I’ve blogged about the UK’s first Intel-powered phone before, back when it was known as the Orange Santa Clara, so I reckon it’s time to blog about it again, now that it’s had a name change. It’s now known as the Orange San Diego and, well, have a look…
Blimey, they’re really going all out with the Orange theme in the wallpaper and widget colours, aren’t they? But anyway, now that I’ve seen the phone actually running, in a few different videos, do I think it’s worth bothering with?
Well, let’s start with the good bits, ‘cos there’s a couple of things that I really like about the Orange San Diego. First up, there’s the fact it has HD Voice built in, which means that voice calls (y’know, the bit that sort of defines a phone as a phone) made with it are going to crystal clear. I like that. A lot. I also like the gestures you can use on the homescreen, and the fact you can configure them; so, as with the example in the video, you could swipe a letter W, and have that as your shortcut to bring up the Orange Wednesdays app.
That’s clever.
However, the big question is how well this phone compares to some of the other big hitters on the market, the likes of the HTC One X and the Samsung Galaxy S3, and it’s clear that in terms of processor performance, it won’t beat them. They’re quad-core phones, so it’s simply not possible. The point is, though, that it’s not really there to try and beat those two superstars; looking at Orange’s pricing, the Orange San Diego comes in at half the price of last year’s Galaxy S II, so what they’re aiming for, here, is something firmly in “budget superphone” territory.
When viewed that way, it’s hard to see any flaws in the device, especially when you factor in the absurdly long battery life the Medfield processor is supposed to give it, although I’m convinced the HTC One X might stand a chance at getting somewhere near the same battery life (and I’m currently running a battery life test on the One X, to find out… more details once the battery is flat, and I can tell you how long it lasted), even if it categorically won’t match the San Diego’s battery life. That super clever Tegra 3 processor should give it an edge over other top-enders, though.
So, basically, the Orange San Diego won’t come close to matching the awesomeness of those two heavyweights, but I don’t reckon it needs to, and on its own merits, it rocks.
And I would love to get my grubby paws on one, to have a play with…
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