Decent build quality, quad-core processor, expandable memory, low price
Not a looker, so-so screen, low onboard memory
With a price barely into three figures, the ZTE Blade V is just about the cheapest quad-core smartphone you can find -- but is that good enough to make it a bargain?
Design
The casing is very much budget Android. Smooth glossy plastic with a metallic strip around the edges, and quite chunky too at 11mm thick and 130g. Nothing wrong with that as such, unless you particularly want your phone to turn heads. The only thing that looks slightly distinctive about the Blade V is the blue brushed metal effect of the finish. Oh, and the LED at the top that flashes green, orange or red depending on which notifications are waiting.
It may have a stonker of an engine under the hood for the price, but the screen is pure budget Android. It's 4 inches, which is about as small as you can get and still feel comfortable (just about) typing on the onscreen keyboard. The resolution however is a lowly 800x480 pixels (233ppi), which is seriously lacking when compared to the sharpness of even the most ordinary HD screen.
Still, it's fine for surfing the web and even watching YouTube videos -- nice to see the cover is glass too rather than plastic, which should be less prone to scratches.
Memory, Android and processor
There's only 4GB of onboard memory, which won't take you too far.
Fortunately you can add up to 32GB via microSD card but you can't always install apps on an SD card, so you'll need to be a bit careful with your downloads.
It's running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, a rather elderly version of the operating system, and ZTE has put its own skim on the interface, with a distinctive looking lock screen and icons that look a little different from the standard Android versions so not much difference in other words.
Yes, it has a quad-core processor clocked at 1.2GHz and that's quite a surprise at this price point. But it's only got 1GB of RAM, and the cores aren't particularly powerful, so you can't expect it's performance to equate to quad-core high-enders like the Samsung Galaxy S4, Sony Xperia Z1 or the HTC One. Our AnTuTu benchmark test gave it a score of 11,462, which puts it well behind all those 25,000+ models. It's performance isn't terrible by any means, and shifting between apps is reasonably smooth with only a few hints of lag -- it's certainly more powerful than most phones with a similar price tag, like the
Photography
The 5-megapixel camera comes with autofocus and an LED flash, plus a range of scenes and a red eye reduction setting. Picture quality is so-so -- not bad so long as you're careful with your light and have a steady hand, but it's prone to over exposure and it's quick to blur. There's also a standard VGA camera on the front for video calls and selfies.
Battery life isn't bad -- you'll certainly get a day's use out of it -- but considering budget handsets often have the saving grace of longer battery life (slower processor, dimmer screens, less apps to drain power), this one didn't particularly impress.
Conclusion
The ZTE Blade V is a budget Android with one trump card up its sleeve -- it's quad-core processor, which may not be up there with the best but it distinguishes itself from just about any other 100 quid handset. And while the price is attractive, the Blade V doesn't quite have the space to itself, with superior rivals like the Moto G are now available for a similar price on PAYG. In that company, the ZTE Blade V starts to seem like less of a bargain.
Software: Google Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
Processor: Quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4
Memory slot: Yes
Display: 4in TFT, 800x480 pixels
Connectivity: Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
Ports: microUSB, 3.5mm headphone jack
Camera: 5 megapixel with autofocus; 1 megapixel front-facing camera
Video playback: MPEG4, H.264, H.263
Audio playback: MP3, eAAC+, WAV
Radio: Yes
Battery: 1800mAh
Size: 126x64x11mm
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
