You are correct it isn't as good as the £500 Samsung galaxy s4, thank you for pointing this out.

Genius - comment of the day! :laughing:

Not as good as some of the more expensive phones IMO.

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Part of the reason the Blade Q is not getting heat is that its not showing on the mobiles thread, it seems hidden, I've added a comment and it does not show in the mobile discussion tab...

Thanks for your reply. I already have an 8" tablet, but it's too heavy to carry/hold for the amount of time I spend online. I put a live wallpaper on my Y300 (Rays of Light, it's free & looks really cool) however, it has become very laggy. I got it just after Christmas, and only have Twitter & Facebook installed, but it takes a good minute or two after booting to display the icons of all my apps & is generally very stuttery. I guess a 1GM RAM phone will help with that, but given that the Blade Q Mini is £40 less than the Blade V & has an A7 chip with a slightly higher clock speed than the Blade V's A5, I wondered if it might be better/just as good.

The Tech Radar review of the Blade V (I found their opinions on the G300 to be very accurate) says, of the Blade V:

"To cut things short, we were a little disappointed. There was none of the nip, buzz or kapow that we have become used to with quad-core chips.

The quad-core chip kept things moving along nicely, but there is no way that it comes close to those that populate the flagship phones. Honestly? We'd rather have seen a larger dual-core chip.

It's a decent enough cheap handset, but despite the quad-core processor it felt underpowered."

So, again, I wonder if the newer A7 chip would address the issues inherent with the A5 chip.

The Blade Q Mini thread doesn't seem to have generated much heat yet, so I wondered if people had more technical know-how than I do, and perhaps if that was why.

e

The question is what do you need the power for? If you want multimedia then most smartphones will have enough power to handle video playback etc, but my advice would be to use a tablet for an all in one device and buy a cheap phone for the sole purpose of a phone.

I still haven't had much luck getting a replacement/refund from the Virgin Media store for my faulty Blade V, although I did give up for a while to concentrate on a few other important things (Learnt to drive in two months & passed my test :smile::stuck_out_tongue:)

Now that this Blade Q Mini has come out & also has 1GB of RAM: ZTE Blade Q Mini 4" £59.99 I'm not sure whether it would be better to sell my Blade V on eBay (the most I've seen the locked ones go for, going by the completed listings is around £75) so I'd still have a bit of money left over.

The design of the Blade Q Mini looks better, cos the front is all in one, as opposed to the "bottom lip" of the Blade V underneath the three navigation touch buttons. Plus, it's over 1 mm thinner; the V seemed very chunky compared to my G300.

However, I don't know much about chips; can anyone tell me how the dual core 1.3 GHz A7 of the Blade Q Mini would compare to the quad core 1.2 GHz A5 of the Blade V? I know the A7 is meant to be more power efficient, but I'm wondering in terms of speed?

Many thanks.

If you came from the blade 1 with its budget physical navigation buttons - that's easily done. But almost all phones have touch sensitive navigation buttons so its something you'll have to get used to not doing. :smiley: Or perhaps you'll find a different keyboard more to your liking? Like in Swype for instance you never need to sue the space bar - its automatic. Especially if your current keyboard is freezing up.

months on and still no silicon case?

I'm starting to get jerkiness once in a while. like I'll be texting and the thing will freeze for a few seconds in the middle of a word. Anything to be done? wipe the whole thing and start again?

I must have fat fingers; so many times I'll be typing, aim for the space bar, and hit the home button, taking me out of whatever program it was. annoying

Hopefully may get an alternative network unlock to Virgin, I have offered my phone for sale to GSM-Forum so they can work on unlock

I would advise anyone that has issues with this handset or Virgin Mobile to post on their Facebook page, this is what helped towards my resolution.

Me too but your experiences with their CS doesn't fill me with hope!

I was offered a million platitudes by Virgin customer services - anything but a replacement. I wonder if the stores operate as private franchises so they can't tell the store to replace a 14+ days old mobile. Unipart, their service people, lost my battery and it took three weeks to resolve. Tho it *seems* like they did fix the intermittent media sound issue, we'll see.

I'd have hoped they would honour the payment for the previous unlock code on a new device?

Was sent off for repair, they sent it back with prox sensor still not working and damage to the casing, sent it back again, came back with same fault again! In the end they said they will replace it.

Finally got mine replaced by VM, nice shiny new one arrived in a sealed box. Need an unlocking solution other than VM's £15.
So these are back in stock :smiley:

Back in stock at Virgin online, get in quick

http://store.virginmedia.com/virgin-media-mobile/pay-as-you-go-phones/zte-blade-v/zte-blade-v-tariffs.html

Mount the SD card via USB? I have inserted my SD card in the slot. What and how is mounting an SD card?

Sorry for ignorance but what is "root" and how would I get it?

Wish I could upgrade the O/S on my Moto Atrix
Its much better spec than this ZTE except for the O/S
Good deal tho

Some people earlier were having trouble with the auto brightness changes being a bit drastic. I found this app that overrides the built in auto brightness with its own: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.velis.auto.brightness

You can choose from a variety of presets (I like oled dim) or configure it yourself.

I keep getting the message that I dont have enough storage to do a Facebook update.

I have got a 32 GB SD card attached which most of my Apps are saved on. Some of the Apps appear non transferable. Is there a solution to this?

If you have root, install terminal emulator from the play store then enter the following two commands
su
pm set-install-location 2

then you can move anything to sd card. Don't move your launcher, keyboard or any apps whose widgets you use.

Also, whether you have root or not, for any inbuilt apps you don't use, uninstall their updates from the market, and freeze or disable them so they don't update again. You can disable them from settings -> apps -> manage apps. Scroll along to the far right, select the app and hit disable.

Was getting sync error in the settingsi use gmail, and it wasn't pushing through emails, and diary across devices, worked sporadically yesterday though
Just comparing to all other phones I've had where blue means synced to servers, if I switch to mobile data this does goes blue which confused me.

My wifi logo is grey but I would have almost certainly disabled anything that would be auto syncing anyway so I'm not sure that's a good indicator. I don't really use any of googles apps other than the play store. What specifically isn't syncing for you? Perhaps I can have a play around.

[edit]
I've just tested and my contacts are certainly syncing despite the grey wifi logo (and mobile data is disabled)

Have done a system reset and now can access play. Will root again and check. (ETA it didnt lose root when i did a factory reset)

Still not syncing Blue though on Wi-Fi, have seen a few people mention this on modaco

can any other owners confirm if theirs does ?
and if so should i return to store for a replacement (annoying given my unlock code for this imie is on the way)

It syncs blue fine if I put it on mobile data thats the thing, its only grey and has issues on wifi...

cheers
have finally rooted, slowly but easily with kingo app


still having these sync issues, cant open play store now either says server error (hope not linked to fact ive rooted), this is on wifi by the way, but can browse websites etc
tried to force the google account to sync and it has but gave a few errors along the way
youtube also wont load, saying network error..

any suggestions ?

picked on up yesterday instore in birmingham came preinstalled with ver 2.1

guy game me the phone to call customer services in store. They set up an account, took the account credit, and £5 from my debit card and then as I asked nicely credited the 32p extra that was needed,.
Was told the unlock code would be posted to me within 28 days.... (really so long!?!?!)
another thing ive noticed is that I cant get it to sync blue on wifi (with google servers ?) though I have internet connection on the phone but on data with the virgin sim it goes blue.... anyone else found this ?

Have also tried rooting with that chinese app and it roots but then looses it when I try and install english superuser, so going to try they kingo route

I'm sorry but I just don't see upon what you are basing the assumption that its capability and value is lacking?

I came from a Samsung Galaxy. Old but hardly low end. The Blade V is better in pretty much in every respect. It blows it out of the water performance wise. App loading, app switching, brining up the keyboard when needed. Whether or not you're someone that cares about benchmarks I don't know but it benches twice as fast.

Also the screen is clear, the touchscreen is fantastic, music is louder than any other phone I've owned and much clearer than the Blade 1. The GPS locks instantly and even works indoors and the battery life is borderline unbelievable. Providing you don't need a quality camera, it's an absolutely perfect phone for someone who wants a decent app runner on a budget. If you weren't interested in apps, I'm not sure why you'd even vaguely be considering a smartphone in the first place which is why I don't get the nokia recommendation as an alternative.

When compared to its similar priced western rivals, its big benefit is that it has 1GB ram. And it's a HUGE benefit. 512MB is just not enough for Android 4+ imo. It's also worth noting that it's quad core, you keep mentioning its dual. Not that it makes much difference - I'm pretty sure dual is perfectly adequate for a phone. It's the ram that is this phones party piece.

And as for saying western buyers are ripped off... well I'm sorry but we're in the west! What's the point in disliking the best value phone we have because phones we don't have are better?

I'm also hear to point out a phone which is nearly 2 years old is the better and cheaper option as a phone, i can't seewhat's wrong with that, I don't have a problem with zte as the blade 3 and san fran were great but i see a lot of wool being pulled over peoples eyes over the blade v in terms of capability and value, not to mention those "dual core" chips probably cost a few dollars each these days as seperate components so your not exactly getting amazing value,still i guess it also goes to show how much is western buyers get ripped by the bigger companies

I think you'll find I'm here because I like to help people. I wrote the guide for swapping the sd cards, freezing unwanted apps and a beginners guide to rooting. I'm a software developer and all around geek. I know how to do these things already. It doesn't benefit me to write them down. I'm just here because I like helping other people do these things

You're here claiming its rubbish for the sole reason, as far as I can tell, because its cheap? Have you noticed what site you are on?? Being cheap is the point. :smile:

So what you are saying is nothing could possibly go wrong because you have done some mods for it? I'm assuming you would have better things to do than be on hukd defending the phones existence if you were so assured of the quality of the product. Either way, The device is a basic android by todays standard, the sad thing is you can get similar with an 8meg cam for cheaper in the emerging markets however zte are cleverly exploiting the missing gap in the european market of cheap android devices.

Do tell me what technical fault my phone has? I compiled Android roms for the Blade 1 so I'm pretty technically competent when it comes to them. I can't see much wrong with it.

The flip side of me being quick to defend it is you're quick to slate it despite not having one so you can't possibly know?

Lol, trololololololol.

Nokia is no use to me, quite happy with my Galaxy Note 3, I bought this to play with.

Yeah but a nokia is probably faulty as a manufacturing problem not a technical this is the difference, i know you have bought the phone and quock to defend it but the simple fact is you can't expect a lot of quality for £82 there is always a compromise.

Modaco was always a better source for the Blade 1

For titanium read post 147 to 149 here: http://forums.thedigitalfix.com/forums/showthread.php?t=625141&page=8

Anything can be faulty. I've returned two Nokias faulty in the past... :smiley: And they were far more basic bits of kit with less that should have been going wrong.

I'm not even going to trolol but i herr a voice in the background saying i told you so! I've seen and heard nothing but stock errors and glitches etc a sign of bad quality control, this just doesn't come up on a nokia and if you skip some of the features you can get a great phone for even less or if you are willing to pay a little more you can get a great phone with quality features.

any decent case recommendations?.. i'm having trouble locating a dedicated case as opposed to generic one size fits all :neutral_face:

Just need them to give it its own page over at xda.

I rooted with Kingo, worked fine no issues, just don't get it from cnet as it comes with cnets usual malware rubbish.

No rom manager support yet, hopefully shouldnt be too long before theres some custom roms.

Any idea what is currently safe to remove with Titanium?

I am having a horrible struggle with Virgin in dealing with my faulty ZTE Blade V. Just a month old and they insist that beyond 14 days it must be repaired - within their rights. So I despatched it to their Unipart people, with charger, battery, filled-in form, minus sim, sd card, backcover - as specifically requested. A few days later it was returned - they wrote that they'd found a fault but it was now minus its battery and noticeably dirty.
I am very put-out that customer services have been telling me to try a find a battery on eBay and the like, and credited a paltry £4.10 to airtime as compensation. The Li-Ion battery seems to be completely unavailable on the high street or retail parks.
This treatment falls under the ''significantly inconveniencing' term of the sale of goods act and under which Virgin are statutorily bound to replace or refund the phone.
Customer services are having none of it. In a long call just now they said warehouse has no stock, they can't backorder, can't make shop do an exchange or refund and eventually offered me a Blackberry Curve, Samsung Galaxy Pocket Neo, or Galaxy Ace

It feels like they're forcing me to file a small claim. What should I do?

Kernel source is out. Custom roms are now a possibility.

Cheers all sorted now got settings from my service provide r

Mh4321, when my wife's new phone had the same problem I spent ages trying to set up. In the end I downloaded an app called Tweakker APN from Play store, this sorted it straight away. Hope this helps.

HI,

I've got my phone unlocked, but when i use the other sim i don't get an internet signal although my data services is on.

Do i need to contact my service provider or can I do something within my phone settings?

I don't have any such issues and nor have I flashed it so I have no idea!
http://www.modaco.com/topic/366038-official-21-firmware-update/

Link

Link please? And does it solve the notification tone & flashing dot issues?

We have the first successful flash of the firmware update over at modaco :smiley:

For anyone interested in a potential alternative source try here where they are £130 sim free. They don't actually have any stock yet though.... but say they will "soon"!

Well no. That's not the point of buying an Android phone. It's all about the apps. Even texting is replaced by Whatsapp and such like.
Admittedly if texts and calls *are* all you do then you don't need a smart phone. But in that case - you're kind of in the wrong thread. :smiley:

I'm with you that quad core is overkill but dual core is a massive improvement over single core on a multi-tasking OS though this is presumably less obvious if you;re used to feature phones. For what it's worth, this blows my single core big budget 1.2Ghz Samsung phone out of the water performance wise. So your assumption on that front was erroneous. :smiley:

It's less the quad core that give this model its advantages over similar level phones than the 1GB ram though. 512MB isn't really enough for Android 4+

Finally, the battery life on this is stunning. I've used 52% in 3 days 18 hours with 2 hours 12 minutes of screen on time. It has a similar idle time to your 300.

The only thing this phone does badly is photo's.

You really just don't understand , Smartphone or not the point is the 300 is probably better all round as an actual phone rather than a media device etc, the point of buying a phone is to first and foremost make calls and texts right?
Quad core jellybean doesn't mean anything, Quad core adreno chips are only as good as the optimisation for the hardware, Since the zte seems to be running on stock chips the device is probably only as powerful as an optimised/overclocked 1.2 single core , zte are clever to market the power aspect but in reality anybody with any knowledge of tech knows a stock chip needs to be optimised for best performance and any company could throw these into their devices for cheap and sell them off, hence all the cheap chinese android phones, if you ever go to china or hong kong you will understand the extent and how cheap they can actually sell them off for. Yeah ok so the 300 is not a smartphone, But what it does do is most things a smartphone can do for the casual user, also the phone has about a 7 day standby battery life, usb 2.0 connectivity and a better camera for about £50 so to be honest its the better option for a casual user or second phone which i would presume is also the market for the zte blade v.

If you want a decent phone go for the nokia asha 300, it may be an older handset but it's still the best cheaper nokia out there if your looking for a second phone or a casual phone user. Also you can get it on amazon sim free for cheap which gives you flexibility of sim prices, the only downside is lack of wi fi but html series 40 barely scratches the surface for data usage so if you get free data allowance your hardly going to run it down anytime soon. Three of the best features are touchscreen and button phone,full usb connectivity as well as micro sb slot and a quality 5 meg camera. I'm surprised by nokia really as they have yet to release a phone which can match it in the asha series,a new one has just been announced called the asha 503 which is looking good but the specs are similar to the 300 almost a year later and the phone will be double the price.

I've been following this zte now for a while and made the decision not to buy it, the build quality looks rather poor and basic even for a budget phone, I understand there will be compromise for the price but i need a phone which is strong and reliable and this phone just screams of problems a few months down the line, also the way virgin have coped with the supply and demand for this phone has been terrible, i might have bought one on impulse if it wasn't for being out of stock online in store since the first week of release and apparently a limited run as told by a virgin employee so not knowing whether virgin are even planning to stock it again is a waste of time,zte are also not making it easy to buy only being available through 1 outlet. The specs are also questionable,5 meg cam looks badly optimised from example shots and is not any better than an optimised 3meg cam from an lg3 or samsung or nokia etc which have a range of other camwra functions, the dual core is good in theory but look i've got a single core intel 1.2 atom tablet which can play games like jet set radio,nova 3 etc with no problems, if the chip is a stock version without any customisation again it will probably have difficulty performing at the expected rate. Overall even though it's probably on paper the cheapest for higher spec phone on the market there are many compromises and your still better off in the long run with the quality features and build of a phone for a few notes more or a quality feature phone for a few notes less.

