Comparision-HTC One V vs ZTE Orbit

FormHTC One V - 120.3x59.7x9.2mm, 115g
ZTE Orbit - TBC

HTC's One V is the low-end model in its One range and this is reflected in its looks, which aren't great to put it bluntly. The overall shape is boring and very similar to HTC's older phones. It also has a weird chin on the bottom section which does it no favours. The coup de grace is the single colour choice which is a dull brown.

The ZTE Orbit is far more interesting to look at with a sweeping, rounded shape and nice proportions. The bodywork shows as a thin strip round the outside of the black front panel, which houses the touchscreen. The back panel is nicely contoured and has a textured surface.

ZTE wins this round easily.

Winner - ZTE Orbit

DisplayThe Orbit has the larger screen of the two handsets at 4-inches, it's a TFT capacitive display with multi-touch support  and an 800x480 pixel resolution. The pixel density is reasonably good at 233 pixels-per-inch (ppi).

The One V's slightly smaller 3.7-inch capacitive multi-touch display sports the same resolution, giving a higher pixel density of 252ppi.

Both displays aren't the best around but they're decent enough. HTC's touchscreen should give a slightly sharper picture quality though.

Winner - HTC One V

StorageHTC's handset has 4GB of internal storage and 512MB of RAM, plus a micro SD slot for up to 32GB of additional card storage.

ZTE's Orbit has pretty much the same setup, minus the card slot.

We have to give HTC this round as the additional micro SD space makes a difference.

Winner - HTC One V

ProcessorThe Orbit has a fairly typical Windows Phone setup, that is, a single core 1GHz Qualcomm processor which has been optimised to run Windows Phone Tango - the lower spec version of Microsoft's platform.

The HTC One V, being the lower end HTC One model has a virtually identical setup with a 1GHz Qualcomm single core processor.

Performance should be more or less even here.

Winner - Draw

Operating SystemThis is the meat and potatoes of the comparison and the area in which these phones most widely differ. On the one hand, HTC's One V runs Google's Android platform, specifically the latest version, Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) 4.0.

Ice Cream Sandwich is the best version to date, it's much faster, the menu layouts make more sense and it's more stable than its predecessors.

While it still maintains Android's excellent multi-tasking capability it adds a much better way to interface with this through a quick app switcher, complete with swipe-to-close functionality.

Android is also great for people who like to personalise their mobile phone experience - you've got a lot more control over placement of app icons, background wallpapers and widgets, while custom launcher apps and interfaces can be loaded onto the handset.

Another plus point is the huge number of apps on Google Play, previously known as Android Market. There are currently more than half a million apps and games available.

On the other side you have ZTE's Orbit running Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system. It uses the Tango build which is designed for phones at a lower-price point with a budget spec.

Functionality-wise it's more or less the same as Windows Phone Mango for higher-end phones and has been optimised to maintain decent performance with cheaper hardware.

Windows Phone has a form of multi-tasking, but it isn't true multi-tasking like Android.

Instead of being able to switch to different apps and leave some running in the background, any non-active app goes into hibernation.

This means when you restore an app it needs to reload rather than instant-switching, furthermore, it means social networking apps, or any with updating content, won't actively update while in hibernation.

What Windows Phone does very well is contact, message and social networking aggregation.

Thanks to the People Hub you can receive and send messages to multiple contacts across multiple mail, text, instant messaging and social network platforms - plus it'll keep track of status updates too.

Compared to other platforms Windows Phone doesn't have a particularly broad app selection, the Windows Phone Marketplace has 70,000 apps to choose from but on the upside most of these are very high quality.

Windows Phone's interface is interesting, it uses colourful ‘Live Tiles' for apps on a continuous scrolling homescreen. Information from the apps these Live Tiles represent is pushed directly to the tile itself, so you can, for example see a little slideshow of your photos within the tile, or brief weather reports in a weather app's tile.

It's customisable in the sense that you can move tiles around, change wallpapers and change theme colours, but it's nowhere near as extensive as Android on this front. Generally we'd say it's much easier to use, however.

It comes down to whether you prefer ease-of-use and streamlined social networking or plenty of customisation, apps and genuine multi-tasking.

Winner - Draw

CameraBoth devices have similar camera setups, each has a 5-megapixel primary with a 2592x1944 pixel resolution, an LED flash, autofocus, geo-tagging and 720p video capture.

HTC's One V has a few more impressive tweaks though. It features a back-illuminated sensor (BSI), white balance, multi shot mode, macro mode, digital zoom, Geo tagging, night mode and a self-timer.

HTC's offering has gone the extra mile here.

Winner - HTC One V

Final ThoughtsHTC's One V isn't at all bad mid-range handset in terms of spec but its visual design is extremely off-putting. However, if you're in the market for an affordable Android Ice Cream Sandwich phone and aren't too bothered about looks it's a decent choice.

ZTE's Orbit is a great Windows Phone for those on a budget, if you're looking for something easily accessible but don't fancy Apple's iOS ecosystem (or high prices) it's a good alternative. However, if you want a bit more freedom in your operating system you might be better off with the HTC One V.

Posted in: Android,Comparisions,HTC,Windows Phone