going to train their representatives properly and give them that requiered training on how to sell advanced peices of hardware. CUSTOMER SERVICE sucks in this dept. Tech Support knows nothing about Windows Mobile and i am going to assume that they know nothing about Android.

As soon as this contract is over, Bell or Telus will be my new carrier of choice.

signed,
Update Unfriendly

I have 5 phones on Rogers. The last I added two weeks ago was Pay as You Go... because unless Rogers drops their rates, and is more supportive of Android, I'm moving all of them off Rogers as fast as I can. And when they go, along with it will go my home phone, my digital cable and my internet. This is why we need new companies like Wind Mobile.

Rogers, Rogers, Rogers.......


I guess Rogers really does not care to catch on the android wave and support their products they would just rather sell us new phones. Well all this negative publicity in regards to android will cause new users to look elsewhere due to the lack of support and spend their money with another company. I have no desire to support Rogers when they will not even stand by their own products.

It is very baffling why Rogers would not support the HTC Dream / Magic and update to version 1.6 and eventually 2.0 and so on. Android is the fastest growing market in smart phones and leaving their customers with old OS will ensure that Canada lags behind in Android support.


HTC, HTC, HTC

Well all the blame cannot go to Rogers either cause at the end of the day this is a HTC phone and is obvious they just want to sell handsets but by allowing carriers to not provide updates for the phones they certainly are hurting their image and will cause android users to look at others brands as well.

Google, Google, Google

Great OS but.......You need to learn a thing or two from the iphone and that you need to rollout these updates across the board on these phones just not ones you brand and make. Failing to do so is a major mistake and will cost you in the long run. While android may be taking off and getting a larger market share how do you think the sales are going to be in a few years when android owners are tired of being handcuffed from the carriers and manufactures of your phones by poor support....I love my android phone but i tell you a unlocked iphone is looking allot more attractive to me specially in the long run....Having updates for the android is what makes the Google experience much richer and with carriers not supporting 1.6 or 2.0 android is sure to upset many customers as it has done in Canada already.

In the mean time putting pressure on Rogers and all the negative press they are going to receive on this and loss of revenue may force their hands to actually do something about it instead of responding with their generic corporate responses.
If need be the Android users of Rogers who have the HTC Dream, Magic and EVE will persue this diligently.

All i have to say is thank god my contract is up this summer ....Nexus One, Wind, Dave, Public Mobile will all get a chance to get my money since Rogers has proven all they care about is your money not customer satisfaction.

To educate yourself more on this topic and find out all that has been done and said by the customers, Rogers, HTC regarding Android updates for Canadian users please read the forums.

http://androidforums.com/rogers/10647-rogers-dr...

Just for fun, I created a Facebook group "Rogers Magic/Dream Owners Want Android Upgrades Now!" ... hope you don't mind, but I added a link to this site.

I wished I knew that the recent purchase of the HTC Dream was obsolete before I unwrap it. I'll keep my Blackberry with Telus in case there is no Rogers update by the time my renewal is due with Telus. How can Rogers be so retarded by not being responsive and allowing a smart phone to become so dumb. Roger take note that the answer is blowing in the "WIND" (Mobile that is) your next nightmare.

I recently purchased the HTC Dream and unfortunately didn't research as well as I should have. The sales person told me I had access to all the same market apps as are available in the US. Rogers, either educate your sales people better or open up the apps market and make 1.6/2.0 available ASAP!

In the 5+ years I've been with Rogers, I've never seen them provide any update on their mobile phones, even months after HTC pushed critical changes to other carriers.

As 4r4nd0mninj4 said, they take your 80$ a month and leave you in the cold.

A rep acting on behalf of Rogers' CEO informed me yesterday that Rogers will not provide 1.6 update for HTC dream. However, he said there will be patches update but not to 1.6 but he said that doesn't mean we won't see 2.0 or later version. I seriously doubt we will see 2.0 anyway. He said that 1.6 may pose some problem to their network therefore they didn't want to go ahead with 1.6, however, he said there will be new handset coming out soon running 1.6. Does it make sense to you guys?

