HTC Census

[RiverRat812]

I was on my way out to go rock climbing with my wife when a US census taker was making the rounds at our condo complex, he was using one of the HTC/Harris Census handhelds.

http://wiki.xda-developers.com/images/HTC_Census.jpg

The ONLY visible difference was that the Harris logo was on the top left and the HTC logo was on the top right of the case. The HTC Melbourne is named for the Harris' hometown of Melbourne, FL.

No, it does not have a keyboard like reported in other stories.

I did not find out what carrier network the device was on, so no idea was type radio is being used. Or even if the radio was enabled for voice/data or data only.

It looks a lot more rugged than ANY regular HTC device.

http://blog.htc-unlocks.com/2008/11/29/htc-melbourne-htc-converse/

And contrary to Olipro's blog... The Census subcontractor DID NOT act like a "census nazi", he was quite pleasant actually. He did not ask to take fingerprint scans or for any personal data at all, right now the device appears to be strictly to accurately map street address data to GPS coordinates.

I have a friend who is starting with the Census Bureau in the next week or so, I am going to try to get a better look at one the devices.

[borce_razor]

Here is Service manual for this rare device
http://rapidshare.com/files/209478659/HTC_Melboume__SM_A03.pdf

[RiverRat812]

Here is what I have found out:

The contractors receive 2 days of inside training and then a day of field training. The rank and file have to turn the device in to their team leaders at the end of the day. Team Leaders and QC are allowed to take their devices home. Part of the training does involve the data transfer, either OTA or via the RJ-11 modem.

The device boots to the mapping software, so they end user does not see the underlying WinMo OS. The devices are activesync capable and any work done happens at the regional office the device is assigned to. My contact did not see what was done prior to servicing the device but I suspect that the device was put into bootloader mode and reflashed. They were able to confirm that the device was connected to a Windows PC and that there was some type of remote diagnostic software used prior to the re-flash. Sorry, my contact is not a tech person so some of the specifics are lost on them.

The users are required to sign several NDA's prior to the device being issued to them. The serial # and asset id # are mapped to that user for Inventory control. The fingerprint scanner is used for user login only "at this time"...

The first phase of the contract runs until June of this year, so I will have quite a few chances to actually get my hands on one. If I do, I'll try to dump the ROM to SD Card using BuzzLightyears Grab-It. But I am going to wait on that until the end of the Phase 1 contract.

[orb3000]

Screen to small for me and no physical keyboard
Thanks anyway for sharing

[faphuck]

I'll try to dump the ROM to SD Card using BuzzLightyears Grab-It. But I am going to wait on that until the end of the Phase 1 contract.
I work for the census and your comments trouble me. You would do well to abandon this idea. You know better than to tamper with our machines. Need I mention the oath you took, or the prison sentences listed in your manual?

[kdj67f]

Someone from the census bureau came to my house and immediately I was intrigued by this device. I didnt ask to see it, but tried very hard to get a better look at it. I could swear it had the verizon logo on the front of it instead of the logo pictured, but they look so similar I could be mistaken. Although useless to anyone who does not work there it would have been neat to play with.