124 replies to this topic

[NeostarNeko]

Just get a Huawei U8800, it will last a while and gingerbread is coming in October for it. And besides the ZTE Skate sim free might go down to a better price by Christmas.

[Banner]

NeostarNeko, on 16 July 2011 - 12:22 PM, said:

Just get a Huawei U8800, it will last a while and gingerbread is coming in October for it. And besides the ZTE Skate sim free might go down to a better price by Christmas.

Except that you cant get u8800's for love nor money at the minute.

[Atomix86]

The Huawei 8800/Ideos X5 is overrated imo, you can get better phones for the price they seem to go for.

[NeostarNeko]

Banner, on 16 July 2011 - 01:29 PM, said:

Except that you cant get u8800's for love nor money at the minute.

yea if your in the UK at the moment they are ...erm hard to find, but in other parts of the world like Malaysia and Australia they are quite easy to get hold of

Atomix86, on 16 July 2011 - 04:26 PM, said:

The Huawei 8800/Ideos X5 is overrated imo, you can get better phones for the price they seem to go for.

Please tell me what you can get for £190 or less that has better specifications

[samson41]

Blade owner myself, love it to pieces. The skate is an interesting option w/ upgrades in terms of screen size and also performance if the 1gb processor pans out. That said, I've watched some of the review videos out there and was instantly put off by the cheapy plastic-y build. An important facet to my blade love affair is the fact that in terms of tactility it just doesn't feel like a budget android. I wonder if the skate just looks worse in the videos than it is, but I have my doubts that Its smooth casing will match the blades spongy rubbery coating on the front and  back. For me, It detracts for the appeal of the hardware improvements if I feel like i'm using a plastic from china-vasion with nasty clunky  buttons. I know sacrifices have to be made in order to deliver at a budget price, but even that isn't certain 'cause we've had mixed reports on the final cost (of the orange branded units anyways). Maybe I've just been spoiled by the all round quality that the blade offered when released for such a reasonable price. It certainly made me pay attention to ZTE's next release and develop a bit of brand loyalty, but I think it may just be that loyalty which is jogging my interest. I really don't think that the skate is going to hit all the marks that the blade did and it just wont be as good of a deal imo, weather it's actually worth the punt is debatable.

[Banner]

samson41, on 19 July 2011 - 12:44 AM, said:

Blade owner myself, love it to pieces. The skate is an interesting option w/ upgrades in terms of screen size and also performance if the 1gb processor pans out. That said, I've watched some of the review videos out there and was instantly put off by the cheapy plastic-y build. An important facet to my blade love affair is the fact that in terms of tactility it just doesn't feel like a budget android. I wonder if the skate just looks worse in the videos than it is, but I have my doubts that Its smooth casing will match the blades spongy rubbery coating on the front and  back. For me, It detracts for the appeal of the hardware improvements if I feel like i'm using a plastic from china-vasion with nasty clunky  buttons. I know sacrifices have to be made in order to deliver at a budget price, but even that isn't certain 'cause we've had mixed reports on the final cost (of the orange branded units anyways). Maybe I've just been spoiled by the all round quality that the blade offered when released for such a reasonable price. It certainly made me pay attention to ZTE's next release and develop a bit of brand loyalty, but I think it may just be that loyalty which is jogging my interest. I really don't think that the skate is going to hit all the marks that the blade did and it just wont be as good of a deal imo, weather it's actually worth the punt is debatable.

I agree with you samson41, the Blade is my first smart phone and was a breath of fresh air after my Tocco Ultra. I'm now hankering after a faster better equipped phone within a budget. I'd dearly love my next phone to be a ZTE because the Blade has been such a good phone or the money, but I feel that with an 800mhz processor, only 256mb ram, a massive screen thats going to drain the ridiculously tiny battery very quickly its going to miss the mark by a long shot.


http://www.itproport...s-preorder-250/

I was after a u8800 but I just cant get hold of one in the UK.

If Huawei can sort out their distribution the u8800 could be the next Blade.

[k0zmic]

It has 512MB RAM

[h@mster81]

NeostarNeko, on 16 July 2011 - 08:03 PM, said:

yea if your in the UK at the moment they are ...erm hard to find, but in other parts of the world like Malaysia and Australia they are quite easy to get hold of


Please tell me what you can get for £190 or less that has better specifications

I bought a HTC Desire Z for the wife at Carphonewarehouse 1 or 2 months ago. Is it good enough?

