700p MR Temporarily Unavailable

Updated Post (June 14, 2007)

We continue to investigate the Sprint Treo 700p MR installation issue reported by some customers and have been collecting phones from customers for analysis, as well as rerunning our suite of update tests on another large sample of phones to try to reproduce the issue. We would like to provide an exact date for when the MR will be reposted, but we aren't able to at this time. Also, we still aren't able to estimate when the Verizon Wireless Treo 700p MR will be available for download.

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We're sorry, but the Sprint Treo 700p maintenance release (MR) is temporarily unavailable. We have received isolated reports of an installation issue that causes the device to continuously reset when applying the software update, so we've removed the update from our site. We're investigating the issue and will make the Sprint Treo 700p update available again as soon as possible. We know this has been a frustrating process for customers and apologize for the inconvenience it may have caused.

If you have experienced difficulty with the maintenance release installation, please contact us so we can work with you to resolve the issue: 866-750-7256.

We don't have a target date for when we can make the Treo 700p MR available for Verizon Wireless users.

Also, we currently don't have plans to issue a MR for other carriers because the ROM software already contains many of the features that are included in the Sprint and Verizon Wireless updates (e.g. many of the Bluetooth improvements and MP3 playback).

Paul Loeffler - Palm, Inc.

Updated Post

This is an installation issue and it is evident immediately during the installation of the MR to your device. If you have already loaded the MR successfuly to your device, you are good to go.

Comments

[Andy]

Hi, I attempted to install the MR both using the regular install AND the Enterprise SD install, and both actually failed to complete. Oddly enough, my phone continued to revert back to 1.08, but thankfully continues to function once I restore everything. I attempted numerous installs, preceded by hard resets, to ensure installation onto a clean phone, all to no avail.

I will note however, that when I called tech support, as advised above, your technicians weren't even aware of this MR's existence! Sadly, I was far more technologically knowledgeable than your representative, which is unfortunate. I called because I wanted to offer my experiences to hopefully help you guys out too, but found that I was unable to escalate my call to a more knowledgeable tech.

I do want you all to know that I'm being patient with you guys. Am just glad that I do not have a brick. Thanks for your hard work!

[john]

I called Sprint and they sent a new Treo755 free as a replacement...

[Christopher Gordonn]

Palm,
While you have this MR pulled, how about looking into the buggy sound issues associated with it. Odd dial tones playing in the background while system sounds are played. Also, wav files that have previously worked as ringtones are now BROKEN and will no longer play as ringtones.

Regards,
Chris Gordonn

[Mark Earnest]

Isolated reports huh? That is not how it appears on every message board relating to the 700p that I have seen. I would say there are isolated reports of success.

Seriously, could this be handled any more poorly if you set out to intentionally botch it from the start?

At this point Palm, you need to start thinking about how you are going to make this right for the customers who plunked down good money for the device you sold with obviously little QA/testing, and seem unable to fix in a year's time. Putting out an MR in another couple of months (if you manage to even pull that off) is not going to cut it anymore after a year of this circus.

Look around at this board, look at the other boards. Look how you are being blasted in the tech press. Talk to owners of the device. You are about to not only lose a significant base of longtime palm supporters, you are going to lose an influential segment of your target market who influences large scale IT decision making. You need to pull out something pretty impressive if you want to turn this around. Clearly the MR needs to be flawless, and so far you have failed miserably at that. Nobody can claim it was rushed out the door, it's been requested for a year and Palm has been talking about it since Q4 of 2006. Beyond that there needs to be some form of reimbursement or benefit for those of us that have been unintentionally beta testing this alpha quality product for a year.

If you want to sweep it under the rug and start over because it is flawed from the start, fine, but don't leave us sinking with it. If the 755p is the fix for the 700p, then get us that and (assuming IT works) you will regain much of the consumer goodwill that you lost. Everyone makes mistakes and stuff like this happens, we all know it. Nobody is angry because the 700p is not perfect, we are angry because Palm's response (first denial, then user blame, then broken promises mixed with total incompetence) has been abysmal. Make this right Palm, or tell us you do not want our business and to go away and we will. Just make up your mind, communicate what is going on for ONCE with us, and stop playing this stupid game.

[Jake]

Palm,

If the update went w/o a hitch for me, can I assume I won't need to update again when you re-release it?

FYI, I also lost the ability to play some ringtones, and prefs were reset to defaults on about half my apps (including the deletion of my SnapperMail account), and the update took wayyy longer than the instructions said it would (Mac OS X w/SD card here)...but everything else went fine and I haven't had a single reset. I wish more folx had this (or a better) experience. Thank you!

