The reason behind this is simple......MONEY!! Before the network carriers order their phones from the handset manufacturers, the firmware, or the main operating system of the phone is originally unbranded and fully functional with no options crippled in any way........that's until the network carriers get their hands on them.The network carriers have the handset manufacturers "brand" the phone to their carrier name both on housing of the phone and in the software as well. For example, when turning on your handset , in addition of having the manufacturer's handset's name and logo splash across the start up screen, it will have added the carriers name and logo on it as well. It's the same principle when you buy a car from a dealer, on the back of the vehicle it will have the make and model but in addition it may say on the back trunk or around the license plate frame the name of the dealer from which you purchased it from. Somewhat like advertising without your approval. Now if your anything like me, unless that car dealership wants to give me a nice discount on the vehicle in exchange for my advertising his dealership, then its coming off right away. So then why should we have to put up with all the branding and crippled software on my mobile device. Well for one thing, its a lot more difficult to remove that from the mobile phone than removing a license plate frame. Keep in mind, the carriers do this branding for a number of reasons but they truly feel that they have the right to brand the firmware because of the nice subsidy they give you on that mobile phone when signing your lengthy contract....again, how thoughtful of them.
Not only is the splash media branded to the carrier but other things are added as well. For instance, they pre-load all network settings so that when you want to send a picture message, (MMS), or log onto the internet these portal's will all be correct so that you can send correctly but keep in mind this is in the best interest of the carrier because you know as well as I do it cost you money to use picture messaging and internet browsing. Another branding delight maybe a new logo icon of the carrier so that when you click on it, it goes directly to the carriers website so that you can conveniently purchase things like ringtones, pictures, music, games, etc. how thoughtful of them....lol. Not only do you have to purchase these items but in addition you have to pay for the use of your data package to obtain these purchases. It doesn't stop there. When you download these items, do you think you can share them amongst your friends....forget it, their locked to that phones use only. Another sneaky thing the carriers do is disable OBEX on your bluetooth profile. OBEX stands for "Object Exchange". Basically in layman terms, your bluetooth is disabled to send files to your computer or another bluetooth enabled phone. Why do they do it? They simply don't want you transfer your stuff that you purchased and share them for free. Lately this is starting to be a little more relaxed on some of today's carriers handsets.
But let's come to the grand daddy of them all....disabled MP3's being played as a ringtone. This has got to be one of the biggest complaint and I might add the most requested firmware modification that we get. More and more mobile users are frustrated, angry and down and out outraged that they cannot play their favorite MP3 as a ringtone. I will explain exactly why they do it.
Now, if you haven't heard of the term DRM you will now, it stands for Digital Rights Management. In fine detail you can read up on it more HERE. But to simplifiy things, it's basically an encryption embedded in an MP3 and when downloaded and can only be played by software or a device, (hence your branded mobile phone), that approves it. So for example, when you download and pay for your MP3 from your network carriers store, you can certainly play it as a ringtone because the MP3 has the embedded or we say dreaded DRM encryption. You mobile phone's software also has the DRM that can read and approve that encryption and once the phone's software sees that it matches, it's permission is granted to play. To get around this you would have to having generic or unbranded mobile phone firmware that does not have the DRM embedded so therefore you can simply download a non DRM MP3 from anywhere like LimeWire and upload to your mobile device and play it as a ringtone.There has been many a controversy over this topic, many say it's the carriers that push it, some say its pressure from the artists themselves, whoever or whatever, it still aways points towards making money. But what if your the artist yourself and you record your own song and want to play it as a ringtone, well, they won't disable DRM just for you.
We can certainly un-brand many network mobile phones but we cannot do them all, so you'll have to inquire first. We only de-brand GSM phones. Pricing is usually around the $40 mark but more difficult phones like BlackBerry are a bit more, again call us for more details. Keep in mind that de-branding removes absolutely all user data, like ringotnes, photo's, contacts, text messages, music, etc. on your device so you must back up your most important data before we put the generic firmware. One last thing and this is important. Even though it is your property and you own that phone, the network carriers do not take it kindly you messing with their branded firmware so another thing to be aware of is that you may likely lose your warranty later on if you have to bring your device in for something else.
