Orange San Diego review

Intel finally arrives on Android, but is it everything we were hoping for?

The Android/Intel love affair kicked off officially in January back at CES in Las Vegas. Back then, the computing giant took to the stage to show off their new, prototype hardware running on its Medfield chipset. The demonstration was impressive, boasting incredible performance from a single-core processor running under a customized version of Gingerbread.

Almost six months on, and in the UK at least, the first Intel-powered Android smartphone has made it to market. Launched in partnership with UK carrier Orange, the San Diego is the first of what Intel's hoping will be a host of devices from Intel. The launch event in London made it clear the phone would be aggressively marketed, and indeed this marketing has already begun. This is the first own-brand smartphone that Orange has ever pushed TV advertising for. And those ads focus on one thing -- speed.

Promising performance on par with dual-core phones at an affordable price, the San Diego, on paper at least, is an enticing prospect. That's all well and good, but how does it measure up in real life? Find out after the break, as we walk you through the Orange San Diego.

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Orange UK to get first Intel Medfield-based San Diego in June

Orange UK have announced this morning that they will be carrying the San Diego, the first European phone with Intel’s Medfield chipset, starting this June 6th. The device will launch as a pay as you go phone for £200 with £10 of credit, or on-contract starting at £15.50 per month for a two-year agreement. [...]]]>

Orange San Diego hands-on and first impressions

Intel arrives to the party on a carrier branded, middle of the road Android smartphone. But is it any good?

Down in jolly old London Town this morning, Orange UK threw a little breakfast soiree in a venue 31 floors up. The purpose? To officially unveil their latest own-brand Android smartphone, until now known as the Santa Clara. Traditionally, Orange has piggy-backed onto a device from the likes of ZTE, offering a budget device geared towards the low end of the market. They're also not usually the sort of devices that warrant gathering members of the press in the center of London at breakfast time. With their latest offering -- launching as the San Diego, so keeping to the city name tradition -- the carrier is going about things a little different. There is something to shout about -- Intel Inside.

More: Orange San Diego hands-on video and photo gallery

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Orange to Exclusively Launch The ‘San Diego’ - powered by Intel Technology

Orange today unveiled the San Diego, a new highperformance Android smartphone powered by Intel Inside®, which will be available exclusively on Orange from 6th June nationwide. The San Diego (previously codenamed ‘Orange Santa Clara’) is the first Intel powered smartphone to launch in Europe and will deliver users the latest in innovative smartphone capabilities at an affordable price point.

The handset is powered by the Intel® Atom™ processor Z2460 and supports HSPA+ with the Intel® XMM™ 6260 Platform. Together, these Intel solutions deliver users a fast and responsive browsing experience.

The San Diego features High-definition (HD) video, helping it to support a rich entertainment offering along with 1080p video capture, image stabilization and HDMI out. What’s more, the handset boasts an 8 mega-pixel camera which features ‘Burst’ mode allowing it to take 10 pictures in under a second to ensure you capture all the action and can choose the very best pictures to keep and share. The San Diego also comes with mobile HD voice for outstanding audio quality, and features a 4.03” capacitive display, A-GPS and Bluetooth 2.1.

From the home screen, the San Diego will come with quick link access to:

• Orange Wednesdays: 2-4-1 cinema ticket app – allowing you to read reviews, watchtrailers as well as redeem 2-4-1 vouchers all from your handset
• Your Orange: To help customers keep up to date and manage their Orange account
• Orange Gestures: Allowing users to draw natural and intuitive gestures on theirhome screen which can give one-stroke access to their favourite applications or services

The San Diego will be available for £199.99 on Orange Pay As You Go, when customers top up by £10 in Orange shops. When they take out the handset on pay as you go, they will also receive a free monthly allowance of 250Mb* of mobile data per month for 12 months.

Alternatively, for launch, the handset will be free to customers who take a 24 month price plan from £15.50 a month until the 25th of July** 2012. The package includes 50 any network call minutes, 50 texts, as well as 100MB of mobile data a month.

Paul Jevons, Director of Products and Devices, Orange UK commented: “We’re proud to be working with such an exciting partner as Intel, and offering our customers the first Orange Intel powered smartphone on the market.
“The San Diego is a great addition to our own-branded device portfolio, and is testament to our heritage in offering consumers great value innovation."

