Help Spica issues: reboots, low precision GPS, sluggish

[JHW]

I am the proud owner of a gently used Rogers Samsung Spica. The previous owner had installed 2.1 on it before selling it to me. I had been away from Android for about a year but am glad to be back. But there are some troublesome issues and I am looking for advice.

1. The phone is locked to Rogers and I am trying to use it on Fido. With my Fido SIM in, the phone continually indicates "roaming". I have an unlock code but the phone doesn't ask for it (or accept it) at all. Any way to get rid of this annoying "roaming" display? (A side-effect is that I need to "enable data roaming" to get any data connection)

2. There is some strange behaviour with the APN settings. The phone occasionally reboots for no particular reason, and when it does, the APN settings are lost completely. When I try to re-enter the settings, it asks me for "MCC codes" and will not let me save the settings (or get a data connection). However, when I do an intentional re-start (power down the phone and start it up again) the data settings come up fine, without prompting. Bizarre and annoying. Any ideas?

3. The GPS on this phone is horribly imprecise and inaccurate. I use MapDroyd (downloads maps to your phone) and even in the middle of an open field the "circle" around my marked location is about 1 km wide! GPS routinely places me several blocks away of where I am. When I had a Magic I don't remember GPS being this poor. Is this normal?

4. The phone is kinda sluggish, in general. Some apps take forever to open, especially the camera. I downloaded LinPack and it indicates 2.971 MFLOPS, time 1.82 seconds. Is this normal behaviour?

Thanks for answering my semi-newb questions.

 

[Beerkan]

1. The phone is locked to Rogers and I am trying to use it on Fido. With my Fido SIM in, the phone continually indicates "roaming". I have an unlock code but the phone doesn't ask for it (or accept it) at all. Any way to get rid of this annoying "roaming" display? (A side-effect is that I need to "enable data roaming" to get any data connection)

You have to enter the unlock sequence to unlock the phone.

1. Power on your Samsung mobile phone without the SIM card in.
2. Type #7465625*638*
3. Enter your Samsung unlock code
4. Type #
5. If worked, phone should say

 

[JHW]

Thanks for the tips. Entering the unlock code, as you specified, does nothing. Just "not registered on network" or something like that.

I am going to try to update the firmware tonight, and when I'm done, will post an update on this thread.

 

[Beerkan]

Thanks for the tips. Entering the unlock code, as you specified, does nothing. Just "not registered on network" or something like that.

I am going to try to update the firmware tonight, and when I'm done, will post an update on this thread.

Just to confrim, you are going into dialer and

entering

[SIZE=4]#7465625*638*[COLOR=Red][I]YourUnlockCode[/I][/COLOR]#[/SIZE]

 

[JHW]

Just to confrim, you are going into dialer and

entering

[SIZE=4]#7465625*638*[COLOR=Red][I]YourUnlockCode[/I][/COLOR]#[/SIZE]

Yes.

When I do it with the Fido SIM card IN, I get "Connection problem or invalid MMI code."

When I do it with the SIM card removed, I get nothing until I actually click the green phone icon (to "dial") at which point I get "Not registered on network."

 

[Beerkan]

I came accross another suposed method to unlock.

See Unlock Spica

 

[JHW]

I've tried that method int he past too, and unfortunately it doesn't work.
Perhaps once I've updated my firmware, I'll have better luck.