Coolpad F1 8297w

[Guest jamjamjam]

I'm also looking to upgrade from the Vowney V5 which has been a trusty mobile for a good year, depsite being severly cracked in the face..

 

Anyway, like many others the Coolpad F1 is on my short list as it looks to have a great spec. Its a shame to hear the ROM currently lets it down but that can be fixed at least.

 

So any more hands-on reports of this one? I'm particularly interested in how the camera stacks up, especially against the quite poor cam on the V5.

 

Also, If anyone is looking for decent alternatives around the £120 mark I've short-listed these ones, just trying to decide if the Coolpad F1 is the better option hmm..

 

All have 2GB and IPS OGS Displays.

 

Haipai X3S - £126

 

For

 

Metal casing

6.9mm thin

 

Against

 

Small 2000mah battery

No Gorilla glass

No Sony cam 

 

JIAYU G4S - £119

 

For

 

Gorilla Glass

Sony Cam

Large 3000mah battery

 

Against

 

Comparatively thick at 10mm

Plastic body

 

 

THL T11 - £126

 

For

 

Gorilla Glass

Large 2750mah battery

 

Against

 

Plastic body

No Sony Cam

 

Coolpad F1 - £115

 

 

For

 

Gorilla Glass

Decent 2500mah battery

Sony Cam

 

Against

 

Plastic body

Comparatively small 8GB internal memory

Comparatively thick at 9.3mm

 

Would be good to get your opinions on how these stack up to the F1?

 

I'm personally moving towards the G4S which is very similiar to the F1 but larger battery, storage and better brand arguably.

 

Edited May 4, 2014 by jamjamjam

[Guest grabster]

Eternal team sent me this link for a different firmware to stop the crashes,only problem is that the rar will not extract without the password which i do not have although i have requested it from ET.

 

http://bbs.etbuying.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=4013

 

Chinese is not my strong point and google is not able to translate properly.

Any takers ???

[Guest bryfly]

Eternal team sent me this link for a different firmware to stop the crashes,only problem is that the rar will not extract without the password which i do not have although i have requested it from ET.

 

http://bbs.etbuying.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=4013

 

Chinese is not my strong point and google is not able to translate properly.

Any takers ???

trying to download for a look, but so slow, showing 5 hours

[Guest dakok]

Which firmware do you have on now? Original 5.5 CoolLife UI v5.5 or something else seller flashed?

 

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjcyNTczNDUy.html

 

 

Eternal team sent me this link for a different firmware to stop the crashes,only problem is that the rar will not extract without the password which i do not have although i have requested it from ET.

 

http://bbs.etbuying.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=4013

 

Chinese is not my strong point and google is not able to translate properly.

Any takers ???

 

 

So you downloaded it from ET BBS and it's password protected?

Can't you contact ET and ask for the password?

[Guest grabster]

I cant find the coollife version number.

ET finally sent me the password. it is "ET" That must be the only thing i didnt try.

The downloaded rar includes a recovery image...i guess its ok to replace that one with my english version cwm ?

The instructions say to copy downloaded files to phone...surely that should read sd card ?

Ah well......time to backup then try it out.

[Guest bryfly]

I cant find the coollife version number.

ET finally sent me the password. it is "ET" That must be the only thing i didnt try.

The downloaded rar includes a recovery image...i guess its ok to replace that one with my english version cwm ?

The instructions say to copy downloaded files to phone...surely that should read sd card ?

Ah well......time to backup then try it out.

keep us updated grabster, Be interesting to see if it fixes your crash problem, if it does then hopefully it will fix other crashes seen on my coolpad f1, currently downloading the rom another 2 hours to go.........

[Guest grabster]

I decided not to flash the ET rom as i wanted to try this first...  http://www.needrom.com/mobile/coolpad-f1-8297w-aosp/#comment-59547

So far so good.

I done a dirty flash,no wipes...naughty i know but what the hell,i figured i was gonna have to restore my backup anyway but the flash wiped the system anyway so its up to personal choice i suppose.

Kept root and english recovery and everything is working perfectly.

I just spent an hour setting it up and all is sweet.

The problem is obviously in the cool looking skin that the phone had pre installed.

 

The ET rom is downloading quicker this morning using Chrome although last night it took 50 minutes with IE.

