# Best smartphone for £100: the Huawei Ascend G300



## editor (Apr 16, 2012)

Looking for the best cheapo smartphone? I recommend the Huawei Ascend G300. £100 quid at Vodafone. Bargain. 

Here's the first review: 


> If someone handed you the G300 and asked you how much it cost, you would never value it at just £100. It has the build quality and styling of a much more expensive phone. In some ways, it reminds us of an HTC of old, but that's no bad thing, and the phone doesn't look outdated in the slightest...
> 
> It's worth shouting this from the rooftops: the screen on the G300 is out of this world, especially for a budget handset. The 4-inch screen has a resolution of 480x800, that's 233ppi, if you're counting, which might not be spectacular - the iPhone 4S is 330ppi - but certainly gives the phone plenty of detail....
> 
> ...


http://www.pocket-lint.com/review/5812/vodafone-huawei-ascend-g300-budget-android-phone-review


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## RubyToogood (Apr 17, 2012)

Yours truly looks like being the urban guinea pig for this. Just got back from buying one from a Vodafone shop, £100 plus £10 totally unwanted topup, which you can avoid if you buy it online I think.

There's someone on ebay selling unlock codes for £7.48, which appear to work, according to the internet, or you can get Vodafone to unlock it for £20. The guy in the shop said it can take a day or two as sometimes they have to get back to the manufacturer. He also said that unlocking it did NOT void the warranty  although if it has to go off for repair it will come back locked again.

Currently waiting for my unlock code, so just doing some preliminary playing around. I saw a Youtube review suggesting that the home etc buttons below the screen have to be touched several times before they respond sometimes and so far this has proved true, although the same person thought the volume was a bit quiet and that seems fine to me.

It comes with some horrible overenthusiastic predictive keyboard which I shall be replacing with Swiftkey forthwith.

Best news is I got it set up before my game of Wordfeud with the editor expired, always a worry.


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## editor (Apr 17, 2012)

RubyToogood said:


> Best news is I got it set up before my game of Wordfeud with the editor expired, always a worry.


Damn. I was hoping to forget about the current crushing and get back to my winning ways.


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## RubyToogood (Apr 17, 2012)

There is lots of useful info here for anyone considering this: http://android.modaco.com/forum/650-huawei-ascend-g300-g300modacocom/


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## editor (Apr 17, 2012)

So what do you think of the phone thus far?


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## RubyToogood (Apr 17, 2012)

Still a bit early to say. Made a short phone call which was fine. The camera has lots of useful functions eg the ability to crop. The screen is huge compared to the Wildfire and the Orange San Francisco (big bonus, it'll be nice not to have to peer at the screen any more). Everything works. Not sure the sound recorder is all that. As the review above says, the touchscreen is not all that sensitive but it's livable with.

The interface isn't pretty like the HTC Wildfire S I destroyed was. I miss the HTC contacts thing that linked everyone with your Facebook contacts (but there's probably an app for that), and the pretty weather animation (ditto).

On the other hand it doesn't have all the Orange crap loaded onto it that the OSF did, or much crap at all really, and there are useful touches here and there.


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## RubyToogood (Apr 19, 2012)

Unlock code came through the next day and worked fine. Have had it on me and doing various things while out and about today, so got a better feel for it. It's no good asking me about the hardware or the processor power and all that shit because it's just statistics to me and I am not going to play massively intensive games or anything on it. As an average person type user, my feel about it so far is as follows.

The software I'm guessing is very much the basic Android experience. It's awkward here and there and occasionally throws up minor annoyances*. But that's ok, such is life, and the nature of Android is that you can download better stuff and tweak things. The camera seems good, everything happens quite quickly (except with very clunky apps), the battery is lasting well and I love the bigger screen. I barely notice the slight non-responsiveness of the screen now (maybe it just needs to be broken in a bit) and have got used to hitting the buttons twice (I suspect they'll have to address this).

I will update when I find more pluses and minuses.

*For instance when browsing, the text doesn't fit neatly into the screen like the HTC used to make it do. But the comparison with the HTC Wildfire is unfair as although the software on that was lovely, it was actually a shit phone due to lack of internal memory.


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## editor (Apr 19, 2012)

RubyToogood said:


> I miss the HTC contacts thing that linked everyone with your Facebook contacts (but there's probably an app for that),


Contapps does all that. 



https://play.google.com/store/apps/...51bGwsMSwxLDMsImNvbS5jb250YXBwcy5hbmRyb2lkIl0.


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## RubyToogood (Apr 19, 2012)

editor said:


> Contapps does all that.


Yes, actually I've installed Contapps - but that's one of the clunky apps I was referring to as it makes it really painful typing a text message.


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## doddles (Apr 23, 2012)

RubyToogood said:


> ...the same person thought the volume was a bit quiet and that seems fine to me.


 
There does seem to be a major problem, probably software related, with the speaker volume. Certainly on my one (which otherwise I think is great) the volume of ringing or alarms is ridiculously low. Have you not had that problem with yours?


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## RubyToogood (Apr 23, 2012)

I suppose it's not massively loud, but I can't say it's bothered me. Having said which I normally wake up before the alarm and no-one ever rings me anyway.

I'm starting to really appreciate the bigger screen now - it just give so much more scope for media, games etc. It's a whole new world really.


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## DrRingDing (Apr 23, 2012)

Interesting article on the company and founder..

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/23/us-huawei-ren-idUSBRE83M0C620120423


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## editor (Apr 24, 2012)

Comprehensive review here: 
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/huawei-ascend-g300-1077239/review





> *TechRadar rating 4/5*
> 
> *For*
> 
> ...


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## uk benzo (Apr 24, 2012)

But for the 'against' the device in Ed's post, can't one just download apps to replace the stock software that are shit? As long as it's not hardware related, it shouldn't matter... no?


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## editor (Apr 24, 2012)

uk benzo said:


> But for the 'against' the device in Ed's post, can't one just download apps to replace the stock software that are shit? As long as it's not hardware related, it shouldn't matter... no?


Yeah, you should be able to change things so the phone has better features.


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## RubyToogood (Apr 25, 2012)

That was kind of my point too (the software not mattering too much).

Also I disagree with their "few camera options" verdict because it has waaaayyy more options than any other phone I've had (ie budget smartphones).

I'm quite impressed with how the battery's holding out against my animated wallpaper, fixation with Draw Something, and not having anything particularly turned off anywhere.


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## Onket (Apr 25, 2012)

What is a UI and how can it being 'overly simple' be bad?


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## RubyToogood (Apr 25, 2012)

Onket said:


> What is a UI and how can it being 'overly simple' be bad?


User interference. It's the same wot I said about it all being quite basic.

I'd rather have that than them heap lots of complex, unnecessary and ill-designed crap onto it. I can do that myself through the app store.


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## editor (Apr 25, 2012)

RubyToogood said:


> User interference. It's the same wot I said about it all being quite basic.


Um, it's actually User _Interface_. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_interface


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## RubyToogood (Apr 25, 2012)

Hm. Dunno how interference came out from my fingers, I knew what I meant.


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## Onket (Apr 25, 2012)

RubyToogood said:


> User interference. It's the same wot I said about it all being quite basic.
> 
> I'd rather have that than them heap lots of complex, unnecessary and ill-designed crap onto it. I can do that myself through the app store.


 
Well exactly. It's not really a bad thing at all as far as I can see.


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## r0bb0 (May 3, 2012)

looks like it's gonna get the Fish & Chips Rom, whatever that is and might fix the low speaker volume issue.
http://android.modaco.com/topic/353708-rom-fishnchips-for-huawei-ascend-g300-coming-soon/
oh well see how it pans out and gonna watch the SG3 launch, maybe that'll bring the SG2 prices down


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## r0bb0 (May 9, 2012)

picked up 1 2day as i couldn't be bothered waiting for the sg2 to come down in  price


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## disco_dave_2000 (May 10, 2012)

Ok mobile peeps - my partner is looking to get a smart phone - but on a budget - and I saw this thread. So reading above we rock up to a Vodaphone and ask to buy one, but only if they can unlock it from Vodaphone network - ok so far. But then what next - excuse my ignorance - she doesn't have an existing contract - where do we go for best deals - do we just buy a sim card ???? She would be a low minute user 200mins i guess, probably 200 txts per month but unlimited data. Cheers


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## r0bb0 (May 10, 2012)

yo Disco Dave 2000 hope she likes it, lot of peeps go for the giff gaff £10 goodybag:
For only £10 get *250 UK minutes*, *unlimited UK texts* and *unlimited mobile Internet* for one month.
http://giffgaff.com/goodybags/10pound-facebook-goodybag


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## disco_dave_2000 (May 11, 2012)

thanks Robbo sounds like a good deal


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## r0bb0 (May 11, 2012)

any1 thinking of getting this should read the free unlocking thread, wiv flat pack petes suggestion the best "I find saying your going on holiday to Japan and you want to get a prepaid sim over there" & frownbreakers also useful"

Went to Poundland and at the checkout asked for 2 £1 Vodafone SIMs PAYG. Activated the SIMs by dialing a number on the leaflet. [If you can wait there is a link on the Vodafone website to have a couple of SIM mailed to you for *free* https://freesim.voda...d?package_id=5. I did not want to wait so paid £1 for each SIM at Poundland. *Insert SIM into an unlocked phone and dial 17298. This will activate the phone on the Vodafone network. *Now you have an activtate Vodafone SIM so no £10 top up!.]
Went back to the Vodafone store showed by 2 SIMs so no £10 fee! Got 2 x G300 Phones £100 each and the staff had agreed to unlock them free. "
http://www.modaco.com/topic/353658-free-unlocking/


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## yield (May 12, 2012)

Orange are doing the HTC Radar for £110 on PAYG.


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## r0bb0 (May 14, 2012)

hmm i took mine back to the vodafone shop today and got a refund, reckon i'll hang around in the market for a bit longer and see what comes up


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## UnderAnOpenSky (May 14, 2012)

I've just spent a £100 to get my Desire HD repaired.


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## r0bb0 (May 15, 2012)

gosh that's a bit rich, what was wrong with it?


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## UnderAnOpenSky (May 15, 2012)

r0bb0 said:


> gosh that's a bit rich, what was wrong with it?


 
Smashed screen and fucked headphone port.


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## FaradayCaged (May 24, 2012)

r0bb0 said:


> hmm i took mine back to the vodafone shop today and got a refund, reckon i'll hang around in the market for a bit longer and see what comes up


 
Can I ask why you took it back?

Looking into getting a cheap smart phone or mp3 player for under £150, preferably around £100 though. So far I have shortlisted...

Huawei G300
HTC Wildfire S
Samsung Galaxy S Wifi 3.2 8gb
iPod Touch 4th Gen 8gb


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## RubyToogood (May 24, 2012)

MdmAmDma said:


> Can I ask why you took it back?
> 
> Looking into getting a cheap smart phone or mp3 player for under £150, preferably around £100 though. So far I have shortlisted...
> 
> ...


Still very happy with the G300. The HTC Wildfire S I had before this was shit.


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## r0bb0 (May 24, 2012)

I'd rather get the black one that ed posted and its only available at vodaphone in white + i also found it rather unresponsive and was going to root it to the latest stock rom B888 but was not sure how that would effect the ICS upgrade. I found the back a bit plasticky and it doesnt have a front facing camera like the Orange radar(posted on page 1). So I thought I'd take it back and see what is about in a few months, deffo need a new fone though


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## marty21 (Jul 10, 2012)

RubyToogood said:


> Still very happy with the G300. The HTC Wildfire S I had before this was shit.


