Remember the Orange Santa Clara, a curious Android device that we found wandering the floor at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this year. It caught people’s attention back then as Intel had a hand in offering up components for its internals, a first for an Android device. After a trip to Orange HQ this morning, we can report that the Santa Clara is back and finally ready for the world as now as the Orange San Diego.
This new Android handset will be the first device of its kind to feature that famous ‘Intel Inside’ logo. The processor underneath is Intel’s Atom Z2460, clocked at 1.6GHz powering Android 2.3 Gingerbread at launch, although Orange assure us an ICS update is in the works for around October-time later this year.
Aside from the San Diego’s unique processor, there’s also an 8MP snapper capable of burst photography at 10fps and a micro HDMI port which can output full 1080p HD video, impressive for a single core device. The 4.03-inch WSVGA screen is impeccably sharp but the glass was a little tacky to the touch, that being said, by release such gripes could well have been buffed out.
Being an Orange device, the San Diego naturally receives some of the carrier’s unique features such as customisable Orange Gestures and HD Voice call technology. The company plan on bringing the San Diego to the UK first, we suspect as a testbed market for both the Orange brand and the Intel name.
Expect to see a lot of advertising surrounding the device as the company told us that the San Diego has been given the largest marketing budget for any Orange-branded device ever. Launching June 6th the handset will be free on a £15 a month 2 year contract, or available on PAYG for £199.
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