Hands-on with ZTE's line of Android 4.0 tablets

In addition to its flagship line of smartphones, ZTE had its Ice Cream Sandwich tablets on hand here in New Orleans, some of which were making their American debut. As I said about the smartphones, it certainly appears that ZTE is trying to crack into the top tier of Android devices; if it will succeed remains to be seen.

The ZTE tablet line is driven by the PF100, a beauty we first met back in Barcelona. It’s got a beautiful 10.1-inch WXGA display with TFT technology, along with Tegra 3 and a gig of DDR2 RAM under the hood. The processor is clocked at 1.5 GHz and make no mistake about it- the PF100 offers a buttery smooth, mainly stock Ice Cream Sandwich experience. The PF100 is also packing a 5MP rear camera, a 2MP front shooter, Dolby sound, and HSPA+ radios.

Just underneath the PF100 is the V96, though “beneath” may be a matter of opinion. Screen and most specs go hit-for-hit with the PF100, including the stock ICS experience; the big difference here is the processor and radios. The V96 is packing a 1.7 Ghz dual-core processor instead of Tegra 3 (no word on model), and it ships with LTE-compatible radios. A pretty fair trade off, we’d say.

At the lower end of the spectrum is the K75, which may or may not seem like a big step down compared to its big brothers. If you prefer a 7-inch footprint, the K75 is the flavor for you. It’s wi-fi only, with a lower-res screen of 1024 x 600 pixels. It’s got Ice Cream Sandwich onboard, but this one’s modded quite heavily. Under the hood, ZTE remains tight-lipped on the processor, which is more than likely on the lower end of the spectrum.

All in all, not much news tablet-wise out of CTIA this year, though it’s refreshing to see smaller manufacturers like ZTE are edging their way into the market. Some photos of what ZTE has been up to follow the break.

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