 I've had the wildfire for about 9 months - it is shit - stuck with it now for another year


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## Macabre (Jul 10, 2012)

I've got this phone and it's working out great for me.  I got a vodafone SIM from tesco for a quid and followed the instructions on the website posted earlier, worked great.


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## doddles (Jul 11, 2012)

Yep - I've now had this phone for some time and it's excellent. Battery life is much better than the San Francisco I had. A recent software update fixed previous problems with low ring volume. I've unlocked and rooted it of course, and have it on talkmobile prepay, though will probably switch to another plan since I'm now going over my daily data usage because the phone makes using the internet easy.


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## ovaltina (Jul 13, 2012)

I've just been given a Sony xperia ray as a replacement for my crappy x8, which developed a hardware fault while under warranty. It's really good, with a 1ghz processor and a top quality scree. It was about £300 when it launched last year but you can get get it for £150 on payg now. Small screen but it doesn't matter with SwiftKey.


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## r0bb0 (Jul 16, 2012)

gone down to £72.95 according to the below

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/hua...-very-100-down-72-95-using-code-23epw-1266183


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## thriller (Jul 18, 2012)

I bough this phone on ebay for £114 including postage. It didn't occur to me to just go into vodofone. Buy it for £100 on PAYG and get it unlocked.


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## Hassan I Sabha (Jul 24, 2012)

Has anyone out there rooted their G300 yet and if so what ROM did you go for? I have a phone coming today and I cannot choose between the seemingly stable B886 ROM that seems to essentially cover the issues around volume or a later one such as B888 which comes with other benefits but does seem to produce a position of no return due to some partitions.


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## doddles (Jul 25, 2012)

I'm using the B886 without problems - very happy with it.


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## Hassan I Sabha (Jul 25, 2012)

I went to 892 via an OTA upgrade, working well now on Giffgaff unlocked via ebay. Have rooted the phone and removed the Vodaphone bloatware that came with it as well (after backing up everything) - Will wait for the official ISC upgrade now before any more changes.


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## thriller (Jul 25, 2012)

Hassan I Sabha said:


> I went to 892 via an OTA upgrade, working well now on Giffgaff unlocked via ebay. Have rooted the phone and removed the Vodaphone bloatware that came with it as well (after backing up everything) - Will wait for the official ISC upgrade now before any more changes.


 
I used this site;

http://www.modaco.com/topic/353386-how-to-root-your-huawei-ascend-g300-for-windows-mac-and-linux/

Will be interesting to see how it runs on ICS if it is released at all on this phone.


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## Hassan I Sabha (Jul 25, 2012)

thriller said:


> I used this site;
> 
> http://www.modaco.com/topic/353386-how-to-root-your-huawei-ascend-g300-for-windows-mac-and-linux/
> 
> Will be interesting to see how it runs on ICS if it is released at all on this phone.


 
Yep, I managed to get my advice from there as well. It is a pity there is not a Wiki that details all the ROM's that there are (I did ask on the "I'm new thread") so just went for the OTA upgrade in the end. It seems that an official ICS should come out soon once Vodaphone have finished there testing according to reports out there. There is an ICS version from Huawei it seems, you can then load one of their custom ROM's on top of that such as Infusion, but I think I will wait for now (unless all my thread reading leads me elsewhere)


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## newharper (Jul 26, 2012)

r0bb0 said:


> gone down to £72.95 according to the below
> 
> http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/hua...-very-100-down-72-95-using-code-23epw-1266183


 
Looks great,was it locked?


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## r0bb0 (Jul 26, 2012)

newharper said:


> Looks great,was it locked?


i'm gonna wait for the black one to come out before I repurchase. The OP of the HDUK deal said "Received ours Monday, its the white / grey one. Did not need any unlocking, put the missus talkmobile sim in and all is good. Brilliant phone for the price." ​so maybe its unlocked?


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## newharper (Jul 27, 2012)

Ok, going to show my ignorance here.

Why can't I buy one of thesefrom the discount site, use my own CC and put my own Vodaphone sim in? 

All? comments welcome.


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## Hassan I Sabha (Jul 27, 2012)

I think the discount site required you to set up a credit agreement and then pay it off over a period of time, I only looked briefly though. I just bought from Vodaphone website as they did not require the £10 top up then bought an unlocking code from ebay at about £4.80


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## c01642 (Aug 1, 2012)

Nokia Lumia 710 now on carephone warehouse for £99, excellent phone for the price.

http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/mobiles/mobile-phones/NOKIA-LUMIA-710


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## editor (Aug 1, 2012)

c01642 said:


> Nokia Lumia 710 now on carephone warehouse for £99, excellent phone for the price.
> 
> http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/mobiles/mobile-phones/NOKIA-LUMIA-710


Tis a great phone but you're committing to a cul de sac of an OS.


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## Riklet (Aug 2, 2012)

Just bought the Ascend G300.

My first smartphone.  It seems pretty good! Fun and simple to use, plus good build quality.  I'm impressed.  Only thing is I don't have it unlocked yet, so need to do that via ebay i guess.  The fella in the shop was real nice and tried to do it for me, for free (!!) but they didn't have the unlock codes for the new batch.  Shame.  Bought a Vodaphone sim though so I could have a bit of a play around with the internet etc...


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## newharper (Aug 6, 2012)

I ordered one about a week ago, I started using it and have found I,ve been sent an 8815 instead! I presume this is a worse phone and I should send it back?
Tring to find out myself but if anyone knows, it;d be appreciated.


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## RaverDrew (Aug 6, 2012)

They're the same phone http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=3406&c=huawei_ascend_g300_huawei_u8815


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## newharper (Aug 6, 2012)

Oh thanks very much.


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## RubyToogood (Aug 6, 2012)

Just to say, mine has got a bit buggy occasionally now. Nothing fatal, things like when I fire up the browser first thing, it doesn't find the wifi till I turn it (the wifi) off and on again. These things may well be to do with the fact it got wet a month or so ago.


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## newharper (Aug 6, 2012)

My first one too. I like it but i find it a bit couter-intuitive.
I set a sign off for texts which is ok for some stuff but far too formal for family. Can't find out how too chage it or add a new one.
Also I bookmarked Urban and a chess site, can't find them either!


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## RubyToogood (Aug 6, 2012)

newharper said:


> My first one too. I like it but i find it a bit couter-intuitive.
> I set a sign off for texts which is ok for some stuff but far too formal for family. Can't find out how too chage it or add a new one.
> Also I bookmarked Urban and a chess site, can't find them either!


Sounds like you haven't quite got the hang of the menu button yet. There are those three buttons below the screen. The middle one is to go to the home screen, the right one is to go back one step, and the left hand one is the menu button.

When you're in the browser, the menu button brings up the option to look at your bookmarks.
When you're in the text messaging facility, it brings up a settings option which will enable you to create or delete a signature (mine didn't come with a signature, they must have tweaked things).


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## newharper (Aug 6, 2012)

Thank you.

ETA.
As i've already showed myself up as a complete fuckwit/noob,
How can you get rid of Icons?
I found an online manual that says press and hold till it changes colour, then move it to the bin. I can press and hold and move the Icon. I just can't find a bin.: and can you remove the vile pre-loaded apps. I found a way to clear some of them but the horrid Icons are still littering my screen.


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## Hassan I Sabha (Aug 6, 2012)

I would reccomend replacing the (free) stock camera app with Camera 360 Ultimate, I read about this on the Modaco forum and it is a much superior camera app for this phone and takes better quality photos (IMHO)

Also, run an OTA upgrade of the firmware


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## RubyToogood (Aug 6, 2012)

newharper said:


> Thank you.
> 
> ETA.
> As i've already showed myself up as a complete fuckwit/noob,
> ...


When you press and hold, the bin should appear at the bottom of the screen and you can drag the icon into it.


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## newharper (Aug 6, 2012)

Thanks again, though i feel like a eejit, I'm much happier. 
An unusual combination for me.


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## RubyToogood (Aug 12, 2012)

RubyToogood said:


> Just to say, mine has got a bit buggy occasionally now. Nothing fatal, things like when I fire up the browser first thing, it doesn't find the wifi till I turn it (the wifi) off and on again. These things may well be to do with the fact it got wet a month or so ago.


 
I'm retracting this now as the bugs are all explained. The wifi thing seems to be a standard Android issue of it turning off when the phone sleeps, and there are various fixes. Other bugs I was having seem to be due to problems with one specific website and one app rather than issues with the phone.


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## yield (Sep 1, 2012)

Huawei Ascend G300 Smartphone on Vodafone PAYG £80 @ Tesco instore

You'd need to unlock it if on another network. Codes can be got cheap on ebey.

http://www.gsmarena.com/huawei_ascend_g300-4594.php


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## r0bb0 (Sep 1, 2012)

yield said:


> Huawei Ascend G300 Smartphone on Vodafone PAYG £80 @ Tesco instore
> 
> You'd need to unlock it if on another network. Codes can be got cheap on ebey.
> 
> http://www.gsmarena.com/huawei_ascend_g300-4594.php


cracking price


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## Riklet (Oct 9, 2012)

mine's pretty good, one or two glitches sometimes but basically still going strong after a couple of months.

thoroughly recommended.

btw can I do those "box" things on the desktop like with iphone where you drag icons onto each other and it lets you "manage" them into different categories? haven't worked anything like that out yet.  I guess I could do folders...?

oh, before I forget can I do the "drag type" thing like with Samsung phones where you drag across the screen from letter to letter n it makes pretty lines n typing seem a bit easier.  not seen any options for it, so i'm presuming not?


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## RubyToogood (Oct 9, 2012)

Riklet said:


> mine's pretty good, one or two glitches sometimes but basically still going strong after a couple of months.
> 
> thoroughly recommended.
> 
> ...


Don't recognise either of those things. I put stuff in folders.

6 months on, still really liking this phone. I can do all sorts of stuff on it that I couldn't have done on my Orange San Francisco very comfortably. Read a lengthy ebook on it quite happily, constantly play Draw Something and watch videos. The volume thing seems to have been sorted and I no longer have to hit any of the buttons twice. I don't know why anyone would pay twice as much really.


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## Voley (Oct 11, 2012)

I'm totally ignorant of all this malarkey but like the sound/price of this phone. I've never had a smartphone before so what's all this unlocking stuff about? All I want is PAYG, no contracts or owt. The ancient Nokia I've got atm is a Vodaphone one - can I use the SIM from that? Or do I just go to a Vodaphone shop and start all over again?


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## Voley (Oct 11, 2012)

If I go to buy one in the shop, it'll be the modern-day version of this btw:


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## RubyToogood (Oct 11, 2012)

NVP said:


> I'm totally ignorant of all this malarkey but like the sound/price of this phone. I've never had a smartphone before so what's all this unlocking stuff about? All I want is PAYG, no contracts or owt. The ancient Nokia I've got atm is a Vodaphone one - can I use the SIM from that? Or do I just go to a Vodaphone shop and start all over again?


If you're on Vodaphone now and you want to stay on it, you can just get this phone through them and use the same sim card. If you want to use it on another network (eg giffgaff, which I'm on), then you need to get the phone unlocked, which is not difficult, and you'll need to get a sim card from your new provider.

Talk to Vodaphone about it as they might be able to give you a free upgrade or something if you ask nicely, but check what plan they put you on as smartphones use a LOT of data.


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## Voley (Oct 11, 2012)

Ta.


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## Voley (Oct 11, 2012)

Argos are doing them for £99.99 plus the compulsory £10 airtime atm, but I have got a £10 Argos voucher that I've as yet found no use for.  That sound like a deal? I'm gonna give Vodafone a bell first though so see if they can do any better.