That's not even in the same league? Why would you post a non smartphone as a recommendation in a thread about a quad core Jellybean phone. There are alternatives to this model sure - but that's not one of them surely? You may as well be recommending the legendary 3310.

For what it's worth on the reliability stakes, my Blade 1 is still going strong - even after a few drops.



That is interesting! Who is going to be brave enough to try that? :smile:

Just bought from today from the Virgin store in Buchanan Street, Glasgow. Think they still have some left as they have it still out on display.

Phoned to get unlock code and told 3-5 working days for the post BUT i can phone up in 2 days to get it over the phone. I told them I needed it urgently as I have a medical condition that requires me to have an unlocked phone. Yayyy...so pleased to actually get one.

Have just noticed the build number on my handset says "ZTE Blade V V2.0" whereas the ROM on the ZTE website is 226500B0537ZTE Blade V V2.1, does anyone know if V2.1 specifically fixes these issues?

Does it say you only have 14 days in writing, or did someone just tell you that, cos here it says you have the right to get a refund within 28 days: Refund Laws

Also, what is the sound loss issue? I never turn the tones off on mine, but a lot of the time it won't beep when I get a notification :/

Do you also have flashing white dots at the bottom left of your screen now and again? Mine does and it's annoying :/

No it's still loud

Doesn't it make it a bit quiet when it rings?

Anybody found any cases yet?

I would get on to Trading standards if they don't help you out with either a replacement or a refund/credit note for another phone.

It was from a Virgin Media Store and quickly displayed an intermittent sound loss issue. My first port of call was the Virgin store but I was met with a dead-ending '14 days' response and despatched with the suggestion to try Virgin Customer Care. They sent me a reply-paid bag, I thought at the time that sending it off *with* the battery and charger was odd but I just followed the instructions. Unable to power it I still don't know if it's been repaired. They're definitely trying to fob me off at every turn - so irritating to be made to spend so much time pursuing Virgin for what is stipulated in the sale of goods act.

I can't believe they wouldn't send you a battery if they've lost it. Or just refund you if they're unable to source a replacement?

thanks for the link to the digital fix forum good read and info on the blade v :smiley:

Thanks for the tip. I have tasker though. :smiley:

Code already turned up - phone unlocked. Now to try some of that jiggery pokery in switching the Sds :disappointed:

Use 'Greenify' to improve the battery life further :smiley:

How are people still buying this? I have been trying to get one from my local Virgin store, but they never have stock.
And sold out online. I would like to buy 2 - ideally at the discounted cost of £81.99 (for two separate Virgin media customers).

If I get this online, can I use the top up to pay £10 off the unlock fee still?

Also there's some for £90 on eBay, if I got one of those would I still be able to ring up virgin and get it unlocked?

My Nokia 5230 had a scroll bar at the side, which was invaluable. Can't believe they don't have them on modern handsets.

Perhaps the Twitter problem is an issue with ZTE then.

Also, does anyone else have problems with their notification tone? I always keep mine on for each app, and the sound toggle is always on, but often it will only vibrate instead of playing the notification.

That's crap as well because they took my £10 top up, then billed me 2 seperate amounts of £5 and 32p.

phoned up again today and they used my account credit towards the unlock fee. I had to pay an additional £10 for top up though as my account balance was £8.85 and I was told they could debit only debit my cc in £5 increments -

Yes, I get the first tweet as you do, with a linefeed inserted after each character.
A worse bug is that if the rotation sensor is active then the Twitter app uses a rotation to trigger a skip from wherever you're reading to the most recent tweet. I waste ages scrolling backwards trying to find a prior reading position.

I've reported this to Twitter's support. I have not seen any evidence of others experiencing the same problem - until you reported it. I was experiencing exactly the same issues on a ZTE Blade SanFrancisco.

Does anyone else's Blade V display the top-most tweet like this, using the Twitter app:



Plus, sometimes there are three or four white dots (composed of a few pixels) at the bottom left that flash, which is pretty annoying. It's usually when looking through pictures on Twitter, or browsing the settings menu.

Anyone else experienced this? They flash too quickly for me to be able to take a photo of them.

Exactly the same. Wish I had bought mine in store now. Saves the delivery cost and it seems you can use the £10 to put towards the unlocking that I paid £15.32 for.

Going in store would have saved me £18 effectively. Urrghh!

Mine arrived 3 days ago and I applied for the unlock code straight away. I used the £10 top up and paid an additional £5.32 by CC. Phoned them today and was given the code over the phone. it seems that you need to tell them how to do things, not ask them...

It seems to depend entirely who you get on the end of the phone. So just call back.

i just got mine today - phoned Virgin to get the unlock code and to see if i can use my account balance towards the cost of the unlock code, but I've been told I need to pay the full £15.35 by credit or debit card and it will take 7-10 days


Anyone else experienced the sameproblem

i took this phone to tenerife last week would not work abroad i took out 15 quid rolling contract just got back tonight going to phone virgin tomorrow ask why i coulld not make or send calls or tex no wifi no network at all said barred to all networks i was with 02 for 15 years took my phone abroad everytime it conected to moviestar network straight away but not with this anyone know why

The 1.5GB 'USB storage' is an internal SD card. It's where you put things like MP3's and where apps save external data. If you move apps to sd card (via settings -> apps -> manage apps) it's where they'll go.

OK, am going to report the rear camera video bug to snapchat to see if it is an app problem.
Thanks Doomfang, will look into getting a silicone case for that handset and cut out any holes I need
Thanks hukd5, will do that now :smiley:

Also, one more question, is there anyway to update this phone to the newer version of android yet? And also, I have 1.5gb of "usb storage" that I don't know how to access/use, can anyone help with this as I only seem to be able to use just over 1gb of device storage... (preferably a way without rooting)

Hi,

Could you advise more on how to get/install the custom ROM based on 4.1.2 on this Haier W910?
Cheers

Just tried to unlock using sim credit and topup voucher but the guy told me debit or credit card only so I gave up. Has the policy changed or did I get a badly trained monkey ?

A case that fits the main body of the phone almost perfectly is the one for the SAMSUNG GALAXY SL i9003. No cut out for the usb socket or the flash but camera is just OK.

For 2) just install a different launcher more to your preference. There are dozens to choose from.

Finally got mine today! Few questions for you all:

Has anyone found a place that sells a case for the phone? Or even a case designed for a handset with similar build and dimensions?

Also, a few bugs I was wondering if anyone else had...
1) Snapchat, recording a video with the rear camera does not work, it freezes and says "sorry, cannot play video". It records with no problem on the front camera.
2) The app screen is never full of apps if that makes any sense? I find it really annoying haha, I rearrange them so each screen is full with apps and the last screen has the remainder, but they all change back into a random order so every screen is has a few empty places. So annoying! :')

So yeah, any advice appreciated :smiley: overall though, very good phone! Camera isn't fab but not absolutely terrible, does the job for quick snaps.
Phone runs beautifully and the screen (which I was most worried about) is actually pretty good, clear and bright.

No don't give me that, i had an xperia u which had great quality pics better than a previous 8meg phone, also the nokia lumias cams are horrible for pictures and supposedly high res. Do you have any example shots?

But what's the problem is it just dodgy default exposure settings or generally just not very clear? Can the settings be adjistrd for better performance or is it just a pain in the ass?

The camera is crap. To be fair, at this price range, I don't think that's a feature that's going to see much investment from the manufacturer. But at least it has a flash this time!

Anyone got any info on camera quality? Any pictures etc?? The ones i've seen on review sites are obvious noob settings and are hardly a fair reflection, please let me know cheers.

You should have got a sim with it if you didn't already have a virgin sim.

bit of help and too many pages to go through :smiley: picked one up as existing BB customer. no sim, is this correct? can i still unlock it then via virgin?

yes, most likely you need to navigate to the directory where you put the executables, ie:

cd [full path to exe]

eg:

cd c:\AndroidGoodies\ {enter}
adb devices

Any news on a decent case & screen protector?

Does anybody have any easy instructions to follow for swapping SD cards?

Is there an app?

I've tried following the instructions over at modaco but I can't seem to get it to work, or at least I don't think I can, is there an easy way to tell?

Anybody after an easy way to root should download

Kingo android root

All you have to do is plug your phone in, its all automatic

Worked a piece of cake for me :-)

Ignore that please, I think I just answered my own question :wink:

Thanks for that, dont know where I went wrong first time but it's ok now.
One other thing, when I get to this step;
2) Copy superuser to your phones SD card using the usb cable with the phone in USB mass storage mode

Does this mean the phones internal SD card or my own microSD card which I have inserted?
Thanks

out of stock again

That means flashboot isn't at the location you are at in DOS.
So you've done one of
step 3 of 'Download flashing tools'
or
steps 3 and 4 of 'Boot into fastboot'
incorrectly.

Help!!!
I tried to root my phone following the instructions HERE
After I install the fastboot driver, I enter fastboot devices in the cmd prompt and it just says 'fastboot is not recognized as an internal command etc etc'

Well, everything worked out ok for me :-). I think you need to have an existing Virgin mobile account as they ask for those details when you phone to unlock but otherwise this method works perfectly well. Also if you don't need it unlocked it should work and you can do as you please with the credit.

Just got to wait for the unlock code now though as they wouldn't give it to me over the phone...

Gawd those fools. They're not called Virgin for nothing.

I get the same but ignored it and carried on regardless. This is a deals/moneysaving website and it might not have been Virgin's intent but nothing ventured nothing gained.

Edit - Just this second received dispatch confirmation that it'll be here tomorrow.

I have a SIM only 30 day rolling contract with Virgin. Does that count?

Just answered my own question. When trying to add to basket the following message is displayed:

"By continuing you are confirming that you currently have Virgin Media Broadband, TV or Home Phone services in your home.

If you don't, please cancel and select the Standard tariff option."

I do however have £10 in my reward account which I could use. I may ask for my PAC code first as I have been paying the full £10 per month since January

Well the order's gone through and I've received order confirmation and payment taken confirmation. I'll update as and when...

I would probably think they check that you are indeed a broadband or contract customer once they are processing your order, everyone would click that option to get it cheaper if it was that simple.

If you can get past check out go for it!

Thanks but can I ask why not? I can go all the way to checkout doing it like this so are you suggesting that once I get the phone they will try to charge me the extra?

Almost getting this but have one question. I can't go into store and get it for £81.99 as I'm not a Virgin Media customer (but an ex Virgin mobile customer), but what's stoppping me ordering online (you seemingly don't need to enter an account no or anything else) and getting it for £89.98 delivered (Subtotal £81.99, Delivery £7.99)?

As of this time last year, the average non-game Android app was 6mb big which was 10% large than 6 months prior. So assuming a further size increase of 10 % ever 6 months, you could store a little over 200 apps in 1.5GB. :wink:

I smell a troll! Chill out it's a beautiful day :smiley:

Gosh, why is it so hard to just admit you were wrong.
You just continue justifying it... now you just launched another rocket, lots of people survive with 12 apps or so... Christ... stop misinforming people.

Gosh why so hot and bothered. o_O It's quite easy to swap to external storage. I did it very quickly. Most people only use a small number of apps regularly. i could survive on a dozen or so.

Your older post was just plane wrong and very misleading as it might give people the wrong impression that 1.5gb might be enough, when it clearly isn't.
This post is even worth, the difference between the 300 apps you mention (no idea where did you come up with that number), and the 30 you mention now is just shocking.
Don't try to justify that post anymore, just admit you where wrong.

Also might be important to note that the 30 apps you managed to install (barely), will become 29 tomorrow, and 28 next week and so on, as each time one of them updates, it will get bigger so there won't be enough space. Also, installing the app is one thing, and using an app is another, as apps have to cache things, and having 200MB of cached data is common on Android these days.

There's technically more than 1.5GB anyway. The data partition is 1GB and the Internal SD (which you can move apps to) is 1.5GB. I can't imagine that non-games weigh in at that large a size (though the dalvik cache and app data obviously also use up data partition space).
I have 187 user apps (mostly games) using 750MB of data partition and 4GB of SD. I'd think you can get several dozen non games in it with the phone as stock. How many apps do people need? I have around 25 non games and they're pretty much all under 10MB each - without the need for lots of graphics and sound. And if you do need more than you're going to have to root it

I've owned 5 android phones since the Blade 1, and I did say "theoretically". In 1.5gb of storage you could (theoretically) store 300 5mb apps. i managed to install about 30 on the Blade V, some 50mb+, before running out of space,

Hi, what proof do you need to give over the phone and in-store that you are a virgin media customer? Thanks.

I received the handset today and got it unlocked for a charge of £5.32 only after requesting a discount as an existing Virgin Mobile PAYM customer.

Yeah, Android warns you of insufficient memory once you reach a percentage of free space rather than at a fixed amount. It's a bit annoying that you'd get the warning with like 30MB free on a Blade 1 but with 200MB free on this!

I just received the phone yesterday and i'm already getting the 'insufficient memory warning' even though I have over 200MB free.
Is this normal?

That is so untrue that i am willing to bet you do not actually own an Android phone with that sort of memory.
1.5GB will fill out in no time just with day to day basic apps, like banking apps, an office app, a better keyboard like touchpal, an extra browser like opera, viber and whatsapp and so on, so nothing fancy. I do not game AT ALL, and try to keep apps to a minimum, and got through the internal memory in no time. Apps update every few days to a newer version, which means bigger size. Right now, Chrome cannot update on mine, not enough memory, although I have moved all I could to SD.

Anyone know if you can use the Virgin Mobile reward AND the Virgin Media customer discount? It is now online showing £82 for existing VM customers so it is not only available in the shop.
I have got £30 reward & I am a VM customer = bargain?

The simplest/safest way is to go to settings -> apps -> manage apps, scroll along to the right most tab, click any apps you don't use and hit disable.

I'm a little more extreme and disabled this little lot using Titanium: http://forums.thedigitalfix.com/forums/showpost.php?p=9911811&postcount=147

It's the stock rom but I have modified it to be 'barebones'. I don't know how it manages off the shelf but I can't imagine it's be all that much different.

How did you modifiy it?

I was really interested in one of these but the lack of in depth reviews pushed me into buying a Motorola razr i for £159 and I must say what a cracking bit of kit that is :smiley:

If you are an existing Virgin Mobile customer, you can check your online account 'Rewards' section to see if there is an upgrade allowance available there to use against the handset cost. I had £20 available!

hukd5-is the battery at 4 days with special custom rom or standard stock rom?
I am going to ring virgin to see what they will offer me!

tempted!!

Couple of techy questions:

Does anyone know if this phone can output to HDMI (from the microUSB port)? I believe it would use MHL to do this...

Also, does it support Miracast or would it be a no go with it being less than Android 4.2?

Cheers!

Thank you - that's perfect. I guess I'll buy and suck it and see and if the storage is a problem restore to box settings and give your wizardry a try.

Thanks zen. I am also an existing virgin media and mobile customer too.
I am in the processing of cancelling my contract with virgin, however, if they can offer me a good deal, i will take it and then go! LOL

I was offered the handset for £71.99 + delivery charge over the phone. No £10 top-up necessary. Also, was advised that the handset can be unlocked for a £15.32 charge which can be taken either from the account balance or card.

I'm an existing Virgin Media and Mobile customer though.

I like this phone and am looking to upgrade from a galaxy s but the 4" screen puts me off. Ideally I'd like a bigger screen, a similar size to the galaxy 2. Any suggestions?

Can someone other than a wiki expert comment on how much of a factor the SD storage is? The Modaco site suggests it is very limiting unless you're both confident enough to swap the internal/external SD storage and willing to take the risk it doesn't work.

Assuming phone is left out-of-box, can that lack of storage be put into perspective with the sort of apps that a teenager is likely to want to install?

If what is stated on Modaco is true then this seems, on the face of it, to be not a very good deal at all, despite it being an ok handset.

Thanks

You'd do well to ignore my last ^^ :wink:

I have 1.2gb of apps stored of which by far the biggest is Chrome (cache cleared). I think "hundreds" is a tad optimistic.

I don't have hundreds of apps on my Nexus 4 and nothing particularly big and I'm 50% through my available 12gb hence my concern.

just a note, went to order x2 of these for my kids xmas presents, you can only order one at a time, so you'd have to pay £7.99 delivery twice.. pfft

The 1.5GB of internal storage is theoretically enough fir hundreds of apps. Just don't expect to get many large games on there.

