ZTE Blade / Orange San Francisco

t0mm13b

Right SF'ers... as from Limerick, made the trip to Belfast yesterday, picked up two handsets + 2 free alcatel handsets + 2 free gifts, the handsets are grey, and am utterly blown away, handsets are still 99GBP + 20GBP mandatory top up... screen crisp and clear, (just now, discovered the build no is OUK_P729BV1.0.0B08 which is a TFT....) will start loading the ROM from modaco onto it shortly... will keep you posted... the build is surprisingly solid, not plasticky, just right, and fits in the hand properly.

There's a crap load of orange bloat-ware on it.... so that's gonna get chucked out... am pleased with it and despite 13 hours travel on the train (6 hours up, 7 hours back), its worth it!!!

MC_G

t0mm13b wrote: »

Right SF'ers... as from Limerick, made the trip to Belfast yesterday, picked up two handsets + 2 free alcatel handsets + 2 free gifts, the handsets are grey, and am utterly blown away, handsets are still 99GBP + 20GBP mandatory top up... screen crisp and clear, (just now, discovered the build no is OUK_P729BV1.0.0B08 which is a TFT....) will start loading the ROM from modaco onto it shortly... will keep you posted... the build is surprisingly solid, not plasticky, just right, and fits in the hand properly.

There's a crap load of orange bloat-ware on it.... so that's gonna get chucked out... am pleased with it and despite 13 hours travel on the train (6 hours up, 7 hours back), its worth it!!!

Likely a TFT, so just unlock, flash over clockwork, pick a rom, and enjoy!

For the TFT models, I've tried Sebastian404 de-orangenated RLS7, Paul's Alpha 4, and I had to give the Finnish Fillyjonk a try too with the overclocks!

All ran nicely but are a bit different so give them a look and decide what's most important to you.

I've heard the BladeVillian re-release by a poster at Modaco is nice as well, but word of mouth is the Finnish one has the best performance if you're going for 2.1 although a little more involved in the install and tweaking of the oc if you're so inclined.

A long day on the train, but definitely well spent.

t0mm13b

MC_G wrote: »

Likely a TFT, so just unlock, flash over clockwork, pick a rom, and enjoy!

For the TFT models, I've tried Sebastian404 de-orangenated RLS7, Paul's Alpha 4, and I had to give the Finnish Fillyjonk a try too with the overclocks!

All ran nicely but are a bit different so give them a look and decide what's most important to you.

I've heard the BladeVillian re-release by a poster at Modaco is nice as well, but word of mouth is the Finnish one has the best performance if you're going for 2.1 although a little more involved in the install and tweaking of the oc if you're so inclined.

A long day on the train, but definitely well spent.

Hmmmm... so many versions.... installing clockworkrecovery under XP fail! Went over to the linux box and it worked sweet.... dunno why the drivers under xp failed... odd! only thing about clockworkrecovery is it is upside down... ... will try customisedbladevillain to see how it goes...

Khannie

t0mm13b wrote: »

Hmmmm... so many versions.... installing clockworkrecovery under XP fail! Went over to the linux box and it worked sweet....

Have to say, I'm loving that there's a linux everything for android. I flippin' hated being a second class citizen in iPhone world.

Congrats on the new phone. Welcome to the gang. \o/

t0mm13b

Khannie wrote: »

Have to say, I'm loving that there's a linux everything for android. I flippin' hated being a second class citizen in iPhone world.

Congrats on the new phone. Welcome to the gang. \o/

Cheers Khannie - have installed customised-bladevillain... and having fun with it, that's the LITE version... seems smooth and darn good.... w00t....

Freaky.... GPS is bluddy fast as fcuk!!!!! and accurately positioned where I am.... heh.... on Samsung Wave (Which I am the owner of also... takes freakin 15 minutes to lock on satellite....)

ronano

i installed bladevillian fat version and im extremely happy with it,smooth and fast as hell and the launcher is great

deaglan169

im using meteor on mine and i cant get picture messages to download i get a download button but it doesnt download anything, can i get settings from metoer or for a similar phone

Khannie

I think this is what you're looking for:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=106942

heybaby

Which is better the tft screen version or oled screen version? cheers

Khannie

OLED is probably slightly better, but the TFT is all that's left (for now at least) and it is superb.

heybaby

Cool, thinking of going north for this. Havent a clue how to take the orange software off it but theres plenty of links on this forum to help.