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## RubyToogood (Oct 11, 2012)

NVP said:


> Argos are doing them for £99.99 plus the compulsory £10 airtime atm, but I have got a £10 Argos voucher that I've as yet found no use for.  That sound like a deal? I'm gonna give Vodafone a bell first though so see if they can do any better.


That was about what mine was, but there might be other deals. Just don't buy through Prepaymania on Amazon, their aftersales service is non-existent.


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## Voley (Oct 11, 2012)

Vodafone weren't that forthcoming about upgrading so I went for Argos in the end. 100 quid with ten quids worth of credit on it seemed pretty reasonable, I thought.

Ooh! Shiny new toy to play with this afternoon!


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## RubyToogood (Oct 11, 2012)

NVP said:


> Vodafone weren't that forthcoming about upgrading so I went for Argos in the end. 100 quid with ten quids worth of credit on it seemed pretty reasonable, I thought.
> 
> Ooh! Shiny new toy to play with this afternoon!


What airtime plan are you on? As I say, smartphones use a lot of data. You don't really want to be on PAYG.


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## Voley (Oct 11, 2012)

PAYG.


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## RaverDrew (Oct 11, 2012)

Get it unlocked and put a GiffGaff or Three payg sim in there instead. Both have unlimited data and cheaper calls, it just depends who has the better reception in your area, GiffGaff use O2's network btw.


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## RubyToogood (Oct 11, 2012)

Drew speaketh the truth, unless they've radically changed PAYG pricing structures since I last looked, which was some time ago. Giffgaff is about £10 a month (I think they're putting it up to £12.50 or something for the unlimited data deal) - but it's not a contract, you just buy a month at a time.

Just had a look at Vodafone's pay monthly plans and they're not that great. Giffgaff would be a better deal.

Try it with your top up voucher, but it'll probably only last you a couple of days. Although you can use it on wifi as much as you like without it affecting your credit.


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## Voley (Oct 11, 2012)

RubyToogood said:


> it'll probably only last you a couple of days.


Fucking hell, is that all? Right. Will look at getting it unlocked, ta for the info all.


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## Voley (Oct 11, 2012)

Well I've certainly enjoyed piddling about with it this afternoon - it'll take me a while to get used to, definitely, but it looks to have lots of useful features as well as some interesting but fairly pointless ones, too. Took me an age to get on the net with it, mind, and I'm not entirely sure whether I'm connecting via my wi-fi or I'm paying for it yet but I'm sure I'll sort that out soon enough. It says it'll choose wi-fi as a default if it can so I'm hoping that's the case.

I know nothing about smartphones really but it seems to have all the relevant stuff that I've seen on other peoples phones that I've briefly mucked about with.


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## RubyToogood (Oct 11, 2012)

NVP said:


> Well I've certainly enjoyed piddling about with it this afternoon - it'll take me a while to get used to, definitely, but it looks to have lots of useful features as well as some interesting but fairly pointless ones, too. Took me an age to get on the net with it, mind, and I'm not entirely sure whether I'm connecting via my wi-fi or I'm paying for it yet but I'm sure I'll sort that out soon enough. It says it'll choose wi-fi as a default if it can so I'm hoping that's the case.
> 
> I know nothing about smartphones really but it seems to have all the relevant stuff that I've seen on other peoples phones that I've briefly mucked about with.


The thing to realise about Android phones is that if there's something you don't like, you can probably find an app to change it.

You can see if you're on wifi or on your mobile connection from the top bar - if the wifi is on, you'll see a little green wifi symbol:







You will have had to put a password in as well (whatever the password for the wifi is where you are).


----------



## Voley (Oct 11, 2012)

Ah right, I'm running it off my wifi here atm then. Thanks, Rubes. That's useful info about Android software, too. So all the freebie Android stuff I see on the web runs on this. That's good. My sister's got a fucking brilliant thing on her Iphone that shows you which stars are which when you point it at the sky - I'm gonna have a look and see if there's an app for that on mine. I'd probably use that more than actually phoning anyone tbf.


----------



## Voley (Oct 11, 2012)

Whoop!


----------



## tombowler (Oct 11, 2012)

NVP said:


> Ah right, I'm running it off my wifi here atm then. Thanks, Rubes. That's useful info about Android software, too. So all the freebie Android stuff I see on the web runs on this. That's good. My sister's got a fucking brilliant thing on her Iphone that shows you which stars are which when you point it at the sky - I'm gonna have a look and see if there's an app for that on mine. I'd probably use that more than actually phoning anyone tbf.


googleskymap in play store (not google anymore but allowed to keep the name) i love it but wont work on my htc wildfire s as it does not have enough fucking memory


----------



## stuff_it (Oct 11, 2012)

If you're still on PAYG make sure you turn off autoupdating and don't install apps or upload pics unless you're on wifi!


----------



## RubyToogood (Oct 11, 2012)

NVP said:


> Ah right, I'm running it off my wifi here atm then. Thanks, Rubes. That's useful info about Android software, too. So all the freebie Android stuff I see on the web runs on this. That's good. My sister's got a fucking brilliant thing on her Iphone that shows you which stars are which when you point it at the sky - I'm gonna have a look and see if there's an app for that on mine. I'd probably use that more than actually phoning anyone tbf.


 
There are a million amazing apps out there. The phone bit is kind of incidental.


----------



## RubyToogood (Oct 11, 2012)

PS I should apologise because I didn't read the bit about you wanting to stay on PAYG in your first post.


----------



## Voley (Oct 12, 2012)

stuff_it said:


> If you're still on PAYG make sure you turn off autoupdating and don't install apps or upload pics unless you're on wifi!


Yeah I've been doing all that while I'm here in me flat. Ta for the tip about autoupdating though - I'd not thought of that. No need to apologise, Rubes, tbh I doubt I'll use all the flashy downloading stuff much when I'm out and about - I might google something occasionally, when's the next bus or something, but mainly I'll just be using it as a phone then so I should be OK with a PAYG. Maps are useful but I've got sat-nav in me car for that really. If it does work out pricey I'll get it unlocked and go for giffgaff or something.

Right now I've spent a very happy hour or so downloading all sorts of pointless shite that makes it all look very pretty. Anyone got recommendations for free apps that make it look good. The 'luma' live wallpaper is strangely hypnotic. I quite like that. I could do with a nice looking clock / weather thingy that doesn't look too garish if anyone knows of anything. I did splash out a whole 69p for that Sky At Night jobby mind. Totally ace. What phones were invented for imo: much more fun than talking to people.


----------



## RaverDrew (Oct 12, 2012)

Have you got a fart app yet ? Everyone needs a good fart app on their phone.


----------



## Voley (Oct 12, 2012)

I have to confess that I haven't. You must point me in the direction of this wondrous invention.


----------



## RaverDrew (Oct 12, 2012)

http://www.appbrain.com/app/motion-fart-®/com.madrabbit.motionfart


----------



## Voley (Oct 12, 2012)

Yes. I'll definitely have to have one of those.


----------



## editor (Oct 12, 2012)

Good grief. Is it aimed at 12 year olds?


----------



## stuff_it (Oct 12, 2012)

NVP said:


> Yeah I've been doing all that while I'm here in me flat. Ta for the tip about autoupdating though - I'd not thought of that. No need to apologise, Rubes, tbh I doubt I'll use all the flashy downloading stuff much when I'm out and about - I might google something occasionally, when's the next bus or something, but mainly I'll just be using it as a phone then so I should be OK with a PAYG. Maps are useful but I've got sat-nav in me car for that really. If it does work out pricey I'll get it unlocked and go for giffgaff or something.
> 
> Right now I've spent a very happy hour or so downloading all sorts of pointless shite that makes it all look very pretty. Anyone got recommendations for free apps that make it look good. The 'luma' live wallpaper is strangely hypnotic. I quite like that. I could do with a nice looking clock / weather thingy that doesn't look too garish if anyone knows of anything. I did splash out a whole 69p for that Sky At Night jobby mind. Totally ace. What phones were invented for imo: much more fun than talking to people.


A lot of PAYG packages allow 'bolt ons' or similar - if you're only occasionally cheking urban and FB or googling the odd thing I've never run out on 0.5GB


----------



## Voley (Oct 12, 2012)

Thanks for all your advice on this everyone. It's really been very helpful.


----------



## RubyToogood (Oct 12, 2012)

NVP said:


> Yeah I've been doing all that while I'm here in me flat. Ta for the tip about autoupdating though - I'd not thought of that. No need to apologise, Rubes, tbh I doubt I'll use all the flashy downloading stuff much when I'm out and about - I might google something occasionally, when's the next bus or something, but mainly I'll just be using it as a phone then so I should be OK with a PAYG. Maps are useful but I've got sat-nav in me car for that really. If it does work out pricey I'll get it unlocked and go for giffgaff or something.
> 
> Right now I've spent a very happy hour or so downloading all sorts of pointless shite that makes it all look very pretty. Anyone got recommendations for free apps that make it look good. The 'luma' live wallpaper is strangely hypnotic. I quite like that. I could do with a nice looking clock / weather thingy that doesn't look too garish if anyone knows of anything. I did splash out a whole 69p for that Sky At Night jobby mind. Totally ace. What phones were invented for imo: much more fun than talking to people.


I've got Beautiful Weather wallpaper/clock/weather, which I like. I never get tired of popping the clouds and pray for thunderstorms so I can make lightning. I don't think it was free though. There's also Be Weather.


----------



## Voley (Oct 13, 2012)

I like the free books you get with the Kindle app. The Communist Manifesto, The Origin Of Species, pretty much all of Dickens major stuff. Impressive. Can you tell I'm just a bit excited by all this? I feel a bit like I did when I got the Internet for the first time.


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Oct 13, 2012)

editor said:


> Looking for the best cheapo smartphone? I recommend the Huawei Ascend G300. £100 quid at Vodafone. Bargain.
> 
> Here's the first review:
> 
> http://www.pocket-lint.com/review/5812/vodafone-huawei-ascend-g300-budget-android-phone-review


 

...long as you don't mind having a robot mole for the Chinese govt. in your pocket.

http://www.slashgear.com/huawei-faces-ban-in-canada-over-security-risks-10251255/


----------



## mrs quoad (Oct 13, 2012)

NVP said:


> I like the free books you get with the Kindle app. The Communist Manifesto, The Origin Of Species, pretty much all of Dickens major stuff. Impressive. Can you tell I'm just a bit excited by all this? I feel a bit like I did when I got the Internet for the first time.


I'll look forward to hearing again once you've actually *read* them on your phone 

Btw, my dad got a payg smartphone & twice managed to blow £25+ of credit in his pocket overnight. Tbf, he is blind, which limits his investigative capacities. But I'm not sure we ever fully worked out where the leakage was.


----------



## RubyToogood (Oct 13, 2012)

mrs quoad said:


> I'll look forward to hearing again once you've actually *read* them on your phone


 
I read the whole of Parade's End on Google Books quite comfortably on this phone (didn't know there was a Kindle app!).

I hope the Chinese government enjoyed it.


----------



## Voley (Oct 13, 2012)

Johnny Canuck3 said:


> ...long as you don't mind having a robot mole for the Chinese govt. in your pocket.
> 
> http://www.slashgear.com/huawei-faces-ban-in-canada-over-security-risks-10251255/


I'll be sure to download as much Free Tibet stuff as possible then. I hope they enjoyed my copy of the Communist Manifesto that I've got on there. It might remind them how you're supposed to do it.



mrs quoad said:


> I'll look forward to hearing again once you've actually *read* them on your phone


There's this Ebook reader app called Aldiko that sorts them all into a library for you and shows pdf's and all sorts of other weird extensions (.mobi or something?) I'd never heard of before. Takes a bit of fiddling around with to get the pages size right but seems OK. The Kindle apps just like a Kindle. You turn the pages the usual way etc. Dunno how much use I'll get out of it but might be useful on a train journey. Stumbled on a site where they reckoned the books were out of copyright in Australia so were legal to distribute freely.  Downloaded 1984, Moby Dick and a few old classics like James Joyce, Dostoyevsky etc.


----------



## yield (Oct 13, 2012)

http://floatingworldweb.com/@EBOOKS/@KINDLE/Kindle Ebook A-Z/


----------



## mincepie (Oct 13, 2012)

My Desire HD is coming up to the end of it's contract - While I do fancy the new Motorola Maxx HD (Because of it's super long battery life)
http://www.motorola.com/us/consumer...Y-MOTOROLA/m-DROID-RAZR-MAXX-HD,en_US,pd.html

I also have this feeling that many of these £400 smart phones are a bit of an overkill - half of me thinks I should look for some £100 cheapo Android 4 type phone, and be £300 better off!
I did briefly have an Orange SanFran - very impressive for the price really. I would like ICS because I want to use the phone to copy/backup from my camera (with this new USB -on-the-go thing)

I did some searching on Google and it seems there are a few out there aimed at Indian/Chinese markets - but not well known in the UK.


----------



## Voley (Oct 13, 2012)

yield said:


> http://floatingworldweb.com/@EBOOKS/@KINDLE/Kindle Ebook A-Z/


All perfectly legal and above board, I'm sure. The 'O' page has a good eclectic mix. All the classic authors: Orwell, George and Osbourne, Ozzy.


----------



## Voley (Oct 14, 2012)

yield said:


> http://floatingworldweb.com/@EBOOKS/@KINDLE/Kindle Ebook A-Z/


Unfortunately that Aldiko ereader thingy doesn't like them in that format but I'll have a bit of nose around the less legit bits of the net and see if there's a way round it.

ETA: FB reader works. All 6 books of Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy for free, downloaded in seconds. I may never even make a call on this phone and still think it's ace.


----------



## yield (Oct 14, 2012)

mincepie said:


> My Desire HD is coming up to the end of it's contract - While I do fancy the new Motorola Maxx HD (Because of it's super long battery life)
> http://www.motorola.com/us/consumer...Y-MOTOROLA/m-DROID-RAZR-MAXX-HD,en_US,pd.html
> 
> I also have this feeling that many of these £400 smart phones are a bit of an overkill - half of me thinks I should look for some £100 cheapo Android 4 type phone, and be £300 better off!
> ...


My orange san francisco is still going strong. I'll only replace it when it breaks or slows.

Thinking of going for a cheap orange sim only deal when my 18 month contract expires in the new year.


----------



## Hassan I Sabha (Oct 16, 2012)

Jelly bean is almost ready for this, should be out in a week or two - bit of a mega thread on this over at Modaco. This looks like it will be out before official ICS.


----------



## Hassan I Sabha (Nov 2, 2012)

OTA update to ICS started today for people still on Gingerbread, however it is not going down well as it seems to be the same as a previous 'broken' version for New Zealand


----------



## Hassan I Sabha (Nov 15, 2012)

CyanogenMod 9 is now available for this phone - I have it loaded and it definitely speeds the phone up.


----------



## thriller (Nov 15, 2012)

i've given with this phone and will look to gt the Nexus 4 when it comes available more widely.


----------



## Voley (Nov 18, 2012)

Well I've had it a few weeks now and am really pleased with it. Thanks for the advice about getting off PAYG. I stuck with Vodafone and have a £10.50 a month deal that gives me all the calls, texts and data I'll need. They have good coverage down here too which can be an issue in parts of Cornwall. I did wonder whether 500mb a month would be enough but it seems like most of the heavy data usage I do tends to be at home anyhow so that's not a problem. Watching stuff on iPlayer while I'm in the bath has now become a habit of mine. 

Like Rubes said earlier, the phone aspect of it is almost incidental really. I probably use it more as a radio/mp3 player than anything else tbh. I've been selling a lot of stuff on Ebay recently and its been useful to do that while I'm on my lunch break as work internet wouldn't allow me access. I'm sure this is all old news to you lot as this is my first smartphone but I've found it really genuinely useful. £100 well spent.


----------



## Voley (Nov 27, 2012)

I'm a bit confused about what gets stored where on this phone. I'm thinking of getting some more memory so I can carry a decent chunk of my record collection round with me but what is it I need? A RAM card or internal memory or what?


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Nov 27, 2012)

One of these





£13.88 from Amazon.


----------



## Voley (Nov 27, 2012)

Fucking hell! 32 gigs for that price? I suppose this is one of the benefits of being about ten years behind everyone else on this - everything's dirt cheap these days.  Mind you, even at 32 gigs my record collection will require a fairly severe pruning. 148gb at the last count.


----------



## Voley (Nov 27, 2012)

Global Stoner said:


> £13.88 from Amazon.


Amazon's mental sometimes isn't it?



> 41 new from £11.38 2 used from £150.00


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Nov 27, 2012)

NVP said:


> Fucking hell! 32 gigs for that price? I suppose this is one of the benefits of being about ten years behind everyone else on this - everything's dirt cheap these days.  Mind you, even at 32 gigs my record collection will require a fairly severe pruning. 148gb at the last count.


 
It will make it easier to find what you want on a phone screen anyway.

I'll probably get shot down for this, but if you shrink everything you want 128kbs or 192kbs you can get a fair bit more on.

You might be able to get a 64gb one in there, but not many phones take them yet, you'd have to check.


----------



## Voley (Nov 27, 2012)

Global Stoner said:


> You might be able to get a 64gb one in there, but not many phones take them yet, you'd have to check.


Yeah just been looking and I don't think there's one that big for my phone. Not a bad thing really, a bit of quality control wouldn't go amiss tbh. I've got oodles of stuff there I've barely ever listened to. Went a bit nuts when I first got broadband and discovered BitTorrent. Clicked on far too many links called things like 'Neil Young - Entire Discography' and 'Everything By Bob Dylan Ever'. I think if I edited it down to 32 gb I could happily stick it on shuffle and I wouldn't keep having to hit 'Next' all the time.


----------



## Hassan I Sabha (Dec 6, 2012)

Firefox B2G (Boot to Gecko) has been converted to work for this phone now if anyone fancies a play - It is not good enough to be a daily ROM (CM9 is) but it is interesting if you fancy a play.


----------



## Hassan I Sabha (Dec 11, 2012)

And now we have Jellybean/CM10.0 (for anyone who is actually interested...) 10.1 will come in around 3 weeks.


----------



## RubyToogood (Dec 11, 2012)

Hassan I Sabha said:


> OTA update to ICS started today for people still on Gingerbread, however it is not going down well as it seems to be the same as a previous 'broken' version for New Zealand


I wish I had read this thread back before doing the upgrade. It seems to have settled down a bit after a few days mind. I don't really understand all this stuff and have not rooted my phone as I don't want to void the warranty. Not that I would know how to do it anyway.


----------



## RubyToogood (Dec 11, 2012)

dp


----------



## Hassan I Sabha (Dec 11, 2012)

Really you should root it and apply CM10, or 9 if you are less adventurous - they are fine and they increase phone performance by an extra 50% at least.

This thread links to this site that gives you instructions that would work for a 5 year old to follow. It is full of automated scripts to root the phone then install CWM then update to different ROM's - have a look, then any questions ask on the original thread.

Seriously my AnTuTu score went from 3200 to 4700 applying CM10 then overclocking slightly.

Any questions I would also try and answer here if that helps.


----------



## RubyToogood (Dec 11, 2012)

Hassan I Sabha said:


> Really you should root it and apply CM10, or 9 if you are less adventurous - they are fine and they increase phone performance by an extra 50% at least.
> 
> This thread links to this site that gives you instructions that would work for a 5 year old to follow. It is full of automated scripts to root the phone then install CWM then update to different ROM's - have a look, then any questions ask on the original thread.
> 
> ...


----------



## Hassan I Sabha (Dec 13, 2012)

RubyToogood said:


>


Fair enough.....


----------



## Hassan I Sabha (Jan 28, 2013)

CyanogenMod 10.1/Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean is now available as of yesterday for this phone - Details here

Considering you could of paid £70 for this phone at some retailers (£99 at Vodaphone) and people are posting AnTuTu scores of around 4500 with normal SD cards now this has to have been the bargain phone of 2012. Interesting they are now around £120 on Amazon!

Helps that there is a really vibrant dev community out there as well.


----------



## Chz (Jan 28, 2013)

It's been nearly a year now. Anyone have any idea what 2013's G300 or Orange San Francisco is going to be? My wife's OSF is getting a little long in the tooth, but I'd rather go for a bigger bump than the G300 gets you. Pity the G330 never reached as low a price as it was predicted to and it completely lacks a dev community.


----------



## Yetman (Jan 28, 2013)

I was trying to get a pic taken with a guitar hero of mine yesterday and the camera fucked up and wouldnt connect which pissed me off. The photo I did get before the was dodgy as well - anyone else had camera problems with this phone?

Also, I'm up for this rooting/upgrading business, I'm assuming it'll keep all my settings and data when I do it?


----------



## thriller (Jan 28, 2013)

Yetman said:


> anyone else had camera problems with this phone?


 
Yep, hate the camera on this phone. the focus is crap and most of my pictures come up blurred.


----------



## Hassan I Sabha (Jan 29, 2013)

Camera is fine, it was worse in older versions of the OS

For examples


----------



## RubyToogood (Jan 29, 2013)

I quite like the camera. Camera 360 is a useful camera app.


----------



## Yetman (Jan 29, 2013)

Have you changed the settings on the camera at all to make it work? Try taking a pic in dark conditions or with the flash. It sucks.


----------



## Hassan I Sabha (Jan 29, 2013)

Try an aftermarket camera app if you do not like stock, there are a few on Play like 360 (mentioned above) for example. I took some photo's last night at the O2, in the dark from a way back and they were OK.

What OS version you on, as I said older versions had problems with the stock camera.


----------



## Yetman (Jan 29, 2013)

Hassan I Sabha said:


> Try an aftermarket camera app if you do not like stock, there are a few on Play like 360 (mentioned above) for example. I took some photo's last night at the O2, in the dark from a way back and they were OK.
> 
> What OS version you on, as I said older versions had problems with the stock camera.


 
I've just got the standard stuff on it. What would be involved in rooting it? Would that help it's performance and stuff? Do I just copy everything to my SD card and then upgrade the OS? Is there an idiots guide?!

Andriod 4.0.3
Model U8818


----------



## Hassan I Sabha (Jan 29, 2013)

Yes, there is an idiots guide, check my posts above. In the first instance I would just try another camera app from play first as that is the simplest route if it is just the camera annoying you


----------



## editor (Jan 29, 2013)

thriller said:


> Yep, hate the camera on this phone. the focus is crap and most of my pictures come up blurred.


Have you tried installing third party camera apps and taking photos via those?


----------



## Yetman (Jan 29, 2013)

Hassan I Sabha said:


> Yes, there is an idiots guide, check my posts above. In the first instance I would just try another camera app from play first as that is the simplest route if it is just the camera annoying you


 
Ok cool will do thanks


----------



## Hassan I Sabha (Jan 29, 2013)

All of these apps have positive feedback in the forums - listed in order of popularity (top 2 are free as well)

Camera 360
Camera ICS
Camera Zoom FX


----------



## thriller (Jan 29, 2013)

editor said:


> Have you tried installing third party camera apps and taking photos via those?


 
i haven't. will give it a go. But it maybe because of the OS. Mine is rooted and android 2.3.6. Tried the OTA update but keep getting status 7 error message when trying to get the update up and running  will get my brother to sort it out.


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 3, 2013)

I was given one of these for my birthday yesterday; my first smartphone.  So expect lots of daft questions.

*goes over to the dark side*


----------



## RubyToogood (Feb 3, 2013)

danny la rouge said:


> I was given one of these for my birthday yesterday; my first smartphone. So expect lots of daft questions.
> 
> *goes over to the dark side*


Don't update it to ICS, ie if it prompts you to install a massive update that takes ages to download, tell it no thanks.


----------



## Voley (Feb 3, 2013)

danny la rouge said:


> I was given one of these for my birthday yesterday; my first smartphone. So expect lots of daft questions.
> 
> *goes over to the dark side*


 
Good choice they've made for you as a prezzy imo. I'm totally new to all this smartphone malarkey, too, danny, and even I found this phone easy to use.Once I'd found my way around it, the best thing you can buy for it is some decent headphones and some extra memory. Got about a third of my entire record collection in me pocket at all times now.


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 3, 2013)

RubyToogood said:


> Don't update it to ICS, ie if it prompts you to install a massive update that takes ages to download, tell it no thanks.


Im ttying it out on urban.Dont think I,ll bokther imn future.


----------



## Voley (Feb 3, 2013)

danny la rouge said:


> Im ttying it out on urban.Dont think I,ll bokther imn future.


 You need Forum Runner. It's a nightmare without it.


----------



## RubyToogood (Feb 3, 2013)

danny la rouge said:


> Im ttying it out on urban.Dont think I,ll bokther imn future.


I can tell from your typing that you're using the stock keyboard. May I recommend Swiftkey (available in the play store)? Also Tapatalk or Forum Runner I believe are the approved urban-surfing apps.


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 3, 2013)

NVP said:


> You need Forum Runner. It's a nightmare without it.


I'm back on the PC now.

I downloaded forum runner, which looks good. But then I downloaded Swiftkey, and I can't use that at all. (Which is why I'm back on the PC).  At least I could actually use the keyboard that came with it.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Feb 3, 2013)

danny la rouge said:


> I'm back on the PC now.
> 
> I downloaded forum runner, which looks good. But then I downloaded Swiftkey, and I can't use that at all. (Which is why I'm back on the PC). At least I could actually use the keyboard that came with it.


 
TBF to it, I'm guessing you didn't learn to touch type on a PC in a few mins?


----------



## Voley (Feb 3, 2013)

danny la rouge said:


> I downloaded forum runner, which looks good.


You'll be fine with that. I've not used Swiftkey. It sounded confusing.


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 3, 2013)

Global Stoner said:


> TBF to it, I'm guessing you didn't learn to touch type on a PC in a few mins?


True.  But I could actually use the stock keyboard.  It looked like a child with boxing gloves, but ...


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 3, 2013)

RubyToogood said:


> May I recommend Swiftkey (available in the play store)?


How do you do underscore?


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Feb 3, 2013)

Long press z or press the abc button to get more keys, which gives it its own key.


----------



## Voley (Feb 3, 2013)

One thing I can't see on Forum Runner is how to reply to a thread normally. I can do it if I quote someone but not like I am just now.


----------



## Voley (Feb 3, 2013)

Danny'll know the answer to this, I expect.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Feb 3, 2013)

I don't get what's so bad about using the normal site?


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 3, 2013)

NVP said:


> Whoop!


I've read this thread now, and didn't understand most of it.  But I do like the look of that app.  I think I'll buy it tomorrow.

I downloaded Kindle to see what it could do, but it wanted my Amazon password, so I uninstalled it immediately.  Is there anything else I should check out?  (I don't play games or use Twitter or Facebook).


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Feb 3, 2013)

danny la rouge said:


> I've read this thread now, and didn't understand most of it. But I do like the look of that app. I think I'll buy it tomorrow.
> 
> I downloaded Kindle to see what it could do, but it wanted my Amazon password, so I uninstalled it immediately. Is there anything else I should check out? (I don't play games or use Twitter or Facebook).


 
What were you expecting of a Kindle app? 

There's a big thread about Android apps that may be some use to you.


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 4, 2013)

Global Stoner said:


> What were you expecting of a Kindle app?


I may not have mentioned, but I'm very new to this smartphone malarky.  So my expectations were close to nothing at all.

I've looked at that thread, GS, but didn't understand about 95% of it.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Feb 4, 2013)

Well it needs you password, so it can download stuff from your account. Personally I don't bother as I wouldn't want to read books on a phone as I've got a Kindle for that. 

Personally the apps I use the most are ones that duplicate the functions already there, but do them better, as an example I prefer the layout of Touch Calendar to the standard one.


----------



## thriller (Feb 4, 2013)

ICS for this fone is utter shite. Very slow as it doen't have processing power to deal with the increased memory usage. Downgrading to Ginger.


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 4, 2013)

I'm going to be asking newbie questions for a week or so, hope you don't mind.

I've been trying out Swiftkey to see how it's better than the stock keyboard, and basically it's just predictive texting, is that right?  (Which seems to me to defeat the purpose of a qwerty keyboard, but hey ho, that's progress).  It's very bossy predictive texting, though.  Is there any way to over-ride its suggestions?  (It won't let me type "texting", for example, which is why I'm back on my PC atm).

Global Stoner RubyToogood

*Sent from my ancient PC running XP*


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 4, 2013)

thriller said:


> ICS for this fone is utter shite. Very slow as it doen't have processing power to deal with the increased memory usage. Downgrading to Ginger.


What?


----------



## RubyToogood (Feb 4, 2013)

danny la rouge said:


> I'm going to be asking newbie questions for a week or so, hope you don't mind.
> 
> I've been trying out Swiftkey to see how it's better than the stock keyboard, and basically it's just predictive texting, is that right? (Which seems to me to defeat the purpose of a qwerty keyboard, but hey ho, that's progress). It's very bossy predictive texting, though. Is there any way to over-ride its suggestions? (It won't let me type "texting", for example, which is why I'm back on my PC atm).
> 
> ...


It does let you, you just have to keep going and it learns what words you use. If you go into the settings you can tweak things a bit. But yes, it's basically very good predictive texting and it does speed typing up no end.


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 4, 2013)

RubyToogood said:


> It does let you, you just have to keep going and it learns what words you use. If you go into the settings you can tweak things a bit. But yes, it's basically very good predictive texting and it does speed typing up no end.


OK, thanks, Rubes.  I'll persevere.


----------



## Voley (Feb 4, 2013)

danny la rouge said:
			
		

> What?



ICS - Ice Cream Sandwich: an operating system that's the next one up from Gingerbread, which is the one you're using now.


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 4, 2013)

RubyToogood said:


> It does let you, you just have to keep going and it learns what words you use. If you go into the settings you can tweak things a bit. But yes, it's basically very good predictive texting and it does speed typing up no end.


I've just discovered that you can remove a stubborn prediction by long-pressing on the actual predicted word.  

/newb


----------



## Voley (Feb 4, 2013)

The Night Sky is a great app, danny. My favourite one of the lot and one of the few that I was happy to actually buy.

If you get into using your phone for music I've found Poweramp to be the best mp3 player. Again, I bought the full version of this as it's so good. I'd use this on my PC too if you could. Very easy to navigate, manages a massive collection easily, doesn't get confused by tagging (most other mp3 players I've ever used have varying degrees of trouble with this, usually ending up with lots of songs called 'Track 1'), it'll fade tracks in and out quite nicely etc etc.


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 4, 2013)

NVP said:


> The Night Sky is a great app, danny. My favourite one of the lot and one of the few that I was happy to actually buy.
> 
> If you get into using your phone for music I've found Poweramp to be the best mp3 player. Again, I bought the full version of this as it's so good. I'd use this on my PC too if you could. Very easy to navigate, manages a massive collection easily, doesn't get confused by tagging (most other mp3 players I've ever used have varying degrees of trouble with this, usually ending up with lots of songs called 'Track 1'), it'll fade tracks in and out quite nicely etc etc.


I can't really see myself using my phone for music, to be honest.  But cheers for the tip.

While I'm here, I have downloaded the Hotmail App, but it appears to do almost nothing.  I can't see its advantage over just going through the browser; in fact, I can only see disadvantages.  (I've downloaed Opera Mini, and have Hotmail on my speed dial).  Am I missing something obvious?

(I've got the Night Sky now, and look forward to nightfall!)


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Feb 4, 2013)

danny la rouge said:


> I can't really see myself using my phone for music, to be honest. But cheers for the tip.
> 
> While I'm here, I have downloaded the Hotmail App, but it appears to do almost nothing. I can't see its advantage over just going through the browser; in fact, I can only see disadvantages. (I've downloaed Opera Mini, and have Hotmail on my speed dial). Am I missing something obvious?
> 
> (I've got the Night Sky now, and look forward to nightfall!)


 
I've not used the app, but the advantage of using a client over web mail is that is uses less data...good if you're limited in the amount you have, but more to the point, much faster if you don't have a 3g connection.

Edit: I use aquamail, which I like as it enables me to have more then one email account set up in it.


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 4, 2013)

OK, so for some reason all these contacts from my hotmail account appeared in the phone book of my phone.  Which was weird. What a clutter, when all I want there is the phone numbers of people I phone or text. So I deleted them. 

So now I'm on my PC, and check my Hotmail.  All my contacts are gone.

I don't think I like modern life.


----------



## Spymaster (Feb 4, 2013)

danny la rouge said:


> I don't think I like modern life.


 
You really ought not to be fucking about with technology at your age, Pilch.

Get the kids to sort it out.


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 4, 2013)

Spymaster said:


> You really ought not to be fucking about with technology at your age, Pilch.
> 
> Get the kids to sort it out.


Yes, it's a disaster.  I feel sick to the pit of my stomach.

I understand where I went wrong: I'm still thinking of things as separate functions. For me, phoning people is different from emailing people. But the modern way is to mingle them together.  

I am (just about) willing to try getting used to a device that can do several things.  What I'm not ready for is for those things to be blurred together.  And to be fair, I don't think I ever will be.  I _like_ compartments.  I don't want people's email addresses in my phone book.  And I don't want their phone numbers in my email contact list.  

And it's not just that.  I've had to tell the device to desist doing several things.  It wants to cross reference everything.  I don't want it to.  I had to sign up to Gmail in order to download apps, but I've no intention of using Gmail.  (And I'm not very happy about having to tell Google my home address in order to do so.  I know they needed to verify my card, but I don't like the idea of that one company holding all that information).  I also signed up for What's App (I was recommended it), and that checked my email contacts (when I still had them) for other people that had What's App.  I didn't ask it to.  So I uninstalled it.  Texting has always worked fine for me.

I've also uninstalled the Hotmail app.  The damage is done now.  I've no contacts any more.  But I've never wanted to check emails when I was out of the house in the past, and couldn't envisage wanting to, but I was willing to give it a go.  Well, I'm not any more.


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## danny la rouge (Feb 4, 2013)

I know it's bad form to return a present, but I'm just wondering how much use I'm going to get out of this phone.  You see, I've always been on PAYG before, and topped up every 2 or 3 months.  Mrs la rouge took out a contract with Vodafone when she got me this, believing this to be sensible as I'd use it more than my old dumb-phone.  But I'm not so sure.  Once I've looked at the stars a couple of times, I'm not sure what else I'd do.

I usually have my mobile switched off unless I'm ... mobile.  I have a landline for when I'm at home.  

The cooling off period is 7 days, is it?  Would I be able to swap this thingy for a PAYG dumb-phone, do you think?


----------



## editor (Feb 4, 2013)

I'd give it a few more days. I've known lots of people who thought they didn't need or want a smartphone, but are now on the things all day long.


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## RubyToogood (Feb 4, 2013)

danny la rouge said:


> I know it's bad form to return a present, but I'm just wondering how much use I'm going to get out of this phone. You see, I've always been on PAYG before, and topped up every 2 or 3 months. Mrs la rouge took out a contract with Vodafone when she got me this, believing this to be sensible as I'd use it more than my old dumb-phone. But I'm not so sure. Once I've looked at the stars a couple of times, I'm not sure what else I'd do.
> 
> I usually have my mobile switched off unless I'm ... mobile. I have a landline for when I'm at home.
> 
> The cooling off period is 7 days, is it? Would I be able to swap this thingy for a PAYG dumb-phone, do you think?


What are your hobbies/interests? There are lots of interesting and useful apps. For instance I've got an instrument tuner and a metronome that I use all the time. Have a look in the play store for stuff that interests you.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Feb 5, 2013)

danny la rouge said:


> I know it's bad form to return a present, but I'm just wondering how much use I'm going to get out of this phone. You see, I've always been on PAYG before, and topped up every 2 or 3 months. Mrs la rouge took out a contract with Vodafone when she got me this, believing this to be sensible as I'd use it more than my old dumb-phone. But I'm not so sure. Once I've looked at the stars a couple of times, I'm not sure what else I'd do.
> 
> I usually have my mobile switched off unless I'm ... mobile. I have a landline for when I'm at home.
> 
> The cooling off period is 7 days, is it? Would I be able to swap this thingy for a PAYG dumb-phone, do you think?


 
I think you need one of these.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Feb 5, 2013)

danny la rouge said:


> Yes, it's a disaster. I feel sick to the pit of my stomach.
> 
> I understand where I went wrong: I'm still thinking of things as separate functions. For me, phoning people is different from emailing people. But the modern way is to mingle them together.
> 
> ...


 
I never thought I'd read a post that in which everything I liked about owning a smart phone would summed up by someone who hates it all. 

The bringing everything together is amazing...one contact for everyone, with all the info. If I lose it, it's still backed up without me even thinking about it. I can check all my communications with one person easily. From the sound of things you don't need to buy apps, so just lie about your home address.

I've never seen the point of What's App, except for the weird cirucmstances I lived in last summer where I had wifi and no phone signal, although it is useful if you go overseas I guess.


----------



## Psychonaut (Feb 5, 2013)

danny la rouge said:


> I know it's bad form to return a present, but I'm just wondering how much use I'm going to get out of this phone. You see, I've always been on PAYG before, and topped up every 2 or 3 months. Mrs la rouge took out a contract with Vodafone when she got me this, believing this to be sensible as I'd use it more than my old dumb-phone. But I'm not so sure. Once I've looked at the stars a couple of times, I'm not sure what else I'd do.
> 
> I usually have my mobile switched off unless I'm ... mobile. I have a landline for when I'm at home.
> 
> The cooling off period is 7 days, is it? Would I be able to swap this thingy for a PAYG dumb-phone, do you think?


 
Im in a similar boat; always been PAYG & probably only been spending £20ish per year in top-ups. So i dont want any sort of contract, but then i do want to have GPS and see what else is out there, so i just got this phone.

I think ill unlock, then just keep on using my ancient t-mobile PAYG sim. Unless ive missed something their deal appears to be a one off payment of £2.50 or £5 gives you 5 or 30 days internet and you dont get charged anything extra for going over your limit, just reverts back to being a non-internet phone. Might be a good option for you?


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## danny la rouge (Feb 5, 2013)

editor said:


> I'd give it a few more days. I've known lots of people who thought they didn't need or want a smartphone, but are now on the things all day long.


OK, thanks.  I will.


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 5, 2013)

RubyToogood said:


> What are your hobbies/interests? There are lots of interesting and useful apps. For instance I've got an instrument tuner and a metronome that I use all the time. Have a look in the play store for stuff that interests you.


While I can see that someone who didn't already have a metronome would find that useful, I already have a proper clockwork pyramid one.  And I can't imagine needing a metronome in a coffee shop!

I have browsed through the Play Store a couple times, but got as far as number 500 without finding anything.  It seems to me to be mostly time-wasting nonsense.  I've downloaded the Star thing, the BBC News thing, a couple of newspaper apps. And then Hotmail and What's App, which I have now uninstalled.

While I'm here, the Swiftkey thing is annoying me.  How does one punctuate?  Every time I try to put a punctuation mark after a word, it thinks I want more predictions, and I end up having to re-type the word.  It really slows me down.  I've ended up having to send a text this morning with a space between my words and commas, which upsets me.  I hate to think of badly set documents going out in my name.  Also, the send button is too close to the delete key - I ended up sending something I was trying to delete!


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 5, 2013)

Global Stoner said:


> I think you need one of these.


I think I do.  The best mobile phone I ever had was a Motorola clamshell.  You had to text using the number keys, but they were far enough apart that you didn't make mistakes, and you could switch off predictive texting.


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## danny la rouge (Feb 5, 2013)

Psychonaut said:


> Im in a similar boat; always been PAYG & probably only been spending £20ish per year in top-ups. So i dont want any sort of contract, but then i do want to have GPS and see what else is out there, so i just got this phone.
> 
> I think ill unlock, then just keep on using my ancient t-mobile PAYG sim. Unless ive missed something their deal appears to be a one off payment of £2.50 or £5 gives you 5 or 30 days internet and you dont get charged anything extra for going over your limit, just reverts back to being a non-internet phone. Might be a good option for you?


Cheers.  I'm giving this one until Thursday, and if it doesn't grow on me it's going back. 

I've switched off the GPS and all location stuff on my Ascend, as that stuff creeps me out.  Which means the weather thing doesn't work, but I don't need that anyway.


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 5, 2013)

Global Stoner said:


> If I lose it, it's still backed up without me even thinking about it.


Well, it did the opposite of that for me.  The point of backing up is to have your data in more than one place, so that if something goes wrong with one storage area, the other one will still be OK.  What this phone did was to negate the point of backing up, so that you are able to destroy everything in every storage area at once, remotely.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Feb 5, 2013)

danny la rouge said:


> Well, it did the opposite of that for me. The point of backing up is to have your data in more than one place, so that if something goes wrong with one storage area, the other one will still be OK. What this phone did was to negate the point of backing up, so that you are able to destroy everything in every storage area at once, remotely.


 
Don't quite get you there...it's on the phone and on a server, so would be very hard to lose. If you're really worried you download them as small file from gmail and keep them locally on your pc/usb stick/different cloud storage.


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## danny la rouge (Feb 5, 2013)

Global Stoner said:


> Don't quite get you there...it's on the phone and on a server, so would be very hard to lose. If you're really worried you download them as small file from gmail and keep them locally on your pc/usb stick/different cloud storage.


My Hotmail contacts are all gone.  They've gone from my telephone address book (which I wanted), but, unknown to me, when I did that it deleted them from my Hotmail account.  Gone.  No more.  That happened by things being merged.  I thought I was dealing with two places, but there's no such thing any more.


----------



## editor (Feb 5, 2013)

danny la rouge said:


> My Hotmail contacts are all gone. They've gone from my telephone address book (which I wanted), but, unknown to me, when I did that it deleted them from my Hotmail account. Gone. No more. That happened by things being merged. I thought I was dealing with two places, but there's no such thing any more.


Haven't you got a techie pal who can sit you down and talk you through all this? I'd suggest it's worth hanging in because smartphones can be reaslly useful things.


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## danny la rouge (Feb 5, 2013)

editor said:


> Haven't you got a techie pal who can sit you down and talk you through all this? I'd suggest it's worth hanging in because smartphones can be reaslly useful things.


Funnily enough, I'm regarded as being the technie person round here!  It's because I can usually fix what's gone wrong with my friends' and neighbours' computers (because usually not much has actually gone wrong).

I will give this beast a fair hearing, but I'm beginning to suspect that the things everyone values in smartphones is actually things I don't want to happen: this business of merging functions.


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## editor (Feb 5, 2013)

danny la rouge said:


> Funnily enough, I'm regarded as being the technie person round here! It's because I can usually fix what's gone wrong with my friends' and neighbours' computers (because usually not much has actually gone wrong).
> 
> I will give this beast a fair hearing, but I'm beginning to suspect that the things everyone values in smartphones is actually things I don't want to happen: this business of merging functions.


Well, they can be lots of things. For example, if you download TVcatchup, your phone becomes a TV set.


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## danny la rouge (Feb 5, 2013)

editor said:


> Well, they can be lots of things. For example, if you download TVcatchup, your phone becomes a TV set.


I'm aware that I seem to be pouring cold water on everything, and I do appreciate you trying to be helpful here.  But I really can't see me watching anything on my phone; I don't even like doing that on my PC!


----------



## editor (Feb 5, 2013)

danny la rouge said:


> I'm aware that I seem to be pouring cold water on everything, and I do appreciate you trying to be helpful here. But I really can't see me watching anything on my phone; I don't even like doing that on my PC!


I mainly use the TV app when I'm making a snack and don't want to miss the news.


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## danny la rouge (Feb 5, 2013)

editor said:


> I mainly use the TV app when I'm making a snack and don't want to miss the news.


I'd either put the radio on in the kitchen, or make my snack after the news bulletin.  In fact, probably the latter.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Feb 5, 2013)

I think everyone has different uses...I don't really watch that much TV anyway, so it's no hardship not having it on the move and the idea of watching films on a small screen isn't appealing. I do quite like the ability to get podcasts of Radio 4 for long drives on a Sunday when I don't want to listen to Gardeners Question Time or the Archers


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 5, 2013)

Global Stoner said:


> I do quite like the ability to get podcasts of Radio 4 for long drives on a Sunday when I don't want to listen to Gardeners Auestion Time or the Archers


I do that, but that's what I use my iPod for.  I don't need a telephone to do that.  I appreciate that having one device that'll do several things can be handy if you get used to the idea.  But I certainly don't want that device to start linking up all those areas of my life.


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 6, 2013)

OK, I've calmed down a bit after my futureshock strop.  It seems that although the phone _prefers_ things to be synched, if you mess around in the gubbins you can unsynch them.  This means it gets a reprieve.  But it's on a warning.  

(I'm still bereft and despondent at losing my email addresses.  Luckily some of my contacts have emailed already, so I'm rebuilding from the bottom.  However it means I have to wait for many of them to get in touch with me).


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 6, 2013)

An app that would be really useful to me would be one that would allow me to scan the barcodes of my CDs/books so that I could catalogue my libraries.  I realise that this is something of a mismatch in technologies, but there used to be something similar years ago for PC.  I had to traipse backwards and forwards to my webcam, and so I gave up before the job was done (I have roughly several thousand CDs and an estimated several hundreds of books), but it occurs to me that a handheld device removes the problem.  (I have been known to buy duplicates, so this might help me stop doing that, amongst other uses).  

Anyone know of such a thing?  RubyToogood NVP Global Stoner


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 6, 2013)

I've discovered one called - funnily enough - Music Library, but it gets mixed reviews.  Some people say it doesn't recognise all their music.  I'm guessing much of my collection will be unrecognisable... Anyone tried it?


----------



## Hassan I Sabha (Feb 18, 2013)

For anyone that is interested we now have 4.2.2 available which includes MR1.1 from the normal place on Modaco


----------



## thriller (Feb 18, 2013)

sold this crap on ebay for £72 including postage. pleased with the price I got.


----------



## Hassan I Sabha (Feb 19, 2013)

thriller said:


> sold this crap on ebay for £72 including postage. pleased with the price I got.


