ZTE Blade V8 Pro and Hawkeye unveiled at CES 2017: Price, specifications, launch date

Dual cameras are certainly going to be a thing in 2017 and by that we don't just mean the premium smartphone segment. Well, the ZTE Blade V8 Pro to be launched in the US market is set to prove just that; a dual camera smartphone with mid-range specifications priced at $229.98 (approximately Rs 20,300). Also unveiled at CES 2017 by ZTE was the first official look at its community driven open-source smartphone (Project CSX) called Hawkeye.Starting with the ZTE Blade V8 Pro, the smartphone packs in a 5.5-inch Full HD display sporting a pixel density of 401PPI, with Gorilla Glass 3 protection. Inside, there is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 octa-core chipset clocked at 2GHz and paired with 3GB RAM. Handling the graphics is an Adreno 506 GPU. There's 32GB of internal storage and this can be expanded further using the microSD card slot that accepts cards of up to 128GB in capacity (Hybrid dual SIM).Coming to the cameras, there are two 13MP sensors on the back along with the a dual LED flash and PDAF. On the front there is an 8MP camera for selfies that also packs in a flash module.The smartphone's connectivity options include support for 4G LTE bands, Bluetooth v4.2, Wi-Fi, GPS, NFC and a USB Type-C port for connectivity. Powering all of the above is a 3,140mAh battery that supports quick charging that ZTE claims will last up to 24 hours. The ZTE Blade V8 Pro will be powered by Android 6.0.1 and is currently on pre-order till January.[caption id="attachment_356307" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Image Credit: The Verge[/caption]Next up the is the Project CSX smartphone called Hawkeye. The specifications of the crowd-sourced smartphone are not out, but looking back at past contributions from the community, it is expected to pack in eye-tracking software and a self-adhesive feature. The smartphone looks like any other mid-range device and features a fingerprint reader on the back. While the specifications have not been confirmed, the Hawkeye could see a couple of design changes as it nears its launch that should take place in the third-quarter of this year. It goes up on Kickstarter on 5 January and will be priced at $199 (approximately Rs 13,500) reports The Verge.