Gadgetory

hi this is Brian Bennett for cnet.com and today we're taking a first look at the ZTE anthem 4G for MetroPCS available now this handset costs $1.99 and is available for purchase without having to sign a stifling wireless service contract now MetroPCS says the ZTE anthem 4G provides Android 4G LTE and enough speed and power to blaze a fiery trail across the internet well perhaps the carrier didn't put it like that exactly but it does come close to this language on its website it's a nice thought but I have a feeling that it's week 1.2 gigahertz dual-core Snapdragon processor and 512 megabytes of RAM will cool the anthem 4G down a bit I assume it's weak since both metro pcs and ZTE suspiciously avoid mentioning the exact class of CPU the handset uses I suspect though that it's an older snapdragon s3 or some sort of variant another feature that leaves me cold is the old Android 2.3 Gingerbread software the phone runs hey it's over two years old and not getting any fresher on front of the anthem 4G is a small 4.3 inch LCD screen with a low 800 by 480 pixel resolution above it is a VGA front-facing camera below are four old-style Android menu buttons which are capacitive and backlit the left edge holds a volume rocker and micro HDMI port while on the right are the power button and microUSB port up top is a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack and on back is the phone's 5 megapixel camera and LED flash unfortunately the camera app is very basic and has no frills or fancy features this soft touch striped surface here looks pretty wild though almost gaudy the anthem also features Dolby audio technology which makes viewing movies more engaging even better the phone comes with the full Kung Fu Panda 2 movie stored on a micro SD card tucked into its slot underneath the battery door I'm Brian Bennett and this has been a first look at the ZTE anthem' 14 check back soon at c Netcom for a full review