Best budget Android (UK)

[Vorbis]

Hi folks,

Is the Orange San Fransisco still the king of the budget handsets or are there other contenders now?

At the moment I have around

 

[karandpr]

Which other handsets are available with your provider.
Personally the Orange San Francisco aka dell XCD 35 aka ZTE Blade is a solid option .
LG Optimus One is also another decent option.
I would stay away from samsung phones due to poor customer care.

 

[El Presidente]

Out of the box, the OSF is pretty poor TBH, but once you root and install your own ROM, it's easily comparable to the likes of the Desire.

 

[karandpr]

Yep ,official CyanogenMoD support !!!
Wildfire S is a decent piece too.

 

[Vorbis]

Which other handsets are available with your provider.
Personally the Orange San Francisco aka dell XCD 35 aka ZTE Blade is a solid option .
LG Optimus One is also another decent option.
I would stay away from samsung phones due to poor customer care.

Hi karandpr. Thanks for your replies. giffgaff is a pay as you go service so I need to provide my own handset. My wife has an LG Optimus One and it is indeed a nice budget Android. Unfortunately last time I checked it cost approximately

 

[El Presidente]

Hi El Presidente. Thanks for your advice. I have read the San Fransisco is bogged down in horrid Orange bloatware. If I do decide to go for this handset I intend to pluck up the courage to try and root it and install CyanogenMod 7.

It's easy to do, there are plenty of guides/advice in the San Francisco Root subforum, you can ask questions there if you need assistance. Feel free to PM me too, I'll be happy to help.

 

[karandpr]

Hi karandpr. Thanks for your replies. giffgaff is a pay as you go service so I need to provide my own handset. My wife has an LG Optimus One and it is indeed a nice budget Android. Unfortunately last time I checked it cost approximately

 

[Vorbis]

Arrggh just noticed I've spelt San Francisco wrong each time. I should have suck with calling it the ZTE Blade. Damn my feeble spelling!

2.3 vs 2.2 doesnt hold due to CyanogenMod support for ZTE.
Like I said ZTE Blade is a solid option .

This phone tops my first Android device list at the moment!

It's easy to do, there are plenty of guides/advice in the San Francisco Root subforum, you can ask questions there if you need assistance. Feel free to PM me too, I'll be happy to help.

Mwahaha. You may live to regret that offer!

 

[thehitmen]

If you can, get a used android device from ebay, you cant go wrong with the Google Nexus 1 (Possibly just over your budget)- or a much cheaper option the Original android handset the T- Mobile G1

You wont be running flash, but there is a good learning enviroment for you use, from stock ROMS, to cyogen Mod.

The ZTE Blade is a good handset, but i would rather have a G1

 

[El Presidente]

Arrggh just noticed I've spelt San Francisco wrong each time. I should have suck with calling it the ZTE Blade. Damn my feeble spelling!

Was your 2nd mistake the result of the excitement of finally spelling it correctly?

 

[Nighthawk4]

Out of the box, the OSF is pretty poor TBH, but once you root and install your own ROM, it's easily comparable to the likes of the Desire.

True.

Originally it had Eclair and loads of Orange rubbish. Now I have rooted and installed Froyo, my OSF is pretty good. I had a look around the phone shops on Saturday and the only ones which might have tempted me away from the OSF as I have it now were various HTC Desires - all costing about

 

[De@n]

Htc Wildfire

 

[Vorbis]

Cheers for the advice guys. I decided to go with the OSF/ZTE Blade.

 

[El Presidente]

Cheers for the advice guys. I decided to go with the OSF/ZTE Blade.

Good man. Here's one of the first links you'll want to visit once you've had a play around!

http://androidforums.com/san-franci...updated-how-install-custom-rom-zte-blade.html