Latest Mobile News and Reviews – Orange San Francisco 2

Latest Mobile News and Reviews

While there is plenty of choice at the top end of the mobile market if you have money to burn and time to do your research, you may be surprised to see the level of variety you can encounter amongst budget handsets. The Orange San Francisco 2 is the latest smartphone to fall into this category and is also the successor to one of the most critically acclaimed entry level models to date, so it has a lot of work to do to make itself stand out from the crowd.

On the surface the San Francisco 2, which is produced once more by Chinese manufacturer ZTE, is not that much different from its predecessor. This is no bad thing since its pricing will mirror the original San Francisco, which itself will only be slightly cheaper to appease those who are really counting the pennies.

In terms of the design you will notice some similarities between the San Francisco 2 and some of Sony Ericsson`s most recent efforts. This is no bad thing, because although there is a prevalence of plastic adorning the chassis it is thin, light and solidly constructed, so you will not feel like it is overly cheap when you use it on a regular basis.

You get a 3.5 inch touch screen display, which for many is the centrepiece of the San Francisco 2`s appeal. A resolution of 480×800 is welcome since many budget smartphones are compromised by their minimal pixel counts and resistive screens. The original San Francisco had a largely identical display, but the San Francisco 2 should feel quite a bit slicker thanks to the 800MHz processor which is packed inside, a full 200MHz faster than the chip embedded in its precursor.

ZTE has taken the trouble to add a five megapixel camera and LED flash to the rear of the San Francisco 2, which should take quite good photographs even if the lens and sensor technology are not quite at the top of the technological tree. A VGA camera on the front will allow you to make video calls if you wish, which is another welcome addition.

Android 2.3 is preinstalled on the San Francisco and it is largely untouched in terms of interface, with only a few network-specific changes being made to the homescreens in order to make it consistent with Orange`s branding. You can access the Android Market to download applications, browse the web over Wi-Fi or find your location using its GPS connectivity. While it is not going to have all the visual bells and whistles of some high end handset like the Samsung Galaxy SII it is a fraction of the price and still delivers the basic smartphone features you would expect without making too many compromises.

The Orange San Francisco 2 is definitely amongst the best Android phones for those with limited money to spend and it does just enough to make it easy to recommend over the first in the range.