VX8300 or AX8600 or other on Cricket?

K

katienie20

New member
I am planning to move from Verizon to Cricket and need three phones. I don't like the current Cricket phone selections/price. I currently have the following working Verizon phones: VX8300, three VX5200s and a Mot V325. I am in the process of determining whether to use these phones or sell them and get different ones already flashed (or to flash) to Cricket.

A super set of features would include a reliable phone with a good camera and possibly a basic MP3 player. Though I don't need the same functions on all three, my initial thinking is to go with the same phone for all three, possibly keeping my VX8300 and buying 2 more on ebay and getting them all flashed to Cricket. I don't need fancy MP3 download over the air capability (e.g., Vcast), just drag and drop from my PC into named phone navigatible folders.

However, after reading several threaRAB here it seems that if I stick with the VX8300, after flashing I will lose the media player and possibly other proprietary Verizon stuff. What's confusing for me, is that there is a guy in Pheonix (I found through eBay) who says they have been fully flashing 8300's for a year with no problems.

I also read one of Steve Kice's threaRAB on the VX8300 and AX8600 and am now thinking that that the AX8600 may be the ticket. It looks like a decent looking, thin, reliable, phone with a nice camera, MP3 player and it can be flashed and keep all its functionality. Yes? Steve?

So, will you great folks help me? I have a few questions.

1) Have any of you yet seen a way to flash the VX8300 and keep all functions, specifically internet, tethered modem, MMS, picture messaging, and the media player? Perhaps I just haven't found the most up to date thread on this.
2) Please confirm, does the AX8600 keep all of these functions after being flashed to Cricket?
3) Do you agree that the AX8600 is a decent, reliable, phone with a nice camera and MP3 player (for $60 to $80 on eBay)?
4) Do you think it is worth switching from the 8300 to the 8600 before I flash and switch over to Cricket?
5) Do you have any better recommendations for flashing to Cricket than the AX8600 (that are available on eBay for $50 to $80)?
6) I am techy (former EE) but have never tried flashing phones and don't have much time to learn right now. Is there a spoon fed tutorial for flashing the 8300, 8600, or the phone you recommend?
7) If not, will you flash one or more AX8600's (or other phone you recommend) for a reasonable fee? (send private message if it violates policy to say here)
8) If not you, do you know someone else that will? (ditto above)

Thanks everyone! I am on Cricket EVDO broadband here now and love it. Soon to be Cricket all the way....

Peter
Loveland, CO
 
Answer's
1. Yes you can flash the VX-8300 and keep all functionailty. The only thing you shouldn't do is the BREW when programming the brew part of the phone it loose's these functions. You can Reprogram the phone to have MMS, WAP, TEATHER and keep the media player. This apply's with all verizon LG phones.

2. Yes the AX-8600 does keep all these functions even when doing the brew for the phone. EXCEPT it is still unknown why MMS will not work.

3. Yes the AX-8600 is a decent phone for basic uses. If you want MMS get the VX-8600 from verizon exact same phone different software. Allows for MMS.

4. I personally like the VX-8600 over the the VX-8300 because of the desgin and the thiness over it.

5. No!

6. The tutorial is already up follow the VX-9900 by berry, just do not do the BREW part, and use the VX-8600 DLL instead.

7. Yes, I can flash them for you at a discounted price if you are doing all of them at the same time.

8. No reason to answer this.

Lol.
amoamare.
 
Amoamare... thank you. Your answers were complete and on point.

Base on your response and a little more research I've determined I am trading off five criteria.... $ vs BREW vs MMS vs Colors vs Size/Style(S/S). It seems all the VX8600s and VX8300s are black but the AX8600 comes in colors. It seems I can only get three out of five of these criteria at the most with any of the three choices (VX8300 vs VX8600 vs AX8600).

1) VX8300 - No BREW if I want MMS and everything else. No colors. I know where I can get 4 VX8300's for $20 ea with bad Verizon ESNs. So this gets two ($ & MMS or BREW) out of five.

2) AX8600 - No one has figured out MMS on the AX8600 with BREW. That would have cinched it with four out of five (MMS, BREW, colors, S/S). But instead this just gets three (MMS or BREW, colors, S/S). However, you didn't actually say that the VX8600 could be programmed "with" MMS and w/o BREW. Is this true?

3) VX8600 - If I put together your answer to #1 and #3, it seems that MMS does work on the VX8600 but again w/o BREW(?) This would put the VX8300 and VX8600 in the same functionality boat (both with all functionality including MMS, if no BREW). If correct, the VX8600 gets two out of three again (MMS or BREW, S/S).

4) So what does it mean to give up BREW to get MMS or vice versa? - I know little about the technical programming details of cell phones. So I did a little research on what BREW is. It seems it is an important and integral aspect of how the phone interface works and in getting desperate multimedia coding features to work together seamlessly. It also seems to be involved in the over the air download capability of phones (ringtones, MP3 songs, etc). So, I am imagining that giving up BREW (to get MMS to work on all three phones?) would be giving up a bunch, but I am not sure exactly what. Does giving up BREW mean only giving up the ability to download ringtones and MP3 songs on the air? Or can its loss affect some internet access, other multimedia stuff, and change the whole nature/working menus of the phone? W/o BREW, would there be menu items and features that are still visible but don't work, or a different menu consistent with the reduced (no-BREW) functionality? I equate the loss of MMS as strictly the loss of picture (and video?) messaging. Is this accurate/complete?

Its always a lot of work to communicate all this stuff clearly... My detailed questions and your help in answering them will I hope will benefit others out there too and not just me.

For my part, thank you all...
 
No one has replied yet to my last post, comparing all the tradeoRAB between the three phones based on Amoamare's response. However, I am now focusing on the VX8300. Its not as sexy (thin) as the 8600's, but I have always just liked it (feels solid in my hand) and I think that it is not so big a footprint and so long when open. And there are snap on color cases readily available for my wife's phone and the house phone so they can be differentiated from mine. I also plan to take a stab at flashing these myself.

So my question is now focused on Amoamare's recommendation about NOT installing BREW on the VX8300. I will assume everyone agrees with this. If not please share what you have done to get it all to work. I read the thread about mdoc getting it all to work. But the thread seems to end with the admittion that the MMS stuff didn't all work right (yes?). I imagine this is part (all?) of what Amoamare was referring to.

So given that I can't have it all, will someone please explain exactly what I WILL lose if I do not install BREW on the VX8300.

Thank you all. I am looking forward to my first flash. I am a puzzle solver, so maybe someday I will be able to contribute something that will help one of you.
 
Brew will not really help you with anything anyway 1 cricket doesnt have much on their brew stuff anyway.
Just fully program the phone with everything except brew. Do MMS and WAP and you will be happy.
You will mantaine all other features of the phone.
 
Back
Top