Tip on using ZTE Speed

[Tom Eng]

Hi Folks,

When you get your ZTE Speed phones, you might notice some dialog boxes (activities) appear that indicate that the phone is trying to connect to the Sprint/Boost Mobile mobile data network. If you would like to suppress these messages, then you can do the following,

1. Carefully remove the black plastic caseback of the phone. if you look at the phone you'll see on the lower right hand corner there is a slight gap between the phone and the black plastic case. Pull the black plastic case off the phone.

2. If you flip the phone over so you're looking at the backside of the exposed phone, you will see the sim card slot on the right hand edge of the phone (in the middle). The SIM card is a white little card inserted into this slot.

3. Push the SIM card inwards and it will release the SIM card and eject it partially.

4. Pull the SIM card out and put it away for safe keeping.

5. Reinstall the black plastic back case.

6. Turn on the phone, then put the phone into Airplane mode.

7. AFter the phone is in Airplane mode, turn just the wireless adapter back on.

When I get a chance, I'll try and put some pictures and screen grabs online (or maybe someone else could help out if they have their own ZTE Speed phone).

Sincerely,

Tom

[Philbot]

Hi Tom.

That's useful information.

Any recommendations for Android setup/settings that will prevent any undesirable auto-updates, or other push type activities that may disrupt robot controls..

Phil.

[greatestprez]

Thanks! Just got my amazon order in and this was quite annoying.

[Tom Eng]

Hi Tom.

That's useful information.

Any recommendations for Android setup/settings that will prevent any undesirable auto-updates, or other push type activities that may disrupt robot controls..

Phil.

Hi Phil,

That's a great question. Ideally, for now you do not want to auto-update your phone. The FTC apps are not yet compatible with Android Lollipop (5.0 and 5.1).

I'm not sure if this works for all devices, but there is a way you can disable auto-updates of the Android version on your machine. Here's what you do...

1. Launch the "Settings" activity for your Android device. This will bring up the main Settings activity for your phone/tablet.
2. Look for the "Apps" activity for your Android device. Note that on some devices (such as my Samsung Galaxy Note 4 phone), might have a slightly different path/name for the "Apps" activity to launch the Android Application Manager. On my machine, I go to the "Settings" app first. Then I launch the "Applications" app/activity. Then I launch the "Application manager" activity on the next menu.
3. In the Apps activity there should be several categories near the top of the screen such as "Downloaded", "SD CARD", "Running", and "All". Note that you might have to scroll horizontally to see the other categories (specifically "Running" and "All"). Select the "All" category to see a listing of all apps that are installed on your Android device.
4. Scroll down and find the app called "Google Services Framework". Touch the "Google Services Framework" item from the menu to display the app info for this item.
5. There should be an option called "Show notifications" under the App info for the "Google Services Framework" app. If you uncheck this option, your Android device should stop reminding you that there is a new version of Android available for your device. Uncheck this option if you want to disable notifications about new Android updates for your device. You can exit from this app info display once you have unchecked this option.

That's it. I believe this should work on most Android devices, but your mileage may vary...

Tom

[Cheer4FTC]

FYI, I just went through this process on the ZTE Speed and it worked just like Tom said. Thanks Tom for this and all of your previous answers and advice!

[FTC6705]

Hi Tom and rest of thread - our team did a quick youtube video setting up the ZTE speed based on your instructions. Thanks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqVCf9NMsFs

[Tom Eng]

Hi Tom and rest of thread - our team did a quick youtube video setting up the ZTE speed based on your instructions. Thanks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqVCf9NMsFs

Thanks Team 6705.

Great video!

[CraigRochester]

Hi Tom and rest of thread - our team did a quick youtube video setting up the ZTE speed based on your instructions. Thanks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqVCf9NMsFs

Thanks! Y'all rock!

[tvsknights]

Great info. Thanks. Does anyone know when and/or where the FTC apps will be available?

[Tom Eng]

Hi tvsknights,

We are working on releasing a beta version of the apps and SDK as soon as possible.

Tom