Telecom XT Motorola Milestone giveaway

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#402646 10-Nov-2010 10:58

I love how Geekzone looks on the BlackBerry now, the leaked OS 6 rocks, but am sure it would look better on the Milestone! Plus I need convincing to convert to XT so this is a perfect opportunity.

beforenightfalls

185 posts

Master Geek

#402647 10-Nov-2010 10:59

i have a sony ericsson w508 on xt. it goes alright but my kids keep getting their hands on it and sending blank texts, trying to call the first number in my address book... i've not been able to figure out how this phone works very well as the instructions are awful. i tried to use aa roadmaps the other day online with this phone and it wouldn't come up at all, googlemaps did just about but was really bad resolution. a good phone would be great rather than this one!

davincool

1 post

Wannabe Geek

#402648 10-Nov-2010 10:59

I'm still using my 5 years old Moto V3, I'm a Uni Student, smart phone is great, so please upgrade me to this phone.

bleazle

1 post

Wannabe Geek

#402649 10-Nov-2010 11:00

Does anyone really care what sort of phone I have? (an iPhone 3 which replaced my XT Blackberry that had to be replaced 3 times by Telecom because it kept dying..) I'd just love to win a new phone that's different (and hopefully better) than what my mates have got

tawilson

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#402650 10-Nov-2010 11:01

I want this for my wife; I've been trying to convince her of the goodness of smartphones since I got my iPhone but the only way I'll be getting that nokia of hers out of her clutches is if I put in something better with games and stuff.

mrgsm021

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#402651 10-Nov-2010 11:03

Have Galaxy S as my weapon of choice, running ZSJP8 2.2 with lagfix.

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archheretic

37 posts

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#402652 10-Nov-2010 11:04

I'm currently enduring a nokia 6720. God i hate symbian. It was given to me, would never buy a nokia. Would love a milestone, but my girlfriend would kill me if I bought one....Please take pity on me :)

jonherries

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#402654 10-Nov-2010 11:04

I can imagine a fight between the milestone and the Vodafone 845...

Website: herri.es

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Fluz8r

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#402655 10-Nov-2010 11:05

I like my Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro... not so attached to Android 1.6

Me Please!

pengo

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#402657 10-Nov-2010 11:05

Six months ago, in awe of Google's technical prowess in developing the Android platform, I determined to get myself an Android phone. I'd had smartphones in the past - a Blackberry and a Nokia E61 - but Android appeared to be a big step up. It would certainly be a step up from my existing candybar Nokia.

Money was tight at the time, but looking on eBay I found an HTC Dream (T-Mobile G1) which I could afford. It was cheap because the case was badly marked and it was in that also-ran accessory colour, brown. It arrived and it worked wonderfully. I was even more impressed with the Android 1.6 operating system than I expected to be.

But the phone didn't look as exciting as its functionality suggested it should. The case was scratched and cracked and the slider mechanism flopped around like an independent MP. I looked on eBay again and found a G1 housing kit: how difficult could this be?

Rather more difficult than I thought.

The housing kit was touted as including "all the parts and tools necessary to replace the housing on your T-Mobile G1 or HTC Dream" and the listing had links to disassembly instructions on the internet. I quickly browsed these instructions, nodded knowingly and clicked the Buy Now button. "Quickly" and "browsed" were my undoing: had I "carefully considered" the instructions I'd have approached the task ahead with fear and trembling.

I'm not an experienced maintenance technician; my efforts to fix broken appliances fail as often as succeed. I didn't even own a soldering iron or long-nosed pliers before this exercise and I've not used either of them since.

My workbench for the G1 rebuild

Despite this, on a Friday evening I sat down to take my fully functional G1 Dream apart. The first steps weren't overly tricky even though the kit didn't contain the required Philips #0 and #1 screwdrivers. The difficulty began when I realised the on-line instructions didn't cover disassembly to the level needed to replace the housing. The difficulty became critical when I discovered some key components weren't included in the housing kit.

The eBay listing had noted that volume and camera buttons were not included in the kit. I'd debated this and decided my fashion sense wouldn't be irretrievably compromised by having my old (brown) buttons in my new (black) housing. But when the kit arrived, one of the first things I discovered was a small zip-lock bag containing ... the volume and camera buttons. Bonus! I thought. By mid Saturday morning I'd have willingly swapped all of that bonus for even some of the missing components.

Problem the first. The G1 Dream case assembly screws into four small brass bushes which are sealed into the housing when it's moulded: the replacement housing didn't have these, so there was no way to screw the new case together.

