Want CNET to notify you of price drops and the latest stories?
No, thank you Accept
X
Apple Vision Pro Hands-OnBest Meal Delivery ServicesCNET CouponsNew Apple Watch PerksBest Solar CompaniesAI and Your Job SearchBest Satellite Internet ProvidersMortgage Rates
CNET logo Why You Can Trust CNET

Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Reviews ethics statement

Orange Barcelona Android phone appears on beautiful horizon

The own-brand Orange Barcelona Android smart phone is a modest, BlackBerry-esque handset landing in Britain soon.

headshots_Andy_Merrett.jpg
headshots_Andy_Merrett.jpg
Andy Merrett
Andy Merrett has been using mobile phones since the days when they only made voice calls. Since then he has worked his way through a huge number of Nokia, Motorola and Sony Ericsson models. Andy is a freelance writer and is not an employee of CNET.
See full bio
Andy Merrett
2 min read
Advertiser Disclosure
Advertiser Disclosure
This advertising widget is powered by Navi and contains advertisements that Navi may be paid for in different ways. You will not be charged for engaging with this advertisement. While we strive to provide a wide range of offers, this advertising widget does not include information about every product or service that may be available to you. We make reasonable efforts to ensure that information in the featured advertisements is up to date, each advertiser featured in this widget is responsible for the accuracy and availability of its offer details. It is possible that your actual offer terms from an advertiser may be different than the offer terms in this advertising widget and the advertised offers may be subject to additional terms and conditions of the advertiser which will be presented to you prior to making a purchase. All information is presented without any warranty or guarantee to you.

The Orange Barcelona, like a jewel in the sun, has the look of BlackBerry to it, but in fact runs Android 2.2. The network has just added the Catalan-themed own-brand smart phone to its shop.

If slim's your thing you'll be happy to hear its body is less than one centimetre thick, so it'll look great as you amble down Las Ramblas. It's 115mm tall by 63mm wide and weighs in at 115g.

The Barcelona's modest specs include a 2.6-inch touchscreen, a physical Qwerty keyboard, a 3.2-megapixel camera, FM radio and video calling/messaging capabilities. Naturally it's 3G and Wi-Fi enabled, and though the specification list doesn't mention Bluetooth, we'd be surprised if it was missing. It also features UMA Signal Boost and HD Voice technology.

It's not the first Orange-branded phone to be named after a city. We visited the reasonably priced San Francisco last year. That hugely popular handset, featuring a 3.5-inch touchscreen, was slightly let down by a huge amount of confusing and potentially expensive bloatware sitting on top of Android.

We don't yet know whether Orange has learned from its mistakes with the Barcelona. If not, the handset may feel less like a chic Euro city, and more like the Orange Basingstoke.

The eagle-eyed among you will see it doesn't run the latest version of Android, 2.3 Gingerbread. We presume this is down to hardware limitations, though we don't know what processor powers the Barcelona.

The phone will be available free on pay-monthly contracts and also on pay as you go direct from Orange. We don't have a price or availability dates, but we expect it to be modestly priced and landing later in the summer.