I just picked up my San Francisco! Findings as I go in here...

[Guest clonmult]

Hi guys, first post.

I also picked up this device to play around on / spare phone (any excuse).

First impressions were great, but once you use it a bit longer you can see the limitations, which are not that many considering the price of the device. I have a Desire to compare and so far I have been impressed with the SF's battery life.

What has not impressed me is the music player. If used with headphones with an in built microphone the sound is tinny and sounds corrupted in some way. I thought it was the SD card, but having just plugged it in my home stereo it sounds fantastic. Data transfer is rapid between the SD and Windows Media Player too.

The music player isn't too bad, its only obvious lack is any form of equaliser (that I've found so far ....). But sound quality on a reasonable set of 'phones isn't too bad at all. Definitely equal to my iPod Touch :lol:

[Guest _Zed_]

The music player isn't too bad, its only obvious lack is any form of equaliser (that I've found so far ....). But sound quality on a reasonable set of 'phones isn't too bad at all. Definitely equal to my iPod Touch :lol:

Have you tried it with set of headphones with a mic built in?

[Guest feckineejit]

And it definitely has a compass built in, which is definitely going to be useful.

were do i find the compass on it?

[Guest synet]

When I first got the phone, I sync'ed my calendar with one of my gmail accounts, but would like to sync it to another now, but can't figure out how to do it! It would let me remove the account, as 'other applications are using it', which I guess is the Calendar (although mail and contacts are in the sync list too). How do I sync my calendar to another gmail account please?

[Guest clonmult]

were do i find the compass on it?

App in the marketplace - just search for compass. It wouldn't work if there wasn't the relevant hardware inside :lol:

[Guest rjm2k]

When I first got the phone, I sync'ed my calendar with one of my gmail accounts, but would like to sync it to another now, but can't figure out how to do it! It would let me remove the account, as 'other applications are using it', which I guess is the Calendar (although mail and contacts are in the sync list too). How do I sync my calendar to another gmail account please?

Settings->Accounts & Sync -> Add Account?

[Guest carparkno1]

Ok, utter noob here... I have unliocked my san fran for 3 bucks, and have whacked in my t-mobile monthly sim. I updated the internet and MMS settings and all is well except...

When I now push on the orange-branded mail button on the front end, I no longer get my hotmail updates. It says "validating number" followed by "number not valid". I understand that it won't work given a t-mobile sim is now in it, but can I change the mail app so it recognises my t-mobile and allows me to receive my hotmail updates? Am new to all this and just want my hotmail to beep occassionally as it has done instead of going through a web page to get it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

ps when i get some balls I will look at this custom rooting malarky but for now I can live with all the orange stuff just so long as I have hotmail updating and alerting me.

Edited September 30, 2010 by carparkno1

[Guest Nick Rhodes]

Got mine yesterday.

First impression: Seriously good value for money.

I looked at the Optimus GT540, the ZTE Racer, the Pulse Mini, resistive screen technology, lower resolution/screen size. Even Vodaphones new 945 wont sport as big a screen resolution.

Orange could realistically price this phone at £130-£150.

I speculate they are either going to do 2 things with this phone:

Dominate the £100 market (and in turn the budget Android market)

OR

Put the prices up.

This is my first Android and first smart phone worth buying for myself. I wanted something as simple as my cheap Nokia to use, decent PIM functionality and good web based sync and not too expensive.

I've played with a lot of Android phones (especially as most of my friends own Heros or Desires now), S60 phones, iPhone 4, Windows Mobile, they either felt clunky or over priced, missing features or a combination. Both S60 and Windows mobiles I can't get on with as touch screen UI and I don't want a physical keyboard.

UI reacts and runs as quick as my Nokia, no slow down (with the Standard Launcher) - can be operated single handed no problem.

Screen is awesome for the money, I could not use an on screen keyboard on anything physically smaller and a cracking resolution.

Physical size - fits in my pocket, thinner than the competition.

Build quality - Considering the price pretty good and the plastic does not feel too brittle like quite a lot of the cheapest PAYG phones can.

Camera is aweful, my old SE K750i takes better pictures. But not a priority for me.

Stock features - missing Google Talk - Why ? I don't use it often, but very useful when I need to.

Battery life - I hope it was because I was playing about with the phone a lot as it's new and I had not let the battery charge overnight but down to 69% after 6 hours steady use (half on Wifi half 3g), between my day to day work and meals etc. But I know it a common thing with a lot of Smartphones, I will probably resort to disabling Wifi/3G and autosync during the day.

Orange branding - love/hate affair, I find it too in your face, but i think they did a good job of the branding effort without bloating the UI or slowing the system down.