[Guest bryfly]

The ET rom is downloading quicker this morning using Chrome although last night it took 50 minutes with IE.

You must be high speed broadband, still varying between 2 to 6 hours for me this morning, download crashed last night so started again thmorning.

It is good you appear to have got rid of your crashes, did it also get rid of the "data usage" crash when selected in settings?

[Guest grabster]

Sure did...    i tried pretty much all the settings and not a single crash.

Comes with nova pre installed but that can be changed ,i use it on my own phone anyway.

The settings crashes are obviously built into the firmware.

 

I never tried the rom that ET sent me as i now dont need it. 

The AOSP rom i installed works fine so i am gonna stick with that.

Sorry if i didnt make that clear.

Edited May 5, 2014 by grabster

[Guest grabster]

If you use a download accelerator that would speed things up.

I dont use one but i have before and it helped.

[Guest bryfly]

If you use a download accelerator that would speed things up.

I dont use one but i have before and it helped.

cheers for the info re downloads, will get the phone back from the wife and see if either rom cures the crashes on hers, if it does will get another one for myself

[Guest Ascend]

Grabster what are you using for your backups?

[Guest grabster]

Grabster what are you using for your backups?

Good old fashioned cwm.

I flashed the English version from here...http://www.needrom.com/mobile/english-recovery-coolpad-f1-8297w/

[Guest grabster]

Whoops..... sausage fingers strike again. 

Edited May 5, 2014 by grabster

[Guest dakok]

Thanks for the info :)

That AOSP rom is from Jonzalvo from that forocoches forum. He did several other roms, too

[Guest Maringer]

The Spanish forum is very useful, not least because it is possible to get decent translations of Spanish instead of the incomprehensible gobbledigook from translated Chinese!

Just received shipping confirmation for my F1 so hopefully I'll receive it later this week. Good to hear that the English CWM works as well as the other needrom links.

[Guest Maringer]

Bah!

Edited May 5, 2014 by Maringer

[Guest bryfly]

cheers for the info re downloads, will get the phone back from the wife and see if either rom cures the crashes on hers, if it does will get another one for myself

Tried the needrom grabster has now and data usage still crashes the settings when selecting It. Gone back to original rom

Edited May 5, 2014 by bryfly

[Guest grabster]

Strange...it works fine here.

 

Could try a standalone app i suppose ?

[Guest bryfly]

Tried the needrom grabster has now and data usage still crashes the settings when selecting It. Gone back to original rom

Correction to the above, it was the one from ET that made no difference to the crashes on my phone, the one from neeedrom aborted installation, have re downloaded from the Spanish forum and it does clear the settings crash when selecting "data usage".

In light of the above which fixes the crash have Just ordered one for myself.......

Edited May 6, 2014 by bryfly

[Guest Ascend]

Good old fashioned cwm.

I flashed the English version from here...http://www.needrom.com/mobile/english-recovery-coolpad-f1-8297w/

Thanks

[Guest dalyer]

Eternal Team from Aliexpress dropped the price to 180 USD today

 

Back to $190 since?

 

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/5-inch-Coolpad-F1-WCDMA-8297w-Great-God-MTK6592-Octa-Core-Mobile-Phone-Camera-13MP-GPS/103919_1747319443.html

Edited May 6, 2014 by dalyer

[Guest dakok]

Yeah :)

But there is a more reliable store which sells it for 184USD

 

Coolpad appeared at many specialised shops now (to2c, minideal....)

and the price is 190-200 USD

 

I am thinking about buying this case...

[Guest Maringer]

Nillkin do a similar hard back case as well. Seem to get decent enough reviews.

 

When my phone arrives, I'll see how I get on without a case for a week or so before deciding if I need one. I don't usually need one as I'm very careful and always put my phone in my pocket, making sure I don't put any keys or coins in there at the same time. On the other hand, not a fan of white phones so I might just get a case to cover that up!

[Guest grabster]

ET have given me yet another link for firmware.

http://pan.baidu.com/s/1o6G1obo

I dont think i will be using it though as the aosp rom i flashed seems rock steady so far but im grabbing it now regardless.

It is downloading quicker on IE than Chrome.

 

Waiting for correct password.

Edited May 6, 2014 by grabster