Hi !
I just bought an Optimus Chic from Bell in Canada for $250 Canuck. Anyone know how to unlock this thing for free or cheap ? (Yes, I've read all over and find only commercial unlockers who I'm not sure if I can trust.)
It's my first cellphone ever, despite that I've been an embedded Linux developer for the last 14 years, and built and programmed computers with the first generation microprocessors in the mid 1970's. Big LOL ! And yes, the touch interface is much better than a 110 baud ASR-33 teletype...
But it's not just a cellphone of course; all the features at this price point can make it compelling enough that even someone as thrifty/cheap as myself buy one. I hope to own and use the Chic for at least 5 years, but who knows.
I got the Chic, instead of the Optimus One from Telus because I DO hope to use this for many years, and the 5 megapixel cam resolution and higher video frame rate will IMO make it more usable over the years.
The DLNA feature also piqued my interest. I think this will allow more interesting connection capabilities to my TV XBMC computer. Just tried a DLNA browser on Ubuntu but haven't tried a connection yet.
My purchase decision of Chic over One was made despite that the One is a bit older and much more popular, at least so far. There seems to be virtually no development here on the Chic so far, not as compared to the One. Hopefully that will change. The hardware is almost identical so I can't imagine much would need changing.
Only real problem I've noted with the Chic so far is using the FM Radio now causes some strange problems requiring battery removal. Originally this didn't happen; perhaps something to do with station it's now stuck on. So I'm running an Internet Radio app now.
Perhaps some rearrangement of Optimus forums is in order due to all the variants out now or expected soon.
Looking forward to sharing further Chic info, as well as generic Optimus info. I'm considering becoming an Android developer...
Could you please test the touchscreen ? Do you experience something like this ? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLEgJWIs3qA&feature=player_embedded
If you don't experience the same thing and the touchscreen is the same, maybe we'll need some parts of your kernel.
Congratulations for your first phone !
Hi badeaioan.
What app is that ? And can you describe what exactly the issue is ?
BTW, the video is upside down.
Cheers!
I think for the unlock, you need a code for that, which the carrier provides. I do not know whether those unlockers you found has the code or not. I haven't tried unlocking phones yet since I buy mine already open
Regarding the video, he's using a touchscreen tester app, but I don't know the exact name. He's trying to show you the bugs with the Optimus One's touchscreen (not responding at times, etc)
Anyway, can you try to reproduce the problems shown in the video if you have spare time? We would like to see if the O1's brother has the issue fixed, so maybe we could do something about our phones. Thanks in advance
Here's a 20 second video I made that shows the axis inverting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHVSBDPWhQs
EDIT: The app im using is touch test
kpbotbot said:
I think for the unlock, you need a code for that, which the carrier provides. I do not know whether those unlockers you found has the code or not. I haven't tried unlocking phones yet since I buy mine already open
Regarding the video, he's using a touchscreen tester app, but I don't know the exact name. He's trying to show you the bugs with the Optimus One's touchscreen (not responding at times, etc)
Anyway, can you try to reproduce the problems shown in the video if you have spare time? We would like to see if the O1's brother has the issue fixed, so maybe we could do something about our phones. Thanks in advance
Here's a 20 second video I made that shows the axis inverting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHVSBDPWhQs
EDIT: The app im using is touch test
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL, haven't even tried multi-touch on my new phone until a few minutes ago; read about it years ago (on iPhone?) though.
I tried a few touch testing apps, and I'm afraid it seems to have the problem you speak of. With two fingers moving two balls, sometimes the X co-ordinate gets swapped on the balls, but not the Y co-ordinate. Weird !
This problem isn't related to the problem for which there's a new kernel to fix in the last few days, is it ? : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=929941
Or that's just a 100% CPU usage bug ?
Nope. That kernel fixes only the 100% CPU usage bug. I'm contented with that, really. I just wanted to know if there was something we could do about those issues
Btw, thanks for testing it out
Optimus Chic Service Manual:
http://csmg.lgmobile.com:9002/swdata...2_LGDP_dll.zip
I've successfully unlocked my Chic for about $17 Canadian at http://www.fonesunlock.co.uk/ . They seem to have the best Internet reviews and I got my code within 24 hours, although sending a "hurry up please" email may have helped.
Prior to spending the $17 I spent much of a day trying to find some free way online to unlock, not so much for the $ savings, but more for the experience of learning more about this phone and unlocking etc.
I believe I've found that there is indeed some way a program on a PC connected via USB can unlock this phone. But AFAICT, this software is only sold with $200 or so of hardware, and that this is bought by commercial phone unlockers.
I've also found there is software for some phones that can determine an unlock code through breaking the code encryption, and at least one such package requires a modern video card for it's calculations. I guess the code would run for many hours at least to crack the code.
Once I got the APN setup for Wind/Rogers I am able to use this phone with a Wind SIM. 2g only, but that's all I get on the Wind phone since this is with a Rogers cell site near my home; presumably some Wind sites would give me 3g.
My original plan was to go with 7/11 Speakout (Rogers) for as little as $25 per year prepaid. And $10 a month for mobile browsing would make the bill $120 per year. But there are no 7/11s near Ottawa and equivalent Quickie store good2go wasn't as potentially cheap as $25 per year.
But I came to the conclusion that Bell/Telus network would cover me better in rural areas where I might and do drive.
So I figured Presidents Choice Mobile (on Bell/Telus network) for $100 per year prepaid would be good, and also a $10 per month browsing plan.
But now I've been reading that smartphones can easily "accidentally" use data and the resultant charges would quickly deplete a Pres Choice balance. I had some issues like this with my Nokia Nuron Wind Phone. At least once it even turned itself on for some reason. Don't like that given at home I'm "Wind Away" and get charged 10 cents every 50 kilobytes.
So I'm thinking now of going with PetroCan at as little as $75 a year, also with mobile browsing $10 per month. It's on Rogers, but I'll check out their service and see how well it suits me. People have been successful lately with mobile WAP browsing on PetroCan and Speakout.
And I'll likely end up with at least one extra Bell/Telus network SIM I could keep in car and use if needed, and as always, 911 is always available even if no SIM or balance on SIM.
