MWC 2013 Hands-On: ZTE Grand S LTE & Grand Memo

The Chinese manufacturers are really stepping up their game with larger smart phone displays. Just like Huawei, ZTE has also showcased 2 new devices at MWC 2013 – the 5″ Full HD ZTE Grand S LTE and its 5.7″ ZTE Grand Memo. Its presence at MWC was pretty extravagant as well with a huge booth with the likes of Sony and Samsung.

Read on our hands-on of the 2 devices after the break.

ZTE Grand S LTE

The ZTE Grand S LTE is ZTE’s flagship device with a 5″ display that pushes a Full HD resolution of 1920×1080 and is toughen with Gorilla glass. Under the hood, it comes powered with a quad-core 1.7GHz processor with 2GB of RAM and on-board 16GB of storage that can be expanded with microSD. On the spec sheet, this seems to be one of the thinnest smart phones out there at 6.9mm but somehow in the hands, it doesn’t feel as thin and this could be due to its bulky design especially at the top end where the 13MP camera is located.

At the front, it uses capacitive buttons and comes with a 1MP front facing camera at the top. Just like the name suggests, it supports LTE including 2600MHz frequency. The Grand S LTE runs on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean and powering a device is a rather paltry 1,780mAh battery.

ZTE Grand Memo

If 5″ isn’t enough, here comes the ZTE Grand Memo that pushes a larger 5.7″ display but with a lower 1280×720 pixels resolution. Similar to the ZTE Grand S LTE, it runs on a quad-core 1.7GHz processor with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. Over at the back, it also has a 13MP main camera and a front facing 1MP shooter. Since a larger screen would be better suited for video playback, the Grand Memo fortunately comes with more juice at 3,200mAh while having a rather decent 8.5mm thickness.

In our hands-on , the Grand Memo feels rather cheap. The microSD and SIM slots at the sides are covered with thin looking flaps that doesn’t cover discreetly into the main body. Plus, the glossy white plastic at the back is rather cheap looking and they could done better with a textured or matte materials instead. Overall, ZTE rather impresses on paper but they just don’t have it yet in terms of design, which Huawei seems to be doing better. Hardware wise ZTE is getting there and all they need is that little more refinement in their products.