SODDIT - Tech Version

In cop-speak, that’s “some other dude did it.”  Every cop and every prosecutor has a story of asking two suspects who’s responsible for some particular mayhem and they point at each other.

I have an HTC My Touch Slide smart phone with service from T-Mobile.  I bought it last June with an Android 2.1 OS.  Android had just announced that 2.2 would be coming out shortly, which indeed it did.  Every couple of weeks there would be an announcement that 2.2 was going to be pushed to some HTC phone or another, most of them phones introduced after I got mine. 

I saw an announcement yesterday that yet another two newer phones were getting it.

Now, the way these things work is Android (part of Google) comes out with an update that it sends to the manufacturer, in my case HTC.  HTC then plays with it to make it work with its hardware and then sends it to the carrier, for me T-Mobile, which plays further to integrate it into its network.

Last night, bored and suffering from Snowpocalypse 2011 cabin fever, I “chatted” with a T-Mobile customer service agent about the whereabouts of 2.2 for my phone.  She commiserated with me and said that T-Mobile was dependent on HTC, never quite saying whether or not HTC had sent the update to T-Mobile.

Getting nowhere with her, I sent an Email to HTC customer service asking similar questions about the missing update.  I just got a “response” which mirrored the T-Mobile rep’s deflection.  Without saying whether HTC has shipped the update, she inferred that the delay was T-Mobile’s fault.  I sent a follow-up Email asking specifically whether HTC had sent the update to T-Mobile and asked that if she didn’t know would she refer the question to someone who did know.  To this she danced:

“Well, at this point, it's tough to say. I'm not attempting to point fingers at anyone, since I don't know enough to say who's at fault.

“Basically, T-Mobile would have to request the software from us. Once they've recieved it, they'll customize it to suit their preferences, test it out, and then release it. Whether or not they've requested the software from us, or if they're working on the update, I can't say for sure. Our technical support department does not have the necessary means to find out the status of any given update, as this is something that would need to be addressed to our corporate offices, who do have a direct line to our software developers.”

Notice no mention of referring the question to someone else, just further deflection.

I think I’m going to do what juries do with two defendants who point at each other – fry them, getting a new phone manufacturer and carrier just as soon as my phone contract expires.  Samsung?  Apple?  LG?  Verizon?  (That’s really my only carrier choice as I’ve already suffered with Sprint and AT&T.)