ZTE Blade / Orange San Francisco

MC_G

witnessmenow wrote: »

Khanine,

I would find the touch screen on the Iphone slightly better, although since i started running Froyo its really close! (I also use a cheapie screen protector so that could have an effect too)

Battery, not much in it i'd say

Web browsing, slightly bettter on iphone

Camera, better on iphone

Touchscreen is definitely not as smooth on the stock Orange firmware, but with 2.1 or 2.2 custom ROMs it's just as smooth functionally and looks better IMHO. Also reports are that the newer stock tft/lcd have improved touchscreen performance over the original oleds. Try turning on or off HW acceleration, increasing VM heap size to 32, or one of the ROMs with an overclocked kernel if you find performance an issue.

I've no complaints about the battery vs similar phones, probably should assume a charge is going to be needed daily with heavy (3g, GPS, SATNAV, browsing, music, games) use, although I think I've gotten nearly 48hrs between charges with fairly light use.

Personally I like browsing better on this, higher resolution 800x480 vs 480x320 and I've found more sites with things like dropdown menus that work better in the stock android browser than safari for iOS.

The camera is pants, no arguments there but the 150 you can put in your pocket will buy an awfully nice point and shoot and really isn't much of a selling on the 3gs either if we're honest

The serious drawback is the need for a microSD card vs the iPhones internal storage which will set you back about 30 for 16GB if you shop around online.

I'm really looking forward to when the chaps at MoDaCo get the full source for 2.2 and see what they can do with it. Other phones with the same processor have been stable OC'd to 800Mhz and with FroYo, the San Fran should run as well as anything bar the highest of high end phones!

AlmightyCushion

Khannie wrote: »

48 hour extravaganza.....15% off PAYG phones on the orange web site (not in stores). That makes the SF only £95 including top up and delivery. You'll need to know someone in the UK. Fortunately for me my sister lives in Manchester. Game on.

Do you know when the offer ends? Looking to get one of these as well but can't get through to my sis about it. Really don't want to miss it.

Khannie

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Do you know when the offer ends? Looking to get one of these as well but can't get through to my sis about it. Really don't want to miss it.

Pretty sure it ends at midnight tonight.

AlmightyCushion

Khannie wrote: »

Pretty sure it ends at midnight tonight.

Ah nuts.

curry-muff

Im in the market for an Android because Ive decided to make an android application for my final year project but also because Ive wanted one for quite a while.

Ive had my eyes on the htc wildfire for a while which is £200 sim free, my main question to the experts here is, for the difference in price is there much difference in quality? Ive been comparing some of the spec and I see that this actually has a better processor than the wildfire but worse camera and ram.

The price is the huge selling point to be honest, but im willing to fork out the extra 100 if anybody can prove that the wildfire is better?

AlmightyCushion

curry-muff wrote: »

Im in the market for an Android because Ive decided to make an android application for my final year project but also because Ive wanted one for quite a while.

Ive had my eyes on the htc wildfire for a while which is £200 sim free, my main question to the experts here is, for the difference in price is there much difference in quality? Ive been comparing some of the spec and I see that this actually has a better processor than the wildfire but worse camera and ram.

The price is the huge selling point to be honest, but im willing to fork out the extra 100 if anybody can prove that the wildfire is better?

Is the ram not the same between the two? I thought it was. The other advantage of the san fran is the resolution of the screen is higher. If the wildfire and san fran were the same price I'd still get the san fran. Getting my hands on one is another story though.

justsomebloke

curry-muff wrote: »

Ive had my eyes on the htc wildfire for a while which is £200 sim free, my main question to the experts here is, for the difference in price is there much difference in quality? Ive been comparing some of the spec and I see that this actually has a better processor than the wildfire but worse camera and ram.

Don't forget the screen on the SF is a lot better then wildfire and won't have the same compatability problems the wildfire has with running some apps

curry-muff

Im pretty much sold, think Ill pop into Derry at the weekend and buy one.

One final question though, is the lack of the HTC Sense Interface a big loss?

MC_G

curry-muff wrote: »

Im in the market for an Android because Ive decided to make an android application for my final year project but also because Ive wanted one for quite a while.

Ive had my eyes on the htc wildfire for a while which is £200 sim free, my main question to the experts here is, for the difference in price is there much difference in quality? Ive been comparing some of the spec and I see that this actually has a better processor than the wildfire but worse camera and ram.

The price is the huge selling point to be honest, but im willing to fork out the extra 100 if anybody can prove that the wildfire is better?

The OSF has 512 RAM and 512 ROM

The Wildfire has 384 RAM and 512 ROM

The ROM is for the OS and Apps storage and a lot of places misquote and say that for example the OSF has 150 MB available RAM, meaning space leftover after the OS is installed on the ROM.

