ZTE Prepares $99 Tablet

Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 2/2/2012

Richardson, Texas - Chinese cellphone supplier ZTE is launching its first U.S. market tablet through Sprint.

The ZTE Optik will be available for $99 with two-year cellular-service agreement and $349 without service agreement to make "the tablet experience available to a new segment of consumers," said Lixin Cheng, CEO of ZTE USA.

The device will be available beginning Feb. 5 through Sprint's direct channels. Details on sales through indirect channels were unavailable.

The device features 7-inch touchscreen, tablet-optimized Android 3.2 Honeycomb OS, and dual cameras.

Other key features include 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, Adobe Flash, GPS, rear-facing 5-megapixel camera, and front-facing 2-megapixel camera that enables video chat, and mobile hotspot capability allowing up to five users to share a cellular-data connection via Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g. It wasn't immediately known whether the device would work on Sprint's 4G network.

Other features include memory slot supporting a 32GB microSD cards, Bluetooth v2.1+EDR, 4000 mAh Lithium-ion battery, Google mobile services, and such Sprint services as Sprint TV, Sprint Music Plus, Sprint Navigation, Sprint Football Live and NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile.

 ZTE's Optik can be activated on one of Sprint's four Tablet Connection plans, which cost $19.99/month for 1GB of data, $34.99 for 3GB, $49.99 for 6GB of data and $79.99 for 12GB.

 Mobile hotpsot service costs an additional $29.99/ month, and usage counts against the user's tablet plan.