want to use a HTC desire on softbank

[Guest ext23]

cross-posted from here: http://android.modaco.com/content/absolute...k/#entry1351311 after i realised that this forum gets a lot more attention!

hi all, this is my first time in a forum like this so please be gentle!

i have been using an iphone 3G on softbank for the past year or so. however rather fortuitously i managed to smash the screen and now it's time to get a new handset. i went back into softbank and asked about price plans for the HTC desire and the new iphone 4. turns out the HTC is ridiculously expensive to buy from softbank in japan and it doesn't qualify for the iphone's packet-houdai discount, either.

so here's what i want to do:

buy an unlocked HTC desire from some other country and use my EXISTING iphone 3G SIM card with packet-houdai with it, with the same phone number and email address (@softbank.ne,jp).

my first question is, is my old iphone 3G SIM card even compatible with the HTC? and if so, will the standard HTC handset (such as the one sold by clove) be able to run on softbank's 3G network (i understand japan uses different frequencies than other countries)?

can somebody please list all the steps involved? as far as i can tell, it involves rooting the HTC, and then applying some custom settings/apk files to enable softbank functionality such as MMS?

thanks in advance, keep up the great work on this forum.

Edited July 21, 2010 by ext23

[Guest Jaystomped]

I am surprised no one has answered your query. http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/net_jpjp.shtml <--- This shows that softbank is a typical WCDMA 2100 Mhz provider. This means the HTC desire will work fine without too many issues. It also means your iPhone 3g simcard will work fine with it.

As for recreating the APN, you certainly dont need to root it or anything of the sort. Your APN details will be probably available online and you should be able to simply configure it from the fone's settings. Rooting though very desireable and needed for expanding this beautiful platform, is strictly not necessary in your case.

[Guest Kiwizz]

It has the 4000 yen packet houdai smartphone plan. Also, the phone is only 300yen a month for two years if you get the two year contract at the same time.

[Guest ext23]

It has the 4000 yen packet houdai smartphone plan. Also, the phone is only 300yen a month for two years if you get the two year contract at the same time.

thanks but no thanks...this info (if it was ever true) is outdated. i was in there on the weekend and the phone was gonna cost 61000 yen over two years, and the packet houdai discount only applies to iphones, not to the HTC. so the packet houdai costs 6000 per month as opposed to the 4500 per month that i'm currently paying.

then there's the issue of cancelling my current service, which still has a year left on contract, so that is another 10000 yen. what's more i don't have enough time left on my visa so softbank wouldn't let me sign up for a new 2-year contract anyway. i'd have to buy the handset up-front for 61000. it's much, much cheaper if i just keep using my current SIM.

i really just want to buy an unlocked handset and tinker with it myself to get it working. can anybody help with the questions i asked in my original post?

Edited July 21, 2010 by ext23

[Guest lenik]

turns out the HTC is ridiculously expensive to buy from softbank in japan and it doesn't qualify for the iphone's packet-houdai discount, either.

HTC Desire costs 480yen/month on 2 year contract if you order "Smartphone pakehodai" plan at the same time. Your short term visa -- is totally another issue and has nothing to do with Softbank/HTC pricing.

will the standard HTC handset (such as the one sold by clove) be able to run on softbank's 3G network (i understand japan uses different frequencies than other countries)?

No idea what "clove" is, but, personally, I have bought unlocked HTC Desire overseas and use it with gray SIM card originally purchased from SB with WinMo device. Works perfectly.

my first question is, is my old iphone 3G SIM card even compatible with the HTC?

As far as I know, there are two types of SIM cards, gray/silver for smartphones (win/android) and black ones for iPhones. I've been told by SB reps, black SIM cards work for iPhone only and gray SIM cards will work for any other phone. I know their answers might be misleading or wrong sometimes, so I'd recommend to find someone with HTC Desire and insert your SIM card there and see what happens.

