I don't want an iPhone. Am I normal?

Maz

Currently running a Nokia E5, does what I want but after discovering this website, I was soooooo tempted to get an iphone, just for the hilarity factor!

https://www.damnyouautocorrect.com

~Yorkshire_Belle~

Android for me!
Son has iPod touch which he loves but iTunes is ghastly and the thought of having to use it makes me shudder

horngkai

I use my credit card to purchase things online regularly. The only ever fraud was from itunes, and that was just my wife registering the card details on itunes.... Not buying things....

Chomeur

Thanks for all the help here. I took the plunge and got an Orange San Francisco android phone. It looks good. Found instructions online on how to unlock it which I've done. Put the replacement Tesco SIM card in but it seemed to be blocked - phoned Tesco up and they've now unblocked it.

One question. For sending and receiving emails on this there are two applications, one called GMail, and the other just called Mail. The former works fine but only with a gmail account. The latter just says "Error validating number". Do I need to have all my emails forwarded to my (new) gmail address to get them on this phone? Or can I do something to make the Mail application work?

By the way, Tesco's security ID questions are the most ludicrous I've ever come across. They wanted me to tell them two numbers that I dial frequently with my phone, the balance on my account and the make of my old phone. These are all details that are too minor for me to concern myself with and I got them all wrong! Finallly they just agreed to speak to me anyway.

Cash-Strapped.T32

Good choice - It's amazing how capable the phone is compared to those which cost 2x, 3x or 5x times as much.
Other than massively processor & GPU-intense 3D games I've not yet come across a single thing that the OSF can't do but more expensive phones can; And several which owners of massively more expensive phones have told me flat-out simply can't be done (like 2-way call recording for instance, I can't remember how many people say it's utterly impossible but I do it almost every day..)


As with most smartphones that come from a network operator (in this case Orange), they like to add a load of their own software on top of the basic Operating System, like how when you buy a PC from one of those ghastly PC-World type places it always comes pre-loaded with tonnes of cr** software you don't need & have to spend a morning un-installing.. :mad:

No different in this case, think of it as the "reasonably priced phone tax".

It's not new, it's a fairly cynical business decision in that "Get 'em young" mould, whereby they want people to think that everything good about their phone is due to Orange's sweetness & light & to build brand loyalty - There's most likely several "Orange Wednesdays" or "Orange Internet" apps on there which you would never want to use as well.



You've obviously figured out how to read the FAQs to get the phone unlocked, your next step would be to ditch the pre-loaded, Orange-Corp branded ROM, which is currently Android version 2.1, and replace it with a more up-to-date, and non-branded 2.2 or 2.3 version, all easily downloadable off the internet (Modaco is always a good source - Remember, outside the UK the OSF is known as the ZTE Blade, as long as English is supported no harm can come from using a ROM developed in the US or Europe, for example).


In PC terms, this would be the equivalent of re-installing from a proper Windows XP disk to give you a clean slate to work from, rather than the awful "recovery disk" CDs that come with pre-built machines & have all the aforementioned bumph-ware.

It sounds geeky but I assure you it's easy as pie & is extremely well documented by all the other "normal" people who have come before you & done the same thing. (myself included)

For sending and receiving emails on this there are two applications, one called GMail, and the other just called Mail. The former works fine but only with a gmail account. The latter just says "Error validating number". Do I need to have all my emails forwarded to my (new) gmail address to get them on this phone? Or can I do something to make the Mail application work?

The "Mail" app you can see will be an Orange branded program, because I've just looked on my phone, and the basic, stock Android email client is simply called "email" (original, I know).

If you do not use GMail as your main email then yes, you would use this app just like a normal email client on your computer (Outlook, Lotus Notes, etc..), and you do not need to link it in some fashion to GMail or to forward all your emails - You will only have to use the GMail app, and the "Sync with GMail" options if you actually use GMail.
(I actually used GMail long before I had a smartphone so I do use it, but you don't have to, not by a long way.)

If it's coming back with an invalid number message, that might be because the phone's internet settings are not configured yet (try browsing to a web-page such as MSE and see if it loads - I would bet it doesn't).

This will proably be the reason you get an error, either that, or because it doesn't know what email account to try & access (if you have ever tired to access your home ISP's email through a program like MS Outlook and had to configure it you will know what I mean).

