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You may remember ZTE’s flagship handset, the Grand S II being touted as possibly becoming the first Android smart phone to be released with 4GB of RAM inside just a few days ago. Our Managing Editor, Tom Dawson, was sceptical that a company like ZTE would be pushing this particular boundary, and it turns out he was correct in his belief. At ZTE’s press conference in Beijing earlier, the Grand S II launched with a ‘scant’ 2GB of RAM inside. It may be a disappointment for some, but 2GB of RAM is still more than enough to get things done. Whilst the user may have to ‘make do’ with just the 2GB of RAM , and 16GB of internal storage, the processor is upgraded from the Snapdragon 800 quad-core to the newer 801 clocked at 2.3GHz, offering better performance thanks to the faster eMMC standard it utilises, along with the slightly higher clocking of both the CPU and GPU. A substantial 3100mAh battery is included, which should get the user through the day quite comfortably, unless like me you have a Plants vs Zombies addiction. The handset has a plastic body with a faux brushed-metal rear panel.
On the visual side of things, the Grand S II is equipped with a 5.5-inch 1080p display, a 13MP rear-facing camera, and a 2MP camera on the front of the device for selfie duty. ZTE are attempting to add features to the Android firmware, by including full voice control abilities, including voice unlock, My-Drive (voice navigation) amongst others. The Grand S II is on sale in China for roughly $274 (1699 Yuan), which seems very reasonable considering what the phone is offering in terms of hardware.
Just in case you are still upset at the lack of 4GB of RAM in the handset, ZTE have created a Limited and Exclusive Edition of the Grand S II with slightly upgraded specifications, which include a bump up to 3GB of RAM (Feeling better?), 32GB of internal storage as well as a leather cover. This upgraded model sells for around $402 (2499 Yuan). Is the slight upgrade enough to warrant a $128 increase in price? Let us know via the comments section or at our Google Plus page.