[Guest lenik]

Rooting though very desireable and needed for expanding this beautiful platform, is strictly not necessary in your case.

there are two main points for rooting phone for softbank network:

1. battery. default rom is slightly incompatible w/SB network and drains battery like crazy, it's necessary to adjust some parameters in the /system

2. MMS. if you want to receive MMS messages, which are really popular in Japan, you need to install/replace software on /system partition

if you are satisfied with 10hour battery life and don't care about MMS -- no need to root =)

[Guest chibishun]

thanks but no thanks...this info (if it was ever true) is outdated. i was in there on the weekend and the phone was gonna cost 61000 yen over two years, and the packet houdai discount only applies to iphones, not to the HTC. so the packet houdai costs 6000 per month as opposed to the 4500 per month that i'm currently paying.

then there's the issue of cancelling my current service, which still has a year left on contract, so that is another 10000 yen. what's more i don't have enough time left on my visa so softbank wouldn't let me sign up for a new 2-year contract anyway. i'd have to buy the handset up-front for 61000. it's much, much cheaper if i just keep using my current SIM.

i really just want to buy an unlocked handset and tinker with it myself to get it working. can anybody help with the questions i asked in my original post?

I currently own a Softbank Desire and I agree with the other posters above.

I have the 4410 yen packet hodai plan (or you can choose another plan with 1029-5980 yen range if you're sure you wont use that much), and the handset itself is 380yen per month (excl tax, white plan, etc etc) with 2 yr contract.

The phone works well on gray usim though, dunno about black usim. :(

Edited July 22, 2010 by chibishun

[Guest ext23]

there are two main points for rooting phone for softbank network:

1. battery. default rom is slightly incompatible w/SB network and drains battery like crazy, it's necessary to adjust some parameters in the /system

2. MMS. if you want to receive MMS messages, which are really popular in Japan, you need to install/replace software on /system partition

if you are satisfied with 10hour battery life and don't care about MMS -- no need to root =)

thanks for the great replies everyone. i'm gonna buy an unlocked one outright mostly so i don't have to sign up for a new contract.

as for rooting, well i love to tinker with my devices so i just figured that would be par for the course. also i'm investigating how to get both the @softbank AND @i.softbank email addresses working on my new HTC, so i will post the results of that as they come.

finally, i definitely need bigger battery life. it was perhaps my biggest annoyance with the old iphone (made significantly worse after i jailbroke it).

should i root BEFORE or AFTER i adjust the settings on the HTC to suit softbank? i thought i needed to overwrite some system kernels or something just to get the iphone SIM to register in the first place, as well as installing some other .apk files...? sorry, like i said i'm a complete n00b when it comes to android.

edit: oh also...since i'm already signed up and using the 4410 yen packet-houdai, is there any reason i should need to tinker with my plan in mysoftbank?

Edited July 22, 2010 by ext23

[Guest lenik]

as for rooting, well i love to tinker with my devices so i just figured that would be par for the course.

when rooting, please, use the method which flashes ROM from SD card, not over USB connection, because the latter is more or less likely to brick your phone.

i'm investigating how to get both the @softbank AND @i.softbank email addresses working on my new HTC

@softbank will work just fine as soon as you install new MMS software, @i.softbank most probably will not. I'd be glad to see your results.

should i root BEFORE or AFTER i adjust the settings on the HTC to suit softbank? i thought i needed to overwrite some system kernels or something just to get the iphone SIM to register in the first place, as well as installing some other .apk files...?

1. try your black SIM card to see if you are able to make calls and to send/receive simple SMS.

2. if step 1 succeeds, please post your bootloader and software versions (settings->about phone->software info) and someone will point you in the right direction for your particular versions or maybe make a special firmware download with the settings you need.

using the 4410 yen packet-houdai, is there any reason i should need to tinker with my plan in mysoftbank?

check your sim card, if it works -- no reason to tinker.

Edited July 25, 2010 by lenik

[Guest ext23]

when rooting, please, use the method which flashes ROM from SD card, not over USB connection, because the latter is more or less likely to brick your phone.