The subframe components: separated

Problem the second. The G1 Dream keyboard is a moulded three dimensional plastic shell with a thin steel subframe bonded to it: the replacement keyboard didn't have the steel subframe.

Uh oh.

I immediately applied the lessons of a lifetime to these problems. I put the pieces of the phone down carefully on the table and went for a long walk.

sought advice from the experts I thought most likely to be able to help: a national electronics retailer ("you what?") and a watchmaker (closed). OK, not the ideal experts: in provincial New Zealand on a Saturday morning I wasn't spoilt for choice. But propitiously my walk also took me to REL Computer Solutions, whose proprietor deserves my sincere thanks for knowing exactly what to do and being willing to share that knowledge. Better yet, his advice worked.

Keeping it tight until the glue sets

The existing bushes can be extracted by inserting a screw two or three turns into the bush and holding it with long-nosed pliers while applying a soldering iron to the top of the screw. When sufficiently heated the screw and attached bush can be smoothly withdrawn, and then inserted into the new housing with the same process. The amount of heat is critical, and so is the angle of insertion. I'm pleased to report I inserted three of the bushes 100% successfully. The fourth I didn't insert quite far enough, which meant the top of the screw sat proud when (three layered subsystems later) I tried to reassemble that part of the case. I cheated: rather than disassemble the entire phone again, I filed one millimetre off the tip of the screw.

The bonded steel subframe can be separated from its plastic parent by inserting a craft knife or scalpel between the two parts. "Inserting" makes this sound like a quick and simple process; in fact it's a painstakingly repetitive task which for long periods appears to achieve nothing. Any distortion of the subframe has to be avoided at all costs (tolerances are less than a millimetre) and the shape of the part provides limited access at only some edges: it took an hour of slow work to separate the two. After cleaning the steel subframe with turpentine (thanks to Richard for that idea), I was able to glue it to the new keyboard shell. I had no clamps to hold the two together while the glue set, but found that a couple of butterfly hairclips worked adequately.

Black beauty: the rebuilt phone

Overall, migrating the G1 Dream to a new housing was a long and fiddly process, and along the way I came to rue my decision to take on the challenge. Among its other signal ommissions the housing kit contained no gaskets, adhesive tabs or rubber shims. Some of these couldn't be salvaged from the original installation and for some, such as the touchscreen gasket, I was unable to devise an alternative. With no touchscreen gasket or camera lens coverthe phone internals are now exposed to dust they'd previously been spared.

Although I didn't expect the re-assembled phone to work, it did so immediately with only one small error which was easily rectified with only a partial dissasembly. Since then my rebuilt Android phone has worked without any issues and has proven itself invaluable. However ...

... Android continues to deliver technical improvement alongside its steadily increasing market share. There are increasing numbers of applications I can't run on 1.6. I've been growing steadily more envious of phones running 2.1 and 2.2.

I've found myself wishfully thinking that if my G1 would break I could justify the purchase of a new phone. But no - it seems it's too well built.

::Leigh

nutbugs

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#402658 10-Nov-2010 11:05

Currently using an SE W995 - would love to get my hands on one of these android devices!

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rbt1950

14 posts

Geek

#402659 10-Nov-2010 11:06

Looks great! Better than my crappy N97. However, I guess you won't ship to Papua New Guinea, so good luck to the rrest of you guys.

yann

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#402660 10-Nov-2010 11:10

I have a Samsung Galaxy, however I would give the phone to my brother whose phone suffered a terminal failure last week.

Yann :)

SEEN

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#402663 10-Nov-2010 11:10

I have been wanting an Android phone since the moment I heard of Android! I currently have a Samsung Ace (SCH-i325) on a plan on the Telecom CDMA Network.

As you can see in the picture, the keyboard is bigger than the phone! And it's running Windows Mobile 6 Standard, which is about as close to a dumbphone OS that a Smartphone OS can get.
It drives me crazy! It just can't keep up with anything, and I mean ANYTHING. I start typing a text, and it misses the first few characters, EVERY TIME. It also misses half of names when I type them in, so I have to delete them and start again because of how stupid WM6 Standard is.
And to top it all off, the screen now does not turn off at all (but thankfully the backlight still does), so it absolutely chews through the battery!

I would really like the Milestone as it would mean I could finally get rid of my USELESS, BROKEN i325 and get rid of the plan, which I need to do as I will be flatting very soon and can't afford a mobile phone plan!

Samsung SCH-i325

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kardyl

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#402664 10-Nov-2010 11:10

I don't currently have a phone, let alone one that enables me to be smart.

This would be a huge welcome to the mobile enhancement of my family.
Thanks

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