7 replies to this topic

[bhamnav]

I'm thinking of ditching my racer for a newer ZTE phone, the question is whether I buy a Blade (San Francisco) or a Skate (Monte Carlo). They are of similar pricing and specs, but I want to know what you all think is better? It seems like the Blade (San Fran) is officially supported by Cyanmogen mod which is a massive plus going for that, and I'm unsure of whether the Monte Carlo will be a success in terms of community development? Thoughts please? Or are there better budget phones available?

Thanks

[JasonLeeming]

If you look on eBay you might be able to pick up a bargain on the Huawei U8800 Ideos X5. I'd also check out the Acer Liquid Metal.
Both of those phones are capable of running Flash, and you can get hold of them £150- £180 sim free.

[redhawkuk]

While I'm sure there's nothing wrong with the Huawei U8800 Ideos X5 the thing that makes the Racer and SF more appealing is free unlock codes.

Are Huawei Android handsets easy to unlock??

Can you unlock the ZTE Skate / Orange Monte Carlo using the same freebie code sites like the ZTE Racer / Blade??

Richard S.

Edited by redhawkuk, 29 August 2011 - 09:25 PM.

[tilal6991]

redhawkuk, on 29 August 2011 - 09:24 PM, said:

While I'm sure there's nothing wrong with the Huawei U8800 Ideos X5 the thing that makes the Racer and SF more appealing is free unlock codes.

Are Huawei Android handsets easy to unlock??

Can you unlock the ZTE Skate / Orange Monte Carlo using the same freebie code sites like the ZTE Racer / Blade??

Richard S.

Unlocking the OMC is not as easy as the blade but an unlock solution is being worked on.

The u8800 is a good phone if you can get it cheap. However if you are in the Uk there seems to a shortage at the moment.

Also I personally can reccomend the OMC. Its a good phone which the specs undermine and don't really do justice. Also the dev community will grow exponentially as soon as an unlock is available.

[JasonLeeming]

redhawkuk, on 29 August 2011 - 09:24 PM, said:

While I'm sure there's nothing wrong with the Huawei U8800 Ideos X5 the thing that makes the Racer and SF more appealing is free unlock codes.

Are Huawei Android handsets easy to unlock??

Can you unlock the ZTE Skate / Orange Monte Carlo using the same freebie code sites like the ZTE Racer / Blade??

Richard S.

The Huawei U8800 comes SIM free and sim unlocked, so there's no need for codes. It basically has the same specs as the Desire Z. Flibblesan has managed to overclock his to 1.5ghz, stable, with good battery life.

As for the Skate/OMC, it might have the big screen, but the processor etc are practically the same parts the Blade used. Plus, the free codes used to unlock the Racer and the Blade don't work. It seems the only way is to pay Orange for one.

[tilal6991]

JasonLeeming, on 30 August 2011 - 09:24 AM, said:

The Huawei U8800 comes SIM free and sim unlocked, so there's no need for codes. It basically has the same specs as the Desire Z. Flibblesan has managed to overclock his to 1.5ghz, stable, with good battery life.

As for the Skate/OMC, it might have the big screen, but the processor etc are practically the same parts the Blade used. Plus, the free codes used to unlock the Racer and the Blade don't work. It seems the only way is to pay Orange for one.

It's not practically the same as the blade. The skate runs a turbo processor which is not over clocked at 800 MHz. This is a significant improvent on the blade especially if you compare the broken down quadrant scores - the processor score of the skate is much higher.

[JasonLeeming]

tilal6991, on 30 August 2011 - 05:10 PM, said:

It's not practically the same as the blade. The skate runs a turbo processor which is not over clocked at 800 MHz. This is a significant improvent on the blade especially if you compare the broken down quadrant scores - the processor score of the skate is much higher.

You just undid your own argument with the mention of the turbo processor. It is basically a Blade processor overclocked, and you won't get much more than 900mhz out of it. The quadrant scores I saw taken by Paul for the Skate were terrible. The Huawei U8800 uses the same processor and chipset as the Desire Z, and like I said it's been overclocked to 1.5ghz.

[tilal6991]

JasonLeeming, on 30 August 2011 - 06:09 PM, said:

You just undid your own argument with the mention of the turbo processor. It is basically a Blade processor overclocked, and you won't get much more than 900mhz out of it. The quadrant scores I saw taken by Paul for the Skate were terrible. The Huawei U8800 uses the same processor and chipset as the Desire Z, and like I said it's been overclocked to 1.5ghz.

I havent undone it. If you look it up on wikipedia and gsmarena as well the msm7227 and the msm7227 turbo are 2 different chipsets entirely. The turbo is more of a name given to it by quallcomm than the fact it is over clocked. I'm pretty sure the community can get it to atleast 1.2 or 1.3 ghz. As for quadrant scores - two points. Quadrant has been proven to be one of the most unreliable benchmarks for android. Also the scores Paul posted was for the stock rom full of orange rubbish which slows the phone down. How can you possibly compare that to a custom rom running, overclocked u8800?

I'm not saying the U8800 is a bad phone I'm just saying the Skate isn't bad.