ZTE "Evaluating" Gingerbread For Orange San Francisco

[Guest hecatae]

http://www.itproportal.com/2011/04/21/excl...-san-francisco/

A spokesperson for the company told us "At this stage ZTE is evaluating the possibility of upgrading the Orange San Francisco (aka Blade) offering to the UK customer to the Gingerbread OS in 2H 2011. There are no plans to move forward on the Gingerbread OS in the UK as yet."

nothing interesting in the rest of the article :)

[Guest ColdEmbrace]

http://www.itproportal.com/2011/04/21/excl...-san-francisco/

nothing interesting in the rest of the article :)

How nice it would be if they did that :) Not that it will ever happen

[Guest Cyburner]

Would be nice, but we should have gotten an official Froyo release before though.

[Guest hecatae]

I'd prefer them to skip Froyo, why waste time developing a rom when a new android release is available

[Guest Azurren]

You know.. Wouldn't it be great if they just helped develop the Cyanogen Release :)

Compile some newer drivers, fix some of the problems at the lowest levels etc.

It would be a first for any smartphone company, really getting involved with their users to actually produce something that everyone would enjoy

No idea what this would do for PR or if its even viable from a business perceptive.. But for the end-user, couldn't think of anything better :)

As far as I know Cyanogen is still opensource and just as open (Legally) as android itself. Cyanogen is defiantly the best "Bloatware" any manufacturer can place on a device :(

ZTE were poking their noses around the dev community a while ago, would it really be so unbelievable?

Edited April 22, 2011 by Azurren

[Guest k0zmic]

You know.. Wouldn't it be great if they just helped develop the Cyanogen Release :)

Compile some newer drivers, fix some of the problems at the lowest levels etc.

It would be a first for any smartphone company, really getting involved with their users to actually produce something that everyone would enjoy

No idea what this would do for PR or if its even viable from a business perceptive.. But for the end-user, couldn't think of anything better :)

As far as I know Cyanogen is still opensource and just as open (Legally) as android itself. Cyanogen is defiantly the best "Bloatware" any manufacturer can place on a device :(

ZTE were poking their noses around the dev community a while ago, would it really be so unbelievable?

Exactly, the cost would probably be negligible to them to produce new drivers rather than compile a ROM from scratch.

If it is a first and it's successful i.e. getting involved providing drivers for Custom ROM's. then they may continue doing so for future phones. This could actually become a unique selling point for them e.g. The only OEM to really get involved with users. I'm sure it's viable in the long run since it may result in repeat purchases of phones for the ZTE for their 'hackability', thus resulting in a consistent revenue stream from a certain market segment (those who want to customize their phones etc.). It would be a positive for PR as well, giving a corporation a sort of 'helpful' and 'friendly' image.

This may be far fetched and wishful but I do think it's viable and the best for all parties involved.

Edited April 22, 2011 by k0zmic

[Guest Fou-lu]

You know.. Wouldn't it be great if they just helped develop the Cyanogen Release :)

Compile some newer drivers, fix some of the problems at the lowest levels etc.

It would be a first for any smartphone company, really getting involved with their users to actually produce something that everyone would enjoy

No idea what this would do for PR or if its even viable from a business perceptive.. But for the end-user, couldn't think of anything better :)

As far as I know Cyanogen is still opensource and just as open (Legally) as android itself. Cyanogen is defiantly the best "Bloatware" any manufacturer can place on a device :(

ZTE were poking their noses around the dev community a while ago, would it really be so unbelievable?

Yeah, always wondered why payed devs don't update there companies phone's with the help of community devs roms, who do so much for the phone, businesses just care about cutting costs and making profit, 2.2 is still being released, custom roms outperform almost every stock , ZTE will , once networks put strain on them (like htc) lock everything down if it gets too "big", cyanogen would be stock if it was a network, damn providers bloat it with there crap, they will never allow it.

[Guest Raspa]

Sandisk did a similar thing and were to supply info to the Rockbox team, so they could do a port for sandisk players.

I've no idea how much info they supplied in the end, but I wish more hardware companies would do this.

[Guest Plxply]

Sandisk did a similar thing and were to supply info to the Rockbox team, so they could do a port for sandisk players.

I've no idea how much info they supplied in the end, but I wish more hardware companies would do this.

As far as I'm aware SanDisk sent the Rockbox team a free e280 although provided no further communication. On the up side though when I emailed SanDisk they did tell me that installing Rockbox would not void my warranty.

[Guest calza]

I'd prefer them to skip Froyo, why waste time developing a rom when a new android release is available

They already have made a Froyo rom for the Japanese, Chinese and Swedish blades (any more), so I doubt it would be hard for them to create one for the OSF. The problem is Orange with their bloatware.

[Guest fonix232]

You know.. Wouldn't it be great if they just helped develop the Cyanogen Release :)

Compile some newer drivers, fix some of the problems at the lowest levels etc.

It would be a first for any smartphone company, really getting involved with their users to actually produce something that everyone would enjoy

No idea what this would do for PR or if its even viable from a business perceptive.. But for the end-user, couldn't think of anything better :)

As far as I know Cyanogen is still opensource and just as open (Legally) as android itself. Cyanogen is defiantly the best "Bloatware" any manufacturer can place on a device :(

ZTE were poking their noses around the dev community a while ago, would it really be so unbelievable?

I've already suggested ZTE to co-work with us. This wouldn't drop PR, but it would raise the sell of the Blade: a device what is officially unlocked, free to develop to, AND, most important, the final software isn't something what Google and the manufacturer cooked together, but a really community-driven thing, what includes all what the community needs.

[Guest Steep]

I've already suggested ZTE to co-work with us. This wouldn't drop PR, but it would raise the sell of the Blade: a device what is officially unlocked, free to develop to, AND, most important, the final software isn't something what Google and the manufacturer cooked together, but a really community-driven thing, what includes all what the community needs.

The problem is these companies exist to feed their shareholders cash, they survive on sales and helping a 'relatively' small group of enthusiasts improve an existing model doesn't increase the sales to the rest of the world.

[Guest Azurren]

The problem is these companies exist to feed their shareholders cash, they survive on sales and helping a 'relatively' small group of enthusiasts improve an existing model doesn't increase the sales to the rest of the world.

But the work involved to "win-over" that small group of enthusiasts and perhaps gain a small minority of sales, would be worth it.

Not to mention I can guarantee that if ZTE were to officially get involved in the community and promise ongoing support for all their upcoming devices the story would be on the front page of every major phone news site

As their editors are also part of the phone-hacking minority :)

It maybe a risky move.. But could hold a great potential

[Guest agpoli]

"...evaluating the possibility of upgrading..."

In the ZTE Labs:

- Hm, I wonder if we can put Gingerbread on Blade...

- Wait, what?

- Could our Blade run Gingerbread?

- I think it could, but why on Earth would we doing that?

- I don't know, just wondering about "...evaluating the possibility of upgrading..."

- Hahahaaa, nice joke, you almost got me :)

End of story.

/pessimism

[Guest hecatae]

"...evaluating the possibility of upgrading..."

In the ZTE Labs:

- Hm, I wonder if we can put Gingerbread on Blade...

- Wait, what?

- Could our Blade run Gingerbread?

- I think it could, but why on Earth would we doing that?

- I don't know, just wondering about "...evaluating the possibility of upgrading..."

- Hahahaaa, nice joke, you almost got me :)

End of story.

/pessimism

that's what I thought, but the ZTE Libra version of the blade has only just been released and was shown at MWC 2011, so it would be crazy to write it off without a Gingerbread update