So, in conclusion, (for now, LOL) current plan is to test both Presidents' Choice (Bell) and PetroCan (Rogers) and see how they compare.
Related
I sound a bit like I work for Virgin (I don't honest).
but a:
1. DAB radio
2. Some TV stations (for 3 months on PAYG, but BBC1 will continue)
3. A WM5 smartphone (with bluetooth, EDGE and quad-band)
4. MP3 player
etc. for just over 100 quid. seems a nice toy to me!
If you go here
http://www.virginmobile.com/vm/lifestyleLanding.do
and make a note of the code, although its been 14000 every time Ive been there, you get 20% off!!
Plus if you go to the site through quidco you get 10% back as well!
I'm sorely tempted by this, despite the reviews, if only yuo could get it unlocked and still get the tv I'd buy it!
damn, bugger. You are right. Comes down to £90 inc. packing. Well I could send back and re-order. Or I may not bother ... too much hassle.
BBC1 is free continously. But I am looking at this as more of a WM5 smartphone to run games on and muck around with and as a pocket DAB player. It gets good reviews for the DAB radio, and good ones are around £99.
The main down side with this phone are:
1. Squijy keyboard
2. No wifi
Otherwise its got quite good reviews:
http://www.coolsmartphone.com/article696.html
I'm quite tempted by this phone myself, but could you answer a quick question for me, please?
Once the phone is unlocked (as your other post) and another sim is inserted, would I still be able to receive the TV? I've read elsewhere that Virgin charge a fiver a month for the TV, which implies to me that it will only work with a Virgin sim in the phone
I've got 6 months of a tmobile deal to go, after which I am looking to get one of the ntl/Virgin sims with 300mins + 300 texts for a tenner a month.
stunno said:
I'm quite tempted by this phone myself, but could you answer a quick question for me, please?
Once the phone is unlocked (as your other post) and another sim is inserted, would I still be able to receive the TV? I've read elsewhere that Virgin charge a fiver a month for the TV, which implies to me that it will only work with a Virgin sim in the phone
I've got 6 months of a tmobile deal to go, after which I am looking to get one of the ntl/Virgin sims with 300mins + 300 texts for a tenner a month.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. I have succeeded in app. unlocking, but not sim unlocking. So still to come.
2. You can sim unlock from a commercial service. Do a google.
3. If it is sim unlocked, you can insert a sim from another provider and use the phone fine. The TV will also work. However at least every month, virgin change the crypt key on the TV channels. So from time to time your TV will go off and you will need to reinsert the Virgin SIM to get the new crypt key.
4. The DAB will work regardless
rgds
Thanks for the info, Colonel!
I've just posted on another forum to find out if the ntl offer will class as a monthly contract to get the tv for free. I'll post back when I get an answer
this phone can be unlocked either for free from virgin by ordering the code( you must have used at least 30 quid since you have had your phone tho) or you can get it unlocked instantly from imei-check but they take payment thru paypal,and as most of us know paypal are as reliable as an english cricket team in australia so i stay welll clear
but the virgin option is pretty cool,although wouldnt know wat to do with the 30 quid once topped up as virgin services are pretty useless
Lobster price
Yep brilliant.
We are porting our software to them as we speak and should have 10 of them arriving tommorrow.
Out in the field next week.
I'll let you know.......
SteveW
in the field
10 out in the field all working fine........
Data charges are expensive though
Its only £80 now.
£80
Where from????
classicxda said:
Where from????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.modaco.com/index.php?showtopic=251178
Lobster 700TV (HTC monet)
I've got one. I bought it for the DAB radio which is excellent.
The main draw back I've got is the Bluetooth A2DP issue. It don't work from the box, although the manual says it does! I've got back to Virgin who are presently investigating (first response was "it don't do A2DP" but they had to rethink coz it's in the manual).
I'm looking at the Tornado A2DP hack. Tried it without 'apps unlock' and got insufficent permissions.
So next step is to unloack and try again......but will wait until virgin get back to me.
Happy with the rest of the features. But I'm not a heavy phone user. The other niggle I could mention is the keypad ...... keys a bit small and have to take care. But it is usable just. I'm not abig texter and could imagine that texting could be a pain.
If I'm sending messages I use my PDA with the Lobster as a bluetooth modem. This works well.
Overall very satisfied. But got to sort the A2DP issue.
Lobster now FREE with 12 months FREE Tariff
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just seen that the Lobster tv phone is now appearing FREE with 12 months free tariff on virgin.
http://www.cheapest4mobiles.co.uk/di...gift=&hs=700TV
This might be a stupid question to ask from a this type of community but the Chinese knock-offs or the endgadget term 'KIRF' phones
The sciphone N19
The sciphone N21
Aphone A6
Are these really android?
and if so arnt they upgradable to, for instance Android 2.0
and cant they be flashed with roms from other devices? (I'm kind of new to this and I dont really know what a 'rom' is, yet!)
Their only imitations. Which means the hardware inside is different. So you won't be able to flash a ROM designed for a G1 for example since the imitation and the G1 have different hardware (drivers)....
You might be able to install an updated android system assuming it's not a lookalike system, for example a regular Nokia OS with it's "Face Painted" to look like android lol. Also remember, the hardware inside it probably bare minimum to just run what it came with....
the video
but this looks pretty convincing that its android, isn't it?
kurt.hewett said:
but this looks pretty convincing that its android, isn't it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It might actually be android. You probably won't be able to use the custom roms you find here because of hardware differences but it looks like it's running an actual android system. Remember android is Open Source so it's even easier/cheaper for the Chinese to do this, lol...
i wouldnt buy any of these phones...not even for 50€
> i wouldnt buy any of these phones...not even for 50€
From what I've seen, an Android phone intended for the Chinese domestic market...
* Would be "rooted out of the box". They wouldn't even bother to try protecting it.
* Would be electronically compatible with two dozen other Chinese domestic Android phones. They might have different button layouts, screen sizes, batteries, and build quality, but the biggest single thing driving their firmware would be the manufacturer's ability to slap one of Google's reference builds into it more or less verbatim.
