74 replies to this topic

[hemant1]

http://montecarlophone.co.uk/#


It looks pretty legit to me
Will you guys be buying this if it's at this price



One more thing
I can get the Palm Pre 2 for £144 but should I just wait for the monte carlo and buy that instead?

[ThermalDroid]

It's based on someone saying they have a friend in orange...How is that legit?

[Atomix86]

That's a hell of a lot better price than £229 from crap sites like Clove. I may still get this then, we need a proper announcement Orange!

Edited by Atomix86, 26 July 2011 - 03:12 PM.

[hemant1]

ThermalDroid, on 26 July 2011 - 12:59 PM, said:

It's based on someone saying they have a friend in orange...How is that legit?

I said it seems legit to me there's a difference. It's gonna be releasing soon so we'll just have to wait and see.

[flibblesan]

Old news (for me, at least). I can confirm the price is £139.99 (no point keeping it to myself now it's been leaked online by others). As I always said for the last few weeks... less than £150

Obvious the phone requires a mandatory £10 top-up if buying online which makes the price £149.99. In store it'll most likely be a £20 minimum top-up.

[sej7278]

flibblesan, on 26 July 2011 - 04:45 PM, said:

Old news (for me, at least). I can confirm the price is £139.99 (no point keeping it to myself now it's been leaked online by others). As I always said for the last few weeks... less than £150

Obvious the phone requires a mandatory £10 top-up if buying online which makes the price £149.99. In store it'll most likely be a £20 minimum top-up.

so the blade is what £100 including the £10 topup these days? i might have bought one if i didn't already have a blade, but its not enough of an upgrade to buy one now.

next android phone for me has to have hardware keyboard and arm7.

[flibblesan]

sej7278, on 26 July 2011 - 04:56 PM, said:

so the blade is what £100 including the £10 topup these days? i might have bought one if i didn't already have a blade, but its not enough of an upgrade to buy one now.

next android phone for me has to have hardware keyboard and arm7.

San Francisco is £104.99 plus £10 top-up online, £20 in store.

Is the Monte Carlo worth an extra £35? I think so, but does everyone else?

[hemant1]

I really need an upgrade from my cookie so will defin be buying. Curious but do you guys think it will better then the palm pre 2?

[Atomix86]

hemant1, on 26 July 2011 - 07:23 PM, said:

I really need an upgrade from my cookie so will defin be buying. Curious but do you guys think it will better then the palm pre 2?

Yes. WebOS is not particularly exciting.

[TouchyAndalou]

flibblesan, on 26 July 2011 - 05:03 PM, said:

Is the Monte Carlo worth an extra £35? I think so, but does everyone else?

I'd say yes as well, definitely. But the real question for most of us is whether the Monte Carlo is worth paying an extra £139.99 (£150 with top-up) for? For me, the Skate would have to be a significant upgrade to trade in the Blade at this stage, which I'm not sure that it is. Having said that, if my Blade was knackered or something, it'd be a no-brainer for me.

[ididmytime]

flibblesan, on 26 July 2011 - 05:03 PM, said:

San Francisco is £104.99 plus £10 top-up online, £20 in store.

Is the Monte Carlo worth an extra £35? I think so, but does everyone else?

The Monte Carlo should be named the Orange San Franciso+

I don't consider it an upgrade, the camera is still the same poor old one, and it's running an armv6, but it's great for consumers to choose if they want a slightly bigger phone running android 2.3. They will be the ones to decide if it's worth the £35, for the Blade users, the specs will be too low for the majority to upgrade, they will look elsewhere for a decent upgrade.

[sej7278]

ididmytime, on 26 July 2011 - 09:39 PM, said:

The Monte Carlo should be named the Orange San Franciso+

I don't consider it an upgrade, the camera is still the same poor old one, and it's running an armv6, but it's great for consumers to choose if they want a slightly bigger phone running android 2.3. They will be the ones to decide if it's worth the £35, for the Blade users, the specs will be too low for the majority to upgrade, they will look elsewhere for a decent upgrade.

argos have blades for £100 + £10 mandatory top-up to which orange add a free £10 topup.

"blade+" is totally the name i'd give the skate. i would consider it for £140+10 if i didn't already have a blade. i can't see anyone would replace their blade with one though, its just not 40% more phone.

that said, what other gingerbread androids could you get new, unlocked and off-contract for £150? certainly not a moto defy, htc desire, or huawei u8800......

[flibblesan]

sej7278, on 26 July 2011 - 10:01 PM, said:

argos have blades for £100 + £10 mandatory top-up to which orange add a free £10 topup.

"blade+" is totally the name i'd give the skate. i would consider it for £140+10 if i didn't already have a blade. i can't see anyone would replace their blade with one though, its just not 40% more phone.

