ZTE is a Chinese manufacturer that, along with Huawei, has relatively recently made the move to produce Smartphones as well as the USB modems they are better known for. The Libra from ZTE offers Exchange email, portable wireless hotspot capability, FM Radio as well as all the "Google Goodies" associated with Android including Navigation, Maps, Voice Control, etc, all at a very attractive price point.

Specifications

User Interface

The Libra features the standard Android user interface offering the customary 7 homescreens and wide range of application shortcuts, widgets and hardware controls:

All of which can be placed and arranged to suit your specific requirements simply by moving your finger across the screen. Running the latest version of Android you can also enjoy the latest voice control and search technology.

Applications

The list of applications that come preinstalled on the Libra is as follows:

• Alarm
• Browser
• Calculator
• Calendar
• Call Log
• Camcorder
• Camera
• Contacts
• Dialer
• Email
• Filer
• FM Radio
• Gallery
• GMail
• Google Search
• Latitude
• Maps
• Market
• Messages
• Music
• Navigation
• News & Weather
• Notepad
• Places
• Settings
• Sound Recorder
• Stopwatch
• Talk
• Task Manager
• Videos
• Voice Search
• YouTube

Naturally you can extend the functionality of the Libra by downloading any of the 150,000 and rising applications available on the Android Market, and running the latest version of Android the Libra supports all of the "groovier" apps that Google has to offer including Goggles, Maps, Translate, Earth, YouTube and more.

Email

The Libra comes with support for POP, IMAP and Microsoft Exchange (Exchange ActiveSync) email accounts as standard. Multiple email accounts can be configured and all mail can be displayed concurrently in a single "unified inbox", each email account being colour-coded.

When setting up an Exchange-based email accounts, all mailbox folders are available:

When composing new email messages, suggestions from the Global Address List are displayed automatically:

The Exchange email client also supports the ability for administrators to enforce use of a password on the device as well as login attempts and the ability to remotely wipe the device from the Exchange management console in the event that the device is reported lost or stolen

The details of the Exchange ActiveSync policy that has been configured on the server can be viewed on the device - note this does not mean that all aspects of the policy are supported by the device:

Mail synchronisation can be automatic (push), or can be configured to run on a schedule. It is also possible to specify how far back into the past mail is synchronised and also what size of attachments are retrieved automatically.
Synchronisation of contacts and calendar is also supported.

Connectivity

The Libra features a WiFi hotspot capability, allowing you to share the device's 3G cellular connection to the Internet with any other device with WiFi connectivity. The connection can be secured with WPA2 encryption

The Libra can also be used to share its Internet connection via USB with a Windows PC ("tethering"). I have detailed the procedure on how to set this up in a separate article here - http://blog.brightpointuk.co.uk/using-zte-android-handset-usb-modem-windows

Miscellaneous

The Libra also possesses a built in Task Manager application so you can monitor what applications are running on your device and close any unrequired programs to free up system resources.

Multimedia playback is handled by the native Google Music and Videos applications, and YouTube is preinstalled as standard.

The Libra also features a number of useful features such as the ability to silence incoming phone calls simply by turning the device upside down:

Summary

The ZTE Libra features all of the personalisation options and application extensibility that Android offers, at a very competitive price. There is no web-based synchronisation and security platform offered by ZTE as with other manufacturers such as HTC (HTCSense) and Motorola (MotoBlur), but all of your data can be backed up to your Google / Dropbox / Evernote (you name it) account or for business users your Microsoft Exchange mailbox. There is no on-device "skin" as with HTC and Motorola devices, but the standard Android interface may even be more appealing to some.

Contact Brightpoint today for more information or to reserve yours - 0870 849 0225