Who's sticking with Orange firmware - the 'we want to keep our warranty, but we really want ICS now' support group

[Guest Gibson.1]

Is anyone still waiting for the Orange update? Is there even any information on the Orange update?

[Guest]

All orange are saying is ICS is in testing, translating that into our language,they are bloating the hell out of it, could be a while before we see orange ICS.

[Guest Gibson.1]

Ahh I'm totally stuck, so tempted just to put the Xolo update on and Root.

[Guest BlueMoonRising]

Ahh I'm totally stuck, so tempted just to put the Xolo update on and Root.

Don't know about root yet, lol. I'll let the smart people figure out all the wrinkles first and post a "Rooting for Idiots" guide up but ICS is definitely worth it for me at least.

[Guest Gibson.1]

Don't know about root yet, lol. I'll let the smart people figure out all the wrinkles first and post a "Rooting for Idiots" guide up but ICS is definitely worth it for me at least.

I just wish Orange would for once be honest, if it were a weeks wait I could handle that, but I'm not going to wait month after month for something I can have in ten minutes.

When you updated did you do it via the SD card update rather than flash xolo gb then ota? If so do you lose any information or are all the previous apps/files etc. still there?

Edited October 8, 2012 by Gibson.1

[Guest Roids]

Somebody in these pages recently mentioned this coming Friday for Orange ICS (with SD card support).

Provide your own Pinch of Salt, etc.

[Guest BlueMoonRising]

I just wish Orange would for once be honest, if it were a weeks wait I could handle that, but I'm not going to wait month after month for something I can have in ten minutes.

When you updated did you do it via the SD card update rather than flash xolo gb then ota? If so do you lose any information or are all the previous apps/files etc. still there?

I just dropped the update.zip (299MB size) in the root of the USB storage and then went to "system settings/about phone/System Updates/Update from USB storage", then just let it do its thing. It's always a good idea to back up anything you don't want to lose but I had no problems. It booted back to the same desktop (Holo launcher in my case, now history and replaced by Apex Launcher).

[Guest Konstipated Kiwi]

I shall update when I am happy that the hardware on my phone is 100% working. As mentioned on another thread, the auto-brightness on my phone doesn't work, and I keep getting the screen discolouration due to heat that others have mentioned. Taking my phone to an Orange shop today. I'll definiely do the Xolo thing and update to ICS when I am convinced I'll not be likely to need to return my handset.

[Guest Gibson.1]

I just dropped the update.zip (299MB size) in the root of the USB storage and then went to "system settings/about phone/System Updates/Update from USB storage", then just let it do its thing. It's always a good idea to back up anything you don't want to lose but I had no problems. It booted back to the same desktop (Holo launcher in my case, now history and replaced by Apex Launcher).

Thanks, it makes me less worried about losing everything and having to re-install one-by-one.

[Guest]

Auto brightness I think is not right for me either, I mentioned this in reply to your post on auto brightness. At first I replied that mine worked fine as I thought it did, but on closer inspection it apeared to stay constant brightness, could be a batch problem or a general hardware fault with all.

Not that it worries me as I find auto brightness drains battery more than a set level, in general 40% works fine for me apart from bright outside daylight at which point I just pull notifications down and tap brightness till it hits full.

Edited October 8, 2012 by Guest

[Guest Gibson.1]

I think I'll try to hastle orange later for a while, if nothing productive comes of it I'll probably buckle and update to ICS. Been fighting the urge over the weekend but its getting far too hard to refuse.

[Guest BlueMoonRising]

I shall update when I am happy that the hardware on my phone is 100% working. As mentioned on another thread, the auto-brightness on my phone doesn't work, and I keep getting the screen discolouration due to heat that others have mentioned. Taking my phone to an Orange shop today. I'll definiely do the Xolo thing and update to ICS when I am convinced I'll not be likely to need to return my handset.

I've just had a replacement handset. I did try the auto brightness on the original and it didn't seem to be working, I never actually tried it on the new one until I'd installed ICS. So I don't know if it's down to GB or ICS or a hardware problem.

I replaced mine because it was running far to hot for my liking. This one is MUCH better although ICS does no harm. I was going to down-clock it slightly but the only options are to set a minimum clock(which seems strange) and to change the governor. I'm trying Powersave at the moment.

[Guest BlueMoonRising]

I think I'll try to hastle orange later for a while, if nothing productive comes of it I'll probably buckle and update to ICS. Been fighting the urge over the weekend but its getting far too hard to refuse.

The last message I got of them was :-

We’ve been advised that the ICS update for the Orange San Diego is currently in testing and is expected to be available within the next few weeks. I’m afraid we do not yet have any information on any further updates for this device.

I hope this helps!