@softbank will work just fine as soon as you install new MMS software, @i.softbank most probably will not. I'd be glad to see your results.

1. try your black SIM card to see if you are able to make calls and to send/receive simple SMS.

2. if step 1 succeeds, please post your bootloader and software versions (settings->about phone->software info) and someone will point you in the right direction for your particular versions or maybe make a special firmware download with the settings you need.

check your sim card, if it works -- no reason to tinker.

update:

after significant forum trawling for as much info as possible about the iphone SIMs, this is where i'm at:

1. any softbank iphone SIM will have the 'packet houdai for smartphones' plan ON by default so there should be no need to tinker with your plan itself after putting the SIM in another handset.

2. the black softbank iphone SIMs will work on basically any phone as long as you set the device to use the 'smile' APN. i believe this also prevents outrageous data charges.

3. the unique @i.softbank.jp iphone email addresses SHOULD be super easy to configure on any IMAP mail client. haven't tried it yet. although all the relevant info including ports and servers is in the iphone's settings.

3. as for the MMS/@softbank.ne,jp addresses, these should be easy to get working by installing one of the MMS apks from this forum. (right?)

will rooting/installing custom firmware overwrite any changes i have made to the APN or installing the softbank MMS protocols?

[Guest lenik]

the black softbank iphone SIMs will work on basically any phone as long as you set the device to use the 'smile' APN.

never heard about "smile APN", could your please elaborate or provide explanation URL ?

will rooting/installing custom firmware overwrite any changes i have made to the APN or installing the softbank MMS protocols?

new HTC Desire does not have any SB APN info, so you have to enter everything manually or install "APN backup" software and download someone else's backup to restore.

[Guest ext23]

never heard about "smile APN", could your please elaborate or provide explanation URL ?

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread...ile#post3656564

softbank iphones take a different SIM than their other standard phones (called the 'black SIM') but they are subject to the same fees.

new HTC Desire does not have any SB APN info, so you have to enter everything manually or install "APN backup" software and download someone else's backup to restore.

ok. i currently have no idea what is involved with rooting/flashing/installing homebrew/backing up on android devices. i just ordered my desire and it hasn't arrived yet so i will thoroughly tinker with this when it gets here!

am i on the right track? anything else i should know?

Edited July 27, 2010 by ext23

[Guest lenik]

Softbank has decided to stop accepting orders for HTC Desire from Jul, 29th. Instead they brought out a press-release about "Desire II", with LCD screen instead of OLED (probably because of Samsung OLED display shortage). There are 2 days left, though, so hurry up :(

Edited July 27, 2010 by lenik

[Guest ext23]

Softbank has decided to stop accepting orders for HTC Desire from Jul, 29th. Instead they brought out a press-release about "Desire II", with LCD screen instead of OLED (probably because of Samsung OLED display shortage). There are 2 days left, though, so hurry up :(

ah well i actually already ordered an unlocked online unit so i'm in the clear!

would you recommend installing the patched ROMs you built onto my desire when it arrives? will i notice a performance/battery life increase?

the MMS thing is still the one area i don't really understand. can you put it in layman's terms for me and explain how to get it working?

[Guest lenik]

would you recommend installing the patched ROMs you built onto my desire when it arrives? will i notice a performance/battery life increase?

You may use any ROM image you like, but don't forget to specify proper APNs for data connection and, optionally, edit build.prop with SB information (this might help to save a battery).

the MMS thing is still the one area i don't really understand. can you put it in layman's terms for me and explain how to get it working?

There are SMS messages, which can contain about 160 characters. Japanese uses multi-byte encodings, so the actual character count is much lower. also, people like to send pictures taken with the built-in cameras, music and other things which don't fit well into 160 byte limit.

Therefore, MMS (multimedia messaging service) was born. It works like this: you get a short SMS message using SMS protocol, and then your phone has to use data connection to receive the rest of the message from the server. SMS messages work everywhere, but ways and protocols for retrieving the actual message are different from one provider to another. If you don't follow these protocols, you'll be able to receive only "subject" line of MMS message, which is actually delivered via usual SMS.

