ZTE, the number one mobile phone manufacturer in China, and the 4th largest in the world, is set to invade the Philippine market to compete with other affordable handset brands. Before you think that ZTE phones are similar to those cheap China phones with dubious quality hitting the gray market, they take quality seriously and have a strong following in the European and North American market.
One of the largest consumer electronics distributor in the market, MSI-ECS, was appointed by ZTE to be the exclusive distributor of their phones and tablets which should be available this month.
For the initial wave, we’ll have three affordable Android phones and a 7-inch tablet.
Mimosa Mini V856 (Dual SIM)
The ZTE Mimosa Mini is their entry-level, compact, dual-SIM phone which they claim is the most affordable Android Gingerbread device around. It has a 2.8-inch screen, 650MHz processor, 2-megapixel rear camera and a VGA front camera for just Php5,390.
- Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread)
- 650 MHz MT6573/6162
- 2.8”, 262K, TFT Capacitive, 240×320 pixels
- 512MB NAND+256MB DDR SDRAM, Internal: 100MB, 2GB Micro SD Pre-installed
- 2.0 MP Back Camera
- VGA Front Camera
- Video Calling: 12 fps
- GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900MHz
- HSPA/UMTS 900(850)/1900/2100MHz, WIFI/GPS/GMS
- FM, A-GPS, SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM, SNS integration, Organizer, Voice memo
- 105mm×56.8mm×13.3mm, 105g
- 100 mAh
- SRP: Php5,390
Kis V788
The Kis is a mid-range dual-SIM phone sporting a 3.5-inch screen and powered by an 800 Mhz processor. It has an aluminum finish with a faint chin at the base which reminds us of the HTC Legend. It also runs on Android Gingerbread and has a 3-megapixel camera. This phones has a retail price of Php7,490.
- Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread)
- 800 MHz MSM 7225A
- 3.5 inches TFT capacitive touchscreen, HVGA,
- 512MB NAND+256MB DDR SDRAM, 4GB Micro SD Pre-installed support up to 32GB
- 3.0 MP Back Camera
- VGA Front Camera
- Video Calling: 12 fps
- GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900Mhz
- HSDPA/UMTS 850(900)/2100MHz, WIFI, GPS, GMS
- Document Viewer, SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM, SNS integration, Organizer, Voice memo
- 120.5mm x 63.6mm x11.9 mm
- Li-ion 1100mAh
- SRP: Php7,490
Skate 4.3H
The ZTE Skate is probably the most affordable Android phone sporting a 4.3-inch display. This phone costs only Php13,990 and is powered by a single-core 1 GHz processor. It also runs on Gingerbread, has a 5-megapixel camera but no front-facing one.
- Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread)\
- 1 GHz Single Core Qualcomm
- 4.3 inches (~217 ppi pixel density), TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 480 x 800 pixels
- 512MB NAND+512MB DDR SDRAM, 4GB Micro SD Pre-installed support up to 32GB
- 5.0 MP Back Camera
- GSM/GPRS/EDGE 900/1800/1900MHz
- HSDPA/UMTS 900/2100MHz or 850/1900MHz, HSDPA 14.4MBPS, HSUPA 7.2MBPS
- SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM, SNS integration, Organizer, Voice memo
- 125.9 x 67.8 x 10.4 mm, 120g
- Li-Ion 1400 mAh
- SRP: Php13,990
Light Tab 2 V9A
Finally, they also released a tablet called the Light Tab 2 V9A which they say is the most affordable 7-inch tablet with Dolby Sound Technology at only Php15,490. The Light Tab sports a 1.4GHz single-core processor and can use a SIM card for calling or 3G mobile data.
- Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread)
- 1.4 GHz Scorpion, Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon, Adreno 205
- 7.0 inches (~170 ppi pixel density), LCD capacitive touchscreen, 600 x 1024 pixels
- 4 GB ROM, 512 MB RAM, 4 GB microSD Pre-installed, up to 32GB
- 3.0 MP Back Camera
- VGA Front Camera
- GSM/GPRS/EDGE 900/1800/1900MHz
- HSDPA/UMTS 900/2100MHz or 850/1900MHz, HSDPA 14.4MBPS, HSUPA 7.2MBPS
- Built in Dolby Mobile Sound Technology
- Document viewer, YouTube, Google Talk, Picasa integration, Google Search, Maps, Gmail, SNS integration, FM radio, with A-GPS support
- 202 x 122 x 12.6 mm, 389 g
- Li-Ion 3400 mAh
- SRP: Php15,490
These phones may not amaze you but it’s just the beginning for ZTE here in the Philippines. We got a sneak preview of a water-proof Android phone called the ZTE Star7 (above left), a 4.3-inch dual-SIM, dual-core phone called the ZTE Grand (above right), and also their quad-core-phone, the ZTE Era, all of which will be launched really soon.
So what do you think? Will ZTE make it big in the country?
