Expansys UK have received stock of the Sendo X!

Just had confirmation from Expansys (they actually phoned me up as they weren't sure what I was on about) - the X handsets they have in are quoted as Silver\English on the box (don't get your hopes up, they have the "graphite" case) and they don't have ANY country code listed on the product sticker. (so should be fully unlocked to everything)

Hi stu,

Confirmed: the Expansys units are SPN 8Y0h-0117E-1X000 with 50F software. Exactly what the differences are between 50C & 50F I do not know but they are likely to be very minor.

I've just heard that they've got a newer firmware as well...when mine turns up I'll let you know if I find any extra fixes 😊

stuclark wrote:I've just heard that they've got a newer firmware as well...when mine turns up I'll let you know if I find any extra fixes 😊

Any news regarding sedno x's from expanasys?

Mine is being delivered tomorrow (Thursday), so I'll let you all know tomorrow evening.

I had one on pre-order and their price just kept on going up and up...I cancelled about two days before they announced that they had it. I'll wait like six months and see what progress Sendo has made.....500 USD is toooo much for that phone.....

If you had it on pre-order, then they would have honoured the price it was at when you placed the order. In my case, I'm getting it at over �50 off their current marked price. 😊

Much as the X is a truly fantastic phone, based on all the things still to be sorted out after the recent firmware update, I think I'm going to wait a bit longer and see what the UK network(s) come out with, in the hope that either there are even more bugs fixed, or that the network(s) will offer stronger customer support.

I'm not criticising Sendo's handling of all this, on the contrary they've followed a pretty reasonable strategy for bug fixing internally to Sendo before release, and then relying on early adopters for further bug fixing. It's just simply that I would like a piece of kit I can rely on as much as possible before spending money on it.

One thing I am interested to see, based on the threads in this forum dealing with firmware update difficulties, is how user-installed firmware updates are going to be managed by far less technically able people than the ones posting on this forum (i.e. the average consumer). I'm crossing my fingers for Sendo and hoping that aspect doesn't turn into a PR disaster for the X, because it's a phone that really really deserves to succeed.

I guess there are a number of points to consider though...

1. Is the less-technically-minded person going to choose a (relatively) expensive phone over the 'normal' models in the first place.

2. Is this person going to know about, and try to update the firmware anyway (the only exception to this is if they have a problem, ring Sendo, and they lead them through it)

Whatever happens, all phones ship with bugs, the fact that SonyEricsson and Sendo are offering user updateable firmwares makes their phones more attractive to me as a 'power-user', as I know I'm more likely to be hit with bugs or problems, and I'm fed up with travelling to NSCs and trying to persuade them to apply a fix to give me functionality that even the manual states should work.

Out of interest, has anyone tried to get Expansys to pricematch other sellers such as pixmania, as Expansys do appear a little expensive?? (yes, I'm aware of the differences between the two models)

While this can't be taken as gospel, the sales manager at Expansys did hint to me that they'd probably be willing to price match Pixmania.

As it happens, when I placed my order with Expansys, they were charging the same as Pixmania, but as Expansys also honor the prices when you originally ordered, that's probably more to do with why I got the phone at the same price.

I can confirm what stuclark said earlier - I have just received my Sendo X from Expansys & the UK firmware is newer - it is version 1.72.2.2 dated 17th Sept.

Unfortunately, I am at work at the moment so wont be able to spend much time checking out the phone, but if I get time tonight/tomorrow I will have a look to see whether some of the bugs reported in the earlier non UK (1.56.2.2) release
are still present in the UK one.

I think that Sendo's decision to provide a web based firmware download facility is an excellent idea & hopefully one that will be copied by other manufacturers (although I guess this may impact business for some of the approved service centres).

Interesting 😊 I didn't think the firmware was that much newer...I thought it was just a revision of 1.56 which we were getitng.

My phone is hopefully waiting for me at home, so as soon as I get to have a play, I'll let you know if I find any significant bug fixes...

stuclark wrote:Interesting 😊 I didn't think the firmware was that much newer...I thought it was just a revision of 1.56 which we were getitng.
My phone is hopefully waiting for me at home, so as soon as I get to have a play, I'll let you know if I find any significant bug fixes...

Sorry, but I would not get your hopes up too high i'm afraid...

The date is the date that version was compiled for the handset.
As for the numbering, I am not sure it has been set to 72.
The website download is build 50C. Expansys build is 50F (ie: 3 minor revisions higher), for some UK specific fixes.

Sorry, I had assumed the first no. shown on the System pane was the version number - there are so many numbers shown on this screen, its difficult working out what the significant ones are!

The details I am seeing are:

X 1.72.5.2
Release IG
17-Sep-2004
Pn:8G26-00000-00018
SPN: 0000-00000-00000
(c) Sendo 2004
IG:3.13
IG:Expansys UK 1.10
GSM SW Ver: 04.35
IMEI No: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Product Id: SNDX00

plinkykev wrote:Expansys build is 50F

What I mean is - is this the UK SIM Free build - ie when new firmwares become available the new versions will be available straight away, or like Telefonica in Spain will we have to wait for Expansys to "approve" the new firmware in some way??

swing wrote:Between this comment and the "IG: Expansys UK 1.10" of the previous comment - does this mean this is unique in some way to Expansys??

swing wrote:What I mean is - is this the UK SIM Free build - ie when new firmwares become available the new versions will be available straight away, or like Telefonica in Spain will we have to wait for Expansys to "approve" the new firmware in some way??

