ZTE C79

The ZTE C79 is a red clamshell cell phone "with nothing special about it," says CNET's Nicole Lee, who nevertheless grades it "very good." Reviews say the price tag is not as much of an indication of quality or features as it is a tradeoff for buyers not having to lock into a long-term contract with a carrier. As with other MetroPCS phones, every user pays month to month, with plans ranging from $30 to $50, plus small charges for assorted extras (see www.metropcs.com for details). Professional and owner reviews generally agree that call quality is good.

You do get quite a few features: for starters, Bluetooth, web surfing, email and instant messaging. There is a 1.3-megapixel camera (though no video capture) that produces photos that one review calls "not bad" and another calls noisy and washed-out. The two major reviews agree the MP3 player is "basic." There are 1-inch external and 2-inch internal display screens. One review says of the latter: "The 220 x 176 resolution never lets you forget that you're dealing with a lower-end device." There is a microSD slot on the side that is supposed to handle up to 2 GB memory cards; one reviewer got it to work with 4 GB cards as well. In PCMag.com's review, Sascha Segan takes issue with the interface being confusing, but we haven't seen that echoed in user reviews so far. Segan recommends that people who want MetroPCS's no-commitment monthly deals should instead buy the Samsung MyShot R430, which is about $20 cheaper.

We found the best coverage at CNET and PCMag.com, which is often the case for cell phone reviews. Both survey enough of the market to make the scoring systems meaningful, and both do extensive testing, although at this writing neither has produced a battery test for the ZTE C79. Consumer Reports has a good cell phones ratings chart, but it doesn't cover the ZTE C79. We found no owner reviews at Amazon.com and just a few at CNET and PhoneScoop.com.