14 DAY TRIAL // Orange and Intel have teamed up to offer the former’s customers a new Android phone based on the latter’s mobile platform, Santa Clara. The smartphone will be officially launched on May 31, and will probably hit shelves the same day.
The smartphone has been on “Coming Soon” at Orange UK for quite some time now, but the carrier did not offer a release date until today.
Although Orange mentions that the Santa Clara is the pre-release name of the phone and that the full name will be announced at launch, it appears that this will actually be the final name of the handset.
The folks over at AndroidCentral have been invited to the launch event and the name Santa Clara is clearly stated in the invitation, though it says this is the phone's codename.
The carrier also confirmed that the Santa Clara would be an Orange exclusive, and that it will be available on both pay monthly and PAYG (pay as you go).
While there are no details on the pricing options yet, it’s almost certain that Orange Santa Clara will be available for free on select plan. The only thing to determine will be the no-term price of the smartphone.
Feature-wise, Santa Clara promises to deliver “fast web browsing, super-responsive apps and effortless multitasking.” In this regard, the smartphone is powered by an Intel Atom processor clocked at 1.6 GHz and sports a large 4.03-inch capacitive touchscreen display.
On the back, the phone boasts an 8-megapixel photo snapper with autofocus and HD video recording. Orange Santa Clara packs 16GB of onboard memory, but there’s no word on microSD card slot.
Last but not least, the Santa Clara will be shipped with Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system out of the box. For the time being, it’s unclear if the smartphone will receive an Ice Cream Sandwich update in the future. Check it out here.