Entry level smart phone, £200 budget.

^ I agree with Robbo. Friend's got one, it's quite plasticy, screen is poor quality, won't handle polished apps/games that well.

You either need to look at the San Francisco, or up your budget to £400+ and look at the next lot of phones - Desire HD, Galaxy S etc - as there's no phones around the £200 mark better than the £99 SF.
 
I had a HTC Hero, and going to the San Fran was like a generational jump. Whenever I remember that it only cost me £100 I have to pinch myself. Good quality screen, can handle the modern apps that require more CPU/GFX power, and a really active ROM development community. I updated my Hero to the latest 2.2 rom recently to see if the jump really was as great as I perceived and it is - the 800x480 AMOLED is leagues ahead of anything lower resolution, which is what you are going to get for that budget, be it Hero/Wildfire etc etc, and the processor in the Hero lags hugely behind the SF.

Modaco are developing a really good quality 2.2 ROM right now which seems to have gotten rid of most of the issues of the previous 2.2 attempts. As soon as they push out their latest release I'll be updating to it!
 
Ok, so what your saying is that the San Fransico is a good phone.

What is this Modaco I keep hearing? Are they unofficially developing the kernel?

What about official support. Does the 2.1 Android on the San Fransisco get updated etc...

I guess it really doesnt matter, but as a technophile its something I'd be interested in.

So as I gather its either the £99 San Fransisco or a way more expensive phone in the £400 price bracket.

That only logically leaves one thing. Unlocking.

Someone above linked to this: http://android.modaco.com/content/z...-codes-for-orange-sanfrancisco-and-zte-blade/

Thanks for that. But is inlocking 100% succesful, or is it a bit of luck involved?
 
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opethdisciple said:
Ok, so what your saying is that the San Fransico is a good phone.

What is this Modaco I keep hearing? Are they unofficially developing the kernel?

What about official support. Does the 2.1 Android on the San Fransisco get updated etc...

I guess it really doesnt matter, but as a technophile its something I'd be interested in.
Click to expand...
Modaco is a mobile phone forum that harbours rom developers and develops their own roms in house as well. They develop what are called 'Modaco Custom Roms' or MCR for various phones. Modaco is the unofficial home of custom rom development for the San Fran, with the owner of Modaco developing the latest 2.2 rom for the San Fran as we speak. They don't work on the Kernel itself, they produce what you could liken to Linux distros which are based on the Kernel.

opethdisciple said:
That only logically leaves one thing. Unlocking.

Someone above linked to this: http://android.modaco.com/content/z...-codes-for-orange-sanfrancisco-and-zte-blade/

Thanks for that. But is inlocking 100% succesful, or is it a bit of luck involved?
Click to expand...
I'm on Orange so I can only go off the testimony in that thread which is generally positive, you'd have to read for yourself.
 
+ 1 for the San Francisco. There's nothing in the £200 range worth buying atm, next up would be the Motorola defy, currently at £265.
 
I can find the phone unlocked and in black for £150, but at £99 I can only find it in white, still locked to orange and not available untill January 2011.

Do you think the £150 unlocked phone, will mean it wont come with all the orange branding?
 
Just don't. Wait 'till it's back in stock at the Orange website and do it yourself, unlocking is free and easy as pie, the only thing that really matters is removing the stock launcher, and it includes an app for that - but flashing a new ROM is simply enough to do if you actually follow the guides.
 
Ok, so the process is:

I buy the orange branded phone. I buy my own sim tariff etc...

I manually unlock the phone...

I flash the 2.2 Android OS on to the phone, and hey presto...

You say all this is easy to do. Fine, it will be fun any way...

If I bugger things up however, is it easy to go back to the original rom?
 
Evilpaul said:
Do not pay £150 for the phone.

1) Buy the phone from Orange for £99 quid.
2) Use the free unlocking website, it only takes 2 mins
http://android.modaco.com/content/z...-codes-for-orange-sanfrancisco-and-zte-blade/
3) Remove the Orange branding stuff, it only takes ~10mins
http://android.modaco.com/content/z...nding-easy-guide-custom-recovery-instalation/
Click to expand...


Ok thanks for that!

One last noob question, these modaco roms, are they official?

Or am I thinking in terms of windows and we are in Linux territory here, so everything is unofficial!
 
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