ZTE and Huawei showcase latest handsets

The ZTE Memo running the company's new 

Android user interface

In a bid to expand business and crack the Western market, ZTE and Huawei are here in Barcelona and have brought with them some fancy new kit. We couldn’t resist the lure of silicon chips in the afternoon, so we went to see what they could bring to a reasonably crowded Smartphone market.

First off,  ZTE’s ‘phablet’ device, the Grand Memo. Resembling the Samsung Galaxy Note in size and name, it’s 5.7 inches and is using the Qualcomm 600 processor (not the 800 they accidentally claimed in the release!) with a 13-megapixel camera, 2GB of ram and 16GB of onboard storage. Predictably running a Jellybean variant of Android, it’s skinned by a specific user interface from ZTE called Mifavor (or ‘My Favourite’ in the UK) laid on top. Whether this will be a useful addition or just an unnecessary bloated addition remains to be seen, here’s hoping it’s the former. ZTE are actually the 4th largest handset manufacturer in the world and are looking to bolster this by a release in their home country of China later this year, followed by a European launch soon after. The future looks bright for the outfit on this evidence.

Not to be outdone, Huawei have brought us the Ascend P2 – slated for release in Q2 this year at a reasonable 400 Euros, its main feature is its LTE chipset. This is touted as the fastest we’ve ever seen in a Smartphone and is capable of up to 150Mbps, should your network be capable of this – and if it is, I’d recommend investing in an unlimited data plan - those speeds could rack up some VERY nasty data charges!

The Huawei Ascend P2 in all its glory

The internals of the 4.7”phone should pose no surprise to anyone up to date with our coverage – quad core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB internal memory, 2420mAH battery. They did state the screen should use 20% less power due to its efficiency technology, although I did note the screen appeared quite reflective, partly due perhaps to the venues lighting. We’ll have to test the display in some real world conditions once it’s released – stay tuned in a few months where hopefully we’ll have a full review for you.

ZTE's entry level handset running the new Firefox operating system

Back over to ZTE for the final phone for this update, ZTE have launched an entry level phone running Mozilla’s Firefox Operating System. Similar to Android having its roots in open source code (hence being called the ZTE Open), the phone’s spec pales in comparison to the above models, for obvious reasons. Launching in countries like Colombia, Mexico, Poland and Brazil, the price will have to be very competitive and hasn’t yet been confirmed. Beneath the 3.5-inch screen you’ll find a 1.5 GHz processor (yes, single core – so 2011!), 256MB of RAM and with only 512MB of internal storage, a MicroSD card would be a sensible accessory purchase. The phone probably won’t set alight any enthusiasts, however for emerging markets, people looking to get into application coding, or perhaps as a backup Smartphone, this could be a big seller.