WM6 and Hermes - My take

[Guest MARKUKCOUK]

I was one of the patient people who scoured the net for a rom and instructions/tools to update my C500 to the all new Windows Mobile 5. Since the device wasn't really meant to run it, it was pretty sluggish, and more a geeks toy.

Orange never released an official upgrade, but to be honest, having played with the unofficial releases - I can see why. The hardware wasn't up to it.

---

The Hermes is different, and there may be too much pressure for Orange and/or MS to ignore. Obviously there are a lot more operators trying to out do each other as well.

My M3100 was alright, not slow, but not massively fast either... even with the blank HTC rom flashed onto it.

However, having flashed a new WM6 rom onto my device, I've seen a massive MASSIVE speed increase. I'm not talking wishful thinking, or it all being in my hand. Its a major difference. Sod the new featureset, sod the fancy graphics - this OS flies.

The problem I see for operators, and Microsoft, is that this illegal upgrade may well go widespread. This is no geeks toy - this is effectively, or seemingly, a hardware upgrade. If word does get out properly, operators will end up having to fend off so many failed upgrades that they may as well have given the upgrade, free or otherwise, in the first place.

Now because of Modaco rules, I can't link to any ROMs* but I would point out that as long as you install OliPro's software first - you won't have a problem.

*If you don't know where to find Hermes ROMs, you shouldn't be installing them!

What are your thoughts on whether operators may be forced into releasing WM6 upgrades?

EDIT: Just seen the other thread - firstly sorry for the new thread, secondly, as it seems its allowed, the ROM I'm using is WM6 Black Edition 1.2 and it is LIGHTNING fast. Radio is 1.38. Both available from YOU KNOW WHERE ;)

Edited March 26, 2007 by MARKUKCOUK

[Guest marisa4755]

I agree with you.

I'm with t-mobile, and there is no sign of any kind of upgrade rom for Vario II at all. Nobody says anything, we are just the customers, and they have us tied in for x months more, so they don't care.

I expect their reasoning is that they would rather you buy a new device with the new OS on it. Well, I've got news for them I would anyway.

So, I'm 6 months into an 18 month contract (I won't do that again) and in the meantime, what I would really like is an official t-mobile wm6 upgrade. I am prepared to pay for it. If necessary, I am prepared to send them my phone to do it. At the end of the contract, I will still buy another device because in the nature of these things, there will be something gorgeous & new out there which I 'just must have', so, really, they are wasting the opportunity to make some more money.

As things are, like a lot of people, I am waiting until I can build up the courage (and knowledge) to do it myself.

[Guest MARKUKCOUK]

I agree with you.

I'm with t-mobile, and there is no sign of any kind of upgrade rom for Vario II at all. Nobody says anything, we are just the customers, and they have us tied in for x months more, so they don't care.

I expect their reasoning is that they would rather you buy a new device with the new OS on it. Well, I've got news for them I would anyway.

So, I'm 6 months into an 18 month contract (I won't do that again) and in the meantime, what I would really like is an official t-mobile wm6 upgrade. I am prepared to pay for it. If necessary, I am prepared to send them my phone to do it. At the end of the contract, I will still buy another device because in the nature of these things, there will be something gorgeous & new out there which I 'just must have', so, really, they are wasting the opportunity to make some more money.

As things are, like a lot of people, I am waiting until I can build up the courage (and knowledge) to do it myself.

I think you've hit the nail on the head there. Most people are a little scared. But as the frankly amazing team at xda-devs get better and better, the risk will lessen, and the advantages grow. And we will all have unbranded phones, with no mention of our operator. Is this what they want?

[Guest Olipro]

I think you've hit the nail on the head there. Most people are a little scared. But as the frankly amazing team at xda-devs get better and better, the risk will lessen, and the advantages grow. And we will all have unbranded phones, with no mention of our operator. Is this what they want?

I know it sounds like shameless whoring... but flash Hard-SPL and then the only way you'll actually be able to brick your phone is by managing to corrupt the Radio Bootloader, which isn't all that easy to do fortunately

[Guest Tech]

discussion of flashing WM6 ROM's etc... are not really allowed.....no operator in the UK anyway allows you to do that.

[Guest Olipro]

discussion of flashing WM6 ROM's etc... are not really allowed.....no operator in the UK anyway allows you to do that.

they exist, everyone is quite aware they exist, everyone can procure them quite easily.

I see no harm in the discussion so long as no links are provided that could incriminate MoDaCo.

if you're coming from any other angle, it could well be construed as an attempt to be officious and kiss arse in a ploy to commandeer a position on the site.

personally, I go by the wikipedia philosophy of "don't be a dick"

[Guest marisa4755]

discussion of flashing WM6 ROM's etc... are not really allowed.....no operator in the UK anyway allows you to do that.

