What should I get? Any advice? - Upgrading, Modifying and Unlocking

Ello,
I currently have an XDA IIs (Blue Angel). When I picked it up, it was beautiful. But now, it's starting to irritate me.
1. The whistling screen is louder than ever and it's driving me insane!
2.1 After updating to the newest official O2 ROM, the general speed of the machine is terrible! It crashes all the time (especially using TomTom).
2.2 After updating, I can no longer watch videos off my SD card without them jumping about, playing audio static every other second, of simply not accepting it at all!
So, I'm thinking of getting a new XDA - but which one??
This is what I use my XDA IIs for:
> TomTom Navigator 5 - I use this every day (when it works).
> Playing videos - 99% of the time of my 1GB SD card.
> E-mail
> Internet - lots of browsing and data transfers - - I try to use wi-fi whenever possible.
-I'm told that if I use 3G, then data charges won't be quite so massive, but I can't find any evidence of this.
> I'd love to get Skype working, but so far I've been unsuccessful.
I'd also love to get video calling going, but I read that O2 are going to start charging at rather high prices and not taking it out of the inclusive minutes - ergh.
+Plus, a usable camera would be nice.
What are your experiences? Any advice?
ANY help here would be very much appreciated!
Big thanks in advance!
-b

If you want video calling and want to stick with O2 then you'll need the XDA Pro. (O2's version of the HTC Universal)
Don't know about O2's charges but GPRS and 3G data with Orange cost the same. £1 per MB on the tarrif I'm on. 3G is just faster and would probably cost more because you're likely to use it more because of the usable speed.

I use tomtom every day on my Xdaiis with the latest official O2 ROM and it never crashes. Are you using it in corporate mode? Also considering your issue with videos too, I'd wonder if it's your SD card that is at fault rather than your device. Perhaps it might be worthwhile backing up everything on the card, formatting it and then putting everything back on. If possible try another SD card altogether.
however none of this will fix your whistling screen, or quell your desire to upgrade.
On O2 the universal is the xda exec, on t-mobile it's the mda pro and on Orange it's the SPV m5000, you might want to take a look at those, t-mobile do good data packages withj their walk & web tariffs, but it's t-mobile, Orange have the best 3g coverage but screw the device up a bit with their crappy homescreen software, O2 have the better looking device, with least modifications if you turn off O2 active, but their 3g coverage is not too impressive.

Nice one, peeps.
I thought the O2 Exec was the universal?
Any more for any more?

