ZTE Grand Memo review: First impressions

In case you're wondering, this whole phablet thing isn't going away, as companies are going to push the boundaries of what is an acceptable screen size for a phone. ZTE showed off the Grand Memo smartphone at Mobile World Congress 2013 and we got our mitts on the Android-based handset with a massive 5.7-inch display. 

The ZTE Grand Memo stands out for a few reasons: it has that large screen and this is the first phone we've seen with the quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor. The 5.7-inch TFT display has a 720x1280 resolution and it looked nice but it can be tough to tell under the bright lights of the conference floor. As I mentioned with the LG Optimus G Pro, I wasn't even that phased by the size of screen as I think I've just grown accustomed to these big displays.

Look at the ZTE Grand Memo next to an HTC One X+, which has a 4.7-inch screen. 

The ZTE Grand Memo will come with a 1.5GHz Snapdragon 800 processor and that gives it a ton of horsepower to play with. In my brief time with the device, you can already see how it can have an impact.

This phone runs Android Jelly Bean with a custom user interface on top and ZTE has implemented a cube-like, 3D skin called miFlavor UI. Additionally, the homescreen wallpaper they were showing off was a live wallpaper that showed a mushroom village with rain. Both of these things could drag down a lesser phone but this felt extremely snappy and fast.

You can also look forward to the ZTE Grand Memo to have GPS, WiFi, 4G LTE, Bluetooth and all the other goodies you'd want in a device of this class. The handset sports a 13-megapixel shooter and some custom photo software. 

As for the body of the device, it's a plastic casing that felt okay. I'm partial to sterner stuff in my phones but it's definitely light and even though it's a large phone, it can be easily gripped.

There's still no word on if the ZTE Grand Memo will be hitting the United States but look for it to land in Europe and China within the next few months.