Good for you that your "mixing" with f/w files goes in the direction you wish for!
I myself have not dared to tamper with the hex / bin files but I have tried the Orange f/w. Although I liked the "originality" of the extra menu on the desktop left side, I did not stand the orange colour everywhere and the fact that the "middle button", when pressed in desktop mode, does not lead you to the menu. In fact it leads you nowhere. So I quickly decided that the Orange f/w was not for me. But if it gets enough de-branded I'll might change my mind and try it out once again. Who knows?
Instead, what I did to get my Z500 as much un-branded as possible, was to follow the advices given in some threads in the italian forum "anvi.it/forum" i.e. I used the British operator O2's f/w (Z500bweg2) and replaced the "Rsrc2_low" file with the one from the Norwegian f/w Z500CVEG1 (almost completely de-branded apart from some connection profiles that you cannot erase i.e. Telenor MMS).
This mix gives me the Samsung original startup and shutdown logos (the exception to this is that the O2's logo appears for a couple of seconds when you have entered your PIN and are awaiting the phone to show the desktop.) It also gives me the O2 f/w's benefits which are for instance: no pre-defined connection profiles that cannot be erased; the left "white dotted" key, above the "green" one, does not lead you to the wap-browser but to the message menu. Something much appreciated by me. I had the Swedish Telia f/w Z500CGEE6 prior to the O2 dito and I just hated that this left quick button leads to the wap-browser (not to speak of the startup/shutdown logos, branded of course by Telia).
Lastly I just want to say that I do not take any credit to this how-to-make-the-z500-as-much-un-branded-as-possible-guide. The credit goes to the anvi forum member "Rexnet" and other un-named Italian forum members that have experimented in the un-branding-procedure and so kindly has shared their experience whith the rest of the world. Thanx guys!
Before I leave the keyboard I just want you to consider the following: If you're not absolutely sure of what you're doing, you better leave it as it is since flashing a mobile's firmware is a potential risk of damaging your phone permanently, not to speak of the warranty that probably gets completely declared null and void.
Cheers and good luck!
/Darior
