zte

Details for Sprint's next Android-powered tablet have leaked online and if you thought the carrier was going high-end you'd be completely wrong.

According to a leak obtained by SprintFeed, we can expect to see the ZTE Optik arrive in early February with a $100 price tag. You'll still have to sign a two-year agreement with a minimum rate plan, but things could be worse.

Hardware for the 7-inch ZTE tablet is impressive for the money and includes a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 16GB storage, and 1GB RAM. Running Android 3.2 Honeycomb, its additional specifications include a … Read more

A year from now, you may be coveting a flashy new ZTE smartphone.

At least, that's what ZTE is hoping for. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Lixin Cheng, the head of ZTE's North American business, said he plans on introducing high-end smartphones in the U.S. By 2015, he expects the U.S. to be the largest market for ZTE.

ZTE, which makes mobile devices and telecommunications equipment, is a growing power in the mobile-handset business. Globally, the company is the fifth-largest handset maker by market share--just behind Apple, according to Gartner. But … Read more

Boost Mobile has cultivated a reputation for offering slick, good-looking smartphones--which is why I'm pleasantly surprised to see the ZTE Warp enter Boost's no-contract lineup.

ZTE isn't well-known in the U.S., and definitely not for higher-end devices, but the specs are promising so far. The Android 2.3 Gingerbread ZTE Warp offers up a 4.3-inch display, a 1GHz processor, and a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash.

The screen won't be the most brilliant with its 480x800-pixel resolution, but it should serve, and in theory the 5-megapixel camera could be pretty good--it all depends on the light sensor and the camera software. It'll all become clearer in a few weeks when we can get our hands on the phone.

The ZTE Warp goes public on November 2 for $249.99 without a contract. That's $20 more than Boost's Samsung Transform Ultra, which also runs Gingerbread, and has a 3-megapixel camera, a front-facing VGA camera, and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.… Read more

Even as we lick our lips over Google's upcoming Ice Cream Sandwich update to Android, I'm impressed that even the more modest new Android phones are on board with Gingerbread.

The ZTE Score is one of them. First introduced exclusively through Best Buy, the Score is also Cricket's latest Muve Music phone.… Read more

Cricket Wireless isn't wasting any more time turning up the volume on its Muve Music service, which adds all-you-can-eat music downloads to its talk, text, and data plan rates.

Almost two weeks after introducing the Samsung Vitality, its first Muve Music smartphone, Cricket is announcing the launch its second Android act, the ZTE Score. But this time Cricket won't be orchestrating the sales; Best Buy will.

In an effort to acquaint a greater audience to the Cricket brand, the prepaid carrier has partnered with national retailer Best Buy to exclusively sell the ZTE Score later this month, as … Read more

Leap Wireless and its Cricket prepaid wireless service are ready to take the national stage.

Starting Sunday, Best Buy will begin selling Cricket in 1,300 stores around the country, and not just within Leap's region.

This marks the first major step for Leap in its effort to turn into a national brand. The company previously operated its network and served customers in select markets as a regional player, but last year signed a reseller agreement with Sprint Nextel to use its network around the country.

The expansion allows Leap to tap into a much wider audience of consumers hungry for more affordable wireless service. But it also puts the company in direct competition with other national players that offer similarly attractive prepaid plans, including T-Mobile USA, Virgin Mobile, and Boost Mobile. These brands are found in both their own stores and at major retailers such as Best Buy as well.

"This was a chance to build national retail into a larger role for us," Leap Chief Executive Doug Hutchinson said in a recent interview with CNET. "I'm looking forward to building that channel."

But with competition already stiff, it's unclear if Leap can keep up. The company is in the midst of turning itself around by focusing more on smartphone customers and truly flat-rate plans, much like fellow regional prepaid provider MetroPCS. But the company is still early in its turnaround, having lost more than 100,000 customers in the last quarter. … Read more

The AT&T Z221 is the latest prepaid flip phone to enter AT&T's GoPhone portfolio. A quad-band world phone, the ZTE-made Z221 has a 2-inch internal screen with a QVGA display (320x240 pixels) and a basic camera. The Z221 is a petite thing, just 3.8 inches tall, 2 inches wide, and .7-inch thick. It weighs 3.2 ounces.

There's a little more than meets the eye, with support for AT&T Mobile Music, mobile e-mail, and a Web browser. The Z221's battery life is rated at 3 hours talk time and around … Read more

ZTE may not be a recognizable brand in the U.S., but it is quickly becoming a major player in the handset arena.

The Chinese telecommunications-equipment manufacturer said today that it sold 35 million handsets in the first half of the year, representing a 30 percent increase from a year ago. Helping was its hit Blade smartphone, which debuted with the France-based carrier Orange but is now available in 50 countries and regions.

The numbers illustrate the increasing influence and power that Chinese companies have in the wireless business. ZTE earlier this year became the fifth-largest handset vendor, according to … Read more

Though still fourth among the top five mobile-phone players, Apple outshone its global rivals in the second quarter with skyrocketing shipment growth and a surge in market share, according to a new IDC report.

Released yesterday, IDC's report found that Apple shipped 20.3 million iPhones in the quarter, a leap of 142 percent from the 8.4 million shipped in the prior year's quarter. Among the top five vendors, Apple also saw the biggest jump in market share, capturing 5.6 percent of global mobile-phone shipments, compared with 2.6 percent a year ago.

Apple's growth rate rose despite the age of its iPhone 4, now more than a year old. The company is expected to release an update to its flagship phone sometime this fall, with many sources pointing to a September launch date. Despite its global success, some of Apple's future smartphone growth will depend on its ability to generate more business in developing markets, IDC noted.

Industry leader Nokia held onto its No. 1 slot, but its market share continued to plummet, sinking to 24.2 percent in the second quarter from 33.8 percent a year ago. Excess inventory in regions like China and Europe apparently triggered a drop in shipments. Stung by the iPhone and Android phones, Nokia recently reported a huge loss for the second quarter.

Over the long haul, Nokia's ability to bounce back will depend on its recent partnership with Microsoft and its ability to successfully move from Symbian to Windows Phone as its core mobile OS. The company's first smartphones running Windows Phone 7 are expected to reach consumers later this year.… Read more