If you’re in the market for an ultra-budget Android phone, we know that the choice can be hard. The choice is hard not because there’s so few choices, but because there’s sometimes far too many, and the good devices really don’t stand out too far from the crowd. ZTE have made a name for themselves in the entry-level market, and their ZTE Blade G Lux is right in the middle of it.
Originally priced at $149 in July this year when it launched, Coles have knocked the price down to $99 today. $99 gets you a 4.5″ Android phone running Android 4.4.2 (which is a bit old), powered by a dual-core 1.3GHz processor, 500MB RAM with 4GB of storage (of which you can access about 2GB after the system does its thing). This is a 3G handset – supporting 850 and 2100 MHz – and it has dual SIM support.
You might be wondering why we’re making a song and dance about this.
This is a great phone for the young and the old; thing of your teenage kids, and your older parents. It’s simple, it’s cheap, and it’ll do a reasonable amount of what a phone ten times the price will do; it might not do virtual reality, 4K video, or the rest, but think about it. This is a phone designed for young teens who have a habit of breaking and losing things. It can make calls and send/receive messages. They can install Instagram on it to share photos with their friends. It’s got Google Maps so they don’t get lost, and they can install whatever else takes their fancy, even some casual games.
For grandma, the phone is equally useful; your olds can stay in touch with the family, see photos of the kids on Facebook, and use it as a tool to help them get out and about and stay independent for longer.
This might sound like a bit of spin, and maybe it is, but for $99, you’ve got a phone that really doesn’t matter if you break or lose it (you can buy another for the same low price), and it does enough to whet your teen’s appetite until they’re responsible enough for a more expensive phone (which they can buy themselves, amirite?) or it will suit the needs of your folks who might not want to spend hundreds of dollars on a fancy mobile phone.
Anyhow, it’s available on shelves at Coles for $99, unlocked, so you can use it with whatever carrier, pre- or post-paid, as you like.
I am trying to use this phone as an internet hotspot for dad and his laptop. Keeps asking for security code but phone/internet service provider says security code must be connected to device being loaded… can anyone offer any advice on this
I thought optus was still using 900mHz?
Thanks for the tip.. Just went and picked one up for my Dad. Coles New Farm only had them in White. Not that it is a deal breaker for my dad, but it does not appear to have NFC. Did I miss it?