Orange

EE's UK 4G tariffs leak: :-0

I've been toying with the idea of switching my personal mobile phone contract to EE, the first UK 4G provider, since I discovered that Edinburgh will be covered from launch. This morning while reading The Verge I saw the table of the leaked tariffs and ended up making an impression of OMG cat.
I was making an impression of this cat.
The tariffs seem to be extortionate  but then if you think about it as well as limited amount of data you do get unlimited calls and unlimited texts. Here's the table of the tariffs, as compiled by the clever Ben Kersey from The Verge.
EE's 24 month tariffs at launch, courtesy of The Verge.
Well, that was an inertial dampener on my rush to be a 4G early adopter... I think I'll wait until there is more competition on the 4G market before switching, especially because for less than half the entry level tariff on EE I can get All You can Eat Data from Three UK.

As usual, feel free to leave comments and/or questions below. If you are of Orange or Magenta persuasion, feel free to troll in the comments section below, I'll just ignore you.

How To Unlock An Orange Monte Carlo (ZTE Skate) [Tutorial]

In this tutorial I hope to guide you through network unlocking an Orange Monte Carlo (ZTE Skate). This tutorial is based on the one by tilal6991 and many others from the MoDaCo forums and they deserve all the credit for the achievement. Credit for the unlock process itself goes to All I am doing here is trying to give you a beginner (Noob) friendly tutorial on how to xiaoxyaoswim network unlock your device. I will try and keep the tutorial as simple as possible and include as many images as possible.
Lets make this a little less Orange...


Network unlocking your device may (probably does) void the guarantee on it in many different ways. There is a risk of total and utter failure of the procedures in this tutorial. I am not responsible for:
  • your phone ending up being unusable and unrepairable
  • the retailer you purchased the device from refusing to take it back as a return, no matter how much you argue with the staff...
  • any tears or tantrums because of your bricked device
  • your ban from aforementioned retailer because of the tears and tantrums
  • you punching kittens in a tantrum
  • the RSPCA prosecuting you because you punched kittens
  • any other of your actions
  • global warming
  • the banking crisis
  • the low number of Jennifer Paige hits in the history of music charts
I am writing this tutorial with the masses in mind. I'll run the tutorial so it can be done on Windows. If there is sufficient demand I may also write a tutorial for Linux users too. (Leave a comment at the end of the post if you would like a Linux tutorial). Ready? Here we go!


To unlock an Orange Monte Carlo you will need a computer running Windows (preferrably Windows 7, but Vista or XP might do) with a spare primary USB port, and an Orange Monte Carlo with its USB cable.


Step 1
Create a new folder on your desktop. You can call it as you wish.
We're going back to IT Skills 101...
Step 2
Download "QPST 2.7 build 366" and install it. You may need an unzip package to do that. Once you have installed QPST, you should be ready for step 3.


Step 3
Download the file from here by clicking on the big green Zip link. The download may take a while because it is approximately 150MB in size.


Once you have downloaded the file, unzip it within the folder we created in step 1 on your desktop.


Step 4
Set your phone up for USB debugging. [Menu=> Settings => Applications => Development] and make sure the USB debugging option is ticked.
Make sure "USB debugging" is ticked
Step 5
Connect you phone (switched on) to your computer through a primary USB port. In Windows, you should have the drivers installed automatically by Windows Update. You may have a problem getting this step completed if your firewall is blocking software from accessing your phone. Try looking through this  MoDaCo Forum thread if you have problems with drivers (hopefully you don't...)


Step 6
Run (double click) “install-recovery-windows.bat” from the preparation folder in the folder from step 1 on your desktop.
“install-recovery-windows.bat” running. No need to try and catch it...
You should get an old style black window that looks like this with text popping up. When the program finishes running, the window will automatically close and your phone will reboot. Don't be alarmed, it may also vibrate.


Step 7
Disconnect the Orange Monte Carlo from your computer, and then remove the back cover and the battery.