 
Good for you, hope you find something else for the same price that works as fast. If you put the right ROM on you have a great phone, it is just a pity that flashing ROM's and applying ROOT is not just a one click process as it would give some people access to a phone that works so well for the money.


----------



## Yetman (Feb 19, 2013)

Hassan I Sabha said:


> Good for you, hope you find something else for the same price that works as fast. If you put the right ROM on you have a great phone, it is just a pity that flashing ROM's and applying ROOT is not just a one click process as it would give some people access to a phone that works so well for the money.


 
Which is the best ROM to have on it, in your opinion?


----------



## Hassan I Sabha (Feb 19, 2013)

Yetman said:


> Which is the best ROM to have on it, in your opinion?


 
If you want a solid ROM based on ICS then I would suggest Slim B952, there is a thread discussing it here - You would need to Root and install CWM first, here are some extremely simple instructions to follow on doing that and applying custom ROMs

I am running CWM 10.1 (Jelly Bean) and the long thread is here, this is an early version and there are a few known problems (such as Camera Lag however this is solved by installing a different camera from Play) - I am very happy with this ROM but other users do have some problems with it.

I would say you should always back up your Phone before applying any new ROM so you have a fall back position.


----------



## Yetman (Feb 19, 2013)

Hassan I Sabha said:


> If you want a solid ROM based on ICS then I would suggest Slim B952, there is a thread discussing it here - You would need to Root and install CWM first, here are some extremely simple instructions to follow on doing that and applying custom ROMs
> 
> I am running CWM 10.1 (Jelly Bean) and the long thread is here, this is an early version and there are a few known problems (such as Camera Lag however this is solved by installing a different camera from Play) - I am very happy with this ROM but other users do have some problems with it.
> 
> I would say you should always back up your Phone before applying any new ROM so you have a fall back position.


 
Cool thanks for the info, I'll give it a go!


----------



## RubyToogood (Feb 21, 2013)

I'm taking mine back to Vodafone today. I tried ringing Huawei and they said they'd fix it under warranty for me, but if I took it back to Vodafone and it had more than one fault they'd just replace it. Got to think of a second fault other than just "It doesn't work on Ice Cream Sandwich".


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 23, 2013)

I'm enjoying mine. I'm glad I stuck with it. I'm currently in the Burgh Coffee House in Stirling. I know that's old hat to everyone else, but to me it's still novel.


----------



## Yetman (Mar 6, 2013)

Mines been taking the piss, everything is slow, most apps close without reason. I'm just applying the version of ICS that Hassan recommended now as I literally couldnt do anything, even making a call took ages


----------



## danny la rouge (Mar 6, 2013)

Why are my text speech bubble things all grey, and not alternating grey and green?  And not really speech bubbles. Other people with this phone have grey and green bubbles. I can't find a switch to sort it.


----------



## RubyToogood (Mar 6, 2013)

danny la rouge said:


> Why are my text speech bubble things all grey, and not alternating grey and green? And not really speech bubbles. Other people with this phone have grey and green bubbles. I can't find a switch to sort it.


They might be using a different app to read their text messages.


----------



## RubyToogood (Mar 6, 2013)

Meanwhile, after hanging onto my phone for a week, Vodafone told me it was water damaged and they weren't going to touch it.

So I may as well root it. Eep.


----------



## danny la rouge (Mar 6, 2013)

RubyToogood said:


> They might be using a different app to read their text messages.


I thought it might be a different OS.  Maybe my phone already had the upgrade you said was terrible.  Or something like that.


----------



## Yetman (Mar 7, 2013)

Phone is much better now 

Backed up my apps and logs etc so all is good. I do seem to have lost my weather app though, and, this is the worst thing, all my game saves!! NOOOOO Angry Birds lvl 1 here we come


----------



## Voley (Mar 7, 2013)

If you're listening to a lot of music on your phone this little portable speaker's surprisingly good:





Marware Upsurge. Tiny little thing but quite bassy. Twenty quid I paid for mine.

And can't remember whether I mentioned before, but Poweramp is a really good mp3 player app. The free version only lasts a couple of weeks but it's worth buying.


----------



## Hassan I Sabha (Mar 11, 2013)

Yetman said:


> Phone is much better now
> 
> Backed up my apps and logs etc so all is good. I do seem to have lost my weather app though, and, this is the worst thing, all my game saves!! NOOOOO Angry Birds lvl 1 here we come


 
Glad it helped, you know that you can set your phone up to back up all setting to google if you want so you do not lose any information when you apply a new ROM.

It is also recommended that when you apply a new ROM via CWM that you do the following actions to ensure a clean install:


Reboot recovery
Wipe data
Wipe cache
Mounts... format system
format data
format cache
Advanced.. Wipe Dalvik cache
Reboot recovery
install rom zip
install gapps zip
reboot
enjoy
If you follow this you should not get any residual problems from your old set up.
When you have completed this just log into your gmail account and then all your apps should start downloading automatically from PLAY. You just need to set up your individual account logins then (such as facebook, twitter etc). After a while it becomes pretty easy to try new ROM's.


----------



## Yetman (Mar 11, 2013)

Hassan I Sabha said:


> Glad it helped, you know that you can set your phone up to back up all setting to google if you want so you do not lose any information when you apply a new ROM.
> 
> It is also recommended that when you apply a new ROM via CWM that you do the following actions to ensure a clean install:
> 
> ...


 
Sweet, cheers 

I did the above following the instructions on the site you linked to, which worked fine - backed up my apps etc to my SD card and reinstalled them from there. Now just re-setting up the logins and stuff but that's not too hard, the only annoying thing was losing the game saves but meh, not that much of a big deal really


----------



## Hassan I Sabha (Mar 11, 2013)

If you go to:

Settings -> Backup & Restore -> select 'Back up my data'

Then your game progress and other app specific data should be synced with your Gmail account. Always works for me (do not need to restart Hill Climb Racer after I install a new ROM which is my benchmark)

Should help going forwards if you decide to play around a bit more with ROMS.

How much better are you finding the phone since putting 'slim' on it?


----------



## Throbbing Angel (Mar 13, 2013)

*is this phone still worth getting?*
£85 on Amazon at the mo
Want to get it unlocked and slam a giffgaff SIM in after my Lumia debacle
I know it was well thought of upon release and has a healthy following on Modaco forums - some on here love it and some hate it (or hated as they seem to have got rid)


----------



## Hassan I Sabha (Mar 16, 2013)

V11 of the 'slim ROM' is out and is a simple install compared to V10 as you just need to flash the ROM .zip file then Gapps. I would do a full set of wipes as well first. You can get it here

I have been running it for a day and a bit and battery is amazing and it is very smooth. I also have Nova launcher installed which I think gives you a nicer experience.


----------



## Macabre (Mar 17, 2013)

Hassan I Sabha said:


> Glad it helped, you know that you can set your phone up to back up all setting to google if you want so you do not lose any information when you apply a new ROM.
> 
> It is also recommended that when you apply a new ROM via CWM that you do the following actions to ensure a clean install:
> 
> ...


 
Just done this and I'm really liking it. Will all the cyanogen themes work on this too?

Edit: never mind, now using Nova Launcher with MIUI x4 icons.  looks great.


----------



## Hassan I Sabha (Mar 18, 2013)

There is cm 9, 10 & 10.1 topics on the Modaco site. All work but read the threads to get an idea of how people are finding them, I am using Stock Slim v11 at the moment and I am seeing about 2.5 days between charges with medium usage


----------



## danny la rouge (Mar 18, 2013)

I have no idea what anyone is talking about.


----------



## Yetman (Mar 18, 2013)

Hassan I Sabha said:


> If you go to:
> 
> Settings -> Backup & Restore -> select 'Back up my data'
> 
> ...


 
Much better ta, it was getting really shit before but now it's back to being slick and functional, the camera even seems better.

Might look into Nova launcher now...


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## Macabre (Mar 18, 2013)

danny la rouge said:


> I have no idea what anyone is talking about.


http://novalauncher.com/ It allows you to customise the desktop and the app menu, among other things.
MIUI are just different icons you can get from Play.


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## danny la rouge (Mar 18, 2013)

Macabre said:


> http://novalauncher.com/ It allows you to customise the desktop and the app menu, among other things.
> MIUI are just different icons you can get from Play.


Ah, OK, cheers.  I don't think it'd be worth the trouble for me.


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## danny la rouge (Mar 22, 2013)

NVP said:


> And can't remember whether I mentioned before, but Poweramp is a really good mp3 player app.


I can't understand it.  It doesn't make any sense.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Mar 22, 2013)

danny la rouge said:


> I can't understand it. It doesn't make any sense.


 
It's like on your computer. It comes with one music playing program, but you can install a different one.


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## danny la rouge (Mar 22, 2013)

Global Stoner said:


> It's like on your computer. It comes with one music playing program, but you can install a different one.


  I mean the Poweramp app that NVP recommends.  I downloaded it, but, while it may be intuitive to some, it is completely unfathomable to me.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Mar 22, 2013)

danny la rouge said:


> I mean the Poweramp app that NVP recommends. I downloaded it, but, while it may be intuitive to some, it is completely unfathomable to me.


 
Do you understand the default one? If so it might be best to stick with that.


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## danny la rouge (Mar 22, 2013)

Global Stoner said:


> Do you understand the default one? If so it might be best to stick with that.


  I'm _really good_ at techie stuff.


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## Voley (Mar 23, 2013)

I can't help wondering if this wouldn't be a better phone for you, danny:


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## danny la rouge (Mar 24, 2013)

NVP said:


> I can't help wondering if this wouldn't be a better phone for you, danny:


Very good. 

OK, so I use iTunes on my PC (because I have an iPod).  I want to transfer some of my playlists to my Ascend, but every time I try, it doesn't work.  Do I really have to transfer the tunes one at a time?  The interface on Poweramp really isn't helpful in this respect.


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## Voley (Mar 24, 2013)

danny la rouge said:


> Very good.
> 
> OK, so I use iTunes on my PC (because I have an iPod). I want to transfer some of my playlists to my Ascend, but every time I try, it doesn't work. Do I really have to transfer the tunes one at a time? The interface on Poweramp really isn't helpful in this respect.


I've managed to avoid Itunes so can't advise on that, sorry. Can't you just copy and paste the mp3's across to the phone avoiding Itunes all together? That's what I did and Poweramp recognised them all OK, plays them in the right order etc.

Are the mp3's tagged properly?


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## danny la rouge (Mar 24, 2013)

NVP said:
			
		

> Can't you just copy and paste the mp3's across to the phone avoiding Itunes all together?


Only one at a time.


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## Voley (Mar 24, 2013)

That's weird. I just dragged and dropped mine. It took half an hour or so to copy across but I would've lost the will to live if I'd had to do each song individually.


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## danny la rouge (Mar 24, 2013)

NVP said:
			
		

> That's weird. I just dragged and dropped mine. It took half an hour or so to copy across but I would've lost the will to live if I'd had to do each song individually.



Exactly. Mind you, I've not tried to drop the whole lot in. I didn't want it all, just certain play lists.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Mar 25, 2013)

I use mediamonkey to copy files across from the PC, it's pretty similar to itunes, but plays nicely with lots of devices.


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## Yetman (Mar 27, 2013)

Fucking camera keeps freezing again. As does other stuff intermittently


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## fractionMan (May 24, 2013)

Where's the best place to get one of these?  It'll need to take an orange sim.


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## Hassan I Sabha (May 25, 2013)

Yetman said:


> Fucking camera keeps freezing again. As does other stuff intermittently


 
Try clearing the Dalvik Cache OR run something like Greenify


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## fractionMan (May 25, 2013)

Is this still the best budget android handset?


