Dual camera for the masses: ZTE Blade V8 Mini brings bokeh, Blade V8 Lite dangles a low price-tag

ZTE has just announced two new phones from its Blade V8 series — the Blade V8 Mini, with a dual camera module on its back, and the stylish-looking, yet affordable Blade V8 Lite.

Design and display

Both the Blade V8 Mini and Lite share their looks with the previously-released Blade V8. And while the latter has a 5.2-inch display, the two new phones are slightly smaller, with 5-inch screens. Lighting up the screen will reveal a Full HD resolution (1080 x 1920 pixels) for a crisp image with a density of 440 pixels per inch. Both phones will delight users with a metal build, and the V8 Lite is fairly slim, measuring at 8 mm, while the Blade V8 Mini is a bit thicker, reaching 8.9 mm. Both handsets have an ergonomically-curved back, with the thicker V8 Mini having flat sides, while the V8 Lite's frame is elegantly curved. Worry not, each one of them sports a fingerprint scanner in a dimple at the back, for easy locking and unlocking. 

Hardware and camera

The ZTE Blade V8 Mini is the more powerful handset from the duo we have here. It has an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 humming under its hood, clocked at 1.4 GHz and coupled with 2 GB of RAM. Obviously, its not top-range performer, but should deal with basic tasks relatively well. It has a modest 16 GB of on-board storage, which can be expanded via microSD card.

The V8 Mini's special feature is the camera – employing a dual module, with one 13 MP sensor for image capture and one 2 MP snapper for collection of depth information, you've got a special “Bokeh” mode, which allows you to simulate different camera apertures, and take photos with a blurry background, like we've seen on the Huawei P9. The front camera has a 5 MP sensor and is also assisted by an LED flash for those selfies in the dark.



The more modest Blade V8 Lite is powered by a MediaTek MT6750 octa-core SoC, and also has 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of expandable storage. There's no dual camera to be seen here, but a humbler 8 MP main camera on the back, and a 5 MP selfie snapper on the front.

Both phones have fairly generous batteries — the V8 Mini has a 2,800 mAh juice box in its backpack, while the thinner V8 Lite has a 2,500 mAh cell. Both phones will come with Android 7 Nougat out of the box, with ZTE's custom MiFavor UI sprinkled on top.

Price and release

Both phones will be launching across European markets this Spring. At this time, no concrete price-tag has been set, and we have no information on whether they'd be hitting the US stores at a later date.