* Would put most American and European phones to shame insofar as aesthetics go. Cheap Chinese stuff might have nonexistent build quality, but even the lowest-quality crap to come out of an anonymous factory somewhere in Harbin or Chonggqing is going to look attractive, if not downright cool.
* Almost without a doubt, would be the most feature-packed ghetto-fabulous phone you could pull out of your pocket anywhere in America. Nothing on the phone might work reliably (or for more than 3 months before breaking), but if there's a feature you can pack into a phone... it'll be there.
* If you were fluent in Mandarin or Cantonese, and stumbled across one in China, it would probably be so cheap, you could buy two spares for less than it would cost to insure a PDA phone for a year and pay one replacement deductible for any carrier in the US.
Speaking of which... check out dealextreme.com if you want to see some crazy stuff you can buy directly from China. I've bought about a hundred bucks worth of stuff from them over the past year, and I've grown to be rather fond of them. They have a ton of phones I've never really looked at too closely since none of the phones they sell will ever work on Sprint, but they might have something Android-ready if you're in Europe or can live with EDGE-only in the US (I seriously doubt any phone sold in China today can do 1700/2200 or 850/850 UMTS). I'm still laughing about their "iFhone" models, or the phone running some unknown OS (probably some flavor of LiMo) that looks like A brown European Hero... or the "NOKLA N95"
mrandroid said:
It might actually be android. You probably won't be able to use the custom roms you find here because of hardware differences but it looks like it's running an actual android system. Remember android is Open Source so it's even easier/cheaper for the Chinese to do this, lol...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are real Android, period. We can make any kind of WM/Android GSM mobiles under USD$100! Just figure out how much HTC gain on you guys!
miamicanes said:
> i wouldnt buy any of these phones...not even for 50€
From what I've seen, an Android phone intended for the Chinese domestic market...
* Would be "rooted out of the box". They wouldn't even bother to try protecting it.
* Would be electronically compatible with two dozen other Chinese domestic Android phones. They might have different button layouts, screen sizes, batteries, and build quality, but the biggest single thing driving their firmware would be the manufacturer's ability to slap one of Google's reference builds into it more or less verbatim.
* Would put most American and European phones to shame insofar as aesthetics go. Cheap Chinese stuff might have nonexistent build quality, but even the lowest-quality crap to come out of an anonymous factory somewhere in Harbin or Chonggqing is going to look attractive, if not downright cool.
* Almost without a doubt, would be the most feature-packed ghetto-fabulous phone you could pull out of your pocket anywhere in America. Nothing on the phone might work reliably (or for more than 3 months before breaking), but if there's a feature you can pack into a phone... it'll be there.
* If you were fluent in Mandarin or Cantonese, and stumbled across one in China, it would probably be so cheap, you could buy two spares for less than it would cost to insure a PDA phone for a year and pay one replacement deductible for any carrier in the US.
Speaking of which... check out dealextreme.com if you want to see some crazy stuff you can buy directly from China. I've bought about a hundred bucks worth of stuff from them over the past year, and I've grown to be rather fond of them. They have a ton of phones I've never really looked at too closely since none of the phones they sell will ever work on Sprint, but they might have something Android-ready if you're in Europe or can live with EDGE-only in the US (I seriously doubt any phone sold in China today can do 1700/2200 or 850/850 UMTS). I'm still laughing about their "iFhone" models, or the phone running some unknown OS (probably some flavor of LiMo) that looks like A brown European Hero... or the "NOKLA N95"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't be stupid! I am currently providing one of your "so -call" Cheap craps Android to a French operator! 15k each month. Let me tell u one thing, there is something called CE standard, or FCC in the US; ROSH.....etc. As long as our product passes those test in the lab, we have international standard certificates. I can also answer your doubts on the UTMS question. There is something called electronic IC chipset which send/recieve UTMS signals; furthermore, we do not have to invent it as Americans/Europeans gave it to us because they beg for our RMB. I think Huawei is at least 5 time the size of HTC, right? Moreover, most of the current WCDMA/HSDPA/HSUPA base station equiptment is provied by Huawei worldwide! Android, which google gave Huawei for FREE because google wished Huawei to modify their Hisilicon smartphone(hardware) platform to use it instead of Windows Mobile; and the Hisilicon platform supports both OS on the same PCBA. We are a small firm, and we are current selling more than 250k smartphones per year, let alone those mega size manufactures!
As long as someone has money, products/technology would look for them to buy or invest. Americans, just keep your tunnel vision; that answers why our country is more and more wealthly and yours could only loan to pay-up depts. I am waiting for your bankruptcy!
P.S. I have never done a deal to sell to the U.S. not due to our own quality, just because Americans have no money but big-mouths!
P.S. Your unknown OS is called MTK platform(Mediatek), which partly owned by Foxconn; captures more than 65% of world wide GSM market in 2009! Samsung and LG are both their customers on the dual sim models! MTK will launch their smartphone platform on Android/WM this quarter!
So if China is so wonderful, when are you guys going to invent something original instead of just using your near-slave labor to put out cheap copies of American and European inventions? Something new and original that doesn't "borrow", abuse, or our right steal the intellectual property of the West?
Just curious.
calm down guys. seriously. this isn't the right place for any kind of political debate.
Talking about phones... there are a couple of reasons why chinese phones are cheaper. one of the main reasons: the development costs are much lower. most chinese phones are knock-offs, they don't have to pay any fancy designer and reverse engeneering requires less ressources than actual inventing and developing. in addition to that work simply is much cheaper in china as you probably know.
there is something called CE standard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
c'mon. passing the CE tests is nothing to be proud of. 79cent plastic toys have CE-logos.
fabsn said:
calm down guys. seriously. this isn't the right place for any kind of political debate.
Talking about phones... there are a couple of reasons why chinese phones are cheaper. one of the main reasons: the development costs are much lower. most chinese phones are knock-offs, they don't have to pay any fancy designer and reverse engeneering requires less ressources than actual inventing and developing. in addition to that work simply is much cheaper in china as you probably know.
c'mon. passing the CE tests is nothing to be proud of. 79cent plastic toys have CE-logos.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CE standards required diffenent tests on each cataglory; u cannont compare toys with mobile. It tests radio performance, like GSM, WIFI, bluetooth; how many working hours can the components last, or testing material whether they are harmful to human body.