“We congratulate Orange on the launch of their ’San Diego’ smartphone with Intel inside,” said Mike Bell, Intel Vice President and General Manager of the company’s Mobile and Communications Group. “Orange is truly a progressive operator who has its finger on the pulse on its customer base. The new Intel-based smartphone exemplifies Orange’s focus on delivering a well executed product to its users, from the quality and feel of industrial design to the overall software and applications experience.”

San Diego customers will also benefit from access to T-Mobile’s signal too, meaning they can call, text and access high speed mobile internet in more places across the UK, as well as benefit from Quick Tap Treats – the UK’s first mobile contactless retail reward scheme, and discount on Orange home broadband.

The handset will be supported by a multimillion pound advertising campaign, featuring the Orange ninja creative which will commence in June. The advertising campaign will feature across TV, outdoor, print and online.

The San Diego will be available from 6th June from Orange shops, OrangeOrange telesales and the Orange online shop. For more information, visit www.orange.co.uk/intel

Orange UK gets a little excited, unveils HTC One X early

By now, the HTC One X isn't exactly a secret any more. The device has leaked plenty of times already ahead of any official announcement but we can add another leak to that mix. It seems Orange UK got a little excited and already posted the device along with the specs to their site. Guess there is no doubt about them picking the device up now is there?

Source: Orange UK; via: Cool Smartphone, Thanks, Luke!

Orange first to deliver exclusive new smartphone to Europe, powered by Intel technology

• Orange celebrates the tenth year of its successful portfolio of own-branded devices by extending its range to include a new high-performance smartphone, powered by the Intel® Atom™ processor, which will be offered exclusively to Orange’s customers in the UK and France
• Orange is the first operator in Europe to launch this new smartphone offering the customer high-performance capabilities with a rich user experience and at an affordable price
• This first Intel-powered Orange smartphone will feature a number of locally-relevant and unique Orange services including Orange TV, Dailymotion, Deezer, Orange Wednesdays, Your Orange and Orange Gestures

Today, Orange announces that it will launch a new high-performance Android smartphone in Europe this summer. Powered by Intel® technology, the device currently codenamed ‘Orange Santa Clara,’ will deliver the latest in smartphone capabilities and rich entertainment experiences to more customers. The phone will first be available exclusively to Orange customers in the UK and France, where its commercial name will be unveiled at launch.

The launch of this smartphone marks a significant development in Orange’s long-standing and successful strategy to deliver phones under its own brand. Now in its tenth year, it has helped drive new device partnerships and support Orange’s customer and mobile multimedia growth by introducing more affordable feature phones and smartphones to its whole customer base. These phones are differentiated by being customised with simple and relevant Orange applications and services. Customer demand has led to the doubling of Orange’s own-branded portfolio in 2011, increasing volume from 7 per cent to 15 per cent of its total device portfolio. Orange aims to increase the volume of its own-branded device portfolio to 20 per cent in 2012 to better meet its customers’ needs, making innovative features, services and technologies more widely accessible.

Today, Orange is broadening its own-branded device portfolio with a new mobile partner, Intel, a world leader in silicon processor technology and computing innovation. At launch, the Orange smartphone will run Android’s Gingerbread platform with a planned upgrade to Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich platform shortly thereafter. The new Orange smartphone is based on Intel’s smartphone reference design and is powered by the Intel® Atom™ processor Z2460 and supports HSPA+ with the Intel® XMM™ 6260 Platform. Together, these Intel solutions deliver leading performance and energy efficiency while facilitating fast browsing and a responsive user experience. The phone has a 4.03” display, slender dimensions at 123mm x 63 x 9.99, 16 Gb of memory and weighs in at 117g.

In addition, high-definition (HD) video will support a rich entertainment offering together with mobile HD voice for outstanding audio quality. It also boasts a camera that can take 10 pictures in under a second with 8-megapixel quality to ensure customers capture all the action so they can choose the very best pictures to keep and share. Also pre-loaded will be a number of services unique to Orange, including Orange TV, Dailymotion, Deezer (France only), Orange Wednesdays Your Orange and Orange Gestures.

