Cheap prepay android phone(samsung europa) 39€

Savman

triple-M wrote: »

is there a way to get this phone at that price and keep my old number?im with meteor at the mo but wouldnt mind switching to 3 to avail of this offer

I ported successfully dude, it was painless

patrickpc

rustyregan wrote: »

Actually, I just checked my account balance and I see the following:

Internet (MB) Free internet allowance
All-you-can-eat 05/08/11 04/09/11 30 days

So that's fine. Maybe their system was a bit slow setting me up as I'm a new user or something. Anyway, please ignore the previous post.

Do you know what version of Android the phone runs. I was in the Three shop on Henry St at lunchtime and the guy there said it was running 2.2 (Froyo)

Can you confirm this please ?

martyoo

Do you know what version of Android the phone runs. I was in the Three shop on Henry St at lunchtime and the guy there said it was running 2.2 (Froyo)

Hope it is 2.2! Think there was a lot of problems with 2.1 on that model.

rustyregan

patrickpc wrote: »

Do you know what version of Android the phone runs. I was in the Three shop on Henry St at lunchtime and the guy there said it was running 2.2 (Froyo)

Can you confirm this please ?

Setting > About Phone > Android Version > 2.2

patrickpc

I was also talking to the Guy in Three at lunchtime about using the phone as a WIFI Hotspot on the all you can eat data plan - 15GB for €20.

He said that this is *NOT* permitted under this plan. The 15GB can only be consumed by the phone itself and not by any other device such as a laptop which uses the phone to connect to the internet.

I don't know how they do this but they can determine if the traffic is being used by the phone or not. If it is being used by a secondary device then it charges usage to a broadband add-on if you have one (e.g. 500mb for €4.99) or presumably whatever the flat rate for their internet traffic is if you don't.

He said the reason for this is that three don't want people using the new plan just for cheapo internet access for other devices.

Anyone see this in the small print ?

chasm

patrickpc wrote: »

I was also talking to the Guy in Three at lunchtime about using the phone as a WIFI Hotspot on the all you can eat data plan - 15GB for €20.

He said that this is *NOT* permitted under this plan. The 15GB can only be consumed by the phone itself and not by any other device such as a laptop which uses the phone to connect to the internet.

I don't know how they do this but they can determine if the traffic is being used by the phone or not. If it is being used by a secondary device then it charges usage to a broadband add-on if you have one (e.g. 500mb for €4.99) or presumably whatever the flat rate for their internet traffic is if you don't.

He said the reason for this is that three don't want people using the new plan just for cheapo internet access for other devices.

Anyone see this in the small print ?

http://three.ie/terms/3pay_terms.html#prepay-topup-offer

The data service is available for use with your Three SIM Card in your Three handset only. Tethering or use of the Three handset as, or the sim in conjunction with, a modem is not allowed and may be disabled.

54kroc

chasm wrote: »

http://three.ie/terms/3pay_terms.html#prepay-topup-offer

The data service is available for use with your Three SIM Card in your Three handset only. Tethering or use of the Three handset as, or the sim in conjunction with, a modem is not allowed and may be disabled.

Is there anyway around it?

danjo-xx

rustyregan wrote: »

Setting > About Phone > Android Version > 2.2

three>specifications says
Operating System Android 2.1

Daemos

So just to clarify, you have to pay a fiver a month to get on the internet, even with WiFi? Or have I read that wrong? Sorry but I'm terrible with technology

lindtee

Thanks OP. Just ordered one for my son's birthday:)

Riderlad

Would I definately be able to get this phone unlocked and would it be particularly difficult?
It's a real deal clincher for me!

mikom

Daemos wrote: »

So just to clarify, you have to pay a fiver a month to get on the internet, even with WiFi? Or have I read that wrong? Sorry but I'm terrible with technology

Rang them up there today.
Top up with 20 a month and you have access to the 3 "all you can eat" internet.
WiFi is your WiFi once you have it at home.

Daemos

Excellent, thanks, I've been looking into getting a new phone for a while, looks like I finally found it

Esel

heathersonline wrote: »

Was just about to pick one up as backup for my iphone, then realised the iphone has a micro sim. Any cheap solution for changing micro sim back to normal size? Probably some $1 job on dealextreme somewhere!

Edit: http://www.dealextreme.com/p/micro-sim-card-to-standard-sim-card-adapter-black-41528 ($1.09)

Or if you want to go from normal size to micro SIM http://cgi.ebay.com/Micro-Sim-Card-Cutter-4-Sim-Adapter-iPhone-4G-IPad-/260818894812?pt=US_Tablet_Accessories&hash=item3cba047fdc

I know it's not what you need. Just spotted it and thought it was interesting.

Simi

Riderlad wrote: »

Would I definately be able to get this phone unlocked and would it be particularly difficult?
It's a real deal clincher for me!

Just a case of flashing a different firmware to unlock it. There's a thread on xda with all the official firmwares, including all the irish networks.

Picked one up for a friend of mine on meteor. Bargain at that price.

Dozen Wicked Words

Simi wrote: »

Riderlad wrote: »

Would I definately be able to get this phone unlocked and would it be particularly difficult?
It's a real deal clincher for me!

Just a case of flashing a different firmware to unlock it. There's a thread on xda with all the official firmwares, including all the irish networks.

Picked one up for a friend of mine on meteor. Bargain at that price.

I thought flashing the firmware was a totally different procedure to unlocking it from a network. Maybe I need to swot up some more!