But seriously, if you read the guides carefully, rooting and swapping sd/nternal is not difficult, takes about 10 minutes, involves minimal risk and can easily be reversed.

Nice phone. Cheers!

i rang virgin customers service and they said they don't unlock phones, some one on hukdeals said the 10pound top up can go towards the unlock in not true,not a good deal if you wanted phone unlocked,

£7.99 delivery??? Wow...

Looks good value.... I have the Huawei G300 and think its great, maybe this would be a good competitor for that

i cant decide between this and the zte v967s from china, cheaper, bigger screen, bigger battery.

I can't decide what to have for tea tomorrow - any suggestions?

Looks good for the price - voted hot!!

Try 158 MB on the galaxy ace
Apps to SD for the win :smiley:

I have 3 choices to pick from, ZTE Blade V, Huawei Y300 or Hauwei G510

Out of those 3 which is the better option considering that there is no Virgin store were I live so if I have any issues it would be a hassle were as the Huaweis can be bought in my local town centre.

Also another consideration is the extra cost unlocking the Blade V were as the other 2 are unlocked

Or are there any other better Android smartphone options around the £100 mark?

Thanks

Of those three, the Blade V no contest. 512MB in the other two phones is just not enough ram for Android 4+ IMO. I'm amazed everyone made budget phones with that combination until the Blade V. But I spose they need something to tempt people to buy their higher end models.

Back in stock!
http://store.virginmedia.com/virgin-media-mobile/pay-as-you-go-phones/zte-blade-v/zte-blade-v-specifications.html
New here so don't know how deals get unexpired...

Think I'll get one, rather than a Lenovo A820, as spec is only slightly lower than the lenovo and its a UK supplier not a chinese one

Be aware that 'supporting' and something working are two entirely different things. For example a phone might not 'support' 64GB memory cards, but a lot of them work. (Note: I am NOT CONFIRMING something working here , I am giving an example).

i.e. It might be possible.

Back in stock for delivery !

I presume manufacturers recoveries aren't a standard? I don't think all phone even have them? Some of them do it via a PC.

CWM gives everyone a standard for recovery and even where phones have their own, provides tons more functionality - like backups and such like.

Does anyone have any idea when this will be back in stock?

I might be the only person that had the media sound problem and there is a possibility that it *is* a hardware issue and the problem will recur . At least the mobile is restored for replacement under warranty.

Thanks for the advice on the firmware update - One question still puzzles me however. If the mobile has a built-in firmware loader then for what is Clockworkmod needed? i.e. Can't alternative roms be packaged in the same way that the stock roms are packaged?

On another issue I learned from ZTE support today that the Blade V doesn't support USB OTG (On The Go): A means by which, using an inexpensive microUSB to full-sized USB (type 'A') socket adapter, it becomes possible to connect memory devices, keyboards and the like. And higher power devices too if a powered USB hub is utilised. I like the transparency of being able to access a large repository of files on a connected hard disk and accessible via an Android file manager.

If it does end up working, I've not noticed any issues with the CWM rooting method over at Modaco.

On the other hand, if your only reason to root was to get rid of some apps, in appears that in modern android versions you can disable some of the pre-installed stuff without root. Go to settings -> apps -> manage apps and scrolling all the way to the right to the 'all' section. Click the apps you don't want and hit disable

Great, that Virgin bookmark seems to be present so I think, tentatively, that the phone is reinstated to purchase state.

Now, so far, the media sound loss has been cured. I'ts too early to say for sure but it is possible that the root process described at the top of this thread was the cause and not a electronic connection issue.

With perhaps unwarranted confidence I am going to try loading the 'update.zip' file into the mobile's sdcard and load it using the built-in update facility (settings|about_phone|system_updates). I understand this will put it back into an as-purchased (Virgin shop) condition. And that I'll be able to return the phone and it's faulty speaker connection to the store under warranty.

Is this achievable or will the mobile still have lost its warranty?

[some moments later...]

Following the instructions within the .zip file it all seemed to work as explained. The only query was that the .pdf instructions refer to an update.zip 'folder' - I interpreted that as meaning 'file' and the steps progressed as explained.
So, from memory the Blade V now looks like it used to tho I can't see any sign of Virgin bloatware on it - maybe there wasn't any?

Great news that a stock rom is available :smiley: Hopefully not long till a ClockworkMod Recovery image and a cyanogenmod rom for it :smiley: Maybe even an unlock application at some point in the future.

Recovery is what allows you to flash the stock rom image if you trash the rom on the phone.

CWM replaces recovery with one that has a lot more features and is obviously in itself not stock. To flash the stock rom, you'd want the stock recovery which you have so you don't need to worry about recovery.img or CWM.

Unfortunately, I never even booted into the stock recover. No idea what it looks like so can't help you with that. I recommend posting over at Modaco for help. They're good at ZTE stuff over there!

I rooted the phone using the method described at the top of this thread, from XDA. It involved using a Chinese Windows based RootMaster app

I see that a ZTE Blade V Stock ROMs thread at Modaco lists a couple of items that seem relevant:

UK: (Virgin)
ROM: http://download.zted...91111181152.zip
Recovery: https://dl.dropboxus...04-recovery.img

I wild guess is that the ROM item would put the device back into shop supplied condition. No idea what 'Recovery img' file is yet.

I have a lot of Android basics to learn.

The phone will stay unlocked. Did you root without using CWM then? If so you presumably don't have a backup of your stock rom. In which case you'd be using the one from ZTE. IN which you shouldn't at this point put on CWM and should instead use the recovery that comes with the phone.

From the CWM thread "Do not use this recovery to flash official updates from ZTE website! You need to repack them for ClockWorkMod or use the stock recovery to install."

If I learn how to restore the original (stock?) rom and figure-out what Clockworkmod/ClockwordRecovery does, will it return the phone to its prior network locked state. I guess if my media audio loss turns out to be a hardware issue then I'll have to get a new mobile with a different IMEI anyway so I'll have to try and persuade Virgin to offer a free replacement unlock code.

Having rooted my Blade V and removed some bloatware have I voided the warranty?

I just picked one up from the Belfast store. Very happy. Unlock is underway. Had to add another £5 topup and the guy on the phone credited me the 32p to make up the £15.32 unlock charge.
Total for phone, unlocked: £104.99

Out of stock. Gutted.

I guess September 4th has past ages ago...so might be October 4th

Got one last week in a Virgin store. They said they had about 5 left.

cant find any stock either :/ really in need of a cheap good phone as well

Thanks guys, why is this expired? It may be out of stock online, but it is available in store

Super hot. Shame that I missed it.

Out of Stock!

lenovo is really very reliable, but I can see the use of the front facing camera, for the hard of hearing :wink:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300888087053?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400408935612?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649[/quote=just remember there are no cases available for this phone yet this case will fit it for now just cut it till cases come out atleast it will give phone some protection for now

Sorry if already posted.

Can anyone link to screen protectors and a suitable case please

Thanks

a820 does not have a forward facing camera. No thanks, I like to use Skype. Blade V is a bargain, and has UK support.

Life will presumably be awkward if you have a fault? China is further away then the Virgin store!

Plus risk of a customs charge. I presume they mark the price down? That isn't a guarantee it won't be opened and checked.

you're right that is one meh advantage amongst many better ones. I think you'll find the only disadvantage of the lenovo is the wait for shipping from China.

OK now I am confused. How could it be a hardware problem? Surely the phone either works or not? I must try MX again as I am sure it refused to play at all on HW but played incredibly slowly on SW.

This isn't even dual SIM! Seriously folks, get the a820.

Yeah I'm using wifi. iplayer works fine for me and MX Player could play a 720p movie fine using either software or hardware acceleration.

£96 there are other places but look at these peoples Facebook. Should be a tenner off there. Which I used, came with a free case.

After plugging my phone into my mates android development kit when iplayer starts skipping the processor usage jumps way up. Yet playing a high quality F1 program processor use is negligible. I assume therefore the gpu is not being employed in certain situations. When using 3g iplayer works fine as it is clearly using low quality video which the processor can do. Interested to know if you were using wifi?

thanks for reply will try it later
\

can anyone tell me a easy way to root my phone i have never rooted phone before looks complicated is there any videos showing how to do it or can i take it somewhere get it rooted in glasgow

Can you provide a link for the company you got it from? No customs tax?

This phone is really fast and good value, nearly perfect for my needs. Except one thing, headphone volume is way too quiet. This is due to stupid European laws that insist that all phones have a volume limiter in the firmware. With my previous two phones, Blade 1 and Galaxy S3 it was easy to remove the volume limit with either an app or custom kernel. Nothing I've tried yet works for the Blade V. For me, listening to music is the main reason for having a phone, after the ability to make phone calls. Hopefully someone will find a solution soon!

I used an app to test the spec on this phone (sorry can't remember which one and its now been removed) and it rated it as better than the S2, but not by much and certainly not enough to recommend upgrading.

guys please is this better than my sgs2 ? thank you

I've tried many volume amps including XBMC and the best one is viper4android. Doubles the volume with minimal distortion...

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2191223

Still no sign of a gel case! Somebody on ebay is now selling screen protectors, but in truth they were probably designed for the Blade III which has the same size and shape screen. Is the Blade V exclusive to Virgin? If so, maybe it's just not popular enough to make bringing out a case worthwhile. Hope one arrives soon. I've not dared use mine out the house yet.

Also, I see somebody is selling a Blade V on ebay for £154.50. Amazing what some people will try.

Thanks very much for the quick response. I am hoping it will be good to use a volume amp as mentioned by hutokdeals above.

You can download it directly from the XBMC website here

http://xbmc.org/download/

I found the interface unusable on such a tiny screen.

Sorry that should have said What is the full package name for xbmc please. Thanks

only 4gbs for apps .. Great Deal if this isn't an issue, but this ones not for me.

We don't have the source for the kernel so you're out of luck for the foreseeable future if it needs a custom kernel like your suggestion in your first post on this.

Like any "preamp" or "eq" it does boost the volume a bit, but results in distortion because the firmware limit is still in place. For loud prestine sound the only solution is a proper firmware level unlock.

The preamp in Poweramp worked on the Blade1. Poweramp isn't free though.

7.2Mbps apparently. Not tried it myself - I mostly use wifi.

phoned 789 kept doing other option in menu until spoke to overseas centre. registered my details against my virgin media account and applied the top up. When I asked for the unlock they put me through and they processed the request and never asked for payment. Gave me the code over the phone a day later. Given the hassle I have had trying to get the phone seems like justice.

Just used the phone in the car for navigation and bluetooth calls and it is great, so fast. Speech recognition is amazing compared to my original blade. Only thing I find is Hsdpa speed is really low on tmobile. What connection speeds are possible with this?

Has anyone managed to install Real Racing 3 on their Blade V?

I tried but got insufficient memory message regarding the 1.7gb download.

How did you get them to unlock it for free?

Yes i did loads more playing and the video quality settings just dont work. Yet random programs do play. When they do they appear to be often the highest quality so must be a codec issue.
If i use 3g which is very slow for me iplayer works fine albeit clearly at low quality. I wonder if zte will improve codec support. Otherwise this seems a great phone. For some reason, most likely more incompetence, Virgin unlocked it for free so now I am keen to keep it.

Tried using the BBC Media Player (required for some bizarre reason by iPlayer): It's sucks. Really, it's a crappy application and a disgrace to the BBC. Netflix is just fine at high res as are most other things.

i have same prob even recording on the phone the video is slow as well not very good i was expecting more from it also bbc player does not play think i will be taking mine back

if i reduce bandwidth on iplayer the lip sync is shocking. the reason i got a quad core phone was that it would play high res files so i am not constantly guessing if it will play. this is going back to the shop.

Would this case fit the Blade V? http://www.amazon.co.uk/KC-Electronics-Leather-Protective-Capacitive-Touchscreen/dp/B00A1JZ9VU/ref=pd_sim_ce_4

I rooted as per the instructions over at XDA. All was fine but now the internet speaker but not the earpiece, is silent.

I recall a comment from someone about sound loss following a root but haven't managed to find the comment after a long trawl.

*UPDATE*

It came back to life as if the device is running some kind of software healing background code.

Is anyone using this phone happy with video playback. It doesn't play iplayer without terrible stuttering. Any 720p video or above either doesnt play or has horrendous lip sync issues. It virtually doesn't stream anything from my NAS at all. Wifi connection is fine and NAS is super fast. Is it a codec issue or a dodgy phone?

Ah so they'd probably mixed up the upgrade and non upgrade pricing then and were showing a mixture of both to both? And have now sorted each out.

Its £89.99 on the upgrade page:
http://store.virginmedia.com/virgin-media-mobile/upgrade-phones.html
http://store.virginmedia.com/content/eSales/en_gb/home/virgin-media-mobile/pay-as-you-go-phones/zte-blade-v/zte-blade-v-specifications.html

You need to have a payg account already to get this price. Maybe just register an old virgin sim?

I think they applied the £10 to the sim in the shop. I hadn't set up any kind of account before calling to get the unlock code and had to do so at the same time.

I just ordered the unlock for mine. The woman topped my phone up by £5.32 from my credit card and took the charge from that with my initial £10 credit. So it really does seem to depend who you talk to as to what approach they will take for unlocking.

For me it shows the other way lol! The way I thought it was meant to be - they've now changed the front page to £99.99

Bit concerned that I can't seem to find an unlock code on eBay for the Blade III, let alone the Blade V. Hopefully the latter will be more popular so people will start selling unlock codes for it. The one I bought for my G300 only cost £3.24!

I emailed Virgin about the price discrepancy and, lo-and-behold, today the price has been changed to £89.99 inclusive of £10 top-up.

Really strange how the only criterion for working on live chat is being called Emma :laughing:

But the same Emma has previously given bad information (see earlier posts). Although, I do have sympathy for her as she seems to be the only CS rep doing live chat!!

Finally got one. Seems pretty good but I player doesn't work properly for SD programs. The sound and video constantly stutters. Yet the formula 1 program played just fine. Has anyone else had this issue?

I'm not naive enough to think that it doesn't happen or can't happen. Of course it is ludicrous when this company has a national inventory system. Were not taking a franchise model here. We should expect - no, demand - more. The CEO may not know who you are, but you should know who they are as well as the appropriate policies for your role etc etc. Your line manager should know how well you perform and in turn their manager will know how well they perform and the shop/department and their boss will know etc. until it is fed back to the CEO!

I bought one at Croydon store 2 days ago.
As my brother existing virgin media sim only customer, I rang them and asked to put £10 top towards unlock code cost, but customer service said that I can't just pay £5, it has to be full amount. So I paid £15 for unlock code and transferred these £10 top up to my brother account.
Now I am waiting for unlock code which they dispatched via post :neutral_face:

I've just been told on a livechat that the £10 topup can't be put towards the unlock charge:

So your assumption is because they don't do it for other models they're not allowed to change their policy on newer models? The guy in the store did ask if I had an existing Virgin sim but all the in store pricing made it clear there was a £10 top up on this model so presumably I would have had to pay an extra £10 on to my existing sim rather than get away without it? I spose you could go to a store and try.

[edit]
All of their phones once you reach the checkout say they include £10 top-up. So I suspect its actually the £89.99 price that's wrong?

And again... "It can't be an extra £10 for the top-up as none of the other phones go up by £10 when you click on them."

As a Virgin PAYG customer upgrading there is no £10 top-up required.

There's definitely something wrong on the page for this phone. A misprice.

The phone is £89.99 plus a compulsory £10 top-up = £99.99 in the shops and online

Why do you think a GCSE in Biology, Maths or French is at all relevant to your ability to sell phones and broadband packages?

Why is it ludicrous? It makes perfect sense to me that the bigger an organisation is, the harder it is to ensure every single person working for it is up to standard. I can guarantee the boss of my company doesn't even know I exist - let alone how well I perform! It's stupid to blame the boss (or even the figurehead - as someone else mentioned, Branson doesn't actually run it...) for something a store in Brighton got wrong.

The upgrade price appears to be wrong on the website.

On this page its advertised as £89.99....

http://store.virginmedia.com/virgin-media-mobile/upgrade-phones.html

But when you click on it the price goes up to £99.99

http://store.virginmedia.com/content/eSales/en_gb/home/virgin-media-mobile/pay-as-you-go-phones/zte-blade-v/zte-blade-v-specifications.html

It can't be an extra £10 for the top-up as none of the other phones go up by £10 when you click on them.

I got the screen protectors for the Blade 3 fit the Blade V perfectly.
Regarding a case i thought the photos showed that you had to cut the i9000 case up a fair bit? If not where did you get your i9000 case from as there are a fair few to choose from? thanks in advance.

