Current best value Android Huawei Ascend G300

TM

Discodog wrote: »

The spot is condensation. It will clear if you leave the phone in a warm room. You will see it gradually reduce in size.

Thought that the conclusion/consensus on the MoDaCo thread was that it was NOT condensation and that using a "sucker" to pull the screen out slightly was the best solution? On the other hand it's a long thread and I have yet to work through it systematically!

Buck Fizz

Just came across this thread. Lots of reading, but I just want to know if it's worth buying this phone or am I better getting another smartphone?

Thanks

keredern

Buck Fizz wrote: »

Just came across this thread. Lots of reading, but I just want to know if it's worth buying this phone or am I better getting another smartphone?

Thanks

Definitely worth getting...especially for €110!!!

Unbeatable value!

loyatemu

Buck Fizz wrote: »

Just came across this thread. Lots of reading, but I just want to know if it's worth buying this phone or am I better getting another smartphone?

Thanks

the answer is in the title of the thread - its the best value Android around. The Galaxy S3 is better but its 4 times the price - ditto other high-end phones. But there's nothing else sub-€150 that comes close to the G300.

Buck Fizz

loyatemu wrote: »

the answer is in the title of the thread - its the best value Android around. The Galaxy S3 is better but its 4 times the price - ditto other high-end phones. But there's nothing else sub-€150 that comes close to the G300.

I accept that, but the title was written a good while ago, and I just wanted to see if people had changed their minds since that's all, cheers..

Discodog

TM wrote: »

Discodog wrote: »

The spot is condensation. It will clear if you leave the phone in a warm room. You will see it gradually reduce in size.

Thought that the conclusion/consensus on the MoDaCo thread was that it was NOT condensation and that using a "sucker" to pull the screen out slightly was the best solution? On the other hand it's a long thread and I have yet to work through it systematically!

Yep I read it & I disagree. It has only happened to me when the phone was in a damp pocket. But what really convinced me is the way that the spot slowly shrunk in size. Also I know that my phone wasn't subjected to pressure as it's in a hard case.

BostonB

Discodog wrote: »

The spot is condensation. It will clear if you leave the phone in a warm room. You will see it gradually reduce in size.

Why would condensation be a problem with this model of phone only? I've never seen that on anyother phone. Never mind a forum with loads of people with the same problem and only on that model phone? A manufacturing flaw seems more likely.

Chuck Stone

The condensation spot happened to me too. I was camping in a boggy campsite field and got hammered so I put it down to that.

enviro

Bit of an update regarding the "spot". It totally disappeared on its own! I had all the accessories packed in the box, ready to go back to the shop with it and then realised that the phone was perfect again.

Defo not moisture of any kind in my case as the phone was never in contact with any, it is possible that it was put under pressure in my pocket. My guess is that it was the outer part of the screen pushed back against the next layer. I did open the case and remove the battery in an attempt to relieve some pressure from behind the spot and left it like that for a couple of hours. Seemed to do the trick and I'm happy out.

I'd say the phone wouldn't take much abuse as it appears to have a weak enough frame/casing compared to the S3 and iphone. You can hear slight creaks from it if you increase your grip around the edges of the phone. Regarding performance and overall experience, I would highly recommended the phone, for the price it is a bit of a bargain to be honest. While it may not be match the higher end of the market it certainly comes close enough considering the price.

Borboletinha

Hi there just wondering if someone can help. After updating my phone to ics I cannot download any apps I have my old ones cause they were backed up but the play store says processing error whenever I try to download new apps. Anyone has any idea why that might be happening?

Adyx

Borboletinha wrote: »

Hi there just wondering if someone can help. After updating my phone to ics I cannot download any apps I have my old ones cause they were backed up but the play store says processing error whenever I try to download new apps. Anyone has any idea why that might be happening?

Can you access the store on your computer? A processing error sounds more like a problem with your account.

TM

keredern wrote: »

Definitely worth getting...especially for €110!!!

