MWC: ZTE launches new Android

Chinese mobile device vendor, ZTE, announced its latest Android smartphone at the Mobile World Congress currently being held in Barcelona. Its new smartphone, the Skate comes with an 800MHz processor and a high-definition display.

ZTE took the wraps of a new flagship Android smartphone at the MWC yesterday and vowed to ramp up its focus on the ‚middle to high-end‚ devices market. EVP, He Shiyou said that ZTE had ‚successfully entered‚ the high-end markets in Europe and Japan and had also had ‚breakthroughs‚ with tier-one operators in the US.

He noted that the Chinese vendor shipped 90 million devices globally in 2010, a 50 percent increase over the previous year, citing an IDC study that placed ZTE as a top five handset vendor as a result. Signature models such as the ZTE Blade and ZTE Light are available in more than 30 countries worldwide.

Key to ZTE’s progress has been its ability to sell smartphones at low price points. ‚We believe that the key to making the mobile Internet widely available is to lower the entry threshold,‚ said He Shiyou. As part of its new strategy, ZTE said it would ‚accelerate its expansion of the smart devices portfolio with its latest smartphones, tablets, and Internet box devices, in order to build a comprehensive Smart Information Platform.‚

The vendor’s new flagship phone ‚ the ZTE Skate (pictured) ‚ is described as a ‚fashionably thin and lightweight‚ 4.3-inch touch-screen Android device. It features an 800MHz processor, HD display and 5-MP camera. It will be available globally from May. ZTE also showcased three new devices in its Light tablet range, including a new 10-inch device based on Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) due for launch in the third quarter.

He Shiyou also underlined ZTE’s commitment to the WAC initiative, noting that the vendor will have a number of ‚open platform products‚ based on the WAC standards available in the first half of this year. Among its WAC-enabled smartphones is the F952.

– Story courtesy Mobile World Congress Show Daily