I do like the phone, but its just irritating me. I know I shouldn't expect too much for the price, but my prior phone (Nokia 5230 - cost £80) had better battery life (3+ days rather than 1 day), and definitely had a better camera (despite the SF having 3mp autofocus). Video recording is pretty dire as well.
I wish that Android had some folder structure for apps, so I could put them into games/apps/navigation/etc. - I could do that with homescreens, but its a kludge.
Its definitely going to make a good backup phone though, and it'll definitely be kept for keeping my youngest happy - he loves watching Cars on it (yxplayer is pretty neat), and playing some of the jigsaw puzzles.
Definitely has to be kept for the google sky map.
It only just plays Angry Birds - too often suffers from chronic slow downs.
Overall good, but a bit of a mixed bag.
You could put folders on your homescreen perhaps?
Long press the homescreen, folders, new folder. Then drag some apps into them.
Long press the homescreen, folders, new folder. Then drag some apps into them.
So you can .... thats showing a total lack of consistency in design. Why on there and not in the main menu? At least in iOS you can arrange the apps on the menu itself, so you could have a page for games, utilities, etc.
At least you can't put too many apps on it due to the internal memory not being that generous, although there's enough to put on a few useful apps/games.
A2SD means I can have as many apps as my SD card allows. Also angry birds works better if you install a rom with the hardware acceleration that pushes things to the gpu. I tried it with and without acceleration and the with option was smooth.
Got to say that this phone is fantastic for the money - and the ease of hacking is an added bonus.
can anyone who has this phone tell me how much spare memory this phone has from new. The specs say 150mb is that before or after all the crapware on it, Curious as to how many apps I will get on this compared to other phones
can anyone who has this phone tell me how much spare memory this phone has from new. The specs say 150mb is that before or after all the crapware on it, Curious as to how many apps I will get on this compared to other phones
cheers
The apps don't tend to be that big .... thankfully.
I've got 52mb available, and have installed :
Album Art Grabber
Angry Birds
Barcode scanner
Compass
de Blob
Facebook
FB Reader
Fruit Ninja
Gemini Calendar (waaaay better than the stock calendar)
Google Sky Map
Kindle
Magic Marker
Plants vs Zombies
RAC Traffic
Run Keeper
Shopper (google app)
Solo Lite (guitar player)
VM Heap Tool (useful for improving performance - increase VM heap from 24 to 32mb)
xPiano
XyloPhone (for my 2 year old, he loves it)
Yo McQueen (pixar jigsaw)
yxPlayer
I'd greatly appreciate any comments about how good this phone is for accessing web sites via wi-fi/802.11.
I've got a Belkin 802.11n router downstairs. Do you think the phone would connect to it from upstairs ok?
John
It would probably connect, but there's a bug with the wifi - it goes into a power saving mode and doesn't switch back on, unless you explicitly switch it off and on again (which isn't difficult).
It hasn't happened to me at all (that I have noticed), but I have installed the "Sebastian r4" rom available on modaco. It's a nice lean fast rom that has all the Orangeness cut out.
The apps don't tend to be that big .... thankfully.
I've got 52mb available, and have installed :
Album Art Grabber
Angry Birds
Barcode scanner
Compass
de Blob
Facebook
FB Reader
Fruit Ninja
Gemini Calendar (waaaay better than the stock calendar)
Google Sky Map
Kindle
Magic Marker
Plants vs Zombies
RAC Traffic
Run Keeper
Shopper (google app)
Solo Lite (guitar player)
VM Heap Tool (useful for improving performance - increase VM heap from 24 to 32mb)
xPiano
XyloPhone (for my 2 year old, he loves it)
Yo McQueen (pixar jigsaw)
yxPlayer
that would seem pretty good for 150mb with 50mb left ... where did you get plants vs zombies didnt know there was android version.
btw Is your phone rooted?
that would seem pretty good for 150mb with 50mb left ... where did you get plants vs zombies didnt know there was android version.
btw Is your phone rooted?
Yup, phone is rooted, currently on the r3 firmware mods (ie. minus some of the Orange mods), and patiently awaiting the modaco guys figuring how to get Froyo running on the sanfran
Can one use voip on this phone -drop into range of a Mc Donald's WiFi and make calls?