Darren

Orange Helpers

This was on 03-10-12.

[Guest Gibson.1]

The last message I got of them was :-

We’ve been advised that the ICS update for the Orange San Diego is currently in testing and is expected to be available within the next few weeks. I’m afraid we do not yet have any information on any further updates for this device.

I hope this helps!

Darren

Orange Helpers

This was on 03-10-12.

Yeah, with that I'm just going to dive in to ICS, before I do though, you don't lose any apps from the ROM do you? Like flash player, doubletwist etc.

[Guest]

Flashplayer is there as is double twist.

[Guest Gibson.1]

Flashplayer is there as is double twist.

Great, the good is outweighing the bad here, I'll update shortly.

[Guest BlueMoonRising]

You also get Swiftkey 3 keyboard as well as the standard Android one and Swype. There's also Kepplr, Flash Player, Movie Studio(not tried it yet, so no info) and Translate(from Google). Sadly you lose all the Orange bloatware such as Navigon :(

[Guest rickywyatt]

lol if you what the orange blot download orange gb dump that Paul uploaded open with winrar and look for the blot copy to internal sdcard and install it ;)

here's the link

[Guest Konstipated Kiwi]

Auto brightness I think is not right for me either, I mentioned this in reply to your post on auto brightness. At first I replied that mine worked fine as I thought it did, but on closer inspection it apeared to stay constant brightness, could be a batch problem or a general hardware fault with all.

Not that it worries me as I find auto brightness drains battery more than a set level, in general 40% works fine for me apart from bright outside daylight at which point I just pull notifications down and tap brightness till it hits full.

Thank you jikobutsu; I appreciate the follow up. In the end I decided against returning it to Orange. I phoned their CS who advised performing a factory reset. I did this and it is hard to say whether it made a difference or not. I experimented for a while and could see that the autobrightness setting worked to an extent. Very occasionally I could see the screen dimming or brightening incrementally in the way I would expect. Other times I have noticed that if I unlock the screen in a dark room the screen is fairly dark and if I then unlock the screen in a brighter room the screen is brighter. It just doesn't usually react dynamically in the way I am accustomed to with the Blade and the G300.

I am in agreement with you that it is no biggie. The toggles provide ready access to full brightness, lowest brightness and somewhere inbetween, which suits me just fine. Delighted to have ICS installed now; it has made such a massive difference to the use of the phone.

[Guest geoff1951]

Okay, this is where there's a lot of cross-threading, so to speak. I've been following the suberb development by ricky and others, and see that he's now even put up a video how-to for those of a nervous disposition. What a man, tremendous work.

I went straight from orange GB to Xolo ICS, and after a few failed trials using ricky's A-in-1 tool (but I might have another go soon), I decided to stick with the Xolo ICS, with a few favoured apps like ICS browser+, Smart keyboard, ADW launcher (though I have stuck with the stock launcher), and the cyanogen clocks and also Dazzle for easy brightness and volume/vibrate control. It's running just fine. (But I'd like a bigger screen...)

Now, today (8/11) I get a message from orange telling me there's a software update, ("enhancements include Google's new ICS platform"). Apart from the laughable use of the word "new", I presume this is the long-promised stock Orange ICS.

So, my question is, to those who've been playing with the phone's rom over the past month, and given that there'll be bloat, and also acknowledging the weak argument over warranty, which is best? Xolo or Orange?

[Guest]

Xolo by a long shot, it is more stock ics unlike orange which is highly bloated software and visual wise.

As pointed out by flibblesan, both are the same and only 30min between each other in build.

Having used both several times, I have settled on xolo which may also get a jellybean update.

[Guest Simon O]

I say Xolo as well since it's much less bloated and isn't themed like the Orange ICS is. Also since we have a full ICS update zip from Xolo it's extremely easy to restore to stock conditions in the event an update comes out to something like 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. Currently the Orange updates are delta-updates so they requires the current running ROM to be completely untouched which means if somebody has made modifications they will have to go all the way back to Gingerbread then update from that.

And there is every chance that Xolo will just do another full update to Jelly Bean if and when they release it, and available from the website.

[Guest geoff1951]

My own thoughts confirmed. Thank you both!

[Guest BlueMoonRising]

I installed Xolo over GB and then wentback to Orange. I've now reverted back to Xolo again. If nothing else the swipe lock screen is an improvement over double tapping.

[Guest Simon O]

I also like that it's much much easier to revert the Xolo to a pure stock ROM. I removed all the custom stuff (SocialGallery eww) and replaced with stock files & replaced some system apps so they would update properly (such as Google Calendar) and replaced the horrible music app with the nice Google Music one. I might even share this system when I get my phone back and finish it all off as it would be useful for other people.. I just need to figure out the best way of doing so.