By Orange today announced official availability of the Orange San Francisco – a phone we once knew to be the ZTE Blade. As suspected, it’ll be a low-end offering for the wallet-conscious consumer coming in at £99. It’s not going to be an iPhone killer, of course, but if you’re looking to step into the Android game on a PAYG phone without looking to spend much, then this is for you. It comes with a 2GB microSD card (expandable up to 32GB), 150MB of internal storage, WiFi, Bluetooth, and a 3-megapixel camera.
Android 2.1 is the software that’ll keep this engine running with a touch of Orange’s own customization on top. You can find the device in shops starting this week as well as at Orange’s website.
That’s utterly amazing. It’s better than a MyTouch3G with 2.1. For 99 quid?! Bargain. I’d recommend it to people looking for a new, off-contract phone if they couldn’t stretch to the wildfire.
really, the san francisco? they couldn’t come up with a better name than that?
This looks to be a big leap in the “budget” market over the likes of the Wildfire. Capacitive oled screen and a decent processor for a start! Phones like this should really take smartphones to the masses.
This is good news for Android penetration of the low/middle end. More reasonably priced handsets will help to get Android into more palms.
Nice looking device and smashin value – just need to unlock it from the Orange
There are some first impressions on android.modaco.com
I’ll be buying it, as will a lot of other skinflints!
The name is a bit poxy though…
I got one this morning, as my first Android phone. I’ve never had an iPhone, but I do have a current iPod touch, so I’m aware of the responsiveness of the iPhone.
This Android isn’t half bad. The accuracy of typing on its screen is as good as on my iPod, and it’s not slow or error-prone. The most obvious difference is that scrolling isn’t quite as fluid as on the iPod, but it all works fine, really.
This totally hit my price bracket. For something with all these features and a high res, multitouch screen, it’s amazing value. Much better than the screens on Wildfire or the other low end Androids I’ve avoided in the past. Wifi connected first time, my Spotify Premium app works, barcode scanner, it’s all good except the camera which is slow to respond when taking pics. But it has autofocus so the scanner apps work OK.
All in all, a hell of an upgrade from my LG Cookie ;-)