Not tried - playing music - just something I have never done or plan on doing with my mobile.

As a vanilla Android fan, as soon as was home in the evening I MCR'd it (thanks Paul).

Cheers, Nick.

[Guest clonmult]

Build quality - Considering the price pretty good and the plastic does not feel too brittle like quite a lot of the cheapest PAYG phones can.

Camera is aweful, my old SE K750i takes better pictures. But not a priority for me.

Its a pleasantly solid feeling phone, but then to be honest unless you're buying a Vertu, most phones are built as cheap as possible - regardless of brand.

Interesting you say about the K750 camera, I'd reckon its still the equal of a lot of other camera phones out there right now. SE got that camera absolutely perfect. The K800 definitely wasn't an improvement.

[Guest jameng]

Ok, utter noob here... I have unliocked my san fran for 3 bucks, and have whacked in my t-mobile monthly sim. I updated the internet and MMS settings and all is well except...

When I now push on the orange-branded mail button on the front end, I no longer get my hotmail updates. It says "validating number" followed by "number not valid". I understand that it won't work given a t-mobile sim is now in it, but can I change the mail app so it recognises my t-mobile and allows me to receive my hotmail updates? Am new to all this and just want my hotmail to beep occassionally as it has done instead of going through a web page to get it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

ps when i get some balls I will look at this custom rooting malarky but for now I can live with all the orange stuff just so long as I have hotmail updating and alerting me.

Plenty of email apps in the market u can get and set up with your hotmail :lol:

[Guest carparkno1]

Any chance you could name a couple of reliable ones? Once I have that set up I will watch this holy grail video and info Paul has done on modding!

[Guest jameng]

I've never downloaded and used any but i hear K9 is supposed to be good, maybe someone else knows if there is a better one out there

[Guest synet]

Settings->Accounts & Sync -> Add Account?

Yes, I can add the new account OK, but I can't remove the old one.

Looks like I have to do a factory reset, like it suggests.

Edited September 30, 2010 by synet

[Guest carparkno1]

Thanks jameng, does anybody know if there is a way I could use the mail button on the orange front screen to reconnect to hotmail, but by way of my tmobile sim?

[Guest balb0wa]

im having trouble changing the keyboard, i swipe left or right and it doesnt change from the qwerty, seemed to work fine on my pulse, what am i doing wrong? lol

[Guest Paul]

Have you selected TouchPal as the keyboard or are you still on the standard Android one?

P

[Guest balb0wa]

Have you selected TouchPal as the keyboard or are you still on the standard Android one?

P

In settings i can see android and touchpal, not sure how i select one to be default, thanks

[Guest Paul]

Press hold on a textbox and select input method.

P

[Guest balb0wa]

Press hold on a textbox and select input method.

P

haha, many thanks, amazing :-))

[Guest carparkno1]

Okay so I have hotmail coming through K9 which is fine for now... but I still have to ask.

Aside from the google mail app, where is the normal andorid mail button? or is it the orange mail one on their front end that seems to now be ruined as it keeps saying my phone number is invalid (now I am on tmobile). Confused by this!

[Guest Paul]

Orange / ZTE removed the standard Android email client and replaced it with the client from Seven. If you install MCR you'll get the stock mail client back (and you can manually install Seven if you choose!)

P

[Guest decpvr]

Just got my San Francisco. Looks great!

Managed to get it for £80 with a non-functioning old orange number :lol:

Just one catch - my phone is showing 'no network'. I've put the Orange sim in that came with the phone and left it on charge (I always do a charge immediately on new gadgets).

Tried the online Orange activation page with no luck, the 0800 phone number also doesn't work.

Am I missing something obvious?

P.S. Also got an unlock code from HCK in minutes! B)

[Guest Trappedin80's]

Found out about this phone in sunday paper minutes before finding this thread, followed this thread 'til monday afternoon when I decided to take the plunge.

My phone turned up on tuesday and it's just as good as I'd hoped. I've had no orange tint or anything on my screen as some other poster's have previously mentioned, it's clear and bright. It's an excellent internet browser.

Overall, so far, top mark's. Really pleased.

[Guest steviem]

So far on first impressions it's one of the better phones that I've had. Responsiveness up there with the original iPhone on iOS 3.

Build quality is better than the Pulse.

Port positioning much better than on the N900.

Specs are amazing for the price.

Hopefullly 2.2 will be on it in the not so distant future (then it will have another mark up against the Samsung Galaxy which had zero support from Samsung with...)

[Guest carparkno1]

Awesome will have a stab at el custom mod sometime! I just want simple clean 2.1 with no orange!