TechRadar Verdict
It's not going to break the bank at £70/£80, but the ZTE F930 is still a mite expensive for the feature set it offers up.
Pros
- +
Small and light
- +
Good Home screens arrangement
- +
Good stills camera
- +
Some nice software features
- +
3.5mm, top mounted headset connector
Cons
- -
No Wi-Fi or GPS
- -
Disappointing web browser
- -
No FM radio
- -
No mobile email
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Touchscreens are where its at with mobile phones, and increasingly that means not just at the top end of the range but at the middle and lower ends too.
Take the ZTE F930, for example. It is exclusive to 3 Mobile at the moment, and it costs £79.99 on Pay As You Go. That £79.99 includes the usual 3 Mobile £10 of calls, so the handset is really just £69.99.
The phone is unashamedly targeted at the 18-25 age group. We'll say right at the outset that we think that is a bit wide of the mark. Our best guess is that this phone is better suited to teens and that anyone in their twenties is likely to want something more sophisticated.
Many people in the target age group look first to much fancier handsets like the iPhone 4, or the HTC Desire. Then they see the price and start compromising, maybe thinking about the less expensive Samsung Galaxy Portal, for example.
If these are still too expensive, the ZTE F930's £80 might appeal. But there's a lot of competition. For around that price you can now get the likes of the Samsung Monte and Nokia 5230 on PAYG, both of which give the ZTE F930 a run for its money.
And frankly they're both better than the F930.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's go back to the beginning.
The ZTE F930 is a white and silver handset. It looks quite cute – teenage cute rather than 18-25 cute. It is small in size at 105.7 x 12.6 x 46mm and it weighs a nice round 100g.
That is small and tidy for the hand – and ideal for the paws of the young, still-growing teens we think are more likely to go for this phone.
There's a neat design to the under-screen buttons with a diamond-shaped Menu button and the Call and End/power keys on a long strip. The Menu button doubles to give you access to open apps and to alerts when you give it a long press.
The sides are also well designed with some neat curvature accented by an off-centre silver strip that runs round the edge of the chassis.
The left edge houses a micro-USB mains charger and PC connection connector, while on the right is a camera shortcut button and a volume rocker.
The bottom is clear, and on the top there's a 3.5mm headset connector and screen lock button.