Gatecrasher R/T said:
So if China is so wonderful, when are you guys going to invent something original instead of just using your near-slave labor to put out cheap copies of American and European inventions? Something new and original that doesn't "borrow", abuse, or our right steal the intellectual property of the West?
Just curious.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1 mobile with dual SIM stand-by was invented by Chinese; It captures more than 40% of the current GSM market. Once again, our so-called cheap phones captures more than 65% of the market in 2009! Way more than the combine figures of Nokia, Samsung, SE, LG and Moto. Oh, I forgot.....Moto asked Foxconn and TCL to O.D.M mobile products for them. Is this one kind of the West's own invention?? Invention needs MONEY, that's why the West beg for our RMB and pass the technology to us.
We are now developing dual SIMs Windows Mobile, probably be launched late 2nd Quarter! Did u play with any of these before? Give a try then!
Sciphone N21 is apparently the same as DSTL search here for roms.
Sciphone N19 (the one i got few weeks ago) doesn't seem to be a replica of some other known phone. It runs android 1.5 out of the box, has unusual filesystem structure and I haven't found a way to recover (in case i brick it) with upgrade, therefore I won't be attempting upgrade to 1.6 or 2.0.1. 'official' site doesn't seem to mention existence or intention on publishing upgrades.
Android Market doesn't exist as app, out of the box, but there are some ways around it. (eg get Android Market for SDK -- as per some posts on this forum) then dig out apps to put on Sciphone N19. Once I collect everything required for a 'patch' I'll post.
Resolution on N19 is weird -- QVGA, not the usual HVGA, so a lot of the apps off Android Market that are written poorly for a fixed rez don't scale, and are not usable.
I'm not sure about other phones you were asking about.
What I was waiting for
xulture said:
Sciphone N21 is apparently the same as DSTL search here for roms.
Sciphone N19 (the one i got few weeks ago) doesn't seem to be a replica of some other known phone. It runs android 1.5 out of the box, has unusual filesystem structure and I haven't found a way to recover (in case i brick it) with upgrade, therefore I won't be attempting upgrade to 1.6 or 2.0.1. 'official' site doesn't seem to mention existence or intention on publishing upgrades.
Android Market doesn't exist as app, out of the box, but there are some ways around it. (eg get Android Market for SDK -- as per some posts on this forum) then dig out apps to put on Sciphone N19. Once I collect everything required for a 'patch' I'll post.
Resolution on N19 is weird -- QVGA, not the usual HVGA, so a lot of the apps off Android Market that are written poorly for a fixed rez don't scale, and are not usable.
I'm not sure about other phones you were asking about.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that was what I was waiting for, (not the debate which phone is better nor which economy )
btw what is the official site you were talking abt?
the box came with www.mysciphone.com written on it.. That site seems to be the most official ;-) I can't seem to register for their forums though. Other models they have for sale are android and iphone look-alikes. I don't know much about iphones. But the N19 and N21 actually come with proper Android.
The N21 does actually take my interest. 0.6ghz? check. 2 SD card slots? check. Android 1.5 Cupcake? Meh, but never mind. 5mp camera? Sweet. Under £100? You bet.
And don't knock the Chinese. Remember, they had their enlightenment while we were still stuck in the dark ages, and if you really think about it, they have been exporting their technologies to us since time immemorial.
Yeah, they're cheap knock offs, but they're aimed at their domestic market. The stuff they do for our market, Google and HTC have commissioned, like the Nexus One for example (and yes, I would bet my last pound that it was manufactured in China).
And I bet there are loads of Chinese Android hackers who, if only we could communicate with them, could show us a thing or two about rooting and modding Androids (and possibly give us the rooting kits to these phones as well).
Phil.
pbrennan42 said:
The N21 does actually take my interest. 0.6ghz? check. 2 SD card slots? check. Android 1.5 Cupcake? Meh, but never mind. 5mp camera? Sweet. Under £100? You bet.
And don't knock the Chinese. Remember, they had their enlightenment while we were still stuck in the dark ages, and if you really think about it, they have been exporting their technologies to us since time immemorial.
Yeah, they're cheap knock offs, but they're aimed at their domestic market. The stuff they do for our market, Google and HTC have commissioned, like the Nexus One for example (and yes, I would bet my last pound that it was manufactured in China).
And I bet there are loads of Chinese Android hackers who, if only we could communicate with them, could show us a thing or two about rooting and modding Androids (and possibly give us the rooting kits to these phones as well).
Phil.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think the product that u r waiting for shares the same solution or PCBA with this: http://www.jetsun.net.cn/ProductShow.asp?ID=116
There is another version that runs on CDMA EVDO(CDMA 1X) network. They should be selling at around USD$180. For the rooting kits, you need to make sure the chipset solution is the same; otherwise it won't work. For example, the tool on Hisilicon platform doesn't work with Marvell even they both runs Andriod 1.5. Even so, still a lot of work needed to be done as u need to migrate the LCD drivers, TP driver, camera driver.....etc.
Once again, Androids or WM6.5 do not need to hack. Google/Microsoft pass their solutions/designs to chipset makers; Androids or WM6.5 then can run on that specific PCBA design. We will get an example and BOM list of that design when we purchase the chipset with RMB or USD. IT IS COMPLETELY LEGAL because this is called "technology transfer". In fact, those chipset makers are pulling all stops to help us to develop our own product. BECAUSE THEY WANT SALES AND $$$! Just that simple!
P.S. I don't know whether you guys have ever heard of Marvell....It is listed on Nasdaq, and bought Intel's Xscale(Mobile CPUs) division back in 2005. Marvell currently supplies : Alcatel、Arima、Asus、Cisco Systems、Compal、D-Link、ECS Elitegroup、Ericsson、Fujitsu、Gateway、Gigabyte Technology、Hewlett Packard、Hitachi、Huawei、Intel、Inventec、LG、Linksys、Lucent Technologies、Motorola、MSI、NEC、NETGEAR、Nokia、Nortel Networks、Panasonic、Sharp、Sony、Quanta Computer、RIM、Samsung、Seagate、Toshiba、VTech、Western Digital。
I just want to clarify something: for the most part, I like, and enthusiastically approve, of most Chinese electronics goods. If you re-read my post, most of it is actually a compliment. One area where Chinese companies have American and European companies beaten badly is aesthetic design. Chinese companies place a very high importance on making things look nice. American companies, by comparison, regard beauty as the first thing to kill when cutting costs.
