Orange San Diego revealed: Intel-powered phone to reach UK on June 6th for £200
Orange took its time to decide, but now it's settled. The first European Intel-equipped smartphone is the San Diego, replacing the Santa Clara codename assigned to it since February's Mobile World Congress. It will launch on pay-as-you-go at £200, including £10 of credit -- although Orange tell us this will be an introductory price. On contract, prices will start at £15.50 per month for two years and Brits will be able to pick one up from June 6th. We're getting the full run-through from Orange UK and Intel, but we're itching to run our new benchmarks on the Medfield phone as soon as they let us at it. And that pesky Gingerbread OS? We've been told to expect Ice Cream Sandwich closer to the end of Q3. But with just the single carrier, we're hoping testing time could be shaved off significantly.
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Orange to Exclusively Launch The 'San Diego' – powered by Intel® Technology
London, UK – 31 May 2012: Orange today unveiled the San Diego, a new high-performance Android smartphone powered by Intel Inside®, which will be available exclusively on Orange from 6th June nationwide.
The San Diego (previously codenamed 'Orange Santa Clara') is the first Intel powered smartphone to launch in Europe and will deliver users the latest in innovative smartphone capabilities at an affordable price point.
The handset is powered by the Intel® Atom™ processor Z2460 and supports HSPA+ with the Intel® XMM™ 6260 Platform. Together, these Intel solutions deliver users a fast and responsive browsing experience.
The San Diego features High-definition (HD) video, helping it to support a rich entertainment offering along with 1080p video capture, image stabilization and HDMI out. What's more, the handset boasts an 8 mega-pixel camera which features 'Burst' mode allowing it to take 10 pictures in under a second to ensure you capture all the action and can choose the very best pictures to keep and share. The San Diego also comes with mobile HD voice for outstanding audio quality, and features a 4.03" capacitive display, A-GPS and Bluetooth 2.1.
From the home screen, the San Diego will come with quick link access to:
Orange Wednesdays: 2-4-1 cinema ticket app – allowing you to read reviews, watch trailers as well as redeem 2-4-1 vouchers all from your handset
Your Orange: To help customers keep up to date and manage their Orange account
Orange Gestures: Allowing users to draw natural and intuitive gestures on their home screen which can give one-stroke access to their favourite applications or services
The San Diego will be available for £199.99 on Orange Pay As You Go, when customers top up by £10 in Orange shops. When they take out the handset on pay as you go, they will also receive a free monthly allowance of 250Mb* of mobile data per month for 12 months. Alternatively, for launch, the handset will be free to customers who take a 24 month price plan from £15.50 a month until the 25th of July** 2012. The package includes 50 any network call minutes, 50 texts, as well as 100MB of mobile data a month.
Paul Jevons, Director of Products and Devices, Orange UK commented: "We're proud to be working with such an exciting partner as Intel, and offering our customers the first Orange Intel powered smartphone on the market.
"The San Diego is a great addition to our own-branded device portfolio, and is testament to our heritage in offering consumers great value innovation."
"We congratulate Orange on the launch of their 'San Diego' smartphone with Intel inside," said Mike Bell, Intel Vice President and General Manager of the company's Mobile and Communications Group. "Orange is truly a progressive operator who has its finger on the pulse on its customer base. The new Intel-based smartphone exemplifies Orange's focus on delivering a well executed product to its users, from the quality and feel of industrial design to the overall software and applications experience."
San Diego customers will also benefit from access to T-Mobile's signal too, meaning they can call, text and access high speed mobile internet in more places across the UK, as well as benefit from Quick Tap Treats – the UK's first mobile contactless retail reward scheme, and discount on Orange home broadband.
The handset will be supported by a multimillion pound advertising campaign, featuring the Orange ninja creative which will commence in June. The advertising campaign will feature across TV, outdoor, print and online.
The San Diego will be available from 6th June from Orange shops, Orange
Orange telesales and the Orange online shop. For more information, visit www.orange.co.uk/intel
