Considering a San Francisco

[CrazyFool]

Hey guys,
As some of you may be aware of.
Orange are selling the San Francisco in their shop for £109 including £10 top up.

Im wanting to move into the Smart phone genre of phones and was wondering how this phone compared to say... an apple iPhone 3GS in terms of speed

I wont be using the camera or any of the other stuff, would just like a touch screen phone that is fairly fast.

Any advice is much appreciated,
CrazyFool.

 

[edogg]

I havent got iphone but i bought the missus a san francisco and i think its better than my hero and i only paid £78.98 for it just used a non activated orange sim when i phoned

edogg

 

[zad]

yeah ring the sales number might get it cheaper they do discounts for nhs, or teachers too

 

[CrazyFool]

any way to get a discount if your not a teacher or an nhs employee? lol
not sure if i really want it right now.
im happy with my nokia whatever it is i have i just would like a smart phone.
but if im getting one, it has to be cheap and up to a certain standard otherwise im not gonna get it if you know what i mean.

geez. this is why my friends never come shopping with me :S

 

[edogg]

online you can use any numbers for nus number all 0's work or random numbers

Great Student offers on Orange

edogg

 

[CrazyFool]

Thanks for all the help edogg. i think i'll give it a bash.
have you used the 3gs at all?

 

[BIG-HOL]

Thanks for all the help edogg. i think i'll give it a bash.
have you used the 3gs at all?

for your budget mate you wont find a 3gs, they still sell for over £200 second hand, great phones though!

 

[CrazyFool]

yup.
what gets me is that the san francisco has the same processor speed as the 3gs!
does that mean its just as fast?

 

[CrazyFool]

Apple iPhone 3GS 16GB (Apple iPhone 2,1) Specs | Technical Specifications | PDAdb.net - Comprehensive Database of Smartphone, PDA, PDA Phone, PNA, netbook & Mobile Device Specifications

Orange San Francisco (ZTE Blade) Detailed Specs | Technical Specifications | PDAdb.net - Comprehensive Database of Smartphone, PDA, PDA Phone, PNA, netbook & Mobile Device Specifications

infact the san francisco has twice as much ram i think.
the samsung chip in the 3gs looks like a much better processor though with overclocking potential.

 

[edogg]

yes but the san francisco is far easier to use and a fraction of the price

edogg

 

[Utopie]

Thinking about getting one of these myself now. Am on Three so was looking at the ZTE Racer, but this looks like a better option, free to unlock and can now load a custom FroYo 2.2 ROM onto it.

Orange are selling them for £85, but they are sold out, hence, they are now selling on eBay for about £120

The new ones also have a TFT screen and the custom ROMs will only work on the original OLED screens...

So some major pitfalls to buying one at the moment, but I think it will be having more support and development for it ni the long run over the ZTE Racer (and the screen is A LOT better than the Racer...)

 

[zad]

You can get custom roms for it even if it is TFT screen

 

[Utopie]

You can get custom roms for it even if it is TFT screen

Can you get a FroYo 2.2 ROM for it yet though? I'm just thinking that there's more support for the AMOLED screen versions at the moment, I suppose that may change...

I did read that you get a better picture and sharper text on the newer TFT screens as well, so if the support and ROMS are there, maybe they are the better models...

I can't see me moving in no one though until Orange get more stock in for £85, forcing the ebay prices to drop... I'm on a very tight budget you see and hoping to get a used one around the £50 mark!!!

 

[Utopie]

And after reading the following, I would definetly prefer the OLED screen - which is probably another reason why they are over priced on eBay... ZTE Racer here I come

After having bought some TFT-equipped Swiss OSFs I received two British OLED ones today, so I could make the attached photos for comparison.

With a magnifying glass you can recognize an OLED display by the staggered arrangement of the pixel lines, while on TFT displays lines are aligend rectangularly.

With the naked eye you'll notice the backlight behind black areas, which remains absolutely dark on OLED.

The TFT display is a bit brighter, but colour fidelity is worse. While TFT has a strong bluish cast, colours appear much more natural and vivid on OLED. The OLED also seems to have a broader range of colours, which you can see on the photo of the lock screen, whose background is dominated by black on the TFT, as it can't display all the nuances which the OLED displays. However the TFT is sharper - especially text loses sharpness due to the staggered pixel arrangement. As an example for this effect have a look at the edges of the icons on the close-up photo: While the edges of the icons are straight on the TFT, edges on the OLED are in a zigzag-pattern. Anyway, the difference in sharpness is nearly indiscernible from the distance and negligible in everyday life. But on the other hand viewing angles are better on the OLED, as colours are distorted much later and less than on TFT.

The only thing untested so far is readability under direct sunlight, where I expect the TFT to perform better.

 

[Thommo]

well i got one of these today to replace my iphone, first impressions it not as good build quality as iphone BUT everything else blows my iphone away.

screen is indeed tft but until you see it i wouldnt judge what others say about it against the oled. this screen blows the iphones screen out of the water, its not as big but it certainly looks a hell of a lot better to me.

i have ulocked it free and am waiting to add 2.2 on it shortly.

it has all the apps my iphone had and more, i love the widgets function (something iphone lacks)

for a hundred quid your not getting a better phone this side of the iphone cost.

im well chuffed with it and ive not even rooted mine or updated it yet but these android phones are going to be the iphone killer.

go buy one!!!




.

 

[Utopie]

Build quality of any £100 phone is never going to come close to a £400 Apple or HTC phone, but glad you are happy with it.

I'm gonna have to scrape the money together and get one, but, I still think I would prefer the AMOLED screen!! I can't see the point in getting the ZTE Racer now unless support for it takes off...

The support for the San Fran is looking very, very healthy, and it seems to be turning into a bit of a cult must have phone!!! Good for owners, bad for buyers LOL... How the worm turns...



*Some interesting info here and buying options. There is one in my local argos at the moment!. http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/san-francisco-android-mobile-phone-/827301

 

[Thommo]

yep build quality is good but not top end but the innards that do the magic is what counts. my iphone felt more solid but i prefer android as theres just so much more to tinker with.

for me what it does, and how it does it is key, so given the choice if the iphone and this if they where the same price id choose the android.

just lucky for me it didnt cost what my iphone did.

i had mine on preorder from play.com until i noticed my local argos had 1 left so i reserved it asap and went for it earlier today.

honestly i cant stress enough how good this is for the money, cant wait to chuck 2.2 on it which will be even better.

this or my overpriced iphone? this hands down even with it not being built as well.

 

[Thommo]

Just a test of tapatalk app, sorry!

Sent from my Orange San Francisco using Tapatalk

 

[meangreenie]

Can anyone upload that froyo 2.2 r4 file [whistles inocently]

 

[Thommo]

Can anyone upload that froyo 2.2 r4 file [whistles inocently]

lots of them

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If you have a TFT screen, then Make sure the ROM you choose supports it.

the tft and oled compat R4 IS HERE (underlined in list above), i used it earlier today, works fine.

uploaded 5 mins ago by me for you.

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