Spotlight on U.S. Cellular's ZTE Director (pictures)

Although it comes with a low price tag (without a contract, it's $99.99, but with one, the price drops to 1 cent) the ZTE Director still has a long way to go. Especially considering its unimpressive camera, slow CPU speeds, and low-end screen.

The camera has very few photo options. It has a flash, digital zoom, five white balances, three photo sizes, three shutter tones, a timer, compositional lines, an exposure meter, and geotagging.

Compact and comfortable to hold, the handset measures 4.65 inches tall, 2.46 inches wide, and 0.48 inch thick. On the right edge is a launch button for the camera.

A closer look at the hard-key camera button on the right edge.

The 3.5-inch HVGA touch screen has a 320x480-pixel resolution. Unfortunately, the display isn't very responsive, and oftentimes it took several taps for an action to finally register (whether it be launching an app or closing a window).

The phone is powered by a sluggish 1GHz Qualcomm processor inside. Not only is the camera slow, but also simple actions like swiping the lock screen, changing from landscape to portrait mode, and returning to the home screen took a few moments longer than I'd like.

The handset's left edge houses a Micro-USB port for charging and a volume rocker. Up top you'll find a 3.5mm headphone jack and a sleep/power button.

The phone runs on Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich and features your standard number of Google apps, such as Gmail, Chrome, Plus, Latitude, Local, Maps with Navigation, and Messenger, to name a few.