Cricket ZTE Chorus Review: A Simple Phone, but Good for Music - wolferemplume

At a Glance

Expert's Rating

Pros

Inexpensive earphone without a binding sign
Untrammeled music downloads and texting

Cons

Resistive screen makes typing nearly impracticable
Poor camera and telecasting quality

Our Verdict

Although the ZTE Chorus has its shortcomings, it isn't a bad conniption if you're on a viselike budget and primarily want to listen to medicine.

The ZTE Chorus for Cricket is a handsome, thickset phone with a diverse, shapely-in music library courtesy of Cricket's MuveMusic software. Although reasonably priced ($50 without a contract summation $45 per month for a music plan, equally of February 13, 2022), this prepaid phone falls short due to poor touchscreen predisposition and a Low-end display.

Design

When you pick leading the ZTE Refrain, you'll straightaway notice its slick feel–also as its less-than-sturdy twist. The glossy piano-smuggled cover is nice to the touch, and attractive in appearance. The rounded edges convey a soft look, and allow the headphone to fit more than comfortably in the ribbon. Measuring 4.40 away 2.20 past 0.60 inches, the Chorus is a little squat for my liking, and feels bulky in my pocket. Weighing 3.7 ounces, it has a light plastic frame, which is a little troubling: The phone seems like it would break easily if it were to fall. The shelling backplate comes off in a snap.

The 3.2-inch WQVGA resistive touch screen expose is the sound's biggest weakness. The screen hardly responds to touch unless you press firmly and precisely (with your fingernail); typing is baffling to the point that texting or browsing becomes a chore. In addition, the silver screen has a low-down resolution of 240 by 400 pixels.

To a lower place the show is a touch-sensitive volume control, along with a domestic/back key. Annoyingly, the Chorus requires you to push the home/back key repeatedly to throw from the MuveMusic software (see below) to the home cover.

The MuveMusic button, which is located between the mass and home/backrest buttons, is a useful control for quickly accessing the MuveMusic software. A physical paint, the MuveMusic button bears a music-note emblem.

MuveMusic

Euphony is the Chorus's strongest sport. The MuveMusic software system offers a immense selection of songs to download–millions of tunes, ranging from the latest hits to classics to more obscure songs. You can download as numerous songs as you wish with your monthly music data programme. As for audio quality, the sound is non as clear equally what you might hear on a PC. Testing the phone's external speakers, I listened to Lana Del Rey's "Video Games" and encountered some Theodore Harold White noise; the core became more prominent when I put headphones along. I liked having the pick of turning on SRS (Sound Retrieval System) in Standard Mode, which increased Del Rey's voice and the downpla medicine.

Android…Surgery Is IT?

The interface for the Chorus is easy to navigate; As this is a budget call, yet, it uses a generic Linux OS in place of Android. I found the spareness of the three-by-four apps menu humble, and the icons lacked particular and sophisticated blending.

Since the Chorus isn't an Android device, it doesn't provide access to the usual suite of Google apps. You do sire Cricket's Storefront for apps, but they want the variety that the Mechanical man Market offers. If you desire to try Cricket but you absolutely indigence the Market, you should purchase an actual smartphone–such as the ZTE Score–and the MuveMusic plan for Humanoid phones, which costs $55 a month.

Camera and Video recording

Since the Chorus is equipped with only a 2-megapixel photographic camera and camcorder, I wasn't expecting best picture quality. After taking a barb on Bryant Street in San Francisco, I detected a blueish tint throughout the pic. Images I took indoors lacked raciness.

Test photos embezzled with the Samsung Focus (left) and the ZTE Chorus (right).

The camcorder recorded with any lag, and straightaway movements produced video with gelatinous aftereffects.

Performance

Call prime over Cricket's net was rather wavy-grained. Sometimes the calls I made to friends' cell phones and landlines went through fine. I could get word voices well, with the exception of a humble static speech sound, which resulted in some fuzziness. In one exemplify, the static was so intense that I needed to stop the call. Web browsing was also a bit irregular, because I couldn't colligate at times. When I did, Cricket's 3G web bucket along was decent, loading the PCWorld.com home page in 14 seconds. Battery life, however, was poor: The Chorus survived petty more than 4 hours of continuous music play.

Close

Although the ZTE Chorus has a under-character camera and camcorder, a cheap video display, and a resistive touchscreen, this phone International Relations and Security Network't a deplorable fit if you'Re on a miserly budget and you primarily want to listen to music active. If you do decide to use the Chorus for communication purposes, you get 1000 minutes apiece month and unlimited texting (but you may have to buy a midget stylus just to type comfortably). And if the Chorus doesn't work out in the end, you're non obligated to stay with it since it is a prepaid phone.