This review is from: ZTE Warp Android Smartphone (Boost Mobile) (Wireless Phone Accessory)
You cannot find a better phone for the money. Period. Add a good value on the Boost service and you’ll never look back to whatever overpriced plan you came from. I don’t know why most people never think of prepaid. I used to pay well north of $120/month back in the day for unlimited service. This phone is fantastic. It’s thin, solidly built, very brisk to respond, and absolutely brimming with storage space.
-=Things I like=- It’s got a nice, bright 4.3″ diagonal screen. The touch screen is both durable and sensitive. I’ve used it with rubber gloves on and never had it fail to pick up a touch.
It comes with a 1ghz processor which is more than adequate for anything I’ve run. Full screen Netflix, no problem. About 95% of the games in the Android Market, no problem.
The operating system isn’t too cluttered with a bunch of bloatware. It ships with 2.3.5 of the Android OS. You get some, but not a lot. There’s Documents to Go, something called MobileID, and that’s pretty much it. That leaves a healthy 2.25+ gig available onboard for application storage. It also includes a 2gb micro SD card as well, but I have yet to put a single application on the card itself. I have about 150 apps installed and there’s still 1.8 gig remaining internally.
Battery life is decent. No better or worse than any other Android phone. 10-12 hours of normal use for me — email, bit of web, few calls, etc..
Price is quite good. I paid over $200 about a month ago and was happy for what I got then.
One Click Root available for the phone. I updated my phone to the latest firmware (B08) which you can do over the air on the phone for some stability improvements. Then I downloaded the one click root app and had root in about 5 minutes. Absolutely slick. It’s amazing what you can do with the Android OS when you have root. Free WiFi tethering for instance. Undetectable tracking programs if you lose your phone. Ad-Block. Being able to delete the preinstalled bloatware. And that’s just the start.
-=Things that are okay=- The camera. It’s pretty lackluster. They claim 5 MP. Yeah, it has 5 MP. But it’s not a good quality 5MP. You get a grainy picture you can enlarge more at 5MP. Shutter time is pretty unimpressive too. It takes a few seconds after you hit the button to focus and capture. It has autofocus, so those barcode scanner apps WILL work on it. The AF is slow. The camera LED is absolutely AWFUL. It creates such a ghastly tint on pictures, it’s not even worth using.
Very few aftermarket apps and accessories. I found an case that was okay. It’s a rubber case to protect against short drops.
-=Things that are absolute fail=- Ringer volume is far too quiet as a stock phone. Even turned up all the way, it’s still VERY quiet compared to some phones. I found an equalizer program in the market and used that to boost the volume and also amplified my ring tones as well.
No OEM or aftermarket batteries. The way smartphones chew through batteries, it’s only a matter of time until you kill the battery. What do you do then? I guess throw the phone away.
XT9 text input. It’s junk. I hated it. Swype is 100 times better. XT9 looks cheap, feels cheap, doesn’t work, and just generally is an awful implementation. I use a free trace type app from the Android market to replace the phone.
Dialer itself is very clunky and irritating to use. Again, found a third-party market app to replace the stock dialer.
MobileID — Boost and Sprint tout this MobileID program on these phones. It’s basically a skinning app. They have all of 4 to chose from and they’re all horrid. All it does is install some crazy launcher, a bunch of apps you don’t need, hideous ringtones, and then add some wallpaper you wish you never saw. After I rooted the phone, this was the first thing I deleted.
—
Despite the ho hum parts, it is a fantastic phone for the money. Good solid feel, reliable, and speedy with lots of storage to play with.
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This review is from: ZTE Warp Android Smartphone (Boost Mobile) (Wireless Phone Accessory)
I wanted to own a smartphone, but I didn’t want to be locked into a 2-year contract which would cost hundreds to cancel. This ZTE phone through Boost Mobile fit the bill perfectly, and the bang for your buck comes with the “shrinking bill.” When you pay your monthly bill on time for 18 months your bill goes down $15.00 per month. You can’t beat that. The phone is the perfect size and is feature rich. The screen is nice and bright—perfect for playing games and surfing the web, and the colors are vibrant. The reader has a “night reading” feature which changes the screen to black and the letters to white and you can enlarge the font. That is so much easier on the eyes, especially when I’m reading on the bus and the lighting is dim at best. Actually there are some other great features with the reader function. Perhaps all smartphones have the same features. I just know that I’m impressed that I can actually enjoy reading on a 4.3 inch screen. I’ve had no problems with the phone other than the sound quality of calls being a little fuzzy. I have to admit that I use the phone for reading, playing games, and surfing the web far more than I use it to make calls. Battery life isn’t great as is the case with almost all smartphones, however, you can use the phone while it’s charging. The downside to that is the cord isn’t very long so you have to be close to an outlet. I’m really pleased with this surprisingly affordable phone and it’s a plus to have the Android Gingerbread operating system in place. It’s fast and easy to use. The price on Amazon is pretty good but I got a better deal buying the phone from Boost. I would recommend this phone to first-time smartphone buyers and anyone who wants a great 3G, Wi-Fi enabled smartphone with no contract. That’s the best feature of all. I can’t speak to the longevity of the phone—it’s too early to tell if this phone will last for the long haul. But I can definately say so far, so good. One last comment: I found a package on Amazon which included a nice, sturdy phone case with a magnetic closure, a car charger, USB cable, and an electric outlet charger for a very reasonable price. I like having the extra chargers and the USB cable, which was not included with the phone, is a plus when I want to download from my PC.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Authors bio is coming up shortly. 
