Orange San Francisco review

[Guest Abyss1981]

Thanks for the great review, I bought one as a iPhone replacement for my mrs (she lost hers with no insurance)

Would slightly disagree with usb port loaction also, as i find ports on the bottom get clogged with trouser pocket fur etc, but as this will be in a the ladies hand bag i guess it dont matter!

I got mine from orange for £88.99 - i had a payg orange sim laying around, registered it, called orange went to sales team, said i was payg existing customer so i did not need the mandatory sim and £10 topup so they gave me the discount! When I got the phone, it said £30 free payg credit if you port your number to orange. It even came with a orange 3g sim anyway, even though i didnt need it as i unlocked mine from ebay for £1.50. im a android noob but so far love it bcos of this phone, although we are getting wifi issues atm and whilst i have got mms working, i cant get 3g internet working on o2? anyway will play later! :)

[Guest HearThatVoiceAgain]

Quick Question. Thinking of getting one of these for my other half who loves my desire. One thing she loves and would want on any phone is Live wallpapers. I know the wildfire and other low enders on 2.1 don't have them, but saw nothing in the review about the SF's capabilities in this department. Does it have them and if so, how do they run?

[Guest Paul]

It does have them... some run fine, some are a little jerky.

P

[Guest dadashi]

I ordered 3 SF's for me and the kids online. Looking forward to getting them. :)

I completed the order and paid online but haven't received any email from Orange. Do they send without any more notifications?

The order went through for all 3 under my name, so that wasn't a problem. Don't seem to be any restrictions on the number bought.

I've read through this thread but couldn't find accurate information about the battery life.

For those who've been using the SF 24/7, how long standy do you get? A full day or maybe more?

Seeing as it's not a widely distributed make, were would I be able to buy cheap batteries for the SF in the future?

Edited October 8, 2010 by dadashi

[Guest Paul]

Checked your spam folder? :)

P

[Guest DanWilson]

You flipped the Wildfire over like it was a bomb, and slammed the Pulse onto the box like dropping a rock or something :)

You seem to have priorities...

[Guest qwerta369]

You flipped the Wildfire over like it was a bomb, and slammed the Pulse onto the box like dropping a rock or something :)

You seem to have priorities...

Eh?

[Guest xiaokuguom]

I like orange very much,but that is not selt in china.

my bad english didn't stop talk with u---my new friends!

[Guest Xess]

Hi...Can anyone help ???...Just bought a new Orange San Francisco,(Great android phone for the price)...My Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit...Cant find the drivers for that phone...Orange wasnt much help either in the shop...Iam no teckie either...Can anyone help ???....Is there no software for that phone to put on my Pc ???

Hope you can help...Arby

[Guest dj9928]

Hi...Can anyone help ???...Just bought a new Orange San Francisco,(Great android phone for the price)...My Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit...Cant find the drivers for that phone...Orange wasnt much help either in the shop...Iam no teckie either...Can anyone help ???....Is there no software for that phone to put on my Pc ???

Hope you can help...Arby

You shouldn't need drivers, I don't have the phone so can only comment on my time with a Desire, you connect it, it should ask you which mode you want it in, you select disk drive.

[Guest Xess]

You shouldn't need drivers, I don't have the phone so can only comment on my time with a Desire, you connect it, it should ask you which mode you want it in, you select disk drive.

Everytime i plug in to usb port,it comes up with either insert disk that came with phone or find software on Pc...Then it says Windows cant find any software...Arby

[Guest dadashi]

Everytime i plug in to usb port,it comes up with either insert disk that came with phone or find software on Pc...Then it says Windows cant find any software...Arby

...tried a reboot...?

[Guest amdrew456]

I ordered 3 SF's for me and the kids online. Looking forward to getting them. :)

I completed the order and paid online but haven't received any email from Orange. Do they send without any more notifications?

The order went through for all 3 under my name, so that wasn't a problem. Don't seem to be any restrictions on the number bought.

I ordered one on Wednesday and never got the email but I rang up 08000792000 and they said the order had all gone through to be delivered today. But it didn't get delivered today. The courier (DPD) said that I had "a driver that can't be trusted". Brilliant. Orange said there's nothing they can do about it. So good luck getting them!

[Guest markdotpeters5]

Just thought I would add my findings.. received this phone today and THOROUGHLY impressed with it! It's faster on the whole than my Milestone was when I bought it.

Feels very well built, even though it's plastic, and the screen is gorgeous. The camera is crap, but the rest of the phone is excellent. Can't believe it was only £113 unlocked (including the mandatory £10 calls!)

Terrific value for money. Even calls sound good :)

[Guest dadashi]

can SF owners post some pictures and videos taken with the camera? It can't be that "crap"!!

EDIT: http://android.modaco.com/content/zte-blad...e/#entry1433469

Edited October 8, 2010 by dadashi

[Guest Xess]

Just thought I would add my findings.. received this phone today and THOROUGHLY impressed with it! It's faster on the whole than my Milestone was when I bought it.

