Affordability is the order of the day with the reasonably priced T-Mobile Zest E110. For a phone that costs less than the price of your average DVD, it packs an impressive feature list: microSD support, a 3.5mm audio output and even a torch to help you locate your keys on those dark nights. Serious mobile fiends will miss Internet access and Bluetooth, however.
The Zest is exclusive to the T-Mobile network. It's available for £10 on a pay as you go deal.
Built on compromise
Low-cost mobiles are usually an exercise in compromise, offering bare-bones functionality with perhaps one or two neat extras to justify your interest. The Zest, which is manufactured by ZTE, is no exception. It brings some welcome features to the table but is ultimately aimed at undemanding users, rather than experienced iPhone- or Android-loving mobile veterans.
Like the equally cheap Samsung E2121, the Zest has a predominately plastic exterior that feels solid enough but doesn't exactly exude sophistication. Everything fits together properly, and there's no movement or unwanted creakiness in the casing, but it's not what you'd call sexy. Thankfully, the Zest is perfectly capable of withstanding a few bumps and drops, a fact which makes it a good choice for butter-fingered users.
Texting on the Zest is as easy as falling off a log, thanks to the large and welcoming alphanumeric keypad. Positioned above the keys is an equally spacious four-way navigation pad that allows you to zoom around the phone's primitive menu system without breaking a sweat.
No other physical buttons exist anywhere on the phone's shell. There's no volume or camera control, and the end-call key doubles as the power button. Simplistic it may be, but the streamlined nature of this interface will endear the Zest to people who want the basics and no more.
Musical interlude
Surprisingly, the Zest has a 3.5mm audio jack and comes bundled with a reasonably decent pair of earphones. The device also comes pre-loaded with a dedicated audio player, although you'll need to invest in a microSD card to transform the phone into a fully-functioning MP3 player, as the internal storage is smaller than the trophy cabinet at Scunthorpe United FC. Should you not fancy the additional outlay, you can still put the headphones to good use, courtesy of the Zest's built-in FM radio.
The Zest is also blessed with a VGA camera for snapping rudimentary shots. They look pretty terrible when viewed on a large monitor, but they're perfectly serviceable if you only intend to share them with friends via MMS messaging.
Another welcome inclusion is the LED torch on the top of the phone. This isn't a ground-breaking advancement -- Nokia's 1616 comes packed with a similar flashlight. But to find it on a budget phone that already has a microSD card slot, camera and 3.5mm headphone jack under its belt is pleasantly surprising.
Transfer troubles
Despite its impressive number of bonus features, the Zest is lacking in other areas. There's no Bluetooth, so wireless file transfer isn't possible. There's also no data cable included in the box, which means getting music and photos onto your phone is harder than it should be.
The Zest uses the now-standard micro-USB connection for charging, but we tried using a micro-USB data cable from another handset and were unable to get the phone to connect to either Windows or Mac OS. If you're planning on moving images and songs around, you're going to have to rely on a microSD card and the appropriate reader, although thankfully neither of these items is especially expensive these days.
Finally, there's no way to access the Web using the Zest, and the cellular connectivity is confined to good old-fashioned 2G. It could be argued that browsing the Net wouldn't be much fun on the tiny 128x160-pixel screen anyway, but it's a shame that very basic access hasn't been included.
Simpler than Paris Hilton
The Zest's software interface holds few shocks, with a fairly basic, grid-based menu structure. It's not a million miles away from the user interfaces we've witnessed on other pocket-money phones, such as the Samsung E1170 and Nokia 2220 Slide. You don't have to dig too deeply to find the option you're looking for, which makes this handset perfect for younger users.
In terms of applications, the usual mod cons are all present and correct, including an alarm system, calendar, calculator and stopwatch. You also have the ability to set pre-determined 'power' times, so you can tell your phone to automatically switch off at night and back on again in the morning. It's a very simple feature, but useful nonetheless.
Conclusion
The T-Mobile Zest E110 packs a striking number of features into its unassuming frame. Its lack of Bluetooth and Web access is unfortunate, but few phones in this price range boast expandable memory, a flashlight, a 3.5mm output and a VGA camera. Add to this a rugged construction and straightforward interface, and you've got a budget blower that's perfect for casual users.
Edited by Charles Kloet
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Stephen Young 13 November 2012
Good: its not an Iphone
Comment: it has a better mp3 player, then an I phone 5, comes with better earphones, then a I phone 5 and unlike the I phone 5 will stay on, for more then 4 hours
9 June 2011
Good: Looks good, important features e.g. calendar are present
Bad: data transfer difficult at best
Comment: Cont'd from above
The caveat with the camera also applies to the music player - you need to put your tunes onto a micro SD card first then insert this into the phone. The first time the card is inserted the phone's firmware creates two folders on the card: Photos and My Music. The mp3's have to be in the "My Music" folder for the media player to see them. Similarly if you want to load your own images for wallpaper they must be in the "photos " folder" to appear in the image viewer. While you can still access both types of content by browsing the card using the File Manager feature, you cannot access the list of tunes nor scroll through your images this way -you can only view/play one at a time.
Also take note that the media player feature ONLY plays through the headphones NOT the phone's speaker.
While these points are fairly minor in the grander scheme of things they are worth bearing in mind if you intend using the media features of this phone. This is still a good phone for those only looking for the basics - the calendar and alarm features are almost taken for granted these days and they do work well (I use these things even on basic phones) as do the calculator ( a bit quirky but you do get used to it) and stopwatch functions. The phone itself seems well built and does look quite professional if you want to use it as a basic business phone. The screen isn't the best quality but at this price point it's hardly an issue (bearing in mind it doesn't do internet or email or anything like that) -it's good enough for what this phone does do.
Pkeith 9 June 2011
Good: Useful features, robust construction, looks businesslike
Bad: Difficulty transferring files on/off the phone
Comment: While I agree with much of the above review of this phone, I must point out a couple of things. Firstly the model used in the pictures must be an older variant as the casing and keypad are silver on mine and this is what is illustrated on T-Mobile's website. This (in my opinion) makes the phone look better than the one shown here.
The second point is that despite what it says in the previous review, this phone DOES NOT support MMS messaging! It can neither send nor receive MMS messages. I've tried it on mine - if someone sends you an MMS message you get a (standard) text from T-Mobile advising of that fact and directing the user to a special area of their website. You then have to log in to the website (on your pc) using a code included in the text to view the message and associated content.
The lack of cable or wireless data transfer capability is a major handicap for anyone wanting to use the camera feature on this phone. Granted the camera is pretty low res (VGA resolution only) so the images are not great, but once you have taken a picture there is only one way to transfer it- remove the SD card (assuming you have installed one) from the phone and stick it into a reader or another phone. However even this is not simple as the SD card slot is buried inside the phone - you have to power the phone off, remove the rear cover and the battery to get to the SD card! So don't expect to be sending pics to your friends instantly with this phone.
The only thing the camera is good for is taking pics to use as wallpaper for the phone. Other than that the quality isn't there and the difficulty in getting the pics off the phone make it more trouble than it's worth.
One more thing to note is the built in torch. It is quite bright, but for some reason the user manual makes no mention of how to turn it on or off! To do this you first have to unlock the keypad then hold down the * key for about three seconds. Turning it off is via the same procedure. Nowhere in the user manual does it tell you this -I had to play around until I found it (the torch symbol on the * key gave me a clue but it was still trial and error).
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