Well, t-mobile are certainly asking people to do something very similar on their site here:

http://www.tm-phonedownloads.com/download_..._mda_vario.html

What's the difference? As I have already said, I am willing to pay for this service if necessary, and/or willing to send in my device for the 'experts' to do this if it is deemed safer.

Msoft are not charging for the OS, and the operator is going to have to develop its 'stuff' for the next lot of devices (Kaiser etc etc).

I don't see why providers shouldn't provide this service if enough people want it and are prepared to pay for it.

[Guest The Doctor]

Either way, its a grey area.

Personally, I believe DISCUSSION of WM6 and the benefits/drawbacks/whatever SHOULD be allowed.

Providing links to unreleased WM6 ROMs IS against the forum rules, mainly because in the past many people have bricked their devices flashing ROMs for the wrong device etc. This is also due to the legal stance Microsoft have decided to take.

If you know what your doing and can accept the consequences should it go wrong then there is no reason why you can't hunt the thing down and work out how to flash it by yourself.

Phil

[Guest MARKUKCOUK]

discussion of flashing WM6 ROM's etc... are not really allowed.....no operator in the UK anyway allows you to do that.

Oh look, yet another wannabe mod.

If I'm going around saying "Heres a key for WM6: ARLF-RTFF-TFYH-UYYH" then fine, sue me.

But I, and we, are not. As Oli pointed out, we all know they exist, and no doubt a fair few use them. Why shouldn't we discuss them? Hell, how do you know we don't all work for MS and have a legit copy?

Can I be the second person to offer you the same advice: Don't be a dick.

Oh.. and do use Hard SPL .30. It makes me warm inside.

[Guest pisquee]

The various releases of WM6 for Hermes are most likely based on test OSs built by MS and HTC. A few reports hav stated that MS have and are using Hermes models for testing and development. Therefore it is possible that some people here are using legitimate distributations of the software that users have legally installed on devices.. Also, as there are legit distros of the OS, there must be hardware around that is also carrying various versions of the software - ie phones which have been supplied with the software preinstalled legally. And then there are the illegal pirated versions. We have no way of knowing who is using what versions. This is very much the same as most software, and OSs. In the same way that we do not ban discussion of Windows XP because some people have illegal copies, I see no reason to ban discussion of the new Windows Mobile software. Obviously actively encouraging illegal copies by way of posting links to where they can be obtained would be legally more dubious. Discussion of the various pros/cons, bugs, features, benefits etc can only be a good thing for win mobile, and the community. Eventually there will be widespread legally available versions, either in hardware pre-installed, or in legit upgrades, so we are only be discussing what will be discussed in the future anyways.

[Guest Olipro]

The various releases of WM6 for Hermes are most likely based on test OSs built by MS and HTC. A few reports hav stated that MS have and are using Hermes models for testing and development. Therefore it is possible that some people here are using legitimate distributations of the software that users have legally installed on devices.. Also, as there are legit distros of the OS, there must be hardware around that is also carrying various versions of the software - ie phones which have been supplied with the software preinstalled legally. And then there are the illegal pirated versions. We have no way of knowing who is using what versions. This is very much the same as most software, and OSs. In the same way that we do not ban discussion of Windows XP because some people have illegal copies, I see no reason to ban discussion of the new Windows Mobile software. Obviously actively encouraging illegal copies by way of posting links to where they can be obtained would be legally more dubious. Discussion of the various pros/cons, bugs, features, benefits etc can only be a good thing for win mobile, and the community. Eventually there will be widespread legally available versions, either in hardware pre-installed, or in legit upgrades, so we are only be discussing what will be discussed in the future anyways.

there's no official releases, but Microsoft aren't selling the software either, so there's no financial loss to them in terms of that, in fact, the reason XDA-Devs was asked to remove ROMs was because Operators were complaing about morons trying to get support for unofficial ROMs.

[Guest pisquee]

While there is no publically available official release, there are releases by MS, HTC and possibly network operators for testing purposes. Because of this, some people have and are using legitimate copies of WM6

[Guest munky^^]

If I'm going around saying "Heres a key for WM6: ARLF-RTFF-TFYH-UYYH" then fine, sue me.

That key didn't work ;) I also tried ROFL-LOLL-ERCO-PTER but that didn't work either.

Edited March 28, 2007 by munky^^

[Guest munky^^]

Sorry for newb-like questions, but for people like me who don't know - are there any risks doing this, and what if I want to go back to my current Orange WM5 ROM later? As far as WM6 Black Edition 1.2's thread goes, this looks reasonably safe, with minimal if any compatibility issues?

