Question about Importing Pre

[hotdp]

Hello there

I am from Denmark and would like a Pre, i have been waiting for it so long that my passion is running out. So i am thinking about buying a Pre unlocked in Germany.

So my qestion is, can i install English as language? (dont want german) And will it be possible to install Danish word help? We have letters as: æ ø å
So when SMSing i would like to type words with thoose letters I have seen other phones who just figured out words so when pressing a in a word it can see if it shall be æ or å.

Please help...

[irifan]

Originally Posted by hotdp

Hello there

I am from Denmark and would like a Pre, i have been waiting for it so long that my passion is running out. So i am thinking about buying a Pre unlocked in Germany.

So my qestion is, can i install English as language? (dont want german) And will it be possible to install Danish word help? We have letters as: æ ø å
So when SMSing i would like to type words with thoose letters I have seen other phones who just figured out words so when pressing a in a word it can see if it shall be æ or å.

Please help...

On the German Pre you can get to the following letters via the SYM key:
æ å ø any others I should check?

The German pre supports:

German
English
Spanish
French
Italian

Since it needs to reboot after switching the language I have tested only English and Italian (besides German).

Please keep in mind, that there is currently no option to set up your internet settings manually with a German pre. Major German Providers like vodaphone or t-mobile are supported. If you tell me which provider or APN (Access Point Name) you need, I can do some research on that.

[hotdp]

OMG. Thank you so much for your fast replay!

My phone provider is 3 (3.dk) How can i find the internet information you need?

Originally Posted by irifan

On the German Pre you can get to the following letters via the SYM key:
æ å ø any others I should check?

The German pre supports:

German
English
Spanish
French
Italian

Since it needs to reboot after switching the language I have tested only English and Italian (besides German).

Please keep in mind, that there is currently no option to set up your internet settings manually with a German pre. Major German Providers like vodaphone or t-mobile are supported. If you tell me which provider or APN (acess Pont Name) you need, I can do some research on that.

[irifan]

Originally Posted by hotdp

OMG. Thank you so much for your fast replay!

My phone provider is 3 (3.dk) How can i find the internet information you need?

Some Providers use different APNs for different tariffs. E.g. o2 Germany has an internet billing option, where the Internet around your home (homezone) is cheaper. But only, if you use the APN surfo2. If you usethe APN internet, you will be charged for internet outside of your homezone.

You should be able to find that info on your providers homepage.

[hotdp]

Ahh i understand.

My provider do not have that "feature" its just 3g all over the contry, and that will work fine right?

Originally Posted by irifan

Some Providers use different APNs for different tariffs. E.g. o2 Germany has an internet billing option, where the Internet around your home (homezone) is cheaper. But only, if you use the APN surfo2. If you usethe APN internet, you will be charged for internet outside of your homezone.

You should be able to find that info on your providers homepage.

[Trekkie]

Hello irifan

I’m also Danish and would also (very much) like the Palm Pre. I have one additional question.

When you type German words like for instance “über”, how do you do that? Are you just using the u key, and then the German dictionary kicks in and converts it to ü for you? Or do you have to go to symbols every time to use special German characters?

I'm asking this because I think I could live with, having to go to sym every time I needed to type one of the Danish specific characters (æøå), until a Danish dictionary will be released. But I don't think I could live with always having to go to sym for those characters. We use them a lot in the Danish language.

Thanks in advance

[dakis]

Originally Posted by hotdp

Hello there

I am from Denmark and would like a Pre, i have been waiting for it so long that my passion is running out. So i am thinking about buying a Pre unlocked in Germany.

I don't want to discourage you - but a word of caution on the German O2 Pres:

I bought one last night (live in Switzerland, on the border to Germany) from O2 Germany. Contrary to some messages on the net, they'll let you pay in cash - the 24-month payment plan isn't mandatory.

HOWEVER: the O2 Pre ONLY works with German SIM cards (and not even with all of those, as I had to find out). It's correct that the Pre doesn't have SIM- or net-lock. Unfortunately, the Pre doesn't allow you to change APNs (GPRS access points) and the only ones pre-programmed on the O2 devices are for the major German providers. O2 promised an update for the devices so the APNs can be changed. However, even if they release it, there's a heck of a caveat to it: in order to install the update, the device needs to be activated first. In order to activate, you need a working GPRS connection (WiFi doesn't work. There's a hack for this for the Sprint version but it doesn't work for the UMTS Pres).

