The Orange Monte Carlo, or ZTE Skate, was heralded as the follow-up to the hugely popular Orange San Francisco, however it now looks like the 4.3-inch screen monster is in addition to a new mid-range handset in Orange’s line-up, as the San Francisco II has made a brief appearance on the network’s website.

It showed up on Orange’s ‘Help and Support’ pages just before the weekend and was hastily removed soon after, but not before screenshots were taken and rumours sent flying.

The San Francisco II is another ZTE manufactured device, this time a re-badged Crescent. It’s not the first time the phone has been linked with Orange and the San Francisco name either, as the same device recently appeared on Bluetooth’s website too.

Orange’s support page revealed a little more about the phone’s spec, indicating that it will have a 3.5-inch 480 x 800 resolution touchscreen, a 5 megapixel camera, an 800MHz processor and 512MB or RAM.

Original San Fran devotees will notice that the camera is the main difference between the two, but will be pleased to know the sequel will use Android Gingerbread 2.3 instead of Android 2.1.

The page didn’t give any indication when the San Francisco II would arrive, but seeing as everything was ready to go, it shouldn’t be too far off. Part of what made the San Francisco such a big seller was not only its good specs, but how easily it could be unlocked and modified.

The Monte Carlo/Skate has proved to be a far harder nut to crack, and there’s every chance Orange will have just as firm a grip on the ‘Frisco II.

We’ll update you as soon as Orange officially out the phone.