For members of the forum that have rooted the Blade and installed custom ROMs the Skate isn't the big upgrade they hoped for. A large percentage of Orange San Francisco sales would have been by people that don't know about rooting, or have no interested in it. These are the people that will pay to upgrade the device to get a faster CPU and a recent Android version. The San Francisco came with Android 2.1 installed which is pretty old now. Also I would say if somebody was planning to buy a San Francisco now to wait for the Skate since it'll be a better buy. But for current San Francisco users running custom roms.. nah.

[stephen1972]

I would wait til Xmas b4 consideration. price reviews etc

[Atomix86]

TouchyAndalou, on 26 July 2011 - 09:30 PM, said:

I'd say yes as well, definitely. But the real question for most of us is whether the Monte Carlo is worth paying an extra £139.99 (£150 with top-up) for? For me, the Skate would have to be a significant upgrade to trade in the Blade at this stage, which I'm not sure that it is. Having said that, if my Blade was knackered or something, it'd be a no-brainer for me.

Precisely. For most of us the question isn't "should I get the blade or skate", it's "should I fork out another 150 quid after already purchasing a blade". I had already sold my blade so my situation isn't exactly the same, but I can't see myself paying 150 (which includes a top up I don't even need) when you can get something like a Desire HD for just a little more, or go bargain hunting in the pre owned market.

[Atomix86]

sej7278, on 26 July 2011 - 10:01 PM, said:

argos have blades for £100 + £10 mandatory top-up to which orange add a free £10 topup.

"blade+" is totally the name i'd give the skate. i would consider it for £140+10 if i didn't already have a blade. i can't see anyone would replace their blade with one though, its just not 40% more phone.

that said, what other gingerbread androids could you get new, unlocked and off-contract for £150? certainly not a moto defy, htc desire, or huawei u8800......

It's not unlocked, the unlocked one is 229 pounds.

[lordjubblydave]

Im Defo going to get one.


My Blade screen has cracked.

I can get £12 back via Quidco and maybe sell my blade for spares or something and get ~£50.

Also i dont think people are looking at this in the right way, people are comparing it to HTC Desires and Galaxy S etc.

I bought a San Fran last year and im going to by a Monte Carlo and possibly an Andy Pad this year which should last me until my current contract runs out.
So for the price i would have paid for a Galaxy S last year i get 2 phones and a tablet, which in my opinion is absolutely fantastic.

Sure the Monte Carlo "upgrade" is not a massive leap, but neither were the Desire S or IPhone 3GS but that didn't stop their companies charging Full whack again  but it is better than the San Fran and maybe with overclocking it could get up to ~1ghz.

I dunno, im prob gonna get shot down but on its own merits for £150 including top-up, i feel it is well worth it.

[Atomix86]

lordjubblydave, on 27 July 2011 - 07:14 AM, said:

Im Defo going to get one.


My Blade screen has cracked.

I can get £12 back via Quidco and maybe sell my blade for spares or something and get ~£50.

Also i dont think people are looking at this in the right way, people are comparing it to HTC Desires and Galaxy S etc.

I bought a San Fran last year and im going to by a Monte Carlo and possibly an Andy Pad this year which should last me until my current contract runs out.
So for the price i would have paid for a Galaxy S last year i get 2 phones and a tablet, which in my opinion is absolutely fantastic.

Sure the Monte Carlo "upgrade" is not a massive leap, but neither were the Desire S or IPhone 3GS but that didn't stop their companies charging Full whack again  but it is better than the San Fran and maybe with overclocking it could get up to ~1ghz.

I dunno, im prob gonna get shot down but on its own merits for £150 including top-up, i feel it is well worth it.

If you are on contact you would have got the galaxy s for free, but aside from that you're comparing last years prices for one of the best phones of it's time (and is still a high end device) which can now be gotten much cheaper, to a low end phone and extremely low end tablet. Of course you could get the two for the old price of the Galaxy s, but neither have the performance anywhere near the quality of the S, and as I already stated it's getting cheaper all the time.

The reason the Skate is getting compared to Desire HD etc is because those phones, despite being 1 year old or more, still have superior hardware and now go for much cheaper.

[ronc2000]

I'll wait till there is possibility at least that it can be unlocked, and debranded.
Another rom other than 2.3 is probably not necessary.

[lordjubblydave]

Atomix86, on 27 July 2011 - 08:16 AM, said:

If you are on contact you would have got the galaxy s for free, but aside from that you're comparing last years prices for one of the best phones of it's time (and is still a high end device) which can now be gotten much cheaper, to a low end phone and extremely low end tablet. Of course you could get the two for the old price of the Galaxy s, but neither have the performance anywhere near the quality of the S, and as I already stated it's getting cheaper all the time.

The reason the Skate is getting compared to Desire HD etc is because those phones, despite being 1 year old or more, still have superior hardware and now go for much cheaper.

I hardly got it for free, £35 x 24 = £840, that is the price of a half decent Laptop.
Don't get me wrong, if i could get a NEW Desire or SGS for anywhere near the price of the Monte Carlo, i would be all over it, fact is i can't.