It seems ZTE is beginning to add more of their own smartphones to the market, with the latest being the Blade Vec 3G popping up on JB HiFi’s website for $249.
The ZTE Blade Vec 3G offers some decent specs for a mid range phablet, although at only 5″ what defines a phablet these days? The price is pretty decent, at $249 but it comes with a bit of a mystery. With the name ‘ZTE Blade Vec 4G’ you’d expect an LTE radio, instead the JB Hifi website simply lists ‘3G’, we are trying to chase this up with ZTE Australia, so we’ll let you know.
Update, Tuesday Oct 7 JB Hi-Fi has corrected their listing, the phone is now identified as the “Blade Vec 3G”.
Official specs for the phone below:
- UMTS 850/900/2100
- GSM 850/900/1800/1900
- Speed HSPA+ DL 21Mbps/UL 5.76Mbps
- Main LCD 5.0” HD TFT, IPS, 16M color
- Dimension 139.3 x 69.8 x 7.8 mm
- Battery 2300mAh
- OS Android 4.4
- CPU 1.3GHz Quad Core
- Chipset MTK MT6582
- Camera 8MP AF + 5MP FF; LED flash
- Micro SD Up to 32GB
- Memory 8GB + 1GB RAM
- WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
If you’re interested in the ZTE Blade Vec, it seems that JB are still awaiting stock, with the website stating delivery will be within 5-9 days. Still you want to try your local JB HiFi store to see if they have any available or when they maybe getting stock.
With a Mediatek CPU you can expect huge delays in updates.
With a Mediatek CPU you can expect huge delays in updates.
Unless ZTE has far more reliable ROMs than other Chinese providers you are better off with something like a Xiaomi, Meizu from an importer. You will get FHD, 2gb RAM and more ROM for a MTK chipset.
Xiaomi is pretty good but all their Mediatek phones do not have Kitkat and there is no word on when the update will be. So it’s better to choose their Snapdragon phones.
Xiaomi is pretty good but all their Mediatek phones do not have Kitkat and there is no word on when the update will be. So it’s better to choose their Snapdragon phones.
another gb of ram and 3300mAh instead of 2300mAh and i’d be interested. nice looking device.
Two other things this device needs to make it worth thinking about considering:
At least another 8GB of on board storage. A puny 8GB on board does not cut it any more.
microSDXC support of at least 128GB. Until the telcos start bringing out sane priced, decent data amount, accounts, decent size external storage for media is essential. 32GB microSDHC doesn’t cut it.
at least it’s expandable. more than you get from most flagships these days…