ZTE Skate review

Smartphones such as the Apple iPhone 4S and Samsung Galaxy S II dominate the high-end market, but there is plenty to play for when it comes to mid-tier devices, and ZTE is an emerging Chinese manufacturer looking to make a name for itself.

The ZTE Skate, also known as the Orange Monte Carlo, is a mid-range smartphone aimed at buyers on a budget. The device retails SIM-free at the £200 mark or is available from Orange for free starting at £20.50 per month. We found that the Skate comes with more than reasonable specifications to entice those who want a well rounded handset.

Big but lightweight
The Skate is by no means ugly, but the design is rather uninspiring. The black plastic case looks and feels cheap compared to the high-grade coating on the Samsung Galaxy S II. The glossy nature of the back also makes it quite slippery to hold, so those with butter fingers had better be careful.

The Skate is noticeably larger than other mid-tier devices with its 126x 68x10mm chassis, but it weighs just 120g, an impressive feat.

The 4.3in display is in your face and will be the feature that is most likely to attract potential buyers. It's a behemoth and the quality is not too bad either. Of course, it is never going to compete with the Retina display on the iPhone 4S or the Super Amoled on the Galaxy S II, but the 480x800 resolution on the Skate is more than decent.

The poor brightness lets the Skate down and we're not too keen on the three hard buttons just below the screen. These come in the form of 'home', 'menu' and 'back' and we're not convinced of their durability.

Performance is hit and miss
For the £200 price tag you get an 800MHz single-core processor that provides the grunt. This isn't really surprising as only high-end devices ship 1GHz-plus processors and, with the exception of Windows Phone devices, the majority now ship with a dual-core chip.

There is also 512MB of RAM included, which is the minimum expected in smartphones. Navigating between applications and home screens is generally swift, but performance becomes inconsistent when using resource heavy apps such as the web browser. Scrolling down a busy web site page can often be jerky, for example.

ZTE has skimped on the internal storage with a paltry 135MB. The ability to bolster this by 32GB using a micro SD card slot is a bonus, but the manufacturer should really have included a bit more.

Additional features include Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and Bluetooth v2.1 connectivity, and a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash.

Basic Android interface
The Skate ships with an unmodified version of Android Gingerbread 2.3. Few manufacturers have been able to provide a complementary overlay for Android, the HTC Sense being the only exception that springs to mind. ZTE has wisely chosen not to add an overlay, probably realising that performance would be adversely affected.

ZTE keeps the apps tally down, shipping the handset with basic Google apps such as Gmail, Maps, Navigation and YouTube. The Email client, Note and Filer apps are going to be important from a business perspective, but no office-based apps are included.

Messaging and internet
Text input is generally very similar to the Google Nexus S, which uses the stock Android keyboard. The bigger screen on the Skate makes it a little easier to type, but the lack of secondary functions is annoying.

The 4.3in display makes the Skate really good when it comes to displaying web content. You can view full pages on screen, and the speed of browsing is reasonably quick, but it's noticeably slower than high-end devices. It takes a full 15 seconds to partially load the V3 home page, compared to the forthcoming Nokia Lumia 800, which loads all the main content in around five seconds.

On a positive note, Android supports all Adobe Flash content so the Skate can play videos from all web sites. This allows the Skate to get one over on high-profile devices such as iPhones and BlackBerrys as they lack support.

Battery life
Despite ZTE's good work in getting the Skate to market with decent specifications and an affordable price, the battery lets the handset down.

We expected better from the 1400mAh Li-on battery, but were disappointed when we managed to get around 13 hours with moderate use. This dropped considerably when we used the device to browse the internet, check emails and make calls, and the Skate struggled to make it through the day.

The Skate is a reasonable choice for those on a tight budget who won't mind having the basic features of Android. The lack of any business applications and the imminent launch of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich will severely impair the phone's longevity, as it is highly unlikely to be able to support the upgraded platform.

Android 2.3 Gingerbread
4.3in display (480x800)
800MHz processor
512MB RAM
135MB internal storage
Micro-SD card support up to 32GB
5-megapixel camera with LED Flash
1400mAh battery
125.9x67.8x10.4mm
120g