Quick review of Orange SanFran ZTE Blade

[Guest Christo0908]

Hi,

Beofre I bought the ZTE Blade (Orange San Francisco) I was really skeptical about buying it, whether it was going to do what I wanted it to do, whether it would be worth the money and whether there was a good support for custom ROMs compared the the previous popular back end device, the T-Mobile Pulse.

This is a quick review from perspective of a skeptic to put anyones mind at ease of the ups and downs of the SanFran (Especially if you're upgrading, yes, thats what I said, buying the San Francisco is a MAJOR upgrade from the pulse IMO).

Specifications

Device Name before Orange branding: ZTE Blade

CPU: Qualcomm MSM7227 @ 600MHz

This CPU is in the same family as the popular Snapdragon chips with OpenGL ES 2.0, this is also the same processor used in the T-Mobile G2, LG Optimus One P500 and the Sony Xperia X8 (more devices use the same processor but I am not going to trawl the internet to find every phone that uses it, so I listed (IMO) the 3 most popular out of the ones I DID find)

RAM & ROM

This phone has 512MB RAM and 512MB ROM, I am no expert on RAM and ROM, but ROM stands for Read Only Memory, which I imagine is where the system files are, being read only themselves (please correct me if I am wrong, and the RAM (Random Access Memory), determines how much memory is used for certain tasks on the phone. Again, please correct me if this information is incorrect I am not very knowledgable on memory, Long story short, it has alot of RAM for a budget smartphone, lots of space for apps and is unbelievably fast for a smartphone. Some models of the SanFrn only have 256 accesible RAM, but thanks to the great community of MoDaCo and Hungarians (which is where the partition size fix originated), you can easily reveal the extra storage space for your phone. Note: This involves Root access to the phone, which voids the warranty and some phones MAY NOT not need the fix.

Screen TFT/OLED

The screen of the Orange San Francisco, where do I start, unbelievable quality TFT screen (in some rare cases the Orange San Francisco has an OLED screen (similar to what the Samsung Galaxy S uses!!), unfortunately it is pretty unlikely that the phone will be provided with an OLED screen, however IMO the TFT is much better. At 3.5" this screen looks absolutely beautiful. :D BTW, this screen also has MultiTouch capabilities with 2 points of input, perfect for pinch zoom! :D

OS and Custom ROM Support

The SanFran comes pre-packed with Android 2.1, which is quite good considering the highest official supported OS for the previous popular budget smartphone, the T-Mobile Pulse, is 2.1, which implies this is as much as the phone can handle (which is untrue due to the amount of Custom FroYo ROMs out there for the T-Mobile Pulse). As far as the Stock OS goes, it's not very much to look at IMO, it is full of Orange branded apps and basically all the junk the Orange are required to add to make the OS their own. The Orange Junk can easily be removed with minimal tech knowledge WITHOUT actually adding a Custom ROM with a little help from the good folks here at MoDaCo. As far as Custom ROMs and flashing goes, I found it fairly easy, but it's down to finding the best ROM to suit your needs, which is not unfortunately something that anyone can help you with, so all these forums asking which is best, are pointless :).

Connections and Networks

Connections, keeping it short and simple, this phone has what MOST if not all Android smartphones have, WiFi, Bluetooth No integrated File Transfer, can be easily fixed with Market apps for OBEX Push FTP support), and 3G. EDGE and HSDPA are not on ALL Android phones, but it's not an uncommon thing and as far as connectivity goes, it's down to your Network Provider as to how good the 3G,EDGE and HSDPA connection is.

Sensors and Camera

Aaah, the budget Android phone camera, I, unfortunately for anyone who is looking for camera info, am not even going to waste my time reviewing it, just know, if you are looking for a budget smartphone with a good quality camera, it's not going to happen anytime soon, the camera is horrible in the wrong lighting and a waste of time.

The Sensors on the device include:- accelerometer, proximity and light sensors, accelerometer is the tilt sensetive sensor, which works as well as you'd expect a budget phone to and more!, the proximity sensor turns the screen off during calls, to avoid pressing the screen with your face, sounds stupid but yes it happens and can sometimes almost cost your job! and the light sensor is the automatic brightness for the screen, it changes the brightness of the screen to suit different lighting environments, example, if you're outside or in a high lighted area with alot of glare on the screen, the brightness increases, and vice versa.

Conclusion

I did not really have much chance to test the Stock Orange OS to be able to put a review up for it, however, I can tell you that if you are willing to Root your device, the support for the Custom ROMs on this forum is VERY good, however, I do not recommend going and rooting and customising the phone without proper knowledge of what you're doing and the dangers of doing it so this IS NOT me telling you Rooting is the way to go, it's down to preference.

Thanks for reading this, if you have any questions, feel free to ask, but it would be much appreciated if you could search the forums first and look for other reviews, such as Pauls in detail review which covers just about everything.

I bought the ZTE Blade (Orange SanFran) and I do not regret it at all!

Ciao

[Guest Lew247]

WHY?

http://android.modaco.com/content/zte-blad...-san-francisco/

If you'd looked its in the "stickied posts" the ones that always syat there just above where you posted this.

If you have anything to say regarding the review please post it IN the review thread and I'm sure people will be pleased to read it - but in the right place please