ZTE Warp Review

Introduction:

As the prepaid market continues to gain steam, more manufacturers will be flocking to them bearing some high-end, yet respectable smartphones worth drooling over. Already, ZTE has established itself in the entry-level segment of the market, but with the ZTE Warp for Boost Mobile, they intend on making a splash with something a bit grander to captivate those who don’t want to be tied down with a contract.

Design:

Well, it’s no beauty per se, but the ZTE Warp’s design is credible enough to make it seem like a quality constructed device – as opposed to being a cheap thing like most of ZTE’s offerings. Flaunting an all too conventional design, we take comfort in knowing that it’s extremely lightweight and form fitting in the hand.



You can compare the ZTE Warp with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

Thankfully, its shutter key, volume control, and dedicated power button are all raised to offer enough distinction for our fingers – while exhibiting clicky responses. In addition, we also find other items such as its 3.5mm headset jack, microphone, and microUSB port around its sides.

Flipping it over, it’s donning a 5-megapixel auto-focus camera with LED flash, with the ability to shoot VGA videos. Lastly, removing the soft touch rear cover provides access to its 1,600 mAh battery and microSD card slot, which is preloaded with a 2GB card.


Display:

Once regarded as a luxury, 4.3” displays have become commonplace, and with that, we’re not entirely impressed by the one employed by the ZTE Warp. Certainly, its 4.3” WVGA (480 x 800) TFT display is nice to find on a prepaid device, but it’s not particularly alluring because of its low contrast, weak viewing angles, and bland colors. Worse yet, it has a distinct plastic feel, and after spending some time in our pockets, scratches appear making it no longer pristine. Well, we’re accepting of its details, but it’s nearly impossible to view outdoors with the sun beating down upon us – thus, washing it out entirely.

Interface and Functionality:

Being a prepaid device and all, we’re forgiving to see this one sporting Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread – in fact, it’s a mostly vanilla experience. Much like some of the devices on Sprint’s lineup, this one relies on the carrier’s ID pack enhancements to provide us with various personalization elements to better fit our personality. Hey, we can’t complain about a stock experience, since you know, it’s Android in its purest form.


Running the show, a single-core 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8655 processor manages to deliver a decent performance in keeping things nice and smooth. Gladly, it’s effective in handling both basic and intensive tasks with minimal instances of lag or slowdown – so yeah, it’s surprisingly efficient.

Camera:

Needless to say, one can’t expect much in terms of photo prowess with most of the prepaid devices out there, but nevertheless, we’re somewhat willful in accepting its quality for outdoor scenery and macro shots. Previewing them, they appear pleasant looking, but it’s nothing that’s going to replace your point and shoot camera – especially when it doesn’t handle low lighting situations that great. Regrettably, the LED is absolutely worthless seeing that it fails to even sprinkle a tiny bit of lighting to the shot. However, we can’t recommend trying to shoot videos with this one, since that it’s flawed tremendously by some distracting artifacting elements that are constantly prevalent throughout its recording.


ZTE Warp Sample Video:



Internet and Connectivity:

For a 3G smartphone, we can handle the fact that it takes under a minute to load our web site entirely, but looking beyond that, it’s able to deliver a pleasing web browsing experience. Sure, it might exhibit some choppy movements with its navigational controls, but at least it’s never crawling to the point unusable. Considering it’s handling Flash content without much tug, we’re content with what we’re presented with on the ZTE Warp.


For those looking to travel abroad, you’ll need to look elsewhere because this one is strictly reserved to work with Boost/Sprint’s network. Along for the ride, it feature all the usual connectivity items such as aGPS, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi – albeit, there’s no mobile hotspot function with this one.

Performance:

Coughing up an average calling quality experience, we’re able to carry on conversations without much distractions – though, callers tend to sound muffled through the earpiece. Aside from that one item, we’re mostly content with the entire experience.

Neither the strongest or weakest, signal strength remained steady at -91 dBm throughout our usage in high coverage areas.

Surprisingly, the ZTE Warp offers better than average battery life, as we’re able to handsomely get a solid one day of normal usage with a full charge. Specifically, we find it at 30 percent capacity right before calling it in for the day.

Conclusion:

As of right now, the ZTE Warp is sporting a no-contract price of $199.99, which is tolerable when you look at the other selections available with Boost Mobile right now. No arguing about it whatsoever, it has enough of enticing features to stand out amongst its rivals on Boost, but as a whole, this “high-end” prepaid smartphone is more like a low to mid-range postpaid device. Regardless of that, the ZTE Warp simply employs enough quality elements to make it an admirable offering worth the money.

Software version of the reviewed unit:
Android Version: 2.3.5
Build Number: N860V1.0.0B06
Kernel Version: 2.6.35.7

ZTE Warp Review: