Questions about phone types/models/ROMS/flashing (newbie) - please help if you can

[bg407]

Hello :o, I got an HTC Touch (Sprint) two weeks ago and I have been reading this site and ppcgeeks.com and have a few questions and hoping someone can help me out (please and thank you in advance)

I have a black phone which looks like an Elf but the Model No is VOGU100 - are Vogues always green? Does the model number or phone color indicate what type of phone I have?

The ROM Version is 1.12.651.1 (Date: 09/18/07). Is that old? Does it mean the phone is not new and might have been used? Should I update it?
I went to the HTC and Sprint sites but no upgrades are available.
If I choose to try a new ROM how can I copy my original ROM before trying a new one?

My Radio version is 2.13.00. What is the Radio and why is it important?

Are there any browser applications available so surfing the Internet is easier (ie, closer to surfing on the ipod)?

For hardware what does Flash size 256 MB and RAM size 128 MB and 400 MHz mean and are they good?

What does a Touch Enhanced mean and how do you know if you have one?

What is flashing and how does one do it?

:eek:To any responders, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! :D

[dew.man]

First of all, yes, you are in the right place and your phone is a Vogue which is the CDMA version of a Touch. The color has nothing to do with it.

Moving right along to flashing your rom, don't take offense, but if you gotta ask, you don't need to be flashing your device. There's lots of reading to do (on this and the other forums) that will answer your questions/give you a better understanding. Another great source of info for CDMA phones complete with detailed FAQ is ppcgeeks dot com (although they are currently down).

With where you are in your understanding of PPCs, you're better off playing with add-on applications until you get a better understanding of the O/S and the whole concept of flashing. To get you started, take a look at the NetFront 3.5 and Opera 8.65 Mobile browsers. You can find them on the web (ie google), and they are huge improvements to the Pocket Internet Explorer (PIE) that came with your phone.

Welcome to the wonderful world of phone customization where there's always something new to learn, and someone pushing the envelope!

[jim256]

opera mini is also available, which is quite nice, fast, and FREE :cool:

that rom and radio version are both the latest, they are not old.

the vogue has a fairly fast processor (and it is also a dual-core, but is supposedly slower than its predecessors), and more ram than most of the devices out there, so yes, that is pretty good.

though i would not call the touch fast by any means. there are performance reg hacks, supposedly htc is coming out with some performance improvements, you can change the page pool, and wizcode is supposedly close to coming up with a new version of PocketHackMaster that will work with the msm 72/7500 chipset.

the long and short of the above paragraph translates too...out of the box with a few custom apps installed, i would definitely call the vogue slow. but flash it with a clean custom rom, with a page pool of say 24 mb, wait for htc's performance improvements, and wizcodes overclocking and...this baby should move right along.

touch (elf) enhanced - i believe this simply refers to the second implementation of the touch in the gsm world. the first release of the device had only half the ram, and (correct me if im wrong cuz im unsure about this) i think that the enhanced simply has double the ram/rom of the original gsm touch -- still not as good of specs as our vogue though.

as to what is flashing, read the first 5 or so pages of all the stickies in the vogue forum over at ppcgeeks, and read a few threads such as "dereks vogue rom v6" (or something like that) for a much better grasp on what flashing is, how to do it, and lots of other things.

good luck!

[jim256]

...My Radio version is 2.13.00. What is the Radio and why is it important?...

as for this, the radio is merely the version of the software on your device that runs and controls your phones radio. and your version is up-to-date.