This seems typical of wireless companies in Canada. Over charge for service, make extra features cost a ridiculous amount of money (paying for Caller ID and Voicemail? This is included with plans in almost all other major countries), and offer outdated phones with slow updates.

Rogers is showing its true colours here. It's selling a phone designed to be upgraded, yet won't provide the upgrade. This is a clear signal to me that they aren't interested in me buying my next Android device from them. When the Motorola Milestone reaches Canada, I'll be buying from one of their several competitors now in the Market.

But for those of you with the Magic or Dream, all is not lost. Visit xda-developers.com (or google Relentless Rooter) for instructions on how to "root" your device and install a special recovery ROM that will then allow you to flash new upgrades to your device. I'm now running RAV 1.62 Donut ROM on my Rogers 32A Magic (Sapphire). i.e. I have Android 1.6, and will soon have 2.0.

As for Rogers customers who have bought the LG Eve, at the moment you are out of luck. LG won't be updating the OS to 1.6, so neither will Rogers. Over on xda-developers, someone has succeeded in rooting the device, but it's not clear that it will be possible to install new versions of the OS on the device.

I just spent 2 hours on the phone talking to various customer support staff at rogers, being polite yet to the point: I am sick and tired of the lack of support for my htc dream (I was working from home due to the bad weather, so I had my phone on speaker while I worked, because there was a lot of waiting! *sigh*).

My complaints were firstly the lack of paid apps (over 6 months now!) and secondly the lack of firmware upgrades (1.6 for the dream has been out since early October on t-mobile, and with so many apps, especially the new google goggles and maps only working on 1.6 or greater, this is a big issue).

The last person I talked to said they promised to get me some sort of status on both of these issues by the end of the week. He also promised me if that if I wasn't satisfied with the response that I could cancel my contract and return the phone with no early cancellation fees.

Fellow rogers customers, this is the time to call and get into action. If they have hundreds (maybe thousands?) of customers threatening to leave at once then maybe they will get their asses into gear and finally support us!

Some tips when calling: compare the situation with the iphone, they have paid app support, why not us, also, when there is a firmware update, rogers iphone customers are able to get access to it at the same time as in other markets (although this is done through itunes, rogers is involved in the testing of the firmware to ensure it works on their network), yet we wait and wait for the latest firmware.

Wow, I am impressed. The rogers rep call me back (less than 12 hours after I called). He told me that the market would be open to paid apps when the Motorola Milestone was released, and that the Milestone would be the first device with 2.0 firmware. The Milestone is the same as the Droid on Verizon (the Milestone is the name used outside the US).

Unfortunately he didn't have any news on firmware upgrades for existing phones. He didn't say there would be no upgrade, just that there was nothing he found (no news could be bad news). However he did mention that if customers were upset because the Milestone was released with 2.0 firmware yet the other Android phones were still at 1.5 he wouldn't be surprised if rogers would allow hardware upgrades outside of the normal upgrade polic. I find this hard to believe, yet perhaps if we complain loud enough then rogers would bend (is it really cheaper for them to take a loss on an HTC Dream replacing it with a new Motorola Milestone just to make a customer happy?).

As far as I know, the Motorola Milestone is possibly going to be exclusive to Telus, so I don't know how Rogers will give us a hardware upgrade to it?!

I do regret buying the HTC Dream because of NO support which makes this smart phone a pretty dumb device. No response to updates - 2.0 & Google Map, etc. However, I still and will not give up my Blackberry with Telus. Let hope Rogers will have this update before my contract with them expires.

I signed a 3yr term, and expect to be able to use my phone to its fullest ability over that duration. Rogers already limits me to free apps only, now with new apps specifically for 1.6, and soon to be 2.0, my phone is becoming more useless by the day. Yet our friends south of the border on T-mobile get updates for their G1 and MyTouch (aka Rogers HTC Dream and Magic respectively)

i just received a comment from one of my forums. one person has contacted office of the president of rogers and she said that HTC should release a 1.6 update in late december for testing and evaluation. hopefully this is true and the rogers android people will be a bit happy.

My HTC Dream is running 1.5 Cupcake. AFAIK all Rogers HTC phones (Dream and Magic) are sold with 1.5, so LG Eve owners are no better off than us.

