T Mobile G2... compared to normal Hero...

[Guest f1d]

Hi all,

Well I have decided to go for a HTC Hero as my new phone (moving from iPhone 3GS... I'm sick of iPhone now) and I really wanted an android based phone. I also wanted HTC, as it's a brand I've had before and trusted.

So, was the hero a good decision?

Now, my dilemma is, according to the 'Orange' store... if I buy my phone from T-mobile (who have branded it G2)... that would be their branded phone and so any updates from HTC I wouldn't be able to apply to my phone (directly from htc.com for example). He said that if I got the phone from Orange, I could just go to HTC and download the update as soon as I got home, and apply it.

Is this true? Certainly there doesn't appear to be any branding on the Orange HTC Hero phone... and it's called HTC Hero... so would this be a problem?

I wouldn't normally bother... but the plan I've picked is either 35 on Orange (ultd texts, internet, 1200 mins) or 30 on T Mobile (ultd texts, internet, 800 mins) but I wouldn't mind paying the extra fiver if I've got a proper HTC Hero phone (rather than having to wait for tmobile to release updates, as I've been reading about).

Any ideas?

Cheers guys! ;)

P.S. Any better android phone I should have instead?

[Guest foxmeister]

An "official" Orange Hero is just as CID locked as a T-Mobile G2. You can't apply generic HTCs updates on either without a little additional work. Mind you, it isn't a particular problem to debrand and effectively make either a generic Hero.

Regards,

Dave

[Guest kendon]

aside from the lettering above the display the devices are identical. you can not download updates from htc website, because your serial number is marked when they sell the phone to t-mobile. but basically you can install all updates that are available, AFAIK you can just install them on your phone (change last digits of serial to download from htc website), though i am not 100% sure. but you can at least install everything from here through amon_ra's custom recovery image, so you have the full choice of roms.

[Guest Fok@]

Hi all,

Well I have decided to go for a HTC Hero as my new phone (moving from iPhone 3GS... I'm sick of iPhone now) and I really wanted an android based phone. I also wanted HTC, as it's a brand I've had before and trusted.

So, was the hero a good decision?

Now, my dilemma is, according to the 'Orange' store... if I buy my phone from T-mobile (who have branded it G2)... that would be their branded phone and so any updates from HTC I wouldn't be able to apply to my phone (directly from htc.com for example). He said that if I got the phone from Orange, I could just go to HTC and download the update as soon as I got home, and apply it.

Is this true? Certainly there doesn't appear to be any branding on the Orange HTC Hero phone... and it's called HTC Hero... so would this be a problem?

I wouldn't normally bother... but the plan I've picked is either 35 on Orange (ultd texts, internet, 1200 mins) or 30 on T Mobile (ultd texts, internet, 800 mins) but I wouldn't mind paying the extra fiver if I've got a proper HTC Hero phone (rather than having to wait for tmobile to release updates, as I've been reading about).

Any ideas?

Cheers guys! ;)

P.S. Any better android phone I should have instead?

If you root G2 then you can apply any ROM for HERO you want without fail. T-mobile has better internet plan than orange (3gb t-m, 500mb orange) Also most of the time have HSDPA connection (Birmingham area)

[Guest pulser]

I suppose it's obvious to most people here, but if you get the T-Mobile G2, it is much easier to root and install the generic HTC software (or Paul's custom software).

I got the G2, and had it rooted and running the plain HTC software within an hour of opening the box (since the G2 ships with an unlocked bootloader, allowing fastboot). That's what happened for me, no guarantees. but I got it only at the end of November.

Other than that, the devices are pretty much identical, although I personally prefer the stock HTC look over the default T-Mobile look.

It's up to you if you root and install custom, but I reckon it's worth it.

[Guest squirreleater]

Hi all,

Well I have decided to go for a HTC Hero as my new phone (moving from iPhone 3GS... I'm sick of iPhone now) and I really wanted an android based phone. I also wanted HTC, as it's a brand I've had before and trusted.

So, was the hero a good decision?

Now, my dilemma is, according to the 'Orange' store... if I buy my phone from T-mobile (who have branded it G2)... that would be their branded phone and so any updates from HTC I wouldn't be able to apply to my phone (directly from htc.com for example). He said that if I got the phone from Orange, I could just go to HTC and download the update as soon as I got home, and apply it.

Is this true? Certainly there doesn't appear to be any branding on the Orange HTC Hero phone... and it's called HTC Hero... so would this be a problem?

I wouldn't normally bother... but the plan I've picked is either 35 on Orange (ultd texts, internet, 1200 mins) or 30 on T Mobile (ultd texts, internet, 800 mins) but I wouldn't mind paying the extra fiver if I've got a proper HTC Hero phone (rather than having to wait for tmobile to release updates, as I've been reading about).