Just to give a semi-related example, last year I was shopping for new laminate flooring for my house. As anyone who's been to Home Depot or Lowe's knows, American and European laminate flooring generally looks *awful*. You can tell from 20 feet away that it's fake. On the other hand, high end laminate flooring from China (intended mainly for sale in China, but occasionally ends up for sale from small companies in big cities like Miami & New York) will blow you away. You'd literally have to get on your hands & knees, with a flashlight and magnifying glass, to know for sure that it isn't real wood.
Why don't American companies, like Home Depot, sell it? They make higher profit margins selling engineered hardwood. If they sold laminate for half the price that looked 99% as good as the best hardwood, nobody would bother with engineered hardwood. That's why the only place you can buy it in America is from small businesses that literally buy a few shipping containers of it, then sell it straight from their warehouse. The 60c/foot laminate from China is just as awful as the 99c/foot laminate from WilsonArt or Pergo... but the $3-4/foot laminate from China is amazingly good.
As far as my statement that the phones wouldn't be able to work on Sprint or Verizon, and wouldn't be able to use 3G data on GSM, I maintain that it's almost certainly true *right now*. It's not because the Chinese phones are low quality or less advanced. It's due to an unfortunate combination of politics and the business practices of American cell phone carriers.
As far as I know, the United States is the only country on Earth where UMTS operates at 850MHz/850MHz (AT&T) or 1700/2200MHz (T-Mobile). OK, Canada & Mexico might use the same frequencies, but it's still a very small subset of the world market. More importantly, T-Mobile didn't even OWN those frequencies until ~3 years ago, and didn't deploy its first 1700/2200 UMTS cell for customer use until ~2 years ago. In most parts of the country, they're still in the process of deploying it, and WILL be for at least a few more years.
The FCC isn't happy about it, but it WILL tolerate the use of imported cell phones that are approved by some other government agency it respects (including those of Europe, Japan, and Canada). The problem is, THOSE foreign agencies will only certify and approve frequencies relevant to their own countries. Since 1700/2200 are irrelevant to use in their countries, they won't certify it (even if they DO certify the same phone for 1900/2100UMTS). Right now, the FCC is pretty much the only government agency that will certify a phone for 1700/2200 operation, and getting FCC approval costs about $100,000. Because it's so expensive, and because the only market where it matters is the US, NOBODY -- Chinese, Finnish, Korean, or otherwise -- is going to spend the money getting a phone approved by the FCC for 1700/2200UMTS in the US unless they already have a firm order from AT&T or T-Mobile that's contingent upon getting that approval first.
Thus, it's obviously not inconceivable that a phone not officially approved for 1700/2200UMTS might work anyway. HOWEVER, if someone were caught trying to import phones capable of 1700/2200UMTS that weren't approved by *somebody* official, they'd be confiscated and destroyed.
There IS a possible loophole: since most new cell phones have software-defined radios, it would be VERY possible for a Chinese company to export phones to the US that were approved for international UMTS frequencies (1900/2100), and were shipped with radio firmware that did ONLY those frequencies... but ALSO quietly leak the unapproved firmware that would "magically" enable 1700/2200 UMTS radio operation. Now, technically, anyone using a phone like that to do 1700/2200UMTS would be breaking the law... but as a practical matter, the phone would work fine, and nobody would know the difference.
I know this, because there were quite a few discussions about it regarding the TrollTech GreenPhone and OpenMoko. AFAIK, nobody ever managed to hack the firmware to enable 1700/2200UMTS for either phone, but that was mainly because TrollTech and FIC are big companies with a lot to lose if they made the FCC angry. On the OTHER hand, I can definitely see a small(er) Chinese handset manufacturer quietly leaking a copy of firmware capable of 1700/2200UMTS to an American importer for him to test, then order 100,000 phones to sell on eBay once he's verified that the phones can be reflashed and do 1700/2200UMTS on T-Mobile. The phones would be legal to import, because their 'out of the box' capabilities would be exactly what were officially approved... but anyone could then buy them and reflash them to do 1700/2200UMTS on Tmo. As long as the guy selling them didn't *advertise* them as 1700/2200-capable, ship them with the unapproved firmware, or get caught telling customers how to do it, the FCC couldn't touch him. He *might* even be able to get away with a disclaimer in the ad, like "WARNING: This phone is only APPROVED for 1900/2100UMTS, and MUST NOT be reflashed with unauthorized firmware to enable 1700/2200 UMTS." (making it obvious to everyone that it's not only possible, but probably quite easy to do).
As far as CDMA phones go, imported phones aren't likely to be useful in America for quite a while. There's no technical reason why they wouldn't work. The problem is that Sprint maintains a database of the ESN of every phone they officially sell, and they won't allow customers to use phones whose ESN isn't in their holy database. In theory, Verizon WILL allow you to use any unlocked CDMA phone you can get to work... but as a practical matter, this just means you can flash a Sprint phone that's the twin of a Verizon phone with Verizon firmware. Without Verizon-specific firmware, you'll have problems with data (I'm pretty sure EV-DO won't work), text messages will get mangled (Verizon formats them differently than everyone else), and the phone's voicemail indicator won't work properly.
God knows, 4-5 years ago, there were two or three Chinese-made CDMA PalmOS phones I would have *killed* to be able to use on Sprint.
The point I made about Chinese phones being "rooted out of the box" was actually a compliment, meant to illustrate that to users HERE (at XDA-develoeprs), Chinese phones are likely to be more interesting than American & European phones *if* someone can figure out how to get them onto T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon "through the back door" (or lobby China's government to twist Obama's arm and get the FCC to *force* Sprint and Verizon to let us have R-UIM cards and use any unlocked CDMA phone we want, in the name of international interoperability). I suspect the 1700/2200 problem will take care of itself in another 2-3 years (eventually, CE and the others WILL start certifying 1700/2200 capabilities, because Europeans will want phones that can officially do 3G UMTS when visiting the US), though 850UMTS is probably a lost cause for economic and technological reasons (getting a software radio that can already do 1900/2100 to also do 1700/2200 is a small change... getting it to do 850 is another matter entirely).