Feels very well built, even though it's plastic, and the screen is gorgeous. The camera is crap, but the rest of the phone is excellent. Can't believe it was only £113 unlocked (including the mandatory £10 calls!)

Terrific value for money. Even calls sound good :)

Totally agree with you,as i just bought mine today too,as for the camera,i hardly use,so not a problem for me,plastic casing feels sorta rubbery in the hand,so not going to slip,best 100 quid ive spent on a Android phone....

Arby

[Guest jonesian]

I ordered one on Wednesday and never got the email but I rang up 08000792000 and they said the order had all gone through to be delivered today. But it didn't get delivered today. The courier (DPD) said that I had "a driver that can't be trusted". Brilliant. Orange said there's nothing they can do about it. So good luck getting them!

DPD are crap - they were supposed to text me before attempting delivery - they sent the text an hour after they'd tried to deliver it.

It took me ages to get through to a human at their depot.

If you have a look on Say no to 0800 numbers, you should be able to find your local depot number.

Orange are also shite - I'm still waiting for my £10 air time from Monday!

As soon as I've had it and used it - they can go and stuff themselves!

[Guest dadashi]

I've been reading and it seems there might be two hardware versions of the Orange SF going around. Most have the proximity sensor on the front right and some on the left. Are there any other differences? Do they both have OLED screens?

I'm an android newbie so excuse my next questions,

1-Can I install an original Chinese ZTE Blade ROM instead of the orange one? Would that be better?

2- Do ZTE update their devices using firmwares? If so, could that better video-camera functions amongst other things?

3-Can I install the android 2.2 when it comes out?

[Guest StickyGeko]

Nice Review Paul,

you inspired me to take the plunge and get the SF, ive a few vids upon youtube, people just search stickygeko,

im quite pleased with the phone, i have neocore showing scores of 40+fps, games run smooth,

i can confirm that when i use the loudspeaker my mrs says she cant hear me, camera isnt good at all in poor light, but its not that bad to be honest, just have a play with the settings, drag the left bar out and theres your settings

my only real gripe is 1 or 2 freezes for about 20/30 seconds, now i have the phone unlocked, i want to stick pauls rom on it but i was wondering will i still get the freezing as in is it hardware or software related

on a slighly different note, my proximity/light sensor is top left of the san, theres a vid on youtube today where the guy unboxin his is clearly top right of the francisco, this is an obvious hardware diff, has any1 else spotted any others? which 1s the revised model?

[Guest hankmoody]

This is a very nice phone.

Such a nice review.

Thank you. :)

[Guest Xess]

I've put it down to being a warning of "no signal"

Just tells you,you have email....

[Guest Xess]

Hi people,

My first time posting on here and I just want to get some thoughts on the phone by users if that's okay. Would this phone be good for a first smart phone? I have a Samsung Jet I did like it until Samsung decided to leave the Jet behind and stop doing apps for it. Is the camera really bad indoors/night time? And I heard that there's a hissing sound with the music on the speaker and earphones is that with all the phones or just a random fault?

Thanks

I had a Samsung Jet,sold it for £70 to buy SF,much much better phone,iam well pleased with the San Francisco,ive not got it unlocked yet,but will do so nxt week...I added Launch Pro from Android market free,gives me 7 home screens,just like htc desire,works really good...Camera is not bad,but i hardly use camera...Best 100 quid ive spent on a Android phone for ages....

[Guest yee_har]

Just tells you,you have email....

Never had "proper" email set up. Have got gmail set up. I had no email/gmail at the time. Just received something to gmail - no flash.

I had no signal. Every time I have no signal (e.g. Orange SIM at home) that button flashes.

In an Orange signal area - or with an O2 SIM at home - signal = no flashes.

"No signal" is - at least - one cause of that button flashing.

No biggie - just clarifying my experience.

[Guest Carbonize]

I have a question for anyone else with an SF. I bought this phone for my other half because her X10 mini's battery would last a day if she was lucky. Anyone I installed Watchdog Lite on her SF so I could monitor for any apps being silly and, from what it's showing, apps on the SF use a lot of CPU time. It's shown the Facebook app using 99.9%. I know it's not a problem with Watchdog Lite as I also have it on my GT540. Wondering if anyone else is willing to install Watchdog Lite and report their findings.

[Guest tdodd]

I have a question for anyone else with an SF. I bought this phone for my other half because her X10 mini's battery would last a day if she was lucky. Anyone I installed Watchdog Lite on her SF so I could monitor for any apps being silly and, from what it's showing, apps on the SF use a lot of CPU time. It's shown the Facebook app using 99.9%. I know it's not a problem with Watchdog Lite as I also have it on my GT540. Wondering if anyone else is willing to install Watchdog Lite and report their findings.

I use Watchdog Lite and it seems to work perfectly. I don't have any Facebook apps installed. The only apps picked up as 99.9% tasks are Weatherbug and Gallery, but both those are temporary peaks, following a boot, that settle back down soon enough.