Orange Release 6.1 - At long last

[milla03]

Has anyone taken the plunge yet and installed Orange's 6.1 ROM? Is there enough of a functionality improvement in it to justify what is, at the moment, a pretty stable 6.0 ROM?

[waveydavey]

Wm6.1 does offer a little more functionality, but it's mainly things like threaded SMS and full page zooming in PIE. Other wise it's enterprise stuff for 2007 compatibility. I'd suggest that if you have your device setup and running well under 6.0 then it's more of something for a rainy day than a must have.

[milla03]

Originally Posted by waveydavey

Wm6.1 does offer a little more functionality, but it's mainly things like threaded SMS and full page zooming in PIE. Other wise it's enterprise stuff for 2007 compatibility. I'd suggest that if you have your device setup and running well under 6.0 then it's more of something for a rainy day than a must have.

Plenty of rainy days here at the moment. Don't think I'll be a quick up-taker on this one though. Nabbed the ROM download for further faffing anyway.

Anyone seen that HTC have now added updated ROMs for devices purchased through network providers now as well? Saw it on a post over at Coolsmartphone.com - but when I went to HTC to download it and put my SN in, it said that ROM wasn't compatible with my device!!!! As an afterthought, I wonder what one's operator would say if you downloaded what is an official HTC ROM and installed it on your phone and then subsequently encountered an issue that required a device swap? Huge grey area?

[jaffab]

Hi all,

As soon as I saw the update a couple of days ago (Im the OP), I upgraded. A very painless operation, with just one heart-attack moment when the update software decided to install something in my activesync setup, said that the current fire was more up to date, and then crashed activesync, leaving me with my phone on the colour chart of 'nowhere..... (echo) (echo) (echo) recending into the distance'. I pictured having a phone that was stuck in limbo. However, restarting activesync on my PC and then replugging in the phone, and it all kicked off again, and completed in about 8 minutes. Then Windows Mobile 6.1 boots up.

Be warned, it wipes your phone, so you have to go through the process of loading your apps again, data, re-syncing with your PC and (if applicable), exchange server.

However, even with all that, and despite having tones of apps and data on my phone, I was back up like before in under an hour (I had all the install files of my apps to hand, so didnt have to find them and re-download them).

The big questions... was it worth it?

The answer... nah, not really.

There are no bad points with the update, nothing that has stopped working or makes it any worse.

People talk about the ROM being slightly faster - yes, have to say it appears a tad faster - but its subjective (I dont have my old setup next to me to compare). Of the battery lasting upto 33% (as if) longer - well, maybe a few more %, but not that kind of jump.

I have also seen some 6.1 screen shots where the today screen had a more glassy look, with options to use the left and right buttons to do things. If that is really a 6.1 screen shot, its not on the ORange ROM.

The good points and changes I noted...
1) You now have the full TNC Today options if you want - the big clock and the icons for links, contacts, etc (I durned it off as it took too much today screen room)
1b) You also get the TNC Homeplug, which adds new options at the bottom (or whereever) of the today screen to show battary, lock the phone, change brightness and orientation
2) Chained SMS - which could be good, but I am 40, and my SMS tend to be one offs - if I want a conversation, I will call somebody - its cheaper
3) IE is faster and has zoom capability. However, I would still go with Opera Mini - so, so, so, so much faster in loading itself and web pages
4) Bluetooth connections seem (to me) to be easier to set up and more stable
5) The Task Manager in this ROM shows the memory that each app is using. I have seen some screen shots where taskmanager also shows CPU, but it does not appear on the Orange ROM
6) The big one for me (it may have ben in 6.0, but could not get it to work) is in emails and SMS, you can drag the stylus to select multiple items to delete, move, forward multiple items
7) Finally, it would appear that reading emails is better. Some of the standard emails I get in HTML format had a problem in that they would not display (even through 6.0 should have rendered HTML emails), but now, most (but not all) appear in one format or another.


The only (if I was to be picky) bad point...
1) Because WM6.1 comes with all new tools (for guiding you, and setup step through), there are another 5 or 6 bits of junk to remove from the
"PRograms" start menu directory before the system is clean to use.
2) This ROM also has a few added bits of junk it loads, like some sample music, and more sample pictures (soon deleted).

[boz]

I think many carriers are now ok allowing HTC's roms to be installed, after all their roms were derived from them in the first place, cooked roms will still be a no no though.

[boz]

Originally Posted by tonybro

Yur, udK Diamond R4 on my Orbit 2 too.

Nice!

Things do move on quickly, udK Diamond R7 is now out Tony!

[tonybro]

Off to XDA-devs again then!