ZTE’s Project CSX phone, the ZTE Hawkeye has been cancelled! We all saw this coming and so did ZTE too. What we did not expect was it being cancelled before the deadline set for the funding. It’s not like it was going to reach its goal anyway, but it would not have been bad to wait an extra 24 hours.

If you head to the Kickstarter page, you will be greeted with a message similar to that of the image above.

ZTE, itself has admitted that they made a mistake with the specs of the phone and had even apologized to the public. A poll was opened on its Z-Community to find out what new features should be added or what should be replaced. The VP of ZTE, Jeff Yee says the company has been listening to the feedback from consumers and will go back to the drawing board to improve the phone.

He goes on to say Hawkeye will still happen but ZTE will take a while to figure out how to build it on a higher-end Snapdragon 820 or 835 based platform. The Z-Community website will still be used to get ideas for the phone too. So if you have any ideas for the phone, you can drop a comment there.

READ MORE: ZTE Nubia New Smartphone Launching on February 26

Even with the setback, Jeff Yee states that ZTE wants the Hawkeye to be released this year. So if all goes well, those still interested in the device might have it in their hands before the end of the year. However, backers will still get their refund.

The company says they have learned from crowd-sourcing, as some of the features people requested for are making their way into their other phones. An example is the clamor for stock Android which they put in the Canadian version of the Axon Mini.

(Source)

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When ZTE announced its Project CSX last year, there were high hopes for it. Following the unveiling of the phone’s (Hawkeye) specs a couple of weeks ago, those hopes have turned into disappointment. Speculations suggests the ZTE Hawkeye might be cancelled in favor of a higher-end model.

Hawkeye is currently on Kickstarter with a $500,000 goal and a February 19 deadline. Right now funds pledged sits at $36,056. ZTE knows they can’t meet the funding goal as people are very disappointed with the specs of the device. They have admitted they made a mistake in communicating the goals of the project and anticipating customers’ preference and want to salvage the situation.

An update posted on the Kickstarter page on January 20 has a link to a poll for features/specs that needs to be changed in Hawkeye while the price remains at $199. Below is the poll results as at today.

READ MORE: ZTE Blade V8 Lite Running Nougat Gets WiFi Certification

Even with the possibility of the specifications changing, the campaign is a long way from reaching its goal. However, the single fact that the project is crowd-sourced means ZTE can cancel it at the end of the day and start afresh with a new device that is better than the current. It will also have to make sure that even with the improved specs, the price remains affordable.

(Source)

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ZTE embarked on its latest Project CSX from which the Hawkeye smartphone was born, in an attempt to get input from the public on a crowdfunded smartphone. Unfortunately the company seem not to have done the analysis of the public’s opinion thoroughly hence the innovative smartphone with a somewhat disappointing specs lineup unveiled at CES 2017.

No doubt the ZTE Hawkeye came with some cool innovative features like the adhesive back panel which allows the device to stick to any surface, and then there is the eye-tracking software which lets users operate the phone by eye movement. As innovative as these two features may be, putting them on a mid-range smartphone met with lots of disapproval from pundits and many of its fans. Some had expressed hope that such features would have been on a high-end smartphone, which is what they actually yearn for.

Since the ZTE Hawkeye was showcased at CES 2017, it had been up for pre-order via Kickstarter but unfortunately, the response has been very disappointing. Presently, ZTE has been able to amass less than 7% of its projected goal on the crowd-sourcing platform. The project has barely gotten the backing of just 182 persons, and it is just 26 days left before the product was supposed to ship.

So, in order to get more support for the project, ZTE has once again gone public, apologizing for its mistake and asking for input and suggestions on ways to salvage the device from becoming a failed project. The Hawkeye already has a $199 price tag of Kickstarter and that cannot be changed. So it is impossible to transform the specs on the device to a flagship one. The only option is to ramp up one or two of the specs and to this end, the company has opened a poll on its Z-Community to get the opinion of the public on the preferred specs that should be beefed up.

Read More: ZTE Hawkeye Specifications Revealed

As should be expected majority of respondent so far prefers a change to Snapdragon 835 from the current Snapdragon 625 onboard. Some others prefer that the operating system should be Stock Android with added software for eye tracking. There are also those who prefer a ramped up battery capacity and also a increase in the RAM size. Unfortunately, the response has been poor signifying a likely bleak future for the Hawkeye. At most, ZTE might decide to scrap the project and refund those who have contributed so far.

