The Rumor Touch Brought Back By VM

**curtis1973** · 06-07-2012, 10:59 AM

Once removed from sales,vm brings back the older device for sale again. Ship date 6/12. $79 bucks. Not a bad buy for an over all good touch phone. With some tinkering you can add all the java apps,tones,etc that you want via sdcard without the high cost of the vm store. I owned this little jewel once upon a time and personally give it 5 stars in all areas. Great device for anyone on a restricted budget. Probably should be on vm's paylo section but atleast its still available.

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**curtis1973** · 06-07-2012, 11:15 AM

i know its off topic for an android forum,but if anyone does purchase and want games,apps,etc.. heres a brief guide.

1. create folder called APPS (all uppercase) on sdcard.

2.use pc to download apps and games to the apps folder ( dans site is a good start on the detailed how-to's,etc) and install. You can also use opera mini mod to download them via the phone without pc. For more details check out dans touch site. Some links may be outdated,but the info can get you well on your way to souping up this device. I personally had tons of games,apps and more on mine. Good buy. Heres dans touch site :

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**diecastdonkey** · 06-07-2012, 12:00 PM

That's rather strange. I also had that phone and loved having all the Java apps but I thought VM broke that in a later version. Also, the touch screen was horrible!

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**curtis1973** · 06-07-2012, 01:43 PM

well i had a few replacements sent to me of that device and never did get one of the changed ones. so i would assume its a gamble on the model you get. its been a while since i had it. but i recall a work around for the changes they made. i could be mistaken on that though. id say its been three years since i had it. i thought the screen worked great myself. never had issues with it (as compared to other models from vm at the time).

edit: from everything i can find there is no change by vm to the phone that prevents app,etc installs to the touch. most errors on install are due to user not following the guides properly when copying the jad/jar files and making them also. they have to be made a certain way or you get install failures. theres a phone app to make them the right way. sites are still up for games and apps and how tos.. heres one with an easy as pie guide to add your stuff. and and just in case anyone wants to go even further than just installing apps. heres a method to completely unlock the phone.

**droidmyme** · 06-07-2012, 02:30 PM

Nice post OP! Very informative for a "legacy" device.

I'm not familiar with jar apps. Could you maybe list some of the apps you used to soup up the Touch?

Thanks

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**curtis1973** · 06-07-2012, 02:43 PM

there are a ton actually. weather apps,news apps,calanders,on and on..text editors,jad/jar editors,opera mini russian mod thats basiclly a micro desktop in and of it self. any game or app that runs in 320x240 will usually run on this phone. the jad editor in the last link above makes it a snap to try out about any java app and see how it performs on the touch. angry birds runs pretty good on this device. much of it is trial and error. but with patients you can put together a nice setup that performs nicely. the links above have a large number of apps,etc already to install to the touch. i used several java sites to try out apps,etc. i wish i still had the backup i made that pretty much just needed to be copied to any sdcard. it was a full list of stuff. but as with anything,when you move on you usually delete that stuff which i did. one mention that was very good on the touch was Bolt browser for java. Ran great as did uc browser. made web surfing a snap. but the opera mini russian mod (in english) was by far the best in that area. there wasnt anything you couldnt do with it. text editing,jad and jar modification and save back to card,edit your own skins and themes for it. as for ringtones,it was simply a matter of taking an already created mp3 and using opera mini mod to rename it to the 3g2 ext if i recall correctly. then it could be applied as a tone. wallpapers were a snap when you used 640 x 480. that helped with the screen rotation issue of the phone not resizing them properly for landscape mode. also if i remember right,there is a boost mobile java app site that had literally hundereds of games and apps that worked on the touch when you picked apps that ran on the correct screen size. all you had to do was be sure they were touch supported. or sit and figure out which keys on the keyboard controlled what for games designed on phones that were not touch. but overall i had a blast with the phone.

few games :

little diddy on opera mini mod.. heres the download. download that to apps folder. use the jad creator linked above to make a working jad installer file. run that jad file within the media card option on the touch..enjoy one bad *ss little browser compareable to anything on android.

**kwknott** · 06-07-2012, 03:10 PM

I had the rumor touch and used to install all types of goodies. I had a replacement sent out and they had broken the ability to add 3rd party stuff. That was about a year ago.

I still have it at home as a backup

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**curtis1973** · 06-07-2012, 03:18 PM

Originally Posted by kwknott

I had the rumor touch and used to install all types of goodies. I had a replacement sent out and they had broken the ability to add 3rd party stuff. That was about a year ago.

