3 has just brought the ZTE Racer out on sale, a budget minded smartphone for those of you who want Android without breaking the bank.
The ZTE Racer in black comes priced at £110 on PAYG. You can pick it up on a two year contract, with the handset free, starting from £13 per month on the “talker” plan
Available exclusively on the 3 UK network, the ZTE Racer will be offered on a prepay basis for £99.99. Although ZTE trails rival device vendors in launching Android smartphones, it claims that the low price of the device will give it a competitive edge. "To be the first to market [with Android] is not so important to us, what's important is to bring Android to the mass market," Wu Sa, director of mobile device operations for ZTE UK, told Mobile Business Briefing. The device is also 3's first Android handset to break the £100 barrier. "This will make the Android touchscreen experience affordable," said David Kerrigan, head of Internet services at the UK operator. Other specs include HSDPA 7.2Mb/s capability, Android 2.1 support, a 3.2MP camera and 256MB of internal memory.
The phone comes with a pretty decent spec for the price tag, including a 2.8 inch display, a 3.2 megapixel camera, 2GB of storage, an FM radio, accelerometer, GPS and bluetooth.
The battery gives you 210 minutes of talk time, or 200 hours standby, and pleasingly enough, the device also runs Android 2.1.
It could be a tempting starter phone for many, and certainly doesn’t represent bad value for money.
