ZTE Racer review

Once you've owned or used an Android phone, you never have to worry about the rigmarole of copying and transferring your contacts via SIM, ever again.

If this is your first time using an Android phone, you can easily import contacts from the SIM, but as soon as you've created your Google account, they'll all be backed up to the servers, syncing any new numbers you have, and you're good to go for life.

If you decide to upgrade from the Racer, next time you log in to a Google account on any smartphone, your contacts will be there for you within minutes.

The Contacts app, once again, offers nothing beyond the most basic Android functionality, but downloading the Facebook application and logging in enables you to sync Facebook contacts very simply. They will appear in your contacts book, but display pictures don't download.

Within the contact is the information they've chosen to display on their contacts page, so some will have phone numbers, while others just display email addresses and the option to view a profile.

The same applies to adding Twitter contacts. You can choose to sync with all of your Twitter feeds, or just the ones who're already in your phonebook. Sadly, this seems to be the only way of avoiding repeat contacts for Facebook and Twitter. There's no other means of merging on-board.

Within your basic phone contacts, we're limited to phone number, email, IM and postal address. Beyond that, you can add work information (although no-one is going to be using this as a business phone), notes and a nickname.

You can add a photo, although Google had randomly remembered some of the Facebook pictures of our pals from using previous handsets. Otherwise, you get the Android icon. It also remembered who we'd favourited before.

Opening a contact asks if you'd like to call or send a text, or send an email if an address is listed, which,if you think back only a couple of years, would have been a really high end feature, and one that saves a lot of time.

Calling

Making calls is, as you'd expect, extremely straightforward, if you look past the sticky touchscreen.

Launching the Dialler brings up your call log and enables you to start typing in the name of a contact using the alphanumeric keypad, but you can't access your contacts book directly from there.

Call quality is surprisingly good on the Three Mobile network, coming through crisp and clear, and the loud speaker, although quiet, is nowhere near as tinny as some of the other affordable Android contenders.

Sorry, Apple, but no amount of holding this phone, squeezing it, eating it or throwing it in a furnace caused us to lose mobile signal or drop calls. A £100 phone that works as a mobile should? Fancy that.