ZTE’s gorgeous Nubia and Blade S smartphones may be relatively unknown in the U.S., but the Chinese company’s budget phones are all over the market. ZTE recently added two more budget phones to the ranks: The Maven for AT&T and the Sonata 2 for Cricket Wireless.
Both phones are remarkably cheap and offer decent enough specs for anyone who just needs a cheap phone that has just the basics.
ZTE’s Maven is powered by an unspecified Qualcomm 1.2GHz quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM. It packs a measly 8GB of internal storage, but you can add 32GB more with a MicroSD card, so you shouldn’t run out of space too quickly. As a budget phone, the Maven has a small 4.5-inch TFT LCD screen with a rather low FWVGA resolution of 480 × 854 pixels. It does run Android 5.1 Lollipop, though.
On the back of the device, ZTE popped a serviceable 5-megapixel camera with a flash. The front-facing camera is VGA, so you probably won’t be taking selfies with it too often. In terms of connectivity, the Maven has LTE, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi direct, and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n. A 2,100mAh non-removable battery powers the phone, and should keep things running just fine. The best part about the Maven is undoubtedly its price — It’ll cost you just $60 with a new line on AT&T.
The Sonata 2 is even cheaper at Cricket Wireless, where you can get it for a mere $30 with a new account of an upgrade. The Sonata 2 sports a 4-inch WVGA resolution screen with 480 × 800 pixels and runs Android 4.4. A Qualcomm 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM power the phone, which comes with a mere 4GB of internal storage. Luckily for those who like to take pictures, there’s a MicroSD slot that lets you bring that number up to 32GB.
There’s a 5-megapixel camera with an LED flash on the back of the phone and a decent 2-megapixel shooter on the front, which will actually take decent selfies. The Sonata 2 supports 4G and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, and a 1,650mAh battery should keep it powered up for a while.
Both of the phones are available for purchase as of today online and in stores.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.