A number of Orange Samsung i8910 Omnia HD users have been looking to try and debrand the phone, to get rid of all the Orange bloatware on the phone. Thankfully, it looks like a working solution has been found – the only negative appears to be is that it will cost you €15 to download the necessary files from share4gsm (a small price to pay considering the price of the phone though).

A site is also up and running called Debrandi8910 which details the step-by-step requirements in which to go about the debranding. Remember, this is only a debranding, it will not unlock your phone and allow it to be used on other networks. However, it will upgrade you to the latest XXIE6 firmware. Once debranded users see the following benefits:

• Phone feels faster and slicker
• Widgets that were missing are now back, including Facebook and Youtube
• BBC i-player comes pre-installed
• Support for Facebook, Flickr, Photobucket, Picasa, Myspace pre-installed
• Anti shake setting in camera now saves ok

The main negative seems to be that the firmware flashes into the Polish language to start with, so you need to remember where to change the language. Also, remember to backup everything before rebranding. Also, this only works in Windows XP and NOT Vista. Check out the debranding video tutorial after the break.

Update: Neil W from Debrandi8910 got in touch to say that it is offering the files needed to debrand the Samsung i8910 HD for just £5. Read the rest of this entry »