This is why you need specially tailored application to receive MMS messages on softbank, another specially tailored app to receive MMS messages on DoCoMo and so on. Also, this is the reason, why originally iphone did not support MMS (it was added about a year later) and why HTC Desire still (oficially) does not support MMS, however there are a few versions of custom-made software, which, more or less, aleviate this problem.

Edited July 27, 2010 by lenik

[Guest ext23]

You may use any ROM image you like, but don't forget to specify proper APNs for data connection and, optionally, edit build.prop with SB information (this might help to save a battery).

There are SMS messages, which can contain about 160 characters. Japanese uses multi-byte encodings, so the actual character count is much lower. also, people like to send pictures taken with the built-in cameras, music and other things which don't fit well into 160 byte limit.

Therefore, MMS (multimedia messaging service) was born. It works like this: you get a short SMS message using SMS protocol, and then your phone has to use data connection to receive the rest of the message from the server. SMS messages work everywhere, but ways and protocols for retrieving the actual message are different from one provider to another. If you don't follow these protocols, you'll be able to receive only "subject" line of MMS message, which is actually delivered via usual SMS.

This is why you need specially tailored application to receive MMS messages on softbank, another specially tailored app to receive MMS messages on DoCoMo and so on. Also, this is the reason, why originally iphone did not support MMS (it was added about a year later) and why HTC Desire still (oficially) does not support MMS, however there are a few versions of custom-made software, which, more or less, aleviate this problem.

great, thankyou.

so when the desire arrives, i can install one of the MMS.apks and then be able to 'email' other carriers like docomo and AU from my softbank @softbank.ne.jp address? is there a particular combination of apk/software settings/SMS applications that works best for softbank SIMs?

sorry if it seems like my questions are going around in circles...!

[Guest lenik]

so when the desire arrives, i can install one of the MMS.apks and then be able to 'email' other carriers like docomo and AU from my softbank @softbank.ne.jp address? is there a particular combination of apk/software settings/SMS applications that works best for softbank SIMs?

you won't be able to "install" Mms.apk, because it's supposed to reside on /system partition you don't have access to, unless already rooted. for the beginners, it's easier to use prebaked images you may download here: http://lazydroid.com/downloads/ and use one of these .zip files instead of update.zip included in the rooting HOW-TO guide. these images are proven to work with the gray-SIM cards and already contain all necessary APN and SoftBank specific changes, however I don't have any idea if they work with black-SIM and what steps you have to make to make it work (APN changes maybe?), sorry about that.

[Guest ext23]

you won't be able to "install" Mms.apk, because it's supposed to reside on /system partition you don't have access to, unless already rooted. for the beginners, it's easier to use prebaked images you may download here: http://lazydroid.com/downloads/ and use one of these .zip files instead of update.zip included in the rooting HOW-TO guide. these images are proven to work with the gray-SIM cards and already contain all necessary APN and SoftBank specific changes, however I don't have any idea if they work with black-SIM and what steps you have to make to make it work (APN changes maybe?), sorry about that.

sounds perfect, thanks heaps.

as far as i know the only difference between the 'black SIMs' and the regular grey SIM is that the black one is iphone-only and thus has an @i.softbank.jp address as well as the standard MMS. since softbank iphones now support MMS the same as every other phone/carrier i don't see any reason why your ROM shouldn't work. the @i.softbank.jp address, like i said, is just a normal IMAP account so that shouldn't be a problem either.

what ARE the softbank-specific changes included in your ROMs, by the way?

Edited July 27, 2010 by ext23

[Guest lenik]

as far as i know the only difference between the 'black SIMs' and the regular grey SIM is that the black one is iphone-only and thus has an @i.softbank.jp address as well as the standard MMS.

SIM does not have any address in it. If you think @i.softbank can be reached via simple IMAP -- good for you, I cannot verify this since I've never had iphone and don't have such an address available for me.