Related

orange m2000 vs o2 xda iis

Hi all, I've been reading for ages on o2's xda iis or the blue angel and the probs all are having here in the uk but not once have I heard of or seen of anyone having this kind of trouble with the orange m2000. Are there any m2000 owners out there who would like to give some feedback on the issue and let us know if you too are swamped with problems. I personally would like this device to use, but really don't want to go out on a limb when the wind is already blowing. :mrgreen: As far as pda's and phones go, I'm not a whiz and certainly don't want to have to pay for something just to have to do a rom update, as well as take things off that shouldn't be there to start with...like the o2 rubbish I keep reading about. I'm thinking I'd be better off with a nokia 6630 or maybe the o2 xda ii i, but then, I have never been fond of nokias, and don't want to use a stylus all the time... the 2s would have been the answer (I think), or it is the only one that's really appealed to me in function and looks...so now I'm wondering what about an orange m2000, unlocked, using on o2...can you get manual settings to surf the net? any problems with the 2000?
I've got the M2000 and it has exactly the same problems as all the other Blue Angel's, it's just less popular (party cause Orange don't tell anyone they sell it).
I'm now waiting for Orange to send me a replacement because mine is fastly becoming unusable. It's fine most of the time (aside from the usual problems), but when it crashes, a soft reset doesn't work and I have to remove the SD and the SIM card for up to an hour before I get get it to work again.
I know other people with M2000's who don't have these problems so I've hopefully just got a dodgy phone.
Edited to add that while the M2000 doesn't look as pretty as the XDAIIs, Orange don't put on any of the O2 extra rubbish that O2 do which is good. And the phone can easily be unlocked so you can use it with anyone.
to be honest the only problems that i've ever had with my IIs were all down to the 02 active stuff. once i got rid of that and upgraded to the latest rom (think they all ship with this now anyway) it's been trouble free
I had and XDA IIs which I purchased only 2 weeks ago and it never worked properly. I never even got round to installing any useful software. Twice it hard reset itself while I was opening pictures to send as MMS’s. And I had to soft reset it at least once every day. I even removed the 02 active crap but it was still unstable. The other thing with the IIs is the screen. WHY CHANGE IT! My old one is great but the new one has an awful rancid look and you can’t see it at a slight angle, you have to look straight at it.
I’ve sent it back now and am going to try the IIi in the hope that the faster processor and bigger memory make the device more stable. I’m back to using my XDAII now which I have no trouble with at all, its just old and a bit broken.
m2000
Hi guys, thanks for the response...think I'm going to go with the nokia 6630 for the pic quality, real player, and 3g connection. Might check out the o2 xda ii i, but really wanted a keypad. However, I've got plenty of time to see if there are any bugs in both. have you guys checked out howardforums.com? there is lots of useful stuff on there too. Also, I'm wondering about the o2 magician or xda mini. they say o2 is not releasing them here but they are supposed to be pretty good. anyone know about those?
Well I have both ( and all other versions of XDA's as well.. as we have lots).
I personally prefer the Orange m2000, as we got a free memory card and none of that god awful O2 active built into the rom. Seriously.. that O2 active is such a negative thing to my users. (wake up O2 - the XDA2s / M2000 is geared towards business users with their own apps. they seriously do not need or want a damned instant install popup spam menu.
XDA 4 / M5000 / HTC Universal wont be availble till end September.. So its a case of waiting.. (mines on preorder )
The O2 Active stuff is V.V.Easy to remove so I wouldn't worry about that to much and just go for the device you like the look of the most and can get the best price on
just bought an orange spv c500 and im well impressed.. a little hard to operate at first because of the buttons.. been used to touch screen for so long ive forgoten what buttons are for but it does everything my XDAII can in a smaller package. still trying to sort out the gprs settings because its an oarange phone but apart from that..... o2 canstick the XDAIIs where the sun dont shine. :wink:
btw does anyone know the o2 gprs settings for and orange spv c500?
c500
Hey, why didn't you send me a pm? You're not gonna believe this. Was on ebay the other night and got a c500 myself. Figured why not give it a shot as I'm familiar with the spv, and also know a lot about the e200, but know nothing about the c500. A guy I work with has 2 e200's, 1 has a switchboard problem and the other, is working on a switchboard problem. I figured out the settings for the spv as well as the spv e200.. Have you ever heard of Modaco.com? go there... look for gprs settings repository or something like that. Loads of settings are there...but the catch is, you have to mess around with them and tweak them to make them work, but it can be done. took me 3 weeks one time of thinking, and pulling my hair out...but eventually was accomplished. This guy that has 2, one is on orange and the other is on o2. The c500 might be different, but if you are willing to work on it with me...so am I. I'll have to send the phone to HTC first to get it fixed as it has a cracked screen (lcd) and outer, but apart from that it's perfect. This is strange...but cool. I think....

