In the last few years, ZTE released quite a few Android smartphones via US mobile carriers, but nothing to leave us impressed. Now, in 2014, the company announced that it would bring some really interesting handsets at CES in Las Vegas next week.

First of all, ZTE will showcase its Nubia Z5S and Nubia Z5S Mini, both running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. The two devices are available in China since Christmas, and it’s been reported that more than 2.5 million customers already ordered them. The Nubia Z5S - which costs as low as $330 unlocked - features a 5-inch 1080p Sharp IGZO display, a Qualcomm quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, a 13MP rear camera with OIS and 4K video recording, 5MP front-facing camera, and 2GB of RAM. The Z5S Mini is smaller, offering a 4.7 inch 720p screen (also using Sharp’s IGZO technology), 2GB of RAM, and a dual-core 1.7GHz Snapdragon 600 processor. 

Next we have the Grand S II - a new smartphone from ZTE’s relatively successful Grand Series. The S II will be “ZTE’s first high-precision voice phone”, offering capabilities like "voice recognition unlocking", voice-to-phone photography, and triple-MIC noise reduction. The handset will run Android, but we don’t know which version yet. 

A ZTE smartphone for Aio Wireless will be showcased at CES 2014, too. It’s called Sonata 4G, and features: a 4-inch display, dual-core 1.4GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 5MP rear camera, and a 1,780 mAh battery. 

ZTE won’t be all about smartphones at CES 2014. The Chinese manufacturer also announced its first smartwatch, a phablet, a Wireless Home Base for AT&T, and a device that combines a mini projector and a Wi-Fi hotspot - all coming to Vegas. 

The smartwatch is called ZTE BlueWatch. There aren’t too many details about it, but we know it can connect to a smartphone via Bluetooth, allowing users to control calls, photography, and access Facebook or Twitter. The BlueWatch even has a built-in pedometer. 

As for the phablet mentioned above, this is called Iconic Phablet. Reportedly, it features a 5.7 inch 720p display, quad-core processor, Dolby Digital Sound, wireless charging capabilities, and a “smart viewer that allows two applications to be simultaneously displayed on the screen.”

Unfortunately, ZTE did not reveal images of its new products yet, so all we can show you now are the already-released Nubia Z5S and Z5S Mini:

Rumored Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 gets benchmarked, specs revealed

The Samsung SM-T520 tablet is not even official yet, but thanks to the popular AnTuTu benchmark, we already know what kind of hardware we should be expecting to see under its hood. That's because the device, also referred to as the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1, has been benchmarked, achieving the impressive 33838 points on AnTuTu. Also, most of its specs have been revealed.

Let's start with the spiciest bits. It looks like Samsung has picked its own Exynos 5 Octa chip (Exynos 5420) for the Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1. According to the benchmark, its CPU will have a maximum clock speed of 1.9GHz, which wouldn't be bad at all. Allow us to remind you that while Samsung's current Exynos 5 Octa SoCs do have 8 CPU cores, they aren't true octa-core chips as they can't use all 8 cores simultaneously. However, a future software update might make this possible. 

On the front of the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 we are likely to find a display with a resolution of 2560 by 1600 pixels. To put this into perspective, that's the same screen resolution offered by Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition. Also, the display might be of the Super AMOLED variety, according to recent rumors. 

Further specs for the Samsung SM-T520 include 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. The back of the device will be graced by an 8MP camera, while a 2MP shooter will be placed at the front. Android 4.4.2 is loaded onto the device.

Keep in mind that while these specs do come from a trustworthy source, they might not be completely spot-on. We'll be expecting to learn more about the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 and the rest of the company's upcoming slates in the next few weeks.

Shadow Blade - Android

Dead Mage - the studio behind the monster-slaying PC games, Garhasp, has published a new gameplay video for its upcoming 2014 Android/iOS title, Shadow Blade. The 2D action platformer, reminiscent of the beloved Shinobi and Ninja Gaiden games, puts you in the shoes of Kiro, a young ninja warrior on a quest to discover the ancient teachings of his master, and become the Shadow Blade.

As corny as the storyline sounds, most ninja-themed comics, movies and games have always treated the story as an excuse to cram as much ninja antics, swift acrobatic action, and gratuitous Asian cinema violence as possible into the final product. After all, you don't become a ninja to drink fine wine and elaborate on sophisticated philosophical concepts, you do it to combat enemies with flashy moves (at least that's what pop-culture has taught us). And Shadow Blade seems to offer a lot of the latter, portrayed with excellent graphics and exceptionally fluid animations. The static screenshots don't really justify the game's dynamics and visuals, so make sure to see how the game looks in motion in the new trailer.

Shadow Blade is expected to hit Android (including the Ouya) and iOS-devices this February.