Likewise, the point I made about Chinese phones being very similar hardware-wise, and using nearly identical firmware, was meant to illustrate another reason why they'd likely be of interest to users HERE... if someone can get Android 2.1 to build for ONE Chinese phone, there's a good chance that they'd be able to get it to build for ANY Chinese phone built from the same reference platform and chipset. To a certain extent, that's already the case with HTC phones. In the long run, Chinese companies will be the ones that commoditize Android phones, creating hundreds of handsets that are more or less hardware-compatible as long as you have the right drivers (the way laptops are), but vary in the small details that currently frustrate so many users here. If I could buy a Chinese CDMA Android phone capable of working on Sprint with 800x480 display, 5MP camera, with a REAL gamepad (like the Sidekick has/had), and real hardkeys (I *hate* fake touchscreen buttons), I wouldn't *care* whether HTC and all of Sprint's official phones were button-free iSlabs. In the long run, China's domestic market is so big that if someone can come up with a way to keep those phones compatible with US & European networks, EVERYONE will benefit from increased choice -- especially users whose preferences differ from those of the iPhone-drooling masses. When there are 2-3 billion potential customers (between the US, Europe, and China), you can get away with making niche products that only appeal to a narrower group of buyers, because .01% of 3 billion is STILL 300,000
knock offs of what exactly?
isn't android open source? isnt this what google intended?
some interesting points made in this thread, nice to see comments from a manufacturer
just want to say (as iv have researched a lot on these knocks off type phones) a lot are Beautiful ! well worth the money.. have Good build quality , hardware & software (there smartphones anyway) and last time I checked my htc's etc were not built in US, Canada or tha UK lol
Just to add, http://fastcardtech.com Anyway not only has grate products, desent customerservice (Quick to answer anyway) They allso offer One year warrenty on all products, have grate prices (high shiping costs) They allso have a lot of grate video unboxings & reviews allso by there customers.. So buying a brand new WM or andriod smartphone that comes with warrenty for $100 to $200 is well worth it in my books... even if its just for WiFi surfing & software testing..
this the price of this phone in uk orange stores, for a pay as you go device. then unlocking it cost around 10 pound at unlockallcellulars.for this price you ve got the snapdragon cpu, a very nice lcd display(colors are better than the ones in htc hd2) and the usb host function. Come one guys!
btw, even if this phone cant phone proprely, a fix should come, and it is still a good gps , and media player.
That's if you can find one instore as they sold out of these phones on the Orange website 2 Weeks ago.
Stock instores has been running low aswell, there were only 3 left when I got mine from the orange shop in torquay. Just offering it on contract now afaik
so, the price in UK is 150 pounds (that means arround 180 euros)? i have a friend over there, maybe i can buy another one for my cousin.
i wanted to get one too, but im reading about those flashing rom issues, sounds diffcult, anyone know is there any stock near manchester? the price is really unbeatable 150 pounds thats like 1/3 of some other competitors headset
X807 said:
i wanted to get one too, but im reading about those flashing rom issues, sounds diffcult, anyone know is there any stock near manchester? the price is really unbeatable 150 pounds thats like 1/3 of some other competitors headset
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There were a few in Leeds near the Merrion shopping centre
got one
i got one yesterday in solihull birmingham they had 2 left instore i guess i was lucky when i say the price i asked not questions i just scooped up one a 1ghz cpu £150 you gotta be crazy if you dont get one.
These were available in Leamington Orange shop last week. I got one from Orange website a few weeks ago, but went into the shop to get one for my girlfriend. Thye are not perfect but still good value considering their usefullness for email, skype, messenger & media player. The main drawbacks I have are:
It's crap as phone: difficult to hear, screen locks annoyingly when you want to use touchpad, when the phone is locked and you get a call, it is impossible to answer. You have to wait till it rings out, unlock the phone then ring them back.
The motion sensor is not v responsive. I dont mind waiting half a second when switching from portrait to landscape, but sometimes it just refuses to switch.
No rdp client. I owuld like this for work, there was one on my PPC2003 devce all those yrs ago. I downloaded the finster rdp client and it doesn't work for me (yes I have installed it to the device rather than the memory card).
You can't get the Micro SD card out without removing the battery (and thereby switching it off)
shoptheweb said:
These were available in Leamington Orange shop last week. I got one from Orange website a few weeks ago, but went into the shop to get one for my girlfriend. Thye are not perfect but still good value considering their usefullness for email, skype, messenger & media player. The main drawbacks I have are:
It's crap as phone: difficult to hear, screen locks annoyingly when you want to use touchpad, when the phone is locked and you get a call, it is impossible to answer. You have to wait till it rings out, unlock the phone then ring them back.
The motion sensor is not v responsive. I dont mind waiting half a second when switching from portrait to landscape, but sometimes it just refuses to switch.
No rdp client. I owuld like this for work, there was one on my PPC2003 devce all those yrs ago. I downloaded the finster rdp client and it doesn't work for me (yes I have installed it to the device rather than the memory card).
You can't get the Micro SD card out without removing the battery (and thereby switching it off)
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If ur going to sell it, please contact me
Is my phone alive????
I went to my bed today and i had £2.50 of credit on my phone, i woke up and i had a message from orange saying that i only had 90p of credit, please top up I am wondering what my phone was doing when i was asleep, i live by myself so i cant blame anyone else, whats going on. This is the umpteen time this has happened.
The only thing i can think of is that it is doing updates without permission, during peak times, if this is the case what can i do to stop this? Any help would be appreciated.
smcbeath said:
Is my phone alive????
I went to my bed today and i had £2.50 of credit on my phone, i woke up and i had a message from orange saying that i only had 90p of credit, please top up I am wondering what my phone was doing when i was asleep, i live by myself so i cant blame anyone else, whats going on. This is the umpteen time this has happened.
The only thing i can think of is that it is doing updates without permission, during peak times, if this is the case what can i do to stop this? Any help would be appreciated.
