Thinking of getting an Android phone

Pia · 21-10-2010, 21:29

After the recent death of my beloved N95

Orange have a phone called San Francisco which for the price is being seriously raved about.

It's Â£99 and apparently if you ring up you can get a Â£30 existing customer discount.

The only thing that's stopping me is...

a) Lack of decent camera (3.2 and no flash)
b) I've never even used a phone other than a Nokia before!!

The price is really tempting me though even though I'm pretty poor atm as i wanted to put an extra Â£100 towards my dream laptop lol... I use my phone mostly for texting and internet, mostly at home which is pretty silly isn't it :p but free wi-fi. Also cos i love adding apps and messing with the gadgetness of it.

A camera is important to me though so i'd prob have to buy a digi camera off ebay or something to compensate.
I was lusting over an iPod touch despite *never* listening to music with earphones in, but more for the apps side of it.... so this would be ideal without an iphone price tag.

I suppose i'm asking you to talk me into it

http://shop.orange.co.uk/mobile-phon...Orange-in-grey

haydnwalker · 21-10-2010, 21:54

Looks OK. Android is a great OS (almost better than the iPhone...well better because its a free OS and so makes phones a bit cheaper).

I've tried finding out who makes the San Francisco but without any joy. I suppose you could go into the orange shop and play around with it? Also I'd ask if they've had many returns or not? They usually answer honestly.

Pia · 21-10-2010, 22:09

The San Francisco is made by ZTE and is their Blade rebadged http://www.unwiredview.com/2010/03/0...one-showcased/

I did go instore today but he didn't have one i could play with although he and the other staff made a point of saying it's a good choice and popular. Have looked for negative reviews and there honestly isn't many at all... a few talking about battery life... a few moaning about camera not having a flash... but that's it really.

I think i'll ring up tomorrow and see if this discount still exists first, the shop guys knew nothing about it but everyone on HUKD is saying they've had it. http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/oran...-2-1-wv/763425

alferret · 21-10-2010, 22:55

Lots to read about it here
http://android.modaco.com/content/zt...-i-go-in-here/

Bit of youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vhx9AeD1x0

Looks very good for the price.

edit
Reading through modaco and a few other sites, for a budget droid phone its good, very good. 600mhz CPU & returning around 380 on quadrant with expandability up to 32gb via micro SD I would say if you can get one at that price go for it.
Oh and you can add market place so you'll get all apps available for 2.1.

Pia · 21-10-2010, 23:10

Thanks for the links

I've done some more reading about it and it seems the Â£30 is actually free credit spread over 3 months for porting a non-Orange number.

But apparently there's a way to get a Â£20 existing customer discount but i'm not sure it's true... still trying to find out!

Think i'd rather have the Â£20 so i'm not paying the full amount at the start... plus i'd have to register another sim card and get pac code... sounds like faff to me.

Jimmy-J · 22-10-2010, 02:24

Looks good to me too. From what I've seen on youtube, it also comes with a free 2gb microSD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PffjbXLHGaY&NR=1

Pia · 22-10-2010, 17:07

Oooo i've just got off the phone to Orange after asking for a discount as i'm an existing PAYG customer.

He went off for a bit checking my account and said no problem that's Â£78.99 please

Includes a Â£10 topup so Â£69 for my brand spanking new phone.

Now i need to buy a digital camera LOL.

SnoopZ · 22-10-2010, 18:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pia

Oooo i've just got off the phone to Orange after asking for a discount as i'm an existing PAYG customer.

He went off for a bit checking my account and said no problem that's Â£78.99 please

Includes a Â£10 topup so Â£69 for my brand spanking new phone.

Now i need to buy a digital camera LOL.

Enjoy the phone hun

Buy the camera as a Christmas present for yourself.

CycoSymz · 22-10-2010, 19:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pia

Oooo i've just got off the phone to Orange after asking for a discount as i'm an existing PAYG customer.

He went off for a bit checking my account and said no problem that's Â£78.99 please

Includes a Â£10 topup so Â£69 for my brand spanking new phone.

Now i need to buy a digital camera LOL.

It's a really good phone for the money, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

alferret · 31-10-2010, 17:43

Hi Pia,

Did you get the phone and is it any good? Looking for an Android phone for my wife for crimbo and I think this may fit the bill.

SnoopZ · 31-10-2010, 21:21

I came across this review of the phone which may help.

http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/94...entry593323692

Pia · 03-11-2010, 22:25

Hiya, yeah i got the phone and i love it!

Highly recommend this forum for any help though: http://android.modaco.com/category/4...de-modaco-com/

I really do recommend it, for the price it's amazing and of course you can customise to your hearts content.

The camera sucks, but what can you expect for this money?! I can't stop playing with it, and i'm sure i'll probably break something soon but i'm sure just about anything can be fixed.

Acathla · 03-11-2010, 23:14

Pia, don't know if you install Clockworkmod on it but if you have, you have the ability to Nand backup (full system image backup) incase you do screw it up

Sasha222 · 03-11-2010, 23:26

The only phones I use are the Nokia as well. How easy is it to use after using the Nokia phone Pia? I'm trying to think what hubby can get for my birthday and I'm thinking of getting a new Mobile

Pia · 06-11-2010, 16:22

Acathla i'm not that advanced yet but i will check it out

ps. thanks again for that email app as my Orange one is about to expire!

Defirish it's taken me over a week to completely get used to it, and i had a nightmare trying to write on the touchscreen keyboard but i'm ok now so it's been hard to adjust but worth it!