After hearing about it at the Mobile World Congress, we learned that ZTE’s Skate was in the running for adoption by a UK carrier for release sometime early this summer. Things look like they’re going right on schedule, with Orange posting the Android on its site, now dubbed the Monte Carlo, marked as “coming soon”.

The specs, understandably, don’t appear to have changed any from when we first heard about the Skate, sporting a 4.3-inch display and running at 800MHz. While we might prefer to see a 1GHz+ offering, at least Orange will be selling the phone with Gingerbread already installed. The hardware also includes a five-megapixel rear camera, and while the smartphone has a nice look to it, at 10.4mm it’s slightly thicker than some of its competition.

The phone supports UMA for transitions from calls on the cellular network to available WiFi APs, and HD Voice for improved call fidelity. There’s no set release date just yet, but it’s likely the Monte Carlo will go up for sale sometime in July.

Source: Orange

Via: Tracy and Matt