ZTE Launch Kickstarter for new "Hawkeye" Concept Phone.

[iRileyx]

*Disclaimer - I'm not too good at writing up "news", safe to say i'd never make it as a journalist*
Found this rather interesting when I came across it, If i hadn't got a new phone for Christmas i'd be quite tempted by this one.

 

Original Anandtech article - http://www.anandtech.com/show/11044/ztes-csx-hawkeye-concept-phone-detailed-kickstarter-launched

 

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For some time now ZTE has been running a program to crowdsource the ideas for smartphones. The basis for this is to collect the ideas of consumers in order to best build the kind of device that consumers want. 

 

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ZTE's CSX program is now beginning to show results with the announcement of ZTE's first crowdsourced smartphone, the Hawkeye. Given that this is a very experimental way of developing a smartphone, ZTE is departing from their standard methods for development and distribution. They've set up a Kickstarter campaign, which for the time being will also serve as the storefront for buyers to purchase the phone. Right now the goal is set at $500,000 USD, and with each phone priced at $200 it appears that ZTE hopes to sell at least 2500 units, which seems feasible even for a very niche device.

So to reach the total for the kickstarter campaing they would need to sell 2500 of the phones, which might seem like a hard ask, but when you see the specs, for $200 per phone it might not be that hard after-all 

 

As well as these specs, the phone will apparantly be able to stick to walls and mirrors thanks to an adhesive backing for it, meaning you can brush your teeth in the morning and scroll through your favourite sites, without even using your hands, thanks to another feature it has which tracks the movement of your eyes using a high res front camera, and can then use that movement to scroll.

 

As of yet there aren't any pictures of the actual phone... partly because it's not even been designed yet, I'm assuming the ones in the Kickstarter video are just renders/concepts for the design.

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As of right now there are no true photos of the Hawkeye, partially due to the fact that ZTE is still crowdsourcing ideas regarding the design, including the color choices and the materials to be used, although that latter part will obviously be limited to a degree by the cost of the phone. 

They plan to have the phone available by September but that could of course be changed at any time. I'm not sure where I stand on them selling phones before the full spec and even a design has been made for the phone yet, but I guess it may actually work out for them, having gotten over $30K of there $500K goal already. The Kickerstarter will end on the 18th February and is a "all or nothing" project, so if they don't hit the $500K, this phone (or atleast the kickerstarter for it) won't go ahead.

 

A link to the kickstarter for anyone who might be wanting to get one of these - 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/856508640/zte-project-csx-phone-hands-free-eye-tracking-devi?ref=video

 

And hey if this fails for ZTE, it could always make a Kickfarted episode?  

[Mooshi]

And it'll be tied to meh carriers in the US. If a phone can't work on Verizon or Project Fi, it's useless to me lol

 

There's always ATT and Tmobile, but ATT is ATT and TMobile's network is bleh. Plus their CEO is obnoxious. 

[CRAlG]

Good price to performance ratio and love the idea. Don't know how it's going to work out in practice though, people have a hard time trusting chinese phone companies so we'll see if this ends up becoming a trend or another Ara.

[mynameisjuan]

Not a bad phone for only $200. But how well are they going to keep these updated?

[suicidalfranco]

love the idea! wonder if it can be done on current smartphone (xposed module, or prebaked in a rom) or do you need an ir/special camera to make it work

[Guest Kloaked]

Why is a large Chinese company doing a kickstarter?

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Mooshi said:

And it'll be tied to meh carriers in the US. If a phone can't work on Verizon or Project Fi, it's useless to me lol

 

There's always ATT and Tmobile, but ATT is ATT and TMobile's network is bleh. Plus their CEO is obnoxious. 

Freedom/Wind mobile equivalent?

[suicidalfranco]

40 minutes ago, Kloaked said:

Why is a large Chinese company doing a kickstarter?

market research?

[Dabombinable]

Ok...and they need a Kickstarter because they don't manufacture a lot of devices for ISP globally?

[Guest Kloaked]

9 minutes ago, suicidalfranco said:

market research?

Isn't that what a marketing department is for?

[suicidalfranco]

3 minutes ago, Kloaked said:

Isn't that what a marketing department is for?

a  marketing department could very well use kickstarter as a tool

[Guest Kloaked]

Just now, suicidalfranco said:

a  marketing department could very well use kickstarter as a tool

A retarded marketing department that has no idea what's going on, sure.