You should probably tell them that there's no apostrophe in "GCSEs" :wink:

I tell the kids I look after they have to have 5 gcse's to stand any chance of getting a job anywhere. Apparently not so at Virgin. Why do they have stores at all?

anyone any idea roughly how long until blade v case/screen protector available?

got this today from ebay 99p delivered it fits phone ok but you will have to cut it i wont bother i will only use it till covers are available for the v blade its will be usefull just now as i usually drop my phone so it will have some protection for now lol http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300888087053?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

This is all very well but how does anyone get one of these phones with the 20% discount. Brighton were hopeless and don't have any. Just been into slough and they reliably informed me it doesn't exist at all but that no doubt I can buy it online with the discount. I mean what bunch of total **** work for virgin. Has richard tried to take up one of his own offers lately. I spent 45mins on the phone explaining how terrible Brighton store was to customer services and that the manager knew his phone didn't work. CS rep said he would check what was going on with the store and put me on hold. When he came back he apologised that the phone was indeed not working. This was not a recent event. He had no way of helping me and told me tough luck. I went online to complain and guess what....when you finish the form it won't submit, no matter what browser I tried. Richard why are you so smug about such an awful business?

Rang customer services and they wanted £15 plus £7 postage for the code!
Has anybody else had this?

Everyone seems to have entirely different experience regarding the unlocking. Guess it depends who you get through to!

May be being rather stupid here, would someone confirm that the app in youtube for pairing your TV doesn't work?
My TV gives me a code but when in the app on the mobile it will only give me a numbered keyboard and won't let me select letters so I can't input the code. So I am stuck with using the painfully slow TV remote to type video titles.

i thought using kernel source made things easier, getting the correct drivers etc etc

is it possible to decompile a built kernel?

source code is needed as far as i'm aware for CM at least, from another post it may be a cold day in hell before we see a source

That's pre-compiled. Not source code as far as I know? I've not seen any source code anyway.

If you were referring to this link: http://www.ztedevices.com/support/smart_phone/cd8f32ce-9d6a-41ac-941d-d24e7317ca44.html?type=software the top download is just the pre-compiled stock firmware. The bottom link is the Windows USB drivers for the phone. No source. And I doubt the source would be among the end user files in any case?

Source code, original rom is out see much earlier in thread, hosted on mega & also direct link to ZTE site.

i hear that

ando> Well done on the progress with CWM (I realise you might have got help with it I just haven't kept up with thread).

Had to fork out nearly £300 yesterday for people in London to poke and prod me to verify I'm a thoroughly decent chap, so can't get a Blade V just yet. After using my Y300 for GPS (walking) directions yesterday, I am pretty certain that a compass (as in the Blade V) would have helped a fair bit.

I don't think the source code for the kernel has been released. Legally speaking they have to release it. But as a Chinese company, such obligations have never bothered ZTE before! So erm... who knows?

You need to provide your phones imei number so that they can generate the unlock code, so you do need to be in possession of the phone. I asked to receive the code over the phone, by SMS, or even email, but was informed it was snail mail only.

do you have to be in possession of the phone to request the unlock code?

gonna get the phone at the weekend, but wondering if i can ring up early and get the code so im not waiting as long

or are people having success in getting the code over the phone?

cheers

Any cases that fit this? Also is there any prospect of custom roms becoming available?

it's still being worked on,usb mount does not currently work as of yet

http://www.modaco.com/topic/365017-blade-v-stock-rom-with-bootimg/

we now have a working cwm

hi just for further clarification I was told only £5.32 would be taken off my card....no mention of refund of £10 top up....just that the top up would be used as part payment.

Thanks

An effective payment of £5.32, as it is a payment of £15.32 & a refund of £10

Thanks

So do Blade 3 screen protectors fit the V, and where is the cheapest place to buy, apart from Ebay?

Hey,

A heads up for those wondering about unlocking.

It costs £15.32, however you can use your £10 top up as part payment and pay the remaining £5.32 on credit/debit card.

Hope that helps :-)

or get a megabus to the next nearest stockist

yea it won't do it... it fails at 2/2

What is the best / cheapest way to get this phone if your local shop doesnt have it in stock?

Cheers

Put the original ROM (download it from the Huawei website) back on the SD card & try booting from that.

The rooting instructions aren't quite right. My comments, italics

1. Download Root Explorer [Google Play] - Not necessarily needed
2. Download RootMaster (a Chinese util)
3. Unpack and install RootMaster on your PC
4. Install drivers of your mobile - Automatic on USB connection. Prob stored in phone' mass storage.
5. Run RootMaster and press first button on first screen
6. After this click the center button on all windows
7. You mobile is rooted - Reboot your mobile Not yet it isn't
8. Instructions say Close RootMaster now - Don't. It hasn't done the job yet ...
Phone reboots and RootMaster software pops back into life and spends 2 minutes working away on something.
It detects the ZTE Blade, not obviously the Blade V, and chugs-on. From here consult the graphic screen-grab instructional notes.

The instructions say to install superuser.apk (though link is to a zip file) and rootexplorer.apk
Pondering how best to get these files on the mobile. Windows file manager, FTP, SD card writer ... ?

Well, pausing at this step, I ran Titanium Backup (paid) and the mobile *appears* to be rooted - I was able to delete superfluous Virgin apps.

I guess my availability of Titanium Backup circumvented the need for Superuser and RootExplorer installations?

I deleted:
AccuWeather
Facebook
Kindle
Facetones
Kingsoft Office
FM Radio
Various unnecessary Touchpal language packs
...and a few other obviously avoidable apps which I forget. Need to see a virgin Virgin phone as reminder.

Might delete if not useful:
MovieStudio

Might delete when I learn what they are:
PhaseBeam
WidevineBoot
LunarService
Bubbles
Black Hole

With the job done, should I leave the mobile in this rooted state. Are there any liabilities?

Option 2

Surprised the chinese are taking so long to knock up a few cases for the Blade V. Still got mine in an old shoe polishing bag I got from the Hilton! Need to upgrade my case ASAP. Anyone found a case that fits yet?

...And so they are. Effortless and not a little bit disturbing.

I watched a 'teensy' (Raspberry Pi-a-like) demo on YouTube that showed a config that emulated a keyboard and in doing so slipped quietly under the radar of a protected PC; opened a command window and injected code. I'm surprised that there are not more, if any, USB exploit protection utilities. They've come a long way since they simply triggered an auto-run in a storage device.

I'm not doubting ZTE in this respect though. Next step - root the thing and get the superfluous-ware removed.

So, drivers now installed, next step. The phone's asking what kind of USB connection I want;

1. USB Mass Storage
2. Connect to PC software
3. Media Device (MTP)
4. Camera (PTP)
5. Share Mobile Network

Option 2 looks right. Could someone confirm please?
Has anyone created a list of safe-to-remove items?

The drivers are built in to the phone, look for the CD ROM that appears when you connect the phone to the PC and install the drivers from there. If it does not appear select driver/software mode from the USB menu on the phone.

No issues with my phone after rooting

So they are. I assumed it was alphabetical, so didn't scroll past 'a'. Thanks for your help.

I've not done this ( I don't have the phone yet ) bu there are drivers for it here: http://www.ztedevices.com/support/smart_phone/cd8f32ce-9d6a-41ac-941d-d24e7317ca44.html?type=software

Yes, that bit threw me too. I want to root my phone but am a bit nervous.
Has anyone that's done it noticed any problems afterwards? Seem to remember someone mentioning a radio problem after rooting.
Any advice or tips gratefully received.

using a zte slip case until a blade v available

At the end of the list of the apps you will find a list of the apps you have disabled.

That page's step 4 says: "Install drivers of your mobile"
The site doesn't expand on this. The mobile didn't come with a driver disc. What do I do here?

I would go for this if cases were available.

So what's the deal if you want you get this unlocked and your a Virgin media customer?

Pop into store, show them a bill, buy the phone and then tell them you want it unlocked and to take it out of your airtime balance plus pay the small extra?

Is it that simple?

Yes, tried it, it certainly does thanks. Oddly, after disabling it, it seemed to completely disappear. I thought it would still appear as an installed application, just not running. Not sure I'd ever want to, but if I did want it back, would I have to do a factory reset, or is there some other way of getting it back (might be useful to know in case I disable some other useful app by mistake and ever want it back). Thanks for all the help.

Uninstall updates will put it back to the stock app AccuWeather app the phone shipped with and then Disable will appear.

Mine says 'uninstall updates' next to the 'ForceStop'. I'll try doing that then maybe I'll get the option. Thanks folks.

It does say disable next to force stop, just followed your instructions on mine

I just called the VM store in Glasgow to see if they had stock and check the price, I was surprised when the VM guy (Michael) told me the Blade V was £109 but as I was a VM customer it'd be £89.99 but then there would still be the £10 top up!!!

It should say Disable next to Force stop?

I can't check mine as I rooted it and removed AccuWeather

Are you insinuating something? The way I see it, we all live under one roof and are all using virgin media (only it's in my Dad's name, I count myself as a customer.

Hello Rusty. Thanks for the reply. I may be being a bit thick here but I can't find disable. I can see 'Force Stop' (which I've pressed). but it starts up again after a re-boot. Am I looking in the wrong place?

Can anybody advise as to how to stop AccuWeather loading each time the phone reboots? I don't seem to be able to find a setting for it. Thanks.

when i bought mine they only needed the account number

can someone detail out the customer verification, can i use my parents account number, what verification do they use?

Well done on getting a glitch somehow. Makes the bargain phone an even bigger bargain.

Well when I called and asked if they had it in stock I was told it was £89.99 but £71.99 if I was a VM customer but I would also have to buy a £10 top up.

I went in store and asked for it... out it came. They verified I was a customer (min TV service, landline of which I pay line rental up front for 12 months, and BB). He wrote down £55.99. Initially he said I didn't have to have sim but when he put it through the tills he apologised and said I had to with a min of £10 top up. So 65.99 total.

nice work macgyver !

I've got an i9000 case but no craft knife knocking around... i'll give it a go.

dumb question: do you stretch it with your hands? dont want to put my phone in a wet, boiled case :smile:

Just back from buying this from a store. I'm a VM customer with TV, landline and BB, £55.99 + £10 top up.

The launcher is the home screen from which you launch everything else.
I use Nova for the launcher, Handcent for SMS, Maildroid for email, Swype for keyboard, Angel for browser, Poweramp for music. But I mean all this stuff is personal preference. It's what I want my phone to work like and probably not what you want it to work like. All you can relaly do is try a few until you find what you like. Most of the stuff is free or has free version you can try.

I can help you.....stick with your Galaxy S1? I'll give you £50 for your rubbish Blade V?

I'm not sure what a launcher is.
Can you or anyone else give examples of apps I can download to this blade v that will make it look more like the interface on say a galaxy s3? I have one of those as a work phone but still prefer the way everything comes together more intuitively on my galaxy s1 but I acknowledge that I won't get the blade to look like the s1 but perhaps there's more of a chance with getting it like the s3 since both use android 4 I suppose.

An example of what I prefer on my galaxy s1 is when I get a message telling me I have a voicemail, there is a straight link I can press to go into my voicemail right there.
In my contacts list I can swipe left or right on a name to message or phone that person; can't seem to do that on the blade.
In the messaging app, I can't seem to copy words from a message to paste into a new message to someone else.
The touch pal keyboard makes horrendous mistakes constantly. I type exactly the way I do with swype on my galaxy s1- maybe its me? I have a screen protector maybe that's the problem?
Little things like that all add up to a frustrating experience for me.
I acknowledge this is all software driven and perhaps can be resolved by changing things but I don't know how to or what to download.
My galaxy s1 on android 2.3 is still the most intuitive and easy smartphone experience for me to date out of the few phones I have tried from friends and family.

Thanks for any suggestions you guys can give me to improve my usage of this new blade v.

Haven't got this phone, but download SwiftKey, it's the best Droid Keyboard there is!

Hating the look and feel of this compared to my galaxy s1 i9000
Hope someone makes something eventually that makes this phone more intuitive like my galaxy which is still on android 2.3. Dunno what it is exactly but this touch pal keyboard that comes with it makes for more errors than the free swype keyboard that came with the galaxy.
Since everything looks different- all the stock apps such as email and calendar and texting etc - I'm not sure that purchasing swype is going to help me much here overall.
the whole phone operating system or GUI or whatever just feels wrongly done all over in my opinion.

Can anyone advise where to get a good quality case which fits properly ?

Using Bluetooth A2DP audio my Blade V is sounding 'thinner' than my Blade 1
Both are configured to direct 'Media Audio' to the Bluetooth receiver; I haven't mistakenly set the new mobile to 'phone audio'

Is there an audio EQ built-in to Android 4?

Have you got a screenshot of it? :smiley:

Just to confirm the earlier post about Blade 3 screen protectors. I've just put one on by Blade 5 and it fits perfectly. Thanks original post for this.

Is the blade 3 body the same as the blade 5 i.e. will a blade 3 case fit the 5. Anybody know? Thanks.

it's not as exposed as it looks the edges of the case do stick out that little bit so if it did hit the floor the case would take the majority

at the moment theres nothing better i can see

With that case ^ I know which corner it would land on when you drop it...

heres the i9000 case i had to cut and boil to get to fit but it fits and works so for £1 it's worth a try (not the nicest looking but works)

OK Thanks. I guess that kind of rules out using a Blade 3 case!

0800 183 9146 or 789 (free) from a Virgin mobile

Which phone number to be called to get the unlock code?

they provide a NCK code you insert a sim that the phone does not support

then enter the NCK code into the box at startup

Please let us know which telephone number you called.
In addition what is the procedure for unlocking the phone?

Does anyone have a link to the actual user manual (as opposed to the quick start manual). There are so many things i'm trying to work out!

Anyone know if the SD cards can be swapped? http://we.droidiser.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=27
The internal SD card isn't big enough for the number of apps I'll be moving to .android_secure

Rusty did mention that the brightness seems to change in visible stages rather than being smooth, which is what is probably making it more obvious that it is on automatic mode. Hopefully, since we now have the stock ROM, there is someone smart enough to change this behavior.

Does anyone know if virgin mobiles come unlocked?

Thanks

Hi,

so they charged your card £15.20 and then refunded the £10 virgin top up voucher back to your debit card?

Is that correct?

Thanks

Hmm, I've used Android since Froyo but I only started using Swiftkey with ICS and up, I can assure you that I have never experienced the behaviour you've described about the keyboard "resetting".

i'm using swiftkey

no problems here i've removed the stock keyboard and left the original android (latinime) keyboard there but swiftkey is always my default

That's because it's marked as fixed, and I suspect you N4 has the latest android version (with the fix), whilst other phones may not have a build with the fix in it.

Hmm, I use Swiftkey and I never have to change the keyboard back after a restart but that's on a N4.
So it's definitely set as default keyboard?

Try Power Toggles form the Play store - should do what you want: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.painless.pc&hl=en

I suppose corners have to be cut somewhere at this price and so perhaps its the light sensor. However, there may be an alternative control app that has a better logarithm you can download from the Play store. My Xperia T is not great on automatic and use Power Toggles to add a brightness toggle to the drop down settings. Therefore at night I can quickly turn it all the way down with a simple swipe down and a tap, or turn it right up when in bright sunlight.

General comment - Got the Blade V yesterday from VM store for £82, great phone to give to my mum. Looks better than in the pics. So far looking and performing great for the price. Recommended.

Thanks. I'd prefer it was automatic, so it was dimmer at night and bright in the day, but didn't flip levels so frequently when the background light didn't appear to be changing. I normally have my phones on automatic level, but this one seems a bit iffy on getting the level right. Seems others have reported this 'feature' so hopefully not a sign mine is faulty.

Decided to go for one. Seems pretty nippy compared to my G300. Only problem so far seems that the screen brightness seems to change very frequently. Anybody else having this problem?

It is. You can pay £15.32 from a debit card but they can't accept part-payment using account credit, only full payment from either.

I paid £15.32 from debit card and they refunded the existing £10 airtime back to the card.

They said the unlock code *must* be snail-mailed and will be 3-5 days but I will call in the meantime as they say it appears on their 'system' after it has been generated.

Some have written on HUKD that they've been told the code over the phone, but the agent I spoke with a moment ago said although he could see it had been generated and despatched by mail, he couldn't tell me on the phone.

I'm looking for a way to add £5.32 to the existing £10 and to avoid having to add another 2x£5 to cover the 32p shortfall. IMy numerous calls haven't yet reached someone I can reason with so far.