Anyway, I didn't know any of that. So I bought it (although the vendor knew I live in Switzerland, he didn't point that out to me, either...). So I went home, put my Swisscom SIM in the device, started it and.... nada. Unable to activate. You can't do ANYTHING with the Pre without activating it first.
So I went to O2's website and checked the FAQs. There it says that you have to use a German SIM card (provider doesn't matter as long as data services are enabled) to activate it. So I went back to Germany and bought a Vodafone PAYG data card. Cost me 35 Euro with 15 Euro included volume. Put it in, started the Pre. And... nada. not working despite the fact that on the O2 web site they explicitly name Vodafone as one of the providers that works. Went back to O2. There they told me it should work and that I should go back to Vodafone. Didn't do that. Instead I bought an O2 PAYG SIM-card. Cost me 15 Euro. It includes 1 Euro of credit. Gladly, things now finally worked. And the 1 Euro was enough to pay for the data volume during the activation process. After that you can put another SIM-card in and use the basic functionality (SMS, phone) + WiFi. You still can't use GPRS data because you can't change the APN :-(

To sum things up:

- in order to activate the phone you need an O2 SIM-card with data activated. The standard 15 Euro PAYG will do
- Even after activation, you can't use the phone for GPRS connections on non-German networks
- Once the phone is activated, you can update it as soon as O2 releases the APN-patch. Which is soon, I hope, as I feel kind of cheated by the sales rep for not telling me that the phone won't fully work outside of Germany.

[deadsoul]

my pre just shipped from germany i should have it in two days
i was wondering if you could check if it apn: etisalat.ae the carrier in Dubai UAE is on the the list

[hotdp]

Ohhh that was bad news. Do we know if there are somebody out there making af "fix/hack" to solve the gprs? Or do we know when O2 will fix it?

Originally Posted by dakis

I don't want to discourage you - but a word of caution on the German O2 Pres:

I bought one last night (live in Switzerland, on the border to Germany) from O2 Germany. Contrary to some messages on the net, they'll let you pay in cash - the 24-month payment plan isn't mandatory.

HOWEVER: the O2 Pre ONLY works with German SIM cards (and not even with all of those, as I had to find out). It's correct that the Pre doesn't have SIM- or net-lock. Unfortunately, the Pre doesn't allow you to change APNs (GPRS access points) and the only ones pre-programmed on the O2 devices are for the major German providers. O2 promised an update for the devices so the APNs can be changed. However, even if they release it, there's a heck of a caveat to it: in order to install the update, the device needs to be activated first. In order to activate, you need a working GPRS connection (WiFi doesn't work. There's a hack for this for the Sprint version but it doesn't work for the UMTS Pres).

Anyway, I didn't know any of that. So I bought it (although the vendor knew I live in Switzerland, he didn't point that out to me, either...). So I went home, put my Swisscom SIM in the device, started it and.... nada. Unable to activate. You can't do ANYTHING with the Pre without activating it first.
So I went to O2's website and checked the FAQs. There it says that you have to use a German SIM card (provider doesn't matter as long as data services are enabled) to activate it. So I went back to Germany and bought a Vodafone PAYG data card. Cost me 35 Euro with 15 Euro included volume. Put it in, started the Pre. And... nada. not working despite the fact that on the O2 web site they explicitly name Vodafone as one of the providers that works. Went back to O2. There they told me it should work and that I should go back to Vodafone. Didn't do that. Instead I bought an O2 PAYG SIM-card. Cost me 15 Euro. It includes 1 Euro of credit. Gladly, things now finally worked. And the 1 Euro was enough to pay for the data volume during the activation process. After that you can put another SIM-card in and use the basic functionality (SMS, phone) + WiFi. You still can't use GPRS data because you can't change the APN :-(

To sum things up:

- in order to activate the phone you need an O2 SIM-card with data activated. The standard 15 Euro PAYG will do
- Even after activation, you can't use the phone for GPRS connections on non-German networks
- Once the phone is activated, you can update it as soon as O2 releases the APN-patch. Which is soon, I hope, as I feel kind of cheated by the sales rep for not telling me that the phone won't fully work outside of Germany.

[ash987z]

Originally Posted by dakis

I don't want to discourage you - but a word of caution on the German O2 Pres:

and I thought that the pre is a beta phone, but that qualifies as an alpha phone

[ash987z]

Originally Posted by hotdp

Or do we know when O2 will fix it?

I would think, you have to wait for palm to fix it, not for O2.

[dakis]

Originally Posted by ash987z

I would think, you have to wait for palm to fix it, not for O2.