Khannie

Honest to god...it couldn't be easier.

Step 1: Unlock the phone. Link.
Step 2: Follow this guide.

Well...it could be a bit easier. As the guide says, you need to not be totally frightened by the command line. It's pretty straightforward stuff though.

Chet T16

I'll get some side by side shots from the blade and my amoled desire to compare the screens (not until after christmas day tho, i underestimated herselfs patience and its still sat under the tree)

Khannie

In other news, I got around to alpha 4 this morning. It is a significant improvement over alpha 3 IMO. I hope they continue working on it.

The Freeman

Just read the full thread here, gonna get one of these babies for sure. had an option to get a second hand iphone 3g on ebay there shipped from ireland for 180e and decided to get this one instead.
best way seems to take a spin up north or get a mate to send on over from uk. its orange shops and argos only that stock this phone as a prepay up north ya?(trying to find shortest spin from mayo)

t0mm13b

The Freeman wrote: »

Just read the full thread here, gonna get one of these babies for sure. had an option to get a second hand iphone 3g on ebay there shipped from ireland for 180e and decided to get this one instead.
best way seems to take a spin up north or get a mate to send on over from uk. its orange shops and argos only that stock this phone as a prepay up north ya?(trying to find shortest spin from mayo)

Yes...

no other way... you get a nice free gift in a lovely box with a fancy ribbon... (kinda looks gay to me...) :rolleyes:

knackered-and-crazy-guy-who-travelled-13hrs-on-train-to-belfast

t0mm13b

Khannie wrote: »

In other news, I got around to alpha 4 this morning. It is a significant improvement over alpha 3 IMO. I hope they continue working on it.

Cool... that's froyo yeah?

Khannie

It is yeah.

sombaht

Hi Khannie,
Any issues to report with the alpha 4 release of Froyo?

Cheers,
sombaht

deaglan169

Khannie wrote: »

I think this is what you're looking for:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=106942

thanks but were do i enter this on the blade, also you mentioned you updated to alpha4 is there many improvements over alpha3 was thinking of signing up to the non ads part of modaco

Khannie

deaglan169 wrote: »

thanks but were do i enter this on the blade, also you mentioned you updated to alpha4 is there many improvements over alpha3 was thinking of signing up to the non ads part of modaco

The crappy lock screen is gone. This may seem like a minor thing, but actually the lockscreen on alpha 3 is a disaster. Wifi issues remain. The upgrade from 3 to 4 was smooth though. I didn't lose any apps or data which was grand.

Try alpha 3 and see what you think before you buy. I'd make sure you get launcher pro though, the default launcher is...moderate. Initially I thought that 2.2 wasn't much better than 2.1 but then I saw stock 2.1 on the same phone and the difference is huge.

sombaht wrote: »

Hi Khannie,
Any issues to report with the alpha 4 release of Froyo?

As above, the wifi problem is still there (when the phone sleeps, wifi gets disabled)...I'm sure there's a documented fix somewhere, but I went with mc_g's "wifi keep alive" and that seems to be working ok so far, though I'm sure it doesn't help with battery life.

FM radio doesn't work on the 2.2 alpha 3 or 4. I couldn't care less about that tbh but it may bother you.

edit: It is rock solid though. I haven't had any crashes or other issues beyond wifi yet. The "beautiful widgets" airplane mode widget doesn't work in the slightest. Not sure if that's the rom or the widget though.

deaglan169

Khannie wrote: »

The crappy lock screen is gone. This may seem like a minor thing, but actually the lockscreen on alpha 3 is a disaster. Wifi issues remain. The upgrade from 3 to 4 was smooth though. I didn't lose any apps or data which was grand.

