Wife looking to get San Francisco

[Guest Mark-J]

Hi everyone,

Apologies if this post is in the wrong area, but my wife is looking at possibly getting one of these phones as her Samsung Tocco lite is playing up.

Ive read a few reviews and on the whole it seems to be good, but seem to have a few iffy points (ie orange bloatware) etc, and reading some of the threads on here has helped to see that the bloatware can be removed etc.

What I was mainly looking for is, how easy is it to flash firmwares etc, as read that you can upgrade to 2.2 and that brings the phone to life etc, but obviously dont want to naff up the phone on day one if she gets one (Im pretty handy with most techy stuff so not a complete numpty when it comes to modding stuff etc)

Wife just said shes seen a link for android 2.2 FROYO on this forum (lol, shes found your forum too and the thread about Froyo)

So any tips on whats best to do if she does get the phone would be greatfully appreciated.

Mark. (& Suz whos scanning the forum on her iPod lol)

[Guest rayraven]

Its easy to get rid of the Orange bloatware, and you dont even have to flash any roms.

Get Universal androot from here: http://blog.23corner.com/tag/universalandroot/

Copy it on the phone and root the device. Then, install the app Titanium backup from the market and uninstall the orange apps you dont need.

This is detailed on the wiki:http://wiki.modaco.com/index.php/ZTE_Blade#Removing_the_stock_Orange_Apps

As for custom froyo/eclair roms, read this thread, it's very detailed:

http://android.modaco.com/content/zte-blad...and-other-roms/

NOTE: The recent models come with a TFT screen instead of an OLED screen, like the original model did.

Most SF's you can buy now are TFT, but there are some OLED ones still around.

Hence, not all roms/recovery tools are compatible, make sure that the rom is compatible with your display type before you flash anything.

To find out what screen your has, you can use this code: *983*24474636#

If it says Samsung, it's and OLED, TFT otherwise.

Edited January 1, 2011 by rayraven

[Guest Phoenix Silver]

say to your wife to buy one

very easy to mod the phone

impossible to brick it

i flashed it 2 days after the buy

no problem at all

worked the first time

i often here for help and beginnings

enjoy the sf wonderful phone

Edited January 1, 2011 by Phoenix Silver

[Guest Mark-J]

Cool, much appreciate the quick reply.

I have just been reading a thread on using the apps to remove the bloatware and seems easy enough, and if it saves having to flash a new rom, then all the better really.

Judging by the sheer number of threads on here for the phone,I presume people would recommend it and it performs well then I guess.

[Guest rayraven]

^The only things that arent great about the phone are the build quality[its okay, but dont expect it to survive a lot of falls] and the clearly crappy camera.

If you can live with those, this is a steal for the price.

Although some people have had issues with screen freezes with it, froyo is much faster on the SF.

The only issues with the froyo roms right now are the screen freeze issue as i said and that the backlights on the buttons dont work.

It really speeds up the phone, i'd suggest you try it and if you do experience freezes, you can go back to eclair.

[Guest Mark-J]

^The only things that arent great about the phone are the build quality[its okay, but dont expect it to survive a lot of falls] and the clearly crappy camera.

If you can live with those, this is a steal for the price.

Although some people have had issues with screen freezes with it, froyo is much faster on the SF.

The only issues with the froyo roms right now are the screen freeze issue as i said and that the backlights on the buttons dont work.

It really speeds up the phone, i'd suggest you try it and if you do experience freezes, you can go back to eclair.

Yeah saw a review on YouTube saying about the build quality isnt brilliant, but for the price and all accounts the touch screen is great etc.

If she does decide to go get one (on reserve at argos lol) then at least can remove the crud Orange sticks on it easy enough.

Are there free email apps so she can check her hotmail easily, or would she just have to use the browser as I know hotmail is a web based one (never used Android before so no ideas on what the app store is like etc)

[Guest rayraven]

^You can both use the mobile website or you can configure the built-in email client to use the hotmail account.

Read this how-to configure hotmail on the android email client: http://www.omgandroid.com/how-to-get-hotmail-on-android/

[Guest Azurren]

Yeah saw a review on YouTube saying about the build quality isnt brilliant, but for the price and all accounts the touch screen is great etc.

If she does decide to go get one (on reserve at argos lol) then at least can remove the crud Orange sticks on it easy enough.

Are there free email apps so she can check her hotmail easily, or would she just have to use the browser as I know hotmail is a web based one (never used Android before so no ideas on what the app store is like etc)

You can use the stock "email" app (You will need to find PoP3 settings for Hotmail.. Not sure if you still have to "enable" it on your account though)

But android is tightly integrated with GMail, if it's not to much hassle to switch then it will work ALOT better :unsure:

[Guest Mark-J]

Cool, thats great. Much appreciate all the help youve given us, and will post the results on if she gets it etc :unsure:

[Guest Pully]

set hotmail to forward all mail received to the new GMail account, works a treat. My girlfriend did this and found using GMail on her device a breeze.

