Orange San Diego Intel Android
mobile phone review
Intel’s first mobile phone is a humble
beginning, but the firm has mighty ambitions says Matt Warman.
The San Diego
looks like many other Apple-inspired mobile phones, but inside it is a unique
and special beast. This is the debut European mobile with Intel inside.
Exclusive to Orange, and originally announced as the Santa Clara, the
first thing you notice when you turn on the San Diego is the network’s logo,
followed by Intel’s classy equivalent. After that, however, consumers need
never know what chip powers the device.
Indeed, this is a mid-range phone
where cheaper equivalents are available, such as Huawei’s perfectly decent
G300. Intel's initial aims are modest.
The San Diego does, however, bode
well for the future. While its battery life is not exceptional, it is better
than average for an Android smartphone. This means it lasts the day in my very
unscientific tests of using it for nearly a week, and although it has a single
core processor it runs Android Gingerbread more than adequately. An update to
Ice Cream Sandwich is apparently coming later in the year.