Try alpha 3 and see what you think before you buy. I'd make sure you get launcher pro though, the default launcher is...moderate. Initially I thought that 2.2 wasn't much better than 2.1 but then I saw stock 2.1 on the same phone and the difference is huge.

Khannie wrote: »

im running alpha3 at the min seems grand i downloaded from market "blade wifi fix" it keeps the wifi going there is a small delay of like 5 secs when you unlock the phone then the wifi symbol appears

heybaby

i plan to use this phone for browsing while listening to radio , how long is the battery life, charge each day do you think?

MC_G

Basically the main improvement in Alpha 4 is being able to switch to the stock lock screen a coarse location fix, but the ad free subscription gives you access to the kitchen to bake your own Alpha 4 and add/remove certain apps and tweaks to your liking and do the same on any future releases.

Coarse location can be fixed in Alpha 3 by flashing one of the Themes here.

For anybody using WiFi Keep Alive, I'm getting by with workarounds 1 and 2 and I don't think my battery life suffers all that much. Anyone using different settings with success?

As for the installation of ROMs, as Khannie said it's pretty straight forward and there's getting to be a pretty informed community here as well as helpful threads at Modaco that'll get you through it!

Also, anyone put off by the switch from OLED to TFT, really you shouldn't be.

One last thing, the Japanese version with fully supported Froyo comes out on Christmas Eve, maybe some late Christmas presents coming our way ROM wise!

MC_G

heybaby wrote: »

i plan to use this phone for browsing while listening to radio , how long is the battery life, charge each day do you think?

The battery isn't horrible, but you're pretty much guaranteed a charge each day if you use it heavily.

I made a short trip recently where I used the heck out of it: calls, texts, games, 3g on and syncing all day, about 2 hours of WiFi and Radio on the bus I was on and some GPS and Maps throughout the day and I think I still had at least 40% @10:00pm (@14 hours of use).

I'd say it lasts long enough but you certainly couldn't get away with forgetting your charger on a weekend away with it on 24/7.

MC_G

Khannie wrote: »

As above, the wifi problem is still there (when the phone sleeps, wifi gets disabled)...I'm sure there's a documented fix somewhere, but I went with mc_g's "wifi keep alive" and that seems to be working ok so far, though I'm sure it doesn't help with battery life.

I don't think there'll be a fix for that until someone gets their hands on official Froyo and that's only if the zte devs realise their misinterpretation of the intent of wifi never sleeping.

There's a rather informative if in parts disheartening thread about the kernel source with posts like this showing that the wifi issue is pretty confused and I think compounded by the drivers being closed source.

Makes me even more thankful of Modaco and the hobbyist/enthusiast support we have!

sombaht

Just installed Angry Birds on a Blade with the Customised BladeVillain 1.1.0 RLS4 rom and its surprisingly nippy. First few levels are perfectly playable, dunno how it is on the later more detailed levels but so far so good.
For any one else thinking about which rom to go with BladeVillain, it seems stable, is nippy and most if not all apps appear to work with it. Just my 2c.

Cheers,
sombaht

t0mm13b

sombaht wrote: »

Just installed Angry Birds on a Blade with the Customised BladeVillain 1.1.0 RLS4 rom and its surprisingly nippy. First few levels are perfectly playable, dunno how it is on the later more detailed levels but so far so good.
For any one else thinking about which rom to go with BladeVillain, it seems stable, is nippy and most if not all apps appear to work with it. Just my 2c.

Cheers,
sombaht

It eats other phones out there and blows 'em away... excellent value!

w007,
\o/

sombaht

For any iPhone users who have moved to Android and are wondering on how to sync their mp3 collection there is a neat little app called doubleTwist which is basically an iTunes rip-off, but done very well. Install on your PC and it will import your iTunes library, pop it on the Android handset and it will sync your library across,playlists, vids etc. Well worth checking out.

Cheers,
sombaht

deaglan169

some niggly faults ive found first time using android, cant download mms messages got settings from meteor and manually set it up never worked, also to check balance *100# doesnt work, also is there anyway of changing the phone book from last name/first name to first/last