Simi

Under normal circumstances yes. Flashing a new firmware through kies will do nothing. Flashing a new through odin will completely wipe the phone. Start reading through the android forum & it'll give u an idea of just how easy these phones are to mod

heathersonline

Have you a link?

Simi wrote: »

Under normal circumstances yes. Flashing a new firmware through kies will do nothing. Flashing a new through odin will completely wipe the phone. Start reading through the android forum & it'll give u an idea of just how easy these phones are to mod

Onikage

This link? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=781149

No mention of Odin unlocking network - no good reason why it would do this either.

Simi

Onikage wrote: »

This link? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=781149

No mention of Odin unlocking network - no good reason why it would do this either.

Hmm seems resetting the europa is a wee bit more tricky than I thought. U can either buy an unlock from an online unlocking service, or if u feel up to it u can give it a go yourself using the guide here.

Onikage

That sounds more plausible but a bit worrying that he doesn't mention what version of fw he is running - could be patched in later upgrades.

Simi

I've been reading through the thread that guide originated from. Seems the "SAFE METHOD" is very hit or miss.

It either works perfectly or erases the efs (imei, mac address etc.) or completely bricks the phone (has to be sent to samsung for motherboard replacement).

One person tried it on two identical phones, worked on the first one, bricked the second. I'm almost up to date on the posts. It's not looking promising though :-/

Amalgam

I would flash and unlock as two separate processes.

Plenty of the Moore street traders will unlock this phone for €10. There's a friendly Chinese shop as you walk down Moore Street,on the left hand side of the street as you walk down towards Parnell Street, open arch, with a hair/nail along the opposite wall, to the phone counter. Nice and friendly pair in there.

---

Great phone if you want solid Google services access.

I had no grand ideas, I knew it was an ARM6 device, so.. no chance of in-browser Flash support. There's also no 3D Panoramic streetview.

Internal storage memory is exactly the same as the Samsung Ace. 192MB.

There is an official 2.2 manual upgrade that leaked in April last year, totally unbranded and neutral. Available at> Sams*ngUniverse.c*m or S*mFirmwareWorld.c*m

I'm not sure if it has turned up on (Samsung) Kies yet.

Much easier to turn Mobile Network on\off with 2.2.

Very easy to root the phone, if you wish to do so.

There is only one alternative Samsung Europa ROM currently active, as far as I am aware.

Just about everything works. Facebook, Twitter, PayPal, IMDB, Trillian..

The low resolution of the screen, 320x240, mght prevent some games and Apps from working, but I haven't been restricted at all, to be honest. Angry Birds, Cut The Rope, Fruit Ninja, Bubble Blast, all the usual suspects run happily enough on it.

The fixed focus, so so performance camera prevents some barcode applications from working, but QR codes and similar work. The only issues were with Apps that clone Tesco Clubcards and similar, for use on the phone screen, at a checkout scanner. The camera just isn't up to the task of cloning those cards.

Battery lasts a day and a half, with moderate to heavy use. Two days with light online use, at a push. The wifi could have better reception too.

The phone, with the default 2.2 Android, can act as a hotspot. I don't know if Three make this feature available on their phones, probably not.

No issues using bluetooth. Full headphone socket. Some of the popular audio media players for Android need a higher resolution than 320x240.

Nice radio, with station identification. Radio needs to use the headphones as an antenna.

Samsung have installed Swype on this phone, so inputting SMS and similar is quite tolerable, even though the screen is small.

Hardware (physical) buttons are a treat to use. I hate screen call and call end icons. The hardware buttons also make it a breeze to zip around the OS, when holding the phone in landscape mode. Android phone with all four physical buttons along the bottom are in the minority now, sadly.

The phone charges through a MicroUSB.

I love this phone, despite the so so camera and low battery capacity. It is discreet and nippy if you have a realistic expectation of what it can do.

Zascar

I just got one of these for my gf. Want to unlock it asap - anyone know a good online service that will work??

54kroc

Just in case anyone can't make it to a three shop to buy the phone theres a fruitcake selling one for a €100 on adverts.
http://www.adverts.ie/771682

Simi

Zascar wrote: »

I just got one of these for my gf. Want to unlock it asap - anyone know a good online service that will work??

This is the cheapest one I've found so far.
http://www.fastgsm.com/en/samsung/samsung/galaxy-i5500/unlock-code/network-unlocker

The youtube video makes it look legit, similar to the attempts to find a safe free solution on the xda thread. I'd see what I could learn about the crowd offering the service before I'd risk it though.

Had a browse through the android development forum on xda & there's a very promising looking port of cyanogen mod 7.1 in active development

patrickpc

rustyregan wrote: »

Setting > About Phone > Android Version > 2.2

Can anyone else confirm the Android version on this - according to the guy in Three shop on Grafton Street it is 2.1 ?

Has anyone tried tethering this phone as a WIFI hotspot - just want to know if this feature is enabled or not?

Thanks.

TheDriver

its 2.1 on mine, bought last Nov.

PurplePrincess

patrickpc wrote: »

Can anyone else confirm the Android version on this - according to the guy in Three shop on Grafton Street it is 2.1 ?

Mines 2.2. bought it online on wednesday

54kroc

I'm 2.2 as well, bought on Thursday.

I'm after playing around with a few different roms and found the stock one to be the best for me, my only problem is I'm after deleting it, could anyone give me the stock rom for it?