Orange Monte Carlo

Robbo said:
Hi Andy, while I must sneer at you for shamelessly plugging your website, I think you seem a decent guy so hello! :p
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Yeah, sorry (but also, thanks) I wasn't sure if there might be rules against it, but at the same time people might find the video useful :)

Thanks guys. Yes, having a poke around. I played Rift with some guys from this forum, thought I'd swing by and see what happens round here :)

I'm quite undecided on the MC so far. Part of me says it's okay for the price you pay. Then I notice some lag, remember how bad the camera is and drop it into my lap as it's so shiny and slick...
 
such...................a..................boring............................voice..............and...........................video

:p

EDIT:

I think the screen looks pretty good from what I have seen so far.

Looks very sharp and colourful.

The mobile also looks very responsive, which I am still very surprised at considering the amount of crap on it by orange.
 
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what i dont understand is why you would want to buy the Huawei u8800 titan over the orange phone as it seems to be pretty much the same phone but 173 over 150 of the MC.

ofc the MC needs unlocking but i am pretty sure this will be free given how easly the SF was unlocked i cannot see why the MC wont be a easy free unlock.

either way getting rid of orange crap is pretty easy all you need to do is go into settings and change the themes ect and uninstall all the orange rubbish.

price maybe a little high but for 150 quid it hard to find a better phone (a phone without needing lots of ROM/overclocking ect)
 
shadowcreaper said:
what i dont understand is why you would want to buy the Huawei u8800 titan over the orange phone as it seems to be pretty much the same phone but 173 over 150 of the MC.

ofc the MC needs unlocking but i am pretty sure this will be free given how easly the SF was unlocked i cannot see why the MC wont be a easy free unlock.

either way getting rid of orange crap is pretty easy all you need to do is go into settings and change the themes ect and uninstall all the orange rubbish.

price maybe a little high but for 150 quid it hard to find a better phone (a phone without needing lots of ROM/overclocking ect)
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its 150+10 top up makes it 160.. huawei is 173 with a better cpu that will overclock over 1ghz no problems and flash support :) plus it looks better and is more compact in size than that giant thing that will be uncomfortable to handle... basically overall its a better phone :)
 
grudas said:
its 150+10 top up makes it 160.. huawei is 173 with a better cpu that will overclock over 1ghz no problems and flash support :) plus it looks better and is more compact in size than that giant thing that will be uncomfortable to handle... basically overall its a better phone :)
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The Huawei U8800 uses a 800MHZ ARM7 MSM7230 Snapdragon SOC which is around 30% faster than a 800MHZ ARM6 MSM7227 AFAIK. The MSM7230 also is made on a 45NM process as opposed to the 65NM process the MS7227 is made on. The 800MHZ MSM7227 is a overclocked SKU which means it will probably consume more power than the standard 600MHZ version of the MS7227 which is found in many cheaper phones.

The MSM7230 also has an Adreno 205 GPU which is three to four times faster than the Adreno 200 GPU found in the MSM7227 SOC.

The MSM7230 is also used in the HTC Desire Z and Acer Liquid Metal.

The 600MHZ MSM7227 is found in £40 to £50 phones such as the Samsung Galaxy Europa.

The U8800 also has a bigger battery too.

The U8800 also has 2GB of onboard storage and a SD card slot. The Monte Carlo has only an SD card slot.

The Monte Carlo also has worse build quality too. The screen is plastic unlike the U8800 which has a Gorilla glass screen protector. The back is also slippery and not textured and the U8800 also uses sealed capacitive buttons too.

At the £120 to £130 price for Orange customers the phone is good value but not for around £160.
 
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I just wanted a phone for not a lot of money, and also a 4.1" screen, maybe the MC isn't for me, but maybe the Huawei U9000 is, if the price is right.
 
ok so the Huawei ha sbetter cpu but is it really "real life "better sinse i know many people love to spam numbers to bamboozle people but in reality i know that most of the time these numbers are meaningless in most cases.

so is this the case? do you own both phones and have tested them out?(have not seen any reviews laying this "fact out")

I ask this as it seems a open and shut case if it was,people would be grabbing at the phone...,but they not so seems to indicate it was a bad phone not selling well.Also is there no community support? SF was made great by the support from public community so i wonder if the Huawei is in simular position.;

also for £170 odd it is a fair bit more over MC given it was £139.99+£10 top up, so have they changed it then ?(checked today at 10:00 gmt) online store.
 
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These are not just numbers being quoted. There's a huge difference between the Adreno 200 and 205 gpu. Just run any moderately taxing game and the difference is night and day.

Also clock for clock the u8800's CPU is 30-40% faster so when overclocked that margin only increases, where as the MC's CPU is probably at its very limit of speed.

Any apps needing a bit of grunt will show a difference but of course when it comes to texting and calling theres probably no difference.
 
The U8800 is only available from the Carphone Warehouse website. It usually sells out in a few days when there is stock. It has the same SOC as the £240+ HTC Desire Z and many HTC phones use a 1GHZ version of the same SOC with the same Adreno 205 GPU. The SOC also supports flash.

Also,AFAIK the MSM7230 is more energy efficient and has a bigger battery too than the Monte Carlo.

The U8800 has dedicated sub-forums on both modaco and xda-developers:

http://android.modaco.com/forum/514-huawei-u8800-ideos-x5-u8800modacocom/

http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1120

On top of this the U8800 is better built too. It has capacitive buttons and a Gorilla glass screen protector too. These are features seen in much more expensive phones.

At the £120 to £130 the Monte Carlo is good value for money but for new customers it is still £160 in total from Orange.
 
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reading the reviews are interesting as they seem to put down the Huawei saying with other andriod phones avalible it just doesnt have a USP to be a better choice or stand out, so wondering why they gave such low reviews, was this due to it being reviewed when it was a £200+ phone?

Also have heard the call quality is poor but unsure weather this hardware related or just bad coverage at the time of reviews.

still il look into it.
 
shadowcreaper said:
reading the reviews are interesting as they seem to put down the Huawei saying with other andriod phones avalible it just doesnt have a USP to be a better choice or stand out, so wondering why they gave such low reviews, was this due to it being reviewed when it was a £200+ phone?
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Look at the pricing in the UK against its competition. It is also SIM free too. For example the Zte Skate is well over £200 SIM free. At that price it would get a worse review than the U8800.

The U8800 was originally around £225 to £250 SIM free at launch.
 
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The MC looks nice and snappy but I need to wait and see how the build quality holds up. As others have said there are plenty of other phones in this price range now that have some stronger points and some weaknesses.
 
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