I have been looking for a new phone for a few months now and was looking at the new Apple iPhone 4, but due to the cost of buying the phone on Pay as You Go I decided against it.
After looking for an alternative I decided to find a phone running the Google Android platform, this is due to the amazing amount of apps available for the device. I would say there is almost as many apps available for Android devices as there is for the iPhone.
After looking for my perfect Android device I came across the Orange San Francisco which is actually just a ZTE Blade which has been branded under the Orange (phone network) name. What made me go for this device? Well mainly price, it is one of the cheapest Android phones on the market costing me just £98 inc £10 credit on Orange Pay as You Go. The phone is available to buy online from the Orange Store or from most Orange high street stores.
As said above, the phone is available at an amazing price but the downside is it comes branded with the orange colour scheme and is full of the orange crap software, but this can be removed easy as I will explain below.
First here is the main specs for the phone:
Talk Time: 4 hoursStandby Time: 9 daysWeight: 130gDimensions: 116 x 56.5 x 11.83.5 inch touchscreen, 480×800600MHz CPUCamera Features: 3.2 megapixelConnectivity: WiFi / Bluetooth / USB / GPS (SatNav)Music: MP3 / FM RadioNetwork Band: Tri bandVideo: MessagingMemory: 150 MB internal / Up to 32gb Micro SD CardEmail: POP3 / IMAP4Data Speed: 3G +Operating System: Android v2.1 EclairNow lets get started with the modifications, just follow the steps below in order and by the end you will have an amazing Android phone for an amazing price.
How to Unlock the ZTE Blade / Orange San Francisco:
Once you have purchased the phone you will more than likely want to switch networks, thats not a problem at all. In fact the only reason I purchased the phone on Orange is because it was so cheap. To unlock the phone follow these instructions:
Visit this site here.On the above site put your IMEI (will be on the phones box), select ZTE, leave the default model as ZTE BLUEBELT, pop in the not-a-robot code. In the box above the IMEI you’ll receive your code.Turn off your phone.Open the back.Remove the battery.Remove the (Orange) SIM card.Insert a SIM card from a different operator.Replace battery.Replace back.Turn on phone (If prompted, enter any PIN number that you may have set on the new SIM).Now you should be prompted to enter the unlock code. Do it carefully!You should now get some sort of message saying your phone is unlocked.How to De-Brand the ZTE Blade / Orange San Francisco:
This will remove all of the Orange Themes and Software and Install the Standard Android Software which will free up space and make it look and run so much better, well worth doing.
Download the ClockWork Recovery Mod – Download.Turn off your phone and take out the battery and Unplug the phone from the PC / charger.Replace the battery and turn the phone back on with ‘volume up’ held. The device will stay at the ‘green android’ screen.Plug the phone into the PC.Extract the fastboot files once downloaded.From a command prompt (at the directory containing these new files!) run ‘fastboot-windows flash recovery clockwork.img‘ (subsituting ‘fastboot-mac’ or ‘sudo fastboot-linux’ if not running Windows).When this finishes, from the command prompt run ‘fastboot-windows reboot‘ (again substituting ‘fastboot-mac’ or ‘sudo fastboot-linux’ if not running Windows).ClockWork Recovery Mod should now be installed, you can use this to backup your firmware to your SD Card, to get to it you need to hold the bottom volume button while turning on the phone.Download the 2.1 Debranded firmware – Download.Copy the De-Branded firmware to your SD card leaving it in .zip format.Press and hold the bottom volume button and switch the phone on, this will boot it into Recovery Mode (which will be upside down).Navigate the menus to flash the file “2.1 Debranded.zip” (Install Zip From sdcard > Choose zip from SD Card).Wait for the image to flash.Once done just restart your phone and it should be totally de-branded.How to Install Apps and Games from the SD Card on the ZTE Blade / Orange San Francisco:
Sometimes there will be the need to install an App or Game from the SD Card of your phone, the file will be in a .apk format.
Do do this you will need to copy the .apk file onto the SD Card, anywhere you want should be fine.Load up the Android Market on your phone, download and install AppsInstaller made by ModMyMobile.com.Once Apps Installer is installed just run it and select the .apk file from your SD Card to Install.How to ROOT the ZTE Blade / Orange San Francisco:
Rooting an Android Device is the equivalent of Jail breaking an iPhone, it gives you and the apps full access to the phones resources.
Download UniversalAndroot – Download.Extract and copy to the SD Card, you can install the app using AppsInstaller as mentioned above.Once installed just run UniversalAndroot and press the Root Button.Your Android device should now be Rooted.How to block ads in Apps and Games on the ZTE Blade / Orange San Francisco:
You may have noticed that some of the Free Games and Apps come with ads that show up on the screen, this is very annoying but they can be blocked very easy.
Firstly you need to Root your Android first by following the instructions above.Download and Install “AdFree Android by BigTinCan.com” from the Android Market.Load up AdFree and click “Allow” on the Superuser Request Popup.Then click “Download & Install Hosts”.You should now be able to use all your Apps and Games without seeing any ads.How to Download Apps and Games for Free on the ZTE Blade / Orange San Francisco:
With the help of Applanet you can download hundreds of Android Apps and Games for free. Applanet looks just like the Android Market except all the apps and games are free.
Download and Install Applanet – Download.You can use AppsInstaller to install the above file from the SD Card.Once installed just load up and use in exactly the same way as the standard Android Market.Thats it, you ZTE Blade / Orange San Francisco is packet full of features. If you have any questions, comments or items to add to this guide please let me know below and I will update as necessary.
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Just a blogger in my spare time. I like to share what I know, which some times is not much. If you have any questions about any of my posts just comment under them and I will reply ASAP.