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Call your provider and chek if you don't hav any inscription in some service.
It's easy to pud some one in some service without if he know.
In internet is just enter in one site for ex: music then pud in iscription the phone number of someone you hate and that is't.
Now hi has a some service without he know and they pick money every day. Somethink like 10p,20p or 30p every /f/ day.
All my credit was actually gone, so since i have had the phone, start of january, i have seen £4, £1.50 and £2.50 disappear from my original £10 credit. Basically i only use my phone for text messaging and using hotmail. I havent even looked at anything like music, radio etc, never mind subscribing to anything.
On the same day i lost the £2.50 i did instal the gchris 1.2.1 cab, excellent app but could the weather update have cost me the money? Or does the phone actually do updates whenever it wants, ie at peak times without asking
I did a bit of searching and installed nodata.cab and switched of orange intranet but kept orange sms/mms on.
Sorry if i am coming accross as a moaning twat here but this was my last phone, a samsung c300, if it said i had £5 of credit, i could go to sleep and wake up and still have £5 of credit.
Disable the `Orange Internet`, go to Settings > Connections > Connections > Advanced tap > Select Networks > Network Management page > use `My Work Network ` on both selections, you should be okay now.
It`s the weather update that cost you so much money.
Don`t use `Orange Internet` or you have to pay for it, use `Active Sync` to update your weather on PC instead.
If you want to use Orange Internet make sure you configure the program to use `Free connection` to update your programs.
http://www.1800pocketpc.com/tag/modaco-nodata
nodata is the program u need ... its effectivly stops winmo from committing such crimes as doing updates without premission
X807 said:
anyone know is there any stock near manchester?
The Orange shop in St Ann's square Manchester had one left on Sunday after I bought one (149.99 + 10 top-up)
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The orange store in stevenage has a few of these left, and yesterday they had reduced the phone to £129 PAYG so an even bigger bargain.
Bargain!
I was lucky enough to get the last one of these in stock in Grimsby yesterday for 129.99+10.00 top-up. At least I assume it was the last one, they removed all the 'POS (point of sale)' as I left.
It is better than (most) of the reviews had led me to believe, a bit clunky in places, but at that price a bargain for sure.
souljaboy said:
http://www.1800pocketpc.com/tag/modaco-nodata
nodata is the program u need ... its effectivly stops winmo from committing such crimes as doing updates without premission
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the hint! Programm worked fine for me.
Can I still buy the TG01 anywhere for that price?
Some smart guys some time ago bought about 10-15 models and after orange discontiued selling they sold it on ebay
Hi
First please pardon my english
I'm new in all these android things, and i'm interested in buying Evo view 4g because of it's price and all it's positive review
but since i live outside us/europe (FYI i live in indonesia) i wont be able to get sprint contract
there's this 1 negative review, i'll paste it here
IF YOU ARE NOT GOING TO SIGN UP FOR A TWO YEAR SPRINT PLAN READ THE NEXT PARAGRAPH !
If you intend to use this without connecting it to a Sprint Account there are some things you should consider before making this purchase:
1: You will NOT ever be able to update the Profile, Firmware or PRL of this device. This is very bad.
2: The Cellular network radios will always be on. They will create a SIGNIFICANT drain on your battery as they will be in constant scan mode unable to connect. There are ways around this. There is some software available on the Official Android Marketplace called "Network" that can take you to a page where you can modify the radio settings. It is not 100% reliable, and if you read through the comments on that Applications Review page you will see that it is not working for everyone. There are more permanent ways to deal with cell radios if you are willing and able to root your Evo View 4g. That is a complicated process and as of now many of the "fixes" for cell radios are PERMANENT meaning once you disable them , you can never get them back.
3: You are going to get nagged to death. Each time you boot the tablet you will be presented with a Sprint screen that urges you to activate the device. You will not be able to set your own homepage in the default browser, as, until you have activated the phone Sprint spams bloat at you instructing you to contact a Sprint Rep asap. This will happen during use as well, though it seems to happen randomly, and not very often, but it will happen if you do not disable the Radios.
4: Sprint will often interrupt whatever you are doing on the tablet to remind you that you have not activated it yet..........
5: The screen is not as sharp, vivid or responsive as that of the Best Buy Flyer.
This tablet may not "REQUIRE" a Sprint account for "use" but the features and functionality of this tablet are greatly lessened if you do not have a Sprint Account.
If you want to use this as a wifi only device this is a very poor choice of purchase. You are MUCH better off snagging a wifi only Flyer.
Bottom line the View / Flyer are great tablets, but, if you do not plan to sign up for a Sprint account this is NOT the right tablet for you. Sprint has purposefully built in crippling features to those who use it without a Sprint Account.
I am very sorry I purchased this. I really wish I had just gone with another Flyer.
I am pretty ticked off at the merchant too.......... Claiming that this does not "REQUIRE" a Sprint account to use is the same thing as saying that a Honda Civic does not "REQUIRE" headlights to drive.
Think this over very carefully...... The price really isn't that great.......
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because this 14th of march my friend who lives in US will come to indonesia, it's $100-$200 cheaper to buy in US than in indonesia, so i have less than 2 weeks to decide on what tablets to buy
in indonesia CDMA have better internet quality compared to GSM, that's why i'm considering view to be my 1st android tablet, since i can't use sprint service, i'll have to inject the tablet with indonesian CDMA provider, will i miss a lot of things like the review above stated? especially #1
1: You will NOT ever be able to update the Profile, Firmware or PRL of this device. This is very bad.
Thank you
Wow, that reviewer doesn't know a thing about the tablet. All of that is completely false. Pretty much everyone around here doesn't use the device on Sprint.
1. The firmware updates come from HTC via the internet. While Sprint has a hand in approving them, they don't actually send them out. I had no problems downloading, installing, and using the OTA Honeycomb update without any Sprint service. You don't need any PRL updates if you're not using it on Sprint.
2. You can easily turn the cellular radios off - it's called airplane mode. You can still use WiFi/Bluetooth/GPS in airplane mode. There are also other simple ways to deactivate them discussed in this thread.
