OFFICIAL Fighter/Cruiser Questions/Answers & Information

[anlog]

@Lead/Mizar

With your help, let’s get everything out into open here about the decision to retire Fighter and introduce Cruiser. Most questions have already been answered, but they are scattered throughout multiple threads/pages.

Please make this a sticky, and add/change/remove anything that is incorrect, or that you don’t agree with.

@All

Please keep this thread clean – no insults or pointless ranting (save that for the other threads). If you have a legitimate question that has not been asked or answered already, please ask!


1.) Why is Fighter being retired, and what will happen to my copy?

Fighter is still the BEST solution in the world for servicing Ericsson / Sony Ericsson phones. Rest assured that your copy will NOT be “deactivated”. A non-expiring version will be released, along with occasional bug fixes. Your investment is secure.

As SE’s phones evolve, so must the applications used to service them. This brings up the issue of support. Under the management of SphereGSM, MANY irresponsible promises were made to customers (not by Lead/Mizar), such as “free support for life”. There is NO vendor in the world that will provide this to their customers, and SphereGSM often said what was needed just to make a sale.

Fighter will continue to be the best at servicing the older-generation of SE phones. Cruiser is the evolution of Fighter, and starts a new path. It does everything Fighter does, AND services SE’s new phones. It will be regularly updated and supported.


2.) I just bought Fighter a week ago! Why do I have to upgrade again!

Your copy of Fighter is NO different than anyone else’s. You can support the same phones, and have the same features. What older customers have been slowly given over time (in the form of updates) was given to you in one shot.

You purchased Fighter knowing what phones it supports, and what features it has. Not once did anyone promise K700 (or new platform) support, especially for free.


3.) Why is Cruiser so expensive? Why are you screwing Fighter customers over with the upgrade cost?

Cruiser has been in heavy development for over 5 months. During that time, substantial purchases and investments have been made in order to make the project a reality. Many phones have been purchased (including prototypes, which are VERY expensive), computer equipment (including servers that will be used to host flash files), Internet connection fees, programming equipment, smart cards used for Cruiser dongles, etc.

ALL of this investment has been made so that we can all have Cruiser. Do these expenses not need to be recouped?

Cruiser is the FIRST standalone FULL service software for new SE phones in the WORLD (available to the public). Are you not surprised that it has a substantial price tag? There is NO standalone competition available that does it all (only the Nemesis clip). As competition shows up, the price will drop. That is basic business.

The pricing of Cruiser is what it is. Existing Fighter customers can upgrade for less than 50% of the cost of a new copy. If you think that is too expensive, the price will eventually drop and you can re-evaluate your decision to purchase it.

Please do not think that the Fighter Team is “screwing” you over.

Since when does Microsoft say “Oh yea, you bought Windows 98, so here is Windows XP Pro for $10… No wait, have it for free.” What they WILL do is offer all existing customers an upgrade path/price. Whether we like those prices or not is inconsequential. The pricing has been set, and people will buy it if they need it. Over time, the price will come down.


4.) What’s this nonsense about sending my old smart card back? How do I upgrade? How do I continue to service phones if I have to send my smart card away?

There is a lot of confusion with how this works. When you purchase Cruiser, the smart card will be sent to you FIRST. It will have a number of trial uses (maybe 50) before it needs to be activated. That should be MORE than enough time to mail your card back to the reseller you purchased Cruiser from (not your original Fighter reseller).

All of this nonsense about it costing 30 Euro to mail the smart card back is just that: nonsense. It is a SIM card! Just put it in an envelope and mail it! Provided you purchased from a reasonably close reseller, I don’t think it will be more than 5-10 Euro to send it back with a regular method (1-2 weeks?).

Once this is done, your Cruiser card can be activated. Simple as that!


5.) What about flash files? Will there be a stable server now?

Absolutely 100% guaranteed. This has been a huge source of headaches for Fighter customers, and the team knows this. Substantial costs have been incurred to setup a fast/stable server outside of the EU to host flash files and updates, and we WILL have a good download site.


6.) Why has the Fighter team been waiting to release Cruiser until another solution comes out?