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## Yetman (May 28, 2013)

Hassan I Sabha said:


> Try clearing the Dalvik Cache OR run something like Greenify


 
Got an app which closes programs I'm not using and it seems to have made the problem better. I also deleted camera MX and am using the standard one, but not too happy with the quality of the images tbh,.


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## Ponyutd (May 28, 2013)

Well I took the plunge and bought one. Very fair for the price. Argos £94(with a tenner top up, £104, but you get a £10 Argos voucher))..tried Tesco, none in stock.
One fella' has a youtube video explaining why you shouldn't buy this phone...couldn't be arsed watching it though.
Can only get the quick start manual on line..could do with the full one. Cheers for the recommendation.


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## Chz (Jun 3, 2013)

The Huawei Y300 is a pretty good deal at £130 for a dual-core phone. Big battery, excellent performance for the price. Downside is that it's not as hackable as the G300, so it depends on what you want it for. If you're not hacking, I think it's worth the premium over the G300 since it comes with Android 4.1 and two cores.


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## RubyToogood (Jun 4, 2013)

I am _still_ stuck with this phone which barely works since I updated to ICS. I _really_ need to root it but am too chicken


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## RubyToogood (Jun 4, 2013)

Update: I have de-chickened and rooted and installed Clockwork Mod. But, er, what ROM to go for. I think I need the most efficient, least bloated one possible. I just want something basic that works so I can actually browse the internet without my browser crashing, make phone calls with reasonable speed etc.


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## Hassan I Sabha (Jun 5, 2013)

RubyToogood said:


> Update: I have de-chickened and rooted and installed Clockwork Mod. But, er, what ROM to go for. I think I need the most efficient, least bloated one possible. I just want something basic that works so I can actually browse the internet without my browser crashing, make phone calls with reasonable speed etc.


 

Go for the Slim Rom - Link here - Read the thread and ask any questions before you apply. This is an ICS based cut down ROM, the Jelly Bean ones are good but not totally stable. This is my daily ROM, has been for ages and when combined with Greenify to extend the battery makes the phone perfect for me.

I use this phone as a phone, and only have a few apps installed (around 15 max) and about 3 games. I find when you do not swamp a phone with apps (especially ones that push notifications) they run better, especially a budget phone.


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## Hassan I Sabha (Jun 12, 2013)

The latest 'cheap' phone from Huawei is out, the Ascend Y300, priced at £60 from a certain high street phone supplier.

Specification is as follows: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, 1GHz dual-core processor, 4-inch 800x480-pixel screen and a 5-megapixel camera.

It does not come with much internal memory space for apps, but stick a memory card in and use an app like Link2SD and that is not a real problem. As it is new there are obviously no Roms out for it yet! Could be an alternative for those peed off with their G300 or who are also looking for a cheapo phone.


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## Chz (Jun 12, 2013)

Goddamnit! I just paid £125 for one of those.

Edit: Mind you, my wife's on Giffgaff so I don't think I could've qualified. They're still £130 sim-free.

It's a good phone. Performs well, takes a decent picture, and is a huge upgrade from a San Francisco for anyone who had one.


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## RubyToogood (Jun 12, 2013)

Hassan I Sabha said:


> Go for the Slim Rom - Link here - Read the thread and ask any questions before you apply. This is an ICS based cut down ROM, the Jelly Bean ones are good but not totally stable. This is my daily ROM, has been for ages and when combined with Greenify to extend the battery makes the phone perfect for me.


 
I have done it and not killed the phone! (yet)


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## Hassan I Sabha (Jun 13, 2013)

RubyToogood said:


> I have done it and not killed the phone! (yet)


 

And.... Has it improved the phone?


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## Hassan I Sabha (Jun 13, 2013)

Chz said:


> Goddamnit! I just paid £125 for one of those.
> 
> Edit: Mind you, my wife's on Giffgaff so I don't think I could've qualified. They're still £130 sim-free.
> 
> It's a good phone. Performs well, takes a decent picture, and is a huge upgrade from a San Francisco for anyone who had one.


 

That's good. I think that price (£59.99) is for a PAYG upgrade so I would of thought you could get a cheapo sim in then get an upgrade. I have seen various reports of them coming unlocked from CPW but that is obviously not a guarantee.


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## RubyToogood (Jun 13, 2013)

Hassan I Sabha said:


> And.... Has it improved the phone?


I'm going to wait a few days before giving my verdict. First reactions are that it may be faster, but the browser still crashes, and seemingly Camera 360 doesn't work now.


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## Hassan I Sabha (Jun 13, 2013)

I would try Camera ICS. What Browser are you using, I find Chrome works fine on this ROM but I had to stop using Opera after the last update as it just freezes.


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## RubyToogood (Jun 13, 2013)

Hassan I Sabha said:


> I would try Camera ICS. What Browser are you using, I find Chrome works fine on this ROM but I had to stop using Opera after the last update as it just freezes.


Just the stock one at the moment. I tried a few before the upgrade but they all crashed anyway.


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## RubyToogood (Jun 17, 2013)

Having used it for a few days, my verdict is that the phone is faster, but still things crash and it's buggy and unreliable. So maybe it is water damage or something, rather than the software, despite the fact that the problem only became apparent after the upgrade to ICS.


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## Hassan I Sabha (Jun 26, 2013)

I just put Slim V13 on mine, did a complete wipe and format first (after a CWM backup of course) and now it is flying.... well as much as a phone this cheap can fly


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## Mapped (Jul 16, 2013)

I got the Y300 for Mrs Mapped at the weekend and I reckon it's great value for money. Carphone Warehouse have it for £70 + £10 top up and the phones are unlocked so I chucked a giff-gaff sim in it.

I initally bought her a HTC Desire C and it was bloody awful, i used it for 15 mins and sent it back for being really, really slow and basically unusable. The Huawei isn't as pretty, but it's lightning fast for the money. The lack of an app tray confused me at first, but the wife doesn't mind it.


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## RubyToogood (Jul 17, 2013)

Phone seems a lot more stable now, and a lot better than it was before I rooted. Some of my favourite apps don't really work now, namely the Beautiful Weather weather clock which doesn't update properly, says the wrong time constantly, and Camera 360 - I tried Camera ICS and don't like it as much as Camera 360. I'll ask for replacement suggestions on the apps thread, but any idea why?

I've also got Greenify going, but neither of those is in it (or whatever the proper term is).


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## Hassan I Sabha (Jul 31, 2013)

Cache Cleaner (set to clear every x hours - I use 3) does a good job of removing any lag that builds up on this phone

https://play.google.com/store/apps/...sMSwxLDEsImNvbS5qcnVtbXkuY2FjaGUuY2xlYW5lciJd


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Sep 14, 2013)

Chz said:


> The Huawei Y300 is a pretty good deal at £130 for a dual-core phone. Big battery, excellent performance for the price. Downside is that it's not as hackable as the G300, so it depends on what you want it for. If you're not hacking, I think it's worth the premium over the G300 since it comes with Android 4.1 and two cores.



It's a bloody amazing phone for the money!


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## Chz (Dec 28, 2013)

It's also £40 + £10 top-up right now. The Moto G is probably the overall better buy, but this thing is unbeatable for £40!


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## FaradayCaged (Dec 29, 2013)

Yeah the Y300 is a good fone. £40? Bargain. I sold mine to CEX for £49 the other day in order to afford a Moto G lol.


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## hipipol (Dec 31, 2013)

Bought one today as a backup for my much loved Blackberry
Seems fucking blinding good so far for the wedge
Plus I have a PAYG chip for doing nefarious deals on!!!
At just under £50 result
The CrapFone Fuckhouse has got much better since I vowed never to darken their doors again having been swamped with tosh marketing calls and e-mail spam doing an upgrade bout 5 years ago


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## Brainaddict (Feb 16, 2014)

I've tried to find a general budget smartphone thread but can't find one so this will have to do. My Orange San Francisco that I've had for two and a half years is still working just fine but annoyingly the apps have been made bigger so things like google maps work too slowly now. So now I want a replacement for about £100. The one in the thread title looks okay but I suspect you can get better for the price now. What do people think of these options?

Lenovo a850 http://www.etotalk.com/lenove-a850_p4143.html

and ThL W200 http://www.etotalk.com/thl-w200_p4205.html

I know nothing about ThL as a brand but was impressed with the 1.5GHz processor. Any thoughts?


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## Brainaddict (Feb 16, 2014)

And the Vowney V5 has similar specs http://www.etotalk.com/vowney-v5_p4100.html

and an octo core version of the thl http://www.etotalk.com/thl-w200s_p5342.html


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## editor (Feb 16, 2014)

I'd still say the Moto G is the one to beat.


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## Brainaddict (Feb 16, 2014)

In the specs they all look similar to me. Can you explain how it is better?

And what do we think of octo core phones? Worthwhile? - that one above is quite cheap - claims 1.7Ghz 

I want processing power/RAM that will see me through the inevitable bulking up of apps for some years.


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## Mapped (Feb 16, 2014)

Mrs Mapped's no longer happy with this phone. It's slowed up massively, It keeps freezing and kicking her out of text messages.


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## editor (Feb 16, 2014)

Mapped said:


> Mrs Mapped's no longer happy with this phone. It's slowed up massively, It keeps freezing and kicking her out of text messages.


Tell her to do a hard reset.


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## editor (Feb 16, 2014)

Brainaddict said:


> In the specs they all look similar to me. Can you explain how it is better?


Mainly because it's a well known brand that's likely to get prompt Google OS updates, and it's had fantastic reviews. I've never heard of Vowney. 

I really don't think anyone's going to get much use out of an octo core phone at the budget end.


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## Ponyutd (Jun 5, 2014)

The ascend has a glass face which I have just found out after I dropped it getting out of the car. I thought it was plastic, shattered completely. 
So pissed off!


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## Riklet (Jun 5, 2014)

My huwei slowed down and became really shit and glitchy. I never updated it or reset it though. Then the micro usb charging slot got pushed in too far and the battery became terrible.

Much happier with the moto g, it is brill.


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## fractionMan (Jun 5, 2014)

Yeah, mine's a piece of crap now too.


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## Chz (Jun 5, 2014)

The Y300 here is still in pretty good shape after I updated it to the latest firmware. Great battery, decent enough performance if you're not too fussy. The teenager will get it now, and it's a good upgrade from the Desire he still has. Since this is basically a dual-core Desire with its one crippling flaw fixed - it has a semi-useful amount of onboard storage.


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## Voley (Aug 24, 2014)

Well mine's just started to be crap - won't recognise the memory card I bought for it (which has all my music on it and a bunch of half-decent photos I took on the Scillies) which may or may not be a problem with the card rather than the phone. Will try another memory card but if it's the phone it'll be very annoying as having most of my music with me is one of the main things I like about it.


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## Yetman (Aug 26, 2014)

Mine's still hanging in there.... gets a bit annoying when it cancels my text messages sometimes, and has the odd intermittent problem with connection, though getting rid of the RAM clearing app has actually helped.


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## Voley (Aug 27, 2014)

Mine just turned out to be a problem with the memory card. New one in today and all my music transferring over as we speak. Very pleased by this - I've no money for a new phone right now and it's how I listen to most of my music these days. 

The battery life seems to have really dipped of late though - dunno what's causing that - I've tried turning Bluetooth/Wifi off when I'm not using it, sticking it on power-saving mode etc but it barely lasts a day if I use it a fair bit now. Bought a new battery but that didn't solve it. Anyone got any ideas?


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## RubyToogood (Aug 28, 2014)

Mine became unbearable so I replaced it with a Moto E, which I wouldn't recommend.


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