Removing Orange Apps without rooting?

[Guest Pierreism]

Hi there, I'm new here!

My dad just recently got a SF and I was wondering if there was any way to remove the stock/locked apps from Orange and ZTE WITHOUT rooting or flashing the phone? or is that just impossible?

Reason is I'm not that comfortable rooting a phone that isn't mine, I might break it and make him very unhappy!

Thanks all!

[Guest Sandy mk1]

Hi there, I'm new here!

My dad just recently got a SF and I was wondering if there was any way to remove the stock/locked apps from Orange and ZTE WITHOUT rooting or flashing the phone? or is that just impossible?

Reason is I'm not that comfortable rooting a phone that isn't mine, I might break it and make him very unhappy!

Thanks all!

Well there is a risk involved I guess, if you want to take it then you can root it, but if you don't want to root it then your stuck with stock-ish.

You can change the interface to the bog standard android there is an app built in... but you'll still have all the Orange app mince, you can delete most of that with SystemApp Remover (which you can download from the Market). SystemApp Remover costs a $1 but if you use it once and delete it right after you'll get your pennies back.

But to be honest if you take your time and follow the walk through guide on this site you won't go far wrong.

I'd avoid Froyo right now though, I was having too much bother with the screen stopping responding after a period of inactivity which resulted in a battery pull to restart. Your dad won't like that, as a modder you won't mind this mild inconvenience.

[Guest Pierreism]

Thanks so much for the reply.

Yes, I've heard some disconcerting horror stories about 2.2 on San Francisco on here so I'm not keen on going that far yet! I'm actually quite happy with the performance with 2.1 and as long as I don't know what I'm missing I won't feel the need to upgrade :P

Cheers for the app recommendation, I'll give it a try! (and if it works I'll be sure to let them keep the money haha) Do you know which apps for sure it'll delete and which ones it won't?

[Guest netdudeuk]

Cheers for the app recommendation, I'll give it a try! (and if it works I'll be sure to let them keep the money haha) Do you know which apps for sure it'll delete and which ones it won't?

Good man. For a miserable dollar you can let the developer have something for all the work he did to make life that bit easier for you ;)

[Guest oh!dougal]

... Yes, I've heard some disconcerting horror stories about 2.2 on San Francisco on here ...

Its important to read fully.

2.2 is still in the prototype stage.

Anyone trying a prototype for the fun of it really shouldn't complain about things not working properly -- if everything worked perfectly, it wouldn't be a prototype! ('Alpha' = early prototype, 'Beta' = its getting better, but not quite there yet)

Now, the single point of "rooting" the phone is to be able to do things that mere 'users' are not supposed to be allowed to do - like deleting pre-installed stuff - because there's the risk that they might delete something important.

There's little or no risk in "rooting" -- the danger is what you might do when the 'engine-room' is unlocked!

To ensure the ability to 'undo' any modifications, the thing to do is to load a 'recovery' program/system

You don't have to 'root' it to install a user-usable recovery ("ClockworkMod" - see the pinned topic near the top of the page) if you have a recent computer. (To install it without a {recent} computer, you do need superuser ("root") permissions.)

But having a usable recovery should give you the confidence to (using root) do some tinkering.

First thing to do with Clockwork is to take a backup of the state of your phone as it is before you start mucking about.

Then you can go back to that, if you ever want (or need) to.

Its a safe habit to do that ("take a nandroid backup") each time, before you tinker!

See also StevenHarperUK's beginner's guide ... http://android.modaco.com/content/zte-blad...and-other-roms/

Check that and the ClockworkMod thread thoroughly, and when you install it, you'll wonder what all the fuss was about.

Clockwork is your parachute! Install it before changing anything!

[Guest diggerbycroft18]

you can hide all the orange crap using pro launcher if you just want to not see it all.

[Guest netdudeuk]

you can hide all the orange crap using pro launcher if you just want to not see it all.

Yes, that's all I do. Of course, it doesn't stop the unwanted software from loading up in the background.

[Guest Pierreism]

Its important to read fully.

2.2 is still in the prototype stage.

