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- Matrixsjd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15one reason why I've always stayed away from Verizon. Along with they're aweful phone UI.
- rusty_g, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10actually the UI is different from carrier to carrier, i have a cingular razr, and i have played with the verizon v3c, and yes the UI on the verizon sucks!!!
- retral, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Disabling stuff on phones by the providers is an evil and uncalled for practice anyways..all they really care about is ka-ching.
- samdu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9I still can't believe Verizon crippled Bluetooth on their phones. Cingular doesn't. How chintzy can Verizon get?
- sremick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Thanks for reminding me why I don't use Verizon. Unlocked GSM all the way, baby. All the features available, competitive purchasing market to keep prices down.
- asteron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Yeah there have been three RAZR v3c firmwares from verizon. .02 had OBEX (although this was not advertized), .03 removed it completely (not just diabled but removed), and .04 supports it again. They have also slightly sped up the sluggish/ugly Verizon UI (the main point).
Myself I flashed the firmware on the RAZR to the Alltel firmware with the information from this site
http://wiki.howardforums.com/motorola/index.php/Motorola_V3c_Tutorial:_Flashing_to_Alltel_User_Interface
As opposed to the 1 second menu delay or the .5 second menu delay on the new version everything is INSTANT. Plus without that silly Verizon UI running ontop you get better battery life, and NO RED BARS! - cavemonkey50, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6You must have received a phone with the original (.02) firmware on it. Verizon left OBEX on by accident in that version. This is the first time Verizon is official supporting it.
- dramatools, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Too little, too late. I ditched Verizon Wireless this spring for Cingular. Even though VZW is now allowing users to access some of the functionality they've paid for, there's still a lot of reasons to hate them:
The phone is still crippled.
Verizon still depends on analog cell sites in many rural areas where GSM carriers have built up new infrastructure.
If your phone dies, you lose your contacts. At least with a GSM phone you can back up your numbers to the SIM card.
BREW (Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless)
Buggy firmware. My T720c had to be replaced once, and reloaded once. It still never performed quite right.
I figured they'd find some way to dull the RAZR. CDMA is not to blame itself, but Verizon's implementation (lack of CDMA infrastructure in fringe areas, crippled phones) leaves much to be desired. - peterlisanti, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5So far it appears that if you go from the .03 firmware to the .04 firmware you don't get OBEX back. If you go from .02 to .04 OBEX is there.
Verizon completely removed OBEX from .03, .04 does not put it back...
Keep up with the saga here -
http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=893475 - rderveloy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Verizon uses propriatary software on their phones that gimp's the features offered by the origional manufacturer. All carriers do this to some extent, but Verizon is notoriously bad about it. Cingular has supported the motorla tools on the razr since it came out. 3rd party solutions are availible as well.
You should by unlocked phones from independent dealers, you'll pay a premium, but you'll be able to do whatever you want on your phone. The Razr is origionally designed as a GSM/GPRS quadband phone, so you can take an ulocked razr on any GSM-standard network in the wolrd as long as you have a prepaid sim card. - cantankerous, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I'm leaving Verizon once my contract is up. Crappy crippled phones, they nickel and dime you for everything and arrogant customer service. Good riddance.
- counterplex, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I would recommend everyone here who has had to hack their phones to enable OBEX or anyone who is happy with this news to contact Verizon and let them know how much this means to you. If there's one thing I've learned it's that companies will register all comments (even if they do nothing about it) and that positive comments tend to have more of an effect than negative ones do.
- longofest, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3About damn time! I have had my E815 hacked to enable OBEX for a while now, but its nice that Verizon is now legitimizing it :-) I still would like to have Phone Tools work like it should though (being able to put MIDI ringtones from my computer on the phone, rather than always having to use big old mp3's)
- godmode, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I wish Bell would do this in Canada too. The newest V3c couldnt even be hacked to enable OBEX
- PasteEater, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3When I received my RAZR v3c in late February, Bluetooth OBEX was completely disabled. I had to downgrade the firmware to get that functionality back.