Step 8
Wait a few seconds and then reinsert the battery and put the back cover on. Hold the phone and make sure you are pressing the volume down button on the volume rocker on the side when you reinsert the USB cable. Your phone will turn on. Keep holding the volume down button as the green android appears and keep it pressed until a white square with FTM appears onscreen (as in the image).


Step 9
In step 2 you we installed QPST on your computer. Go to your Windows Start button, click it, go to All Programs and there you should have a folder called QPST (you might have to scroll down a bit to find it). In the QPST folder open Software Download.


Step 10
In the Software Download window, select the Backup tab near the top (third tab from the left). In the Port section, select your phone (which should appear if it is in debugging mode and connected to a primary USB port). In the QCN File option, select where to save the .qcn file you are going to generate (I recommend the folder we created on the desktop in step). Once that is done press the Start button just below. The process will take a few seconds and then you will have created a .qcn backup file of your device in the folder you chose.


Close QPST Software Download, but don't forget about it copmpletely, we'll need it again later on... (Thanks to dibbles from the MoDaCo Forums for the feedback on this and many other points of the tutorial!)


Step 11
Double check that the .qcn file has a size larger than zero. This is important, so just go to the folder where you saved the .qcn file, right click on it, go to properties and check the size there. It should be approximately  150Kb in size.


Step12
Now go to the Unlock folder on your desktop and run Download.exe. A new window will open which should look like this:


Step 13
When you are ready, click the START button and the program will run. This may take a while, and your phone will reboot a few times in during the process. 


Once it is done (Ratio 100/100), you will get a popup window saying that the download was successful. You can close that program and go back to the QPST Software Download program.


Step 14
Open QPST Software Download, as we did in Step 9. Select the Restore tab near the top (second from left).


Step 15
In the QCN File section choose your .qcn file from your folder on the desktop and then click the Start button just below and wait for the process to run.


Step 16
Once that is done, close the QPST Software Download window and disconnect your phone from your computer. Your Orange Monte Carlo should now be network unlocked and able to use any SIM card.


This tutorial is mainly based on tilal6991's tutorial on MoDaCo forums. I've tried to make it fuller and more newbie friendly by adding pictures and filling it out. Please leave feedback and let me know what goes well and/or doesn't with the tutorial. Thanks to tilal6991 and all involved in the effort at the MoDaCo forums.


As usual, feel free to leave comments and/or questions either here or on the relevant post in the MoDaCo forums. Please bear in mind the disclaimer at the beginning of the post.

Orange Monte Carlo Unlock Achieved! [MoDaCo]

The Orange Monte Carlo Android smartphone, Orange's rebranded version of the ZTE Skate is now sim unlockable. This means the phone can be used with any network's sim card after the procedure explained in xiaoyaoswim's post on the android.modaco.com forums.
SIM Unlock Achieved!
The Orange Monte Carlo is currently being sold in Orange stores for £119, and now that there is a free procedure to unlock the device it looks like an even better buy!

Credit to xiaoyaoswim and the rest of the MoDaCo Android community for delivering a very useful service. Thanks to everyone who made this possible!

Links:
As usual, feel free to leave comments and/or questions below.

Daily Record Gadget Filler Fail!

I had to laugh out loud last Friday! In the canteen at work I flicked through a copy of the Daily Record and got to the Gadget and Tech section. My eye was caught by the familiar image of a white Orange San Francisco, a phone I know well. Reading the article "Smartphone's a California Dream" just made me laugh.
Something is horribly wrong with this article...
The article is quite simply a quick review of the Orange Monte Carlo and starts off mentioning the Orange San Francisco. As the article goes on to review and  comment on the Monte Carlo, there is no naming of the successor to the Orange San Francisco. The author of the review is speaking of the Monte Carlo, but obviously the editor/impaginator has picked the name and put in a picture of the Orange San Francisco. (update: since the review was in the paper it has been rectified in the Daily Record blog here)
The image that should have been used (and was  used on the DR blog)
Brace yourselves, my own review of the Orange Monte Carlo, Orange's own branded version of the ZTE Skate, will be here on this website in the coming weeks.

