Is the blade still a good choice budget phone?

[Guest Cliffoshay]

Just wanted to check that the ZTE blade still represents good value for money as a budget android devide?

The pulse was my first android phone and ive stuck with it until now. Not so long ago, many seemed to migrate over to the blade but I would be interested to know what aternatives, if any, I should consider?

I need to part with my £100 this week so any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Guest]

The blade is by far the best value for money.

A small list of benefits,I am sure others will add:

1) great screen reolution for the money

2) easy to network unlock and root

3) supported by cyanogen mod

4) several good gingerbread roms to choose from

I heard once that the blade is discribed as a baby nexus,and thats not far off.

You will not get better value for money,now,or for some time to come.

Go for it man,dive in and join the blade community.

Edited October 17, 2011 by Guest

[Guest Cliffoshay]

Thanks for the quick repy, and reassurance. The thing that is predomonantly forcing my hand at the moment is the ability to record calls and I've read that the blade will do this.The other possibilities in terms of my budget is the HTC widefire S and Samsung Galaxy Ace. That is ignoreing the call recording issue, I need to check if either will facilitate that.

[Guest JasonLeeming]

Go for the Blade. In addition to the benefits already listed above, Flash is also working now as well. I wouldn't bother with either the Widlfire S and the Galaxy Ace. The only benefit I can think of is the 5MP camera with flash, but even so, the cameras are still pretty shoddy. Plus, they both have worse resolution screens than the Blade, and they cost much more.

[Guest Cliffoshay]

Many thanks, it looks like neither support 2-way call recording anyway. So, the blade it is!

local Orange shop seems the best bet £100 plus £10 credit but my brother-in-law works for the NHS so gets £20 off as a result. They're out of stock though for the moment.

Thanks again to you both for you help.

Edited October 17, 2011 by Cliffoshay

[Guest lazyliam]

flash is also now working?

Go for the Blade. In addition to the benefits already listed above, Flash is also working now as well. I wouldn't bother with either the Widlfire S and the Galaxy Ace. The only benefit I can think of is the 5MP camera with flash, but even so, the cameras are still pretty shoddy. Plus, they both have worse resolution screens than the Blade, and they cost much more.

[Guest lazyliam]

and on subject if you can go to 150 u can get sony experia play all though san fran still seems the sub 100 pound phone

[Guest Mushroom_Lord]

Monte Carlo for £85, surely is the best option here?

[Guest ojconcentrate]

Monte Carlo for £85, surely is the best option here?

monte carlo for £85? where?

Argos still has SF for £99 + £10 topup

[Guest Cliffoshay]

Is the Monte Carlo considered on par with the blade then? Does anyone know if it is capable of 2-way call recording?

[Guest hahawas]

Is the Monte Carlo considered on par with the blade then? Does anyone know if it is capable of 2-way call recording?

Monte Carlo is suppposed to be Blade v2. It's should be more expensive(£160). But £85?? Snatch at it

[Guest unrandomsam]

Just wanted to check that the ZTE blade still represents good value for money as a budget android devide?

The pulse was my first android phone and ive stuck with it until now. Not so long ago, many seemed to migrate over to the blade but I would be interested to know what aternatives, if any, I should consider?

I need to part with my £100 this week so any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I think it depends on a few things.

a) How careful you are with phones (The blade is not the greatest build quality - I think mine will be trash within another few months).

B) Whether you need a phone straight away or not. (Xperia Play is currently really cheap and probably better build quality - the other ones released around the same time are likely to also get discounted in the near future I think).

c) Whether you want a phone with the best hardware possible for the price or you want one that already has roms developed by others.

The Monte Carlo is cheap because it cannot be unlocked (Other than with those sim cards you place in between or waiting 3 months).

Blade is probably worth it unconditionally if you can get it for £80 or less (But there is the fact that for twice the cost (including unlock) an xperia play will probably last longer than twice as long as the blade would (Thats for me answering it with oil on my hands and it being around general workshop / car stuff. If you keep it in a clean room it will probably last longer.)).

[Guest Cliffoshay]

I see your point. I do need it quickly and it has to work on T-Mobile so that is an issue. I'm tempted by the xperia play if I can record both ends of the call. Not having much joy getting an answer to this at the moment though. I do note that many others in the xperia range are compatible with Total Recall though.

I don't tend to be very heavy handed with phones so although better build quality is preferable, that in itself is not a 'deal-breaker'.