3. When you boot up the tablet from being turned completely off, you get a prompt to activate it, which you can quickly dismiss. There are no other Sprint prompts at any time. There's no "nagging" whatsoever. And you can even get rid of that activation prompt with root or without root.
4. There are never any interruptions to activate the tablet after the first one when booting it up.
5. The screen is exactly the same as the screen on the Flyer.
Now, as far as being able to use it on an Indonesian CDMA provider, that's something I can't authoritatively give an answer on. In the U.S., it can be successfully flashed to be used on only one other CDMA carrier - Boost - and that's because Boost uses Sprint's network. I'd say there's a good chance you may not be able to use it with any Indonesian CDMA carrier, but I can't say for sure.
bsweetness said:
Wow, that reviewer doesn't know a thing about the tablet. All of that is completely false. Pretty much everyone around here doesn't use the device on Sprint.
1. The firmware updates come from HTC via the internet. While Sprint has a hand in approving them, they don't actually send them out. I had no problems downloading, installing, and using the OTA Honeycomb update without any Sprint service. You don't need any PRL updates if you're not using it on Sprint.
2. You can easily turn the cellular radios off - it's called airplane mode. You can still use WiFi/Bluetooth/GPS in airplane mode. There are also other simple ways to deactivate them discussed in this thread.
3. When you boot up the tablet from being turned completely off, you get a prompt to activate it, which you can quickly dismiss. There are no other Sprint prompts at any time. There's no "nagging" whatsoever. And you can even get rid of that activation prompt with root or without root.
4. There are never any interruptions to activate the tablet after the first one when booting it up.
5. The screen is exactly the same as the screen on the Flyer.
Now, as far as being able to use it on an Indonesian CDMA provider, that's something I can't authoritatively give an answer on. In the U.S., it can be successfully flashed to be used on only one other CDMA carrier - Boost - and that's because Boost uses Sprint's network. I'd say there's a good chance you may not be able to use it with any Indonesian CDMA carrier, but I can't say for sure.
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wow thank you for the answer, i think i'll get this baby then
is the offer from amazon $289 the best offer atm in US? i'm planning on buying the stylus and screen guard also
when i tried to search in google about where to buy, all i got is reviews with no store that sells this product except for amazon, and yes i have no knowledge about international stores
One thing that kept me away from the view was the updates such as possible ICS will have to be pushed by sprint. I would assume just like a phone that the updates are controlled by the carrier and if they want you to have it. This alone makes the flyer a better deal in my opinion. This is am assumption of course. Also with out having a sim slot this becomes very limited on what carriers it can be used on. I know the flyer comes without sim access but the view is locked to sprint. The 32gb model looked very appealing at 250 but the negatives out weigh the positives.
Jjday7 said:
One thing that kept me away from the view was the updates such as possible ICS will have to be pushed by sprint. I would assume just like a phone that the updates are controlled by the carrier and if they want you to have it. This alone makes the flyer a better deal in my opinion. This is am assumption of course.
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As I mentioned in my post, this isn't true. While Sprint does approve the updates, the updates are actually built and sent out by HTC. This is the case with Android phones as well - the manufacturers build and send out the updates with the carrier's approval. The carrier does not push them out. My View has never been activated on Sprint, and I received the OTA update to Honeycomb shortly after I purchased it. It all works via the internet and has nothing to do with cellular connectivity. You'll still get any and all official updates on the View even if it's never been activated with Sprint.
---------- Post added at 12:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:59 AM ----------
callmeanoob said:
wow thank you for the answer, i think i'll get this baby then
is the offer from amazon $289 the best offer atm in US? i'm planning on buying the stylus and screen guard also
when i tried to search in google about where to buy, all i got is reviews with no store that sells this product except for amazon, and yes i have no knowledge about international stores
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The lowest I can find for current prices via a quick search is $274.94 on eBay. It's been down as low as $239 brand new a few times over the past three months, so it will probably drop again. But if you're operating in a specific time frame for the purchase, that range seems to be what they're currently going for.
Hello my sis recently purchased an sprint iPhone 5s about a week ago from eBay it arrived with no Sim and I didn't think that was a problem as sprint is CDMA well trying to activate it was a different story talked to sprint after self activating wouldn't work and found out it did require a Sim so got transferred to sprint international and got to order a free Sim from them it arrived and activation didn't work talked to support and guy said I was sent an android varrarent of the Sim after he checked the numbers and I would have to reorder an iPhone compatible one they gave me free overnight ship and it came and activated fine my question is tho
Would it be possible to activate cheap Chinese phones like the goophone or there new s5Clones/generic android sim phones on sprint. I ask this question because the only Google results I could find were from like 2008 and older So not to relevant today and BTW I still don't like iPhone over priced fads that do half as much as a android
Anyone this is messing with me not knowing
cochran069 said:
Anyone this is messing with me not knowing
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i would of thought this thread/topic would of had a lot more traffic who wouldn't want a cheap replacement Chinese phone as a backup in-case of accidents or theft and loss on the sprint network.
i basically just wanted to know if possible because last time i knew of sprint was cdma only still but i don't understand why they would have android sim card
You will have to check pretty carefully to make sure that the Chinese phone has the correct frequencies for use on what ever Carrier you go with. There is an article here discussing the pros and cons of getting a Chinese branded phone.
One thing to note is that the Moto G pretty much takes every Chinese phone to school and for not really that much more $$$.
justmpm said:
You will have to check pretty carefully to make sure that the Chinese phone has the correct frequencies for use on what ever Carrier you go with. There is an article here discussing the pros and cons of getting a Chinese branded phone.
One thing to note is that the Moto G pretty much takes every Chinese phone to school and for not really that much more $$$.
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yea there are only a few company's i found the supports hspa+ net10 / with an at&t sim i figure at&t too but i believe every usa gsm network if i recall correctly supports voice and text bandwidths
my dad purchased a n9776 about a year ago and his data speeds on net10 with an at&t sim was around 15-18mpbs down before they rolled out the new plans for net10. now hes thinking of switching carriers the apns keep switching and loosing connection every other day causing his mms and data to stop working until we reenter the settings. but i'd like to know if sprint would be a viable option in the future (much better customer support). recently his charging port on his phone broke so he looking for a new phone. ill show him that moto g