The ZTE D90 (Apparently, the Chinese haven't learned yet that it's more sexy to name phones with cute nicknames rather than numbers that look like a UPC code) is a texting phone using the rare Fastap technology. Fastap inserts a full keyboard in between the cell phone's numeric keys. This makes for a rather heavy key set, but a manageable one, once you get used to it. I tried the ZTE D90 on the Canadian Telus Mobility network.
The Bottom Line:
The ZTE D90 ain't pretty but it has a comfortable design and a sturdy built. Once you learn how to use it properly, the Fastap keypad represents a small advantage over predictive text input for texting. The sound quality was acceptable.
Hardware & Design Quality
Pros:
- The ZTE D90's keyboard includes many dedicated keys: speakerphone, music player and "carriage return" and "shift" keys for text messaging.
- It is well-balanced with a reasonable weight. It's not too thick and the flip cover opens easily with just one thumb. It also seems very sturdy and durable.
Software
Pros:
- The ZTE D90 has a simple menu system. Items can be selected by pressing numbers, which is more efficient.
- The software responds swiftly.
Cons:
- It crashed and rebooted on some occasions. For example, selecting a song from a memory card then using the "Load" option makes it reboot with a "Division by zero" error message.
Performance
Pros:
- The battery life met my expectations.
Call Quality
Pros:
- The sound volume was loud-enough.
- The speakerphone was powerful.
Multimedia Experience
Cons:
- The camera produced images of a low quality. While outside pictures were decent for a megapixel camera, indoors performance was disappointing. Low-light conditions produced a grainy picture (even at maximum brightness), the flash didn't make any significant difference and it did not do well with moving subjects. The whole camera experience felt cheap. Even the brightness and contrast controls didn't seem to make any difference.
- After recording a voice note, you won't be offered the option to either assign it as a ringtone or to send it as a voice message.
Liberty Level
I was unable to assign my own mp3's to a ringtone, despite many attempts. It also loaded our free ringtones correctly but would offer no way to assign it as a ringtone. However, there are (of course) many options to buy ringtones, music, and so forth, from your carrier.