OTOH, plain @softbank (no 'i.') addresses are just MMS <-> email gateways, which don't have any POP3/IMAP access and only can be used through specially tailored software. You cannot setup mail account in any email software to receive mail from @softbank e-mail.

what ARE the softbank-specific changes included in your ROMs, by the way?

these roms are original softbank roms, so there are (almost) no changes compared to the original, except for

1. added root/busybox support

2. Mms.apk

3. emoji fonts

However, if you at some point would decide to use non-SB image in your phone (I personally prefer WWE versions, they have keyboard support for my native west-european language), you'd better change RIL section in build.prop as shown here.

[Guest ext23]

SIM does not have any address in it. If you think @i.softbank can be reached via simple IMAP -- good for you, I cannot verify this since I've never had iphone and don't have such an address available for me.

OTOH, plain @softbank (no 'i.') addresses are just MMS <-> email gateways, which don't have any POP3/IMAP access and only can be used through specially tailored software. You cannot setup mail account in any email software to receive mail from @softbank e-mail.

these roms are original softbank roms, so there are (almost) no changes compared to the original, except for

1. added root/busybox support

2. Mms.apk

3. emoji fonts

However, if you at some point would decide to use non-SB image in your phone (I personally prefer WWE versions, they have keyboard support for my native west-european language), you'd better change RIL section in build.prop as shown here.

OK. I guess I understand the MMS thing now. I know this thread is getting pretty far off-topic, but how would I configure another custom ROM to work with the Softbank MMS service?

[Guest lenik]

how would I configure another custom ROM to work with the Softbank MMS service?

copying Mms.apk to /system/app should do the trick

Edited July 28, 2010 by lenik

[Guest blogger]

MMS (multimedia messaging service) was born. It works like this: you get a short SMS message using SMS protocol

Haha, I'm glad I've been with AU for the last 6 or so years and totally missed the SMS/MMS idiocy. Just use gmail or something? shrug.

Anyway what does piss me off on this HTC thing and I'm not sure if its Softbank related or I'm just spoiled by AU,

is when you get a miss-call while you're out of area... Instead of properly integrating this into "missed calls" list...

It sends you a ... SMS... with just the phone number... Which doesn't integrate into contacts... And I have no way of knowing who called unless I click like 5 times and try dialing that number and only then will it match it with contacts.

Super lame.

With AU I'd just get a miss-call notice and it would show up in call list so I could immediately redial....

[Guest ext23]

copying Mms.apk to /system/app should do the trick

good news, thanks. i think in that case i will probably use a custom ROM other than the softbank ROM.

Haha, I'm glad I've been with AU for the last 6 or so years and totally missed the SMS/MMS idiocy. Just use gmail or something? shrug.

Anyway what does piss me off on this HTC thing and I'm not sure if its Softbank related or I'm just spoiled by AU,

is when you get a miss-call while you're out of area... Instead of properly integrating this into "missed calls" list...

It sends you a ... SMS... with just the phone number... Which doesn't integrate into contacts... And I have no way of knowing who called unless I click like 5 times and try dialing that number and only then will it match it with contacts.

Super lame.

With AU I'd just get a miss-call notice and it would show up in call list so I could immediately redial....

haha yeah dude, softbank is bullshit in this regard. so many useless SMSs and the notifications are all dumb. every time i get an email it says 'you got a mail.' hmm...

[Guest blogger]

every time i get an email it says 'you got a mail.' hmm...

Kinda makes me glad I don't even know my softbank email address.

[Guest lenik]

I'm glad I've been with AU for the last 6 or so years and totally missed the SMS/MMS idiocy. Just use gmail or something?

gmail does not come to your phone unless you check your account every few minutes. SMS, once sent, comes immediately. I sometimes use SMS messages to discuss something, and it's not uncommon to receive several SMS within a few seconds. trying to do the same over gmail reminds me about turtles having sex :( also, SMS can be sent to phone number, you may try to do the same with gmail.

It sends you a ... SMS... with just the phone number...

looks to me like you just haven't configured your voice mail or something.