XDA Orbit II 02

frankie1star

I have been given one of these phones (brand new)? The trouble is I am a complete technophobe and am currently with 3. What really interests me is the sat nav facility, and what I would like help with, is everything in simple terms that I can do to enhance my using experience. Will I be able to pop my sim in and away I go. I understand that I wont be able to use the internet as I dont have that service enabled with 3. Would really be grateful of some advice.

I have approached another forum, and not much info has come back apart from inserting the sim to see if its locked.

If anyone can help??

Cavey

It's an O2 XDA, so it shouldn't be SIM locked.

Biggest problem you will have is getting it to do MMS, Mobile Web or WAP as it will have the wrong settings and they don't seem to like updating from the network (or they didn't for me), so if you do get it enabled it still might not quite work right.

As for Sat-Nav, doesn't the Orbit 2 come with Co-Pilot pre-installed? Or was that just the Orbit? If not, the best free ones require internet to be working, but the Garmin/TomTom/Etc.. apps should work fine, they just cost money.

KeithP

Frankie, have a look at this site.
They're a friendly bunch and will be happy to help you.

I have an Orbit (sadly not 2) and use co-pilot with it.

Why not just try your Three sim to see if it works with it, as a phone at least... it should work.

plob

i use and orange m700, which is basically an htc device similar to yours. i use it on the three network no problem and also have the internet add on. you can get onto my 3 to see your balance etc but wont let you onto 3s own content. however normal web browsing is fine. i also have the cab file to install all the three settings onto your phone so will be set up for 3 internet and mms settings etc. I you would like me to email it to you let me know. Also run tom tom etc on mine no problem at all and will be the same for yours.

bringmeshoes

I work for o2 and XDA's are the only handset that are blocked and they will not let you unblock it until the person who has the contract who got you this has had the contract for 12 months. Being as the XDA orbit 2 hasn't even been about for 12 months they will not unlock it

frankie1star

KeithP wrote: »

Frankie, have a look at this site.
They're a friendly bunch and will be happy to help you.

I have an Orbit (sadly not 2) and use co-pilot with it.

Why not just try your Three sim to see if it works with it, as a phone at least... it should work.

Hi, I have inserted my sim, and it works, yay just got to learn how to text, and whether I will be be able to access the sat nav

KeithP

Thanks for the follow-up Frankie. Do have a look at www.xdasite.com

Contrary to what Bringmeshoes has said, my understanding is that all O2 XDA devices have always been supplied by O2 as SIM unlocked.

Cavey

As I inferred above, O2 XDAs come SIM unlocked. I have had three (Mini S, Trion, Stellar) and all are/were unlocked without having to use an unlocking tool.

And if you don't mind losing a few days of your life as you find some really interesting stuff to use on your phone, http://forum.xda-developers.com is another good one. Has lots of good free software (even some open source) to do most things and pages and pages on commercial software too. AND there's the Wiki, which is quite useful...

weegie.geek

I loves my XDA. I've got the old Exec with the flippy twisty screen and it's great.

Going from a 6 year old nokia to the Exec, which is 3 years old itself, was like night and day.

It has some startling design flaws* but they're an annoyance more than anything.



* for a phone/pda that can connect to your wifi network or use 3G, browse the web on its nice VGA screen and mini keyboard and send emails etc, having to press the Fn button and the 2 key to type an @, a well used part of emailing etc, when there's only one Fn button on the keyboard, at the same side as the 2 key... It makes it a pain in the !!!! to actually type the @. You can do something freakish with your left hand or cross your right hand over the keyboard to press the 2/@. It's just stupid.

Given the several shortcut keys that I never use (and the size of them, most being the size of two normal keys), not having a dedicated @ key seems stupid. At least having it on the opposite side of the keyboard from the Fn key would help.

The silly keyboard layout is pretty much my only complaint though.

frankie1star

As my sim works, and the phone is not locked, what I spent last night doing was trying to compile a text. OMG how hard is it? I tried with the pencil thingy and kept missing the letters, I tried with the keyboard, and it wouldnt type the words I wanted, I tried writing with the pencil thingy it didnt recognise my letters. I am determined to hack this, but OMG patience is not something that comes into my vocabulary with technology. Although I am proud to say I have made several calls

Cavey

frankie1star wrote: »

OMG how hard is it?

There was a HTC Keyboard released for the Touch (or maybe Touch Dual) and has been copied out of the device and made available here. You might want to give it a try.

There are also a whole host of apps available here which make using the device a little easier (like enlarge start menu, which makes the stylus less of a requirement, and a keyboard which *might* be a more recent version than the one above, but it doesn't have a screenshot).