Almost unbeatable combo of service and phone,
You cannot find a better phone for the money. Period. Add a good value on the Boost service and you’ll never look back to whatever overpriced plan you came from. I don’t know why most people never think of prepaid. I used to pay well north of $120/month back in the day for unlimited service. This phone is fantastic. It’s thin, solidly built, very brisk to respond, and absolutely brimming with storage space.
-=Things I like=-
It’s got a nice, bright 4.3″ diagonal screen. The touch screen is both durable and sensitive. I’ve used it with rubber gloves on and never had it fail to pick up a touch.
It comes with a 1ghz processor which is more than adequate for anything I’ve run. Full screen Netflix, no problem. About 95% of the games in the Android Market, no problem.
The operating system isn’t too cluttered with a bunch of bloatware. It ships with 2.3.5 of the Android OS. You get some, but not a lot. There’s Documents to Go, something called MobileID, and that’s pretty much it. That leaves a healthy 2.25+ gig available onboard for application storage. It also includes a 2gb micro SD card as well, but I have yet to put a single application on the card itself. I have about 150 apps installed and there’s still 1.8 gig remaining internally.
Battery life is decent. No better or worse than any other Android phone. 10-12 hours of normal use for me — email, bit of web, few calls, etc..
Price is quite good. I paid over $200 about a month ago and was happy for what I got then.
One Click Root available for the phone. I updated my phone to the latest firmware (B08) which you can do over the air on the phone for some stability improvements. Then I downloaded the one click root app and had root in about 5 minutes. Absolutely slick. It’s amazing what you can do with the Android OS when you have root. Free WiFi tethering for instance. Undetectable tracking programs if you lose your phone. Ad-Block. Being able to delete the preinstalled bloatware. And that’s just the start.
-=Things that are okay=-
The camera. It’s pretty lackluster. They claim 5 MP. Yeah, it has 5 MP. But it’s not a good quality 5MP. You get a grainy picture you can enlarge more at 5MP. Shutter time is pretty unimpressive too. It takes a few seconds after you hit the button to focus and capture. It has autofocus, so those barcode scanner apps WILL work on it. The AF is slow. The camera LED is absolutely AWFUL. It creates such a ghastly tint on pictures, it’s not even worth using.
Very few aftermarket apps and accessories. I found an case that was okay. It’s a rubber case to protect against short drops.
-=Things that are absolute fail=-
Ringer volume is far too quiet as a stock phone. Even turned up all the way, it’s still VERY quiet compared to some phones. I found an equalizer program in the market and used that to boost the volume and also amplified my ring tones as well.
No OEM or aftermarket batteries. The way smartphones chew through batteries, it’s only a matter of time until you kill the battery. What do you do then? I guess throw the phone away.
XT9 text input. It’s junk. I hated it. Swype is 100 times better. XT9 looks cheap, feels cheap, doesn’t work, and just generally is an awful implementation. I use a free trace type app from the Android market to replace the phone.
Dialer itself is very clunky and irritating to use. Again, found a third-party market app to replace the stock dialer.
MobileID — Boost and Sprint tout this MobileID program on these phones. It’s basically a skinning app. They have all of 4 to chose from and they’re all horrid. All it does is install some crazy launcher, a bunch of apps you don’t need, hideous ringtones, and then add some wallpaper you wish you never saw. After I rooted the phone, this was the first thing I deleted.
—
Despite the ho hum parts, it is a fantastic phone for the money. Good solid feel, reliable, and speedy with lots of storage to play with.
Was this review helpful to you?
|Great phone for the price,
I wanted to own a smartphone, but I didn’t want to be locked into a 2-year contract which would cost hundreds to cancel. This ZTE phone through Boost Mobile fit the bill perfectly, and the bang for your buck comes with the “shrinking bill.” When you pay your monthly bill on time for 18 months your bill goes down $15.00 per month. You can’t beat that. The phone is the perfect size and is feature rich. The screen is nice and bright—perfect for playing games and surfing the web, and the colors are vibrant. The reader has a “night reading” feature which changes the screen to black and the letters to white and you can enlarge the font. That is so much easier on the eyes, especially when I’m reading on the bus and the lighting is dim at best. Actually there are some other great features with the reader function. Perhaps all smartphones have the same features. I just know that I’m impressed that I can actually enjoy reading on a 4.3 inch screen. I’ve had no problems with the phone other than the sound quality of calls being a little fuzzy. I have to admit that I use the phone for reading, playing games, and surfing the web far more than I use it to make calls. Battery life isn’t great as is the case with almost all smartphones, however, you can use the phone while it’s charging. The downside to that is the cord isn’t very long so you have to be close to an outlet. I’m really pleased with this surprisingly affordable phone and it’s a plus to have the Android Gingerbread operating system in place. It’s fast and easy to use. The price on Amazon is pretty good but I got a better deal buying the phone from Boost. I would recommend this phone to first-time smartphone buyers and anyone who wants a great 3G, Wi-Fi enabled smartphone with no contract. That’s the best feature of all. I can’t speak to the longevity of the phone—it’s too early to tell if this phone will last for the long haul. But I can definately say so far, so good. One last comment: I found a package on Amazon which included a nice, sturdy phone case with a magnetic closure, a car charger, USB cable, and an electric outlet charger for a very reasonable price. I like having the extra chargers and the USB cable, which was not included with the phone, is a plus when I want to download from my PC.
Was this review helpful to you?
|