221 replies to this topic

[Chaz_UK]

That review was a pleasure to read and had I not already gotten one, it would have pushed me over the edge to get one! There is nothing I disagree with what you say Paul.

Well done!

[tigermain]

Great article, I bought one last night sadly so missed the discounts mentioned here (oh well its a business expense)

I've bought my for a testing device, does anyone know why ZTE usb driver will work with it under Windows 7?

I plugged it into my PC and it failed to find the driver, I need it for USB debugging.

Very impressed with the device considering the price tag!

[Sere83]

Yeah nice review, many thanks. Went in to my local orange shop today and had a go with a working diaplay model, great device, still can't believe the price. I have to say my Hero looked like a sad state next to that AMOLED display. Think I may have to get one...

Multi touch support too! which incidently was smoother than my hero, in fact everthing about this device was smoother than my hero.

Just wondered could anyone do some video tests?

I ran a 420x320 3GP file which worked well, thought for a second it had native xvid support, forgot i'd converted the videos.

Edited by Sere83, 01 October 2010 - 03:52 PM.

[hillmie87]

bought the phone after reading this review. I approve of the review, but my problem with the phone so far is that it's a bit laggy (compared to my iphone 3gs and htc desire). But it isn't a big of an issue though.

[flash2004]

hillmie87, on Oct 1 2010, 17:44, said:

bought the phone after reading this review. I approve of the review, but my problem with the phone so far is that it's a bit laggy (compared to my iphone 3gs and htc desire). But it isn't a big of an issue though.

Clearly you havent used the Tmobile pulse   (which is of a comparable level £100 phone)

[myfeetsmell]

Thanks Paul,
Great work as ever, becoming more a fan of this site than ever. Still a noob here but learning quick ha ha

[PaulOBrien]

Nice avatar!

P

[norman123]

Can ayone who has the htc widfire and the SF or has used both tell me which one is better? thankyou:)

Edited by norman123, 02 October 2010 - 12:24 PM.

[norman123]

hello, i just read the review of the san francisco, and it looks like a decent phone, however im buying a phone soon and im stuck between the SF and the htc wildfire:/ can anyone who has used or has both phones tell me which one is better and, why? thankyou very much:)

[rahvamees]

Thank you Paul for excellent write-up. After reading review I couldn't resist and had to order one. Went via Topcashback for potential £12 plus found a voucher code "5offPAYGOct" expires 08 Oct that gives you another fiver off. So hopefully will receive my new phone on Tuesday and will hunt for unlock code.

Rgds.
Alex

[jonesian]

Hi - complete noob here, having read the review I'm going to get one of these to replace my Motorola Razr. I haven't got a clue about Android and alot of the posts on here look like astrophysics to me, but I will try unlocking and removing all the Orange crap. I then want to use it with my virgin sim.

One thing - will this void the warranty?

Can I sync a calendar with my XP computer and does the phone have to be online to use the calendar?

Also is there a way to make notes?

I'd also like to use GPS - is this hard to do?

Sorry to be such a numpty, but I'm not exactly brain of britain when it comes to technology.

Thank you!

[Davey7]

I'm hasintating between 2 phones... Orange SF and Samsung Galaxy Apollo i5801...
Can anyone help me decide? I would go with the SF but i don't know how fast is the processor... I've tried the samsung an it's ok with that resolution.
I have an Ipod touch 1G,so I like if the software is fast...

Does the SF has a landscape keyboard?

Edited by Davey7, 02 October 2010 - 02:05 PM.

[myfeetsmell]

Yeh Paul
Thats my current ride, gotta love the dubs huh
haha

Phil

Paul, on Oct 1 2010, 20:34, said:

Nice avatar!

P

[cipster]

Hello to all,

I have just bought my San Francisco. I'm amazed at the price. I was so undecided between this and LG Optimus 540 but finally decided for the San Francisco. I already unlocked it and getting ready to root and install the MoDaCo rom. Only one problem the colours are very very bright and fluorescent.  Photos are glowing, icons as well. It's not a very big thing but it is disturbing.

My question is : Is it a software issue or a hardware issue? If it's software related maybe this will be resolved by flashing it with MoDaCo rom, if it's harware I would have to use the warranty to fix it but it takes time. I don't want to flash it yet maybe I'll lose my warranty. Anyone else has this problems.

Many thanks for your help!

[neologan]

cipster, on Oct 2 2010, 18:46, said:

Only one problem the colours are very very bright and fluorescent. Photos are glowing, icons as well. It's not a very big thing but it is disturbing.

Click menu / settings / sound & display, then scroll down to brightness. Try lowering it from what it is. My guess is it's high on yours maybe?

Edited by neologan, 02 October 2010 - 06:17 PM.

[ernok]

Hi
Liked the review.  Went down to my local Orange store and had a feel of the phone like it and bought it
Now been playing with it all afternoon.  Much improved over the Pulse i had before
Only issue so far is the WiFi not auto reconnecting other than that very happy with the phone
I have unlocked and a 3 sim and O2 sim work fine

ern

[sipart]

Davey7, on Oct 2 2010, 15:01, said:

I'm hasintating between 2 phones... Orange SF and Samsung Galaxy Apollo i5801...
Can anyone help me decide? I would go with the SF but i don't know how fast is the processor... I've tried the samsung an it's ok with that resolution.
I have an Ipod touch 1G,so I like if the software is fast...

Does the SF has a landscape keyboard?

The SF is a better all round phone. SF screen is higher res, bigger (3.5" instead of Samsung Galaxy's 3.2") and AMOLED. SF processor is similar speed to Samsungs.

I have just bought a SF and also have a Samsung Galaxy Portal i5700 (which is the similar older version of the i5801- but strangely the i5700 is higher spec). I also have a 1G ipod touch and the SF is much better screen wise and faster but obviously the SF and Galaxy run Android so dissimilar in that sense (but assume you know that) :-)

As for the landscape keyboard - a software one yes.

Only minor gripe I have is no four way rocker key on the SF (or trackball), so if you want to move along a line of text or url you have to prod around with your finger rather than be able to move the cursor with the hardware keys.

Another thing I hoped was going to be better on the SF was game and app graphics performance - but not had chance to try this out yet (the Samsung i5700 has a very poorly written GPU driver so some games don't work).

Can't see Google Earth in the Android Market to try this - which was something I was hoping was available on the SF due to it's high res and larger screen :-( Tried one download of the apk from the interwebs - but after install it doesn't run :-(

Recent Samsungs are always divx certified so playback divx files out the box really well but RockPlayer from the Android Market sorts that out on the SF and looks great on the SF's screen

Cheers

[jsmith07611]

Paul, on Sep 30 2010, 13:39, said:

You can use 'MoreLocales' to switch it to German. I just tried it and it works.

P

Dear mr Paul

please can you give me some instructions on how to make my san francisco into hebrew language.  please tell me which files i should install.  thank you very much

[bandreasz]

Hello everyone!

I've got only one concern about this phone, which is the gsm signal srength as you can see on Paul's pictures in the first post. The signal strength most of the time is 1, sometimes 2 or 3, but never 4 on my device. I put the Orange card into my old unlocked Nokia and that showed maximum signal strength. Anybody else experienced similar to this? What do you think?

Thanks for your help

bandreasz

[David Horvath]

jsmith07611, on Oct 3 2010, 00:06, said:

Dear mr Paul

please can you give me some instructions on how to make my san francisco into hebrew language.  please tell me which files i should install.  thank you very much

You did not find Hebrew language in that application? If there is no support for it, than i think you must wait. The app should have every language supported by Android..