I haven't used it yet, but Skype is available for Android and it does work on the SanFran - had it installed and it always came up as a dialling option - call a number either via the regular cell service or via Skype.
The only problem with using WiFi for calls with the SanFran is that its got a bug with the wifi - it goes into power saving mode and doesn't switch back on unless you explicitly power it off and then on again.
The only problem with using WiFi for calls with the SanFran is that its got a bug with the wifi - it goes into power saving mode and doesn't switch back on unless you explicitly power it off and then on again.
So with the phone as it's supplied from Orange, is it possible to use wi-fi at all? As a total beginner with these devices I wouldn't feel confident modifying its software.
Just like the iPhone it will need a firmware update to work with more wifi routers.
Maybe wifi only suits 95% of routers at the moment.
Its not a router problem - its a firmware fault.
Switch on wifi, it connects fine to every router I've tried.
Leave it unused for a bit. Come to use it again, and it won't connect. You've got to switch off the wifi and switch it back on again. The guys over at Modaco are working on a fix, and are likely to get something out way quicker than Orange are ever likely to.
It hasn't happened to me at all (that I have noticed), but I have installed the "Sebastian r4" rom available on modaco. It's a nice lean fast rom that has all the Orangeness cut out.
I'm on the r4, but its definitely an issue with the stock (and r3) releases. So sadly, whilst it does have wifi, its not something you can necessarily rely on without switching off and on
Comments
You could put folders on your homescreen perhaps?
Long press the homescreen, folders, new folder. Then drag some apps into them.
You shouldn't really be having to perform tricks to improve battery life though.
So you can .... thats showing a total lack of consistency in design. Why on there and not in the main menu? At least in iOS you can arrange the apps on the menu itself, so you could have a page for games, utilities, etc.
At least you can't put too many apps on it due to the internal memory not being that generous, although there's enough to put on a few useful apps/games.
Got to say that this phone is fantastic for the money - and the ease of hacking is an added bonus.
cheers
The apps don't tend to be that big .... thankfully.
I've got 52mb available, and have installed :
Album Art Grabber
Angry Birds
Barcode scanner
Compass
de Blob
Facebook
FB Reader
Fruit Ninja
Gemini Calendar (waaaay better than the stock calendar)
Google Sky Map
Kindle
Magic Marker
Plants vs Zombies
RAC Traffic
Run Keeper
Shopper (google app)
Solo Lite (guitar player)
VM Heap Tool (useful for improving performance - increase VM heap from 24 to 32mb)
xPiano
XyloPhone (for my 2 year old, he loves it)
Yo McQueen (pixar jigsaw)
yxPlayer
I've got a Belkin 802.11n router downstairs. Do you think the phone would connect to it from upstairs ok?
John
It would probably connect, but there's a bug with the wifi - it goes into a power saving mode and doesn't switch back on, unless you explicitly switch it off and on again (which isn't difficult).
It hasn't happened to me at all (that I have noticed), but I have installed the "Sebastian r4" rom available on modaco. It's a nice lean fast rom that has all the Orangeness cut out.
Can one use voip on this phone -drop into range of a Mc Donald's WiFi and make calls?
that would seem pretty good for 150mb with 50mb left ... where did you get plants vs zombies didnt know there was android version.
btw Is your phone rooted?
Yup, phone is rooted, currently on the r3 firmware mods (ie. minus some of the Orange mods), and patiently awaiting the modaco guys figuring how to get Froyo running on the sanfran
Honestly can't remember where I got PvZ!
I haven't used it yet, but Skype is available for Android and it does work on the SanFran - had it installed and it always came up as a dialling option - call a number either via the regular cell service or via Skype.
The only problem with using WiFi for calls with the SanFran is that its got a bug with the wifi - it goes into power saving mode and doesn't switch back on unless you explicitly power it off and then on again.
Maybe wifi only suits 95% of routers at the moment.
Its not a router problem - its a firmware fault.
Switch on wifi, it connects fine to every router I've tried.
Leave it unused for a bit. Come to use it again, and it won't connect. You've got to switch off the wifi and switch it back on again. The guys over at Modaco are working on a fix, and are likely to get something out way quicker than Orange are ever likely to.
And I never said that it was a router problem.
I'm on the r4, but its definitely an issue with the stock (and r3) releases. So sadly, whilst it does have wifi, its not something you can necessarily rely on without switching off and on