ZTE Blade S6 outed as the first Android with octa-core Snapdragon and Lollipop

Value-for-money lovers, rejoice, as today is the day. Apple might have announced a quarter for the books, but its smartphones' prices aren't for everyone, and for all the rest there are the up-and-coming Chinese phone makers, which are encroaching on everybody's turf now with great propositions.

Meizu just announced its $112 Blue Charm midranger, and ZTE strikes back with a bit more souped-up and elegant handset for still a pretty low price. The ZTE Blade S6 (don't ask why they called it that, but we have a hunch) flaunts a 5" laminated HD display, an octa-core 64-bit Snapdragon 615 chipset, 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of internal storage plus microSD slot, and a 13 MP rear camera plus a 5 MP wide-angle front cam. All of it is backed by a 2400 mAh battery pack, and is running the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop.

ZTE Blade S6 has more aces up its sleeve, though, such as a fairly elegant 144 x 70.7 x 7.7mm body, Hi-fi sound with dedicated audio processor, and what ZTE calls Smart Sense - a clever set of gestures that can turn your flashlight on with a flick of the wrist, for example. The phone will be available from AliExpress starting February 10th, with a more global rollout on February 27th, for the suggested retail price for the western market of $250 off-contract. ZTE promises it will be shipping it from UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Hong Kong, too. Any takers?

source: ZTE