The Orange UK Coming Soon page is positively awash with upcoming Android handsets. Due shortly are the Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo, LG Optimus 3d, Samsung Galaxy Mini, HTC ChaCha, HTC Sensation, and 2 Orange branded handsets the Barcelona and the Monte Carlo.
The Barcelona, a reskinned Huawei Boulder, is a front facing QWERTY handset running Android 2.2 (Froyo) and is targeted at Blackberry users who would like a more modern OS. It has a 2.6” capacitive touch screen along with 3G, WiFi, A-GPS. It reportedly has a Qualcomm MSM7225 processor running at 528MHz but for this type of device that should be fine and lead to improved battery life.
The Monte Carlo is the successor to the popular San Franciso model, although from what we’ve heard it won’t be quite as cheap with the MC aimed at around the £200 PAYG mark. For a PAYG phone this has some good specs with Android 2.3, 4.3” 480 x 800px display, 5MP rear facing camera, Signal Boost (UMA), WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 and A-GPS.
The only signs of cost saving are in the 800Mhz processor which for a mid 2011 phone will be left behind by the 1.2Ghz dual core processors and even the standard single core 1Ghz ones. 512Mb RAM is also less than ideal, but a big improvement over many of the early Android handsets that were plagued by low memory problems.
Both handsets will support the new Orange HD Voice service.
This post was written by Rob Gordon, an IT geek, gadget lover and blogger. Rob has been using the internets since 1994 when the only streaming video was that coffee pot in Cambridge (rip)….
Follow Rob on Twitter – @robgordon – about.me/robgordonuk