Any ideas?

Cheers guys! ;)

P.S. Any better android phone I should have instead?

Tmob or orange, you'll still have to wait for the carrier to release a rom update if you want to stay 'official'.

I came from the orange contract ( HTC touch HD) to the Tmob contract you mention ,coverage is similar (dorset) but Tmobs data is much better than oranges if you want to abuse it.

Neither phone is a vanilla HTC but it is half an hour and a bit of reading to install Pauls MCR rom that is much nicer than the standard one.Once you have MCR the only Tmob reference on the phone is the boot screen- and you could get rid of that if you wanted I'm sure.

The G2 is black, thats the biggest difference!

Oh, the Acer liquid is supposed to be a nice Android phone, as is the Moto Milestone(Droid) but neither are on contract I believe. If you can, wait a little, there are some cracking phones out in the new year, but for now the Hero is as good as any Android phone on contract IMO.

Edited December 18, 2009 by squirreleater

[Guest pillock]

Orange are telling you fibs - their 'Hero' is just as departed from the HTC Hero as the T-Mobile G2 is.

Both T-Mo and Orange release their own firmwares, which means waiting till HTC release to manufacturers and then spending a bit of time putting all their changes in. I'm sure I'm right in saying for the last big update around October, T-Mobile was around 3 weeks behind HTC, and Orange another week behind them, they were actually slower!

I'd personally go with T-Mobile. You get 6x the amount of data on the 'unlimited' plan (3GB over 500MB), and if you exceed that they normally don't bat an eyelid. I've had 5GB in a month before with no trouble. Also, Orange do random data packet analysis (so I'm led to believe; I was chatting to the guy who wrote the software to do it) and they can suspend your data if they suspect you're tethering (eg HTTP headers showing that you're using a desktop browser). T-Mobile at the minute do not have such software.

I've also found T-Mo's customer services to be much better, and their prices to be a tad cheaper if you haggle a bit. I was offered a Hero on Orange for £30 a month with 500MB data, T-Mobile knocked that down to £20 a month and then another fiver for the data bundle so over 18 months, that's £90 saving. Free phones on both.

[Guest pulser]

For what it's worth with T-Mobile and tethering, see this forum post, where a T-Mobile representative confirms that

If you have a contract phone you can use your phone as a modem without being charged any extra...

Note that you should read the page, as there are a couple of conditions eg. you must be on a 3GB FUP or above etc.

Hope this helps

Edited for capitalisation

Edited December 19, 2009 by pulser

[Guest f1d]

Thanks guys for all your advice - it has been really helpful.

Do you think it is possible to install a custom rom on a phone I get today (e.g. they haven't patched the way to do it up or anything)?

Might consider doing that.

Only problem now, is phones4u made me leave a deposit as they were having the phone sent in store, that's going to be embarrasing to say, actually, I no longer want it on Orange ;).

[Guest pulser]

Thanks guys for all your advice - it has been really helpful.

Do you think it is possible to install a custom rom on a phone I get today (e.g. they haven't patched the way to do it up or anything)?

Might consider doing that.

Only problem now, is phones4u made me leave a deposit as they were having the phone sent in store, that's going to be embarrasing to say, actually, I no longer want it on Orange ;) .

Well, the G2 I got less than a month ago was really wasy to install Modaco on, but there's no guarantees that yours would be the same, although I reckon it's really pretty likely it would be. Even if they did update it, you could follow the goldcard instructions on xda-developers forums and install what you wanted anyways.

I'm a touch lost with the Phones4U deposit you mention. Just because the G2 is normally got on the best deals direct from them by phoning up. Did you say to Phones4U that you were going to buy one on Orange or something, just that I've never given a deposit for a phone before.

[Guest f1d]

I'll give it all a good read later and then give it a go, fingers crossed!

Ignore the phones4u moan... they wanted me to leave a deposit as they realised half way through they didn't have any in stock... so they had the Hero sent in from a store in Northampton - requiring a deposit to make sure I came back :S lol.

Anyhoo, they gave me it back and I popped into the T Mobile store.

When I said to the guy in p4u, they said, "Oh 500mb is loads! Anyway, T Mobile have been bought/have bought Orange so it doesn't really matter."

Still, got it on T Mobile on their mega deal thing. ;)

I'll no doubt be back with more questions and I'm looking forward to loving my HTC phone... I did have an HTC one I believe agggges ago... the Orange SPV 600? (Obviously a rebranded HTC phone I think).

Thanks again!