Anyone trying a prototype for the fun of it really shouldn't complain about things not working properly -- if everything worked perfectly, it wouldn't be a prototype! ('Alpha' = early prototype, 'Beta' = its getting better, but not quite there yet)

Now, the single point of "rooting" the phone is to be able to do things that mere 'users' are not supposed to be allowed to do - like deleting pre-installed stuff - because there's the risk that they might delete something important.

There's little or no risk in "rooting" -- the danger is what you might do when the 'engine-room' is unlocked!

oh no I'm fully aware of the state of the ROMs on here! Not complaining or anything. I was just looking into an alternate route to get rid of these locked apps if possible. Thanks for the links & support though, it looks like I'll be rooting after all since it turns out SystemApp Remover actually does require you to root the phone and it seems like there's no other way to remove these darned apps!

Edited December 2, 2010 by Pierreism

[Guest Pierreism]

Ok I've flashed my phone with MoDaCo's 21/Oct r4 2.1 ROM, but it still has some apps that I don't want on the phone, such as Docs To Go, Adobe Reader and Google Talk, and it doesn't look like they're uninstallable.

Is there a way to delete them? or do I have to find them in the ROM zip and re-flash the phone?

Also, is there a way to have the Orange Spash screen instead of MaDoCo's one?

Thanks all!

Edited December 6, 2010 by Pierreism

[Guest lixcab]

Ok I've flashed my phone with MoDaCo's 21/Oct r4 2.1 ROM, but it still has some apps that I don't want on the phone, such as Docs To Go, Adobe Reader and Google Talk, and it doesn't look like they're uninstallable.

Is there a way to delete them? or do I have to find them in the ROM zip and re-flash the phone?

Also, is there a way to have the Orange Spash screen instead of MaDoCo's one?

Thanks all!

The MoDaCo splash screen can be removed or changed by deleting the bootanimation.zip in the /system/media/ folder. If you want the default Android splash screen, just delete the current bootanimation.zip. If you would like to load the orange splash screen, you can copy the bootanimation.zip from the stock Orange ROM and put it in the same folder. (Mind you I've only tried removing the default bootanimation.zip to get the Android splash and never tried loading a different bootanimation.zip)

To get access to the folder you can either get Root Explorer from the Market $3.95 which is an application that works much like the Windows explorer (or the ZTE Filer.) Alternatively, you could get Android Terminal Emulator, free (which is like MSDOS / unix or linux terminal) and you can send commands to delete the bootanimation.zip. You will have to start by entering "su" in terminal emulator to enter "root" mode which is very much like "god" mode wherein you could delete or modify any file in the android os.

It's interesting isn't it? I started out exactly in the same boat 3 weeks ago when I first bought the SF. I didn't really want to root initially and I just wanted to remove the orange stuff but now I must've flashed my phone 20 times with the different variations of Froyo.

Edited December 6, 2010 by lixcab

[Guest Pierreism]

haha very much so. I'm actually toying with my dad's San Fran, but I've decided to actually go out and get one for myself because they're so damn cheap and I'm sure he just wants his phone back at this point! Plus the Orange store where I am still have OLED ones in stock so thats a bonus.

Just to be double sure, the command would be:

sudo rm /system/media/bootanimation.zip ?

Thanks so much for the advice. Off to experiment more! (and maybe try out the Custom 2.2? Not sure if that's a good idea yet.)

[Guest lixcab]

haha very much so. I'm actually toying with my dad's San Fran, but I've decided to actually go out and get one for myself because they're so damn cheap and I'm sure he just wants his phone back at this point! Plus the Orange store where I am still have OLED ones in stock so thats a bonus.

Just to be double sure, the command would be:

sudo rm /system/media/bootanimation.zip ?

Thanks so much for the advice. Off to experiment more! (and maybe try out the Custom 2.2? Not sure if that's a good idea yet.)

su

rm /system/media/bootanimation.zip

reboot

I don't think "sudo" command works in this emulator.

[Guest Pierreism]

hmm, I'm getting a Permission Denied message. I have Super User, but the Terminal App doesn't ask for any SU permissions. Any ideas?

EDIT: I tried Root Explorer to find bootanimation but couldn't find anything except an 'audio' folder in /system/media. I found a bootanimation file in /system/bin/ but it's not the zip? I deleted it anyway and it got rid of the logo but instead on boot it goes blank for awhile after the Android logo.

Edited December 6, 2010 by Pierreism