Don't move your launcher or keyboard to the sd card.



I don't know why but cook is the correct terminology for building android roms. It's vaguely amusing selecting breakfast from the lunch menu typing in commands such as 'make bacon' during the compiling of your rom. They're food obsessed over at google - naming the android versions after desserts too...

On the phone I think, apparently it's to do with how Android stores paid apps. Noone else has this problem?

http://support.swiftkey.net/knowledgebase/articles/122554-default-keyboard-reset-on-every-restart-or-reboot-

Is the SwiftKey app installed on your SD card, or the phone itself?

how could you unroot if you were never rooted?

found this out last week i did post it in the thread it's also over at modaco

I'm pretty sure there must be, have you tried using different launchers?

"Cook"? Sounds like you're making meth :confused:

yea old habits die hard.

wow that's a shame..no easier?

Another new Android annoyance.... Such as there's no "charge only" option when connected by USB? balls.... any time I restart my phone/access the SD card, I have to reset SwiftKey as my keyboard (again, something that didn't happen in 2.3)

I rooted the blade V successfully using these directions

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2403230

Tried SRSRoot, and could unroot with it but failed to root.
Would be really keen to get this unlocked from Virgin without paying the £15!

Wow, you just frogged into err 2012. :P

I'm not sure there is, I usually go with the 2G shortcut app which adds an extra press. I'm with Three now so no 2G only for me. :disappointed:

it's a fair enough comment.

on a similar subject. Now I've come from Android 2.3, is there no way to add 2G/3G toggle to the power widget anymore? I found that a great way to save my battery when I'm only using whatsapp/email

I love the way he describes himself in his profile as a 'troll hunter' and then trolls a thread multiple times. :smile:



It's not terrible. I mean it's far from Tegra performance but google say it's faster than the Adreno 205 (I know its a smaller number but its much newer) which google also says in turn is faster than the SGS1's GPU. I have an SGS 1 which replaced a Blade and the SGS 1 is at least 3 times the speed of the blade at gaming and the Blade v is faster than something faster than that. So it's a heck of an improvement over the old Blade!
The lo-res screen means it doesn't have as many pixels to push about as higher end phones either. I don't think you could expect much more from a budget phone.

All still great here, though Virgin/ZTE have decided to limit MMS to 32kb of data LOL so everything looks awful, without downloading another SMS APK is there any other way to change the file size?

Ando keep up the good work, any change with the stock rom or is it what's already pre-loaded? Now we have a rom to work with I might start trying to cook something.

The only real negative I see is the crappy Adreno 203 GPU, but I don't see much point in gaming on a phone anyway so hot from me. Hope there's a good dev community and we get some nice custom roms soon.

Could anyone comment on music loudness with headphones, as this can be really quiet without some hacking?

The following free app (Volume Boost) works wonders on a lot of phones and boosts headphone volume considerably. Could someone test it on the Blade V?

http://www25.zippyshare.com/v/94271159/file.html

I have a £40 payg upgrade allowance with virgin mobile.

Anyone know if this can be used in store, to avoid the £7 online delivery?

popoyaya: If you look back through this thread you will see someone else has used some virgin upgrade allowance to help uy this phone, so if you check back through, you might see you are able :-)


What phone is it then that you voted cold for? I can't think of another phone in this category with this many features and spec that's cheaper (not including iffy Chinese imports). :-P

Sorry buddies I voted cold, for a crap phone.
:wink:

You can also get apps to manage your data connections for you on your behalf. Please bear in mind this thread is not about G300's about the Blade V.

settings,mobile networks and data enabled should not be ticked

So if you use that scenario then no one would advance! I do know how to turn it on and off but this stupid Huawei G300 wont allow me to do it even though the option is there as it still reactivates itself! I wasted £10 credit using the net at home thinking i was using my WiFi when actually data was on! I get sick of having to check every single time I want to use it for internet (almost always)

Thanks, the site you uploaded to it is really fast as well :smiley:

Where on their site is the original one, out of interest?

making some progress with CWM etc as i've found the recovery partition with a valid recovery.img made but the CWM image i made has no display

heres the thread over at modaco

http://www.modaco.com/topic/365017-blade-v-stock-rom-with-booimg-and-recovery-found/

also zte today released the stock rom which i've rehosted

I absolutely have to get one now lol. Might have to ask my brother-in-law to go and pick me one up, can't see another way (darn working full time! lol).

OK, thanks. I'm paranoid about damaging my phone, so perhaps I'll wait until a case is available, or buy one and keep it safely in its box!

Anybody know where you can get a case for these yet? I'm after a simple silicon case to cover the back and the sides.

Called Virgin Mobile sales yesterday and they had the Blade V in stock for their existing V.Media customers (I am a V.Media customer). The guy said the system did not allow him to see if any discount was possible for existing customers and that he would call me back.
He didnt, so I called again today. Not only was it out of stock now, the lady said that it was still £99 and that only discounts are available for VM employees, and no other discount was available for me........can anyone help please ?

I rang my Nottingham branch and they said it was £81.99 still debating weather this would be a better mobile than the lumia 800:| but heat added non the less for the price well worth it

Now the unlock process is described here I finally unboxed my week old ZTE V.

Is my next step to install the £10 credited Virgin SIM that I had to buy and then call 789 to request an unlock code?

what a crap phone cold

I got the phone and tried to get unlock code but they said that my phone is not on their system. Anyone else got the same issue? Btw, whice department did you choose to request the unlock code (I was transferred a few times)? Ta.

Phone now back on the website.

Anybody know how long the 20% discount will be available to VM customers? Thnx

Basically ARMv7 is a family of chips of varying designs and speeds. Of the 5 main ones we see they are all named cortex-A and then a number (5,7,8,9,15). To keep things simple the bigger the number the more complex it is and the faster it runs (amount of work per cycle, not clock speed).

In simple terms the Blade uses 4x A5 (slow) cores and a graphics core. Apple on the other hand don't use any off the shelf design from ARM. They pick the basic parts and make their design so their names are just model numbers and not designs. The iphone 5 uses some bits of a A9 (fast) core and bits of an A15 (v.fast) core to make its two cores. So as a loose example its a little like taking a core from a Galaxy S3 and a core from a Nexus 10. To this they then added three graphics cores.

The new 5s (from reading what info is available) moves onto the next family of chips (ARMv8). ARM's new designs are the A53 and A57. Apple have once again made its own chip based loosely on these new designs using one faster core and one slower.

* Disclaimer. Before all the trolling I'm only giving a basic overview for people to understand the basics. Yes I'm fully aware there is many aspects of the chip designs that I have not included.

disable mobile data is all thats needed nothing else, personally if you don't know how to do that most phones aren't for you

Is there an option to disable using credit to go online? I want to be able to just use WiFi to go online without using my top up credit?

Thanks

In terms of build quality, I agree. And if people have more money, then by all means buy something more expensive with a higher spec.

Also, I'm not an expert, so perhaps there are things I'm not aware of but, on the inside, the Blade V & iPhone 5 both have 1 GB of RAMs and ARMv7 processor; the only difference I see is that the former is 1.2 GHz quad core and the latter is 1.3 GHz dual core, so I would have thought the Blade V would be better?

Not sure why you disagree, is it to do with benchmark scores?

I'm just very confused by your comments now. Iphones are top of the line phones when they are released. The build quality and features, and everything on an iPhone 5 is massively better than many Android phones that are already better than this Blade V. You shouldn't even be comparing the this to an iPhone 5 or greater.

Yeah, I should have mentioned that I meant for the money; I think the 5C will be £469.

Apart from the screen resolution & Apple stuff like Siri, I would have thought thought this is at least better than the old iPhone 5 though? I do, however, love the fingerprint sensor on the 5S.

To any newbs thinking of asking: yes, this is better than the recently announced iPhone 5C & iPhone 5S.

Forget it. Didn't read thread properly!!

Is the in store price still £71.99 now the online price has gone up £10?

hi

is this unlock code free? I'm Virgin Customer, please somebody reply thanks

no worries there actually decent screen protectors unlike some you can get

they come with a cloth 2 reapplication stickers a dust removal sticker and a smoothing card

Just bought some, thanks for the link and update

I'd like to know how big the data partition is from anyone that has the phone please.

Good to know that VM are giving out unock codes, that's what I was really waiting to find out.

I'll be ordering one for my wife this weekend and firing in a giffgaff sim.

Do you mind taking a photo of the notification LED once it's finished charging and you have a notification? Thanks

yes it does the camera and speaker cut outs fit perfectly

heres a pic of the ones i listed i bought off ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400408935612 (excuse the dust and crap around my desk)

to anyone wondering blade 3 screen protectors fit perfectly

Anyone got an Antutu score?

I've bought slip-in cases for my Lumia 710 & Huawei Vision (both 3.7 inch screens), plus my G300 & Y300 (both 4 inch screens) and they have all been the same size.

The Grand X has a 4.3 inch screen however, and will be too large.

may try the zte grand x..from china though...cpl weeks in post

i've ordered a i9000 case today at a £1 just to see how close it is

Anyone found a slip in case they can recommend for this phone?

Yes the Y300 does have a higher capactiy battery. 1800mah vs 1950mah. It is a shame it's smaller, but 1800mah is still good for a budget phone.

Something is wrong if your battery life is poor. You are either tinkering heck of a lot, it's not sleeping ("wake locks") or something is draining all your data (like GPS on constantly; mobile reception is so bad it's in an out trying to relock signal; GMAIL/Hotmail is draining battery constantly due to a 'push' bug; you have too many mobile updates going on).

Battery life on the Y300 is brilliant, and this is so close in spec it seems odd that it would be that much worse. If you can't get to the bottom of it, factory reset and start again adding only the essentials, and see what battery life is like.

any news on unlocking/rom updates etc?

I was told initially that the code would be sent out, after reading a post here where someone got the code instantly, I called them back to ask if I could get the code over the phone, they said it wasn't possible, about 5 minutes after the coming off the phone, I got a call from virgin saying they had the unlock code and I could have it instantly over the phone.

I think the Blade V looks a lot better than the Y300 in person having compared them side to side, it's similar to the S3 Galaxy, the rear cover looks lovely and the front bezel is sort of a black chrome. It's far nicer in person than on pictures. Also the screen is a lot better than the Y300.

I really want to like it over the Y300, but the styling just doesn't do it - will give it a few more days feedback on here before deciding which one to get

had mine since fri..tinkered with it loads and only had to charge it once..i did however charge it when 1st arrived and left it for hours on charge, which is what i've always been told to do with lithium batteries before using the device....

you can now buy the phone online on payg - £107.98 delivered: http://store.virginmedia.com/content/eSales/en_gb/home/virgin-media-mobile/pay-as-you-go-phones/zte-blade-v/zte-blade-v-tariffs.html

help a n00b and list some programs i can disable safely without making my phone unstable? :smile:

OK thanks

No but i've ordered them, if you look at the design of the blade 3 and blade v there more or less identical

Measurements are off slightly but it's as close as i can find, they've been sent today, i've been a week nearly with the stock plastic thing and it's nearly on it's last legs so needed something at least

Or what i was going to do was order these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161074769835 i know there too big etc but they can be cut and theres plenty for mistakes

The blade 3 is a closer fit than the g300

blade 3
123 x 63.5 x 10 mm (4.84 x 2.5 x 0.39 in)

blade v
126 x 64 x 10.9 mm (4.96 x 2.52 x 0.43 in)

g300
122.5 x 63 x 10.5 mm

anyone looking for screen protectors the blade 3 comes pretty close

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400408935612

And remove all bloat :smile: a lot of bloat runs background processes.

Battery life I have found it to be quite poor. Charge it about twice a day.

Is the £10 of credit given to you as a voucher, or is it already on the SIM? Just that I'm thinking of selling the voucher, or putting it on my existing Virgin SIM.

What's the sales hotline number please? (Is it: 0845 650 4500 ?)

Got one of these phones from the Virgin shop at the weekend. On seeing the phone i initially thought is was larger than perhaps i wanted. However once turned on the screen quality and running speed has really impressed me. This phone for £71.99 plus £10 top up is a absolute bargain now using with my virgin loyalty sim at £7/month (600 mins, 1GB mobile web, unlimited texts & unlimited virgin mobile mins).
Phone may not have a big brand label but is seriously good for the price. :smiley:

got this on Friday from the sales hotline. They offered the 20% discount even though only my mum had a virgin sim only (the phone was for me). Its best to call up sales and see if you can get some movement (please be aware the guy I spoke to was in the UK around 9 pm. When I called to do again for the other half I got the south African call centre who advised they cant offer discounts. Perhaps keep on until you get the UK.

With regards to the unlock I to was advised 7 working days by post by after seeing some posts stating that they received the unlock code straight away I called back today and was given the unlock code over the phone.

On a separate couple of notes, does any one notice a slight creaking/flexing in the rear cover (I know its only £80 but want to see if a common design issue) also when looking down the screen towards the capacitive buttons can everyone see the lighting?

Just asked for my unlock code this morning,hopefully it won't take that long.Had to top up another tenner but oh well.

If anyone has a spare one in Plymouth (that they got a discount on).. let me know! lol.

Saw my bro-in-law last night, and he was willing to help... so will try later this week if I get time (Although I have sooo much to do this week so I doubt I'll get time. Very cool all of you guys that got these already :-) Nice one.)

for those of you asking about virgin media 20% discount, that might not be true, the guy on modaco said there are some phones that are illegible, the offer has the blade v on the cover of the discount page but it isn't listed on the page with details about phones. We will have to wait until the 4th to find out when people phone up to order or go instore if they are selling this instore on the 4th. The offer is printed in an instore virgin magazine, it isn't on the internet, someone would have to go instore and find the magazine and see if they can get 20% off with some sort of virgin media bill, worth trying atleast.

very tempted in this phone, but i need it unlocked to take my giffgaff sim

how does getting it unlocked using the credit on the sim card work?

or would i be better off just paying to get it unlocked and then just selling the sim card on separately

cheers

Are there any full res sample images from the camera online yet ?

How do you claim the 20%, over the phone, in store? What do they require in terms of proof? I have virgin for my landline... Thanks

I think it would be REALLY useful for people to take a video of the the steps you take to safely root the phone. That would stop lots of people from bricking their brand new devices. (And of course, you undertake any rooting at your own risk).

Mine did the first time I tried it. Not anymore.

Anyone having the same problem as me with this phone? No matter what I change the alarm clock volume to and save it, the thing ALWAYS says Volume 'Silent'. Even when I change the Volume to 100%. Also, when I try to change "Alarm Sound" I can only listen to the "Default ringtone" and nothing else. But even using this, when the alarm goes off, it's silent. Not much point having a silent alarm!

Indeed, I never use phone cameras or silicone cases :sunglasses:

Hey people, I'm trying to get or find this phone as my landlord wants to upgrade. There's still no sign of it on the VM website, is ringing up the best one to buy one?

Thanks for the info, appreciate it. Once I get a micro sd i'll have a play and root it from that tutorial if no english language option exists by then.

i found the root myself after trawling the internet for a good few hours, I have tested it and so has RustySpoons it does work, the only reason i've had to clikc it several times is because basically i can't make sense of the app and going off other people on xda too

custom roms more often than not enhance the phone removing bloat from the start and adding other mods or tweaks

I read that rooting post but it seemed like it was a bit hit and miss with having to hit the root button several times. If you are correct that custom roms should be fairly easy I imagine it won't be too long until a dual root process and rom installer is along.

Bloatware isn't an issue right now but i'm sure as I begin to install more apps etc they will soon be sucking away extra power and ram I could use on things I want.

Thanks for the reply, could you enlighten me to what benefits of custom roms are?

so if i have some old crappy apps I want rid of to free some space.... i cant delete them?

OK phone savvy people! After some advice if anyone would be so kind.

I have been using a windows phone for a few years now and just returned to android. I'm tech able enough to be able to root this phone from a tutorial etc etc but want to know what exactly are the advantages of rooting and what, if any, custom roms I should be looking at?

Links to guides most welcome.

As for the phone, its fast and responsive with an acceptable finish and weight to it. Camera isn't amazing but works and will be suitable for up close daylight shots. Haven't noticed any issues with volume when I was streaming BBCiplayer.

