Telstra T95 Review

Welcome to the Telstra/ZTE T95 mobile phone review. The Telstra T95 was released in mid 2011 and is a replacement for the T100. The market positioning for the T95 is pre-paid which is no surprise given the feature set. The introductory pre-paid price for the T95 is $49 which is less than the equivalent model offered by Nokia and Sony Ericsson. However there are notable shortfalls in its specifications that make the $10 more expensive Sony Ericsson Cedar or equivalent Nokia seem a complete bargain.

The Telstra T95 is a very basic mobile phone. However even priced at $49 it is still not a convincing purchase. The T95 hardware specifications are not impressive even at this price point. It has only one 3G band and that is the Telstra NextG 850Mhz despite having quad band GSM capability. Its display is a mere 176 x 220 and even combined it’s cameras resolution don’t reach 1 megapixel!

In the hand the T95’s construction is light but solid and as usual a little cheap. Apart from the solid keypad feel there are few hints of high quality like other brands you can buy at this price but it is much better than the wobbly keypad on the older T100. The very shiny plastic back and the fake metal border is tacky in 2011.

The functionality offered by the T95 is likewise basic and the same as the older T100. It’s designed for calls and text and other notifications. The screen is just too small and lacks a keypad for proper typing of long or sensible replies. It is back to the 90’s in terms of abilities with the T95 – its model number says it all really.

We did not spend much time with the T95 to do the usual tests because there was no point.

To conclude the review of the Telstra T95 we can say that it is a good phone but for very basic use.  We also believe that it’s price tag is unreasonable compared to similarly priced phones. Try the Sony Ericsson Cedar or even the Telstra T3020 if you want a true great value and cheap mobile phone.

Specifications

• Telstra T95
• Network
  Single-band UMTS 850
  Quad-band GSM 850 / 900/1800 /1900 MHz
• Design
  Standard
  L106 x W46 x D12.7 mm
  Weight 108 grams
• Display/s
  External TFT 176 x 220
• Camera
  Dual cameras
  0.3MP main camera
• Connectivity
  USB
  Bluetooth V2
• Memory
  64MB internal memory
  30MB available to user
  Ring tones
  MP3, MMF, MIDI, Vibration
• Features
  SMS, MMS, WAP, EMAIL
  MyWords predictive text
  JAVA MIDP 2.0
  Speaker Phone/Hands free
  Customizable backgrounds
  Picture Viewer
  Video calling
  Voice memos
  Calender and organizer
  250 Hrs Standby,
  150 Minutes Talk Time
  1000 mAh Li-Po
• Package contents
  XP/Vista Compatible PC suite
  Mac OSX Compatible software
  Personal hands free kit
  Travel charger
  USB cable
  User manual
• Price history
  Approx $39 (2013 Pre-Paid)
  Approx $49 (pre-Paid)