They haven’t. This comes straight from Lead’s *****:

• We had a solution for unlocking / debranding SE phones long time ago. This solution required an original EMMA II smartcard.
• In the middle of September I have developed a standalone solution that required no EMMA II smartcard. To overcome the RSA protection it usually took cca 30 minutes. Therefore it was not releasable.
• Few weeks ago I got an idea how to break the RSA protection that is implemented in Cruiser now.

The team has been working non-stop over the last two weeks to get Cruiser ready to release. Many business aspects have to be taken care of before they can just release it (smart cards have to be programmed, reseller issues have to be worked out, etc.).

------------------------------------------------

Please post any additional questions you may have.

[fuzionGSM]

what about flash files for fighter customers???
will we get access to flash files for fighter?

[frostbite]

@ anlog

Thanks I like you're idea very nice

I have few questions before I go for upgrade

1 How mush will be for the support after a year?

2 Shell we get the support for the new models before servers get?

I know that lead were providing us grate support for nothing for long time
I have make money using fighter (I wouldn't say any thing about other peoples).

Now I have no problem to support them who were supporting us. That’s my final decision.

Best regards,

Frostbite

[anlog]

Originally Posted by fuzionGSM

what about flash files for fighter customers???
will we get access to flash files for fighter?

That is an excellent question. The same flash files work with both Fighter and Cruiser, and it is my understanding that Fighter customers will have access to the new support server to get the latest firmwares for the phones Fighter supports.

In other wordws, just because Fighter won't support new phones doesn't mean that we won't get the latest firmwares for the phones it DOES support.

[Akoska]

Originally Posted by anlog

You purchased Fighter knowing what phones it supports, and what features it has. Not once did anyone promise K700 (or new platform) support, especially for free.

Don't be so cynical.

If you buy a solution, you don't only look at the price and current functions, but you expect too that the newly purchased thing DOES have a future.
In this mind all user, who bought his Fighter couple of weeks ago would have bought if they know that the purchased solution goes dead in a week??
And what support can expect such a new user (at least 1 year must be supported for this price). What will get this user as support??
Further bugfixes? Or new flash files? From where? For what models?

New platform phones were not promised but every Fighter user expected a continuous support, even if not for free. I think almost all user were agreed with the paid support area, but this idea was abandoned for Cruiser.
What of course means, that Cruiser and the death of Fighter were planned long time ago. And Fighter Team was in totally silence about the future of Fighter and support of new phones. Main flash part flashing was promising for example and now that's all.

Don't say that you would buy NOW a Nokia flasher, which is capable of flashing current phones but you can't flash later 6630, 9500 and so on, only for a big upgrade amount. You wouldn't. And what now happened, that Fighter Team has left their customers without support, therefore it's fully clear that new Fighter user are disgusted.

[frostbite]

I think i will accept Lead offer

(I think the actual 220 Euro discount for Fighter users is enough. It makes more than 46% of the full price! )


Plus i'll pay for the delivery

[anlog]

1 How mush will be for the support after a year?

I believe that has yet to be determined, and ultimately an answer must come from the team directly. It's hard to say what the SE phone market will be like in one year (think of how it was one year ago from today)!

2 Shell we get the support for the new models before servers get?

Now that the new SE platform has been compromised, all new phones should be directly supported by Cruiser, without the need for logger servers.

The same thing goes with AVR-based RSA encryption. It was cracked on the T610, but the same method/procedure is used on the P910 (much newer phone, same platform). Make sense?

3 Why do want to charge us for the delivery?

I'm not sure I understand the question. Why do they charge for delivery, or what do they want to charge for delivery? I believe that is up to the individual reseller to decide, as well as the shipping to/from location.

4 Why can you not drop the price little bit down to
Make us pursued to upgrade e.g. some special offer.

Because there is no competition, and all new things (especially with technology) are reserved for those who spend the most money (like P910 handsets). Over time, the price will fall, especially once alternate solutions are available. Cruiser is not going away. When you are ready to buy, it will be waiting.

I know that lead were providing us grate support for nothing for long time
I have make money using fighter (I wouldn't say any thing about other peoples).

Now I have no problem to support them who were supporting us. That’s my final decision.

Thank you for the kind and intelligent words. Fighter has made many of us a lot of money. The team deserves our support, especially for releasing such a brilliant standalone product before anyone else.

