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De-branding

D

Dazza

Member
Hi.
I recently got a Desire from Orange UK. Love the phone, hate the Orange branding on it. I'd like to remove it if possible. I'm not looking to do anything complex with the handset, I just want to be able to get rid of all the nonsense Orange has put on it.
I've done some searching and found this method:

How to debrand an HTC Desire and update to Froyo - Broadband Genie

Basically what I'm asking is:
What are the dangers of doing this? (I don't want to end up locking or damaging my new phone)
Will the above method simply turn my phone into a proper Desire rather than an Orange Desire.

Help would be much appreciated.
D
 
I was branded on orange like you & followed the same guide. go for it, you wont regret it. its so easy!
 
1) No orange apps

2) a proper rom that actually works

3) No waiting for orange OTA updates
 
As danfrance said really. (listen to him, he knows his stuff). desire is now alot faster and all the orange crap has gone. I have since rooted and mod install location for apps. All fairly easy. Just read everything carefully and you cant go wrong. Everything i have done has been through this great forum and it's great people.
 
Dazza said:
So what are the risks?just
Click to expand...


Well flashing is always risky. Usuaally if you unplug it or remove the battery half way through.

Debranding is using official Rom Upgrade Utitilites (RUU) so providing you don't do the above, it should be fine.

I would definitely recommend unbranding. I for one have had bad experiences with Orange branded android (HTC Hero). I don't think too much of the Orange "developers" or "Quality control"
 
Main issue at present is there is NO way of getting back to the stock Orange ROM should you need to return it under warranty for any reason as there is no stock Orange RUU available
 
I am deffo going to give the debranding a go since I'm just not happy with the way the desire is performing even after the 2.2 upgrade.

Before I do is there anyway to back up txt messages, call history and game data? Plus anything else I can backup then reinstall them after the debranding?

Thanks.
 
ste1164 said:
I helped come up with the unroot guide and it does work so there is a way to get back to the orange rom it just takes a bit longer.
Click to expand...


Good work :) Thanks.

Its good to be able to tell people on Orange they can get back.
 
Right. Despite it being something that I'd rather not risk, I'm going to have to de-brand my desire from Orange. It's getting stupid now.
This morning I tried to come onto this very forum on my Desire. However suddenly, (despite me coming here with no problems since i got the handset) an Orange screen comes up saying that Orange Adult Safeguard has decided that it can't confirm I'm over 18 so it's blocked the page! Turns out the only way to turn this feature off is to call Orange customer service.

So, please can someone point me in the direction of a step by step guide to de-branding please? All I want is to get rid of all the Orange stuff and make the handset work as if I
 
The process I used was as follows:

1) Remove the SIM Card from my phone (to prevent any sim locking from happening)

2) Copy contents of the existing phone memory card to my laptop (by first connecting the phone as a disk drive only)

3) Using the guide How to debrand an HTC Desire and update to Froyo - Broadband Genie, I made the memory card in my phone a goldcard (using the section in the guide marked 'Part 1: Creating a Gold Card'

4) I downloaded the firmware from the linked site in the guide, assuming I had bootloader 0.75 (I had no idea which one I did have so I must have got lucky)

5) Once downloaded, I ran the downloaded program on my laptop with my phone in HTC sync mode - but not while running HTC sync at the same time (though I did have it installed so the drivers were installed)

5) Once installed, still with the sim card not in the phone, I ran the OTA update as many times as it required before it said no more updates and I was running firmware version 2.10.402.2

6) Reinserted SIM card into phone and all was right with the world

7) Restored my contacts from the backup service I use (WaveSecure)

8) Copied the stuff back on to my phone memory card from the backup - left it as a goldcard though

The actual steps are in the 'Update! The newer and simpler debrand method'
but instead of using the froyo rom (could not find a working version) I used the older rom and used OTA updates. The most important thing I found was to not leave the SIM in the phone

Hope this helps
 
Does anyone know if there are any issues using the method in my opening post given the HBOOT version I have?
 
Apparently the new FroYo radios don't SIM lock but I can't confirm this personally as I've always been unbranded since new
 
Something to keep in mind after debranding, always make sure you have your gold card in the phone when doing any further updates (eg, gingerbread when its available). Attempting upgrades without your gold card in can cause a lot of headaches.
 
Hi

I am on Orange Desire, just used the unrevolked root last night http://theunlockr.com/2010/09/20/how-to-root-the-htc-desire-unrevoked-method/ and then flashed with this ROM [ROM] [15/11] Pre-rooted Stock Froyo (2.10.405.2) [Optional mods] - xda-developers .

Works like a charm, no more Orange rubbish and the whole process took me 20 minutes.

I just took my sim card out when I flashed the ROM.

Wireless hotspot working now too and a lot faster with great battery life.

I got my phone in September from Orange and locked to them.

The above ROM also contains a radio which works fine with no issues.
 
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