[suicidalfranco]

1 minute ago, Kloaked said:

A retarded marketing department that has no idea what's going on, sure.

a smart one that used an already available and popular tool to directly see if a demand exists or not for such product 

[Guest Kloaked]

7 minutes ago, suicidalfranco said:

a smart one that used an already available and popular tool to directly see if a demand exists or not for such product 

Remember when Kickstarter was intended to "kickstart" ideas from people who don't otherwise have the funds to bring that idea to life? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

[That Norwegian Guy]

Your link to Kickstarter isn't there

 

@RKRiley

 

I'd actually be interested because of the 6-core with 3GB RAM, that's pretty much the sweet spot for me.

 

Edit: NVM, that's an 8-core

[suicidalfranco]

3 hours ago, Kloaked said:

Remember when Kickstarter was intended to "kickstart" ideas from people who don't otherwise have the funds to bring that idea to life? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

And? Now Kickstarter is common enough that even big companies use it for their moonshots which is great

[HalGameGuru]

They claim unlocked so it should work on any current network

[AlTech]

5 hours ago, Kloaked said:

Remember when Kickstarter was intended to "kickstart" ideas from people who don't otherwise have the funds to bring that idea to life? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

I would use Kickstarter or Indiegogo but I've lost a lot of faith in crowdfunding......

[Mirdon]

You could finally tell if someone is looking at your phone!

[Guest Kloaked]

6 hours ago, suicidalfranco said:

And? Now Kickstarter is common enough that even big companies use it for their moonshots which is great

You really don't see anything dumb with a multibillion dollar company going to Kickstarter for a product that they could easily make?

[iRileyx]

7 hours ago, That Norwegian Guy said:

Your link to Kickstarter isn't there

@RKRiley

 

My bad, it seems to have embedded it as a video for some reason  

[suicidalfranco]

27 minutes ago, Kloaked said:

You really don't see anything dumb with a multibillion dollar company going to Kickstarter for a product that they could easily make?

no, there is nothing dumb about it, i'd say it's a smart move 

[dizmo]

I'd be interested, even without the eye thing, but the fact it's not coming out until September is a huge downside. By then the SoC will be a little outdated. I like how they made the sticky aspect an add on case, instead of building it right into the phone. That was something I really found completely useless. I won't back it though. Their "LTE bands to be decided" isn't solid enough for me to take the risk of them missing the bands I need because they're not popular enough.

 

I completely disagree with their "if the device gets cancelled, you'll be entitled to a ZTE device of the same price instead of a refund" model. Once again, could end up with an unusable device.

18 hours ago, Kloaked said:

Why is a large Chinese company doing a kickstarter?

Makes the most sense.

• Good way to judge market interest, if successful, to nail down production volumes
• Avoids an expensive failed device
• More market exposure
• It's a crowd built device, why not use a crowd based funding model

16 hours ago, Kloaked said:

Remember when Kickstarter was intended to "kickstart" ideas from people who don't otherwise have the funds to bring that idea to life? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

There are tons of companies that use it to further their companies. Pebble ring a bell?
Didn't hear anybody complain when they did it.

A lot of Kickstarter projects don't actually need to be on there. I've also seen the same project repeated several times over.

12 hours ago, HalGameGuru said:

They claim unlocked so it should work on any current network

Unlocked, but they haven't decided on the bands so network availability is still up in the air.

10 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

I would use Kickstarter or Indiegogo but I've lost a lot of faith in crowdfunding......

I haven't had the best luck after backing a few things.

One didn't meet the goal, one canceled my payment because they couldn't figure out how to ship Internationally in the end, and the latest one I was interested in won't reply to my question of why shipping to Canada is the same as shipping to China. It should be cheaper.

[HalGameGuru]

4 hours ago, dizmo said:

-snip-

It appears only LTE bands are undecided. there is quite a bevy of bands that will be included by default.

[dizmo]

1 hour ago, HalGameGuru said:

It appears only LTE bands are undecided. there is quite a bevy of bands that will be included by default.

Yeah, the ones they have are ok but missing quite a few that I'd need.

I wouldn't take a gamble on something that directly affects the usability of the device.