ZTE Blade V7 Lite hands-on

Specs-wise, this one opts for a quad-core MediaTek chipset with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage, along with 8MP front and rear cameras (both with LED flash). This sounds decent, and the smartphone runs an up-to-date build of Android Marshmallow, but ZTE managed to turn it into a complete hodgepodge of cartoony graphics and bloatware apps. The show model we tested had no less than 10 (!!!) homescreens, filled up with all sorts of obscure apps. Thus, the hardware crumbles under the system load of too many processes running at once, making for a laggy, strained user experience. However, the camera app seems pretty comprehensive, with plenty of manual controls and advanced options.

This ZTE Blade V7 Lite will first launch in Russia before arriving in Mexico, Spain, Germany and Thailand by Spring 2016. US availability is unlikely. If ZTE prices it correctly, we think the smartphone will get some attention in its target markets, thanks to its good looks and the Blade brand's established, though not exactly hyper-aware presence.