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Root rooting vs de-branding

D

dunc1n

Newbie
Hey folks,

I have the HTC hero (branded) and Im thinking about either rooting it and going with a custom rom OR de-btanding it and going with the latest official HTC rom.

I cant decied which one to do, so I thought you guys could point me in the right direction. Which of the two is the best to do???

It is an Orange branded phone BTW, and I know de-branding orange heros causes problem but it seems like the guys at HTCCODE can give you the code to fix the problems (although it does cost money).

Thanks
 
Think you've got your terms mixed up a bit.

HTCCODE don't have anything to do with rooting or de-branding. All they do is supply you with a code to 'Unlock' your phone enabling you to use a SIM card from another provider.

All rooting will do is give you full access to your file system. I'm not even sure if it's possible to root an Orange ROM.

To de-brand is to install HTC's stock ROM so you can get rid of all the Orange custom stuff but the radio will still be locked to Orange unless you get an Unlock code.

The last option is to install a Custom ROM. Most of these ROM's come pre-rooted if you want to access your file system. They are generally faster than HTC's stock ROM due to applied tweaks and sometimes the use of custom Kernels. This will also not unlock your phone from the Orange network so you would still need to the Unlock code if you wanted to do that.
 
So really I could de-brand and THEN unlock it using the unlock code from HTCCODE, thus giving me 2.1 on my orange htc hero. Correct?

Are you sure you still need the unlock code when using a custom ROM?

Thanks
 
I'd root it, debranding on Orange is (apparently) more dangerous than Vodafone or T-Mobile and carries more of a risk of bricking your phone. I rooted mine and have flashed it with a couple of different ROM's with no problems.
 
I'm new to this process, so rather than trying to unpick your questions, I'm just going to outline my own experience.

I have an Orange-branded Hero, running on an Orange sim (UK). Given some of the problems outlined by folks who've tried gold-carding in this scenario, I chose to go down the custom rom route instead.

I used the Villain 12 rom (which I believe is based on HTC's stock GSM 2.1 rom for the european market), and simply followed the procedure outlined in the beginners rooting guide in the VillainRom wiki.

The process was very straightforward, and not particularly time-consuming. Ironically, the slowest bit involved doing a 'standard' down-grade of my official Orange rom via the HTC download site and the ever-unreliable HTC sync software! (I needed to downgrade from 2.73.61.66 to 2.73.61.5 for compatability with flashrec.) Other than that, it worked flawlessly.

Based on my experience thus far, I can thoroughly recommend this approach. Big thanks to the folks whose hard work makes this possible.
 
i have an orange branded hero, i bought an unlock code, and unlocked it, then got a three sim in it and it worked, then i used a gold card to use the generic RUU to debrand, and now i have the OTA 2.1, everything is working fine, i have also used several Vanilla/AOSP roms and they work well
 
Taipei Calamity said:
I'm new to this process, so rather than trying to unpick your questions, I'm just going to outline my own experience.

I have an Orange-branded Hero, running on an Orange sim (UK). Given some of the problems outlined by folks who've tried gold-carding in this scenario, I chose to go down the custom rom route instead.

I used the Villain 12 rom (which I believe is based on HTC's stock GSM 2.1 rom for the european market), and simply followed the procedure outlined in the beginners rooting guide in the VillainRom wiki.

The process was very straightforward, and not particularly time-consuming. Ironically, the slowest bit involved doing a 'standard' down-grade of my official Orange rom via the HTC download site and the ever-unreliable HTC sync software! (I needed to downgrade from 2.73.61.66 to 2.73.61.5 for compatability with flashrec.) Other than that, it worked flawlessly.

Based on my experience thus far, I can thoroughly recommend this approach. Big thanks to the folks whose hard work makes this possible.
Click to expand...

Hi mate.

You couldn't give me a quick overview of the procedure you followed or point me in the direction of a good guide that you used?

I'm similar to you as I have an Orange Hero on a Orange Sim and I'm not waiting no longer for 2.1 from Orange. I'm kinda getting the feeling it will be a long time before we see an official Orange 2.1 ROM.

My build number is 2.73.61.5 so I'm good to go.

Regards.
 
Absolutely.

I followed the guide that you can find at:
Installing Custom ROMs - VillainROM Wiki

The second half of this wiki is about gold-carding (not working currently on orange-branded phones), but the first half is how to install a custom rom. Although I work in computers, I have literally zero experience in this area, so I just blindly did exactly as I was told! Worked perfectly.

FYI, I have not upgraded my radio - referred to as step 3 in this guide. Still pondering that, as not strictly speaking necessary and possibly risky.

Hope it works ok!
 
Hi mate thanks for the info :)

I've just read in another thread that Orange are working on the ROM and it may be ready soon. I'm prepared to wait another week for Orange, but if 2.1 is not forthcoming from Orange I will attempt to root next weekend.

Cheers.
 
Diamond-Geezer said:
Hi mate thanks for the info :)

I've just read in another thread that Orange are working on the ROM and it may be ready soon. I'm prepared to wait another week for Orange, but if 2.1 is not forthcoming from Orange I will attempt to root next weekend.

Cheers.
Click to expand...

Personally I would't bother waiting. The official Orange update if/when it arrives won't be any better than the repacks of standard HTC ROM you can already get.

I would do the following:

Unlock the phone from Orange (this allows you to use it on any network). This is optional, there are sites that do it for about
 
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