Verizon HTC XV6900 gets Windows Mobile 6.1 OS software update available early!
By Will Park on Thursday, November 13th, 2008 at 6:01 PM PST In Announcements, Applications, HTC, Verizon, Windows Mobile
Sure, you could wait for Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and HTC to get their act together and release the upcoming software update for your Verizon HTC Touch, confusingly known as the Verizon HTC XV6900, or, you could just grab the un-released update for yourself. Thanks to PhoneNews, Verizon HTC XV6900 owners don’t have to wait on an “official release” to start enjoying Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
.
The software update will endow your Verizon-branded HTC Touch smartphone with the long-awaited Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional OS that has been announced but has yet to materialize. And, with the addition of VZ Navigator, Verizon XV6900 users will be able to get GPS positioning information through Verizon’s premium navigation service. Unfortunately, Verizon is locking down the GPS receiver to only work with their VZ Navigator service. Fortunately, there’s a workaround for the XV6800 (which is already down with Windows Mobile 6.1) that should also work on the XV6900.
So, what are you waiting for? Grab the Verizon HTC XV6900 Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional software update here (or here), and get your handset up to date!
Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional for Verizon HTC XV6900
[Via: PhoneNews]
Note: The update file is a self-executable file, so only Windows users (or Mac users with virtualized Windows installations) will be able to use. Please backup all your data prior to performing the software update – you will lose it all! By flashing your handset’s ROM, you run the real risk of bricking the phone, please ensure that you are fully charged and SIM card is removed to prevent any problems. IntoMobile does is not responsible for you bricking your phone.
Has anyone performed the update to their HTC Touch (Verizon) yet? I’m not going there until I hear from others. Sprint has had this update out for months and I’m not happy that the GPS is disabled let alone locked down to VZNavigator. I got the HTC Touch because it was the least branded smartphone I could find that met my needs. Overall I’m very happy with it, but the UI certainly isn’t the iPhone. Otherwise I am happy that I can install 3rd party apps designed for Windows Mobile and Opera Mobile is so good.
Thanks for the info.
My wife and I both have the HTC Touch phones and I installed the 6.1 update on both of them a few days ago. Not because I wanted to, but because we both were having multiple issues with these phones and I needed to try something. Some of the issues include horrible static on the phones, (which we never used to get with our past 6 phones through Verizon)A few dropped calls, and more importantly, when our phones would go into sleep mode it wouldn’t wake up to receive calls. When you push the button on the top to wake the phone up, you would get bombarded with missed calls, text messages, reminders and voice mails from all the calls that tried to come through while the phone was in sleep mode. I’ve been on the phone with Verizon 2 to 3 times a week for the past 5 weeks. Even though they seem to try to resolve all of our problems, they also seem to keep dishing me off to others who in turn keep saying they will look into it. They even sent us 2 replacement phones only to find out that they were worse than the ones we sent back. Anyways… back to your question. Installing the 6.1 updates was very easy. The only thing I had to do was call Verizon to get them authorized again. Text messaging comes across as a conversation instead of individual messages which is nice and gps is now added. I downloaded the “workaround” and now use Google maps and seems to work pretty good. Although our calls still comes across with static it seems to be a little better (Still unacceptable)and all other issues has gone away and I have received all my calls even when in sleep mode. (at least for now.)Although we really like the size and function of these phones, it sounds like Verizon will give us replacement phones once again but this time we will not be getting these xv6900 phones again. Maybe we’ll try the Blackberry Storm, Omnia, or wait a few weeks and get the Diamond. Good Luck!
1. To Nick: Go to settings, then click the system tab and choose “power”. Click the advanced tab and uncheck both boxes that read “turn off device if not used for…” on battery and external power. I was running into the same situation you mentioned of missed messages and calls, but once I did this, no more issue. You just have to hit the power button to turn the screen off when you are not using the phone. I also just set the backlight to go off after a few seconds if I’m idle, while on battery power. I think this issue stems from Windows Mobile being originally designed as a PDA OS, so I have a feeling this “auto off” feature might ignore things coming over the phone radio. I highly recommend a program called “S2U2″ or Slide to Unlock 2 for this phone. Don’t know what to tell you about the static, never experienced any myself.
2. Ran the update as soon as I heard it was released into the wild. Love the added fixes and features from WM 6.1. The GPS is great, after the above mention “unlock” for Google Maps. Also if you unlock and use a program called GPSgate, you can use Tomtom software since Verizon won’t let you activate VZ Navigator on the XV6900 yet.
After much debate i installed it and it works great! I love it!!! Especially since texting now looks like a chat. I should have done this long time ago.
I installed the update and my phone sometimes freezes!! This never happened with the 6.0. Any suggestions??
I have one of these phones and I unlocked it and flashed my own ROM and now it is 100% better than verizons. I also unlocked the gps to work with any gps software. this is the site that can help you with any questions or problems you may have http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=48. http://wiki.xda-. follow directions here to unlock your phone to recieve custom ROM ugrades use Vogue_unlocker_MFG_2.31 and get it from here along with directions to do it. http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=20370. when you are done with that get the bell rom for it to upgrade the radio. put it in bootloder mode by holding power and camera button while pushing the reset button with the sylus. then initiate the upgrade from the desktop. do not let the customizations run!!! soft reset as soon as it says that the customizations will run in 3 seconds!!! link to ROM http://216.139.227.226/bell_Mobility…42.50_Ship.exe.. when you are done with that you can flash to any custom ROM or make one yourself. do not flash to a official ROM as you will probably lose gps. then follow these directions to get your gps working on any gps software. developers.com/index.php?pagename=VerizonAGPSFix. if you follow the directions and never unplug it from the computer when you are flashing it there is no possible way to brick your phone. after you have done everything and flashed to a ROM of your choice you notice the difference.
Iam considering the HTC from Verizon and I keep eharing about the 3rd party apps and the work around for google maps. Where can I find these gems?
I have the same problem with XV6900 missing calls when “going to sleep”. Spoke with Verizon many times and replaced 3 phones. Then, I realized that it is only happening when the battery is lower than 1/3 or 1/2. And if you get it to that point, you have charge it and then take the battery out and and then put it back. So I just try to keep it charged all the time…
so i downloaded this but now i cant send text or make calls or anything? am i suppose to call verizon or something ? what do i do now!? sorry im new!!!
Is there a program I can use on the xv6900 that will allow me to search anything on the cell phone?
@Eldon Sellers – There is but it is already on the phone. Go >start >programs >Search. It will search the phone for whatever you type in. It is very nice and works well but it can take a while sometimes. This may not be what you are looking for but I hope this helps.
I recently had to exchange my xv6900 for a new one due to messaging problems. I had the same issue where the phone would not wake up when recieving texts or calls. The new phone came installed with the new update and i have not had a problem with the phone not waking up since then. there is no VZ Navigator (or atleast not yet) but there is Opera Mobile Mini Browser which is extremely nicer than Internet Explorer.
I would also recommend downloading the HTC Home Customizer. It lets you change how the HTC home is set up. I have had no issues with this program. It is weird though because on my old XV6900 it would let me add the music tab but the new phone will not let me add this tab. Does anybody know what is causing this and how I can fix it?
Hi I have the htc xv6900 and I can’t update my windows mobile. When I click the icon “Windows Update” I hit check now and then an error pops up. It says, ” connection to update server was not available. Check with your data connections settings and ensure the device date and time are correct.” Can anyone help me???? Thanks so much!