I still have it at home as a backup

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could be that they have broken that ability. but id guess using the touch unlock guide above would resolve that issue as it allows you full access to the device and if im not mistaken,the ability to upgrade the version of brew thats on the phone. just skimming through the thread it would appear to be a valid method to unlock the device as others on the forum confirm it as working.

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**droidmyme** · 06-07-2012, 04:29 PM

Wow. This is very interesting to me actually. A device that operates on VM network and can run apps but isn't an Android device. If I could pick up a used one for around $40, I might buy it just for the novelty/geek factor. Hah.

I actually have 2 other questions then:

1) Does the Rumor Touch have a WiFi receptor?
2) Does the rerelease come with updated firmware? Second generation firmware? Or is this the same exact device sold before?

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**curtis1973** · 06-07-2012, 04:34 PM

Originally Posted by droidmyme

Wow. This is very interesting to me actually. A device that operates on VM network and can run apps but isn't an Android device. If I could pick up a used one for around $40, I might buy it just for the novelty/geek factor. Hah.

I actually have 2 other questions then:

1) Does the Rumor Touch have a WiFi receptor?
2) Does the rerelease come with updated firmware? Second generation firmware? Or is this the same exact device sold before?

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its unclear whether its new firmware or same as before. im guessing same as before. the reason being is i believe vm has an overstock of these left behind and are reoffering them to clear stock. and apps on this phone are a bit different than going to play store and picking anything. they are java based jar applications. and no wifi. unless its been added.

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**droidmyme** · 06-07-2012, 04:36 PM

Originally Posted by curtis1973

its unclear whether its new firmware or same as before. im guessing same as before. the reason being is i believe vm has an overstock of these left behind and are reoffering them to clear stock. and apps on this phone are a bit different than going to play store and picking anything. they are java based jar applications. and no wifi. unless its been added.

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Oh. I was really hoping it would have WiFi.

oh well lol, still interesting all the same!

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**kakapopo** · 06-10-2012, 05:25 PM

I had this phone for about a year and I have to say, it was trash. VM blocked apps and I couldn't stream any videos not from youtube
The media player eas absolutely horrible. Games were really crappy. I remembered when I put bolt browser on the phone the supposedly best browser for it. The browser would never work correctly ever. It was a terrible phone but even though it was terrible, it was a trooper but OV is 10x better than it.

**tdm** · 06-11-2012, 07:25 AM

Originally Posted by droidmyme

Wow. This is very interesting to me actually. A device that operates on VM network and can run apps but isn't an Android device. If I could pick up a used one for around $40, I might buy it just for the novelty/geek factor. Hah.

I actually have 2 other questions then:

1) Does the Rumor Touch have a WiFi receptor?
2) Does the rerelease come with updated firmware? Second generation firmware? Or is this the same exact device sold before?

Sent from my LG-VM701 using Tapatalk 2

I have one gathering dust if anyone wants it, just PM me. Great condition, never dropped. Best offer this week gets it.

**curtis1973** · 06-11-2012, 11:58 AM

Originally Posted by kakapopo

I had this phone for about a year and I have to say, it was trash. VM blocked apps and I couldn't stream any videos not from youtube
The media player eas absolutely horrible. Games were really crappy. I remembered when I put bolt browser on the phone the supposedly best browser for it. The browser would never work correctly ever. It was a terrible phone but even though it was terrible, it was a trooper but OV is 10x better than it.

bolt worked great for me,you are referencing it closing on start. you had to use a 1,x version in order for it to work. uc browser worked well on it also. as for video,streaming video on the v is trash for the most part,so claiming the touch wss any worse just isnt a fair comparison. as for games,angry birds ran like a pro on the touch so did final fantasy 3 and many others. its like with any dwvice. some like..some dont.

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**chucksaysblah** · 06-11-2012, 09:23 PM

I used this phone for about a year before i got my OV . I was NOT a good phone at all. The browser never gave me a issue i used opera mini on it and it worked fine. My issue was the constant need to reboot the phone because it wouldn't receive texts . After numerous calls to vm and numerous replacement phones I gave up on it and upgraded.

**Octahedron** · 06-11-2012, 09:33 PM

I had this phone for a few months before picking up the OV on launch day. It's good for a dumbphone.

