Current best value Android Huawei Ascend G300

TM

harpstilidie wrote: »

I've installed custom ROMS before (on my current ZTE Blade) so would be happy enough to do it again :-)

Ah - OK. In that case it looks like the Infusion ICS ROM on MoDaCo is one of the most popular and stable right now.

harpstilidie

Right so I've rooted the phone (I think) and it is currently running 2.3. Do I have to install the official ICS first or can I just go ahead and install Infusion? The guide doesn't tell me

Adyx

harpstilidie wrote: »

Right so I've rooted the phone (I think) and it is currently running 2.3. Do I have to install the official ICS first or can I just go ahead and install Infusion? The guide doesn't tell me

Install the official ICS rom first because you need to get the baseband up to 2030.

TM

The guides here explain everything and seem very clear to me. As Adyx says you have to get the baseband up to 2030. This is explained in these guides:

http://www.modaco.com/topic/357243-explained-like-youre-5-install-custom-roms-from-scratch-install-the-official-ics-update-root-more/
http://huaweig300.com/huawei-g300-install-a-custom-jelly-bean-ics-rom-from-scratch/

harpstilidie

Thanks guys. Phone is now running Infusion. Brother is very happy with it. Really tempted to buy one of these phones myself now

M cebee

my phone is very sluggish browsing
how much ram should be free?
in settings apps it shows 315MB used
85MB free?
thanks

Kristopherus

How come this phone has jumped in price to €200? Here & still branded to Voda:(
http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?__mk_de_DE=%C5M%C5Z%D5%D1&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Huawei+Ascend+G300

Adyx

That says sim and contract free does it not?

BostonB

Cheaper to get the Vodafone one unlocked.

TM

Kristopherus wrote: »

How come this phone has jumped in price to €200? Here & still branded to Voda:(
http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?__mk_de_DE=%C5M%C5Z%D5%D1&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Huawei+Ascend+G300

Just means that somebody on Amazon Germany is selling them for €200.

It's still €149.99 on Vodafone:

http://shop.vodafone.ie/shop/phones-and-plans/phones/pay-as-you-go/phone-details/huawei-ascend-g300

Less €20 if you port a number in - e.g. get a free SIM from another provider and port the number even if you don't plan to use it at all.

Maybe less €12.50 (eventual cashback) if you buy through www.bethrifty.ie.

So a net cost of €129.99 or maybe €117.49 if BeThrifty works (didn't for me but has for others).

Vodafone also sometimes discount the phone to €129.99 which means a net cost of €109.99 or maybe €97.49. I got mine for €129.99 less €20 = €109.99 a few weeks ago. BeThrifty doesn't seem to have worked for me though...

And you can unlock it for free:

http://www.modaco.com/topic/358599-how-to-free-sim-unlock-your-g300/

bmm

i had a play with this phone last night as i was considering a purchase.

Good
1) Price.
2) Screen. Bright, clear .

Bad
1) Camera (especially in poor light)
2) Three buttons at the bottom of screen are unresponsive (Home, back , option ) dunno maybe a dud phone. backlight for these buttons also had a mind of its own.
3) Having to press the power button to bring up the screen, maybe there is a way around this?

Decision : Wait for Nexus 4

TM

bmm wrote: »

Bad
1) Camera (especially in poor light)
2) Three buttons at the bottom of screen are unresponsive (Home, back , option ) dunno maybe a dud phone. backlight for these buttons also had a mind of its own.
3) Having to press the power button to bring up the screen, maybe there is a way around this?

What firmware/ROM are you running? Some of these problems may be present in some ROMs but not others.

Isn't pressing the power button to activate the screen pretty standard on Android phones? But again maybe it depends on the ROM...

newg300

In terms of the buttons at the bottom: When I got the phone first I thought this too, but I quickly realised you have to press just above the image (home, back, menu) rather than in the image itself. Perfectly responsive then.

mcpaddington

bmm wrote: »

2) Three buttons at the bottom of screen are unresponsive (Home, back , option ) dunno maybe a dud phone. backlight for these buttons also had a mind of its own.
3) Having to press the power button to bring up the screen, maybe there is a way around this?