Here's what O2 says:

"Prepaidkunden der Netzbetreiber und Kunden von Service Providern können momentan im Ausland nur Sprachdienste benutzen. Datendienste können nicht genutzt werden, da die Internetzugangsdaten nicht editiert werden können.

Hierzu wird es in Kürze ein Software-Update von O2 und Palm geben."

and my translation:

Prepaid customers of the network providers and customers of service providers can only use voice services abroad at the moment. Data services can not ben used because the internet access data can't be edited.

For this, O2 and Palm will release an update shortly.


However, beware: the update can only be installed once the device has been activated, which isn't possible with non-German SIMs. You'll either have the O2 sales-person let you use one of their SIMs in store to activate it, or you'll have to buy an O2 SIM card (they're available on e-bay. However, I'm not sure if data roaming is activated for the PAYG O2 cards - so you might actually have to be in Germany to use them...) Also, if you ever do a hard reset of your Pre and the data is wiped, it will have to be re-activated with an O2 SIM-card.

[deadsoul]

wooooow
as i mentioned my pre is on its way. can anyone please from web os internal advise on this issue?

[hotdp]

Thanks again.

I guess i have to make a choice if i will buy now and dont use GRPS until the patch is there or i shall wait and buy..

Originally Posted by dakis

Here's what O2 says:

"Prepaidkunden der Netzbetreiber und Kunden von Service Providern können momentan im Ausland nur Sprachdienste benutzen. Datendienste können nicht genutzt werden, da die Internetzugangsdaten nicht editiert werden können.

Hierzu wird es in Kürze ein Software-Update von O2 und Palm geben."

and my translation:

Prepaid customers of the network providers and customers of service providers can only use voice services abroad at the moment. Data services can not ben used because the internet access data can't be edited.

For this, O2 and Palm will release an update shortly.


However, beware: the update can only be installed once the device has been activated, which isn't possible with non-German SIMs. You'll either have the O2 sales-person let you use one of their SIMs in store to activate it, or you'll have to buy an O2 SIM card (they're available on e-bay. However, I'm not sure if data roaming is activated for the PAYG O2 cards - so you might actually have to be in Germany to use them...) Also, if you ever do a hard reset of your Pre and the data is wiped, it will have to be re-activated with an O2 SIM-card.

[spud101]

My god, this really turns into a terrible issue.

Although I guess, when we have an updated firmware thaht allows other GPRS settings and a corresponding WebOSDoctor we don't need to go to Germany again to re-activate, do we?

It beats me why Palm:
1. does not support global GPRS settings out of the box. My Treo grabs them from the operator, doesn't it? Nothing hardcoded in the device, just some info received during the handshake when connecting to the network. Then Treo fills them in the connection profile.
2. agrees with O2 to have exclusivity for 6 months in Europe, whil O2 does NOT cover all European countries and as such leaving out the non-O2 countries as well. I hope Palm is receiving HUGE kick back fees from O2, otherwise they really will lose here. By the time it's April 2010, the Pre is totally irrelevant.

[deadsoul]

what about if we take the device and flash it with sprint software, bypass the activation do the palm profile, and then flash it back with the o2 software would that work?
oh and dakis can you please check this link out and see if you can download the webos doctor?
http://forums.precentral.net/worldwi...untries-2.html
https://ws.palm.com/SupportDownload/...47&cc=de&lc=de
that would be great thanks

[bruba]

If you only need to change the APN, I wouldn't worry about it. There is enough knowledge in this community, that there'll be a patch or app for it within a week or so. That is, as I said, if it's only changing the APN hidden somewhere inside webOS.

[spud101]

I guess it's:
- APN
- Username
- password
- DNS
- smtp
- and maybe some additional MMS settings? I don't know

[dakis]

Originally Posted by bruba

If you only need to change the APN, I wouldn't worry about it. There is enough knowledge in this community, that there'll be a patch or app for it within a week or so. That is, as I said, if it's only changing the APN hidden somewhere inside webOS.

I agree. The activation problem is the bigger issue, if you ask me.
It's definitely only a software issue or O2 wouldn't have promised a fix for it.

[bruba]

Originally Posted by spud101

I guess it's:
- APN
- Username
- password
- DNS
- smtp
- and maybe some additional MMS settings? I don't know

Well, people can skin the whole OS, tether via wifi and patch just about any other small detail. So I wouldn't worry about it. I know it's a pain to wait, but you only need one person with the right knowledge.