[Q] Alternative to Orange Sandiego ?

[Guest WhoAreWe]

Started out with a huawei g300 (returned), did some research and finally settled on either the OSD or maybe Sony Arc S. Would love to get a smartphone

but have been sitting on fence for 2 months now. Looking for:

Decent music player, camera, hdmi out (Not essential) and quality display for possible ebooks. Such functions are important to me.

I budgeted for £120 but expanded that to £200 because i wasnt happy with limitations of g300.

OSD apparently cant get rooted but is that a real problem? Not like it suffers from lack of ram or has intrusive orange appz?

Should i go for Sony arc instead or perhaps some other phone i didnt think off?

TIA

Edited August 15, 2012 by WhoAreWe

[Guest Rusty!]

Is it a real problem? Depends on how much you like root stuff I guess.

[Guest krizalllid]

The only thing that I might use with root is Titanium in order to remove some of the preloaded apps I never use. Could also back up apps in case a developer suddenly decides that you don't need access to your purchases (Rockstar).

[Guest WhoAreWe]

As mentioned in opening post, rooting isnt essential so long as ram and orange appz are not the limiting factor? Almost bought the OSD yesterday but held off because i tend to refresh

my tech stuff every 3-4 years. Dont wanna commit to a lemon for that amount of time if you know what i mean. Ive seen other members selling off their OSD. Curious

to see what they went for in that price bracket or if existing owners are genuinely happy with it.

Edited August 15, 2012 by WhoAreWe

[Guest Frankish]

Just sold mine for 130 quid on eBay and the buyer hasn't paid up yet :(

[Guest WhoAreWe]

Just sold mine for 130 quid on eBay and the buyer hasn't paid up yet :(

Any particular reason for the sale? Btw 24hrs is a reasonable turn-around for an ebay transaction. If was mint and boxed, hell, i would have

bought it off you at that price lol.

Edited August 15, 2012 by WhoAreWe

[Guest punjabi]

He's still not paid. Not happy. It's boxed with all bits. I've removed Orange logo off the back that's all.

How did you remove the orange logo off the back Frankish? I'm interested...

[Guest WhoAreWe]

Please keep your comments relevant to my original post e.g why you decided to keep the OSD, and if not, what did you replace it with?

Anything else is really spam or self promotion.

[Guest vermat17]

Just wondering guys, would the Motorola razr i be a decent alternative to the OSD, seeing as you can get for a £20 a month contract???

[Guest i am not a hacker]

It is better than the osd for sure

[Guest BlueMoonRising]

Just wondering guys, would the Motorola razr i be a decent alternative to the OSD, seeing as you can get for a £20 a month contract???

If you're happy with a £20 a month contract go for it. I was waiting for the Razr i launch before I got the OSD but the specs obviously put it out of my price range even before a price was announced(I'm strictly PAYG). I may hate you although that's just jealousy. ;)

[Guest Simon O]

Well, these are a couple of alternatives I can think of based on the current price of the San Diego:

Alternatives to the Orange San Diego

1) Acer Gallant Duo Pro. £162.99 SIM FREE - review

2) ZTE Grand X - £199.99 on Virgin Mobile PAYG - review

[Guest]

These days I base my device purchases upon paul's reviews, which is why I went for the osd even though it was locked down, he seemed very impressed by it.

Edited October 11, 2012 by Guest

[Guest punjabi]

These days I base my device purchases upon paul's reviews, which is why I went for the osd even though it was locked down, he seemed very impressed by it.

Me too!

[Guest geoff1951]

IMHO a lot of the negative comments out on the wider net are because it's branded Orange (which used to be regarded as a "cool" brand) and doesn't (didn't!) have ICS. One review said if it was branded Samsung/Apple it's be selling in millions.

For me, it's a superb 4" phone, excellent screen (what's all the fuss about Apple's retina display, which has only now reached 4"?) , loads of storage, fast, thin. I ignored the orange bloat from the start, and now with the Xolo ICS update it'll do me for a couple of years.

If only I could get rid of the google search bar... (I'm sure it was easiliy removeable on the GB version?!?)

[Guest BlueMoonRising]

IMHO a lot of the negative comments out on the wider net are because it's branded Orange (which used to be regarded as a "cool" brand) and doesn't (didn't!) have ICS. One review said if it was branded Samsung/Apple it's be selling in millions.

For me, it's a superb 4" phone, excellent screen (what's all the fuss about Apple's retina display, which has only now reached 4"?) , loads of storage, fast, thin. I ignored the orange bloat from the start, and now with the Xolo ICS update it'll do me for a couple of years.

If only I could get rid of the google search bar... (I'm sure it was easiliy removeable on the GB version?!?)

You need to install an alternate launcher to lose the persistent search bar, Apex is quite nice.

[Guest]

Use apex launcher , stock launcher has no option to remove search bar.

[Guest BlueMoonRising]

Use apex launcher , stock launcher has no option to remove search bar.

Beat you by seconds...

[Guest geoff1951]

Thanks guys, I'd seen it recommended earlier. Just downloaded. Yet more time to be spent sorting out my screens! Seems OK at first look, but it's a backward step losing the option to remove from within stock launcher.