Disclaimer: I am not responsible for Bricking anyone's phone upgrade your phone at your own risk.
Preface:
I purchased the Verizon vx6900 / Vogue / HTC touch a couple weeks ago and was upset with verizon's on UI and verizon messing with it so i could not do the simplest thing as delete the #777 so it would not dial up for data without it re appearing every time i restarted the phone.
I was also interested in enabling the gps part of the phone but later found out it was only available when you use a data plan. Although i did use and enable it for the week that i had data on my bill.
My experience upgrading:
There are 3 main steps in updating the phone, i believe this is the same with many of the HTC devices but i only have experience with the xv6900.
Step 1: Unlock the phone. (This is needed so we can put our software on the phone with the computer using a RUU or Rom Update Utilitie.)
http://rapidshare.com/files/16873890..._2.31.exe.html <-- ImCokeMan's Unlocker
http://rapidshare.com/files/16873890..._2.31.exe.html
Step 2: Upgrade the Raido. (Verizon uses a radio version of 1.09 or something, at the moment the most updated CDMA radio is 3.42.5 from a upgrade for Bell phones)
http://rapidshare.com/files/16873889..._Ship.exe.html <-- Bell radio with bell rom.
http://rapidshare.com/files/16873889..._Ship.exe.html
Step 3: Upload a Rom. (The rom is the windows mobile plus any other software that would be loaded by default.)
You can use any rom for Verizon or generic i believe. I tried a few different ones both Dette's (http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=34284) and OMJ (http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=30332&highlight=omj) were nice. The Manilla 2d home screen is nice eye candy. After using OMJ's clean rom for verizon it was almost what i was looking for but i ended up cooking one myself with ppckitchen's build OS.
My rom is very fast and quite clean. (dotFred registry and dotFred Task manager, nuePower a bunch of games and M2D, although i've been using it with The normal htc home screen instead of Manilla 2d) If you would like to try it, let me know what you think please.
http://rapidshare.com/files/168738900/VZW_0.5.zip.html <-- The rom i made and use.
http://rapidshare.com/files/168738900/VZW_0.5.zip.html
Step 4: HARD RESET. funny things happen if you don't fully reset your phone. I pull the battery for a few seconds and everything seems to work ok. If you don't little things like the battery meter on the home screen may not appear.
Step 5: Dial *228 and update your phone. At this point you may need to reauthenticate your phone with verizon if *228 does not go through. If you upgraded your rom you most likely have to re enter your phone number for the data connection. go to start->settings->connections tab->connections-> manage my connections under verizon Click on the #777 one and edit.... user name should be "**********@vzw3g.com" replace the *'s with you phone number. The password is "vzw" (12/2)
Unlocking: This part of the process uses ImCokeMan's unlocker 2.31. You basicly connect your phone to the computer and make sure that there is a valid Active Sync connection and run the program. The Screen will tell you to hit a button to continue then it will let you know when to unplug the phone and reconnect it and finish the process. There is more information on ImCokeMan's post and it would be a good idea to read through that befor running the program
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=20370
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=20370
Upgrading the raido can cause some unwanted problems. I accidentally ran the sprint customizations and my phone was not able to do anything related to data for a while. Upgrading the radio firmware may also require you to re authenticate your phone with Verizon, this is easy by just calling verizon to and letting them know that your phone keeps telling you it is not authenticated. You can get around re authenticating you phone by switching to a different phone while you update your vogue. Updating the Radio let you make use of aGPS.
Important: to avoid any problems when you upgrade your radio do not tap the screen to start windows. Run the upgrade for bell, it takes about 10 minutes or so, the phone will restart or turn it on and just leave it connected to the usb cable; on the tap to begin windows screen. Then proceed to update your rom. (This is the best way to avoid letting the bell/sprint customizations from running.)
Updating the rom requires a rom, they can be in an exe file with the Rom updater utility contained, or they come as a file ending in .nbh. The .nbh files require the Rom updater utility. The rom updater utility loads the .nbh file that is in the same folder, I believe the default name is RUU_sighned.nbh.
My experience accidentally letting the sprint customizations run, i don't know if this is a problem with the bell rom upgrade or not caused my phone to not connect to verizons data network. i was able to make and receive calls just no data connection. To fix this problem i ran the leaked verizon upgrade. This reflashed the radio with a newer verzion than stock and fixed what ever the sprint updates did. I made calls and verified data worked after installing the vzw update. Then try again and get it right.
ftp://ppcgeeks.com/Vogue/Verizon/RUU_Vogue_VZW_WWE_3.14.605.1_Radio_3.37.77_Ship.ex e <-- unofficial verizon leaked rom update. works ok, updates radio. Great way to get your phone back to somewhat stock.
This file removes the default Bell boot screen, its not needed just looks better. Just copy the RUU_signed.nhb to the folder that you unzipped the RUU utility to and run the RUU utility. It should run very quickly.
http://rapidshare.com/files/16873890...plash.zip.html <-- removes bell boot screen.
http://rapidshare.com/files/16873890...plash.zip.html
If there is a problem with the uploading rom process, say a cable gets pulled or power goes out, computer freezes up it may be recoverable by turning the phone off/ pulling the battery. hold the camera button, end call button then hold the power button down until the red and white screen comes on, then try to run the RUU and restart the process. And pray.
(I had to load a rom this way because some rom i loaded was having issues connecting with active sync.)
Any comments welcomed, let me know if there is anything i should add, Thanks.
-- You can upgrade the radio without upgrading the rom using a radio upgrade .nbh file that is only a radio upgrade, i've seen this file on the forums; but from what i've read it is not compatible with the factory rom (winmo 6) so it wouldn't do any good to just update the radio, unless you wanted a phone that didn't work.