Yup, Eve is no better off. One thing i've been trying to do is to find out what processor Eve is running on. There's no mention on the specifications. At least, my dream is using qualcomm cpu. Infact there's 2 cpus, one for graphics.

The best option we have now is to do what I did - make sure your first Rogers Android device is the LG "Eve". At least you get the benefits of the Cupcake 1.5 firmware. Now try to find out when THAT will be upgraded to 1.6 or 2.0...!!

Personally, I think the biggest issue for Android owners on Rogers in Canada is: why does Google treat us like second class citizens by not giving us access to the FULL Android Market including paid apps? Looks like I might have to put my ATT sim into my Eve and take a trip to Minneapolis for a weekend of mad downloading!

Hey, can anyone tell me if i were to unlock my magic, would i be able to download 1.6 from tmobile or someone either than Rogers? Or if I were to buy an unlocked Hero, will the android market still be limited to free apps?

So I contacted HTC and the response was basically this:

HTC only releases an update to carrier branded phones when the carrier asks for it (and pay I'm pretty sure). So that means that it's the responsibility from Rogers.

So, now I think it's time to express ourselves and start contacting Rogers regarding this issue. I will send an email right away.

Ivan goto
http://androidforums.com/rogers/10647-rogers-dr...

We've had followup with HTC and Rogers carefully. You can see what we have done so far.

For the record my brand new TELUS Hero came with 1.5 firmware. I'm waiting too.

With Telus Hero case is different. HTC admit that they will release 2.0 or 2.1 for HTC hero.

Check this out

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091130/03162...

So does Rogers, in Canada
by icon Brendan (profile)

Rogers does this in Canada, too, I think. At least that was the case when I got my phone back in June.

I have since rooted the phone and cleared off their garbage version of the OS, and enabled paid apps on my own. I have no idea if Rogers has enabled them for the "typical" consumer.

He "just thinks".

AFAIK as a developer, Google is doing a terrible job incorporating their Google Checkout stuff worldwide. If you are a developer, you can only SELL apps from some selected countries and Canada is not included sadly. And Google Checkout didn't start with Android, people has been complaining for not being able to sell stuff with Google Checkout from within Canada for about 3 years.

From what I read (and I'm not sure), for our case it's mostly because of the strong Canadian laws regarding this. So please don't jump into conclusions.

That person couldn't see paid apps because of what I said, I suppose. Now he can see them because he rooted the phone and faked the location with an app called "Market Enabler"

I've been able to purchase paid apps in Canada using the Market.

Setup Google Checkout
Root
Market Enabler
Fake Provider
Buy Apps

This is the msg. I sent to Google recently:

>We're working hard to add more countries, so please stay tuned!

I'm done being polite. Canada (and other countries) are still not accessible? What a load of BS!

Are you claiming, after more than two years, you still don't know how to open sales to Canada? Are you people really that stupid? Perhaps, a less rich company like Apple, can help you out!

Seriously, you either need to hire smarter ecommerce experts or hire people that actually care about solving this problem. I can cover both issues, if you are hiring.

Sorry, but this is so infuriating!

Really? Hmm.. I must do some research on Google.

Guess you are right

http://www.google.com/support/androidmarket/bin...

Technically, I don't see would be a troublesome for Google to include Canada in the list. The only thing i would concern is dual language being available but since France is already in the list.

I am sick and tired of 1) lack of updates 2) no paid apps. Rogers, you suck! The first sign of a contract change from rogers and I am taking advantage of their contract loophole (that allows you to cancel the contract if they change it) and I am off to Bell or Telus.

Well... Even though I'm very disappointed by the fact that Rogers doesn't deliver paid apps or updates, that's not only Rogers fault. Telus still doesn't have paid apps because Google doesn't support paid apps in Canada, same for selling apps for developers.

Regarding the updates, T-Mobile myTouch3G(HTC Magic) is one of the very few phones updated to Android 1.6. All other still release phones in 1.5 even the XperiaX10 will just be 1.6 and not 2.0 AFAIK.

True enough but Rogers can be pro-active to approach Google and said they want their customers to be able to access paid apps. With Rogers being sued by Telus and upsetting android customers, they are jeopardising their reputation.