Should I Get An Orbit

Hi all,
this is my first post on this site. I was planning on getting an XDA orbit through o2 this week as an upgrade to my current contract. This would be my first PDA phone and i was looking forward to it and all the possiblities it includes. However after reading the posts on here i'm having second thoughts. This is mainly down to the MicroSD memory corruption issue. First of all is the likely to happen to my orbit if i get one, will there be a fix for it and is it a big enough problem for me not to bother and look at an alternative instead.Also does anybody use there PDA though a mac instead of a PC and does it cause many compatibility issues?
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated
Thanks in advance
James
JimboXiii said:
However after reading the posts on here i'm having second thoughts. This is mainly down to the MicroSD memory corruption issue. First of all is the likely to happen to my orbit if i get one, will there be a fix for it and is it a big enough problem for me not to bother and look at an alternative instead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Much as I admire the technology and form factor of the Orbit, I certainly could not advise you to get one until the MicroSD issue has been resolved.
Can you really afford to have a device which functions as your telephone/calendar/to do list/phone book/navigation device, but which you never know whether it will be OK or corrupted when you need to use it? Read through the (> 46 page long) thread here and take a guess on how likely you are to experience this problem.
HTC were supposed to be developing a fix, but it has been a long time now and nothing has been forthcoming. There has also been speculation that WM6 will be provided free of charge to owners, but this is a HTC decision not an O2 one. If you buy an O2 branded Orbit, you will need to wait until O2 decide whether they will make WM6 available. If they do, it may or may not be a chargeable upgrade, and there will certainly be a further delay while they apply the O2 customisations to the build.
Hi
I have had my Orbit for around 4 months now. I read the tread mentioned above and did worry about card corruption. So far it has only happened to me once (touch wood) but I had synced my whole SD card to my pc, so all i needed to do was reformat it using either my phone or a card reader an copy all the data back again, worked a treat.
have a look for 'Mob Sync' i got a free version from http://www.xda-orbit.com/
Apart from the card issue I have been really happy with mine.
I strongly recommend you to wait with final decision until Windows Mobile 6 for this device. I bought HTC Artemis (unbranded) and I regularly read HTC's answers that they are working on SD card problem issue. If this bug will exist in HTC P3300 with WM6 I will return device. It's not possible to use this as "Personal Digital Assistant" when your data are gone from time to time.
@richiev4
I'm happy with all that great features of Artemis too and I wish you luck with your device, but remember that data corruption problem occurs randomly. My device worked flawlessly 2 weeks, other time 3 hours so you never know.
So stay tuned and save your money if you can...
Cheers
I was in that delimma 2 weeks ago, saw extensive support for P3300 with the HTC itself committing to releasing the WM6 ROM's as well for it, so I ended up getting the P3300
jontymisra said:
I was in that delimma 2 weeks ago, saw extensive support for P3300 with the HTC itself committing to releasing the WM6 ROM's as well for it, so I ended up getting the P3300
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that's a level of commitment that I certainly haven't seen from HTC! They have known about the Data Card Corruption issue for quite a long time now, and they still haven't actually done anything about it.
Also, the original question was about getting an O2 Orbit, not a HTC P3300. Even if HTC do release a WM6 ROM, there is no guarantee that it will actually fix the data corruption problem or that O2 will decide to release it. And even if O2 do decide to release it, there is no guarantee that it will be free of charge to their customers. Plus there would be (another) delay while they add the O2 customizations.
The lifetime of a Smartphone or PDA is probably below 1 year now. Why spend money on a device that you cannot rely on, in the hope that there might be a fix some time in the future? If I knew then what I know now, I would not have bought my Orbit.
Sadly, in Canada these phones are not available to buy thru a contract, you have to buy them unlocked and at full price.

Xda orbit connection help please

hello,
im not all that good with the jargon of all these smartphones, as im fairly new to them, but im having a slight problem.
My Xda Orbit (Artemis) keeps on loosing the connection and it has often been a day or so untill i realise, obviously missing any incoming calls/texts etc. Obviously this has caused some problems. It either just randomly looses the connection, so the X at the top of the screen appears indicating there is no connection, and sometimes for some random reason it even turns off the phone/turns on airplane mode.
basics: Xda orbit running on WM 6.1 with the ROM "Artemis Touch 4.02 WWE installed. However i have had the ROM installed for months, and had no problems, this is a fairly recent thing that has started to happen over the last month or so.
if anyone could help, that would be greatly appriciated.
cheers.
losing conection
i had the same problem 1.5 years old p3300
i contacted htc support or in your case contact the manufacturer
mine got repaired , got a new motherbord. no cost at all

