http://www.htcclassaction.org/images/drivers-not-included-big.png
Para os que estão a par da situação (já referida no post do Sony Ericsson) relativamente aos problemas da HTC com drivers dos aparelhos com o chipset MSM7200 e MSM7500 há agora uma luz ao fundo do túnel:
Extracto retirado do site htcclassaction.org (http://www.htcclassaction.org/responses.php#update_20080214_2)
"New driver end of March"
A response from Peter Chou himself (CEO of HTC) has surfaced saying they hope to release a driver at the end of March. Examination of the e-mail and its SMTP headers verifies with very high certainty that this e-mail indeed originated at HTC Taiwan. Ofcourse we have also written our own e-mail to Peter Chou to ask for confirmation.
So, this certainly seems to be legit. Ofcoure the question remains wether it's ultimately true - we certainly hope so!.
If you look at this together with the WMExperts Insider Q+A article, this could even mean that HTC is doing completely the opposite of what most people think: instead of leaving us hanging they are actually going the extra mile!
This may be what we've all been hoping for!
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Claro que os problemas da HTC a nível de suporte já há muito são conhecidos. E promessas já as houve anteriormente... acho que é uma questão de esperar e ver se cumprem.
Mais notícias da HTC em relação ao assunto dos drivers:
"This fix is not a driver for the Imageon hardware"
Both DailyTech and Engadged Mobile report the coming update will not contain drivers, but other software fixes and tweaks.
One thing to note is that the scheduled release date is still March, so it's likely this was 'meant' by Peter Chou as the update. It would be seriously disappointing, but as this seems way more like an official statement than the earlier news we reported, and Peter Chou himself so far has still not answered HTCClassAction.org's (polite) inquiries we'll stick to this as the truth.
It remains the question of course, if many of us will see the touted improvement from this CAB to be released. A lot of people have been taking these devices apart and tweaked them in many ways, new custom ROM's, etc. A lot of these already create significant improvements over the original software these devices came with, so the big question here is, will we actually notice anything from this patch? We think it would not be unreasonable to expect that this cab-based fix will be something like enabling full codec and QTV support for Windows Media Player (speculation). While this would be a good thing, ofcourse, it's too little too late, it's nothing CorePlayer can't do, after all.
Before going further, let's quote the statement posted on DailyTech. It's the usual "oh my god we didn't know people actually expected what we implied we would deliver and therefore we aren't to blame" nonsense we have all come to expect from HTC by now, but here it is anyway:
HTC DOES plan to offer software upgrades that will increase feature functionality, over the air wireless speeds and other enhancements for some of the phones being criticized, but we do not anticipate including any additional support for the video acceleration issues cited in customer complaints. It is important for customers to understand that bringing this functionality to market is not a trivial driver update and requires extensive software development and time.
HTC will utilize hardware video acceleration like the ATI Imageon in many upcoming products. Our users have made it clear that they expect our products to offer an improved visual experience, and we have included this feedback into planning and development of future products.
To address lingering questions about HTC's current MSM 7xxx devices, it is important to establish that a chipset like an MSM7xxx is a platform with a vast multitude of features that enable a wide range of devices with varied functionality. It is common that devices built on platforms like Qualcomm's will not enable every feature or function.
In addition to making sure the required hardware is present, unlocking extended capabilities of chipsets like the MSM 7xxx requires in-depth and time consuming software development, complicated licensing negotiations, potential intellectual property negotiations, added licensing fees, and in the case of devices that are sold through operators, the desire of the operator to include the additional functionality. To make an informed decision about which handset suits them best, consumers should look at the product specification itself instead of using the underlying chipset specifications to define what the product could potentially become.
Classic bait-and-switch going on here. There are so many things wrong with this statement we can hardly find a place to begin. Of course we'll recap it here with our thoughts on various points.
It is important for customers to understand that bringing this functionality to market is not a trivial driver update and requires extensive software development and time.
Yes, in general, developing drivers does take a lot of extensive software development and time. Why is this important to understand for customers? It isn't, it's completely irrelevant. Customers didn't imply functionalities, HTC did, and they conveniently rode the MSM7x00 chipset hype without ever saying anything about these features not being included. What it takes to get it done is HTC's business, not the customers. Seriously, these devices go for around $700, millions have been sold, and HTC is crying about spending a few months for a few developers (or paying Qualcomm or whoever else) to get it done? That's like Bill Gates complaining Windows didn't make him enough money.
HTC will utilize hardware video acceleration like the ATI Imageon in many upcoming products. Our users have made it clear that they expect our products to offer an improved visual experience, and we have included this feedback into planning and development of future products.
Yes it's very clear, you want us all to shell out more cash and buy your NEXT product, which will offer all the features this product should have. As tempting as that seems, somehow we expect these devices will not quite be what we expect from them either. Furthermore, and it gets tiring to state this over and over again, we're not even so much looking for an "improved visual experience", as one that can at least match devices 3 years older. Even that would be a significant improvement and make many users, if not happy, at least somewhat content - but probably still holding a grudge against HTC.
To address lingering questions about HTC's current MSM 7xxx devices, it is important to establish that a chipset like an MSM7xxx is a platform with a vast multitude of features that enable a wide range of devices with varied functionality. It is common that devices built on platforms like Qualcomm's will not enable every feature or function.
Again, we are not asking for features that are unreasonable to expect. Do we expect HTC to implement things like the TV-out functionality possible with the MSM7x00 chipsets? We do not, as this would require additional hardware and modifications to existing devices. That not all features of a chipset are fully implemented is to be expected. However, basic system functionality like hardware accelerated graphics capabilities when they are available is completely reasonable to expect, expecially as nothing has been stated to this not being available in neither specs nor reviews and HTC has intentionally implied that these features would be available in their own press releases. We like to call this "maximizing profits by repeatedly screwing over your customer base".
To make an informed decision about which handset suits them best, consumers should look at the product specification itself instead of using the underlying chipset specifications to define what the product could potentially become.
Again with this unbelievable statement (it has more or less been part of previous statements). We are talking about base functionality that is reasonable to expect from a device sporting a chipset that supports it. Especially if mentioned in HTC's own press releases and the device is priced like an average laptop. Furthermore, the official specifications did not specify details on any of these things, so it is no more than to be expected that potential buyers research the hardware to see what is offered. Of course, HTC would rather have us believe that in general people about to spend large amounts of money do not look into what they are buying, and that therefore nothing of this is their fault.
There's really not much more to say about this whole issue that hasn't been said already. HTC customers are not satisfied, HTC simply doesn't care. Whatever happened to the customer being king?
Hope for the future? We guess it's clear now that HTC will do nothing worth mentioning about the current issues. However, the future XPeria product is rumored to run on the MSM7200A chipset and will have the complete driver set. If nothing else, hopefully the big brains at XDA-Developers, PPCGeeks, MoDaCo and other online communities will be able to port them to the current set of MSM7x00 devices. As it probably won't be released before the second half of 2008 it's still way off, though.
HTCClassAction.org (http://www.htcclassaction.org/responses.php#update_20080221)
Basicamente... e para quem não tem pachorra de ler o texto inteiro... estão a prometer um update mas que não traz drivers novos.
???Asseguram??? que resolve os problemas....
Cá esperamos por esse update!!...
HTC e o seu suporte lame em relação a software...
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