As usual feel free to leave comments and/or questions below and share the link.

Orange Monte Carlo - BAP [Pre Review]

I've had an Orange Monte Carlo for a couple of weeks now. The ZTE made follow up to the Orange San Francisco (ZTE Blade) is a ZTE Skate under its glossy fingerprint magnet finish. My affectionate name for the Orange Monte Carlo is BAP. BAP is an acronym which stands for Big Ass Phone.
The Orange Monte Carlo. BAP.

To give people an idea of what a BAP (Big Ass Phone) the Orange Monte Carlo is, with its 4.3" capacitive display, I took some photos of it with other devices. A full review of the BAP will be on todoleo.com soon. Here are the photos:
Orange Monte Carlo next to HTC Desire.
The Orange Monte Carlo next to a Nokia 1100.
Orange Monte Carlo next to an HTC Wildfire S.
Orange Monte Carlo next to Samsung Galaxy Pro.
Orange Monte Carlo next to a Royal Wedding Phone.
Orange Monte Carlo next to a HP Palm Pre 2.
Orange Monte Carlo next to a Nokia E71.
This post is a follow up to my original thread in MoDaCo Forums. As often happens, the excellent community at MoDaCo Forums is working hard on getting the most out of the Orange Monte Carlo (ZTE Skate) and a method for rooting the device as well as an early custom ROM kitchen are already available. Thanks to Paul and everyone involved in the MoDaCo community!

As usual, feel free to leave comments and/or questions below or on the MoDaCo Forums. I'm already bracing myself for intense criticism of my photography, lighting and @fatoldgingercat fluff in the photos. Just to let you know, I took the pictures, wrote and published this blog post while in and before getting out of bed this morning.

Oh, and if you liked this article, please also Google +1 it as well.

Orange San Francisco/ZTE Blade - Budget Android Rocks!

I recently purchased an Orange San Francisco (ZTE Blade) to prepare for someone who wanted to have a simple Android smartphone set up and ready to use.


The Orange San Francisco is a UK network branded version of the Chinese manufacturer ZTE's Blade Android smartphone. (As is the Dell XCD35 in other parts of the world)

The best source of information for rooting/unlocking and installing custom versions of Android on the Orange San Francisco is the MoDaCo Forum related specifically to the device: Blade.MoDaCo.com
A screenshot of the MoDaCo Forums
Another simpler and more "I'm afraid of computers" resource for customising the device is orangesanfrancisco.co.uk
A screenshot of orangesanfrancisco.co.uk
Using the resource on the MoDaCo Forums as soon as I had unboxed the device, I network unlocked it, rooted it and installed ROM Manager. It was then time to say goodbye to Orange's horrible Android 2.1 ROM and apps and hello to a  newer version of Android by Fibblesan called FLB (Faster Lighter Better). I've been a fan of Fibblesan's since he was putting together FLB Mods for the T-Mobile Pulse and would recommend his Android Mods to whoever would like the most stock version of Android possible on a non Google Experience device.

After the FLB Mod was up and running, I installed a few of my favourite apps to make the user experience a little more pleasant. First off it was the Zeam Launcher which is my favourite because of its dock and lightness on system requirements. Then I installed the MIUI Digital Weather Clock. After that was done I installed a theme from the Unified Theme Thread on the MoDaCo forums.

Currently FLB Mod is based on Android 2.2 FroYo, which means it is faster, more responsive and you have the facility to use the WiFi hotspot feature.

For a sub £100 device this is excellent value for money. If you would like a powerful smartphone but don't want to dish out too much cash, I would definitely recommend it. It is easy (and free...) to network unclock and use with any sim card, it has a decent camera and is easily upgradeable and customisable. 

I would like to thank Fibblesan, Frankish and everyone else involved with MoDaCo forums as well as the author of orangesanfrancisco.co.uk for making the personalisation of this device so relatively easy.

Feel free to post comments/questions. I'll reply asap.