Orange’s San Diego smartphone makes another appearance, this time at the 2012 Computex in Taipei. Seen showcased at Intel’s booth, this handset is no ordinary Android phone. It is actually the debut handset that sports Intel’s Medfield platform inside.
The San Diego was first seen at the Mobile World Congress and was originally unveiled as the Santa Clara. And while it looks like another one of those iPhone copycats with its unassuming sleek black design, turning the device on will show the network’s logo followed by Intel’s own logo to let you know that it indeed is powering the device.
The specs are modest as Intel aims the San Diego to be a mid-ranged phone: glass capacitive 4-inch LCD with 1024 x 600 resolution, 8MP rear camera with autofocus and LED flash, 1GB RAM, 16GB internal storage, and the star of the show: an Intel Atom 1.6GHz Z2460 processor (no dual core here). The phone runs on Android 2.3.7 Gingerbread operating system with an Ice Cream Sandwich update reported to arrive later this year.
The San Diego is thin and light, and with its soft-touch back, the handset feels great when held. Don’t expect great viewing angles from its otherwise decent screen, though. There were some lag in scrolling and zooming in the pre-production demo unit but we think these minor issues will be resolved on its final model.
The San Diego handset is now available in the UK for £200 and is exclusive only to Orange.
