So now that Sprint has confirmed GPS and EVDO Rev. A for Mogul...

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Originally Posted by shaun0207

Sprint Promises Significant Upgrade for the HTC Mogul

Submitted by Ed Hardy on Friday, November 23, 2007

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Sprint is planning to introduce a system software update for the HTC Mogul that will bring new features to this smartphone, including faster wireless networking and new navigation capabilities.
In a post on the company's customer support forum, a member of the Sprint Product Development group said that new system software to be released early next year will upgrade this device to EV-DO Rev. A. The Mogul can already connect to Sprint's EV-DO network for high-speed wireless access, but Rev. A is faster than the version of EV-DO currently offered by this model.
In addition, this upgrade will fix an odd limitation in this smartphone. It ships with GPS hardware, but as it stands now there's no software driver to allow users to take advantage of it. The new system will change this, and the Mogul will then offer full GPS capabilities.
The statement from Sprint doesn't give an exact release date for the system software upgrade, only saying it will be available in "early 1Q 2008".
Problems with the Last Update
This upcoming upgrade won't be the first software update introduced for the Mogul. Sprint and HTC released an update last month. However, this has some bugs, and a needs t be replace.

Sprint and HTC regret any inconvenience customers have recently experienced with the Mogul. HTC is working on a new version of the software ROM for the Mogul which incorporates enhancements for Bluetooth performance and corrects issues that were unintentionally created by ROM version 2.16.651.0 (posted on HTC's website on October 24). Both Sprint and HTC have begun testing the new software and are targeting to make it available for download by the end of November.

In the mean time, people who have already installed ROM version 2.16 and are having problems can downgrade to the previous version, which can be found on HTC's web site.

You can tell that's all mixed up. The update for Nov is only supposed to fix the initial issues with Mogul. The Rev-A / AGPS will be seperate.

[shaun0207]

I'm just glad that at least one site has heard about the problems with the Mogul. I think once the GPS is enabled on the Mogul, alot of people will be switching back to it.

[Musicman247]

The only reason it seems mixed up is that the article only used part of the quote from HTC. Here is the full quote, which can be found here: http://www.america.htc.com/support/m...downloads.html

Sprint and HTC regret any inconvenience customers have recently experienced with the Mogul. HTC is working on a new version of the software ROM for the Mogul which incorporates enhancements for Bluetooth performance and corrects issues that were unintentionally created by ROM version 2.16.651.0 (posted on HTC’s website on October 24). Both Sprint and HTC have begun testing the new software and are targeting to make it available for download by the end of November. Once fully tested the download will be made available on this webpage. Please bookmark this page for easy reference.

As a short-term solution, customers who downloaded the ROM version 2.16 should download the previous ROM version 2.09.651.3 posted as the Download below. This will restore previous functionality to the device until a new version is complete.

Additionally, HTC is currently developing a separate ROM update which enables the EV-DO Rev. A and GPS capabilities that are already built into the Mogul hardware. Sprint and HTC plan to make this software ROM available in early 1Q 2008. We would also like to extend our thanks to those customers that have taken the time to identify and report these issues to us.

And since the Touch and Mogul are so closely related hardware-wise, I think it is safe to assume that these features will be coming to the Touch as well.

[Vertigo]

Originally Posted by ruskiyab

128mb > 64mb... I'm keeping the touch

WMWiFiRouter 0.6 > 128mb .... enjoy your Touch.

[Musicman247]

Come on now, let's not let this turn into a Touch vs. Mogul thread.

[Vertigo]

sorry couldn't resist! haha

[Malatesta]

Originally Posted by dew.man

Basically good info, but I would like to add a couple of things:

There have been reports that the Qualcomm chip can multi-plex the cellular antenna thereby elimiating the need for a dedicated one for satelite based GPS.



The same argument can be made about releasing a device without triangulation/cellular based GPS being enabled as that's a function of the cellular service inherintly present in the device!

