Skip to main content

ZTE unveils the budget-friendly Warp 7 at IFA 2016, bound for Boost Mobile airwaves

IFA, one of the largest and oldest consumer electronics conventions in existence is gearing up to begin in Berlin, Germany. But that’s not stopping some of the attending companies from kicking off the festivities early. On Tuesday, ZTE announced the Warp 7, a low-range, affordable smartphone scheduled to hit U.S. shores early next week.

It’s the latest in the company’s long-running line of affordable Warp devices exclusive to Boost Mobile, Sprint’s prepaid subsidiary. The last two to hit the carrier’s airwaves, the Warp Sync and Warp Elite, start at $50 and $80, respectively.

IFA 2016: Huawei may launch Nova, Nova Plus smartphones and MediaPad M3 tablet

“Boost Mobile has been very successful with the Warp smartphone lineup,” Jim Hyde, Boost Mobile’s president, said in a statement. “[We] will continue to offer our customers the most modern technology available at affordable prices.”

The Warp 7 may still qualify as a budget device at $99, but that doesn’t mean it’s compromising. The handset, which weighs 175 g and measures 154.3 x 76 x 9.3 mm, sports a 5.2-inch HD (1280 x 720 pixels) TFT display shielded by Gorilla Glass 3. Under the hood, it’s packing a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 410 processor paired with 2GB of RAM, and around the front and back a 1080p-capable 13MP rear-facing camera and 5MP front-facing shooter. In terms of storage, the Warp 7 ships with 16GB of built-in memory and a Micro SD slot that can accommodate cards up to 64GB in size.

ZTE-Warp-7_R9A8921
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Warp 7’s well-endowed when it comes to wireless, too… mostly. Sadly absent is support for near-field communication (NFC), the tech required for contactless payments and wireless transit fare. Instead, it’s got an FM radio, GPS, hotspot functionality, Bluetooth 4.0, and an LTE/GSM radio that support roaming on popular networks in Mexico.

Powering all those components is generous 3,080mAh battery, which ZTE said should last about 32 hours on a call. Better still, it supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0 standard — in theory, you’ll be able to plug it into a wall charger, return in fifteen minutes or so, and count on hours of charge when you unplug. That’s a major convenience, needless to say.

Like other Warp handsets before it, the Warp 7’s debuting exclusively on Boost Mobile on September 5. It ships running Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

“Consumers continue to anticipate the Warp family of products each year and we are proud to introduce the next device in the series with the ZTE Warp 7,” Lixin Cheng, head of ZTE USA, said in a press release. “We continue to push the boundaries of what an affordable premium device is and the Warp 7 available with Boost Mobile incorporates top features at a budget friendly price.”

The Warp 7’s follows the launch of ZTE’s Zmax Pro, a budget handset that debuted on MetroPCS in July. In terms of hardware, it was an even better bargain: $100 with an instant rebate netted you a handset with a 6-inch 1080p (1920 x 1080 pixels) screen, a quad-core Snapdragon 617 processor, and a 3,400mAh battery. But beggars can’t be choosers, we suppose.

The low-end market has done well for the China-based carrier. In late August, the phone marker reported a 4.05 percent year on year boost in revenue to about 47.76 billion yuan, or about $7.15 billion. The company said those sales earned it a place among the top six global manufacturers in the world.

Kyle Wiggers
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kyle Wiggers is a writer, Web designer, and podcaster with an acute interest in all things tech. When not reviewing gadgets…
The Galaxy S24 just got a big camera update. Here’s what’s new
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra in Titanium Orange and in Titanium Silver.

Samsung Galaxy S24 owners just received some great news. Samsung recently released an April software update that addresses various camera issues. Unfortunately, this update is only available in South Korea, but according to information posted on the Samsung Korea forum, it is expected to be released in other regions soon.

Firmware version S928NKSU1AXCA is almost 800MB in size. It includes improvements for lowlight images and image colors in Samsung's Expert RAW app, improved text clarity when zooming in photo mode, and support for 480 x 480 resolution when recording Instant Slow-Mo videos. The Galaxy S24 update for April builds on the improvements from the previous February release, which included enhanced zoom, portrait mode, night mode, and rear camera video capture capabilities.

Read more
Apple just announced the dates for WWDC 2024
WWDC 2024 banner.

Apple has just announced the dates for its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024. WWDC will take place from June 10 through June 14, 2024. A special event will be held at Apple Park in Cupertino, California, on June 10, and we expect to see the reveal of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, watchOS 11, tvOS 18, macOS 15, and visionOS 2.

WWDC will be free for all developers online. Developers will be able to access a variety of online sessions and labs that will showcase the latest advancements in software across all of Apple’s hardware.

Read more
Does the Moto G Stylus have NFC?
Moto G Stylus 5G 2023 leaning

The Motorola Moto G Stylus is a line of midrange Android smartphones, each of which comes packing a stylus — as the name ,akes clear. The two latest models are the Moto G Stylus (2023) and the Moto G Stylus 5G (2023). Although these models are similar, they have some noticeable differences, including their support for near-field communication (NFC) technology. This article will examine which Moto G Stylus models come with NFC and which do not.
What is NFC?

Near-field communication (NFC) is a technology that lets two gadgets communicate with each other when they are within a few centimeters of each other. It is useful for touch payments, e-tickets, data sharing, and effortlessly linking devices via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

Read more