HTC Desire FOTA update 1.21.405.2 PROBLEMS

Hi everyone,
Latest Desire update has ben bringin a lot of problems to a lot of people. Apparently Wi-fi is not working properly, missing apps in the market which are already installed on the phone, battery issues....to name few. This affects branded and non branded phones...as far as I know.
I already contacted HTC and Vodafone (because in this case my update came thru Vodafone with a different firmware number but in fact it's exaclty same update) and they are sending me back and forth to each other. Bad service... Both companies are not willing to help at this moment.
A good example are ADW Launcher and LauncherPro. Both launcher can't be found in the Market anymore (check comments on developer's websites). People are downloading apks from their websites directly. Also QuickSettings is not to be found anywhere.
Wi-fi is not working for some of us.
And some people mentioned that battery life has dramatically improved/got worse.
WHAT'S HAPPENING?!?!?!?!
Has anyone experienced similar problems??? And better one....does anyone has a solution? Preferably without having to root your phone.
Quite a few problems here already mate
Endless problems. My phone will now loose it's connection to Orange. I have to reboot the phone to get it back. Sometimes it takes 3 or 4 reboots. Switching to Airplane mode only works sometimes, but usually results in my phone then telling me I do not have a SIM card inserted! Poor. Every time this happens, Wavesecure thinks someone has swapped my SIM out, and locks the phone up. Had to remove wavesecure (which is actually ridiculously easy so I wont be putting it back on) and I miss most of my calls.
Factory reset my phone in anticipation of what I knew HTC support would say. Did not put on any apps, left it as factory reset, all default settings, did not set google sync up. 7 hours later...no signal. SIM card works just fine in every other handset I've tried.
Phone is going back to HTC on Monday. If it returns in the same messed up state, i'll be looking at getting it rooted and having a proper radio and customr 2.2 ROM installed. I decided against rooting to avoid any bugs/issues. Seems that it's the likes of XDA and MoDaCo devs who know what they are doing more than HTC do. But I am new to Android. Lesson learnt.
I've had about 19 phones since 1998, and this is by far the most expensive, and the first one that has struggled with actually being a phone. Pathetic. HTC you'd better shine with your customer support. I have two friends with HTCs on pre-order on the strength of this phone. Mess this up and they'll cancel their orders and I can't blame them.
Motorolla anyone? Can you make and recieve calls on them? Yes? Hmmmm.......
I have updated my Desire which has not been altered in anyway and it now has a nifty text count next to the persons name whom the conversation is to. However my Desire now has to load to conversation and texts every time instead of previously just popping up. It also lags when i send a text when it updates the conversation. Is there any way round this as the phone was perfect until this why fix what was not broken
Has anyone had problems with their GPS since updating? Mine wont work at all now :-(
Erm.... this is a little embarrassing but I feel I need to own up to prevent misleading anyone. As mentioned in my earlier post in this thread, I have arranged with HTC customer support to send my Desire back for repair. They pick it up Monday.
I bought a cheap £10 phone to keep me going. It arrived this morning. I put the SIM card in and powered up the phone.
"No SIM card instered" was the message it greeted me with. After numerous power-up and power downs, and some SIM card hoakee-coakee, it finally recognised the SIM card......then dropped the signal to Orange. EXACTLY what my HTC Desire did.
Doh.
I had tried the SIM card in another phone (my girlfriends Blackberry) when the problems first started and it had worked straight away. But the SIM card seems to be random in it's failures. Should have tested more rigorously.
Sorry guys but in my instance it seems I have simply a faulty SIM card. The first one I have ever had go wrong in 12 years, but there you go. I was too fast to blame Android/HTC.
Weird. I have none of these issues.
My WiFi works fine.
I don't know about missing apps, my phone came preloaded with 1.21.405.2
Also, my battery is AMAZING. Right now it's on 70% While it's not been charged for 10h 40m 33s. And that is with 3G and quite some instant messaging.
And I just searched the market for ADW Launcher and LauncherPro. Could find them both.
Hi,
I updated my desire yesterday and since then i cannot send texts and constantly seem to be on 'limited' service or a very weak signal. i am on 02 as are other members of the household who are not experiencing any problems.
I've tried the quick fix of putting it in airplane mode but makes no difference what-so-ever.
wnp_79 said:
Endless problems. My phone will now loose it's connection to Orange. I have to reboot the phone to get it back. Sometimes it takes 3 or 4 reboots. Switching to Airplane mode only works sometimes, but usually results in my phone then telling me I do not have a SIM card inserted! Poor. Every time this happens, Wavesecure thinks someone has swapped my SIM out, and locks the phone up. Had to remove wavesecure (which is actually ridiculously easy so I wont be putting it back on) and I miss most of my calls.
Factory reset my phone in anticipation of what I knew HTC support would say. Did not put on any apps, left it as factory reset, all default settings, did not set google sync up. 7 hours later...no signal. SIM card works just fine in every other handset I've tried.
Phone is going back to HTC on Monday. If it returns in the same messed up state, i'll be looking at getting it rooted and having a proper radio and customr 2.2 ROM installed. I decided against rooting to avoid any bugs/issues. Seems that it's the likes of XDA and MoDaCo devs who know what they are doing more than HTC do. But I am new to Android. Lesson learnt.
I've had about 19 phones since 1998, and this is by far the most expensive, and the first one that has struggled with actually being a phone. Pathetic. HTC you'd better shine with your customer support. I have two friends with HTCs on pre-order on the strength of this phone. Mess this up and they'll cancel their orders and I can't blame them.
Motorolla anyone? Can you make and recieve calls on them? Yes? Hmmmm.......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good luck with HTC's crappy repair centre. Mine's been in three times and they've sent it back once with dust under the screen, and once with a scratch -- every time taking longer than a week.
Still having problems here-the signal is loads better today but still cannot send or recieve texts...the odd one will get through but thats after its been sat retrying for half an hour.
Can make and recieve calls no problem.
Have also noticed the display is very slow to respond on a swipe, sometimes takes several attempts to move between homescreens.
I wish I'd not bothered with the update...if it ain't broke.....

