What I learnt in Dubai: Software

Hi everyone!

Following my post about the general Q&A we had with @juho, here's the parts of the Q&A which related to software and also some things I learnt later in the evening:

Customizing Android One:

• It is an option they have
• I.e. some customisations are possible, but Juho didn't go into details about what
• I will post another thread on the focus group session we had with the HMD representative for marketing in the MENA region in which we got some more hints about what might be possible

Call recording:

• HMD are aware that people want this and it's very important in some markets

OZO audio API

• Wilson asked about the possibility of an audio recorder which uses OZO Audio
• Juho said he didn't realise this was something that people wanted but it should be easy to do and could be made available as an optional download on the Play store
• I also mentioned that many people would like the API for OZO Audio to available to other apps but Juho didn't comment on this.

Bootloader unlocking:

• Juho respects that the developer community wants this
• It requires a lot of work from the software development team to provide official solutions for this
• Doing this on the whole range is not feasible due to limited resources
• He may poll on Twitter or something to ask which one next.
• Post Q&A a few of us talked about this in more detail and think that it won't be enough for the development community to provide an official unlocking method for devices which are more than 6 months old (certainly more than a year old is too long)
• What HMD should do is produce a device with the specific intention of providing developers with an official method of unlocking the bootloader, source code and device trees from launch, not several months to a year later

Custom software/ROMs:

• Importing a phone from China and installing the Global ROM will prevent the OTA updates from being received
• More generally, this would apply to all models, if you install a ROM onto a phone for which it's not intended, OTA updates may/will not work
• Personally, I think HMD should make a strong effort to crack down on the unofficial sellers who are selling Chinese market phones with Global ROMs installed, because they're damaging the Nokia brand

Different models for different markets:

• Each specific radio configuration for each markets won't necessarily work in all others
• Antennas are tuned in each TA model variant for the frequencies they expect to be used with
• So, whilst it might be possible (unofficially) to change the ROM and/or activate different frequencies in the modem configuration, there's no guarantee that those frequencies will actually work

After the Q&A we went to the event, mingled with the HMD staff and partners, journalists and the many “influencers” who were present. Here’s a few things I learnt about software whilst chatting with a gentleman from HMD’s MENA (middle east and north Africa) office in Dubai who was responsible for the various approvals needed to sell HMD’s devices in those markets:

• Approvals generally don't require software changes – HMD have already done all the testing themselves before the approval stage and the most demanding approvals (e.g. FCC, CE, EEC, TENAA) are normally sufficient for all other markets
• It's only the first software version for a device which needs approvals, not OTA updates
• Except on network branded devices, as the network provider wants to test every update to ensure compatibility with their system.

And after the software discussion I learnt a little more about HMD in general:

• 60 percent of HMD staff are former Nokia (so therefore I assume were transferred first from Nokia to Microsoft then from Microsoft to HMD)
• They don't have a staff presence in all markets, instead they have partnerships with local specialists where it makes sense.

Right that's all I can remember, over to you all, especially @SeqTre, @nitheesh, @sajwaz, @singhnsk, @wilson shrestha, @juho lemmetyinen, @nokianchetan and @morozshaun