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Re: Users Fume as Software Update Bricks Sprint EVO Phones
Posted by: Kimberly Hill 2010-06-30 05:17:11
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Less than a month after the release of the Sprint HTC EVO 4G, many of the smartphone's users recently found their devices rendered completely inoperable. That's because a firmware update released by Sprint this week seems to have gone badly awry for an unknown number of the customers who installed it. For those customers, the firmware update has "bricked" their phones -- a term not so affectionately used for phones that behave more like doorstops than multifunction communications devices. The screen is blank, the signal is gone, the phone is dead.
EVO IS HORRIBLE & SPRINT IS WORSE
Posted by: sherwinsheik 2010-08-31 10:54:11 In reply to: Kimberly Hill
I bought the EVO two days ago and one day after owning it ONE DAY it was BRICKED! Screen went blank! Can't Make or Receive Calls. The phone is dead. I called tech support and they told me that if I go into a sprint store they will have a new one for me... and I just got back from the Sprint Store and they are all out of the EVO and don't know when they will get their next shipment! HOW CAN THEY SELL A PRODUCT THAT DOESN'T WORK and just leave their customers without a phone! Don't buy the EVO! It is a crap phone! I thought I would love it but ended up being a nightmare…
Not rooted, still bricked... none in stock.
Posted by: SchmittyJ 2010-07-01 09:30:56 In reply to: Kimberly Hill
I bought my HTC Evo on launch day, June 4th from Best Buy. It was an upgrade from a 3-year old Samsung Instinct.
From the get-go, I loved my phone. It's processor speed, apps and camera are incredible. It was also the first Android phone I owned.
My Evo functioned beautifully for 3 weeks, and I was loving using it everyday. Then, on Monday, when Sprint rolled out the update, it was pushed to my phone twice. The first time, it was pushed, I accepted the update, and was actually in the process of installing the update when I noticed in the status bar that another download had started. When my phone started power-cycling as part of the update, it made it through the first power cycle, and during the second it simply never came back on. Dead... kaput...
Just to clear the air, my phone was unrooted and every app I had was from the Android market. My phone was brand new, and I didn't want to risk bricking it by rooting it, so I didn't muck around with it at all.
I have to admit that I'm getting a little angry at all the people on the forums insisting that those of us who got our phones bricked, it's somehow our fault through user error. I won't disagree with you that anyone who had their phone rooted knew that they were opening themselves up to risk. But there were those of us who simply got the update pushed through twice and got our phones bricked...
As it stands, it was a hassle to return my Evo back to Best Buy (although I was finally able to), but all of the outlets around my area are sold out completely with no clue when they're going to be getting more units in. So, here I sit, Evo-less with my old phone reactivated for the meantime while I wait and see how long it will be until I get another HTC Evo.
From the get-go, I loved my phone. It's processor speed, apps and camera are incredible. It was also the first Android phone I owned.
My Evo functioned beautifully for 3 weeks, and I was loving using it everyday. Then, on Monday, when Sprint rolled out the update, it was pushed to my phone twice. The first time, it was pushed, I accepted the update, and was actually in the process of installing the update when I noticed in the status bar that another download had started. When my phone started power-cycling as part of the update, it made it through the first power cycle, and during the second it simply never came back on. Dead... kaput...
Just to clear the air, my phone was unrooted and every app I had was from the Android market. My phone was brand new, and I didn't want to risk bricking it by rooting it, so I didn't muck around with it at all.
I have to admit that I'm getting a little angry at all the people on the forums insisting that those of us who got our phones bricked, it's somehow our fault through user error. I won't disagree with you that anyone who had their phone rooted knew that they were opening themselves up to risk. But there were those of us who simply got the update pushed through twice and got our phones bricked...
As it stands, it was a hassle to return my Evo back to Best Buy (although I was finally able to), but all of the outlets around my area are sold out completely with no clue when they're going to be getting more units in. So, here I sit, Evo-less with my old phone reactivated for the meantime while I wait and see how long it will be until I get another HTC Evo.