It makes sense that the same code base would have service provider/locale specific customisation (or none in the case of SIM free versions), therefore the 1st number shown on the System pane could indicate the version/label for the customisation supplied.

However, I cant see where the build no (of the main code base) of 50C or 50F etc is indicated. I suspect that plinkykev will be the only person who can answer that!

I am a software developer myself (of banking rather than phone software) - hence my interest in this (probably arcane) subject 😊

plinkykev wrote:Sorry, but I would not get your hopes up too high i'm afraid...

The date is the date that version was compiled for the handset.
As for the numbering, I am not sure it has been set to 72.
The website download is build 50C. Expansys build is 50F (ie: 3 minor revisions higher), for some UK specific fixes.

Hi Kev,

I was just wondering about something, I spend alot of time in England, France and Lithuania (and I have 2 pyg cards for france and lithuania, and a UK orange contract card for the UK).

I bought my X in France and would like to know if the country specific specs and fixes are going to change the way the phone works with each countrys networks and each countrys sim cards.

Thanks,

Cash wrote:Hi Kev,

I was just wondering about something, I spend alot of time in England, France and Lithuania (and I have 2 pyg cards for france and lithuania, and a UK orange contract card for the UK).

I bought my X in France and would like to know if the country specific specs and fixes are going to change the way the phone works with each countrys networks and each countrys sim cards.

Thanks,

ALL fixes and enhancements are carried across ALL firmware versions, so do not worry about missing out. The Expansys version is SLIGHTLY newer, as it is only just out. Those fixes, and more besides, will be out for that version, and yours, soon - hopefully end of October. The only real differences (as mentioned) are to do with the built in defaults/settings, and, for a couple of operators, colour schemes or an extra program. The core code is the same though.

pk

Differences I've noticed so far...

It doesn't constantly ask for the unlock code every time I turn it on 😊

It doesn't constantly try to copy SIM contacts to the phone 😊

It feels a little bit snappier 😊

The screen is much crisper on this handset (doing a side by side comparison) - this could just be luck though

It seems more stable with Mobiluck installed than the other handset is 😊

I'll give more updates as and when I've played with the features a bit more.

EDIT: Oops, looks like I spoke too soon on the not asking for the unlock code problem - it still does this occasionally.

On the plus side, RF seems a lot clearer on this phone than on my old one 😊

plinkykev wrote:As for firmware update, that still does depend on Expansys to approve it, like all of the companies do.

What happens if Expansys don't offer to approve any further firmware updates (especially given the only unique thing to Expansys seems to be their name in the About screen) - could Sendo release it anyway?

Does this mean Expansys has the exclusive on Sendo X SIM free models, and is this likely to change, or are there other distributors in the immediate picture?

Thanks

swing wrote:What happens if Expansys don't offer to approve any further firmware updates (especially given the only unique thing to Expansys seems to be their name in the About screen) - could Sendo release it anyway?

swing wrote:Does this mean Expansys has the exclusive on Sendo X SIM free models, and is this likely to change, or are there other distributors in the immediate picture?

As I understand it from waht Kev's said - ANYONE selling a Sendo X is either selling an operator specific version, or if being allowed to sell a SIM free version, is actually selling a "distributor specific" version (all of which will most probably be identical)

This situation comes about because of Sendo's commitment to the network operators to allow them to brand the phone's software as they see fit - something which Sendo has historically always allowed operators to do far more than other manufacturers (although the likes of SE now do it a lot as well).

Because of this, in order to allow end-user downloads of new firmwares, Sendo have had to put in place a mechanism to prevent users downloading firmwares which were not meant for their phone. (i.e if operator X has removed feature Y, you don't want a user of operator X to be able to put operator Z's firmware on the phone in order to get feature Y back again).

For this reason, even SIM free phones have to be assigned an "identity", which will allow them to download new firmwares. This is why Expansys have been given an identity. As for them approving new firmwares, can you see someone like Expansys being anywhere near as picky about approving an update as someone like Vodafone might be? I'm pretty sure they'll just say "YES" the second Sendo ask them.

p.s. - me mentioning Vodafone in NO WAY indicates they might be getting the X - I use them merely as an example operator. Incidently, I don't KNOW who is getting the X, so maybe Voda are taking it, maybe not.

stuclark wrote:For this reason, even SIM free phones have to be assigned an "identity", which will allow them to download new firmwares. This is why Expansys have been given an identity. As for them approving new firmwares, can you see someone like Expansys being anywhere near as picky about approving an update as someone like Vodafone might be? I'm pretty sure they'll just say "YES" the second Sendo ask them.

However, thanks to Kev I'm less worried about this, although time will tell whether Expansys take their time to respond, or just say "yes" 😊

As long as Expansys don't start wanting additional branding being added to the phone too ......

Thanks