=]

Jake

PS...please don't drop Palm OS completely. I love my Mac, but I don't want an iPhone!!!

[Linda Cobb]

I've successfully installed the update and been extremely happy with improvements you've made.

I've been a Palm user for years and am very much looking forward to the rumored 800p coming out in the fall.

However, I am disappointed it took you so long to take care of the customers of your flagship product and hope you'll have the update back up soon. I'll be a bit more cautious buying products from you in the future because of this.

[mike]

Well, the nice guy that I called had no clue what MR I was talking about and after telling him that I had already soft and hard reset the phone numerous times, had me do it again. He then put me on hold for a couple of minutes and told me to take it to Sprint. But at least I have a case number ( ). You might be interested to know that I'm writing this on a Moto Q. The blurry small fonts that the MR left my Treo with, gave me a migraine headache. I use the net and blazer all day. I really just want my Treo working. I don't particularly like the Q! Please Palm... Fix my Treo?

-Michael Harris

[Rick]

Right. Well, I am certainly glad I decided not to give it a try. When you ignore a problem for a year, try to glom something together and give it to a bunch of already irritated customers....man, I don't envy you. The 700P has been a catastrophe, and unless you provide a working phone (like a 755) to every person that suffered through this purchase, you will lose more customers than you could possibly imagine.

[David P. Caldwell]

I had the problem and Palm is shipping me a replacement phone, but I was eventually able to fix it, even after technical support could not (and trying soft reset, system reset, hard reset).

Basically I turned off the phone, removed the battery (but left the A/C) and turned on the phone. It warned me it would shut off in 30 seconds if I didn't give it power, and then I put the battery in. But this was enough to break the loop -- the phone started up and I was able to run a HotSync, re-run the update, and ultimately it was successful.

I am however disappointed that I apparently am going to be charged $25 for having a phone shipped to me (that I will now just be shipping back; I called and cancelled the order but apparently too late). I mean, I have to pay for shipping because your software update destroyed my phone? And now I have to pay even though I managed to fix my phone where your support people could not? Geez ...

But my phone is working better -- so I can vouch for the fact that the MR is a positive enhancement to the phone as far as I can tell.

[Merlyn 3D]

Wow.....late then pulled. While I appreciate that Palm refunded the price I paid for my two 700p's, I think they need to extend the same offer to every other 700p owner who has had to deal with these issues. Who knows how long it's going to be now until the next 700p update?

Let's face it Palm, your reputation for support is in shambles. Do you really not care about PR at all? Do you not read the forums and blogs that you have linked to this blog? I'm surprised you guys aren't scrambling to fix this quick or offer 700p users another option so they don't have to wait any longer.

I think the other big complaint at this point is why you are not upfront about why the MR took so long. It's apparent a lot of users aren't buying into this "carrier approval" process taking 5-6 months. The 755 took less time, and if the "carrier approval" process is so stringent, how did the 700p even get released?

[Kent Miller]

I downloaded the Sprint 700p MR and applied it yesterday 6/4/07 in about 58 minutes. The only thing I noticed is that the upgrade status screen (progress bar graph and time used) on my PC would only refresh/update when I moved my mouse, a minor issue. The Treo was updated successfully to version 1.10 and I tested it today and noticed that my phone worked noticably better with my Jabra JX-10 headset. It stayed paired all day today and the reception over the BT headset was significantly better than before this upgrade. My phone only reset itself a couple of times as promised, during the update. You need to be patient and not interrupt the update. The upgrade shoud take about an hour, not 30 minutes as was advertised on the web site. Also, you must have your phone's wall power cord plugged in, not just USB connection, also you must check to see if you have at least 20MB of free memory available (I had 30MB free). I don't do MP3's with my Treo so haven't tested that function. The Bluetooth is definitely improved.

[Ryan Rix]

Gus, I love you but, this is a load of BS. You have had three months to get this right, and you screwed it up. You are going to lose a lot of profit over this fiasco and it will hurt everyone, including the users. Oh but don't forget the Foleo. What the mobile companion for a device that used to tout itself as being completely self sufficeint and not needing a companion.

For shame...

[Alan G]

Hello Paul.

Thanks for the update. I'm sure this is frustrating for everyone who is involved.

I downloaded the update prior to it being pulled and had some issues that may or may not have been related to the reports Palm was getting. I will call in and talk it over with someone.

My only suggestion is that Palm be as open with their customers as possible regarding the MR status for all of the Treo 700p editions (Sprint, Verizon, and Alltel).

