02 September 2010 by Caroline
Compact and affordable, the nippy ZTE Racer is just one of many devices that ZTE has sold during 2010, helping the company reach the 1 million mark in UK sales.
In terms of global sales, ZTE sold 28 million handsets in the first half of this year, representing an impressive 30% increase. However, within Europe, the company has experienced an incredible 150% increase in sales, selling 1 million in the UK alone.
The ZTE Racer weighs just 100g...
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ZTE Racer deals on contract
The Racer is an Android smartphone from China-based ZTE, one of the world’s largest network equipment manufacturers competing with the likes of Siemens and Alcatel-Lucent. Also known as the ZTE X850 in other markets, the ZTE Racer was released last 15 July and is now exclusively marketed in the UK by 3 Mobile. It carries a SIM-free price tag of less than a hundred pounds to make it the most affordable Android on the market and further democratizes the Android like never before.
The Design
Available only in black, the ZTE Racer sports a monolithic touchscreen form factor with curved top and bottom and rounded corners. It measures 102 x 55 x 14.5 mm and weighs 100g making it among the lightest touchscreen handset on the market, though its plastic body imparts a rather cheap feel in your hands.
As a budget handset, its display gets the typical low-end technology with a 2.8-inch resistive touchscreen with an outdated QVGA resolution and 256k colors. Don’t expect gravity accelerometer or proximity sensors.
The front fascia gets a spartan treatment with three touch-sensitive button below the screen and a single bar button below for start and end calls. There’s no front facing video call camera and the back gets a protruding camera lens centered on the upper part.
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For its price, prospective buyers shouldn’t expect more and lowering your expectations can often get bring a better user experience. You still get a solid construction and the ZTE Racer can hold a candle against many of the pricier budget Androids in the market. After all, this is still an Android smartphone.
ZTE Racer Specifications
Better than many budget Androids costing more, the ZTE Racer is a 3G phone on a dual band UMTS with HSDA at 7.2 Mbps and is also a tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE on 2G. It enjoys hotspot surfing support with its WiFi 802.11b/g as well as the usual local high speed data connectivity options like Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP and microUSB v2.0.
For a budget phone, it has an integrated GPS receiver with A-GPS support and Google Maps preloaded..
If only for the sake of getting a camera into it, you get a 3.2 megapixel autofocus that does video capture as well. You also get a stereo FM with RDS and playback for all the popular audio and video files. Much like the Google Nexus One, the smartphone runs on a native Android v2.1 Éclair with none of the fancy proprietary UI layered over it. Internal memory comes with a 256 MB RAM and 256 MB ROM which are more for application and OS use. User memory is not specified but no matter, it has microSD expansion slot support for up to 8GB and even has a 2GB microSD card included in its sales kit.
Talk times are definitely on the low side with 3.5 hours on 2G from its Li-ion battery rated at 1100 mAh when fully charged.
Considerations
Smartphones and low prices are not exactly the best combination for a handset and the ZTE Racer is one such phone. Apart from a light plasticky feel that betrays it as a budget handset, its virtual onscreen keyboard on landscape mode is a bit of disappointment as we get more keystroke misses than with most other budget handsets of the same persuasion.
Verdict
Finding the best ZTE Racer contracts on Vodafone, Orange, O2, T-Mobile, 3 or Virgin Mobile
We compare ZTE Racer deals on Vodafone, Orange, O2, T-Mobile, 3 or Virgin Mobile from the major online retailers in the UK. If you are looking for a new ZTE Racer contract then please use our quick search below. You can refine the deals that we show by using the sliders. If you would like to reveal more search options, simply click the "more search options" link to reveal increased functionality. By default we show the cheapest ZTE Racer deals first, however you can order by different criteria by selecting the "sort by" dropdown to reveal further options.
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Latest ZTE Racer News
29 July 2010 by Simon
For a while since it debuted in 2008, Android smartphones means high end phones and priced accordingly. Smartphone makers have been releasing models positioned as mid-priced or entry level Android but even their cheapest Android handset remain too pricey for features you can find in other less expensive non-Android phones. It was only in the first half of 2010 that many models have really come down to mass market affordability with the likes o...
Continue reading...
For a while since it debuted in 2008, Android smartphones means high end phones and priced accordingly. Smartphone makers have been releasing models positioned as mid-priced or entry level Android but even their cheapest Android handset remain too pricey for features you can find in other less expensive non-Android phones. It was only in the first half of 2010 that many models have really come down to mass market affordability with the likes o...
Continue reading...
19 July 2010 by Caroline
The budget Android from ZTE is now available on Three UK – so if you want a pocket-friendly device that offers a surprising amount for a small price, ZTE Racer deals may be right for you. The ZTE Racer is an attractive smartphone with a 2.8 inch QVGA screen. Although a resistive touchscreen, considering this handset only costs £110 on Pay As You Go and contracts start from £13 per month, the screen size is generous. And once you get used to ha...
Continue reading...
The budget Android from ZTE is now available on Three UK – so if you want a pocket-friendly device that offers a surprising amount for a small price, ZTE Racer deals may be right for you. The ZTE Racer is an attractive smartphone with a 2.8 inch QVGA screen. Although a resistive touchscreen, considering this handset only costs £110 on Pay As You Go and contracts start from £13 per month, the screen size is generous. And once you get used to ha...
Continue reading...