[Q] Bluetooth and App Space

Hi all,
Had my Desire now for getting on for a year now, fantastic phone.
Two things starting to irk me though, wonder if you kind folks could supply your usual brand of superb comment and advice
Bluetooth
Is this phone really bad at bluetooth or am I just having bad luck choosing bluetooth devices?
Jabra Halo (binaural headset) - Great for music, but cuts out all the time depending on where the phone and the headset are - i.e. if it's in my jacket pocket less than 1 meter away from the headset, and i turn my head in one direction it can cut the music out!). When using it for calls people keep telling me there's loads of interference.
Samsung WEP570 (monaural headset) - Chops in and out of connection regularly, some times (far too often) get a very bizarre pulsing audio problem, some times the phone says its connected but won't send the audio to the headset.
Sony Ericsson Watch - Basically unusable (a lot of the problem with this is probably down to the watch but given the issues with headsets it's made me wonder if i'm blaming the watch for too much...)
Any general recommendations on bluetooth for the desire?
Second issue: Free space
This one is driving me mad. I seem to spend all my time uninstalling more than one app to put one new one on. I did a quick sum of my installed apps last night and it came to about 45mb. Free space? 14mb. I thought the phone had about 130mb of space for apps? Is it leaking somewhere? Contacts isn't using much space (I think it was < 1mb), which seems to be somewhere that people often find is using tons of space.
I've cleaned out K9's email stores multiple times. I've cleaned the various cache's, and of that 45mb of apps, some of them are actually on the sd card and not on the internal store anyway.
I'm running HTC Desire, Orange stock, Froyo.
I'd love to trash it and upgrade to cyanogen or something but the lack of a stock Orange RUU to revert back to if necessary does put me off somewhat...
I used to suffer from ORD when I had my old Touch HD, it's been painful avoiding the temptation for the last year or so on this one but the desire (heh) to run app2sd and get 1gb of disk for installing apps is getting a bit too much to resist
Any thoughts, comments, suggestions and advice much appreciated!
Matt.

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