Anyone tried price matching with CPW?

your forgetting the camera is in a different place

i've looked and looked for case the closest in comparison with the camera and flash being usable is the original galaxy s i9000

it's a few mm off here and there but should be fine as far as i can see

Get a silicon Y300 case then; only 99p on eBay, and the dimensional difference is 1.5 mm at the most. I'm sure it'll stretch :wink:

got this on Friday from the sales hotline. They offered the 20% discount even though only my mum had a virgin sim only (the phone was for me). Its best to call up sales and see if you can get some movement (please be aware the guy I spoke to was in the UK around 9 pm. When I called to do again for the other half I got the south African call centre who advised they cant offer discounts. Perhaps keep on until you get the UK.

With regards to the unlock I to was advised 7 working days by post by after seeing some posts stating that they received the unlock code straight away I called back today and was given the unlock code over the phone.

On a separate couple of notes, does any one notice a slight creaking/flexing in the rear cover (I know its only £80 but want to see if a common design issue) also when looking down the screen towards the capacitive buttons can everyone see the lighting?

finally opened the box to have a play... Pretty nippy out of the box, and i dont hate the stock launcher :O. So I may not bother with Nova.

Really stupid question as I'm moving from Gingerbread: can you not delete apps? :/. Google Play has downloaded a ton of stuff I used to have (e.g. Amazon Kindle app) and it only gives me the option to 'disable' rather than delete?

As my Chinese skills aren't up to much, I may hold off on rooting it for now. Could anyone advise on the apps I can safely disable?

Any cases/screen protectors for it? Is the Blade III a similar size and would one of their cases work?

yea I'm more after a silicon case.... i drop my phone a fair amount

FocalPrice seems to have free delivery. let us know how you get on.

Custom ROMS can often help, but, as the phone is new, it may take a while for people to develop these.

having a second look at this phone...seems like a good deal. especially with the existing customers discount. i appreciate there are other 'import' handsets at this price range with superior specs, but this isn't an import. what i'm saying is are these other phones available to my door for a price comparable to this, all potential customs and postage covered. and if so where?

Anybody tried the Nottingham VM store? Gave them a call and they said they'd never heard of this phone. Just wondering whether they really haven't got any or whether I just spoke to the wrong person!

Apparently the Plymouth Store does not have any in Stock at present, so don't waste your time today (Sunday 8/9/13).

Excellent news on the unlock stuff gents :-) Seriously tempted to go into the city centre and pick one up today (if I can find my brother-in-law whom has a virgin media account lol).

If I do get one, I'll see what I can do about APK's (But bear mind I may not be able today to get one).

Just checked the top up terms and you have to make incremental £5 top ups. Does some Muppet sit the back office dreaming up these 20p additions to make sure they always get the extra few pounds. Well not this time Richy Boy. I'll wait till the ebayers have cracked the unlock. Virgin, I continue to hate you and your broadband price rises.

nandroid backup here if anyone wants it

https://mega.co.nz/#!5Ig3ECwD!R21Vik-NRo3vmUGYjqAInBU07DMJN2PLpeXW1eFZJFI

This is good news, can I just add £5.20 to the SIM or is there a minimum/incremental top up amount. I can't face giving Richard a single penny more than I need to!

Ah so in reality you only need to add £5.20 on top of the full price to have it unlocked

can you use the ten pounds top up towards unlocking the phone?

£15.20 from memory.

I am going to put up a website/wiki about this device with files, tips etc soon.

I so far have been playing around with other ZTE roms and found a few different launchers, apps and widgets etc from higher end devices.
The ZTE Weather Clock widget is really nice, far nicer than the one that comes with this. I will chuck up some APK's soon.

I wouldn't mind a copy of the original mifavor launcher APK though and also any other original APK's.

Still love this device, battery is amazing on it and seems so responsive.

Very pleased with the phone, but I find the volume very low. Ok within calls, but for mp3/video not very good. Is there a way, apart from the volume button, for increasing the volume?
Thanks for any suggestions.

How much did they charge for the unlock?

What on earth do you need 2GB of ram for? The problem with budget phones is they have 512MB of ram. This is enough for GB and earlier but ICS and later kind of struggle after all that reserved by the hardware and the OS is gone. Adding 512MB of extra entirely free for the apps to use ram is epic. My current JB phone boots with about 100MB free and its clean - lots of stock apps frozen and lots of user apps banned from autostarting. This phone will add 512MB to that free ram figure. Effectively 6 times the amount of ram available to user apps.

And no, the quad core isn't selling it to me. I'd be happy with dual core and 1GB of ram. It's the 1GB of ram I want.

I picked up one yesterday as a second phone.Hopefully a free unlock will appear i'm in no hurry.With the discount for being a Virgin media customer this is a great deal.

So someone said that virgin themselves will unlock the phone for £15ish. Has anyone actually done this and proven that works yet?

the 1gb ram and quad core is the selling the point

you may find other alternatives with quad core but with no 1gb ram

1GB RAM on a budget phone running Android 4.x.x is pretty darn important, and will have a bigger impact (to those in the know) than the quad core. Sure, to those that don't know, the quad core sells it, but to everyone else, looking at the entire package with 1GB is a win.

Look at it this way, if the phone only had 512MB, there is no way I'd even entertain the phone at this price as an upgrade from my Y300.

Huh? So you are telling me, it is cheaper for it to be a quad core than to make it 2GB of ram? And 1GB is hardly a main selling point for it, its the quad core spec phone for £110 which sells it.

if got virgin broad band will qualify for virgin media costumer or not?

anyone know?

It is good but why the hell do they always skimp on the ram? the ram is more important than the CPU (to a degree)

Anybody ran antutu on theirs yet.

Must dependon who you get as mine was completed over the phone and used my 3 sim right after call.

Ill get one, once it can be unlocked ee network is naff where i live

Yes it is only dual core, but A9 rather than A5 so about 30% faster clock for clock. It also runs at 1.5Ghz rather than 1.2Ghz and the GPU is considerably faster. So while it may loose out in a benchmark like Antutu (which scales very well) in real world terms it will feel faster.

Where you get it from is entirely up to you. DX.xom have had it in the past but is not currently listed, Focal price have it as a big name here. Pandawill and Geekbuying both have it which I have personally used with no issues.

I will mention I don't own this phone or had one in my hand so can't offer first hand experiences. But the reviews seem good and the specs are good for the money. As it's a qualcomm chip the GPS will have a quick lock, the Bluetooth won't be buggy and the wifi will have good range. These tend to be the biggest issues with cheaper China phones which use MediaTek SoC's.

Seen Focalprice have it for $132.99 which works out at £84

Sounds pretty sweet even with the dual-core. Any chance of a link :smiley:?

Got mine today...love it!!

Not as good as some of the more expensive phones IMO.

just went into Southampton store, had just sold last one. not sure when new stock arriving.

Went in the Warrington store today. They had the Dummy phone out, but no stock. Said they may have them back in on Wednesday.

It's not instant, I did it this morning, it is posted out to you and takes 3-5 working days.

From Virgin - you are limted to 2 dicounts per account, ie can buy 2 phones only at discount price and normal for the rest

Hi, you phone 789 from handset of the one you want unblocked, they do it over the phone, there and then. I aksed cust services as i am going th thailand for a few months and want to use the handset for both here and there. Thats this info they told me.

If I were to buy an import at the £90 level it wouldn't be the ZTE. I would go with the Haier W910. Dual A9 core (S4) at 1.5Ghz (Ardreno 225), 1GB ram, 8GB Flash, 4.5" IPS 720p screen, GGII glass, IP54 complaint. Comes with 4.04, but there is a custom ROM based on 4.1.2.

Hi,

is it enough to be Virgin Broadband Customer, without Telefon etc., to get the discount?
How long is the 20% discount offer valid?

Thank you!

Best regards.

ratingen

just been offers it for £77 using my £20 loyalty discount, what i really hate is the £7.99 del charge. decisions lol

Sorry, had two threads open, meant that for the Razr i thread. :stuck_out_tongue: I'll delete my comment now.

Thanks for this! Just off the phone to them.

Blade V will be delivered Monday for £47.99

I had £50 reward on my existing SIM only account and delivery is £7.99. When I logged into my account and selected 'Upgrade Phone' it shows the Blade V as £89 'Out of Stock'. Called them and it was showing in stock on their system so got the above deal ( £89.99 + £7.99 delivery - £50 reward = £47.99 ). They are also sending a SIM with £10 on it.
Also, I was on 1200 minutes unlimited texts and 1GB of data for £8 on a monthly rolling contract. Got this reduced to 600 minutes unlimited texts and 1GB data for £5 per month! Got the same deal for the wife too. Please note that I am an existing Virgin Media customer with TV/Phone/Broadband package and my wife and I both have Virgin SIM only deals already. Not sure what deal new customers would get.

What incompatibilities are you talking about?

I might be prepared to pay that, is there any info how to go about getting it done and do you know if its instant? Please.

So are these locked to Virgin then?

Thank you, appreciated.

We should start a thread to on XDA etc to get awareness for these devices, I might buy another one for messing around, it's been some time (Android 1.6, Windows Mobile 5) since I cooked some roms :smiley: but fancy having a good play with this one as it's very capable, ZTE haven't messed around with it too much, mine is 95% stock google experience with some changes and original APK's.

Should have saved the original APK's for OTA's etc, but didn't think at the time. I have also mailed ZTE asking for the original rom to flash via SD as they supply it for the Blade III, so they should have it for this.

Interestingly, Mifavor 3D launcher looks amazing, trying to find a copy or rip it out of a rom off another device :smiley:

ZTE Just replied in 5 minutes!, however they state they do not have files for this device yet :disappointed:

I have just extracted the Blade III rom, looking at the apk's, seeing if there is anything interesting in there, will try their more premium handsets in a bit :smiley:

i'll get the other phone out tomorrow root it and do a backup, will pm the link to you as it'll probably be better to post it on xda or modaco or whever, if anything just as a backup

Yeah no CWM or TWRP for this device yet...

I don't know if you have time, but would be great if someone can pull off the original launcher and possibly all the original *.apk files and rar them up, so any of us can install them back. I would have done this but was a bit eager to go deleting without reading the filenames fully lol!

It only has 512mb RAM. The Blade V's main draw is it's a budget phone with 1GB ram which is highly unusual at the budget end of the market. And 512mb isn't really enough for Android 4 and later IMO.

I would recommend the zte v956. Same price after converting dollars to pounds..From http://www.merrimobile.com better spec with 4.5 inch screen, unlocked and dual sim, 1.2 quad processor...Comes with a lot of Chinese stuff....but easily sorted by downloading the Philippines rom from zte website for this model unzip then put on the directory of the sd card..then select upgrade from settings...then bingo ...you have.all english icons and play store....

Can anyone do a Nandroid backup of this phone.
It would come in very useful if any of us tinkering mess something up lol. I should have done this myself. I didn't mean to delete my stock launcher, I didn't read the app name properly :smiley:

yeh, if you have root Link2SD is a nice app for making changes like that and reducing the chance of temporarily bricking your phone... :smiley:

I wouldn't recommend ever removing your default launcher or keyboard*. Freeze them instead. The reason is that any secondary launcher is in data and if you later do a wipe data or factory reset...

I learned this the hard way with the stock keyboard and after a later data wipe I wasn't able to enter my account password to download a replacement lol. Ended up reflashing the rom.



*unless you move them to system as detailed in the previous post.

if you had installed a launcher first then removed the original launcher it would of been fine

or even if you boot the phone without a launcher and have adb access and download the apk from wherever you could just manually install :smiley:

get root explorer or similar to access the system folder and the launcher of your choices apk

and copy the apk into this folder /system/app/

this way if you ever come to factory reset you should have the launcher of choice installed instead of stock which will now be gone when you do a factory reset

thats how i've done it, not tested a factory reset yet though as i spent a hour or 2 last night restoring all 17,000 text messages

DO NOT REMOVE MIFAVOR LAUNCHER, My phone is now useless :disappointed:

Got it going using this:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.concentriclivers.launcher&hl=en

Lucky the phone popped up google play store to do updates, has anyone taken any backups of theirs I can restore from or can back up, or back up the default launcher?

Works perfectly!!! Thank you

Cheers, I just want to uninstall some bloat :smile:

might just be what I'm after to replace my Sony tipo!!

Unsure why people are bothered about boot times when you power on once per week/month/etcetc.

blade v rooted and showing boot speed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX5_ldlLdcM

If someone can figure out an unlock then I'd be instantly selling my Y300 (I love it, and prefer it's looks, but I want the 1GB RAM :-) )

(Shame the Blade V hasn't got at least 4.2 Android).

Eventually got a call back and a handset arriving tomorrow for less than 50.00 taking off my crave awards...certainly hope its worth it had the same phone for 3 yrs only changing due to touchscreen becoming unresponsive...

looking at that ZTE page.... i do miss having a 'search' soft button on my phone...gah... (mainly for taking screenshots. This power button/volume down combo sucks)

BSAR101: TBH... £100 is nothing for a phone. Get this, and then get the 5S/5C (Or whatever the next one/two is/are called) when it comes out, or get the older model that will be significantly cheaper by that point. (If you really want Apple). My wife has used android phones (EVO 3D) but just loves her new 4S (which I'm gutted about lol). Just please.. if you get this phone, don't judge Android based on this phone... it is a budget phone!

PAYG page is wokring now: http://store.virginmedia.com/content/eSales/en_gb/home/virgin-media-mobile/pay-as-you-go-phones/zte-blade-v/zte-blade-v-tariffs.html

No buy button though.

ZTE now have an official page on their website, it may help answer anyone's questions: Your text here

thanks :smiley: sunil

Hi, I lost /had my phone stolen the other day ...broke my heart ...anyway I need a replacement I had the iphone...am I going to find moving from the iphone to this hard as in usability? I get it may not feel and look like one but can a dummy use this phone lol ...or do I just stay true to being apples bitch and go and cough up for a new one?
ty

Reserved one in store, collecting tomorrow. Seems like new stock is being delivered to stores every few days. Voted hot

Thanks for keeping up to date on this thread Rusty, on behalf of all people here.

For anyone that has one already... how big is the data partition please?

I am Kal-El of Krypton.

I don't need that rich boy's help :stuck_out_tongue:

The notification light sends out a bat sign if you want it to.

Didn't realise the asker's HUKD username was Batman, thought at first that the actual Batman wanted a Blade V whose GPS he would use to locate baddies :laughing:

Yeah no other difference, same GPU etc, this is a far more capable handset than the already decent Y300

Apologies, perhaps I should have qualified the statement. It's the same chipset as the Y300, just the quad core version and 200mhz extra clock speed. There is no difference other than that. (worth mentioning twice the memory of the Y300... but that's not really chipset related).

Rusty: Excellent performance. I get 8 inside, and sometimes 11 outside. It's very quick to lock when A-GPS is on :-)

@Boris

Same chipset? WTF?

It's saying 8/8 here, but I am in my house and can try other apps.

batman... that's the question for which pretty much everyone wants the answer! Sorry to say, we don't know anyone that has unlocked one yet :-(


How many satellites do you get? At least 8? My Y300 was quick to lock, so no reason why the Blade V would be different given the same chipset (and hopefully a similar antenna), plastic casing has some benefit over sexy metal sometimes! :-D

BTW... things like GPS performance and other missing features are reasons that I have avoided import chinese phones for the moment, even though they seem good value.

I am on O2 - how do I unlock

Using a GPS test app I reset GPS data and it took about 20 secs to get a lock inside my house by the window. Walking around the house I still have a lock! Opening that app again and it locked in 4 secs.

Oh dear, now I have to give Virgin more money after they just put my broadband price up another 2.50. Second price rise this year. Incidentally did you ask them to answer the phone occasionally?

No stock in the Sheffield store however they have confirmed they will be getting more in over the next couple of days.

Hi Rusty, I was hoping you could test out the GPS/Google navigation when you get a chance. My current china phone takes approximately 5 decades to lock on a GPS position, Everything else you've posted pretty much seals the deal about me trying to pick one or 2 up on saturday but would be nice to know GPS is ok.

i got root access, can at least remove bloatware until whatever...

using this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2403230

tried various others non seemed to work but this did.

installed that clicked root a few times until i got a shield app installed, i installed titanium backup and got requested by the app for root access but in chinese or whatever, clicked the option on the right, went to the play store installed supersu, updated the binary in supersu went into supersu settings and chose reinstall, it removed supersu and the shield app, i then reinstalled the supersu from the play store, went into titanium backup and got a root request but this time in english, rebooted to make sure it was stuck and it is.

sorry i can't explain what it done but it's in chinese, but it's on xda and tested by others so can't be all bad

I cracked and went in store this evening. They have loads in stock if you're passing.

how's the screen? i hear it's not as good as the original ZTE Blade OLED?

