Our ZTE Racer Review

They say you get what you pay for, but with the ZTE Racer you get a whole lot more! The Racer is not the first attempt at a low-cost touchscreen smartphone, but it looks like it will succeed where others have failed.

This Android runner has just home, menu and back buttons on the front, making it neat to look at and comfortable to hold. The only other interruptions to its sleek curves are the volume control and USB charger port on the side and camera lens on the back. It's a pity that there's no dedicated shutter button for the camera, as taking shots means a few taps on the screen, where you may miss the action. Results were good enough for a phone at this price, although there weren't loads of options to play with.

The ZTE Racer mobile phone hasn't done very much at all with the basic Android look, unlike other manufacturers who are obsessed with putting their own brand across everything. Android looks fine and is perfectly functional in its raw state, anyway. The first of three home screens has a Google bar, contacts and favourites and a couple of other widgets to get you started. This phone isn't trying to compete with top-end models, but it's fully functional. Be prepared for a bit of work, though, as the ZTE Racer mobile phone is no soft touch. You will have to press the screen a lot harder than you would be used to with other models. That aside, it works perfectly well once you get used to using a little bit more pressure.

The size of the screen has been taken into account when designing the ZTE Racer mobile phone's browsing operation. Text fits neatly on to the screen, and zooms re-align content smoothly and quickly. Thanks to the 600-mhz processor, going from page to page is not annoyingly slow, as it can be on many other handsets. You have a choice not only of Android's WebKit browser, but the new Opera Mini, which gives better results most of the time, and the accelerometer gives a smooth transition from portrait to landscape.

Because of the screen's non-reactive tendencies, messaging and email can take a lot longer than you may be used to. Don't press hard enough and there's no response, press too hard and you'll get a stream of the same letter. Of course, the QWERTY keyboard on the ZTE Racer mobile phone works better in landscape mode, but you'll spend a lot longer sending a short text than you would with a T9 keypad.

What We Liked

It's cheap, but doesn't feel like it.

What We Disliked

The screen can be difficult to master.

Our Final Verdict

It won't be perfect at this price, but the ZTE Racer mobile phone really is good value for money.

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	ZTE Racer
General
Form Factor	Candybar
Dimensions	102 x 55 x 14.5 (mm)
Talk Time	210 mins
Standby Time	200 hours
Weight	100 g
Quad Band	Yes
Accelerometer	Yes
Photo and Video
Integrated Camera	Yes
Camera	3.20 megapixels
Camera Flash	Yes
Video Player	Yes
Phone
Polyphonic Ringtones	Yes
Smart Phone	Yes
Internal Memory	256MB
Memory Card Type	MicroSD (max 8GB)
Messaging
Instant Messaging (IM)	Yes
Screen
Colour Screen	Yes
Touch Screen	Yes
Connectivity
3G	Yes
Bluetooth	Yes
Email	Yes
HSDPA	Yes
WAP	Yes
Web Browser	Yes
Wi-Fi	Yes
GPS	Yes
Music and Radio
FM Radio	Yes
MP3 Player	Yes
MP3 Ringtones	Yes
Additional Content
Downloadable Content	Yes
Downloadable Games	Yes
Downloadable Ringtones	Yes

ZTE Racer Full Specification

General

Photo and Video

Phone

Messaging

Screen

Connectivity

Music and Radio

Additional Content