Dear Rogers,

Please keep all these complaining sissi's in the dark and force them to buy iphones! They dont deserve the ultimate power of ANDROID!

Thank You!
Your Greatest Phan!
And"Roid"

geek GFY!

stu Hi Hater! Don't be jealous ;) Just need to get educated and a read a little noob. go back to school

i don't want 1.6, i want your mom! Hater!

Um ya she's like 65 ... That kinda weird is that Granny Fetish or something... You like wrinkled vag man Weird! Oh btw i'm your father ;)

Good one darth, btw your mom is as tight as an alter boys lips.

Oh PS! 1.6 Really Works great on the Rogers G1! :)

I can't care less about Rogers useless customer support.

I've now upgraded my phone to Android 1.6 + Cyanogen and it's doing just fine, with tons of new features, bugs fixed and stability improved. That's what community and free software are about - not depending on your provider.

In retrospect I should have waited a bit or at least just gotten an unlocked device without strings attached. Well, that'll teach me to trust any Canadian cell phone company.

My next move is ditching this ridiculous service and getting a prepaid data+voice US SIM Card, and using local SIP provider with Wifi. Videotron's new services will take care of the prices soon enough.

MagicFab, I know i can do that too but why do we want to go through these hassles if we are suppose to get support from our provider? Even the task of rooting the phone is not simple for many ppl. Simple as that, we pay for the service and we suppose to get service. Not rely on ourselves.

I rely on the community, not on myself. Rogers got their first and last chance to get it right, so I am just sharing what worked for me. Don't underestimate how much easier the rooting process gets by the day (literally). My only regret is they got my money but that's the deal when you want early access to this stuff. Looking at how they lowered the prices and changed pricing policy on just about every item in their list of services just to make more out of it, I am now making sure no one ever deals with Rogers, at least not on my recommendation.

It was actually worthwhile to go through the root process as I now know it works and I even edited the document to complete some missing details. In comparison, every single minute I spend with Rogers on the phone is utterly worthless.

When I pay for the service and I don't get it, I trust other customers in the same situation to band together and do tow things:
1) solve their own problems
2) leave the service and never come back again

I am at step #2.

I'm almost willing to buy myself out of my Roger's contract (which will run me $500) to move over to Telus and get the Motorola Milestone.

Definitely not impressed with rogers like many other Android users. I switched from TELUS to rogers for the dream and completely regret it now. I guess we'll have to wait for a Google branded phone in order to get the service we're looking for. Not cool.

I'm an early adopter and would love to know when updates will be released.

Hey, all, we need to keep pestering Rogers about this. Call customer support and elevate the call, email their customer support, and then elevate the email. Let as many blogs and fora know about this, not just Android fora, but Cell phone blogs and fora as well. We want Rogers to know that if they don't fix this, we WILL start warning away new customers (of course sadly they'll probably just buy iPhones, and maybe that's what Rogers wants?).

There is a thread here if people want to join in: http://androidforums.com/t-mobile-g1/10647-roge...

It is very unlikely that we will see htc dream/magic getting 2.0 update. I finally had a deep conversation with someone in HTC. HTC tech support told me that he had been a long employee for HTC and had "NEVER" once Rogers update their Windows Mobile customer's firmware. Accordng to him, firmware must be paid before HTC can release or pass it to Rogers to release it. We will be lucky to see 1.6 update. At this developers still working hard trying to port to 2.0 on a G1. Even if they do success and release it, it will be an easy upgrade for G1 T-mobile customers but not for us because Rogers customize the firmware with different radio. Accrording to HTC tech support, T-mobile, Verizon and the rest of the carrier did very little customization to the firmware, therefore upgrade can come easily directly from Google.

Another thing Rogers need to do is to open up the market for the Canadians. What makes them think we won't shop on the Google Market. Rogers must stop doing what they think the best for their customers. Rogers should start listen to what their customer wants.!!

Well, just so you know, all Google experience ("with Google" phrase) phones are supported by Google. Rogers' HTC Magic and Dream are not Google experience phones so it's HTC/Rogers the one responsible from making updates.

If you go to HTC support site, you will see they released an update for the Magic a couple months ago.

Only thing I can say is to have a little patience since there are no phones running Android 2.0 other than the Droid. Some carriers are just skipping 1.6 because 2.0 came too close.

http://androidversions.info/

This website compares updates with US carriers. I think Google is helped Motorola/Verizon to release the Droid with 2.0 update.

I know HTC is working on deliver Android 2.0 with Sense to all non Google branded HTC phones, that means the Hero, Droid Eris, HTC Magic and Dream from Rogers, etc.

So I think we should refer to HTC more than Rogers in this case.

HTC has releases for 1.6 and 2.0 for the Magic and Dream. They have to get a request from Rogers to build an update for them. So again, we're waiting on Rogers.

i agree we have been in the dark to long, can the dream or magic even support new firmware? i saw video of a g1 running 2.0 and was very slow and choppy. rogers needs to get in gear or maybe they are afraid to admit they are selling non upgradeable phones to hard working canadian customers. any info on this would be apprieciated.

The Magic has the same internals as the Hero so there is no reason why they cant give us the updates if the Hero is getting them.

Agree, Rogers get with the program and update our phones.

What I don't get is that Rogers is giving even more of an edge right now to Telus who are getting the Hero and soon the Droid. Why not at least update the Magic to 1.6 to counter the Hero a bit more? I guess they might be trying to push the Eve which is stuck on 1.5.

Come on Rogers get with the program!!! You guys seem to be putting up Blackberry updates fast, why you leaving us Android user out to dry!!! This is bull!!!

I'm sure Bell and Telus will put updates out for there new Android devices!!

This situation exposes the problem with the open software model combined with old school business. They got it for free but they can't get used to the idea of giving it back. So charge me for it if you must but at least do something. I'm a business user. I can't afford to take the chance of bricking my phone nor to I have the time to pi** around like that.

Oh and while I have your attention, when are you REALLY going to update the 3g network so we get "up to 7" instead of 1 +. Marketing Hype. Google got where it is by giving us a good product constantly improved at no direct cost to us. You guys are smart, figure it out.

Rogers let me buy the phone and I let them charge me $81/month. Other than that, I don't expect any more from them and they better not expect any more from me. I r00ted my phone the first chance I got and have been very happy with the more than regular updates I get from my 3rd party software. I get many features that are not included with the Rogers ROM and have full access to do what ever I want to my phone (like getting rid of those annoying Rogers Icons that you never use). If Rogers doesn't like it, then I know that Bell would be MORE than happy to have my business again.

We shouldn't be forced to root our phone and void our warranty though

Had I known that Rogers was going to pull this s**t, I would've never done business with them. If you care about having regular maintenance of your smartphone devices, stay away from Rogers.

Yup, I am all but done with Rogers because of this issue. Do they honestly think they can treat early adopters like crap and get away with it? There is no excuse for this long of a delay when it comes to updates. You may get my early cancellation fee, but you wont get a cent after that!

Had I known that Rogers was going to pull this s**t, I would've never done business with them. If you care about having regular maintenance of your smartphone devices, stay away from Rogers.

I just installed the latest MyHero Rom last night. I'm tired of waiting eventhough I'm Canadian. Rogers, please make us happy. Bell's LTE network is just around the corner.

They'll probably release it when Flan or updates after that comes out....

I think i've waited long enough so I just rooted my phone.. :D
It's working great. using 1.6 features.. :P

I was considering starting a facebook fan page as a petition. As for 2.0, I'm sure some built in apps can be stripped to make room for the ROM on the chip. They can always be downloaded from the market later. But at the very least give us 1.6.

Thanks for speaking out publicly. I am on of the early magic adopters and I expect to get 2.0 as soon as it becomes available from HTC for the magic. If Rogers takes too long to provide it they will not only have another unhappy customer but also another rooted/modded device on their network..

Thanks from trying to prompt a reply from Rogers. Before reading this, my intention was to get four Android phones from Rogers for my business before the calendar year end. If the answer is unsatisfactory, or they don't answer, that will change my decision.

Excellent post!

If Rogers really wants to keep their Android user base they need to provide faster update releases.

Even more, I hope they release Sense UI for Magic at least.