2. A firmware upgrade fixed that problem
3. That's a ROM makers decision, huawei decided that. In others you can have the volume rocker turning the screen on

Why consider getting a budget phone like the G300 when you have enough to get a Nexus 4?

BostonB

I don't have that button issue. As padster said I think a firmware update fixed it. In ICS you can change which button answers calls under accessibility, maybe you can do it for activating the screen too? Maybe theres an app that can do it.

Buck Fizz

Those of you who have this phone is it a good phone? I'm thinking of getting it or either the Nokia Lumia 800 seeing as both are now around the same price, or the HTC Desire X but I'm not sure which one to get.. cheers

TM

Is the Lumia really available new for c. €130 (Vodafone list price of €150 - €20 for porting a number)?

Buck Fizz

TM wrote: »

Is the Lumia really available new for c. €130 (Vodafone list price of €150 - €20 for porting a number)?

No the Lumia is 169.99 euro, if you port over it's 149.99 but I just said they are around the same price now compared to when the Lumia was over 450 euro a week ago.
sorry!

TM

Sorry - I thought it was still selling for €200+. My mistake. For what it's worth the technical specs of the three phones are here:

http://www.gsmarena.com/huawei_ascend_g300-4594.php
http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_lumia_800-4240.php
http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_desire_x-4951.php

At a glance the specs for the other two are better than the G300. My guess is that unless you are specifically interested in hacking around with ROMs etc on the G300 then if the others are about the same price you might be better off with one of them. Horses for courses I guess...

Buck Fizz

TM wrote: »

Sorry - I thought it was still selling for €200+. My mistake. For what it's worth the technical specs of the three phones are here:

http://www.gsmarena.com/huawei_ascend_g300-4594.php
http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_lumia_800-4240.php
http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_desire_x-4951.php

At a glance the specs for the other two are better than the G300. My guess is that unless you are specifically interested in hacking around with ROMs etc on the G300 then if the others are about the same price you might be better off with one of them. Horses for courses I guess...

Thanks for that. I checked out all the specs on the 3 from before and I kinda know each of them now and what their pro's and cons are, but I'm still not sure what to get.

My GF has the Huawei G300, I've used it a bit here and there, it seems ok but the buttons don't respond quick enough, so I thought then that maybe the desire x would be better! And then the fact that the Lumia 800 is a windows phone I suppose I was wondering if windows/android was better. Again I suppose it's horses for courses as you said. I know the WP has less apps etc but sure maybe I dont even need shag all apps to be honest.

On paper they're nearly all much the same, then I suppose now it's down to price and OS..

BostonB

The Lumia 800 has been 200 on O2 for a good while now. Its and end of life phone so they are a clearing stocks for the 820.

The G300 is a good cheap phone. Screen response and camera quality is the main thing that you notice. Its not going to compare to a phone thats twice the price on these two things IMO.

The Lumia 800 is Windows 7.5, it will get 7.8 but not 8. But the Windows Phone OS UI is blistering fast compared to a low/mid end android. The downside is the range of apps is less, and its a lot more locked down than Android.

I have a G300 but I'm thinking of switching to a 800. But I paid 119 for my G300 the 800 is a good bit more. Also the G300 is easily unlocked for other sims. The 800 isn't. I don't know anywhere that can unlock a 800 now.

TM

Buck Fizz wrote: »

the buttons don't respond quick enough

I seem to recall that being an issue with one or other of the stock ROMs?

BostonB

The issue with the buttons was fixed. But in general I think to get the best out of the G300 you need to move to a non Vodafone ROM. I'm still on the official ICS one and its a bit slow.

fallaci

My g300 is really sluggish when it comes to typing, especially after Ivan update. Sometimes I'm few words ahead before they appear (that'a why ics became Ivan) Doesn't matter if I use android keyboard or Huaweis TouchPal. Would custom rom fix that?

TM

Maybe just try it?

