ZTE Tania Windows Phone 7.5 smartphone hands-on

Sponsored links, if any, appear in green.

ZTE Tania

ZTE Tania

ZTE Tania

ZTE Tania

ZTE Tania

ZTE Tania

There has been a lot of buzz around Microsoft's larger Windows Phone partners, especially Nokia, HTC, and Samsung, but there are other companies in the mix, too. We got a chance to take a look at ZTE's Tania, the first Windows Phone smartphone from the Chinese manufacturer.

The Tania features your standard Windows Phone hardware configuration, as it sports a 4.3-inch, WVGA and single-core 1GHz Qualcomm processor. It has a 5 megapixel camera and comes with 4GB of internal storage. The best part of all? It comes in white.

Since Windows Phone devices are all pretty much alike when it comes to user experience, the Tania felt just like any other Mango-powered smartphone I've used. And that's not a bad thing. In spite of making use of a lower spec 1GHz processor than devices like HTC's Titan 2 and Nokia's Lumia 900, the Tania still felt responsive.

I do have to say that the Tania's display didn't compare well with the competition, though. While totally adequate, it reminded me of some of the early transflective displays seen on Windows Mobile devices years back. The display had the resolution, for sure, but it just didn't seem to have the saturation I expected.

The Tania will likely never make it to the U.S., but ZTE will distribute it throughout Asia and Europe. The company has said that it has already inked distribution deals for the phone in France.