Just called Virgin to upgrade my mobile, I usually just go for whatever is the cheapest but one of the handsets the offered was a ZTE Blade L2. I've never heard of ZTE - anyone know if they are any good? I'm not looking for a phone with all the bells and whistles just something which is going to see out the 2 year contract with no issues. A decent camera would be a bonus but not essential.

Cheers M

http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-...-price-1254215

I have owned 4 ZTE phones and they have been well made out of cheap materials - as you would expect at such a low price point. Looking at the cheapest phones Virgin are offering it would be between the Blade L2 or the Nokia Lumia 630. If you do not mind using Windows Phone or you haven't already bought heavily into the Android eco sysytem then this would be a decent option. The biggest feature missing for the L630 is the lack of a front faceing camera, so no video calls and no selfies. The L630 will be in a few phones shops if you fancy a look.

I hope you are getting a very good deal on your contract as I wouldn't pay £10 a month (the lowest on the VM website) for either of these,

That's interesting thank you. They are offering it at £8 a month, I can't remember how much data or minutes they said but I do remember it would include unlimited texts which is what I have mostly used in the past, but then I've never had a smart phone before so no idea how much I would use the internet on it. As far as I remember the only other phone they offered at £8 was the Samsung Galaxy Fame which seems to have been totally panned in the reviews I've seen. They then offered some at £9 including the Xperia E1.

Thank you - I missed that one. I thought I'd searched pretty much everywhere!

Why go with Virgin?

I have even seen the 'high end like' Moto G at near £8 a month elsewhere.
I'd call the Blade 2 a half decent £50 phone, maybe worth £70. But it has not changed that much over the years. I know, I have the original Blade, the San Francisco.

Usual story - been with them for years, their customer service has been really good blah blah! I'll have another look around for other options at £8 a month. I had a brief look at Tesco Mobile and their £7.50 a month phones and couldn't see anything better. I'll do a search for the one you recommend - thank you.

I got an Orange Rio made by ZTE a few years ago and I still have it as a secondary texting device. It is styled like a blackberry and has amazing battery life and a great list of features for the 330 I paid. I would have no hesitation about buying another ZTE device as they are one of the top 3 mobile phone makes in China and they have some pretty good spec smartphones out now at very reasonable prices. ZTE have been supplying OEM phones for networks for some years and along with Huawei supply most of the USB dongles on the market for mobile broadband.

personally i dont think thats a bad phone for £8 a month ok sure its not the top specks in the world but i think its more than passable, obviously it would also depend on mins/text/data as well but i think it should be more than ok for some who has not owned a smart phone before though

ive owned the T-mobile vivacity (re branded blade II) that was fine for its price and also ZTE blade III that i got free from virgin with grandparents PAYG rewards i used it as a second phone for some work i was doing that so i could have a second number from my personal one

once it was flashed with kitkat custom rom it was actually decent and it wasn't even half the spec of this phone, im used to high end phones currently have a sony Z1 but ive got to say the blade 3 was not that unpleasant to use even on the stock rom so again i think this ZTE Blade L2 should be fine,

By all means look around for something that may be better but as a start on the smart phone ladder you could do much worse

Ash

Thank you wavejockglw and Ash.

For £8 it does seem a decent phone. That £2 a months amounts to £48 over two years. Stick with Virgin if you are happy with the coverage etc. You will need some data though so check that out. If you are just doing basic web stuff, Facebook updates and emails then 500mb will be enough. Of course you won't be streaming video or music with that amount but as it is your first smartphone that should not be a problem.

Thank you Finbaar, your posts here and on other threads have been really helpful.