CNET Editors' Take
October 10, 2012 6:39 PM PDT
Midrange ZTE Render takes on Windows Phone 7
SAN DIEGO--Known as the ZTE Orbit back when it was showcased in February at Mobile World Congress, the ZTE Render is a head-scratcher. Not because it's particularly mysterious, but because it's a wonder why it's even being sold.
Currently, U.S. Cellular is offering the newly released phone for $70, after users sign a two-year contract and send in a rebate. But despite its reasonable price, Windows Phone 8 is expected soon, and the Render is a WP7.5, Tango device. And while it can be upgradable to WP7.8 later, its midrange specs and 3G speeds are still ho-hum.
Design
The ZTE Render's design is nothing novel. It has a lightweight plastic build (it weighs 4.82 ounces) and a textured rubber back plate. It has a thin strip of chrome running along its edges and it measures 4.7 inches tall, 2.5 inches wide, and 0.4 inch thick.
The device has a 4-inch WVGA capacitive touch-screen display that wasn't very responsive during my time with it. In fact, it would take a bit of pressure from my finger for touches to register certain actions like choosing apps and scrolling through the start menu.
Features
The handset is powered by a 1GHz processor and a 1,600mAh battery, which roughly translates to a mere 4.67 hours of reported talk time. While briefly handling the device, the phone performed pretty smoothly. There were no hiccups when it came to launching apps and transitioning back to the start screen. However, I am wary of the less than stellar battery, which doesn't offer much in terms of usage time.
As a Windows Phone device, the Render features Xbox Live, Zune music and video portals, Microsoft Office, and 7GB of SkyDrive cloud computing storage.
Though there is no front-facing camera, the handset sports a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash. In addition, it has 4GB of onboard memory, 512MB of RAM, and Bluetooth 3.0 capabilities.
The ZTE Render houses a 5-megapixel camera on the rear.
(Credit: Lynn La/CNET)Outlook
With Windows Phone 8 expected right around the corner, there isn't much of an incentive to get the ZTE Render. Don't get me wrong, I can imagine a scenario where one could buck up with the dated OS if the hardware and the price were worth it (for example, the Nokia Lumia 900), but the ZTE Render is nowhere near that. And in an industry where being "the most recent" is king, this handset's old OS has rendered it quite useless.
