Buying Unlocked HTC Dream in Canada

G

Galia G

New member
Hey Guys,

I've been reading about Android all day, and I finally decided I want to purchase an HTC Dream phone. I was unable to find this information elsewhere, so I decided to ask you guys, since this forum seems very helpful.

I live in Canada. Because I am already in a cellphone contract, I'd like to not activate the HTC, but still use it for its non-phone features.Is this possible? If so, would an unlocked phone be able to do this, or does every unlocked phone still need to be on a network to function?
I understand that rooting gives you root access to move apps && caches to the SD. Would I be able to install my own home-made apps (as opposed to from the market) on the phone without rooting the phone? (I am worried the service provider, Rogers, might cripple this functionality) Does anyone know how much Rogers cripples their phones?

Basically, I have very limited information right now.

My aim: To have a functioning phone that I can develop apps for, without being on a contract Is this possible?
I was thinking of ordering an unlocked phone through e-bay. Will it still work with rogers, should I want to activate it?


As you can see, I'm totally confused. Thanks a lot for your time!
 
Some useful infomation here:

http://rabroad.com/forums/f41/tmobile-g1-setup-on-fido-rogers-15184/

Contains a link to a very old XDA web page, so not sure if that is still valid.

You may find it easier to just buy a $5 monthly data plan, when I first got a T-Mobile G1, I already had a $5 500KB data plan, and used that to activate, as Fido made me wait about 3 weeks before they added a real data plan.

You do need to activate the phone with your Google account, but once that's done, you can survive on WiFi and Rogers has no input into that process.

If you get a Rogers Dream, check what build/radio is installed, as the last two Rogers updates installed perfect SPLs, which basically means it's difficult / impossible to root, especially if it has the very latest update with the 911 fix. For your purposes you may be better picking up a T-Mobile Dream, those can be had for about $49, and should already have 1.6 installed. Having root is good, but if you just want a device to install your own apps, then root is not required.

Majority of Android phones allow installation of any application from the sd-card, I think the latest AT&T phone is the only one I have seen that blocks that method.

You may want you look here as well, as that contains much more Rogers specific information.

http://www.howardforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=514
 
I can answer some of the questions you have...

You can turn the phone on without a SIM card in it, and use all of its features that do not require mobile network access (i.e. making/receiving calls, sending/receiving texts, using MOBILE data (you can still use WiFi)).

You do not need to root your phone to install apps from places other than the standard Android Market. You can install apps from any website or the SD card. To do this you simply go to Menu -> Settings -> Applications, and turn on "Unknown sourced (Allow install of non-Market applications)".

Are you sure you want a Dream? This was the first Android phone to come out back in October 2008. There are far better Android phones available now. Even the HTC Hero (the second Android phone I saw) is much better other than it not having a real keyboard.
 
Thanks a lot guys, that was really helpful. I currently have a CDMA voice plan on bell.

I called bell, and they said it costs a 35 dollar fee to change to an HSPA plan. So i'm thinking I'll buy an unlocked android device on the net, and just pop in my new voice plan sim card. (I don't want to buy data)

But, from what I read, one needs to activate his or her android device through google. Does a phone only need to be activated once, or once for each network it wants to run on? Is it possible to buy a pre-activated phone, or not? I have read that one needs a data plan to activate the phone. Can I simply get data for one month, activate the phone, then use it without data?
Is it even possible to run a smartphone without data? The providers make it seem like it's not.[/B] Ideally, I would have no data, and just run on wifi when i needed to.

-----------
Apparently the Nexus one is can be ordered to Canada. I assume this would be pre-unlocked by google. If I just popped a working sim card on a voice plan in there, it would work upon activation, right? How would I manage to activate it?


Thanks for all your help!
 
Part of the problem is that when you first turn on the phone you need to enter your Google account details (or register a new account). It only allows you to use mobile data for this because you haven't yet got into the main part of Android where you would enter your WiFi settings. There are three ways I know of to get around that though.

The simplest and free way is to put in any SIM that has a Data plan on it (a friend's, for example). Start up the phone and enter your Google account details, let it boot up and do its setup stuff, then turn it off, put your own SIM back in, and you're done.

Or, you can get a data plan for one month, and do the above with your own SIM, then cancel your Data plan.

Or, see (my) post number 7 on this thread for details on how to pop up the settings screen to enter the WiFi settings on the registration screen: http://rabroad.com/forums/f3/im-screwed-stuck-on-this-g1-issue-31694/ It's a bit more complicated, and I've only tested it on Android 1.6 (which an HTC Dream will probably have, but it may have 1.5 on some networks.

The phone only needs to be activated once (with your Google username and password). You can use any SIM from any network (assuming it is unlocked of course), or use your own SIM on any network (with Roaming) and you won't have to enter any account details ever again. The only time you will ever need to re-enter your Google account details are if you change your Google account password, do a factory reset, or clear the Google apps data manually in the advanced application settings. The first and last of those are fine as you'll still be able to use WiFi. A factory reset is the only time you'd require a data plan again, or do the stuff mentioned in the post I linked.

I've never heard of buying a pre-activated Android phone. I don't think this would work as it would be using someone else's Google account.

An Android phone without Data does have some drawbacks...

Check that you don't get charged HUGE amounts for using Data without a data plan. Most mobile providers I know allow you to use Data at an extortionate cost without a data plan. An Android phone can upload/download tens of MB of data a day just doing background stuff (checking email, checking for app updates, syncing contacts, calendar, etc). The cost of this could add up. But there's a way around this too...

You can turn off all mobile data access with an app like APNDroid. This renames all of the APN (mobile data access points) so that they will no longer work. This effectively stops all mobile data from working on the phone, leaving you with WiFi only for data. You can undo this by running the app again of course, or manually editting the APN settings.

Without mobile data there will be no using Google Maps on the move, checking email on the move, chatting with your mates on MSN, Yahoo, GTalk, AIM, etc on the move, downloading stuff or browsing on the move, listening to internet radio like Spotify on the move, downloading apps on the move, or using any app that requires data for any other reason while on the move. All of those things are useful and/or fun, and quite a big part of what Android has to offer you. I thought I could live without Data when I first got my G1 a year ago, and was forced to get a data plan by T-Mobile. But I'm glad I was, as now there's no way I would live without it, and I consider the additional cost entirely worth it.

You can of course do all of the above at home if you're in range of your WiFi, or in any other location where you have WiFi access. But, again, there are a few issues to address.

Namely that Android, by default, only uses WiFi when the screen is on (i.e. not in standby). Every time the screen times out, or you put the phone in standby, you will lose ALL data connectivity (email, IM, etc). You can go into the advanced settings and tell it to keep WiFi on all the time, however this will eat into your battery life somewhat.
 
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