San Francisco - some questions before possibly buying.

[Guest darklighthim]

So i currently own a rooted G1 but was looking to possibly switch phones as my sister want my G1 which i may give her therefor i decided to look into a San Francisco as it was cheap but also looked decent and with android although i have a few questions to ask before maybe getting one.

My first question is that how do i know if the handset i purchase will have an AMOLED screen and not TFT (possibly going for a white handset) as i would prefer the AMOLED screen. I didn't know about a TFT Screen version untill looking on this forum.

My second question is that i have rooted G1 in order get newer versions of Android plus i generally like to test out different roms for fun as well as to check out speed and stability but i am wondering what what be the benefit of rooting the San Francisco (minus removing the orange stuff) over sticking with the stock rom. I would love to keep the device stock (for a while at first anyway) if it's good enough running the stock android.

Thanks in advance for any help i get answering my questions.

[Guest StevenHarperUK]

OLED was only available in the UK before December - now you can only get TFT - unless you find someone selling a used one.

WHITE San Francisco's were all TFT

The Stock ROM is 2.1 - 2.2 is a world of difference.

Its easy to try new ROM's it's a very simple phone to flash - with hardly any chance of bricking.

[Guest evilpaul]

My first question is that how do i know if the handset i purchase will have an AMOLED screen and not TFT (possibly going for a white handset) as i would prefer the AMOLED screen. I didn't know about a TFT Screen version untill looking on this forum.

If you buy a San Francisco now then unless you get very lucky, it will have a TFT screen. Whilst the OLED screen has benefits in terms of contrast and colour definition, the TFT is not that bad and does not take away from the device in any way.

My second question is that i have rooted G1 in order get newer versions of Android plus i generally like to test out different roms for fun as well as to check out speed and stability but i am wondering what what be the benefit of rooting the San Francisco (minus removing the orange stuff) over sticking with the stock rom. I would love to keep the device stock (for a while at first anyway) if it's good enough running the stock android.

As it stands ZTE have not released a complete enough source code for anyone to be able to make a complete AOSP build, so any build will based upon some form of tailored kernel, rather than a stock android build. There are hopes that ZTE will release some updated source code this week, that with luck will allow some further development to occur.

Of the currently available ROMs then try looking at Sebastian404's ROMs, as they seem to be aiming for a look and feel as close to stock as possible.

The San Francisco is not the greatest phone in the world, but for the price they are very few down sides.

[Guest darklighthim]

OLED was only available in the UK before December - now you can only get TFT - unless you find someone selling a used one.

WHITE San Francisco's were all TFT

The Stock ROM is 2.1 - 2.2 is a world of difference.

Its easy to try new ROM's it's a very simple phone to flash - with hardly any chance of bricking.

Ok so i take it there is not a huge difference between the two screens types in terms of how they look and how they are for using?

I am used to regularly trying new ROM's on my G1 and currently run SuperE with android 2.1 so bricking wasn't a concern but i was hoping i could run stock then further down the line root to a new ROM but on further reading it does seem like going for 2.2 is ideal and will make a big difference so i don't mind.