(source)

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The ZTE Hawkeye is a crowd sourced smartphone born from ZTE’s Project CSX  (Crowd Sourced X) where ‘X’ is the mobile device you want ZTE to build next. In this case X stands for Hawkeye.

The ZTE Hawkeye was unveiled at this year’s edition of CES and we got to learn of some of its major features. There is the eye-tracking feature labelled Senseye which lets you scroll through webpages using only your eyes and the self-adhesive back that lets you stick the phone up on walls for a hands-free usage. Today ZTE has unveiled the technical details of the Hawkeye.

The phone will have a 5.5-inch display, 3GB RAM, 32GB ROM, a snapdragon 625 processor and a 3000mAh battery. It will have Quick Charge 2.0 support, a USB Type-C port, and dual hybrid SIM slots.

Just like the ZTE Blade V8 and Blade V8 Pro, the ZTE Hawkeye will also have dual rear cameras. One will be a 13MP sensor and the other will be a 12MP shooter and both cameras will have optical image stabilization. Don’t be confused, we know renders of the phone released by the company shows a phone with a single rear camera but ZTE has confirmed that it will indeed have dual-cameras.

The Hawkeye will have a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner and will ship with Android Nougat out of the box. ZTE has also provided the 4G LTE bands the Hawkeye will support, so if your operator uses any of these bands (B2/B4/B5/B12(MFBI)/B7/B13/B66), you might want to set your sights on the ZTE Hawkeye.

READ MORE: The ZTE Blade V8 is Coming to China in March

The phone is listed on Kickstarter for $199. So if you are interested, you should go back it up. Do note that if the project doesn’t meet its $500,000 goal by February 19, 2017 it will not be funded. So as nice as the specs of the ZTE Hawkeye may sound, it may still not see the light of day.

(Source)

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Few months back, ZTE decided to go in the direction of crowd-sourcing funds for its smartphone project. Xiaomi has successfully been exploiting that avenue in China to release a barrage of smarthome products. But ZTE’s model was initiated on Kickstarter in the US and is labelled Project CSX. Now, ZTE has used the opportunity of CES 2017 to unmask the device and it goes by the name- ZTE Hawkeye.

Aptly named Hawkeye, the phone prides in its visual ease it brings to the table. First of all, the phone has a adhesive body that can stick on a wall, glass and other surfaces, thus allowing the user some level of hands free operation. The adhesive back may be in form of a removable casing in the long run, so you get to remove it when it is not needed. Even if it turns out to be in form of a casing, it won’t remove a bit from the cool design we see on the device.

More amazing is the Senseye feature which allows you to scroll down and navigate through websites on the phone by eye movement. The Senseye uses the front camera to track the eye motion and then translate it to a software command like scrolling up, down, left or right. It is accurate at up to three lines.

The phone is still a work in progress as the company has not fixed a date when it would be officially launched. But in line with Xiaomi’s crowdfunding pattern, the ZTE Hawkeye is up for pre-order, apparently in a bid to rake in more funds for final mass production. The pre-order is ongoing on Kickstarter and the price is just $199. That might likely be a price tag for the early birds , so it is not certain if that would be the final price on launch day.

There is a dearth of details about the specifications and features of the Hawkeye but at least we know what the device looks like now and a few specs have popped up on the Crowdsourcing website. What we also know is that the ZTE Hawkeye sports a rear mounted fingerprint sensor in addition to other features that are not yet revealed. Sure, we are likely to get a decent chip, RAM size and storage capacity on the device, considering the Senseye software feature already inside.

Read Also: ZTE Blade V8 Pro Pre-order Begins In the U.S, Features Dual-Camera with $229 Pricing

According to the details, the ZTE Hawkeye sports a 5.5-inch FHD display and dual rear cameras with enhanced image and zoom capabilities. It is a dual SIM smartphone that supports multiple bands, meaning it is already unlocked for use anywhere in the world. The device is also touted to pack a large battery with quick charging capabilities.There is also a Hi-Fi audio on the device as well as an expandable memory. The size of the memory isn’t revealed yet, as well as the processor onboard. The device runs the latest Android 7.0 Nougat OS and it is upgradable to the latest version when available.

Already, three different colors have been spotted which includes black, blue and green but since it is likely going to use a plastic finish, the final colors might be broadened in the long run. Even at just the three colors exhibited, the Hawkeye looks quite attractive, with a design that heralds ZTE’s ability to design sleek, beautiful handsets, all for just $199 USD. You can check out the video teaser from down below showing how the Senseye and adhesive features work. Also, do follow Gizmochina’s CES 2017 Hub for latest CES 2017 update.

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