ZTE Tania Pro Reviews

ZTE has done a brave thing bringing the low-cost ZTE Tania to market, and we're pleased it's taken the leap and produced a complete Windows Phone handset at a relatively low cost and with a large screen. If nothing else, it proves this is possible. The likes of the Nokia Lumia 610 and 710 are both cheaper but don't offer the same screen size, and the trend towards the massive screen is something that's currently not well provided for in the Windows Phone camp. However, there are a lot of compromises on offer here for the price, so make sure you give the Tania a test run before deciding to take the plunge.

Offered, say, the ZTE Tania or Nokia’s Lumia 800, and we’d have the Lumia in a flash. Still, even with Nokia and carriers’ best efforts, the Lumia 800 still isn’t a “bargain” Windows Phone. That’s where ZTE – and its experience crafting genuinely cheap devices – steps in.ZTE is yet to confirm pricing, but we’re hearing whispers of – in the UK at least – a free handset on a roughly £10-15 per month contract ($15-$23). That’s potentially half the monthly cost of other Windows Phones in the UK; meanwhile unlocked and SIM-free versions are already being listed for £250 ($384) including tax. Mighty competitive, and while the Tania’s display may fall well short of the quality we’ve seen on Nokia and Samsung Windows Phones, pushing Microsoft’s platform further down the price range is a much-needed move.

A simple but attractive smartphone that could well become the cheapest Windows Phone 7 device yet, we can see the ZTE Tania driving plenty of sales for the system in 2012. The screen’s not perfect and the 4GB of internal memory is very restrictive, but otherwise it has all it needs to make Windows Phone feel great.