zte

Don't be fooled by the AT&T F160's plain-Jane appearance. It may not cost you a cent when you sign up for a new two-year contract with AT&T, but this isn't the sorry, underpowered clump of electronics you might expect a carrier to throw you gratis.

Instead, you'll find a quite decent cell phone that's perfect for making calls. A very responsive dial pad makes texting painless. This is one phone that definitely grew on us the more we used it. The F160 isn't without its flaws, but it's a … Read more

LAS VEGAS--ZTE isn't announcing devices besides its tablets, but we were able to glean a few things during our meeting with the Chinese phone manufacturer at CES. Chiefly, ZTE is looking for a home for the ZTE Blade, an Android-powered smartphone that's already been released in Europe and Asia.

We took a look at the Blade--it has a 3.5-inch touch screen, and a 3.2-megapixel camera. In global markets, it currently runs Android 2.1 but should be upgradable to Android 2.2 (Froyo). Right now ZTE says it's in talks with major and regional U.… Read more

LAS VEGAS--Mobile device maker ZTE welcomed a trio of additions to its tablet family at CES.

All three are 7-inchers running Android and each has a 3-megapixel rear-facing camera, plus a VGA front-facing camera. Other specs vary slightly between the tiered models. The ZTE Lite tablet, for instance, features Android 2.2 (Froyo), 800x480 screen resolution, a 600MHz processor, and Dolby Surround 3.0 for an audio boost.

The more upscale ZTE Lite 2 tablet boasts a 1GHz processor, a 1,024x600-pixel screen, and DLNA support. It has 4GB internal memory. Both the Lite and Lite 2 are already available … Read more

If you're thinking of picking up a simple cell phone for yourself or someone else, the relatively new AT&T F160 can be yours for free with a two-year service agreement.

The ZTE-made F160 (it sounds like a Ford truck, doesn't it?) has some nice midrange features. It's a 3G world phone with Bluetooth 2.0. There's a 3-megapixel camera with camcorder,  mobile e-mail, instant messaging, and AT&T's Mobile Music service. There's also AT&T's stock browser and other bundled aps like Yahoo Mobile.

The 2.4-inch QVGA … Read more

The ZTE-manufactured AT&T R225, is a prepaid, entry-level Go Phone. Design, price, and call quality are the handset's biggest strengths. To that end, this isn't a bad phone for making calls.

However, its feature set tends toward the anorexic. Mobile e-mail and IM are surprise options, but ZTE has overlooked basics like Bluetooth and a volume rocker, two important fundamentals for a phone best-suited for callers. Still, it's a good buy for some people.

Read more, listen to call quality, and see photos of the phone's very nice design in our hands-on review.

This week on Crave, we check out a touch screen from Nokia that's guaranteed to melt, Jasmine gets all up in arms over a belly band, and Oprah shows off an iPad with wings (seriously). Also, Donald's excited by a beerbot that can detect empties, Netflix tempts people to give up DVDs altogether, and Volkswagen debuts a car for little people. To cap it off, an enterprising designer pitches a watch band for the Nano--and overshoots his project funding by a whole heck of a lot. Finally: two delicious items designed to appeal to the fat person inside of all of us.

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It's not every day we see a prepaid phone at the AT&T R225's rock-bottom $20 price.

Even the simplest phone tends to cost more off-contract since they're not receiving any subsidies the carriers hand out in exchange for your two-year service agreement. So if you're in the market for an inexpensive phone just for making calls, feast your eyes on the AT&T R225 Go Phone.

This is a typically tall, slim candy bar handset colored in black and silver. It's a dual-band GSM phone (850/1900) with a 1.8-inch screen … Read more

This week, a podcast about a day you will never forget. No, not because The Beatles are available on iTunes--though we certainly get some mileage out of that. We're betting you'll remember this day as the first time you ever considered getting a sponge bath from a robot. As you can probably guess by now, Jasmine couldn't join us for today's show. Instead, Eric, Benito, and I are left to our own--clumsily riffing on zipper earbuds, iPhone liberation, Nook Color, and our president's interest in dancing fembots. Also: patriotic chocolate bacon.

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Verizon Wireless expanded its international connectivity options today with the announcement of its Fivespot mobile hot spot device.

The Fivespot, made by ZTE, can function as an Internet access point for up to five W-Fi-enabled devices. Even better, it has a truly global footprint with support for the following wireless bands: dual-band CDMA (800/1900); quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900); EV-DO Rev. 0 and Rev. A; and tri-band WCDMA/HSDPA/HSUPA (850/1900/2100). That means you'll be able to use it in more than 200 countries.

The Fivespot measures 3.92 inches long by 2.11 wide … Read more