- kbunsie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3This story is inaccurate. It's just another upgrade fluke when you go from 02 to 04 software. 02 had OBEX enabled but 03 doesn't. You can figure the rest from there. The link in the article that goes to HOFO is only talking about the Music Essentials kit for V Cast Music phones.
- thecapitalizt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3No, razr phones can't be flashed Over The Air (OTA). Few phones on the market are able to do this, most notably the Sidekick 2.
- feylanks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3figures as soon as i use that seem edit
but the obex could be useful... right?? meh stupid verizon - dkiehl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I've had the VC3 for about 6 weeks now and have never had issues copying my photos/videos via Bluetooth. Don't know where they get their facts...
- philgmo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Wait, wait, wait. Does it say somewhere that they're enabling it for any phones besides the RAZR? If so, lump me into the happy E815 owners group.
I guess after RingTFA there are rumors that they'll do it for other VCast phones in the coming weeks. - hellalazy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2i hate verizon for crippling the devices, like my xv6700. but this new patch looks great for my fiances v3c. cant wait to start beaming her ringtones.
- applehill, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I just called my Verizon dealer and they said the update is not scheduled to come out until next month. He was surprised I knew about it and what it did
- acmorton, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's interesting that MOTO still charges for their Phone Tools software, while Nokia gives theirs away. I've been using a Nokia clamshell and a bluetooth dongle to download photos and videos and upload ringtones, etc. for sometime now. I'm currently an Alltel customer and have been very pleased with their service. They partner with Verizon for roaming so fortunately I've been able to get a signal everywhere I normally travel to. I'm still a fan of CDMA as I think the voice quality is better than GSM and it also utilizes "soft hand-offs" when having to switch towers. Rarely do I get drop a call... Just my $.02.
- SideshowBob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Couldn't agree with you more. Funneling users through their ***** pay service to accomplish something that you *could do yourself* really pisses me off. I'll be damned if I am going to pay them for the privilege of putting a song I already own or one of my own pictures on their phone.
The words that come to mind are "soulless" and "evil". - adml_shake, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2About damn time, I've got the a950 and this is the only thing that I don't like about the phone....using the damn transflash cards to transfer ring tones and pics can be a pain in the ass.
- Avengelist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Ditch bell, go with the other evil entity, Rogers. No crippled phones.
- Aure, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Exactly retral. Verizon intentionally cripples a mobile phone's functionality for more profit. They've created artifically inflated markets for ringtones, games, and picture sharing. My phone SHOULD be able to connect to my PC without having to hack it, but verizon doesn't want this. They want you to pay them for anything you download onto your phone and they've been pretty successful at forcing users to do this.
Verizon could still have a catalog for downloading games/ringtones/wallpapers but they should not FORCE users to use only that service. - macslut, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Is it really this hard to get this stuff right?
Save us Steve. Deliver us the iPhone. - tablatronix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2good, and while they are at it they should fire their marketing department after kicking them in the ass.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I have a new Razr VC3 that I got from CompUSA (Tmobile) and the B/T transfer works great.
- boozedrinker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2THANK GOD - I had to hack the .02 software onto mine when I got it to do OBEX..... It was BS that Verizon took it off in the first place - you pay for ALL of the phone's features, not just what Verizon wants you to have so that you have to pay out the ass for thier $3.99 ringtones. It's like buying a car with A/C, but the manufacturer had disabled the A/C - just to make you pay when you want to use it. YOU PAY FOR THE WHOLE PHONE, NOT JUST CERTAIN PARTS OF IT......and that's the bottom line.
I think maybe they were afraid of lawsuits :-) - shaund, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Its about time... They need to enable OBEX over bluetooth on their Treo line! What's up with vzw and crippling bluetooth on their phones anyways?
