How Orange Gimps Your Desire?

[Deleted User]

Hi, could someone in the know please detail exactly what Orange add to your Desire, what they remove, what you can remove yourself without rooting and what you're stuck with?

I know there's a few threads on here but nothing that details all the changes they make in one (unless I'm being thick)

Thank you in advance you lovely people.

 

[anoniemouse]

Hi, could someone in the know please detail exactly what Orange add to your Desire, what they remove, what you can remove yourself without rooting and what you're stuck with?

I know there's a few threads on here but nothing that details all the changes they make in one (unless I'm being thick)

Thank you in advance you lovely people.

Orange put orange maps on there i think its 3 demo games, & orange messenger that i can think of, none of which are removeable as they are coded into the rom.
You can debrand using a goldcard but be aware if you update from version 1.15xxx to 1.21xxx it will disable your wifi.
If you update using your goldcard it will simlock your phone forcing you to get it unlocked.

 

[Deleted User]

Yeah I'd seen the gold card thing and have seen the warning before but cheers for the reply. If not removable with goldcard/rooting, can they be hidden somewhere or are they always in the way somewhere? Also, I'm hearing about Orange custom icons that can't be changed for the browser? Is this the case? Also Google Talk is a no-go on Orange branded Desires?

 

[anoniemouse]

Yeah I'd seen the gold card thing and have seen the warning before but cheers for the reply. If not removable with goldcard/rooting, can they be hidden somewhere or are they always in the way somewhere? Also, I'm hearing about Orange custom icons that can't be changed for the browser? Is this the case? Also Google Talk is a no-go on Orange branded Desires?

You can long press on the ones on the home screen & remove them but they will still be selectable from the menu system & not removable from there

 

[WhiteChristmas]

I hate the way Orange put loads of crap on the phone, it's not even like they make it look better, the icons look like something my daughter would do (browser - an orange house)! This takes up space on the already limited internal memory.

Rooting will remove all the rubbish and put the phone back to stock (unbranded that you would get from CPW). I never had any problem rooting and it was only when I updated to FroYo that I had to buy a sim lock code because I didn't RTFM (Lekky's guide clearly spells it out). That being said, it's a small price to pay (

 

[Jason71]

They also remove the Gtalk app which is not available on the market but can be sourced if you want it there are a couple of links elsewhere on these forums if you search. I have sourced it and installed previously on a friends Orange branded Desire and it works just fine

I actually had the opposite problem I wanted orange maps on my unbranded Desire (just to compare to Google Navigation) but there is no download for the Desire because it comes pre-installed. Well not on my sim free unbranded one it didn't!

 

[AllyOmally]

ORANGE photos too.... Just ignore them and take them all off you front screens by holding down on them and then removing... They will be in your apps folder but just ignore them I tried to find away to remove them, except the rooting way and there is no other way... You cant even make folders to stash them in just ignore them never touch them...

 

[bigbob10]

ive got the black htc desire from orange. i unlocked it and using my o2 sim.

dont really know what the fuss is about tbh. as far as i can see you have google maps, orange maps and navigation. the other apps are either duplicated or a load of rubbish!!

i dont use any of the crap they have put on anyway and like the above posts just ignore em!!

 

[anoniemouse]

ive got the black htc desire from orange. i unlocked it and using my o2 sim.

dont really know what the fuss is about tbh. as far as i can see you have google maps, orange maps and navigation. the other apps are either duplicated or a load of rubbish!!

i dont use any of the crap they have put on anyway and like the above posts just ignore em!!

Only problem though is the orange crap has eaten into your internal memory, which leaves you with a smaller amount to use

 

[STROBE]

Same here with my Orange Desire - some irritating games, and Orange Maps/Messenger/Photos/App Store. Easily hidden and ignored, no big deal. I'd prefer it if they weren't there (except for Orange Maps, which I expect to use) but it's not a deal-breaker. Especially considering the comparative cost of a relatively unmolested Desire on a contract from O2 or Vodafone!

 

[stueyboy]

The Orange apps lasted about three days on my Desire. You can flash with a non-orange ROM and you don't need to root your phone to do it. However, as posted above it will be neccessary to sim unlock your phone to get the most recent one working correctly.

Google maps navigation pisses all over the orange maps application anyway