Orange San Fransisco or Motorola FlipOut?

[Guest YusufP]

Hey people, sorry if I am unnecessarily creating a new thread, but ive searched all over Modaco and even Google, but little information is known about this phone.

After losing my T-Mobile Pulse a couple of weeks back, I decided that is was time for me to upgrade. With the latest budget Android device, the Orange San Fransisco released and with its relative power, it seemed the obvious choice.

However, when visiting the Orange shop today, I saw that the Motoralo Flipout is on PAYG for the price of £150.

Now this phone apparently has a 720 MHZ Processor, 512 MB of RAM and 128 of internal storage for Applications.

It runs Android 2.1 and the things that I really like about it is the form factor and the fact that it looks fun :) and the fact that it has Pinch To Zoom.

Now, the only downside I see to choosing this phone over the San Fransisco is the lack of community support and the fact that that the screen is of a lower resolution and also not OLED.

Seeing as I am only a student, £150 would be a big spend.

So, anybody, any advice?

Thanks :)

[Guest YusufP]

Here is an Engadget preview of the Motoralo Flipout

http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/03/motorola-flipout-preview/

Thanks.

[Guest csr_cafc]

Personally i would only get one of these if i needed a physical keyboard. The screen on the sf is probably its best feature and when i was using one of these in an orange shop the screen on the moto wasnt as good. Hardware wise they look similar so on balance the extra money spent is prob not worth it unless you need a keyboard.

[Guest YusufP]

Personally i would only get one of these if i needed a physical keyboard. The screen on the sf is probably its best feature and when i was using one of these in an orange shop the screen on the moto wasnt as good. Hardware wise they look similar so on balance the extra money spent is prob not worth it unless you need a keyboard.

Thanks for that, so the OLED screen really is that great then?

I thought it would just be some overrated thing.

Thing is il have to unlock the phone too and the San Francisco seems easy in that department.

Not specifically looking for a hardware keyboard, would be nice though.

My thoughts were that the Motorola just looks alot more 'cool'...

Hard decisions lol.

[Guest tanivula]

Since it's a Motorola it will have an encrypted boot loader - I'm pretty sure you'll still be able to get root access. I have been told, apart from the very early moto android phones, none of the newer ones can be loaded with custom ROMs due to the securty (eFuze?).

For a normal user this wouldn't be much of an issue, however trying different ROMs is all part of the fun of Android right?

Edited October 11, 2010 by tanivula

[Guest YusufP]

Since it's a Motorola it will have an encrypted boot loader - I'm pretty sure you'll still be able to get root access. I have been told, apart from the very early moto android phones, none of the newer ones can be loaded with custom ROMs due to the securty (eFuze?).

For a normal user this wouldn't be much of an issue, however trying different ROMs is all part of the fun of Android right?

Lol, well I am quite a noob at this Rooting stuff, so anything I try to root, will be by following guides on the Modaco forums :)

Seeing as the Motorola has no Modaco section, I may go with the San Francisco, which is also cheaper.

I have had a Pulse before and was looking forward to the polish on a device with the Motoblur skinning.

Oh well, guess the San Francisco it is then! :)

By the way, I know the specs kill the pulse, but just how better is it to actually use?

Thanks :)

[Guest amoebauk]

If you just want a phone for texting and emailing, the Flipout does look good.

However if you want to browse the web and play games - the Cisco wins.

[Guest c0m47053]

The big issue with the Flipout is the resolution of the display (QVGA 320x240). Not only will it be difficult to use (mentioned in the Engadget preview), but more importantly, it will not support most apps in the market. To me, the apps are one of the big differenced between Android, and a dumbphone.

[Guest k0nrad]

The big issue with the Flipout is the resolution of the display (QVGA 320x240). Not only will it be difficult to use (mentioned in the Engadget preview), but more importantly, it will not support most apps in the market.

C'mon, it's actually not that bad. Of course, some devs are lazy enough not to put the 'small screen' flag in the code*, but most apps are available and working with no fuss. Seeing many new budget android devices equipped with only QVGA, you may expect the ratio of unavailable apps to drop.

Apart from that - I think the Flipout is a nice phone with a really cool form factor, probably more reliable in terms of build quality as well... But - based on reviews/previews - I'd only go for it if I was really heavy texter and social-networking guy. If it's Blur you'd miss on the SanFran, then you can buy LauncherPro Plus ($2,99 I guess?) with FriendStream-esque People widget.

*) I'm actually not sure if you can sideload such an .apk? Lack of the flag surely prevents the app from appearing in the Market, but would it be impossible to install it as well?

[Guest c0m47053]

*) I'm actually not sure if you can sideload such an .apk? Lack of the flag surely prevents the app from appearing in the Market, but would it be impossible to install it as well?

Not sure, you could unzip and change the manifest I guess though.

It would be interesting to see how well apps would run on the screen if the flag was set. Given that most flagship android phones (and even the san fran) are shipping with WVGA screens, which have over twice the screen real estate than the Flipout.

Perhaps I will have a look at shoving some apps into a low res emulated device to see how well they work.

I really thought the Flipout was an interesting device, and considered one for my other half, but I don't believe that QVGA will ever be a first class citizen in the Android world.

[Guest c0m47053]

Reading up on the documentation, Google suggest that there could be issues running apps on QVGA screens:

http://developer.android.com/guide/practic...ns_support.html

QVGA

Because QVGA (240x320) screens have less screen area available and lower density than normal, which is 240x360 in low density, some applications cannot render all their content properly on those screens. As a result, on a QVGA device, Android Market will filter out all applications that do not declare they support small screens.

So QVGA is currently below the threshold for resolution independence.