Also, I'd like to remind you of the HTC Trinity (P3600) that came out a year or two ago. It also was originally advertised as having GPS, but once shipped, any mention of GPS was completely removed from the marketing materials. At that time, there was the same type of speculation over the GPS capabilities in the Trinity as there are now over the Vogue. Plenty of people chimed in stating unequivically that there would never be a GPS enabled ROM. Then, about a year later, the ROMs began to surface. First Dopod shipped a radio update that was quickly ported over/made available, and then HTC released the official update that enabled standalone GPS. I never did understand why the delay, but heard that there were problems with the GPS/cellular radios interfering with each other that had to be worked out. Being that the 7500 is a newer chipset, I imagine that the same type of issues could be present thereby delaying the GPS release?


Now I don't know for sure that there will ever be a standalone GPS update for the Touch or the Mogul, but I have not seen any evidence that there won't! Meanwhile, contrary to some of the naysayers of yesterday, Sprint HAS confirmed that there will be SOME sort of GPS enabled. And the only reason I can think of that TelNav does not work with those devices at the time of their release (as it is a revenue source), is that Sprint/HTC is trying to work out the bugs in the interface between the assisted and the satelite based GPS...

Couple of points

1. The Mogul and Touch have both been confirmed to have internal GPS antennas separate from the CDMA antenna, so that info has changed.
2. Mogul and Touch are both confirmed to get GPS updates in Q1 2008
3. The Motorola Q9c, just released Friday on Sprint, already has what appears to be fully functional GPS built in and ready to use right now (at least it works with Google Maps for sure).

See here for more:
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=11874

Now the rant: I'll be honest, I don't care for HTC that much. For all their innovation and pushing products into the market, I feel they rush things, skip details and often have glaring flaws (at least with the Sprint Touch they fixed the Gen 1 Touch problems; but the Mogul just has some nasty deficiencies).

I think it was plain awful that the Touch and Mogul shipped with internal GPS antennas that are disabled in the firmware. I'm not sure if it is Sprint that was holding them up, or they just can't get the firmware right (same with RevA), but now there are 2 crippled HTC devices on Sprint meanwhile the Motorola Q9c sneaks on by with fully working GPS.

I'm pretty much sticking with Palm (I like their hardware and OS optimization for WM) and Moto (because they've had 4 firmware updates on the original Q on Sprint, which shows dedication to fixing issues). HTC needs better QC, imo.

[shaun0207]

I agree with everything you said, except about the Palm Software. Palm desperately needs to update it OS much quicker.

Sprint wil be on top of everything if they also enable MMS messaging like every other carrier.

[kellybrf]

does htc still manufacture the treo, or has palm taken operations back?

[Malatesta]

Originally Posted by kellybrf

does htc still manufacture the treo, or has palm taken operations back?

Palm actually never made their own hardware, AFAIK. They design it but always use outsourcing for manufacturing. I believe HTC is now out of the picture, if not they are being used on a limited basis. Inventec is their OEM and Chi Mei Communication Systems (CMCS) their ODM. The Centro was made by Inventec and CMCS is handling their 2008 CDMA lineup, which I would imagine includes the upcoming 800w. Related, I wrote what the Centro's hardware may mean for future Treos--it looks positive.
http://www.wmexperts.com/articles/ed..._centro_i.html

Originally Posted by shaun0207

I agree with everything you said, except about the Palm Software. Palm desperately needs to update it OS much quicker.

Sprint wil be on top of everything if they also enable MMS messaging like every other carrier.

I actually was referring to their WM devices, which integrate much better with the hardware, have more tweaks, and is better optimized than HTC. They churn out much fewer devices than HTC, but forgetting the 700w fiasco, they seem to get quality over quantity right.

Though your point about PalmOS is quite valid, no argument there. Having said that, I'm actually quite fond of the Centro and I'm surprised at well it works and can do all that my WM devices can do (relatively). If this is the last Garnet device (hopefully), than it is the pinnacle of that OS and hardware, imo.

MMS is indeed the last thing Sprint is lacking on WM devices--I really hope it gets resolved sooner than later.