Orange San Diego Intel-based Android phone
First Atom-powered smart talker
Agentless Backup is Not a Myth
Review If you own a smartphone then you are almost certainly using an ARM CPU. That’s good for ARM and its licensees but bad for Intel, as it wants a piece of the vast mobile chip market. Cue the San Diego, a retail version of Intel’s own Gigabyte-built smartphone reference platform built around a hyper-threading 1.6GHz Z2460 Atom processor.
Orange San Diego Intel CPU Android smartphone
Before we get into the technical long grass it’s worth pointing out that Orange has been clever with the San Diego’s pricing. At £200 on PAYG it slots in between the cheap, albeit very cheerful, £100 Huawei Ascend G300 and the likes of the Sony Xperia P which will set you back around £300.
There is direct competition at the price point from the HTC One V and Nokia Lumia 710 but both of those phones are vin ordinaire and pack nothing like the on-paper punch of the San Diego.
Sim slot on the side, but no micro SD expansion
To emphasise the point – besides an Atom CPU with 1GB of RAM – your £200 gets you a 4.03in 600 x 1024 screen, 16GB of storage, an NFC radio and an 8MP main and 1.3MP secondary camera. Sadly it’s also lumbered with Android 2.3 but Orange tells me an Ice Cream Sandwich update is due “shortly”.
Physically, the 10mm thick, 117g San Diego feels solid and well made and has a pleasantly tactile rubberised back. The front is devoid of any Orange or Intel branding, which I suspect will increase its appeal as will the slightly ICS-style capacitive buttons.
Home screen and status
The black and silver body is smart rather than stylish and the screen bezel is a bit thick at the top and bottom. It’s a very functional design though, thanks to the physical camera button, micro HDMI port and punchy 0.3W speaker that projects through grills flanking the micro USB port.
Next page: Core values
COMMENTS
..never buy on a promise
Having been stung several times by carriers and the promises they've made, I'd day don't touch this phone until it's running ICS
What puts me off Intel as their fucking jingle played at the end of every ad for a product with an Intel chip in it. Makes me feel like lobbing a large heavy object at the TV.
It is only surpassed in awfulness by the vomit inducing "I'm loving it" McDonald's jingle.
I suppose
ARM will just have to compete.
Your logic is that because a company's product is successful, that company should be prevented from trading in a given market, or so.
That same logic, were it to become law, would prevent ARM from enjoying the dominance they have earned thus far.
The law on monopolies exists to PROMOTE competitive practices, not to restrict them as you are advocating.
IT infrastructure monitoring strategies
Agentless Backup is Not a Myth
Top 10 SIEM implementer’s checklist
Steps to Take Before Choosing a Business Continuity Partner
Enabling efficient data center monitoring