OK HUkD Troops,

I've a HTC Sensation XE. Its VERY slow these days, cant seem to be able to run basic things like Facebook App or Google Chrome properly without freezing etc..

Basically, is this phone better? I realise it has more RAM and 4core processor but would still appreciate feedback..

Cheers in advance!

next question as it's a new phone: any cases for it?

Leetron, would you mind confirming what the max speeds the Lenovo a820 is rated at for HSPA+?
Thanks

Has anyone bought from Brighton? The shop never picks up the phone.

The 820 doesn't have a front facing camera (no skype/hangouts etc :-( )

Had one of these for 2 months now...great build quality, 4.5" screen, 1GB RAM, quad core, dual sim, 8MP rear camera...unbeatable phone for the price although the free delivery I opted for from merimobile takes couple of weeks...

DweebDude, so your saying if I got it unlocked and popped a three SIM card in it I could get 42Mbs download 11Mbps upload?

it will go as fast as your network is

Any chance a VM customer might get it for £72 delivered? (I rather avoid going into the store)

Hey, here's a stupid question, in the specs it mentions HSDPA (7.2Mbps) but then also mentions HSPA+ which I understood to mean more than 7.2Mbs, can anyone clarify it's maximum download upload speeds over "3G"?
Many thanks,
J

What phone is this comparable to in terms of features etc, that is currently out there? Just want to guage if its something I might be interested in

This is also quad core, the Y300 is dual core.

Should I opt for this or the Huawei Y300 on o2?

Thanks

I think the stores got stock before their online sales warehouse did which is bizarre, they are expecting stock however so maybe they removed it due to all the calls and it will return when stock arrives.

You haven't missed it. It's more that it hasn't even started online yet! It's currently an in store offer until their slack web guys catch up.

It's IPS :smiley:

Expired? Have you tried instore?

Expired now shame must've missed it!

http://store.virginmedia.com/virgin-media-mobile/pay-monthly-phones.html - only option is Blade 3
http://store.virginmedia.com/virgin-media-mobile/pay-as-you-go-phones.html - again only option is Blade 3

Lucky for those who did manage to get this though!

Thanks RS. Don't really know how you would check other than by just turning the phone around its central axis and seeing if it indicated a change of direction i.e. not moving it laterally so it couldn't do it from GPS position. I guess if the compass also worked where you had no GPS lock then that would also show it had a true compass. thanks for your help.

Edit - just caught up with latest posts and I see you've pretty much shown it does have a true compass. Thanks

As above GPS Status you can use the compass in, and it will actually give you a warning saying you don't have one when you first try to use it, if you none exists.

I did see a mention that the V stands for Victor rather than 5, hence why it isn't the 4th model in the blade series as such.

Anyone got further news on unlocking? Anyone know a source for screen protectors and cases?

EDIT: Virgin have now removed the V from their website.

p.s ando: sorry that was funny that you missed the sarcasm in that guys previous response! Was lol'ing at work.. but didn't reply as was trying not to fan the flames you sent back to him!

Thank you Rusty and BananaBread

I have just reserved 2 at a store near me. Will be getting these tomorrow and then will have a play around and feedback here.

Not expecting much but for 72quid this is a bargain, steal if you ask me

ye, it's fine me messing up but don't want to be responsible for others

Do you really want to follow someone who bricked their phone already?

how'd you manage to root it?

Is the discount for a Virgin Media customers an ongoing discount or does it have a limited time span, and what's required to get that discount, as I'm not the account holder.

I just rang VM and was told its not on sale yet. They will call me back when they got it in stock
Also I was told I won't be able to get it at a discount. I did mention I am an existing sim only customer.

I'll pop into one on my way home from work

Oh right. I might not bother with this deal after all then. I might threaten to leave. :P

41 p a mim on pay as you go ,ouch

what's the camera quality like - any sample images kicking about from reviews / users?

Had my Y300 stolen (I bet they thought it was a iphone at a glace) - was going to go ahead and get another as was very happy as my work phone... as I can't not get another upgrade price from CPW it puts the price up near this... waiting to hear other peoples feedback on it...

GPS Status shows compass

ye i did actually miss it haha so used to people trolling :confused:

Yeah, I don't think they teach Roman Numerals in school any more!

V = Five
IV = Four

Just sayin' :smiley::smile:

Hi,

how would you describe the sound quality through headphones (which model are you using)?
Thank you!

Best regards.

ratingen

Was that a failure to spot obvious sarcasm or am I failing to spot the humour in your own response? :smile:


Don't panic! It's simply not launched yet on the website and it's the Blade 5 rather than 4 (dunno what happened to the 4!)and is confirmed to be £99

I can only see the blade 3 on the website...the 4 will probs come back next week at £199

shadez147: these are the dimensions: 126x64x10.9mm

To anyone who has the phone, is the notification LED big & bright? Silly question perhaps, but the one on the Y300 is the size of a pinhole & can't be noticed in daylight even when it's sitting next to me!

Hi Rusty

I am looking to purchase this for my daughter. This info may be elsewhere in this thread but I am at work and unable to stay logged on looking at hukd for much longer.

Please can you advise of precise dimensions as I want to know how this will fit in her tiny hands.

Also is GUI pretty intuitive and friendly or ??????

What's the best app to check this?

*Edit* Smart Compass works fine? anything else I can try.

RustySpoons - Are you able to confirm whether it has a real compass built in? Thanks

rustyspoons, does the phone suffer from any lag yet since you got it?

talking a pile of crap like the rest in here

please show me where you can get a new iphone 4 for 80-100

some whoppers in this deal, first it was you can get a better phone for more money then people comparing phones that are near double the price :smirk:

Having gone to a HTC One from an iPhone 4 and then to this, this wipes the floor with the iPhone 4 apart from the camera. I don't miss my HTC One, this is ample for my needs - More than happy with this purchase.

Looks like a decent budget phone to be used with a custom rom but I'd rather spend an extra £100 or £200 on a higher spec phone myself.

I've been using a Huawei g300 for the last 7 months and had the ZTE blade before that, both with custom roms and thought I'd make a switch to the iphone 4 with jailbreak and I have to say the iphone wins it for me and I got mine via ebay for £140 so no complaints from me.

Hi,

which headphones are you using?

Best regards.

ratingen

Sound Quality>> Do you have any other phones to compare it to? The Y300 is not very good quality for sound, and I can't imagine the Blade V is much better when it uses almost the same chipset.

According to the Live Chat with Virgin when asking why the Blade V page doesn't work.... "I am sorry for the inconvenience, however, our Development team is updating our website. Please comeback to us after sometime and we'd be good to go."

Take with a pinch of salt, as it should be the content team.....

Still can't find any proper reviews other than the existing pre-release previews :-(

Hi,

i don´t want to get on sb.'s nerves :smiley: but
i would really like to know
how would you describe the sound quality through headphones (which model are you using)?
Thank you!

Best regards.

ratingen

I need them to give me a better retention deal. Currently get 800 mins, 5gb internet, 5k text, at £8.50. Would love unlimited for 10 or lower lol. Might try blag it along with this phone.

Pointless if it can't be unlocked.

I probably would have gone for this if I hadn't just got the Nexus 4. Both would probably seem amazing coming from the original Orange San Francisco :smiley:

Can always get a Moto Atrix for £70/80 instead of S2.

Picked a couple up today for me and the wife for £71.99 + £10 top up which I can credit to my Sim only contract.
Upgrading from an unlocked Zte skate / Monte Carlo.
First impressions are very good and much quicker than the Skate.
I tried putting Android 4.1 on the Skate and it was very sluggish so this is much better with more storage for apps.
The screen is slightly smaller but I'm sure I will get used to it.

I will have to have a bit more play around with it and will post my findings.
Only thing bugging me at the minute is how to remove the bar at the bottom of the browser that you can use to navigate back and forward and to open another window.

Hi,

Can I unlock this phone easily? I have a T Mobile Sim only deal and I'd like to use it on this phone.

Thanks

anyone tried the Southampton store?

Just a quick vid upload. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PwP44_2ZTI

Who else managed to get one today?

480p, I have uploaded a little test video on youtube I will add link in a few minutes

lets hope that a cyanogemod rom is released that enables 720p then as the qualcomm chip is able to record at 720p :smiley:

just got mine. what an amazing little phone!!! well happy. Deffo king of cheap androids

@Sstuff, what is the maximum resolution the video can record at? 1280x720, 800x480? Could you upload the video file to a file sharing website like mega.co.nz, sendspace.com etc please.

I tried an Orange sim. It doesn't work

So at the moment is anyone offering a paid unlocking service for this model? I tried a free ZTE a few moments ago and it did not help.

I think I may send it back because I am a numpty, i bought this with intentions on using on T-Mobile and thought it would work, it appears its exclusive to Virgin at the moment so I may struggle to find an unlock code.

a 2nd hand S2 is still quite a bit more expensive than this ZTE.

This is a budget phone folks.

anyone else noticing the similarities

http://www.gsmarena.com/zte_blade_iii_pro-5425.php

It is 14 days and I will be returning mine, although I have opened it, terms say "as new, in its original packaging"

I am using the S2, how does this compare? My S2 is doing odd things, time to upgrade?

My ZTE V is still in its box, sealed. From comments on here I'll leave it untouched until there's a definite unlocking remedy. Or return it before my sale/return at the Virgin store expires. 14 days I was told.


T&C's from my receipt, c/o Google Drive's OCR:

TENDER [Zr/Debit Card £99.99

Our 14 day Customer Satisfaction Guarantee allows you to exchange your joining pack, or mobile broadband for a different one of the same uaIue or get a full refund, less any airtime that you have used or bought. You need to return it to this store, as new, in its original packaging with proof of purchase. Your statutory rights are not affected. To see our allowance charges visit virginmobilie.cum/Pay MunthW/Uur tariff/Uiew Cali Charges. To see all of our terms and conditions visit uirqinmnbi/legalstuff

this really is a very good deal, but not one to jump on! (not that you can anyway, it being out of stock online) Comments on here prior to today said that virgin normally supply phones unlocked, but turns out this one isn't. Oh dear! So this is one for the back burner until it's at least unlockable (and preferably rootable). I remember getting the original Orange San Fran back in the day but it was a useless phone until I'd blown away the Orange bloat with a decent ROM. Think the same applies here (I bet Virgin have bloated this one up beautifully)

I used this link to unlock an older zte phone I had last year. You have to input the IMEI number. If you don't mind doing that you could try it.

http://arrtoo.x10.mx/unlockBlade.php

no applications can unlock it yet, keep an eye on unlocknews.eu for when unlocking dongles can manage to unlock it. Once they add support you can take it to some mobile phone shops to get it done. Unlocking codes could be months later if at all.

I tried

http://www.wintechmobiles.com/tools/zte-unlock-code-calculator/

and

http://tools.texby.com/unlock-codes/zte/

both didn't unlock but the site you gave me generated a different code so i'll have a go.

No point in buying this phone if you don't intend on usig the virgin network. There's still no diy unlock for the Blade 3 eight months after its release.

Anyone have reviews on the phone

i doubt it but as more people get them hopefully we will see some development

Indeed.

You used to be able to get free unlock codes for ZTE does this apply to this model?

even so, find a s2 for £82

Antutu Benchmark v4.0 scored 11306 which is Galaxy S2 performance, this is with stock rom provided with no tweaks and 40% battery.

4641 on quadrant which puts it on par with the HTC One X if you believe in benchmarks.

I miss my original Blade, in my top 3 owned phones (Lumia 920 and Siemens C35 are the other two). I bought mine for £70 using my sister's Orange phone fund, sold it on eBay for £67 a couple of years later. Might replace my iPhone 4 with this.

Hi,

is it blue or black?
How would you describe the sound quality through headphones (which model are you using)?

Best regards.

ratingen

andoSep 04, 2013
Picked up 2 in liverpool for 72 each with 20 off my contract
You mean they gave you an extra £20 off your contract as well as 2x£72?
Or do you mean no top up required as on contract, then 20% off £89.99?
Either way bargain!

I have one... just got it home now. Its sim locked but no branding?

shoot - here was me thinking I had got an HUKD Scoop :smiley:

(will be sticking to my £149 Moto Razr-i)

EliTom

It's been that way for hours I'm afraid.

Quick reviews please from anyone who has got one today...

Thanks :-)

false(ish) alarm

it's showing on PAYG phone page but not showing when clicking view details

maybe uploading website right now !!!

EliTom

BINGO

now showing on website

you see yea lot of little faith - it's still 4th September :smiley:

EliTom

Picked up 2 in liverpool for 72 each with 20 off my contract

not as good as the more expensive phones........................ooh sorry ..did some one say that already??

The link refers to ZTE Blade 3, could any one provide the link to ZTE Blade 4 as said in this deal

ok... last phone I installed Nova over the top, but didn't disable the other launcher...do I need to disable as well?

Hopefully root will happen soon enough. In the meantime you should be able to replace the launcher with something more normal like Nova Launcher and disable the ZTE launcher from the Settings menu. Same for any other ZTE apps you don't want to use. Just open Apps, then All, tap the app then disable then reboot the phone.

Thorpe Park

Great to see someone has got one! Pity it is locked :-(
Hopefully someone to unlock it!

Phone has a seal over the screen. There is a notification light on it. Twitter, Email & Youtube all run very well. The phone feels responsive. The 2 for 1 offer is for Thorpe Park.

None in the Bournemouth Store until next week.

Got one reserved :smile:

Still happy with my OSF running Swedish Snow7, but I'm interested to hear about this phone's potential.

What's the 2 for 1 voucher for? :man:

Just bought one from Bristol Queen's Road store. They have more in stock from this morning's delivery.
Cost £100 with the required topped-up Virgin SIM

No sure why expired. Just checked at Virgin Media Oxford Circus store and they have it in stock.

Pity it is locked.

Could you give us some info on the build quality.

Also does it have a Notifications light?

Review needed :smile:

Hi,

thank you very much indeed!
Is it actually blue or black?
Were the screen protectors included?

Best regards.

ratingen

Why are all the Virgin Live Chat operators called Emma? :stuck_out_tongue:

[img]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us[/img]

Tried various sim cards, it's locked to Virgin.

Just bought one instore £99.99 with top up. Discount only available if you're a Virgin Media Customer, Broadband etc. Virgin PAYG customer they will not offer any discount.

I am awaiting a phone call this evening with a stock update, will post back here if I can add any further info...

Failing that, what's the next best budget handset (Android/W8)?

It's gonna sell out due to all the hype around it, trouble is I am going from a HTC One to this (Got offered a good price for it) looking at my options really, haven't tried W8 so thought that might be worth a go. Nexus 8gb seems an uncertain bet looking at posts on here.

"Emma" my ****.

My mums got virgin phone/broadband etc so if I can get it for £81.99 and unlock it I'll be very happy :smiley:

I had the Orange San Francisco and it was an awesome bit of kit for the price at the time.
If this is anywhere near that sort of value then it'll be a winner.

Stick a custom ROM on it and it'll be even better.

Got this message via Live Chat:
Emma: Thank you for your interest in Virgin Mobile!
Emma: The ZTE Blade V is available online but not ready for sale yet. We will soon get stocks of this phone.

Looks like this will happen. I'll might be calling Virgin tomorrow and see if I can get one for free by turning my sim only tariff into a contract.

Maybe Virgin have decided to take a break whilst they upgrade it to KitKat.

Hi,

i tried with VPN and now i can see it also :stuck_out_tongue:
Thank you!

Best regards.

ratingen

Hi,

strangely i can only see following (maybe because of my German IP?):



Thank you anyway!

Best regards.

ratingen

[img]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us[/img]

Shows up on payg but you can't buy. Probably go live later today/tommorow.

Just ordered one on pay monthly. Everything went through. Then received confirmation email saying I had ordered a blade iii.

Phoned them up and was told none in stock and that he couldn't see it on their website.

Hi,

i can also not see it :smirk:

Best regards.

ratingen

PLEASE UN-EXPIRE MODS

Some idiot has expired the post, this deal is still on. The contract link is already working, some stores/possibly all are getting stock today and the website link for payg is supposed to go live shortly afterwards. This post said on sale on 4th september, it is still 4th september until 23:59.

LYING *$%!*!@'s

I called up to check the order and it's a Blade 3 they are sending, I asked 3 times and was told it was a Blade 5!!!

Now won't cancel the order and say I have to post it back at my cost due to their error!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello,

here you go:

http://store.virginmedia.com/content/eSales/en_gb/home/virgin-media-mobile/pay-monthly-phones/zte-blade-v/zte-blade-v-tariffs.html

Still not under Pay As You Go phones.
I am eagerly waiting from Germany for information as it is locked etc.

