ZTE Open Unveiled At MWC, Runs Firefox OS

The ZTE Open, one of the world’s first Firefox-OS based smartphones, has debuted at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

Billed as an entry-level device for emerging markets, the ZTE Open features a a 3.5-inch HVGA display, which is powered with the help of a 1GHz processor and 512MB of RAM.

The ZTE Firefox-based device also features a 3.2-megapixel camera, bluetooth, A-GPS, and Wi-Fi capabilities.

The Firefox OS is based completely on HTML5, a first for the mobile industry. According to Mozilla CTO Brendan Eich, the mobile OS was created to be “open and available to everyone.”

Firefox specifically created the mobile OS with an open web standard so it would be available to increase mobile use in emerging markets.

The open web standard is also being used for the Tizen OS, another open-web standard mobile operating system that will be unveiled at MWC on Tuesday.

The ZTE Open will debut in Europe and Latin America in Summer 2013.

Also debuted by ZTE at the Mobile World Congress is the ZTE Grand Memo. The high-end device features a 5.7-inch screen, a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 CPU, and a 13-megapixel camera that captures 1080p video. The Grand Memo also offers 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage memory. Sadly, the device’s speaker was not working during its debut, despite the company’s phone partnership with Dolby.

Based on smartphone sizes released at the Mobile World Congress this year, we have a creeping suspicion that everyone will soon be carrying briefcase sized phablets on their hips.

Are you excited to get your hands on the ZTE Open or the ZTE Grand Memo?