Over the past couple of weeks I have been working on a letter to Motorola and Verizon, asking for various improvements to the v710 firmware. Many Howard Forum users have contributed ideas. The letter is about finished, and I am now taking "signatures" from other HoFo users, in an attempt to add more weight to the letter.

One of the things the letter asks for is better compatibility with our TLs.

I would encourage any and all new v710 owners to check out this thread at HoFo, and if you're so inclined, PM me there with your "signature for the letter.

http://www.howardforums.com/showthre...hreadid=435326

Also, below is a copy of the letter as it now stands.

Thanks.
Andy W.

---
Dear Sirs and Madams,

I am writing to give you some ideas for both firmware enhancements and bug fixes for the Motorola v710. I am an active member of Howard Forums, a website devoted to cell-phone discussion. The recommendations and requests below came from a large number of users of these forums, some of whom have chosen to sign this letter with me, by sending me their names and contact information, which I have included. Although they may not all agree with every word of this letter, or with every suggestion below, they all do believe that Motorola and Verizon should be responsive to their customers.

While as a group we represent a relatively small number of people likely to purchase the v710, we are, without question, the early adopters—the power users—the “nerds” you could have had helping to test the phones before they were released! We are also the “experts” that wind up answering questions for all of our friends, relatives, business associates, etc. We are the people these others go to for buying advice, and as such we are indirectly responsible for many more purchase (or non-purchase) decisions than just our own. We hope you will take this into account when considering our requests, suggestions, and bug fixes below.

Thanks.

Sincerely,


Andrew W., X other Howard Forum users whose names appear below, and numerous other Howard Forum users

Bug Fixes

Hardware Rev. 3.0
Software Rev. 8700_01.30.8F
ESN# 33C88914
PRL# 42067
Browser Info: Openwave 6.2.3
ERI# 50019
BREW Ver. 2.1.1 ID:8034

--When the "brightness" setting is set to zero, the phone freezes and the outside LCD turns off, requiring restart of the phone
--After making "Sound settings" a shortcut, and using it, the "Back" selection doesn't work, requiring the use of the red "End Call" button to exit.



Firmware requests and suggestions

--Increase volume in earpiece
--Add ability to use speakerphone with clamshell shut (Although the speakerphone button has different uses when the phone is opened from those when it is closed, this could be accomplished simply by not turning the speakerphone off when the clamshell is shut. In this way the buttons’ functions would not need to be changed, although the phone would have to be open to both engage and disengage the speakerphone.)
--Add Bluetooth functionality, including OBEX bluetooth profile
--Ability to correctly pass battery strength, signal strength, and roam indicator information to automobiles with built in Bluetooth, like Acuras, BMWs, Toyotas, etc.
--Ability to have phone ringer on while using Bluetooth headset
--Add option to turn main screen off immediately when clamshell is shut (or just do this all the time—there can’t possibly be a reason to keep the screen on when the phone is closed.)
--Ability to leave main screen backlight on as long as the phone is open
--Add ability to “train” voicedial feature and attach specific recordings to contacts if necessary. This is essential for people with non-English names in their phone directory
--Improve name dial to accept both first name-last name format as well as last name-first name format, so that someone who has a directory stored in last name-first name format could use the voice dial feature in a more colloquial manner. Example: name stored as Smith, John…command to name dial must be in the format “Name Dial Smith John”, as the phone will not respond to “Name Dial John Smith,” though it easily could.
--Add built-in e-mail client for both POP and IMAP
--Add a more secure keylock so that pressing any of the outer buttons will not have any affect when the phone is in the locked mode
--Improvement in photo settings to improve photo quality
--Addition of numeric shortcuts to all menus instead of just the first one or two levels of menus
--Ability to turn camera light on by using a shortcut
--Ability to keep keypad backlight off all the time
--Improve photo ID pictures to fill the entire screen
--Allow user to change background on outer screen or offer a blank background
--Allow user to turn off the auto-subject generation when replying to a text message
--Ability to back up phone contents to the transflash card
--Ability to send a call directly to voicemail using the outside buttons
--Add a simultaneous vibrate and ring option (in addition to the current vibrate, then ring)
--Ability to turn off “low battery” beep
--Add a “completely silent” mode in which the phone will make no sounds under any circumstances (low battery, Bluetooth connection, etc.)
---

 

Andy, this is a great idea. I would be willing to add my name to the list - you can PM me if you need further info.

Other significant firmware problems that should be mentioned to Motorola:

• The HFL on the Acura (and maybe others - I don't know) is not always notified immediately of an incoming call. This appears to be related to the type of ring selected for an incoming call. For example, I have noticed that when using the "Vibrate / Ring" setting, the HFL doesn't see the call until after the Vibrate portion is done.
  
• Allowing Bluetooth synchronization with Mobile Phone Tools (Your comment about "Add Bluetooth functionality" may be too broad to cover this specific issue)
• Receiving a "pause during dialing" character from the Acura HFL appears to cause the V710 to do a power reset. The character from the HFL is a capital "P" vs. a lower-case "p" used by the V710, which may be part of the problem. The resets should not be occuring, regardless of problems on the HFL side of the issue.

Thanks!

 

I have added your bug issues to the letter.

As for signing the letter, please see the thread on HoFo, and then PM me your info there. I am trying to be consistent in accepting signatures from HoFo members, since I said in the letter everyone was a HoFo user. (I know that you use HoFo.) If for some reason that is an issue for you, feel free to PM me here with as much of your name, username, e-mail address and address as you are comfortable with, and since I know you use HoFo, I'll include the info.

Thanks!
Andy W.