Following in the tradition of naming its budget, no frills handsets after American cities, it is hard not to compare the Orange Atlanta with the previously released Orange San Francisco. Especially as both models are also built by ZTE. The Atlanta however is a far simpler phone, and has gone without the San Francisco's Android OS, touch screen and other features.

Look and feel

In shape and size, the Atlanta feels a bit like holding a Snickers bar. Or, if you remember the early mobile phones, rather like those. It was a trip down memory lane, and a pleasant one too. This is a light phone. It weighs just 84g, which might make it more of a Mars bar.

The front of the phone is split evenly between the screen and a traditional alphanumeric keyboard. This has a pad at the top with four-way directional buttons for navigation, and a middle button to press to confirm or select items.  

The keys aren't prominent, but are designed so you do have to apply some pressure to each. This tactile approach is, in our experience, helpful for accurate typing. Although the keys are plastic, your fingers don't stick when pressing. We were pleased with the multi-tasking key. This is just above the number one on the keyboard, and will provide access to seven shortcuts to features like the camera. These are the same and are accessible no matter what you're doing on the phone. It would have been nice to be able to customise these shortcuts yourself, but still a handy feature to have.

Screen play

There's about a centimetre between the keyboard and the display. You get a 2.4inch screen. This is adequate for text display when performing functions such as writing an email, or an SMS. For a phone of this calibre this isn't a bad screen. Text and icons were clear and crisp, although the colours could be better. And a word of caution - don't try the green theme. You're better off visually sticking with the default orange theme.

Online experience

While the size of the display is good for a budget handset, going online isn't as fabulous. The phone lacks HSDPA or Wi-Fi and this is a problem. You'll have to accept you can only surf the internet at 3G speeds, and it is going to be a slow experience. The slimness of the phone naturally means the display is thinner, and that's not a great form factor for online viewing either. Still, for grabbing new updates while on the move it will do. One handy feature is the ability to save web pages, so you can read them offline or in places where there's no signal. 

There's not a lot in the way of features though. You have to keep in mind that this is an affordable model. It does have a music player, and one that surprised us with a punchy sound when using the loud speakers. The 3.5mm jack in a convenient position on the top of the phone. Unfortunately, there's only 1MB of built-in memory, which is a nice cost cutter unless you're looking to use this as your main memory device. Factor in the cost of a memory card if that's the case. Don't count on being able to use multiple cards though. The slot is located underneath the phone's battery.

Snapper

There is a camera. It is fairly run of the mill at two megapixels, and the colours appear washed out. However, you do get a video camera, not usually a feature in these budget handsets. Sure, it doesn't produce great images, but at least it is there.

Our conclusion

Orange is doing a good job of taking over the prepay, budget market. The Atlanta fills out this particular niche nicely, providing an option for those that can do without the OS and other features found in the San Francisco, in order to get a phone at half its price.