Unbeatable value!

For what it's worth as I mentioned before...

Vodafone online price €129.99
Get a SIM from another provider and port the number to get €20 off
Buy through www.bethrifty.ie and you should eventually get €12.50 cashback
Net price €97.49

If you are not staying with Vodafone then it will cost you about €6 to get an unlock code, e.g. via eBay (I used this guy to get a Vodafone Smart 858/Huawei U8160 unlock code recently and had no problems and have seen him recommended elsewhere too: http://myworld.ebay.ie/korter_gsm/)

Just got mine today and looking forward to playing with it if/when I can find the time!

One possibly dumb question - is the general consensus that the best ICS ROM is the Infusion custom ROM?

http://www.modaco.com/topic/355994-rom-ics-infusion-updated-25092012-b06/

whowantstwoknow

My Partner has a SG1 and have just finished a contract. Would the G300 be much of a step up (or not)? Dont really want to spend 200-300 on a new phone as we are trying to save money!!

Thanks
W.

Zardoz

whowantstwoknow wrote: »

My Partner has a SG1 and have just finished a contract. Would the G300 be much of a step up (or not)? Dont really want to spend 200-300 on a new phone as we are trying to save money!!

Thanks
W.

The SG1 is slightly better ,I have both.
Better screen on the SG1,it has a front camera too,more storage space and better battery too.
Huawei has a flash ,apart from that the specs are very similar.
Main advantage of the Huawei is that it has ICS stock images but you can get custom ICS roms for the Galaxy S1.

Khannie

TM wrote: »

One possibly dumb question - is the general consensus that the best ICS ROM is the Infusion custom ROM?

http://www.modaco.com/topic/355994-rom-ics-infusion-updated-25092012-b06/

+1 on this question. We got a second one and I'm trying to determine what's the (approximately) best rom.

TM

For what it's worth I took mine out of the box, didn't put a SIM or SDcard into it, connected it to wifi and applied the few (three?) updates that were available one after another to get it up to the Vodafone branded version of ICS. Seems to run fine although I haven't done that much with it! However I'll probably still go for a custom ROM and at the moment it looks to me like Infusion may be the best bet but opinions welcome...

Probably posted before but the guides here are very clear:

http://www.modaco.com/topic/357243-explained-like-youre-5-install-custom-roms-from-scratch-install-the-official-ics-update-root-more/

Adyx

TM wrote: »

For what it's worth as I mentioned before...

Vodafone online price €129.99
Get a SIM from another provider and port the number to get €20 off
Buy through www.bethrifty.ie and you should eventually get €12.50 cashback
Net price €97.49

If you are not staying with Vodafone then it will cost you about €6 to get an unlock code, e.g. via eBay (I used this guy to get a Vodafone Smart 858/Huawei U8160 unlock code recently and had no problems and have seen him recommended elsewhere too: http://myworld.ebay.ie/korter_gsm/)

Just got mine today and looking forward to playing with it if/when I can find the time!

One possibly dumb question - is the general consensus that the best ICS ROM is the Infusion custom ROM?

http://www.modaco.com/topic/355994-rom-ics-infusion-updated-25092012-b06/

Khannie wrote: »

+1 on this question. We got a second one and I'm trying to determine what's the (approximately) best rom.

I don't know about general consensus, but Infusion is currently the best in my opinion. Great battery life and performance even when not overclocked. The dev is very active at updating too, although this has it's downsides too as his OTA updater can't do wipes so a CWM flash is required for big updates.

I haven't bothered with any other custom ICS roms but Infusion is definitely better than stock ICS. The only rom I'd switch it for is CM10 and that could be a while off.

Khannie

Nice one. That's exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks.

TM

Adyx wrote: »

I don't know about general consensus, but Infusion is currently the best in my opinion. Great battery life and performance even when not overclocked. The dev is very active at updating too, although this has it's downsides too as his OTA updater can't do wipes so a CWM flash is required for big updates.