[Guest Maxsas360]

Get a Huawei u8800pro. Armv7, 1ghz cpu for 150£

[Guest hedgepigdaniel]

call recording depends on the ROM. It does not work in CM7 on the Blade, but it does work in some of the older 2.2 ROMs from here, don't knwo about the recent ones

[Guest Cliffoshay]

call recording depends on the ROM. It does not work in CM7 on the Blade, but it does work in some of the older 2.2 ROMs from here, don't knwo about the recent ones

Thanks, I did't know that. I was expecting to use something like total recall app which the blade as a compatible device with custom rom. It will be annoying to be limited to an older rom but I may not have much choice as I have to have this function.

[Guest targetbsp]

Monte Carlo for £85, surely is the best option here?

It's not even unlockable yet is it? With Oranges PAYG charges you'll soon make up the price difference between a high end phone and a giffgaff sim!

[Guest vcnt]

asking again ... is this true what some dude says about flash working on the blade? nevermind ... just looked at the next thread all about it

flash is also now working?

Edited October 18, 2011 by vcnt

[Guest C3P001]

Monte Carlo for £85, surely is the best option here?

Where can you get a Monte Carlo for 85 quid ? I would love to know as i will be in the UK next Monday.

From Orange shop its

pay as you go: from £119.99 + £10 top up so that would be 129.99

Edited October 18, 2011 by C3P001

[Guest Mushroom_Lord]

I saw the Monte Carlo deal on HUKD. (yesterday) it might have gone now, but £85 incl. topup seemed good to me!

- Yeah, but my SF is seldom used, its been topped up about thrice since I got it @Christmas.

[Guest slitz]

I would advise against getting the Blade now, with Ice Cream Sandwich coming around the corner you'd probably want a Snapdragon or similar single core 1 Ghz processor. Dual core is the highest spec right now, while a single core is mid range. The Blade used to be mid range when it came out but it's fallen below that to low range.

Decent mid range choices:

Acer Liquid Metal is £139 from Expansys, it has second generation Snapdragon (GPU apparently double the power of the one found in the Blade, 800 Ghz stock clock but can be overclocked to 1.4 Ghz safely on most devices).

+ Has a second generation Snapdragon (technically a deviation of the one found on the Desire HD so it's 800 Ghz stock clock, but can be overclocked to 1.4 Ghz safely on most devices)

+ Has real multi-touch in comparison to the Blade's poorly made dual-touch (the Nexus One also has this problem YouTube it if you want to see what I mean)

+ Has a semi-active forum section on here

+- 3.6" screen, you decide if that's too big or small

- Has a plastic screen but this is the same as the Blade so this is no issue

- Comes with Froyo 2.2 stock, but can probably get Gingerbread with a custom ROM.

- No front facing camera, same as the Blade.

- Heavier than the Blade (135g vs 110g)

- Costs more than the Blade by a small margin

~ Potentially better camera than the Blade, I don't know as I don't own this device

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is £150 from the O2 store although I don't know if it is unlocked

+ Playstation style controls for specific games

+ Second generation Snapdragon (same as the one found on the Desire HD, 1 Ghz stock but overclocking tends to break things such as the camera)

+- 4" screen, you decide if that's too big or small

+ Native Gingerbread (2.3.3) with an update to 2.3.4 in a few weeks

+ Has a front facing camera

+ Better rear camera than the Blade

- Has a plastic screen but this is the same as the Blade so this is no issue

- Heavier than the Blade (175g vs 110g)

- Costs more than the Blade by about an extra half amount

I suggest avoiding any first generation Snapdragon phones unless you can get them for extremely cheap, if you're a gamer get the Xperia Play but if you're not you should be satisfied with the Liquid Metal.

Edited October 18, 2011 by slitz

[Guest Kamikaze.]

Huawei U880 would be better choice imo. Its a little bit more expensive tough...

[Guest Cliffoshay]

Thanks for the suggestions. Anyone know about 2-way call recording on any of these?

[Guest shanky887614]

Thanks for the suggestions. Anyone know about 2-way call recording on any of these?

why are you asking if its built into phone

recording calls is done through software, im sure there are many apps out there that can do it

check android market (either on pc or phone)

if its not on there, there is still probably an app that can do it only it will have been removed by google

[Guest Cliffoshay]

why are you asking if its built into phone

recording calls is done through software, im sure there are many apps out there that can do it

check android market (either on pc or phone)

if its not on there, there is still probably an app that can do it only it will have been removed by google

There are of course apps but many devices do not support the recording of both sides of the call without using the speaker. The ZTE is one of a few devices that with some roms does provide this feature.