[Guest f1d]

Hmmm, I seem to be having a problem sending texts or accessing the mobile internet, just using the default software/settings that came on the phone.

Looking at it... it says "Connection failed due to incorrect APN setting".

Any idea what the settings should be or how to fix them... I've changed absolutely *nothing* since turning the phone on?

[Guest pillock]

Go onto the T-Mo website, set up/log in to "My T-Mobile" and you can select which phone you have. Then there's a link that sends the network/voicemail/mms/email settings to your phone. Give that a go, or ring 150 and they can trigger the same message to be sent.

What firmware did your phone come with? If it's not the latest one, DON'T upgrade! The latest one patches a hole making it harder to root; it's still possible but needs faffing around with a goldcard. Previous firmware is easier to root, involving software only.

[Guest pulser]

What firmware did your phone come with? If it's not the latest one, DON'T upgrade! The latest one patches a hole making it harder to root; it's still possible but needs faffing around with a goldcard. Previous firmware is easier to root, involving software only.

I can only echo these sentiments URGENTLY! Apologies for the shouting, but I feel it is justified in this instance.

Do NOT upgrade your firmware to the latest version if the current version begins 1.73..., if you have any intention of installing a custom ROM at any point in the future.

If you upgrade using the 'unofficial' methods, it means that HTC cannot prevent you from installing future versions of the firmware, so long as you always install a rooted version from Modaco (useful sticky at this page). It is quite possible that a future HTC upgrade could make it much more difficult to root in future (as mentioned above, goldcard would probably still work, but it is a hassle to get going)

Just my 2 pence on this matter.

EDITED for spelling

Edited December 20, 2009 by pulser

[Guest f1d]

I can only echo these sentiments URGENTLY! Apologies for the shouting, but I feel it is justified in this instance.

Do NOT upgrade your firmware to the latest version if the current version begins 1.73..., if you have any intention of installing a custom ROM at any point in the future.

If you upgrade using the 'unofficial' methods, it means that HTC cannot prevent you from installing future versions of the firmware, so long as you always install a rooted version from Modaco (useful sticky at this page). It is quite possible that a future HTC upgrade could make it much more difficult to root in future (as mentioned above, goldcard would probably still work, but it is a hassle to get going)

Just my 2 pence on this matter.

EDITED for spelling

Right, the connection problem seemed to solve itself thankfully.

Now as for firmware... I haven't upgraded anything myself - only used HTC Sync and I haven't downloaded firmware upgrades from T-Mob etc.

My phone details are as follows:

Firmware version: 1.5

Kernel version: 2.6.27-0027c992

Build number: 2.73.11.26 ...

Software version: 1.0.0.A6288

Should this then be a problem rooting my phone and installing a custom rom, such as the MoDaCo one?

Cheers guys again for your help, it's really appreciated!

[Guest clarkEEE1]

You need the goldcard method to root your phone abit harder to root but there is a step by step guide on xda developers.

[Guest pulser]

Right, the connection problem seemed to solve itself thankfully.

Now as for firmware... I haven't upgraded anything myself - only used HTC Sync and I haven't downloaded firmware upgrades from T-Mob etc.

My phone details are as follows:

Firmware version: 1.5

Kernel version: 2.6.27-0027c992

Build number: 2.73.11.26 ...

Software version: 1.0.0.A6288

Should this then be a problem rooting my phone and installing a custom rom, such as the MoDaCo one?

Cheers guys again for your help, it's really appreciated!

Unlucky. Sounds like yours is updated out the box (unlike the ones shipping late November).

If you look up 'goldcard' on the forums here and on xda-developers, you should find plenty of info on making the 'goldcard' using the stock 2GB microSD card that came in the box. Any problems, I'm sure someone will be able to give you a hand either here or on xda-de

This is the link to the forum entry that details how to use a goldcard. Note that there is no need to use QMat to reverse the string if you don't want to (you can simply do it by hand if you are confident you won't mix the numbers up (worst case scenario is that you need to re-do it), or just use the tool). Then type in the details to the site given and follow the instructions about the img file you get via email.

Edited December 21, 2009 by pulser

[Guest pillock]

Yeah, you can reverse the hex string by hand... just don't do it like I did it!

Say my string was 0123456789ABCDEF.... I was 'reversing' it to FEDCBA9876543210. WRONG! :)

It's in pairs, so the correctly reversed version of that would be EFCDAB8967452301. It helps if you imagine it as pairs, so 01 23 45 67 89 AB CD EF , reverse the groups not the digits.

Anyway, you'll need to read the Goldcard guides but I found that bit of information quite lacking, I spent 4 hours incorrectly reversing it by hand and ended up using QMAT anyway (although it was a pain to get, the download link was broken)