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Alternatives To ZTE Skate / Orange Monte Carlo


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Guest Banner
Posted

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.itproportal.com/2011/07/19/zte-skate-goes-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.

Guest h@mster81
Posted

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? :)

Guest ThermalDroid
Posted

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?

  • 3 weeks later...
Guest Patrick73
Posted

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.

Guest hemant1
Posted

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

Guest cliff1984
Posted (edited)

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
Guest everett_psycho
Posted (edited)

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
Guest Pelemane
Posted

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.

Guest tilal6991
Posted

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.

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

Because of screen.

Guest t0mm13b
Posted

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 :)

Guest Just Wondering
Posted

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

Guest TouchyAndalou
Posted (edited)

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
Guest TouchyAndalou
Posted

Cheers for that. Although, having read through the thread, the deal hasn't been confirmed anywhere other than the Halifax store so far. In fact, several posters mentioned that they went into their local store and were told that they didn't have any stock of the phone. Perhaps this deal is intended simply to sell through remaining stock and will be difficult to find.

At any rate, it's a good price for a good phone if you can get it.

Posted

hi there, i just read on this thread about the Huawei u8800, does it have flash? ive honestly not heard of this phone and now i want it!! how much is it roughly and who sells it? thank you

Guest TouchyAndalou
Posted

hi there, i just read on this thread about the Huawei u8800, does it have flash? ive honestly not heard of this phone and now i want it!! how much is it roughly and who sells it? thank you

Yes, it does support Flash. Look for it on the carphonewarehouse website.

Posted

Yes, it does support Flash. Look for it on the carphonewarehouse website.

Thank you!

Guest unrandomsam
Posted

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

Only issue with the desire that I know of is has the same touchscreen problems as the blade (only 2 point messes up which finger is which etc).

To unlock it probably buy an XTC clip for £20 from gsmhosting (Better than paying a shop and you can get radio S-OFF as well).

Guest muddley88
Posted

What do u think about sony eriksson xperia x10 as an alternative????

Guest john.smith
Posted

You may also watch my video clips on YouTube, U8800 runs much better in Angry Birds Rio because of the different processor even at the same 800MHz.

But Monte Carlo has got a pretty nice 4.3" screen, so it really comes down to what you need.

hi there, i just read on this thread about the Huawei u8800, does it have flash? ive honestly not heard of this phone and now i want it!! how much is it roughly and who sells it? thank you

Guest Atomix86
Posted

What do u think about sony eriksson xperia x10 as an alternative????

If you can find it cheap, it could very well be a decent alternative (it pretty much has the same spec except it has a 1ghz CPU and a slightly smaller screen).

  • 2 weeks later...
Guest unrandomsam
Posted

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.

Acer Liquid and Acer Liquid Metal

are 2 different phones.

http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=pdacomparer&id1=2635&id2=2071

1st generation vs 2nd generation snapdragon.

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