ZTE Tania Windows 7.5 Sim Free Smartphone - Black

Yes , this is ZTE's first Windows smartphone, and I wouldn't blame you for looking a bit puzzled, because I'd never heard of this Chinese electronics firm either. The Tania is firmly in at the budget end of the market, being about half the usual price of many other smartphones. It's a tale of the good , and the not so good though. On the plus side , you have an attractive phone , with a large 4.3" touch screen,with the latest Windows7 , Mango , operating system installed. It's 1GHz processor makes it fast , and responsive to the lightest touch. ZTE have scrimped on nothing , to make this a feature packed phone, with all the usual things , plus a compass, accelerometer,FM radio , and A-GPS. The 5 megapixel autofocus camera ,with flash,takes excellent pictures. The phone is surprisingly light fot it's size ,and fits quite comfortably in the hand. The predictive text is amazingingly clever - the best I've ever used. So , the phone's bargain price , is not at the expense of software functionality. You will need to have Zune software installed on your laptop/pc, which Tania will readily link up with, and synching is very quick, and hassle free.I like Tania , but there are a few reasons why I've only given 3 stars though : firstly , there isn't much memory available , the phone has 4GB, with only about 3GB available for use , which is pretty measly for a modern smartphone. There is no external memory card slot either , so that's all you are going to get. The phone also crashes quite a bit , and although it resets itself readily , this can be a bit annoying , when you are in the middle of doing something ,like composing a text, and have to start again. Interestingly , the ZTE website, tells you that the phone may crash , and offers a few solutions , which makes me think, they know there's a problem here. Unfortunately, their solutions aren't much cop though. ZTE's Tania , is not provided by the main mobile operators in the UK , and this means that there is little knowledge or support for this sim free handset. My phone is happy on wifi , but refuses to connect to Tesco mobile's 3g data network. This means I can make calls out and about , but cannot get on the internet with 3g. Tesco don't seem to have a fix for this , but I know that Nokia have recently introduced a marketplace app, to address the problems of 3g connectivity with Windows sim free smartphones. Actually,this could save me from wasting a lot of money on internet phone uesage though. For me , this is only a back up phone, and there's no problem about making calls, ect. I would advise you then, to check out beforehand,if your mobile provider fully supports ZTE's Tania, over 3g , before deciding whether to buy it or not. In my opinion, Tania will serve as a useful second phone, particularly if you have wifi at home, and so I would only recommend it as such. Maybe things will improve as time goes on , and ZTE get a little more established in the UK market. Amazon have got this smartphone at a knock down price at the moment, so if it suits you , then now is a good time to buy.

First of all let me say that this is my first smartphone so I approached it from a position of near total ignorance.

The display is big bold & bright. I like it. My old phone's display had got too small for me to read clearly without my reading glasses on. From comparing it with my daughter's iphone I consider it to be reasonably intuitive to use, something which I am very keen on for any gadget I use. The wi-fi seems to work very well & loading time for internet pages is fairly quick. Battery life seems fine considering all it's having to power (including that bright display). The camera is okay but obviously no substitute for a proper one. I haven't tried the movie mode yet so I can't comment on that. Read reviews here or elsewhere & you will see that generally the feeling is that the memory is too small, further hampered by the inability to add extra. Finding accessories for the Tania is not easy. i have a screen protector on order via Amazon(from Germany) & if you want a case via Amazon then it will be coming from Hong Kong. Otherwise you are looking at a one size fits all type case. I suppose this is not surprising given the relative rareness of the brand here (ZTE is Chinese).

Overall so far having owned it for a few days, I would say that the Tania is a decent smartphone if you can't afford a better known one or don't want to be captured by a new contract, etc. Yes, you're tied to Zune & Marketplace, but if you can live with that, then it seems fine to me.

I gave this phone to a 10-year-old of my acquaintance who is desperate to start using smart phones. She gets a great deal of pleasure from it, (as far as my restrictions on its use will go), the baseline of my review is that I can't help but feel despite its attractions, but it won't be long before she wants something perhaps a little bit more powerful, or a slightly more recognisable brand. Saying that, this phone is in essence a good introduction to smart phones, with lots of good, chunky build qualities and staple features.

The Tania comes in a sturdy neat professional box and makes an attractive looking package. On unpacking, all the expected extras are here and they are sturdy and easy-to-use: there is a charger/USB connector, a battery, and reasonably sophisticated headphones. The small, subdued the instructions on start-up documentation are neat, precise and accurate. It really isn't long before this item is out of the box and working.

In terms of the feel of the phone in the hand, it's very pleasing on first contact. I have a Sony Xperia S, my partner a Galaxy III-in terms of size, I place this somewhere between the two. It's a bit of a handful, but very comfortable. The screen surface and instrumentation is completely flat, and the screen is very generous and makes an attractive gaming platform. the shell has rounded edges and is pleasing to hold, but the back is smooth matte plastic which would benefit from a case if you can get hold of one cheaply. (Note to Z TE: cheaper accessories please, and available in Europe!) The function buttons are logically placed, and I have a slight mill/grooved effect which makes your fingers adhere to them nicely. One of the major pluses is a very quick start-up time of this phone it gets going really briskly.

I'm not used to Windows, but the phone delivers a really good flavour of what's available from this controversial operating system. It didn't make enough impression on me for to seduce me from my Android, but I did find it very logical, and clear and well designed, and the phone did a good job enabling me to access what I needed to quickly. The youngsters who the phone was for soon got the hang of buying the (limited) games in the Market place, and listening to music on the Zune platform.

Thus far we're happy, but I have to agree with the previous reviewer who has some doubts about the capacity of the phone in the long term. We've put a batch of games and a few albums on the phone, and it's already looking rather full. The slightly silver buttons, and the slightly retro looking silver trim on the phone does give it a slight air of an original series Star Trek communicator when put next to the latest gleaming offerings from Apple, Sony or Samsung. There is a slight air when choosing this phone, but you've walked past a BMW, Audi and a Mercedes and climbed into a slightly worthy vehicle such as a Skoda instead.

We are enjoying this phone, and I have to be honest and say that on the odd occasion when walking the dog, I've taken it as a more rugged option as opposed to my rather fragile phone that's twice the price. A good option if you are new to smart phones, either quite young or rather old perhaps, but if you're reading this review and thinking of buying, shop around and do some comparisons first as you fight might find something much the same price is more suitable to your needs. I will however, be watching the brand for their new products, as this is a significant entry by a big player into a crowded market.