ZTE Grand S Flex and Blade G leak, better batteries ahoy

These two new ZTE smart phones sound like a DJ and MC pair: the Grand S Flex and Blade G. They're not yet official, but French site Frandroid (via UnwiredView) has got its mitts on them early.

The Grand S Flex (pictured on the left, on a break between sessions on the decks, I'm guessing), is a beefed-up version of the Grand S. The Grand S was one of the slimmest smart phones around, and at 5 inches, it was one of the bigger ones too. The Grand S Flex keeps the big screen, but adds a meatier 2,300mAh battery. It fattens the phone up some, but should be worth it for the extra hours you'll get out of it.

That new battery seems about the only difference between the Grand S Flex and the Grand S. Apart from the funkier name.

The Blade G is, as the name suggests, the next device in ZTE's budget Blade series. It's pretty big for a wallet-friendly smart phone though, with a 4.5-inch screen. Unsurprisingly, it's not the sharpest display in town, with a resolution of just 854x480 pixels. Inside is a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor, 512MB of RAM, and a 2,000mAh battery.

Both handsets are due in France at the end of the summer, so I think it's safe to say we'll see them in Blighty around the same time.

ZTE has come to prominence in the last couple of years by knocking out decent Android blowers at unbelievable prices. It's even inked a deal with high-street phone flogger Phones 4U to make mobiles in the chain's name. In the last quarter of last year, ZTE was the fifth-biggest-selling phone maker in the world.

The company has been rumoured to receive state support from the Chinese government, which ZTE denies. Along with Huawei, it could face an EU probe over exactly how it manages to keep its prices so low.

Would you buy either of these handsets? Are ZTE's mobiles good value for money? Or are its prices edging out other companies unfairly? Let me know in the comments, or on Facebook.