Here’s the ZTE Skate 4.3, which takes part of its name from its huge 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen. It’s the first high-end phone we’ve seen from China’s ZTE that’s headed to these shores; it runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread and features a 5-megapixel camera with an LED flash.
It’s not going to be able to compete with the like of the Samsung Galaxy S II or the LG Optimus 3D in spec stakes. The ZTE Skate 4.3 comes with a single 800MHz processor, and there’s no HDMI out or DLNA connectivity for watching content on big screens. But none of that could matter.
Last year’s ZTE Blade – better known here as the Orange San Francisco – was a phone with some pretty lowly specs that became something of a sleeper hit. We wonder if ZTE is on to a winner with the Skate 4.3 too.
The ZTE Skate 4.3 has a display resolution of 480 x 800, a decent camera and access to the Android Market. For some people who want a basic smartphone that’s of a certain quality (but not a bleeding edge iPhone killer) the Skate 4.3 could be just the ticket.
The model we had a play around with wasn’t finished (scrolling between screens was particularly sluggish) but we were told that there’s to be some major tweaks before launch. The ZTE Skate 4.3 is due to arrive in the UK sometime in April. We’ll be chasing up for more information and a release date, and will let you know when we hear more.
The Android design is present on the back of the ZTE Skate 4.3 – it’s just not as pronounced as it is in the press release pictures. You can just about make it out underneath that bulky security tag. As you can see, there’s the 5-megapixel camera on the right, with an external speaker underneath/beside it.
It’s not the thinnest smartphone we’ve seen at Mobile World Congress, but it’s by no means a brick either. It’s got a solid feel to it and isn’t too much on the light or heavy side. We’re looking forwards to getting our hands on a finished version of the Skate 4.3.
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