Edited March 28, 2007 by munky^^

[Guest MARKUKCOUK]

Just make sure you install Hard-SPL 1.30 FIRST before you do anything else.

Then you can burn whatever ROM you want, in whatever order.

One bug I've spotted, is that ActiveSync is a bit messed up when it comes to push email - it won't re-connect the GPRS, and therefore fails sometimes.

This is to be fixed in the next ROM release apparently.

[Guest Remington Steale]

Sorry for newb-like questions, but for people like me who don't know - are there any risks doing this, and what if I want to go back to my current Orange WM5 ROM later? As far as WM6 Black Edition 1.2's thread goes, this looks reasonably safe, with minimal if any compatibility issues?

The risk is pretty minimal if you install Olipro's Hard SPL first (all praise Olipro), if Orange do not have a rom posted for your device, then you cant go back to your current WM5.

I have Black 1.2 installed and am very happy with it thus far, yes there are little issues with certain things but most of them can be fixed by reading certain forums. The speed and stability boost are more than a compensation.

As with all things, do read the instructions first and try to have some understanding of what you are doing before you do it, same as with any upgrade or OS install on a desktop PC (Installing Vista has been a lot more hassle than installing Black........ ;) )

[Guest crazyc]

Sorry for newb-like questions, but for people like me who don't know - are there any risks doing this, and what if I want to go back to my current Orange WM5 ROM later? As far as WM6 Black Edition 1.2's thread goes, this looks reasonably safe, with minimal if any compatibility issues?

Only issues I have found are latest version of SPB weather should be avoided at all costs - apparently an earlier version works but after the pain it caused me I will wait before trying weather again.

Using an Phone Alarm ver1.6 beta 3 as beta 8 gave a few (not huge) issues.

Currently I don;t think you can go back to Orange stock ROM as there is not one in the wild. Although i did see something that suggested that someone had created one using the shell of another rom. Not clear on that. Maybe an expert like Oli could confirm

SPB Pocket - apparently works if you disable safe mode - I use o2 plus which apparently has some issues with its alarms, but I don;t use it for that.....

[Guest Dr Who]

I think the abuse aimed at Tech in this thread is entirely uncalled for. It is a grey area regarding legality and with all things there will be those who believe it is appropriate and those that don't. Surely that issue can also be discussed under a thread with this title without resorting to name calling?

[Guest jimbouk]

People who resort to name calling are arses! ;)

And if MS were really against the roms being in the wild, they would have acted on the "cooked" roms as well.

As someone said above, its going to happen and for the leading WM site to not even acknowledge the roms is just plain silly.

[Guest Olipro]

I think the abuse aimed at Tech in this thread is entirely uncalled for. It is a grey area regarding legality and with all things there will be those who believe it is appropriate and those that don't. Surely that issue can also be discussed under a thread with this title without resorting to name calling?

quite right, it's a grey area; and it's really only down to dictatorial choice of the forum owners, therefore, neither I, anyone else, or Tech has a right to comment on the permittabililty of the topic of hand.

[Guest Dr Who]

Personally I am NOT going to update either of my handsets at the moment. One of them definitely has a minor screen alignment problem which I intend to return to TMob at some point, ideally after TMob release either an AKU3.3 or WM6 ROM update.

[Guest jimbouk]

I tried four different versions of WM6 - and found a couple of them didnt quite gel with some of the apps I wanted to install, so I reverted to the latest version of the stable one and its actually really good!

There are one or two usual new rom teething problems like the Storage card not being read properly all the time (which is fixed by... wait for it... taking the card out and reinstalling it!) and getting used to the way they've changed some of the keys (like the left softkey in messaging is now delete - which takes some getting used to!)

But I have to say my device is quicker in pretty much everyway with Wm6 than with WM5.

But I wouldnt recommend any novices flash a new rom - its amazing how many people do and then bleat "Help I cant connect to the internet" or "My phone keeps freezing"/

[Guest The Doctor]

Personally, I love the fact that my hermes now has 58MB of internal storage ;)

Phil

[Guest llch_81]

Have the latest version of WM6 LVSW... It's absolutely astounding as to how fast this thing runs! I'm thoroughly amazed.

Any idea on why did MS took so long to decide to develop a final version of Windows Live Messenger mobile?

[Guest jimbouk]

MS's plans for mobile messenger are not purely up to them. Its been a huge debate with the networks (ie the people who's data networks mobile IM runs).

Some wanted to develop their own - others wanted to go with MS - now it seems most are going with MS.