Best regards.

ratingen

They seem clueless via live chat. Shows on website at £99.99, they asked me to send a link, and said the V is not currently available.

Anyone managed to order one through the website, it won't load further details for me.

i was thinking that, blade v and 3 sound so similar over the phone

Sstuff. No idea he just said I get 20% off. Didn't ask any more. Ended up transferred to a UK call cenre. Delivery is 7 hence 87

i don't see how he's bought one rang twice already no stock

Bought one over the phone, 87 quid delivered. I am on a VM 30 day tarrif. They are black not blue and will be with me tomorrow :smiley:

No stock at Manchester store

Just spoke to Virgin Mobile sales team - non in stock.

Stock has not arrived yet. I have just been on live chat with 'Emma' from VM and thatb is what I was told

Expected at my local store today according to the store staff.
£71.99 but would need to buy £10 topup which can be used on some other Virgin Mobile phone (Which suits me just fine).

Im assuming this is locked on Virgin if i buy it P&G and i can't put in my talkmobile sim card ?

Rang my local, 2 in stock £89.99 discounted price with topup included

I called them yesterday and the agent said it is on their system but not released yet . the cs said it was odd if it were to be released today as usually its a Friday .

I got a reply from Zte Uk twitter just now."The Blade V is scheduled to be on sale in @virginmedia stores today, on-line to follow shortly."

Do you guys think this phone will be susceptible to run out of memory for Apps as some of the older Androids did?

For those complaining about it not being on sale check the original post, virgin's blog says that it will be on sale today, i can't do much about it not being available yet, maybe it will go live in a few hours. Try contacting them.

cant see the phone yet on there site, why all the discussion and heat

Gone hot and you can't even buy it. Should be spammed or expired till it arrives. Not a deal if it doesn't exist to buy.

Yeah, still not available on Virgins Mobile website. I bought the ZTE Blade 3 in March from the MetroCentre (Gateshead) store, and the guy selling it said they can only ever get 2 or 3 of the ZTE's delivered at any one time. Suppose the Blade V will be the same.

Duh...

....answer to your question is the phone will be just as good.

in response to deadfish...

I have just got the nokia lumia 520 it seems a good phone still reserving judgement on the battery life but Ive been told it needs a few full charges before its "conditioned" but I was too impatient and keep using it straight away plugged into a laptop so it only giving it a trickle charge.... not as many apps available as an android but it does have a good youtube downloader app which you can watch videos off line (android don't have this as google prevents it as they own youtube and android!)

update ^^^^^^ apparently until it shows on website then its not available.

just spoke to the lovely people on the asian call centre, no stock available and no dates :disappointed:

I'm about to buy a first phone for my son for his 11th birthday.

I was thinking of getting the Nokia Lumia 520.

Would this be better for him?

Thinking of taking my Huawei Y300 over to CEX. They should give me £53 for it, and I can get the Blade V for £72 as I'm a Virgin Media customer.

Only question I have is would it be worth all the hassle?

Well just rang sales..09.19..assistant hadn't a clue what I was talking about even though back in Aug I was advised to ring 2nd Sept for this handset as an upgrade or to buy straight out...says only blade 3 available..eventually after I re iterated my past few calls to virgin she went away to check..came back with its only available on contract no upgrade or to buy..now not holding my breath on info being correct taking into accountant my previous experience...left hand does not know what the right is doing!!

I also pointed out the info out in the mobile phone reviews and the fact it was listed as being able to buy 89.99 or reduced for virgin customers¬

Still not on the Virgin Mobile site. Is this a wind up?

its the 4th - where's the phone?

Please stop with all the trolling :-(

Phone not online yet... really want to find out if this is unlockable :-D

Not as cheap as a cheaper phone.

On live chat they had no idea about it.

Not much in it to be honest.

I think probably about the same - but no expert.

How does it compare to phones that are just as good as it?

Not as good as a better phone IMO

It's the 4th and no sign of this phone?

Can current virgin payg customers get a discount?

One thing that non of us should forget is the fact that China has some of the worst human rights in the world and our goverment along with many more are just turning a blind eye to all this (and people here are just burying their heads in the sand to get a cheap deal). So the fact remains that many Chinese goods do not meet CE regulations/will not pass EMC/LVD directives and will not perform to specification on the labeling.........but when its on a scrap heap in 2 years time the goverment won't mind as our economy is consumer driven and they will happily see you hand them over another 20% vat on the next item you purchase.
* this is a generalisation and not directed at this product in particular.

came here to read about the phone - but this thread has seriously derailed

That totally goes against what I have read about the likes of Lenovo, UMI and Jiayu and Zopo all of which build good quality phones as a matter of course to want to gain respect and dominance within the mobile phone markets. Seeing that none of these brands specifically build phones for other markets then quality unlike what you are saying with ZTE should be the same across the range.

Does this look like a company to you that do not give two hoots about quality?

There seems to be a common misconception that chinese phones are knock offs...some manufacturers are (Star, goophone, the abundance of HTC Butterfly clones etc etc)...the ones I have mentioned most certainly should be treated with the same respect as ZTE and Huawei, they are all attempting to gain the same level of marketshare.

This phone will be great for most users. 1gb ram and a quad core is very similar to s3 mini. Compare the price and then decide! If I hadn't got a Nexus 4 I'd certainly consider this. Especially cos Zte kicked it all off with the San Fran original blade

No, one advantage of having the EXACT same manufactured CHINESE phone on EUROPEAN soil means no customs charges for the "illegal" aspect you keep banging on about.

[You can choose shipment from Shenzhen China, or European Country. the advantage of shipment from European warehouse is that members of European union would enjoy customs duty free. Especially recommend customers from Greek; Spain chooses shipment from European, to avoid high tax.

Normally, Goods will be always in stock in Shenzhen, except making material shortage. You can choose shipment from Shenzhen China, or European Country. the advantage of shipment from European warehouse is that members of European union would enjoy customs duty free. Especially recommend customers from Greek; Spain chooses shipment from European, to avoid high tax.

Normally, Goods will be always in stock in Shenzhen, except making material shortage.

Why need to defend the phone? Against what? Frightened of other Chinese manufacturers gaining ground like ZTE? Lenovo, UMI and Jiayu are all gaining ground.

Jesus christ, if a Chinese phone manufacturer is designing phones for the Chinese Market to start with (as ZTE started out) then you are exactly stating the obvious...it is NOT illegal to buy a phone from abroad, it is NOT illegal to customise a phone for using google play...no UK charger? are you on crack? You think USB devices these days are going to blow up! Most suppliers supply a EU/UK charger. It is NOT illegal to customise a phone that has the relevent GSM bandwidth for UK use as most Chinese phones have.

As already stated (and its getting to a stage whereby I do not think you are listening) you can install google apps and google play store,

How do you think Chinese manufacturers get to the stage of actually designing phones for specific markets like ZTE did? By selling well in their home territory and gaining sales abroad to start with....then ditching an extra sim socket and supplying a UK charger. ZTE Skate...previously known in the Chinese market as V960 being a prime example.

All this coming from a guy that posts loads of deals on lots of chinese manufactured goods that you can find on the likes of Alibaba.com rebranded Tevion etc for the likes of Aldi and Lidl...you're unbelievable.

You are even wronger mate :smiley: I was actually defending this phone saying it is designed for the UK market, while the Lenovo isn't. Read again please!

You are completely missing the point. It's bad enough you distort the truth by saying the lenovo has a compass.
ZTE is selling here a phone designed for the UK market.
That is: UK warranty, Google apps and Play store, magnetic sensor, UK mains charger.

Lenovo is selling a phone for the chinese market: no compass and problems with gps sensor, no Google apps and no Play store, no UK charger, no UK warranty. And sometimes not even the right radio frequencies !

You are not allowed to post here anything related to piracy and so on, but are allowed to post phones labeled as £10 comunication device to elude taxes. The thing is still illegal.

So hard to compare this phone to a chinese Lenovo.
If zopo is selling in Germany, it is a phone designed for that market.

I think a lot of the overly critical comments are looking at it the wrong way. I am still using my Blade 1, it pretty much does almost everything need it to.

This isn't a phone to cater for those who need the latest biggest and best, its catered towards the casual crowd like me who will be using it for browsing and non intensive apps for cheap. In this instance, its perfect

Awesome Dude

You are wrong mate. This phone is not designed for the Chinese market. This is designed for export. It will probably sell in China under a different model number but it will no doubt be of lower quality and will not necessarily have the same specs. Though after much searching I can not find it. It seems to be a variant of the Chinese U930 which is similar except it is dual core.

See:
http://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.4.dxbdkE&id=15525978846&ad_id=&am_id=&cm_id=140105335569ed55e27b&pm_id=&initiative_new=1

I have just come back from living in China and once when I was flying on an internal flight I saw an advert for the original ZTE Blade/San Francisco in the inflight magazine. It was being marketed on the back of the success it had received overseas. Along the lines of 'Bring the Blade back to China'. The advert even had a Big Ben in the background. It did however fail to mention that the model sold in China had half the memory and that it was cheaper in UK through Orange than in China on Chinese eBay (Taobao).

Why not consider trading in your i9000 to CEX and getting something from there? CEX give good money for mobiles...I traded in my ageing Acer Liquid MT and bought an LG Optimus 4X (P880) from them.

Hi can anyone advise how this phone compares to a Samsung Galaxy S (the gt-i9000).
I need to replace it for something similar performance and specs wise.

Ill get this if I can get the 20% off. Anyone know if the discount is instore only?

I am not missing the point at all, I said that most phones are manufactured in China and also listed phones that are also Chinese phone manufacturers (not specifically for the Chinese market).

ZTE started out like all the other Chinese phone manufactures on their doorstep distributing within China with their main purpose for global expansion with which they have succeeded.

As with any Chinese phone depending on where you buy from google play store can either be pre-installed or applied by the end user. Do you call Zopo a "Chinese phone designed for the Chinese Market" seeing they have now distributors in Germany? Do you call UMI a "Chinese phone designed for the Chinese Market" seeing they have distributors and repair centres in India?. Do you call ZTE a "Chinese phone designed for the Chinese Market" seeing they have distributors worldwide?

Seems you are the one that is missing the point.

You are missing the point. If the IPhone is made in china, do you call it Chinese phone?
Chinese phones = phones designed for the Chinese market, that includes no google store and other google apps, like is the case with the Lenovo. So I actually should have mentioned that as well, you get a phone with no google apps.

And no magnetic sensor/compass, check your sources.

I agree, I was surprised at the very dismissive tone from the techradar "first impressions" article, and it's impossible to judge a phone unless you've actually used it. Looking at a specs sheet tells you only so much.

It's a budget 'droid and to me, sounds very impressive so far....the only stumbling block for me would be the unlockability (if that's even a word)! :smiley:

I think one important point in any comparison here is the o/s.Most people don't want a windows phone,especially if you are already an android user and have bought apps.
I keep reading that the internal storage is small and that you can't move apps to a sd card in jellybean.
My tablet runs JB 4.2 and I CAN move apps to the memory card from internal memory.

We haven't even seen a full review of this phone yet and people are already writing it off.Think I'll hang fire for a weeks and see what the reviews are like before I part with any cash.

One thing I've learnt since I started using smartphones and tablets is that long battery life is one of if not the most important spec.Poor battery life can completely ruin the user experience,especially on a tablet

funny i got a letter with there deals today and nothing mentioned

Just spoke to a guy at Virgin's Arndale Centre (Manchester) store, says he has never heard of Blade V and its not on their stock listing.

He also said they usually receive stock day before the phone go on sale.

Android doesn't scale across 4 cores properly.
Never mind the apps.

The GPU is better on the Nokia by miles.

All that matters is whether having 512MB ram on WP8 stops stuff working properly (A question I don't know the answer to).

Whether something works well with hardly any hardware is a good sign as to whether it is coded properly.

Nope, I am sure it will be there tomorrow.

Can you get this phone and then put the VIP sim into it instead of PAYG?

Silly question, I know the release date is tomorrow but can anyone see it on the VM website? I've followed the link and ticked ZTE but there's no sign, only the Blade 3.

Granted it is a cheap phone - and you can't expect it to play with the big boys. I guess the question becomes whether on a limited budget you should go for this because you are getting a quality processor, or whether you might be better ignoring that and thinking about memory. Its like the mistake people make concentrating on a camera's amazing megapixels and forgetting there's more too it and that an alternative lacking the megapixels may still be a better choice. There's no way you'll get a phone at this price that ticks every box - but you do need to consider whether this phone ticks the rights ones for you.

Hello,

will you get the hypothetically 20% off even if you only own a Virgin Prepaid Card?
Thank you!

Best regards.

ratingen

Yes, the Ascend G510 does have a larger and better resolution screen but it is crippled with only 512mb of RAM and is only a dual core processor..you would get better overall bang for buck with this or consider some other chinese phone options for your £100 instead.

Been looking for a replacement for my nokia lumia 800 and I came across this
http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/shop/mobile-phone/huawei-ascend-g510-black-payg
do you think the blade would be better than that?

Had a look at all the reviews and couldn't find the size of it, anyone else found this ?

Nice looking phone. Pity we're not seeing more dual sim phones though.

I can see what they're getting at but do users really expect a cheap phone to be just as good as an expensive one in terms of performance and storage? I wouldn't expect my cheap laptop to play games designed for heavyweight PC's, and this also contradicts the author's comment that "most users won't ever get the most out of having such power under the hood".

Plus the battery life comment's highly premature given that the phone has a smaller lower resolution screen and that nobody seems to have tested it properly yet. It's also worth mentioning that other reviews so far have mentioned the display's good quality so I'd take the "washed out" claims with a big pinch of salt.

Are there any cheap phones coming out soon with 2gb ram upto £150?

For those of you in this day and age who still go to all the trouble of posting facepalm pictures...

is there standard call/text charges if buying this phone or do you choose from their PAYG tariffs?

You make it sound like Chinese phones do not belong in the marketplace, yet most manufacturers phones are made in China. Where do you think ZTE and Huawei comes from?

ZTE are in a long line of Chinese phone manufacturers attempting to get a prominent place within worldwide markets. Lenovo (already established in the computing sector), Jiayu, UMI (who are already setting up shops and repair services in India) and Zopo (whom already provide German Warranty by having a German distributor)

They do have warranties (just inconvenient ones), as I have stated and it is obviously up to the user to decide whether or not they prefer the bang for buck of one of these over ZTE which has UK distrubution.

As for "imported illegally" you are within your rights to buy and pay an extra 20 % premium from any UK importer of any Chinese phone that doesn't currently have UK distributors, or ensure that the goods are not marked as "gift" from China, that obviously depends on the retailer you purchase from.

"the Blade V only has 2GB of addressable memory, which means any large app is going to be a no-no, even if you throw all video, music and photography onto an external card. With apps increasingly munching down space within phones, it won't be long before the dreaded 'internal storage insufficient' notifications start appearing, forcing you to head into the file system and work out what's going on."

"But is a super cheap price enough for us to be excited about this handset? In a word: no. It's not really got much going for it beyond 'it's really rather cheap for a quad core device' and that's not enough to warrant a purchase. Most users won't ever get the most out of having such power under the hood, and with the low-end GPU on board, combined with smaller battery, we can see the Blade V chewing through your power faster than a greyhound gunning for the fake hare that it mistakenly believes killed its mother"

See the full review.

Best on the regular market. I consider chinese phones like the lonovo to belong to the grey/black market as they do not carry any real warranty and are imported illegally, avoiding custom tax and being declared as low value electrics to be hit with a lower tax in case they do get caught.
I still think it has no magnetic sensor though. \\\\\\\maybe a owner can confirm.

A820 Specs

**4GB version**
Android OS 4.1
Resolution 960*540
802.11a/b/g/n
Micro USB v2.0
Bluetooth
Built-in GPS & A-GPS
Compass
Back 8.0 mega pixel
Intelligent gravity sensor
Photo broswer: JPEG,GIF,BMP
Smart Alert
Direct Call
Intelligent camera
Pop up play
FM, Support to shoot 1080P (1920x1080,30 FPS)
Video with sound, Max 30 mins.
135 x 68.2 x 9.9mm,162g
Battery: 2000mAh
Color: Deep purple gray


I have already voted this deal hot and previously commented that there are better phones for this price *if* you are prepared to take the customs hit should that arise, hence my comments way back on here in #60, 63 and 95.

All matters what you want obviously. To flatly state this is the best specced phone for £90 is not true.