Old Tmobile pulse -> Orange sanfran

firthy15 · 15 Jan 2011 at 12:58

Reckon its a worthy upgrade? Getting a little sick of the screen and the general sluggishness on my pulse. Was fine when I got it a long time ago as my first go at anroid but now looking for something more.

Does not seem to be worth me going all the way to £400 odd for a desire when the san fran is only £100.

Just had a look at the unlocking as well, thought that would be a problem but my god is it easy

.

Is it hard to get rid of all the orange rubbish that comes with it and put it basically back to default android for me to configure how I like?

atpbx · 15 Jan 2011 at 13:02

Better phones than the sanfransico for that budget.

LG make one for a start that you can buy unbranded.

PermaBanned · 15 Jan 2011 at 13:09

It's not hard, and it's a great phone, but for a little more you might want to look at the Motorola Defy. Once you've got rid of all the motorola rubbish it's easily the equal, if not better, than the Desire and will keep you going for a while.

dasyad · 15 Jan 2011 at 13:26

atpbx said:
Better phones than the sanfransico for that budget.

LG make one for a start that you can buy unbranded.

GT540 with a resistive touch screen? Yeah nice :rolleyes:

Yeah the San Francisco isn't a great phone but it's a not a bad phone either for the money, whether it's worth trading in a Pulse for I'm not sure.

fail at the internets · 15 Jan 2011 at 15:44

Op. I did the same change in november.

Well worth it imo.

firthy15 · 15 Jan 2011 at 15:52

fail at the internets said:
Op. I did the same change in november.

Well worth it imo.

Good to know, I'm pretty much thinking the fact im going from like 320x480 screen to 800x480 makes it worth it.

And the pulse always seems a bit dodgy, restarting etc and its now got a few scratches on it thanks to new years.

DIABLO · 15 Jan 2011 at 15:59

Yes it would make a worthy upgrade.

loltim · 15 Jan 2011 at 16:00

atpbx said:
Better phones than the sanfransico for that budget.

LG make one for a start that you can buy unbranded.

What phone beats san fran for 100 quid? what LG is this? :confused:

danza · 15 Jan 2011 at 16:04

The San Fran is a better device than the HTC Legend, albeit nowhere near as well built. It's probably worth an upgrade over the Pulse if you want something good for browsing the we, which I found the smaller, lower-res screen of the Legend to be a bit pap for. In the end though, I went for a Desire anyway.

loltim · 15 Jan 2011 at 16:11

Thing is, the lack of build quality in the san fran I don't actually mind, it keeps it nice and light. I can't fault the phone at all.

danza · 15 Jan 2011 at 16:20

Tim said:
Thing is, the lack of build quality in the san fran I don't actually mind, it keeps it nice and light. I can't fault the phone at all.

It's excellent for the money, I agree. They took a good set of components and built pretty much the cheapest housing for it they could to keep costs down. It's not a terribly built phone, and is pretty solid to be fair though. The buttons are pretty awful, but they're perfectly functional. Can't say how it compares to the Pulse though.

BlackCoat2k10 · 15 Jan 2011 at 17:53

The sanfran was a fantastic little device while I had it. Unlock it and Debrand it and put a nice Rom on it (all of which is quite easy) and you have yourself a nice light decent unit. Camera wise it sucks massively, no light, low quality images. However if you really want to take photos, get a camera designed for the job.

The only issues I had with the san fran was the cheapness of the build quality. Only a couple weeks after owning the device the back and front woulld creak and snap back as I held it as it had some how come loose while sitting in my pocket. Also one drop completely destroyed the screen and the covers so you have to be very careful with it.

Id go for either the SanFran or the Motorola defy.
Motorola defy being a hell of a lot more robust with its scratch resistant screen and I've dropped mine on concrete from 10ft ish and its fine also its waterproof. It has a better camera(although not the best by far) and better battery and its faster, but slightly larger dimensions wise.

GeX · 15 Jan 2011 at 21:05

BlackCoat2k10 said:
Id go for either the SanFran or the Motorola defy.
Motorola defy being a hell of a lot more robust with its scratch resistant screen and I've dropped mine on concrete from 10ft ish and its fine also its waterproof. It has a better camera(although not the best by far) and better battery and its faster, but slightly larger dimensions wise.

but the Defy is ~£250 - £300

BlackCoat2k10 · 15 Jan 2011 at 23:23

true the defy is a fair bit. But it is generally a better phone.

St0rmer66 · 16 Jan 2011 at 00:55

BlackCoat2k10 said:
true the defy is a fair bit. But it is generally a better phone.

Is it 2.5-3 times better though? I doubt it.

My girlfriend went from a Tmobile Pulse (rooted, running FLB 2.1) to a San Francisco and it's a much better phone. The ONLY downside... no trackball/pad.

PermaBanned · 16 Jan 2011 at 01:06

No, and it's a very peculiar thing that it costs so much more just to get a phone with a decent camera and better build quality. What's the additional manufacturing costs, i wonder?

St0rmer66 · 16 Jan 2011 at 01:39

Superewza said:
No, and it's a very peculiar thing that it costs so much more just to get a phone with a decent camera and better build quality. What's the additional manufacturing costs, i wonder?

Supply and demand... people will buy it at that price, so of course they will sell it at that price if they can!

BlackCoat2k10 · 16 Jan 2011 at 02:19

I do agree it may not be worth the extra price over the san fran for the normal careful users. For me though the extra beating that the defy takes is night and day difference. I do a lot of work / travel / hobbies that mean I get bumped or fall or lots of other things and my SanFran wasn't upto the task as it broke within weeks. Spending that bit more for ruggedness has helped, Ive had the defy for 3 weeks so far and I've deliberately been testing how 'rugged' it is and its stood up to everything just hope it continues this way. Also the flash on the camera is good for when I get snap happy on nights out with friends (as I dont like carrying around my camera on nights out as I've had one stolen).

sarge78 · 16 Jan 2011 at 02:19

St0rmer66 said:
Supply and demand... people will buy it at that price, so of course they will sell it at that price if they can!

Its got nowt to do with that...

Don't forget the defy is running a spanking 45nm TI cortex A8 (capable of 1.4GHz), a powerVR gpu and a high end 3.7" IPS lcd (the highest dpi of any current android) Specs sound familiar? *cough* iPhone 4 *cough*

The SF uses a cheaper/older ARM11 SoC, kinda like comparing pentium 4 to core 2.

It's amazing value at £250...

BlackCoat2k10 · 16 Jan 2011 at 14:37

Unfortunately the screen definately isn't an IPS unit, it is just a tft unit. Although the results of the display seems to vary a lot. My display looks generally good, albeit a bit bright when I got it yet some pictures it looks carptacular. It's not as good as an Amoled display but it's by far not the worst display in a phone I've ever had.