Today is the day when the ZTE Open is supposed to be launched in Spain. The device runs Firefox OS developed by Mozilla, and while we were expecting to be a cheap product, it’s actually cheaper that we’ve thought. The ZTE Open will be sold by local carrier Telefonica for only €69 (around $99) without a contract. But wait, besides being this cheap, the offer also includes €30 worth of pay as you go credit, which is really awesome. For those who want to buy the ZTE Open with a contract with Telefonica, will have to pay only €2.38 a month.
In case you are not familiar with the specs of the handset, you should know that it comes with a 3.5-inch screen that has a pixel resolution of 480 x 320. It also includes 125 MB of RAM, 512 MB of internal storage, a Cortex-A5 CPU clocked at only 1 GHz, a 3.2 MP primary camera, support for 2G and 3G connectivity, plus a bundled 4 GB microSD card, which is very helpful considering that the on-board storage space is far from being enough. Anyway, as you can see the ZTE Open can be categorized as a very low-end smartphone with no hopes for performance whatsoever, but considering its small price it’s a pretty good deal. Plus, its main attraction is the fact it runs Firefox OS, no doubt about it.
Some people may think that Mozilla is aiming to compete with Android, but at this point it can’t even if the company wants to. It’s clear that the Firefox OS based phones are meant for different markets considering the price tags. Plus, the people at Mozilla have even admitted that they don’t want to be a competition for Android, but just offer an alternative.
Returning to the ZTE Open, the device can’t be compared with any of the current Android smartphones on the market when it comes to hardware. Yes, the cheapest Android handsets around are more expensive than the ZTE Open, but they offer a lot more decent specs. In fact, the handsets running Firefox OS can barely be called smartphones, so there is absolutely no chance that they can rival the Android devices.
However, I’m not saying that the ZTE Open is a bad phone, not at all. Actually, people who are looking for a practical product that gives access to the internet and don’t want to spend a lot of money on a smartphone, could seriously think of the ZTE Open as a viable option. Of course, it won’t be the only option on the market because there are a few similar products. For example, the Vodafone Smart Min is also a budget friendly phone that runs Google’s OS, and can be bought for a similar price as the ZTE Open. However, this is just a tiny segment of the market and Android phone makers are not so worried about it.
All in all, the ZTE Open can be appealing in the budget orientated market as the low price is certainly one of its strong points.
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