The ZTE Blade 3 is the latest smartphone from the Chinese firm intent on bringing customers great value for money at the bottom end of the mobile market.
While ZTE and its Chinese compatriot Huawei both say they’re targeting the full smartphone spectrum with recent high-end handsets such as the Grand S and Ascend D2 pushing at the top end, the reality is that they are still primarily considered budget handset manufacturers.
The budget ethos rings true with the ZTE Blade 3 as it will only set you back £69.99, plus a £10 top up from Virgin Mobile.
One of the reasons ZTE is able to keep its costs down is the fact that the Blade 3 is designed and manufactured in China, with the cheap labour and parts rates reflected in the final price.
ZTE claims it’s in talks with other mobile carriers about ranging the Blade 3, but for now only Virgin Mobile has the handset in store.
Although the price tag suggests that the Blade 3 is an entry level device it actually sits in the middle of ZTE’s smartphone line up, with the high-end Grand series above and the budget ZTE Kis below.
The mid-range tag becomes more apparent when you take a look at the specs, with the Blade 3 sporting a 4-inch 480 x 800 display, 1GHz single-core processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage (although only 2.5GB is accessible) and a 1,600mAh battery.
It’s not exactly a scintillating spec list, but considering the sub-£100 price tag you’re getting a decent amount of bang for your buck.
This means the ZTE Blade 3 is going head to head with the likes of the HTC Desire C and Sony Xperia Miro, both of which will set you back around £100 more.
Measuring 120.5 x 63.5 x 10.85mm and weighing 130g, the ZTE Blade 3 is a good size and weight with a well balanced finish reducing the risk of dropping the handset.
Unsurprisingly the Blade 3 has a noticeably plastic finish, although it’s pretty sturdy and the slightly curved rubberised rear means it’s easy to hold.
Up top there’s a headphone jack and an easy to hit power/lock key, while down the left hand side is a volume rocker key with a microUSB port at the base of the Blade 3.
Under the 4-inch display you’ll find four touch buttons used to navigate around the Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system.
The keys are typical Android fare: menu, home, back and search and all are pretty responsive to our various pokes and prods.
ZTE were unable to confirm to TechRadar whether or not the Blade 3 will enjoy an upgrade to Jelly Bean, and we don’t think you should hold your breath for an update.
Luckily though the Blade 3 is running the vanilla version of ICS with ZTE opting not to stick its own overlay on the software – and that’s something we’re grateful for.
Android feels smooth and snappy on the Blade 3, and considering it’s only packing a single-core processor, performance was pleasing – although the handset we were using wasn’t full of apps, photos and videos, which we fear will slow it down a little.
Flipping through the homescreens (of which you can have a maximum of nine) was a fluid experience and apps opened promptly.
The display on the Blade 3 is responsive and it had no trouble picking up our various taps with Android looking crisp and clear, although on closer inspection it’s obviously not HD quality.
Something ZTE has added to the Ice Cream Sandwich interface is the quick settings bar in the pull down notification window, allowing you to quickly and easily toggle features such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS without having to dive into the settings menu.
ZTE has also decided against keeping the stock Android keyboard in favour of the TouchPal offering.
It’s not the best typing experience, with input a little slow and an over-complicated layout meaning we were hitting the wrong key more often than not.
The lockscreen on the Blade 3 has been given a ZTE overhaul with six shortcuts present allowing you to jump into dedicated apps right from the off which some will find very useful.
We managed to have a quick browse on the web using the Blade 3 and while we weren’t blown away with super fast speeds, the stock Android browser did an acceptable job of loading mobile and desktop sites.
The 5MP camera round the back is missing a flash, which means you’ll want to avoid low lighting situations, but at least the standard Android app is easy to use and the shutter speed respectable.
There’s also a 4x digital zoom built into the camera on the Blade 3 if you fancy an up close, blurry shot.
You can easily peel off the rear cover of the Blade 3, giving you access to the microSD slot and removeable 1,600mAh battery which should see you through the day thanks to the modest innards and screen on the handset.
Early Verdict
When a phone rocks up with such a low price tag and a decent set of specs, it’s difficult to knock it.
It was never going to blow us away, but for a sub-£100, we don’t expect it to – and what the ZTE Blade 3 does is offer a solid smartphone experience at a price which will please everyone.
It will be interesting to see how the Blade 3 copes when we load it up with apps, music and movies during our in-depth review, but until then it looks promising for ZTE.
Related Stories
 |
 |