3 launches sub-£100 Android smartphone

Posted on 16 Jul 2010 at 15:41

Chinese handset manufacturer ZTE has launched the first truly budget Android-based smartphone in the UK, in partnership with the 3 UK network - the ZTE Racer.

Designer to offer a full Android experience to those who can't bring themselves to spend several hundred pounds on a smartphone, the Racer offers a full touchscreen smartphone for just £99 - with no monthly contract to contend with.

ZTE has manufactured handsets for the Chinese market for years, but this marks its first own-brand handset to hit the UK - and with its

sub-£100 price point, it's certainly made a splash.

Initial reactions to the device are, however, lukewarm at best. In a write-up of the gadget, TechEye described the Racer as a handset which "genuinely feels 'cheap,'" with concerns also raised about the slow processor and cheaper, low-resolution 2.8in resistive touchscreen.

The remaining specifications are certainly comparable to other smartphones on the market, however, with Bluetooth support, 3G mobile broadband with support for 7.2Mb/s HSDPA connections, Wi-Fi support, and in-built GPS along with a 3.2 megapixel camera on the rear. A 2GB microSD card is included to supplement the 256MB of on-board memory.

Despite concerns over build quality, the Android 2.1-based device - sadly, there's no news yet as to whether ZTE will be launching an update to the far superior Android 2.2 any time soon - is still the cheapest touchscreen smartphone available today, and is likely to get an impressive following for that reason alone.

More details on the ZTE Racer are available on 3 UK's website.

Author: Gareth Halfacree

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