[ThermalDroid]

Or y'know you can get the Defy or even the SGS for £200 and whats an extra tenner when your looking for a phone?

[Patrick73]

XiaoKai, on 09 July 2011 - 09:07 PM, said:

There are many defenders of ZTE Skate / Orange Monte Carlo<br/>And a few but loudly spoken people who say its not worth the price as the processer is almsot the same as the Blade<br/><br/>I ask what could the alternative to the skate be around the £200 mark which can beat the Skate in perfornace <b>OR</b> size.

I got a Xperia Play from CEX for £225 unlocked and its a grade c but still good condition just not came with headphones or sony branded charger or memory card. but 12 months warranty. And as most of there mobiles are contract if it gets blocked they will swap it for another one.

[hemant1]

Well I just bought the Dell Venue Pro for £179.51 so that could be an option

[cliff1984]

NeostarNeko, on 16 July 2011 - 12:22 PM, said:

Just get a Huawei U8800, it will last a while and gingerbread is coming in October for it. And besides the ZTE Skate sim free might go down to a better price by Christmas.

How about a Samsung Nexus S ?

In Germany it is available for round about 250 £ (sim-free). IMHO this is a really good offer for such a  smartphone when comparing it to the Huawei 8800 and the ZTE Skate at this point (in terms of price and specifications)

Cheers

Edited by cliff1984, 19 August 2011 - 07:25 AM.

[everett_psycho]

cliff1984, on 19 August 2011 - 07:24 AM, said:

How about a Samsung Nexus S ?

In Germany it is available for round about 250 £ (sim-free). IMHO this is a really good offer for such a  smartphone when comparing it to the Huawei 8800 and the ZTE Skate at this point (in terms of price and specifications)

Cheers

For that money in the UK you can currently get the LG optimus 2x (£270 from expansys) not the cheap 150 of the skate but a bot more power under the cover if you're that was inclined. They also have the acer liquid metal for 150 or the xperia play for 260, its quite a good sale they've got going on there actually

Edited by everett_psycho, 19 August 2011 - 08:13 AM.

[Pelemane]

NeostarNeko, on 16 July 2011 - 08:03 PM, said:

yea if your in the UK at the moment they are ...erm hard to find, but in other parts of the world like Malaysia and Australia they are quite easy to get hold of


Please tell me what you can get for £190 or less that has better specifications

You can get Acer Liquid Metal for £149.99. I don't understand why people would buy Skate if you can get Liquid Metal for that price..

Btw I bought U8800 for 15,84€ here in Finland. Here that price is explained.

[tilal6991]

Pelemane, on 19 August 2011 - 11:01 AM, said:

You can get Acer Liquid Metal for £149.99. I don't understand why people would buy Skate if you can get Liquid Metal for that price..

Btw I bought U8800 for 15,84€ here in Finland. Here that price is explained.

The Acer liquid has been on sale for almost 2 years but has a CM port which is more broken than that of the Skate's. If you want just hardware then ok but if software is important then it's not so good... Also the display on the Liquid is considered not to be very good. But the Skate's display is amazing.

[gitf@ce]

Pelemane, on 19 August 2011 - 11:01 AM, said:

I don't understand why people would buy Skate if you can get Liquid Metal for that price.

Because of screen.

[t0mm13b]

The Soup Thief, on 13 July 2011 - 09:55 PM, said:

Having earlier expressed disinterest in the skate, I see now that it has a 1ghz processor
Overclock anyone? Might be worth a punt, if it aint too pricey...
Lordy, I'm fickle

Expansys.ie are doing them ZTE models (Unlocked/Sim free) - prices to be announced - FYI price wise - don't know how much it would be.... interesting

[Just Wondering]

or if you are UK based,  buy the HTC desire on Orange pay as you go for 179.99

[TouchyAndalou]

Just Wondering, on 21 August 2011 - 07:44 AM, said:

or if you are UK based,  buy the HTC desire on Orange pay as you go for 179.99

Do you have a link to this deal? I've never seen them offering it for anything close to that price.

Edited by TouchyAndalou, 21 August 2011 - 12:03 PM.

[Just Wondering]

TouchyAndalou, on 21 August 2011 - 12:03 PM, said:

Do you have a link to this deal? I've never seen them offering it for anything close to that price.

http://www.hotukdeal...discount/999258