[Guest lixcab]

Yes, build quality is not the best as said above. Buttons squeak and with the plastic construction you can't help but feel that you could break it easily. If you're OK with that, or if your wife is OK with that, rather, then it's a great little phone.

Froyo in the San Francisco, in my opinion is a must if you'll play with Apps - games such as angry birds, etc. This is primarily because of the JIT compiler which makes it render faster.

To date, we have a couple of Froyo ROM dumps from China that Paul and the few talented hackers Flibblesan, Sebestian and Kalif et. al have very kindly cooked up for the rest of us. Also, the Blade is coming out officially with Froyo in China apparently on Wednesday, 05 Jan. This is exciting news as there's a chance that we'll get an updated Kernel that would hopefully give us a 2.2 ROM fully compatible with the blade.

It's definitely a bargain smart phone.

[Guest Mark-J]

Cool, will look at the 2.2, as been reading a fair few threads on upgrading the rom etc. Wife is still umming and arhhing on whether to get one or not lol, for the price I cant see why shes not already gone and got one (apart from her having to walk across town to the shop to get it lol! lazy s*d :unsure:)

I think she'll probably cave in and get one as just heard her saying about the phone to her dad, so will soon see LOL!!!.

[Guest blackanchorage]

Cool, will look at the 2.2, as been reading a fair few threads on upgrading the rom etc. Wife is still umming and arhhing on whether to get one or not lol, for the price I cant see why shes not already gone and got one (apart from her having to walk across town to the shop to get it lol! lazy s*d :unsure:)

I think she'll probably cave in and get one as just heard her saying about the phone to her dad, so will soon see LOL!!!.

When I got the phone a month ago, I was new to Android. I initially went through the process of removing the Orange apps, but didn't find it very satisfying - it's not that easy, you still have the Orange splash screen. I then decided to install a new rom, and with ClockworkMod found it very easy. I initially used Paul's 2.1 rom - and the phone looked so much better. But my mate at work has froyo... so I have since tried four or five different froyo roms (it's really easy to try different ones) before finding one that works ok for me.

Thanks in particular to Steven Harper for the clear explanation of how to install custom roms.

Regards

Edited January 2, 2011 by blackanchorage

[Guest uptime]

But my mate at work has froyo... so I have since tried four or five different froyo roms (it's really easy to try different ones) before finding one that works ok for me.

Which one did you choose?

[Guest Mark-J]

Update:

Wifey went and picked her phone up today, and just unlocked it for her for now, as been trying to figure out why nothing would download from the marketplace, and after searching high and low, gave up for the time been, but while sorting out her music on the SD card etc, she put an old SD card in to see if there was anything she wanted off it, and after removing and putting the supplied one back in, all the apps i had tried to download suddenly downloaded and installed!!!! so what happened ive no idea, but for now shes happy, and im also impressed with it too.

Will upgrade her ROM at some point, but not sure which to go for as she just needs something basic, but reading about 2.2 you need to have a data connection for first setup of the marketplace? and her P&G sim dosnt have internet access as she never needed it so if you cant do it via WiFi then she would be stuck totally for getting anything from the marketplace etc.

Any ROM recommends would be appreciated (Phone is a TFT screen version)

[Guest blackanchorage]

Which one did you choose?

I'm using Jellyfish 3b. I tried Paul's (didn't like the lock screen) and Sebastian's (had a problem with T-mobile). Jellyfish 2 and 3 didn't work ok with Hullomail, but next day that was fixed. Can't remember if I tried Fibblesan's.

It does seem to use battery quickly, but that may be a faulty perception - you can now see the exact percent left, whereas previously it was green, yellow or red.

I'd really recommend trying them all, they're being improved all the time - and if none work, revert to Paul's 2.1 rom, which was rock solid for me (and seems to be for everybody). Use a Google account to sync your contacts after changing a ROM (it's completely automatic).

Regards

[Guest rayraven]

^+1 to that, people tend to settle on different roms, i used to be on FLB's froyo, moved to Jap jellyfish to fix the gps & light sensor issues.

But, now FLB has a new release that fixes those issues.

Latest versions of Paul's, FLB, Jap Jellyfish & Seb's froyo roms all have no major bugs, except for the screen freeze some people experience and the backlights on the hard-buttons not working.

P.S: Dont look at the quadrant scores and decide which to go for basing on it. It's got nothing to do with usability, it's easy to switch between rom's, so try them out and settle on what you find comfortable.

[Guest alltheway3]

After buying this phone a couple on months ago, I have recommended it to everyone and four people have bought it so far. As they aren't so computer literate (read geeky), I simply say to them to download launcherpro and switch homescreens to LP. That speeds up the system and leaves it looking much more stock for such little effort.