Will Orange & ZTE do it again ?

[miffed]

http://shop.orange.co.uk/mobile-phones/orange-monte-carlo


No pricing announced as yet for the UK , but if it is along the same lines as the SF , then this should be great !
I suppose it is Playing "Desire HD" to the SF's "Nexus One" , Will certainly consider picking one of these up if it is priced in line with the SF ,

This is something that has always struck me with Android , Of course you can buy your �4-500 handsets and enjoy them , but you can also get some bargains , and the experience in the hand is really not that different ! ....of course it will be slower , but lets be honest here - we were tolerating far more lag a few years back across the board and not batting an eyelid.

You average person doesn't see phones like we do ! , the times I'll uprgrade to a new device and my friends at work will say "So that one was �450 ? ...What does it do that your last one didn't ? " ......So I proudly show them that the OS is identical , but (wait for it ...) the contacts menu opens 3/10 of a second faster and scrolls better , the camera is a little better , and the identical web browser opens quicker and loads pages a bit quicker - And the look at me like I am some kind of retard !
I am 100% sure that these people would have no problems in choosing this ZTE Skate @ (lets guess ?) �159 , over a Samsung GS2 at �479 ..... Not saying the SGS2 is a rip off , just that the mainstream don't give a toss about Quadrant or Linpack ,they just want a phone that works !

Hats off to Orange for doing something right for a change !

[Ben]

A bit of an aside, but it's nice to see HD Voice included. It'll be nice when that's all up and running across all networks and handsets; it has been long enough since we've had improvements to call quality!

[hecatae]

£159, running same cpu as the Samsung Galaxy Ace, the MSM7227 turbo, still not capable of flash, but who needs flash with such a gorgeous screen

[miffed]

£159, running same cpu as the Samsung Galaxy Ace, the MSM7227 turbo, still not capable of flash, but who needs flash with such a gorgeous screen


Is that £159 official mate ? I'll find it very hard not to buy one at that price !

Re- the flash , Funny reading some of the posts on various Android forums , voices can now be heard suggesting that they can take or leave flash ! its like there was this big thing be ABLE to view Flash , just to trump the iPhone , but now the stuttery , resource hogging garbage is commonplace , no one is really that bothered about it :D

[hecatae]

Is that £159 official mate ? I'll find it very hard not to buy one at that price !

Re- the flash , Funny reading some of the posts on various Android forums , voices can now be heard suggesting that they can take or leave flash ! its like there was this big thing be ABLE to view Flash , just to trump the iPhone , but now the stuttery , resource hogging garbage is commonplace , no one is really that bothered about it :D

flash wastes cpu cycles, yes the £159 price is in the Orange store staff catalogue.

[miffed]

Pretty impressed with my guess then ! I had this feeling that it was going to be dissapointing , at say. £249 , but £159 is perfect IMO , Just hope it performs adequately !

Do you have any info on when it will be available ?

[hecatae]

at the moment the guesses are middle to end of July

[Hands0n]

I'm going to wait for the price to drop a little, there's plenty of life in the Blade/San Francisco yet. Also need the Android community to come up with the Root and Unlock stuff. There is simply no way that I would use the Orange network. Something like this is screaming out for a giffgaff or Three PAYG with truly unlimited data.

I have to say that it looks very HTC in its styling. That won't do it any harm :)

[miffed]

Yeah the "unlock" would be important , but I can't see it being a huge problem if the Blade (which I just never got around to buying !) is anything to go by.

That said , I do want to give Orange a go at some point and this may be the perfect opportunity !

[3GScottishUser]

Three is no longer the only truly unlimited data provider now that T-Mobile have decided to follow suit for new contract customers. I expect Orange to be next as they seem very keen on appealing to Intertnet users with low cost high spec handsets like the one described in this thread. It looks very good and Orange know they will need to up their game if they want to keep customers that they have attracted with decent own brand hardware.

[hecatae]

Three is no longer the only truly unlimited data provider now that T-Mobile have decided to follow suit for new contract customers. I expect Orange to be next as they seem very keen on appealing to Intertnet users with low cost high spec handsets like the one described in this thread. It looks very good and Orange know they will need to up their game if they want to keep customers that they have attracted with decent own brand hardware.

Sadly T-mobile not allowing tethering...

And as T-mobile and Orange are now the same company, why would one compete with the other?

As far as I understood, T-mobile were going for the payg and broadband market and Orange were going to keep the calls customers withthings like Orange Premier and Magic numbers

[Hands0n]

Three is no longer the only truly unlimited data provider ...

I did say giffgaff as well as Three :) as supplying truly unlimited mobile data. T-Mobile's offer is limited time, as of right now. The offer does, however, come with a pretty major catch: to qualify, buyers must sign up to a 24-month contract at a minimum of £25.54 per month. Those opting for a BlackBerry handset will also be expected to shell out an additional e-mail booster pack for £5.10.

Those who don't want a high-end contract, or those who are already in a contract with T-Mobile and who are not eligable to upgrade, will have the chance to add unlimited Internet to their package for an extra £5.10 a month, the company has confirmed.

So I don't really see T-Mobile as being on par with the other two truly unlimited data providers.

Orange, on the other hand, are lost in the wilderness with their ridiculously meagre mobile data FUPs and eye-watering out of bundle data charges. Orange also have the officially slowest 3G network of all the UK networks.

It is wise to look at all the UK networks critically, especially those with great legacy, as they have little room to manoeuvre and tend to be all smoke and mirrors with their offers. They all realise the threat, to their smartphone business, that Three and even giffgaff can pose. Particularly as the market for SIM-only grows through the availability of cheap smartphones like the San Francisco, HTC Wildfire and others that can be readily unlocked.

ZTE are showing what can be done for a budget price, the other Chinese and Far East manufacturers will not be blind to that. The push for unlimited data is tremendous, not only from consumers but content providers. The genie is out of the bottle and the network operators have to stump up the mobile data to go with demand.

[solo12002]

A good post handson. I agree no one can beat three or giffgaff for unlimted data, over all three wins on the basis that you can teether using handset that you cant do on giffgaff plus the fact that three has better 3g coverage that giffgaff due to the fact they are own and run on the o2 network.


I agree I can see cheaper 3g mobiles being brought and either being used on PAYG or sim only contracts.

It is dispointing that T -Mobile has not learned from other networks and indded still push for 24month contracts given the turn down we are currently in ans ppl losing jobe, to add insult they expect current users to pay £5 plus for unlimted data. The one plan from three on a one month contract or 12 month contact at £25 a month is far better vaule.

[hecatae]

ok this is terrifying, my new t-mobile sim is so much faster than my o2 sim for data

[miffed]

Speed has never been an issue for me with T-mobile , I remember they were the first out the gate with HSDPA and I was instantly seeing speeds of 1.4Mb , (BTW , Is just me who is not that bothered about mobile data speed as long as its over 1Mb ? HSPA+ Is probably wasted on me !!)
it does seem to me that TM are obsessed with moving the goalposts though ? Just as I get used to their offerings the change them.

[Hands0n]

+Miffed (did you see that? I'm Google+ addict already :) ) - HSPA and HSPA+ come into their own when your device (solo or tethered) needs to perform OTA loading or updates of large files. Now that is typically not a problem with apps as they all tend to be a little bit small. But with the likes of iOS being over 600MB in size (by comparison a full Android OTA is less than 90MB on a bad day) the speed derived from HSPA+ become quite essential. Or at least desirable.

Of course, for all other operations the speed behind HSPA and HSPA+ becomes somewhat moot - but what it does is allow greater capacity at the local cell site. And that can't be bad.