- n3tfury, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3too little, too late
- dwalsh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Though slightly off-topic, the proprietary Verizon RAZR user interface is, as others have said, horrific. Not as much visually, but as far as performance goes. Hold it side by side with a Motorola UI and click 'Contacts' or 'Menu'. The Verizon UI takes over 4 seconds to change views, where the Moto UI is instant.
I've been incredibly disappointed with this thing, and would LOVE to find a way to swap in the Moto UI. Either way, at least Bluetooth transfer is a step in the right direction.. - Gardenhead, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Anyone know if this now supports Salling Clicker? I know that they couldn't get it to work because of some crippling from Motorola. Just wondering.
- cyberghost232, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I have version .02 on my razr v3c and mms or obex dont work. i have mpt and no options for file transfers active on that program.
- MikeHinds, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I have an e815. Haven't attempted the seem edit yet, but ticks me off that after purchasing the phone legally, as well as the Phone Tools software and a cable, that I'm not allowed to upload ringtones and download pictures with my own phone and my own PC.
I haven't yet found a concise description of the seem edit process. Hopefully there will soon be no need. - mesostinky, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1So which is it? Is this story about idiots with 02 firmware getting 04 and thinking they "now have BT? Or did Vz really re-enable it for people who had 03?
Finally does it fix the Calendar bug which making syncing with Outlook get hosed? - MikeHinds, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Thanks, Amiga - it looks like a well written article.
- blues911, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Well its about time!!!! Just got the RAZR last week. This is great news!
- aresef, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I can't access the story (school filter), but can anybody tell me what I need to do now to get Phone Tools et cetera to work with my RAZR? Do I need to take it up to a Verizon Wireless store?
- cavemonkey50, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1At the moment it appears the code is there, but if you didn't have .02 you'll need to a seem edit.
- josher, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Finally! I bought my V3c about two months ago and came in a week later complaining about the sluggishness. They said they were waiting on an update since February.
- amigaman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1check out this link to edit seems on a e815: http://www.nuclearelephant.com/papers/e815seem.html
- Miphnik, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Actually, it IS Verizon's fault. Several of the carriers, including Sprint and Verizon, now require the phone manufacturers to deliver phones with a user interface specified by the carrier. Look at the latest phones from Verizon: they all have the same UI regardless of manufacturer. Ostensibly, it's to simplify customer support and make it easier for users to transition from one phone to another at the same carrier. But it also "brands" the phone in an obvious fashion.
- SideshowBob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Here's all the gory details from HowardForums. This thread is HUGE and has been active since last August.
http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=714243&page=1
This thread is a FAQ of sorts which consolidates a lot of detail around the settlement.
http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=884916
If this is the first you're hearing about it, you might be out of luck. I was in the first round of claimants and if I remember right, the paperwork showed up last November. Just got my new RAZR (as part of the settlement) a couple of weeks ago. I was very excited to see this, but I'm now less optimistic as my phone came with the cursed .03 firmware. A trip to a VZW store is definitely in the immediate future and I will be pissed if the OBEX profile is still missing. - SideshowBob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Damn double comment!!
I'm not sure that kohner's original comment is accurate. The lawsuit revolved around the fact that Verizon castrated the v710's Bluetooth but did not bother to mention that they'd done so. Once they got sued, was their reaction to un-***** the phone? Nope, they just started prominently saying that only limited BT profiles were supported. The suit's class is those people who bought a v710 under the impression that it had full Bluetooth. As part of the settlement, VZW is required to essentially provide a refund for the purchase of a new phone, not turn on OBEX. - Whatchamacallit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Too late, I already switched to Cingular because of the hobbled BlueTooth support on Verizon phones. Had they done this a year and 3 months ago I might have stayed with Verizon...
- grrz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Seconded, unlocked phone all the way. Plus you can cleanly move from providers without losing your phone when they piss you off or have poor coverage.
- theoallardyce, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Wow and people actually put up with this carrier? I thought the UK was a rip-off until I learnt that US users get charged to receive calls hahaha brilliant pure genius. Then again, ~$5-6 a gallon for petrol, you guys win :(
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