Sprint bricked my EVO in less than two hours of activation. Good Job.
Posted by: Bill2010 2010-06-30 22:23:55 In reply to: Kimberly Hill
Today, an HTC support tech stated off the record that the customers who were negatively effected by the update either bought the EVO From RADIO SHACK or BEST BUY. I tried several Sprint locations and was not able to exchange my bricked EVO because I purchased it from Wack Shack. Several sprint reps informed me that most customers who have phone issues bought them from 3rd parties like Worst Buy and Wack Shack. A close sprint rep told me that Wack (Radio) Shack is known for handing out used or tampered with phones. And after speaking to a level 3 tech support he informed me that Sprint luanched the EVO WITHOUT any type of software to trouble shoot or flash the phone in the event this type of error occured. In fact, out of 7 conversation with 7 different Sprint techs (over the phone and in person) not one had any real training or knowledge of trouble techniques. And the more questions I asked the more I was accused of rooting the phone and causing it to crash.
The bottom line Is that Sprint did a piss poor job of testing and preparing to luanch the so called #1 Phone in America's history. Sprint will continue to keep as tight of a lid on this issue so they will stay in competition with the Top two, Verizon and AT&T. Now I see why sprint can't get iPhones or decent Blackberry phones on their network. Let's face it, before the Palm Pre, sprint was just a high end boost mobile phone company. That is why. Despite the higher prices of the others, they continue to hold on to there customers. I am a long time Verizon customer and I paid more but I got more. I know it must have felt good to sprint knowing they are actually a company worthy of customers. I just hope they take more time getting things right because we all know that great corporations last because they run the marathon and not 40 yard dash..... I am done and I feel better now.... Wait I just looked at my bricked EVO
..... I feel a little better.
The bottom line Is that Sprint did a piss poor job of testing and preparing to luanch the so called #1 Phone in America's history. Sprint will continue to keep as tight of a lid on this issue so they will stay in competition with the Top two, Verizon and AT&T. Now I see why sprint can't get iPhones or decent Blackberry phones on their network. Let's face it, before the Palm Pre, sprint was just a high end boost mobile phone company. That is why. Despite the higher prices of the others, they continue to hold on to there customers. I am a long time Verizon customer and I paid more but I got more. I know it must have felt good to sprint knowing they are actually a company worthy of customers. I just hope they take more time getting things right because we all know that great corporations last because they run the marathon and not 40 yard dash..... I am done and I feel better now.... Wait I just looked at my bricked EVO
..... I feel a little better.
With a lot of this sort of stuff they need to rethink the concept and do something, like having a small amount of non-volatile ROM on the chip as a sort of 'boot loader', if you had to, it could detect/be reset in a way that would give you a basic working state, which could then be used to re-flash the firmware, in cases where you really fowled the thing. The silly mess where you can't redo such a thing, because the code to support doing it at all is part of the firmware you just trashed, seems, to me, to have some **major** drawbacks, to say the least...
I purchased my HTC EVO the day it was first available. I haven't rooted my phone and had no problems installing the update mentioned in this article, over-the-air.
Anyone who has experience rooting devices, whether it be a phone or other device, knows they are taking a risk in "bricking" the device.
I would like to hear from folks who have installed the update, who don't have a rooted phone, in which the update has bricked their phone.
Anyone who has experience rooting devices, whether it be a phone or other device, knows they are taking a risk in "bricking" the device.
I would like to hear from folks who have installed the update, who don't have a rooted phone, in which the update has bricked their phone.
I also Purchased my EVO the first day it was available.
have not rooted my phone
I have had no problems updating my EVO OTA
I don't know any body that as not rooted there phone that has had a problem.
And yes people that root there phone know that thay stand a chance at bricking there phone.
have not rooted my phone
I have had no problems updating my EVO OTA
I don't know any body that as not rooted there phone that has had a problem.
And yes people that root there phone know that thay stand a chance at bricking there phone.
