16 Jul 2011

HTC Sense Facebook profile photos do not sync!


I have an HTC Hero with Android 2.1 but I think this affects just about any HTC Sense phone. The Facebook details from my contacts such as birthday and their status synchronised normally. However, the profile photos from Facebook refused to sync! It was very annoying, I tried a million different things until I was reading through the following page:
...and a very helpful bloke called Hardeep Singh suggest something! I tried it and it worked!

Solution
Login to Facebook on your PC
Click Account | Account Settings
Next to Account Security click Change
If Secure Browsing (https) is enabled then that's your problem... disable it (turn it off).
Click the Save button
Power off/on your phone
Force it to sync - Menu | Settings | Accounts & Sync | Sync All
Go into your contacts list (People) and you should see the profile photos come in (slowly).

Many thanks to Hardeep Singh!


Security?
The only problem with this solution is that you reduce your security while using Facebook. Instead of connecting with HTTPS you are only connecting with HTTP. Well, what is the risk that someone would hack your connection to Facebook? Maybe some Facebook apps would do worse to you? Of course there is a work around, after updating your phone, turn the secure browsing (https) in Facebook back on. Then periodically switch it off and re-sync from your phone. It's a pain though... let's hope that one day HTC will update their Facebook for HTC Sense app.


5 Jul 2011

ROM Upgrade for the HTC Hero

For ages I was trying to upgrade my HTC Hero to the next ROM version of Android. I ran the RUU:
_HTC Hero_RUU_Hero_HTC_WWE_2.73.405.5_WWE_release_signed_NoDriver.exe
Each time I ran it I got an ERROR 170 or 171 USB connection error. On the Hero the screen would go white with the boot loader for the RUU and then the Hero would turn off and restart. I'd hear the USB beep as if it was disconnected.

It was driving me mad until I read some forum messages about having the Hero in that boot loader mode (white screen with the three androids at the bottom) before running the RUU. Here's what to do:

Turn off the Hero.
Remove the SD card.
Press the volume down button, keep it pressed, and press the Power button.
Run the RUU installation.

When you've finished, turn off, put the SD card back in. That's it! Good luck!