New ZTE Skate 4.3-inch Android Phone

ZTE announced at the MWC 2011 the Skate, which is the company’s latest Android smartphone. The Skate comes with a large 4.3-inch touchscreen and will be running Android 2.3. It is boosted by a Qualcomm 800MHz processor with Adreno 200 graphics chip, so don’t expect too much on its graphic performance.
The ZTE also comes with a 5 Megapixel camera and support for AGPS, Bluetooth and WiFi. It supports quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G/3.5G HSPA networks.

Here's the ZTE Skate 4.3, which takes part of its name from its huge 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen. It's the first high-end phone we've seen from China's ZTE that's headed to these shores; it runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread and features a 5-megapixel camera with an LED flash.

It's not going to be able to compete with the like of the Samsung Galaxy S II or the LG Optimus 3D in spec stakes. The ZTE Skate 4.3 comes with a single 800MHz processor, and there's no HDMI out or DLNA connectivity for watching content on big screens. But none of that could matter.

Last year's ZTE Blade – better known here as the Orange San Francisco – was a phone with some pretty lowly specs that became something of a sleeper hit. We wonder if ZTE is on to a winner with the Skate 4.3 too.

The ZTE Skate 4.3 has a display resolution of 480 x 800, a decent camera and access to the Android Market. For some people who want a basic smartphone that's of a certain quality (but not a bleeding edge iPhone killer) the Skate 4.3 could be just the ticket.

The model we had a play around with wasn't finished (scrolling between screens was particularly sluggish) but we were told that there's to be some major tweaks before launch. The ZTE Skate 4.3 is due to arrive in the UK sometime in April. We'll be chasing up for more information and a release date, and will let you know when we hear more.

Posted in: Android