“The proliferation of smartphones has brought a wealth of new experiences. At Orange we firmly believe that all our customers should benefit from the smartphone revolution, and we remain committed to delivering innovative content and services across a wide range of devices to help customers stay connected and get more from their phone,” said Yves Maitre, Senior Vice President of Mobile Multimedia and Devices, Orange. “For ten years, Orange has pioneered a successful own-branded approach to delivering to its customers high quality, affordable handsets in all price ranges, packed with locally relevant and unique services and features. We are delighted to be partnering with Intel to add such an exceptional device to our portfolio.”

Today’s announcement builds on Orange’s long-standing and close relationship with Intel across its PC and tablet portfolio, and Orange continues to support Intel’s innovation and development on convergent platforms.

“The Orange device is a fantastic example of the innovation happening on Intel’s smartphone reference design,” said Mike Bell, Intel Vice President and General Manager of the company’s Mobile and Communications Group. “We are pleased to extend our close collaboration with Orange to Intel-based smartphones. Orange has a long and successful track record of innovation which has produced great mobile products and services for their customers. By combining Orange’s unique applications and services with an attractive high-performance Intel-based smartphone, Orange is once again demonstrating its wireless leadership while providing more value and customer choice.”

Francisco Jeronimo, Research Manager European Mobile Devices, IDC, commented: "This announcement is a bold move from Orange. In today's smartphone environment it is extremely difficult to differentiate without compromising costs. This device pushes the boundaries of innovation and provides consumers with premium experiences at affordable prices."

Source - Orange

Orange UK launches own brand Android tablet - the Tahiti

Orange today announced the Orange Tahiti, a super sleek and stylish Android tablet available from £69.99 on a price plan of £25 per month. Rolling out across Orange retail channels this week, the Tahiti is the first Orange branded tablet to be ranged by Orange in the UK.

Building on the success of the Orange branded mobile phone range, and continuing in the theme of offering outstanding value innovation, the Tahiti from Orange provides users with a tablet experience traditionally associated with a more high-end device. Running the Android Honeycomb operating system, the Tahiti also provides access to thousands of free apps from the Android marketplace and full Adobe Flash Player support.

Stylish and lightweight, offering great portability by weighing just 390g, the Tahiti also features a 7” multi-touch LCD screen and a dual core 1.2GHz Qualcomm processor, allowing users to surf the internet and watch films with ease when they’re on the go. Available in a slate black and silver finish, the Tahiti also features a 5 mega pixel camera, AGPS, WiFi, Bluetooth as well as a 3G+ connection.

Customers will also have access to a range of great benefits as an Orange customer including:

• Orange Wednesdays: offering 2-for-1 cinema tickets every Wednesday
• Best Value Home Broadband: great value home broadband from only £5 a month

The Tahiti is available for £69.99 on a £25 a month, 24 month data plan which includes 1GB of anytime data, 1GB of quiet time data* and unlimited WiFi hotspot access each month (subject to fair usage).

Alternatively, it is also available free as part of a Connected 24 month plan with the San Francisco II handset for £41 per month. The new Connected plan comes with a 2GB anytime data allowance and unlimited WiFi hotspot access (subject to fair usage), which can be shared across both devices, as well as 200 anytime call minutes and unlimited texts.

Paul Jevons, Director of Products and Devices, Everything Everywhere, said: "We’re pleased to be expanding our portfolio of own-brand devices into tablets for the first time. The Tahiti is a stylish, lightweight device with a great quality screen, which we believe really does offer great value innovation and will help customers to get the most out of their multimedia content whilst on the go”.

For more information on the Tahiti from Orange, including full price plan terms and conditions, please visit www.orange.co.uk.

Acer Liquid Express With embedded NFC technology, available in all UK Orange and T-Mobile stores.

Following the launch of the first Acer Liquid smartphones equipped with Android, Acer are now extending their range with a new model - the Acer Liquid Express - the company's first NFC-equipped device.

'As a technology of the future, NFC is a priority for Acer as it can be used for multiple purposes: payment, transport, tickets, loyalty cards, cultural information... and that's without having explored the thousands more applications that will follow.' says Allen Burnes, Vice-President of Acer's THBG division.

