The Skate is ZTE's flagship Android model, running Android 2.3.5 and boasting Exchange ActiveSync connectivity, a portable WiFi hotspot capability, tethering support, SIP VoIP capability and more, all at a very attractive price point.

Technical Specifications

User Interface

The Skate 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 Skate is as follows:

• Alarm
• Browser
• Calculator
• Calendar
• Call Log
• Camcorder
• Camera
• Contacts
• Dialer
• Downloads
• 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 Skate by downloading any of the 150,000 and rising applications available on the Android Market, and running the latest version of Android the Skate supports all of the "groovier" apps that Google has to offer including Goggles, Maps, Translate, Earth, YouTube and more.

Email

The Skate 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:

Out of office status and message can be configured directly from the device:

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 Skate 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 Skate 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://ukblog.im-mobility.com/using-zte-android-handset-usb-modem-windows

Running Android 2.3.5, the Skate also features Google's SIP Voice over IP client, allowing you to make and receive Internet telephone calls or set up your phone as a wireless extension of the corporate telephone system:

Miscellaneous

The Skate 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 Skate 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 Skate features all of the personalisation options and application extensibility that Android offers, at a very competitive price. The Skate provides push access to Exchange email, can be your portable wireless hotspot, can register as a wireless extension of your company telephone system, can act as a modem on a Windows PC via USB - a veritable "swiss army" gadget for customers of all types.

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