Android Mobile

Bought myself a new mobile phone last weekend, a ZTE Racer on the 3 network. This a fantastic little smartphone, that has the Android mobile OS installed on it. I paid £99 for it in a 3 store, which included a £10 topup. ZTE may not be a well known handset maker - they are Chinese and known more for there mobile internet dongles, but they have produced a great handset.

The handset features a Touch Screen, 3.2MP camera, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, 3G networking and a microSD card, along with all the other features you would expect on a good mobile. One of the best features of this phone, due it having Android OS installed is OTA (Over The Air) synchronisation included in the phone, with your Google account. This made set-up easy, as once the phone had my Google account details, my Google Mail, Calendar & Address book were all automatically set-up on my phone.

Having GPS is a boon as well, as once I updated the Google Maps software on my phone, the update added the extra functionality of Google Navigation, turning my phone in to a Sat Nav as well - great for when I’m walking somewhere and need to know how to get there!

I believe that the Android OS is a great OS for a mobile phone, and one that can rival Apple’s iOS 4 on the iPhone, iPod Touch etc. Being open source means it features on a range of handsets. which is great as it means that developers are more inclined to write software for it etc. and it does not have the restrictions on software development that iOS does.

There are only 2 downsides to this phone, one of which is only really a downside in my own opinion, as switching from a Symbian S60v3 FP1 phone, i’m used to the phone asking me how I would like to connect when going online (Wi-Fi or Mobile Network), something I think should be in the Android OS, as sometimes my Android mobile forgets that there is a Wi-Fi network available. The second downside is that, I suspect due to the smaller screen size (320 by 240 2.8 inch QVGA screen), not all apps available in Android Market are available for my phone, something I hope is fixed, as there are some great Apps I which I could download. Maybe once more mobile phone makers release Android phones with this size screen, more apps will be compatible.

All in all for the price ZTE have made a cracking phone, and I hope it lasts me for a while to come.