Incompatibilities for Canadian Users

[agahtan3]

While I think the Redfly is a great device, a word of warning if you live in Canada. Unfortunately, it looks like the firmware used by Rogers is different than that used by AT&T. So while the Redfly supports the Q9h with either a 6.0 or 6.1 firmware image from AT&T, it does NOT support the Q9h sold by Rogers. I've been told by Celio technical support that this is due to Rogers refusing to sign Celio's certificate. However, from what I can tell, the phones sold by Rogers are carrier locked, not application locked. Other applications such as Fring, Skype, etc. can be installed and work on Rogers' phones without problems. So, for the time being, if you live in Canada and want to acquire a Redfly, you'll also need to buy an unlocked supported phone sold by a US carrier. Hopefully Celio will be able to provide better support for Canadian phones in the near future - particularly since a number of Canadian carriers offer cheaper "on-device" data plans, the savings on which could be used to pay for the Redfly!

 

[ckj]

So, without getting too deep into the tech and/or making it sound like we’re passing the buck … the short answer is Windows Mobile Standard OS-based (non-touchscreen phones like the Q9, BlackJack etc.) don’t work with the REDFLY as of now. Windows Mobile Professional models (phones with touchscreens) are generally OK. We are working with Rodgers on it but need their help.

If you care to read the long answer, here it is.

The REDFLY phone driver operates at a very low level within the OS. It needs to be able to switch the screen resolution on-the-fly from a variety of resolutions to 800x480 then back again without requiring a reboot. The REDFLY driver also enables two video drivers to run side-by-side.

There is a security feature in Windows Mobile (if turned on in the ROM build) that prevents some low-level access without special permission (a signed certificate) and blocks the installation of third-party apps unless presented with a signed certificate.

Almost all third-party apps (Skype, Fring, and everything) never access such low levels of the OS and don’t run into any problems of this nature when you install them yourself on your phone.

Most carriers tweak the standard shipping ROM for each phone model to their liking (bloatware and such) so ROMs on the same phone, but from different carriers are rarely identical.

The ROM build that Rogers is using on their non-touchscreen phones has this security setting enabled thus requiring a signed certificate.

AT&T’s BlackJack ROM by contrast, does not have this setting enabled and permits the REDFLY driver to be installed without any special permission.

It turns out that actually getting a “signed certificate” is pretty difficult. We’re working on it with Rodgers and think everything can be resolved, but it may take some time.

 

[agahtan3]

Thank you. The "certificate" explanation I received didn't make sense until you presented the "long answer". I'm grateful for the understanding. I still can't use the $400 Redfly but at least I know why.