You probably have been searching for information about your HTC Wizard, and you probably read about the terms ROM and Extended ROM. I will try to explain what a ROM or Extended ROM is, and will try to explain what their relation is and what the differences are.
You, being a human being, want to have a nice interface to control your HTC Wizard. Controlling the hardware inside the HTC Wizard is not something you can do directly, and it is in most cases not even something that the software you install on your HTC Wizard can do directly. You need an interface for controlling the hardware, an interface that translates your actions to calls to the hardware inside your HTC Wizard. That interface is Windows Mobile 5, the operating system built by Microsoft. This operating system is the interface between the HTC Wizard hardware and you and vice versa.
Unlike the available operating systems for your ordinary PC, you can’t just go to a computer store and buy yourself a version of Windows Mobile 5. Microsoft only delivers Windows Mobile 5 to manufacterers of handheld devices, and they put it on these devices. That is where the branding by the different manufacterers begins. Before they put the operating system on their devices, to have the ability to make changes. For example, most manufacterers disabled the option to connect to 802.11g wireless networks, even though the HTC Wizard hardware supports 802.11g.
After the manufacterer made the desired changes, they create a ROM that can be installed on your mobile device. This ROM contains the operating system including the changes the manufacterer made to is.
Then there is the Extended ROM. Do you remember what happened the first time you powered on your new HTC Wizard? It booted, asked you the walk through the screen alignment proces, showed you some basic user operations, and asked you to fill in your owner information. So far, every HTC Wizard will have the same experiences with the first boot of his HTC Wizard.
From that moment on, what you saw happening depends of the brand of your HTC Wizard. That moment was the moment that the Extended ROM on your device got installed. This Extended ROM can be compared to the OEM versions of windows operating systems on your ordinary PC. After the base operating system is installed, software added by the manufacterer gets installed. Which software that is depends on your manufacterer. I-mate for example, added Skype and anti virus software in the Extended ROM in their K-JAM.
Because the hardware on all HTC Wizards is the same, ROMs and Extended ROMs from any HTC Wizard, can be used on any other HTC Wizard. Have a look at the ROMs categorie on this blog. The articles in this categorie will lead you to sites with lots of information about the different ROMs and Extended ROMs out there.
You may have run into the term Radio ROM as well. What, a third kind of ROM? Yes, indeed. The processor in your HTC Wizard is in fact a dual core processor. One of the cores is used for the PDA functionality, the other core is used for the telephony. Just like with any other mobile phone, your HTC Wizard needs software to be able to use the phone related hardware in your device. This software is called the Radio ROM. It enables you to connect to the GSM/GPRS/EDGE network, makes sure that your device rings or vibrates on incoming calls etcetera. Newer versions of the Radio ROM generaly provide better connectivity and better sound quality. Again, the articles in the ROMs categorie will lead you to sites with lots of information about the different Radio ROMs out there.
Upgrading the ROM on your HTC Wizard is a relatively simple task, but there a few things you should do before attempting to do so.
When you upgrade your ROM, your device will be completely wiped. That includes all software, all data, and all settings. If any of those are valuable to you, you should make sure that you save it in a safe location.
The easiest way to save your calendar items, contacts etc., is to sync them to your desktop PC. You can simply set up a fresh sync relationship after the ROM upgrade to get the data back on your device.
Software and settings are a different story. To be able to backup and restore those, you need special backup software. Pointers to good backup software would be appreciated. Please be aware that restoration of backups made on a pre-AKU2 ROM may not be possible on a device loaded with an AKU2 ROM version.
Now that you have all your valuable date stored in a safe place you can start upgrading the ROM. If you try to upgrade for the first time, go for an upgrade with a RUU version. This an executable file that you can simply start from your desktop PC while having an ActiveSync connection active. Just follow the directions on your screen and you'll be good. All ROMs currently available here on the HTC Wizard Web are of this type.
Please note that you should CID unlock your device if you want to use a ROM that was not released by your devices manufacterer.
When you want to upgrade, please make sure that your battery is fully charged. A failed ROM upgrade can be remedied but that takes a lot more effort, so you don't want your battery to give up on you at 50% of the upgrade proces.
The total upgrade proces should take about 10 minutes, and might appear to stop a few times. Don't worry unless the process takes well over these 10 minutes.