Many of us were complaining that the team was no longer on top, because they were the last to release new and innovative solutions. Well, that has changed.

[anlog]

Originally Posted by frostbite

I think i will accept Lead offer

(I think the actual 220 Euro discount for Fighter users is enough. It makes more than 46% of the full price! )


Plus i'll pay for the delivery

I guarantee you won't be disappointed!

[frostbite]

Originally Posted by anlog

I guarantee you won't be disappointed!

I buy it next week. I must need it before xmas

[gbrooks3]

@anlog
i agree with what you are saying all but the bit about competition.
UFS3 are getting upgrade soon which is rumoured to have new ARM phone support of some kind and also Power flasher. i know they are not in the same league as fighter-cruiser but surely if rumours materialize this will constitute "competion". and what of Zulea?

[anlog]

Originally Posted by Akoska

Don't be so cynical.

If you buy a solution, you don't only look at the price and current functions, but you expect too that the newly purchased thing DOES have a future.
In this mind all user, who bought his Fighter couple of weeks ago would have bought if they know that the purchased solution goes dead in a week??
And what support can expect such a new user (at least 1 year must be supported for this price). What will get this user as support??
Further bugfixes? Or new flash files? From where? For what models?

I apologize if my post seemed cynical. I understand what you are saying, but a decision had to be made to start over. Even if the Fighter team stopped shipping dongles to the resellers one year ago, there would still be some stock being sold to people. Or someone could have purchased a used copy. That doesn't mean Mizar and Lead are directly responsible.

Yes the customer may not get any "updates", but they have received the EXACT product they purchased, and will have no expiration date on it. Every feature they paid for, they have received.

What of course means, that Cruiser and the death of Fighter were planned long time ago. And Fighter Team was in totally silence about the future of Fighter and support of new phones. Main flash part flashing was promising for example and now that's all.

That is incorrect. Up until VERY recently, the plan was to keep Cruiser and Fighter separate, and only have Cruiser work on the new phones. Both programs would continue to be supported. This presented many problems like running both programs/dongles at the same time, and increased administrative overhead for keeping track of two code bases. True, Fighter wouldn't support the new platform, which means it was already destined for extinction. This was just put into effect sooner than later.

Don't say that you would buy NOW a Nokia flasher, which is capable of flashing current phones but you can't flash later 6630, 9500 and so on, only for a big upgrade amount. You wouldn't. And what now happened, that Fighter Team has left their customers without support, therefore it's fully clear that new Fighter user are disgusted.

I sincerely hope that anyone who purchased Fighter has put it to enough good use to make some money back on it. You are acting like the program is useless now. There are stlil TONS of older SE phones out there to service. What about P900's and P910's? You can STILL put it to good use.

To answer your Nokia question: I still might buy it, if it was the best service utility out there (even if it doesn't work with the new phones). There are stlil plenty of old Nokias out there. Ultimately, though, it is a personal decision/preference.

We were promised a big release, not a free release. A major problem is that resellers don't keep potential customers in the loop about the products they sell. And is a potential customer expected to read an entire forum and become an expert on a product before they even buy it?

[anlog]

Originally Posted by gbrooks3

@anlog
i agree with what you are saying all but the bit about competition.
UFS3 are getting upgrade soon which is rumoured to have new ARM phone support of some kind and also Power flasher. i know they are not in the same league as fighter-cruiser but surely if rumours materialize this will constitute "competion". and what of Zulea?

Oh I guarantee competition is just around the corner. And when they appear, prices will begin to change.

As for Zulea, I've learned with him to "believe it when I see it".

[evan_silbert]

From what I understand, Zulea is releasing DIV 6.0 (with all new models supported) FREE to all existing customers...

[anlog]

Originally Posted by evan_silbert

From what I understand, Zulea is releasing DIV 6.0 (with all new models supported) FREE to all existing customers...

I've heard that rumor also. I've also heard that it will only do unlocking of new models, not flashing/decustomizations. In addition, flash files will be scarce, especially since it will have no way of reading the flash chip from a phone (to flash to another).

In other words, it will be like DIV 8.4 again before setool came out.

[evan_silbert]

Actually, I heard flashing will be supported. Wait for spam all over the board. Then we will know for sure.