I haven't bothered with any other custom ICS roms but Infusion is definitely better than stock ICS. The only rom I'd switch it for is CM10 and that could be a while off.

Thanks also for that.

Just on the "wipe" issue I presume you mean that each time the ROM is updated it's best to do a full erase and install it from scratch to avoid accumulated data/cache etc. causing problems? In that case (and apologies if this is a dumb question or one already covered!) what is the best way to backup apps and all user data so that it can be restored after the update? Again there seem to be so many options out there it's difficult to know what might be the simplest/most reliable...?

Adyx

TM wrote: »

Thanks also for that.

Just on the "wipe" issue I presume you mean that each time the ROM is updated it's best to do a full erase and install it from scratch to avoid accumulated data/cache etc. causing problems? In that case (and apologies if this is a dumb question or one already covered!) what is the best way to backup apps and all user data so that it can be restored after the update? Again there seem to be so many options out there it's difficult to know what might be the simplest/most reliable...?

Yes, that's exactly what a wipe is for. As for backing up, some people seem to be having problems with Titanium on Infusion which is usually recommended for backing up apps. I use Rom Toolbox Pro. There's a free version but I think the paid for version has better features. Don't backup system apps as it could cause problems and there's no need. It'll backup app data too but not text messages or emails etc. I don't really bother backing up any data. All my contacts are backed up on gmail and everything else like music, video is on my SD card and so is safe.

Huawei have a Windows program called Hisuite that will backup everything including text messages to your PC. I don't know how well it works with custom roms though.

just to add, you should always do a Nandroid backup of your rom in CWM before doing the wipes too. I've never had any problems installing Infusion but better to be safe than sorry.

Zardoz

Anyone else find that mobile data enabled keeps getting disabled on their G300 ?
I'm running stock B886 and this happens alot,its very annoying.

mcpaddington

Zardoz wrote: »

Anyone else find that mobile data enabled keeps getting disabled on their G300 ?
I'm running stock B886 and this happens alot,its very annoying.

Update via OTA to the latest version, which is B892 I think.

Red Silurian

Does anybody find that sometimes when you go to write a text/viber/search the words don't appear?

Khannie

Update from earlier: Installed Infusion at lunch. Very nice ROM. Found it a bit weird that there isn't a "settings" shortcut under apps though (it's an icon in the pull down menu if you're looking for it).

newg300

Hi guys, just signed up here to use this thread really. Finally got round t buying this phone recently and was wondering what I should be doing to get the best out of it?

I have been using it a few days but haven't done any of the firmware updates or upgrading Android. Currently running B886 and Android 2.3.6

So the question really is, what do I do next?

Zardoz

mcpaddington wrote: »

Update via OTA to the latest version, which is B892 I think.

My phone is on the O2 network not Vodafone .I do not think I can update OTA.

zil

Seems vodafone have upped the price to €149

TM

zil wrote: »

Seems vodafone have upped the price to €149

Bummer! It was €149.99 a while back, then reduced to €129.99, then went back up to €149.99 and was back at €129.99 for about a week (?) last week when I got mine...

Adyx - thanks for the info about wipe and backup above.

newg300 - I reckon that you should at least accept the three (?) updates that will appear in sequence when you go to Settings > About Phone > Update (or something like that) to bring it up to the stock Vodafone branded ICS/Android 4. Then you can decide whether or not to go for a custom ROM like Infusion. I think that you probably need to bring it up to the stock ICS anyway to get the right baseband for updating to the custom ROM (but read the guide that I linked to earlier to be sure).

TM

Zardoz wrote: »

My phone is on the O2 network not Vodafone .I do not think I can update OTA.

I updated mine over wifi with no SIM installed and it worked fine.

Khannie

newg300 wrote: »

So the question really is, what do I do next?

Read this. Choose the custom rom route. Infusion rom is the I went with and it is very tasty. Well worth the effort. The stock rom is filthy. Horrible waste of good hardware to run it IMO.

(at your own risk etc.)