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T-Mobile S500i - Branded? |
Seal
Joined: Dec 02, 2007
Posts: 25
From: Bristol, England
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Hai, first post so please don't be too harsh 
As Christmas is coming up, I'm thinking of buying my girlfriend a Sony Ericsson S500i off eBay. Only trouble is, is that it comes with a SIM and locked to T-Mobile UK. Shame, as she would like to keep her own number. Thats overcomeable I'm sure.
Does anyone know if either in the US OR the UK, do T-Mobile brand this type of phone? By branding, I mean the custom content, and disabling of flash menus etc, as that is the main staring point of this phone as far as the interface is concerned. If possible, would someone who has a branded S500i post a screenshot of the *horrible* menu to show me how bad it really is? I
I've seen videos on YouTube of a scrolling-type menu, from side-to-side. I take it branded models do not have these...  | |
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gaming_guy
Joined: Oct 10, 2006
Posts: > 500
From: UK
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i have a tmobile uk k700i and k810i
they both have
- startup/shutdown screens (the start up one can be changed/disabled)
- Start up sounds
- external tmobile branding on the case
- 2 t-mobile icons in the menu
- t mobile theme
the k700i also has a tmobile shutdown sound. so whenever i start up the k700i i get a t mobile racket (and when i shut it down). however the k810i has a startup tune which i have disabled by turning the startup screen off
K700i > K750i > K810i (current phone)
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Seal
Joined: Dec 02, 2007
Posts: 25
From: Bristol, England
PM |
Damn. So it does have the T-Mobile menu? Can it be changed to the flash menu? |
Seal
Joined: Dec 02, 2007
Posts: 25
From: Bristol, England
PM |
Sorry for the bump/double post, but I've found something interesting.
This video is of a mobile phone also on T-Mobile, probably in the US (by the sound of the reviewers voice, nothing more). The menus are NOT BRANDED! They are perfectly as they are supposed to be, no branding whatsoever. This leads me to think that a T-Mobile S500i, or the US version, at least, has no branding as such.
Of course, this could still be a SIM-free phone and just used on the T-Mobile network. I'm not sure.
Video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrhGWw5lIbw
Can someone enlighten me before I go and buy it?
[addsig] |
driftmania
Joined: Mar 07, 2006
Posts: > 500
From: California, USA
PM |
That isn't a US T-Mobile S500i, they don't offer it here in the States sadly. He probably got an early unlocked version and used a T-Mobile sim. |
gaming_guy
Joined: Oct 10, 2006
Posts: > 500
From: UK
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the w850i in my local T-mobile shop has flash menus enabled and so did the w880i they had before it got broken and they replaced it with the n95
K700i > K750i > K810i (current phone)
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Seal
Joined: Dec 02, 2007
Posts: 25
From: Bristol, England
PM |
So theres a 50/50 chance... I'll bite the bullet. I've found some links to debrand them with XSS++ and they do look quite easy, but risky, so I'll let you all know how it goes. Cheers all.
[addsig] |
tranced
Joined: Jan 19, 2006
Posts: > 500
From: Santo Domingo, wonDeRland
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there's also a tuto here: http://www.esato.com/board/viewtopic.php?topic=156090
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Seal
Joined: Dec 02, 2007
Posts: 25
From: Bristol, England
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tranced, thanks a lot. Would this work for the S500i? And with XSS++, would you be able to unlock it as well?
[addsig] |
gaming_guy
Joined: Oct 10, 2006
Posts: > 500
From: UK
PM |
On 2007-12-04 17:51:04, Seal wrote:
So theres a 50/50 chance... I'll bite the bullet. I've found some links to debrand them with XSS++ and they do look quite easy, but risky, so I'll let you all know how it goes. Cheers all.
providing you follow the tutorials as they are written, you wont have a problem.
i have reflashed many phones now, and haven't killed any so far
as for unlocking, you will have to find a local shop/market stall to unlock it
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K700i > K750i > K810i (current phone)
[ This Message was edited by: gaming_guy on 2007-12-04 17:07 ] |
BobaFett
Joined: Jan 06, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Kamino (wish it would be Lund)
PM, WWW
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@seal let it be done by experts, if u have experience in debranding etc dont mess around with it imo. rather pay a bit for the "action", i am sure there is a shop in your near who could do it for u.
good luck
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Seal
Joined: Dec 02, 2007
Posts: 25
From: Bristol, England
PM |
To be perfectly honest, I don't feel comfortable letting an external source have posessing anything I own for repairs. I have a few computers, and have NEVER taken any of them to a repairshop, always doing it myself and saving me the money.
Besides, I'd never learn otherwise would I?
On another note, I found this forum post (not Esato, sadly...) http://forums.se-nse.net/index.php?showtopic=16652 . It mentions the flash menu and "walkman skins", obviously not the one we want for the S500i, but similar all the same.
One more question, by "flashing", does it simply mean upgrading the firmware, or also flashing the Flash menus, settings such as camera noise, etc?
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[ This Message was edited by: Seal on 2007-12-04 17:13 ] |
tranced
Joined: Jan 19, 2006
Posts: > 500
From: Santo Domingo, wonDeRland
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On 2007-12-04 18:05:19, Seal wrote:
tranced, thanks a lot. Would this work for the S500i? And with XSS++, would you be able to unlock it as well?
it does not unlock phones but flashing/customizing. it's not xss++, it's xs++ 
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BobaFett
Joined: Jan 06, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Kamino (wish it would be Lund)
PM, WWW
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flash means debranding actaully, u put a generic fw on a branded fone. upgrade is for to put a newer fw version on the fone. generic and branded fones have upgrades too
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Seal
Joined: Dec 02, 2007
Posts: 25
From: Bristol, England
PM |
On 2007-12-04 18:15:40, BobaFett wrote:
flash means debranding actaully, u put a generic fw on a branded fone. upgrade is for to put a newer fw version on the fone. generic and branded fones have upgrades too
Really? I never knew that a generic firmware was different to an operators firmware.
So, to get this straight for me, lets put an example up. Firmware A is the generic stuff. Its the latest one, newly accquired from Sony Ericsson (somehow). Firmware B is one from an operator, a version older than Firmware A.
Firmware A would have the straight-from-Sony Ericsson features, such as flash menus, and it would be up-to-date, all bugs known fixed. Firmware B would of course, have the branding, but have some bugs.
Is that the way it would work? And if so, if I got a Sony Ericsson S500i firmware edition that is generic, and flashed my phone, would I get flash menus?
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Access the forum with a mobile phone via esato.mobi
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Posted: 2007-12-03 17:34
jay0726 | 
