Hero ROM Update

I updated the Rom on my Hero today. I didn’t want to root my phone yet so waited for the official Orange update from HTC. I prepared my Hero by deactivating my Copilot installation and backing up all my settings, calendar, etc using MyBackup. I used the free version of MyBackup which works for 30 days and stores all settings on the SD card.

One concern I had was how the paid apps would be handled. I have two paid apps, Copilot Satellite Navigation and BeyondPod but I wanted to be sure that I wouldn’t have any issues reinstalling these two applications. I know from the Windows Mobile version of Copilot that’s its better to deactivate Copilot before updating the phones ROM and then reactivating afterwards.

The update went smoothly and took much less time than the estimated 10 minutes that HTC quote. I used a Windows 7 machine running the candidate release. I had read about people having problems performing the update with Windows 7 but I didn't have any issues althougth I ensured that I ran the update as Administrator.

Fortunatly reinstalling the applications after the update was easier than I imagined so long as you use the same Google Account as you used before the update. If you do this then when you go to the Android Market Place all your previous downloads can be found under ‘My downloads’ so you don’t even have to search for them again. I then selected each in turn and installed them. In the case of BeyondPod you also have to download BeyondPod Unlock Key which is the part you pay for. Wtih Copilot, the first time I ran the application it asked me to activate which I performed over wifi from the device and a few second later it was activated. BeyondPod was very simple because all the settings and podcasts must be stored on the SD and appeared once the program was reinstalled.