The OSF has 128MB more RAM than the Wildfire and I would think more space available on the ROM for Apps and such after the OS is installed because I'm sure HTC's Sense UI takes more space on the ROM than a more vanilla version that is used on the OSF.

Brian

The wildfire is worse.

Khannie

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Ah nuts.

Did you get one? I did. Happy out. Expect to have it by next weekend.

I actually bought an extra one which I'm either going to use as a Christmas pressie or sell. Didn't want to push my luck beyond one extra.

death1234567

Khannie wrote: »

I actually bought an extra one which I'm either going to use as a Christmas pressie or sell. Didn't want to push my luck beyond one extra.

If you don't have any takers for it I might take that extra one off your hands. PM'ed

witnessmenow

My Girlfriend has a Wildfire


Pros of Wildfire over San Fran:

Better Camera
HTC Sense (if you like it)
More likely to get proper updates
Accesories more readily available


Pros of SF over WF:

Bigger, better and higher resolution screen
Seems to be a better "underground" support for roms etc
Better processor and more ram (although the wildfire with its smaller screen takes less resources to run)
PRICE (its almost half the price sim free)

heybaby

witnessmenow wrote: »

There is a thread talking about unlocking this but i thought it deserved its own one.

The ZTE Blade or the Orange San francisco is about the cheapest (decent) android phone you can buy costing about £99 PAYG. The surprising thing although it defently a budget priced phone, the spec is actually quite good, the 3.5" Amoled capacitive screen being the main selling point. In a nutshell its only downfall its poor camera (It has no flash and it's not great other than that either) - See a full review here

So I got mine there at the weekend, its my first Android and I have to say I love it!

Buying the phone: The phone is sold exclusively by Orange in the UK and is currently not being sold by any Irish Carriers. So your only option for buying the phone is knowing someone in the UK or going to the North. As its a PAYG you can basically just walk into the shop and pick it up. They cost £99 plus a mandatory £10 top up. Orange offer a Student Discount of 10%. They are also on ebay but are priced around €170 or so.

Unlocking the phone: A Free Unlock code can be got here. Put your IMEI in, select ZTE, leave the default model as ZTE BLUEBELT

Thanks to slowlydownwards for the link!

Protecting the phone: There isnt actually any dedicated screen protectors or cases for the San Fran, but fear not. Nokia E71 cases fit very well, but will require a some small modification for the usb port and the camera is slightly blocked. Screen protectors for the Samsung i900 Omina area perfect fit.

Modding the Phone (probably not the right phrase) One the first things I did with mine is installed a custom rom to get rid of the Orange bloatware. Here are the steps I followed.

First thing i did was install the USB drivers

Next thing I did was install the ClockworkMod

And finally installed the r4 custom rom by modaco

at this stage you could alternatively install Froyo

Performance Improvements: Installing "Launcher Pro" (DL form market) made a huge difference to the smoothness of the whole experience.

I also upped my VM heap size to 32MB, apparently its better for those hungry hungry apps. Tool can be got here

Other Tips: SIP applications seem to have an issue with using the earpiece speaker (Fring, Linphone and Sipdroid all suffered the same issue, sound coming form loud speaker), but i found a patched version of sipdroid that works as it should. Link here or try this:




Some of the bad things: Dont have a lot to complain about, but i'm a bit disappointed with game performance. Angry birds runs much smoother on my 2g ipod touch.


If anyone has anything to ask about feel free and I'll do my best to answer.

Hey man great post, im a total newbie and am thinking of getting this phone but am worried if i get it and unlock it, will it work on networks in ireland for browsing if they dont sell it?

witnessmenow

Yup, just look up details on how to set up APN on your network for android phones, it will be the same.

Mine is working on meteor no problem.

Actually since i installed 2.2 on it, it possibly get the APN details automatically.... (not sure tbh)

bogman

Simple question here please, are these widely available in NI Orange stores or is there a shortage
Thanks...Chas

seanin4711

t0mm13b wrote: »

/facepalm :cool:

Just in case you were confused.

Keano

Does the FM radio work on these? I have a Desire and the radio hasn't worked since I bought the thing!

AlmightyCushion

Khannie wrote: »

Did you get one? I did. Happy out. Expect to have it by next weekend.

I actually bought an extra one which I'm either going to use as a Christmas pressie or sell. Didn't want to push my luck beyond one extra.

Nah, didn't manage to get one. But hey, you want to give one as a Christmas present, I want to receive one as a Christmas present. Looks like destiny to me. Let us know how you find it.

Khannie

Bummer. They're still a bargain at 110 sterling IMO (I think that works out at around 130 euro). The 15% just made the deal very sweet indeed.