I would also suggest that Palm post a note for customers who did download and install the update. I can see people being confused about the stability and reliability of their 700p. I've had the update on my 700p for about 24 hours now aside from some data restore issues, the Treo has been stable.

Regards,
Alan G

[Matt M.]

The Good: At least you're fixing it and telling us so.

The Bad: After waiting so long, this MR had the time to be perfected PRErelease.

The Worst: The update for Verizon owners is really a NONupdate... you really do owe all of them more than you are giving them (and I'm not even a Verizon user, I'm Sprint). At least you explain to the other users that the ROM is up to date for them. I feel bad for the Verizon people left in the dark by Palm.

[Matt M.]

I am a Verizon customer and when I contacted tech support for the THIRD time about this MR they had no idea what I was talking about and didn't even acknowledge the issues that the 700p has. It was "news to them" that the SMS app freezes, there's lag, the phone APP freezes while starting etc. For as much as Palm is at fault, Verizon is just as much to blame for not supporting their products. There was no option to get a new 700p, no option to switch phones, no option to do anything but wait for the MR release that they didn't even know about in the first place.

SO CALL VERIZON! IF WE CAN COME TOGETHER TO MAKE PALM LISTEN TO THEIR CUSTOMERS AND START TO SUPPORT THE PRODUCTS THE SELL, WE CAN DO THE SAME FOR A DINOSAUR LIKE VERIZON!!!!!!! IT'S THEIR RESPONSIBILITY TO STAND BEHIND THE PRODUCTS THEY SOLD US!

[Andy]

This update rendered my 700p nonfunctional. Isolated reports? That's putting it nicely. A couple of quick polls on some Treo forums were showing 10-30% failure rates. What kind of QA process did they do? Did they test it on two phones and then say "Yup, looks good"? What is Palm going to do for us users that have dead Treo's? Replace them with the original buggy 1.08 700p? Unacceptable. I bought the 700p expecting it to work. When it didn't, I waited for the update. I got the update and now I have a nonfunctional phone. Wonderful. Great work Palm.

[matsby]

I got a reset loop on upgrade, but it was because I was using the ancient, unsupported (but occasionally recommended by Treo websites who should know better) "AIM for Palm" software. Once I got rid of it, problem solved.

[Donna K]

this ROM upgrade has been a nightmare for me. phone had to be replaced and new one is not working now. i am so dissappointed with palm. 2 nights of lost sleep and taking time out of work to get the phone replaced. unacceptable. who created this update and who authorized the release? for palm to take the update down in ONE day, they must have received complaints from everyone who installed the update...

[Ex-Palm Customer]

So all these delays and carrier certifications didn't catch something as unsightly as an infinite loop? What have you been doing for the past year? Oh yeah, developing the FOOLeo. Thanks Palm.

[Mycroft]

The MR turned my 700 into a brick. Sprint is sending me a new phone, but I was not offered a 755 as a replacement. Alas.

[Oracio G]

HAHAHA....see, I don't even assume things from palm will work anymore, not even the updates. The company is so infatuated with releasing new, and often retarded products (fellatio/folio or whatever its called), while leaving those that are out to, well, disintegrate. Personally, I will never buy palm again, and am happy to report that, instead of waiting for the verizon update, i have switched to a Motorola Q. Sure its not that great, but compared to the treo 700p's shit software, it's a godsend!!!

[nonobeez]

I installed and everything went smoothly.

I think people that are having problems are not following instructions correctly or are interferreing with the update process.

The install is a complex proceedure... it definitly needs to be more user friendly.

POS customers are not all engineers...

[SRG]

Since the Bluetooth function for Alltel users is supposed to be okay which headset am I to use?

I paid $60 for the Jabra BT160, and I can't use it because of static and echo at any volume for the other caller.

Someone, please help!!!

[wilson]

You guys are clowns. I'm done with Palm. I'm better off with some cans and string to place calls.

[Adam]

This is extremely frustrating Palm...I've been checking and re-checking this site multiple times a day to find out the minute that I could download the update for my Verizon 700p. At first there was a solid target date, and now there's no target date at all for Verizon users?? That's unacceptable.

My treo is NOT running well and I am probably one of Palm's biggest fans (I have been since the original Palm). But you know what? This whole charade is severely hurting my respect for the company and making me generally angry when I use my treo and it freezes up or randomly resets itself (which is TOO often). Unless something is done to totally reverse how I've been treated by Palm recently, when my contract is up I might just have to get a Blackberry, supposedly they have very good customer service...