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**curtis1973** · 06-11-2012, 10:09 PM

Originally Posted by chucksaysblah

I used this phone for about a year before i got my OV . I was NOT a good phone at all. The browser never gave me a issue i used opera mini on it and it worked fine. My issue was the constant need to reboot the phone because it wouldn't receive texts . After numerous calls to vm and numerous replacement phones I gave up on it and upgraded.

i had texting issues at the time and some data issues also,in fact it was widespread in the virgin mobile network on all of their phones at the time,not just a touch issue. the phones texting functioned fine when the network did. vm had data and text drop outs that lasted anywhere from 8 hrs to days all over their network during the lifespan of the touch. i called numerous times about it. standard monkey response was "network difficulty"..
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**crickie** · 06-14-2012, 02:30 AM

I had this phone. I remember a site where somebody posted TONS of useful intel on it. I was able to load a jar file "converter" to make aftermarket stuff work. I believe the app site I got stuff from was Getjar. Opera Mini was the only browser that really worked well. It was a nice option. I had everything I needed on it. The Brew OS stank in comparison to anything Android but it was good for the time being.

**droidmyme** · 06-14-2012, 03:45 AM

Does the Touch have FM radio?

Thanks!

**curtis1973** · 06-14-2012, 11:58 AM

Originally Posted by droidmyme

Does the Touch have FM radio?

Thanks!

no but there are several radio java apps that work..or did at the time. dont ask me to name them,been so long i can't recall exactly what they were. but i do recall listening to a few local stations. didnt use it long,was sorta novelty to me.

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**curtis1973** · 06-14-2012, 12:03 PM

i used this site a great deal to get java apps,games for the touch i owned. used name of app with touch 320x240 at end of search terms. yielded many good finds.

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**droidmyme** · 06-14-2012, 06:07 PM

Originally Posted by curtis1973

no but there are several radio java apps that work..or did at the time. dont ask me to name them,been so long i can't recall exactly what they were. but i do recall listening to a few local stations. didnt use it long,was sorta novelty to me.

Thank you man.

I've been thinking hard about my smartphone usage, and I've come to realize a few things consistently:

1. I don't use any processor intensive apps.

My main apps are browser, Google maps, and Tapatalk. Those are the big 3. And I've since realized that Google has REALLY good mobile versions of all their services (Gmail, maps, YouTube).

2. Battery life is probably my main irk with my smartphone.

3. No matter how good your hardware, bad coverage area can make lots of problems. Conversely, a "low end" phone used in a high coverage area can be a passable experience.

These 3 things have made me realize that I don't need a high powered smartphone. In fact, I may not even need a smartphone at all ( since Maps, Gmail, and some forums can be accessed in the browser).

All I need in a phone really is: call/mms, Opera browser, FM radio, and a good coverage area.

I am seriously considering ditching Android in favor of something inexpensive and lightweight. In fact, with my core usage, I don't see why I really need anything other than a good 600 mhz processor and Froyo. I don't need a powerful mobile computer, that is something hyped by Google and Apple.

Also looking into open hardware, open source phones such as the Geeksphone zero. ZTE Blade looks cool but it's mainly international.

So that's why I'm asking about FM Radio, going to experiment with some embedded phones. Think I can create a comparable experience and leave the hype behind, which suits me just fine

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**kcls** · 06-14-2012, 09:34 PM

I remember when I had this phone. Still have it actually, as a backup for my V. It was great, I had like 50 awesome apps, until the reboots. Oh, the reboots. It would reboot randomly every day, 10-15 times, whether I was doing something processor intensive or it was just idle. I kept a list, so u could read it off to VM. They did the standard "Battery out for 20 mins, we'll call you back..." and never got a call back. I went out and bought the V and never went back :P

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**diecastdonkey** · 06-14-2012, 09:51 PM

Originally Posted by kcls

I remember when I had this phone. Still have it actually, as a backup for my V. It was great, I had like 50 awesome apps, until the reboots. Oh, the reboots. It would reboot randomly every day, 10-15 times, whether I was doing something processor intensive or it was just idle. I kept a list, so u could read it off to VM. They did the standard "Battery out for 20 mins, we'll call you back..." and never got a call back. I went out and bought the V and never went back :P

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This was a fun brick of a phone. I remember trying the app install walkthrough by danatheteacher on hubpages and was so happy when it worked. I still think the touchscreen was really wonky though, idk maybe I abused it too much. Also isn't VM customer service just the best?

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**curtis1973** · 06-15-2012, 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by diecastdonkey

This was a fun brick of a phone. I remember trying the app install walkthrough by danatheteacher on hubpages and was so happy when it worked. I still think the touchscreen was really wonky though, idk maybe I abused it too much. Also isn't VM customer service just the best?

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now ill tell you a bad vm phone... the rumor 2,man that phone sucked lol (now mind uou i sau that based on it not being open to use your own apps,etc..so my review is slanted lol)

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