Test driving the new ZTE Racer

ZTE, whose F930 we looked at here, are back with another medium spec handset, to the delight of budget conscious shoppers everywhere. ZTE invited Latest Gadgets to have a play with their newest attempt to win the hearts and minds of the average mobile phone shopper.

The ZTE racer is an Android powered smartphone, that shuns the latest and greatest for “quite good”. Unveiled to an audience of spec hungry tech journalists, there was distinct apathy at the Racer’s humble offering, running Eclair, or Android 2.1. However, people who have to actually pay for their phones will probably see one key figure and rejoice – the handset is £99 on PAYG from 3. Compared to a £599 iPhone 4, the cheap and cheerful handset gives owners pleanty to smile about.

Mr. Wu Sa, director of mobile device operations, ZTE (UK) Ltd, explained that ZTE are not necessarily in the business of placing cutting edge technology in the hands of the elite (although they do have an eye on the high end). The Racer is instead part of a move to democratize technological advances, “making smart phones available to the UK market at prices affordable by th majority of UK consumers”. £99 PAYG is pretty cheap by any measure, and arguably puts Internet access into the hands of a greater number of people – people, who want Facebook, Twitter and email on their phones rather than those obsessing over Snapdragon processors.

So what does £99 get you? A 2.8″ QVGA touchscreen, 3.2 Megapixel camera and 7.2 Mbps HSDPA. More meaningfully you gain access to a reasonable variety of internet services – Skype, Twitter, Facebook, Spotify, Google Maps and the Wild West of mobile apps that is the Android Marketplace.

Oddly the handset most threatened by the ZTE racer is the ZTE F930. For a few dollars more you can jump into the world of smart phones. I remember recommending the F930 as an ideal handest for students, teens or people on a budget. Now the ZTE racer is on the scene I’d have to recommend spending that extra £30.