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Orange’s excellent range of branded budget smartphones is set to expand today, with the new ‘San Diego’ Android smartphone joining existing fan favourites including the San Francisco 2 and Monte Carlo.
The San Diego may be new today, but we’ve seen it before under several guises. This phone was originally called the Orange Santa Clara, but for reasons unknown the name has now changed. With Android 2.3 with a price tag of just £200, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the San Diego is just another budget phone.
It’s not your average Android though, and thanks to some of the latest processing technology it has a fair few tricks up its sleeve. Whereas most Android phones use low-power processors from the likes of Qualcomm, the Orange San Diego is the first phone to feature a completely new type of processor called the ‘Medfield’ chip, from Intel.
The chip is clocked at a zippy 1.6GHz and provides enough grunt for impressive features including a camera burst mode that takes 10 shots per second. It’ll also ensure lag-free game playing and nippy web browsing – this phone is no slouch.
Speaking of the camera, the snapper on this phone is a very respectable 8-megapixel unit with an LED flash for shooting in low light. Not only will it take decent camera snaps, but it’ll also record video in Full HD 1080p quality.
Inside is 16GB of internal memory along with the usual 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. The front of the device sports a 4.03-inch touchscreen, front facing camera and three touch buttons for back, home and menu functions in Android.
The Orange San Diego will be available in the UK in Orange stores and online from June 6th on both contract and pay as you go. For the latter, the phone will set you back a very tidy £200, which includes £10 of credit. Contracts start at £15.50 per month on 24 month deals, which also seems very reasonable.
Let us know your thoughts on our comments below or via our @Gadget_Helpline Twitter page or Official Facebook group.
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