This will be something everyone faces if they move to a different carrier as you have done (the OSF is obviously pre-configured to Orange, but you're on Tesco).


Once you have got an up-to-date rom on there, that would be the time to go into;
Settings>Wireless & Network>Mobile Networks>GSM/UMTS>Access Point Names>
..and fromt here, simply type-in the network settings for Tesco Mobile.

Again I stress that this might sound like a mouthful, but in reality it's like 25 seconds out of your life, and the network settings are always, but always on the Operator's website (in fact they'll read them out over telephone for you too, and some Operators will send you a system update by text which auto-applies the settings for you.


Please don't think by the length of this reply that you need to spend hours jumping through hoops, (had you bought an iPhone you would be stuck with what you get & tough-tit if you require something different), but I simply wanted to be complete in my reply, and to work it in normal human language so that it makes sense on day-1, rather than that lightbulb moment of "oh, yeaah", about 2 days into owning it, by which time you've set up all your contacts, email addys & so-forth..

Best of luck matie.

Chomeur

Thanks, I'll have a look over that.

Just spent half an hour on the phone to Orange. They tell me their SIM is faulty and I should go to an Orange store and they'll process a refund. More trouble than it's worth. I say I don't want any more hassle with them and I want to use my Tesco SIM. But I'd like some technical help with how to use my phone. Their phone number is the only one that came with the phone. They say they can't help. No-one is available to give technical help. Not impressed.

grumbler

What help do you need? Just search the board for 'osf' and/or 'francisco'.
You can find the settings on Tesco Mobile website (see any android). Or just google:
http://android.modaco.com/topic/328238-san-francisco-orangezte-blade-tesco-internet-setup-guide/

Also, what's the advantage of Tesco as against giffgaff?

Chomeur

Thanks Cash-strapped, it's very kind of you to give all that information. So I made a start and found this page. http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/how-to-install-android-2-2-froyo-on-zte-blade-orange-san-francisco/

The first thing it tells me I have to do is root my handset with Universal Androot Root App (whatever that means). So I go to the app store on my phone and do a search for Universal. Nothing comes up. I get the feeling this could take me days...

Chomeur

grumbler wrote: »

What help do you need? Just search the board for 'osf' and/or 'francisco'.
You can find the settings on Tesco Mobile website (see any android). Or just google:
http://android.modaco.com/topic/328238-san-francisco-orangezte-blade-tesco-internet-setup-guide/

Also, what's the advantage of Tesco as against giffgaff?

The problem with giffgaff is that I either have to go through all this rigmarole http://support.giffgaff.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/599/kw/port/session/L3NpZC9nX0NDQ1BEaw%3D%3D

or I have to change my phone number.

Cash-Strapped.T32

Yeah, Orange won't help, their phone scripts probably end as soon as you tell them you're not actually using Orange as your carrier.

Regarding tech-help, I assume to install a up to date ROM, Orange would never help with that anyway, just as Dell UK would probably not help if you wanted to upgrade from Win-XP to Win-7, or Linux.

The machine is perfectly capable, nay, designed for it, but the commercial companies won't go near helping you in case the customer does something stupid like shove the handset up their backside & try to sue them because it didn't work..

Hell, I would do the operation for you myself if you were nearby, it takes all of 5 minutes; But actually reading the how-to & gathering the 2 tiny required-apps is what takes the time & puts new users off from trying, not the technical process of doing the job.


*EDIT* Missed this part;

Chomeur wrote: »

Thanks Cash-strapped, it's very kind of you to give all that information. So I made a start and found this page. http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/how-to-install-android-2-2-froyo-on-zte-blade-orange-san-francisco/

The first thing it tells me I have to do is root my handset with Universal Androot Root App (whatever that means). So I go to the app store on my phone and do a search for Universal. Nothing comes up. I get the feeling this could take me days...

Tell you what; Fire me a PM with your email addy & I will email you the tiny little apps you need; We're talking like 200, 300Kbs, smaller than your average Word .doc file, then you can just read the walk-through & have the job done in an afternoon.

You will need to choose & D/L a ROM yourself, as they're about 80-90 Megs in size (still smaller than an episode of Family Guy or an audio CD download, but too big for Gmail to handle).
I do have a couple of suggestions, but I wouldn't "push" one on you, because it's very much personal choice from that point onwards.