Once you root and install ClockworkMod you can do a full backup of your existing (stock?) ROM so that you can always revert to it. My understanding is that this is a Nandroid backup of your complete system so you can revert to your current setup (including ROM/system, apps, user data etc.) at any time (http://www.androidpolice.com/2010/04/16/complete-guide-how-to-fully-back-up-and-restore-your-android-phone-using-nandroid-backup-and-clockworkmod-rom-manager/).

Once you have done that you can try a custom ROM such as Infusion to see if that works better for you. If you want to migrate apps/user data from your current setup to a new custom ROM installation then you may need to back them up and restore on the new setup.

Be aware that there may also be some other issues to consider - e.g. baseband versions etc.

But if trying a custom ROM might be something that you are interested in definitely read the guide(s) here:

http://www.modaco.com/topic/357243-explained-like-youre-5-install-custom-roms-from-scratch-install-the-official-ics-update-root-more/

Hope this helps.

fionn_mac

anyone got any issues with the micro SD card? It used to work on mine but has stopped reading in the last while. Maybe I dropped it or something and damaged the connections inside somehow (the SD card works fine on another phone).

I presume rooting it won't help if its a hardware issue? Although I see you need an SD card to root on one of those links posted.

TM

How exactly does it fail - e.g. an example of what goes wrong when you try to read it?
I suppose it's possible to physically damage the SDcard slot connectors by dropping the phone but I'd imagine it's unlikely.
Is the SD card being mounted at all? You should be able to check in File Manager.
Rooting is not, of itself, going to help if it's a hardware issue.
Although you could root, install ClockworkMod, do a full backup, then install the stock (?) ROM afresh and see if it works just to rule out a hardware issue? Then you can always revert to your original setup via a restore.
Or you could root, install a terminal emulator app and then open a console to manually browse the filesystem on the command line and issue commands such as mount to see what devices/filesystems are mounted.

Hope this helps a bit...

fionn_mac

TM wrote: »

How exactly does it fail - e.g. an example of what goes wrong when you try to read it?
I suppose it's possible to physically damage the SDcard slot connectors by dropping the phone but I'd imagine it's unlikely.
Is the SD card being mounted at all? You should be able to check in File Manager.
Rooting is not, of itself, going to help if it's a hardware issue.
Although you could root, install ClockworkMod, do a full backup, then install the stock (?) ROM afresh and see if it works just to rule out a hardware issue? Then you can always revert to your original setup via a restore.
Or you could root, install a terminal emulator app and then open a console to manually browse the filesystem on the command line and issue commands such as mount to see what devices/filesystems are mounted.

Hope this helps a bit...

Thanks for your reply TM. It just doesnt recognise the card at all - file manager under SD card says no memory card, Settings>>Storage says un-available (the 2gig internal SD card is still showing). When I take it out and put it back in it doesn't get the 'reading/mounting SD card' across the top which used to happen and still happens on someone elses android phone I've tried it on. Tried a different SD card to no avail either.

So I guess I'm stuck with it, it was either as a result of a fall or hardware failure of some sort or one of the stock updates I downloaded as it became available, though then others would probably have had the same issue. Not the end of the world but bothersome all the same.

griffdaddy

fionn_mac wrote: »

Thanks for your reply TM. It just doesnt recognise the card at all - file manager under SD card says no memory card, Settings>>Storage says un-available (the 2gig internal SD card is still showing). When I take it out and put it back in it doesn't get the 'reading/mounting SD card' across the top which used to happen and still happens on someone elses android phone I've tried it on. Tried a different SD card to no avail either.

So I guess I'm stuck with it, it was either as a result of a fall or hardware failure of some sort or one of the stock updates I downloaded as it became available, though then others would probably have had the same issue. Not the end of the world but bothersome all the same.

Is it by any chance a Sandisk 32gb?

TM

Just curious - why would that (make/capacity) matter if it was working before but just stopped?

I have a class 10 32GB SanDisk and my G300 (running Infusion) can see it OK. But I haven't used it much yet...