Together with Orange UK and T-Mobile UK, Acer promise to make these new services widely accessible thanks to an affordable and easy-to-use smartphone. The Acer Liquid Express offers usage patterns now previously associated by premium smartphones.

Allen Burnes adds 'Even if contactless technology has only just started spreading across the UK, it is important for the customer to take into account future need when choosing a new model. In a few months' time quite a number of smartphone users, whose new smartphones don't include NFC functionality, will have to change their mobile in order to benefit from this new technology.'

The contactless technology embedded in the Liquid Express allows it to adapt to its users' current and future needs reading NFC tags or targets, identification, virtualisation of loyalty or payment cards; all of this according to the tightest security standards and approved by a consortium of expert manufacturers, granting NFC Forum 2 and Cityzi certifications to the Acer Liquid Express.

In addition to the NFC functionality, the Liquid Express is equipped with a large 3'5 screen, a Qualcomm 7227 processor that runs at 800MHz, a 5 MP camera with LED flash and Android 2.3 (Gingerbread).

Available in Titanium, the Acer Liquid Express marks the general implementation of NFC technology in Acer smartphones. Starting with this model, all of the forthcoming brand's Android smartphones will be equipped with this up and coming technology.

Price and availability

The Acer Liquid Express is available FREE with both a £15.32 per month T-Mobile UK 24 months contract and a £20.50 per month Orange UK 24 months contract.

To learn more about Acer Liquid Express and the NFC technology implementation, please visit www.acer.co.uk/liquidexpress

Orange Announces Availability of Next Generation San Francisco II Smartphone

Orange today announced it will launch the Orange San Francisco II, the successor to the award-winning San Francisco smartphone, through Orange shops, Orange telesales and the Orange online shop in late November.

Offering outstanding value innovation, the 3G+ Orange San Francisco II offers everything customers expect from a high-end smartphone.

Building on the success of the Orange San Francisco, the San Francisco II adds a number of innovative features, including HD Voice for clear, crisp call quality, Signal Boost allowing users to benefit from enhanced indoor coverage and Orange Mobile Mail. The handset also features the latest Android gingerbread 2.3 operating system, providing users access to Android Market Place, so they can access thousands of the latest new apps.

The new San Francisco II also includes an improved 800 MHz processor and a 5MP camera - for snapping and sharing quality shots on the move. It also contains a bright, clear 3.5” WVGA capacitive TFT touch screen, 512 MB of internal memory and a slimmer and more lightweight body - set to build upon the fan base of its popular predecessor.

In addition, several key apps are pre-loaded onto the handset, including: Orange Wednesdays; offering 2-4-1 cinema tickets; Your Orange, allowing you to keep up to date and manage your account, and Orange Contacts Back-up.

The handset also features AGPS, an MP3 player and an inbuilt FM radio to complete the line-up of essentials.

Paul Jevons, Director of Products and Devices, Orange UK said: "The Orange San Francisco II is a fitting successor to the award-winning first model, and offers the latest developments in data, voice and design. We are delighted to be following up on the success of the award winning original with such a full-featured product we expect it to be really popular with consumers in the run up to Christmas”

San Francisco II Features:

• Talk Time: 4.5 hours
• Standby Time: 10 days
• Weight: 120g
• Dimensions: 117 x 58.5 x 10.6
• Camera Features: 5 megapixel
• Connectivity: WiFi / Signal Boost / Bluetooth / USB / SatNav
• Music: MP3 / FM Radio
• Network Band: Tri band
• Video: Calling
• Memory: 512 MB / 16Gb Micro SD card supported
• Email: POP3 / IMAP4 / Mobile Mail
• Data Speed: 3G + (HDSPA)
• Operating System: Android
• Version: Gingerbread 2.3
• Other: HD Voice, MobileMail, Orange WiFi, Your Account
• Applications and Features: Orange Maps, Your Orange, Contact Back Up, Mobile Mail, Orange App Store

The San Francisco II will be available exclusively from Orange shops, Orange telesales and orange.co.uk/shop from late November and will be £99 on Orange pay as you go with a £10 top-up and free on 24 month plans of £10.50 per month.

Source - Orange UK