Can't wait to get my mitts on it to be honest. I'm selling the extra one. Gonna stick it up on adverts when it gets here. I'm looking to make a profit on it though, but not a ridiculous amount. Just enough to cover my shipping costs for the other phones (we got 4 in total...one for me, one for my wife, one for my son, and one spare :eek:), and a Christmas pint for my troubles.

AlmightyCushion

Khannie wrote: »

Bummer. They're still a bargain at 110 sterling IMO (I think that works out at around 130 euro). The 15% just made the deal very sweet indeed.

Can't wait to get my mitts on it to be honest. I'm selling the extra one. Gonna stick it up on adverts when it gets here. I'm looking to make a profit on it though, but not a ridiculous amount. Just enough to cover my shipping costs for the other phones (we got 4 in total...one for me, one for my wife, one for my son, and one spare :eek:), and a Christmas pint for my troubles.

Drop me a pm when you stick it up. Depending on the price I might buy it. As long as it's not the white one, don't fancy that one at all.

seven stars

This seems to be out of stock now (in both white and grey). :mad:

curry-muff

Picked one up in Derry yesterday, just got around to unlocking it this morning, seems like a pretty sweet phone for £119.00, theres so much to do though I don't know where to start, what should be my first step, upgrading to froyo or trying to get all this orange network ****e off it?

lomb

I got one yesterday in buttercrane newry. First thing i did was unlock it free. Next installed root app. Next titanium and its box app. This allows one to safely delete orange apps without risking bricking the phone by flashing it. I don't think froyo is stable on this but im open to correction.

Khannie

Froyo's at alpha 4 AFAIK. I'd consider that unstable.

Does a flash really risk bricking the phone? I thought there were all sorts of recovery tools.

Brian

Khannie wrote: »

Froyo's at alpha 4 AFAIK. I'd consider that unstable.

Does a flash really risk bricking the phone? I thought there were all sorts of recovery tools.

Froyo was stable pretty much from the offset. Trust me, once you try Froyo on the Blade you will not go back. It's amazing the difference it makes.

Khannie

Sold. I have it downloaded and ready to go for when the phone gets here.

Hoping it will be this week, but most likely next.

Professey Chin

Khannie wrote: »

Froyo's at alpha 4 AFAIK. I'd consider that unstable.

Does a flash really risk bricking the phone? I thought there were all sorts of recovery tools.

Its actually very difficult to brick completely unless change to the wrong radio. Most corrupted flash files can be fixed as long as you can get to recovery mode

MC_G

I think you'd be safe with Modoaco's Alpha 4. The last real problem is the FM radio not working properly, although there was a workaround of playing an empty mp3 on one of the previous 2.2 roms that would allow the FM radio to work properly but I haven't tried it because the FM radio isn't really important to me.

Some users have reported unresponsive touchscreens which requires the battery to be removed to get out of, but it hasn't happened to me yet (or Paul@MoDaCo) so he's been unable to pin it down. Some people sent him logfiles today so I'd assume that'll be sorted in a couple of hours!

I'd recommend this thread for pretty complete instructions on how to install recovery and flash roms. I still have clockwork 2.5.0.9 and can verify that has worked well for me and some have had problems with 2.5.1.3 but it could work fine for you.

I also installed superboot to root first(video here) before I used the instructions in the previous link to install clockwork and flash custom roms. That video was made prior to Clockwork working on the OSF so basically ignore after superuser is available. ALSO that says OLED at the minute and am not sure what the implications are for TFT/LCD models are so if you have a TFT/LCD, I'd use universal androot as mentioned to achieve su(root) access. edit:do not use on TFT/LCD and it's not really a necessary step unless you are going to use an unrooted custom rom

THB I think it's a pretty simple and straightforward process and if you're comfortable using/navigating with the command line you'll find it pretty easy. Just have a good read of the threads and make sure you install Clockwork correctly and I don't think that there's anything (within reason) that can't be undone minus the headache of syncing contacts again etc.

I took my time with the first one I did, but was able to unlock, install suberboot, clockwork, and custom roms on the three I'm giving as gifts in less than 40 minutes once my workspace was set up.

Work away and enjoy your phones once you get them!

MC_G

Keano A Legend wrote: »

Does the FM radio work on these? I have a Desire and the radio hasn't worked since I bought the thing!

FM radio works on 2.1 roms and workarounds may be available for 2.2 problems depending on which rom you use, it only works with the headphones though not the external speaker.

Also, I recommend to everyone installing custom roms to read the clockwork thread here and backup using that before you flash new roms and once you get the new rom installed and set up backup again with that and Titanium Backup (included in most roms) for apps and settings.

And further info on suberboot in my post above, don't use it if you have a TFT/LCD device use universal androot if you're remaining on the stock rom or an unrooted rom, and it seems most of the Roms will have root by default if you're going custom.