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Last updated: Tuesday, November 11, 2008

China’s ZTE is stepping up its assault on the U.S. market. In February the maker of wireless gear introduced the C88, its first U.S. cell phone. In August, ZTE and its U.S. carrier partner, MetroPCS, rolled out a second handset, the more capable ZTE C79. I tested the C79 for several days and found it to be a capable, no-frills phone that may help ZTE increase its minuscule share of the U.S. market, which, according to IDC, is less than 1 percent. The model has been selling so well that MetroPCS has upped its orders, says Drew Wilkens, a handset director at ZTE. The C79 has a built-in music player, a 1.3-megapixel still camera, and a slot for a memory card. It also allows for MetroPCS-based e-mailing and text-messaging. The C79’s features are comparable to some phones from Virgin Mobile USA, which competes with MetroPCS for young cell-phone users who crave text-messaging and wireless social-media features but don’t want to sign a contract. Both companies are keen to jump from the so-called prepaid market, where subscribers purchase a preset number of minutes on a month-by-month basis, into the bigger, more lucrative postpaid market, where subscribers sign up for one- or two-year contracts. There’s reason to think the C79 can help ZTE make the jump. It’s attractive in a no-nonsense way. The keyboard buttons are large, and when the clamshell phone is closed, three music buttons on its cover let you control a music player that boasts surprisingly good sound. The phone feels sturdy and well-made, though I had some trouble inserting the battery. I also wished the headphone that comes with it was available in shades of black and red, to complement the phone, rather than purplish blue. Tweaks Needed Menus and buttons are pretty basic and intuitive, though they could use refining. Take the…

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Review: A No-Nonsense Phone from China’s ZTE

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