OMA/OTA on Android devices?

OMA/OTA on Android devices? SearchSearch
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Dumitru Bostan
New member
Username: Thewpman

Post Number: 1
Registered: 02-2013
Posted on Sunday, February 10, 2013 - 02:30 pm:   

Hi there!

I'm using NowSMS for sending OMA/OTA GPRS and MMS settings on mobile devices. I'm having some hard times when I try to send to Android devices like HTC or Huawei. Whem I'm checking the specs, it seems that these devices do not support OMA/OTA.

Is there a way to send and receive them the GPRS/MMS settings on them?

Tested devices are HTC Wildfire, Samsung Nexus i9250, Huawei Sonic U8650.
Des - NowSMS Support
Board Administrator
Username: Desosms

Post Number: 4290
Registered: 08-2008
Posted on Monday, February 11, 2013 - 07:59 pm:   

Hi,

I don't think there is.

As best as I can determine, a company by the name of WDS Global developed code to support OMA (Open Mobile Alliance) OTA Provisioning on Android and submitted the code to the open source project.

However, it never became a standard feature of Android. SonyEricsson looks like they may have implemented the code in some of their handsets, but that is the only indication of support for this initiative that we have seen.

I believe the reason this initiative was not embraced is because there was a perception that what was needed was a more comprehensive device management framework ... something more suited to corporate IT security requirements. So we're not just talking about APNs and MMS settings, we're talking also about VPNs, client certificates, password requirements, enabling and disabling certain functionality, etc.

I haven't studied Android's device management framework ... but from what I've seen, I do not think there is any generic way to push settings over SMS, or even to pull them over HTTP. (I say generic way because some individual manufacturers may have added some of their own proprietary ways to do this.)

We also get frequently asked about similar functionality on iPhones. While Apple has a comprehensive device management framework for corporate IT departments, it also has a concept of profiles which can contain things like APN settings. Those profiles can be downloaded via HTTP ... sites such as unlockit.co.nz have supported this method for a long time ... and format information on these provisioning profiles can be found via the Apple Developer Forum. I have not seen anything similar for Android, but if there is, maybe someone else will share some information.

--
Des
NowSMS Support
FRaveau
New member
Username: Fraveau

Post Number: 47
Registered: 06-2012
Posted on Wednesday, February 13, 2013 - 10:10 am:   

Hi,

We have been using Tweakker's OTA plateform to configure handsets and have pretty much good results on Androids. Sometimes we have difficulties with one particular model ( eg recently HTC Desire Z came up) but it's ok in general. please note that deleting all other APN and leave only yours help sometimes.

We are currently testing nowSMS OTA for a particular campain and it seams ok as well for now.

The ultimate pain with the iPhone profiles is that some lock the data setting page on it so you can't event change settings by hand! The APN changer trick works for APN URL only, not MMS settings.

Not to mention Blackberry....

Operators forums are still full of help requests about this so I guess none have found a completly satisfying solution.

Franck