Virgin Media Launches £49.99 ZTE Kis Android Phone

ZTE has launched a new affordable Android handset in the UK, the ZTE Kis. It claims that the Kis is the “best value Android handset” in the UK, and is now available exclusively through Virgin Media.

The Kis can be purchased in any Virgin Media store, online or via telephone for £49.99, when bought with a £10 top-up.

As part of the plan, Virgin Media is throwing in a free data allowance of 1GB per month for the first 12 months.

Give us a Kis

“We’re bundling in a huge amount of data to complement this Android handset for our PAYG customers,” said Jamie Heywood, director of mobile at Virgin Media. “This is yet another example how Virgin Media is raising the bar in the mobile market because we know how much our customers love to be connected no matter where they are without worrying about expensive bills.”

The Kis boasts a 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen, a 3.2 megapixel camera, GPS and runs version 2.3 of Android, Gingerbread. It’s not the most powerful phone, packing an 800MHz processor and 256MB of RAM, while there is just 512MB of internal memory.

However, this can be expanded up to 32GB through a micro SD card, and a 2GB card is included with the device. Connectivity is provided in the form of 3G, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi support.

“The launch of the ZTE Kis is a further demonstration of our commitment to building the ZTE brand in Europe and the UK across a number of price points and operating systems, which will continue with new devices throughout the remainder of 2012 and in 2013,” said Wu Sa, director of mobile device operations at ZTE UK. “It is also an example of our commitment to providing our customers with quality devices at affordable prices under the vibrant ZTE brand proposition.”

Since first announcing its intention to release handsets in the UK under its own brand, ZTE has launched a number of low-cost devices. It claimed that the ZTE Tania was the cheapest 4.3 inch Windows Phone on the market in the UK, while it also released a low-cost tablet, the ZTE Light Tab 2.

How much do you know about smartphones? Take our quiz