ZTE enters the Aussie smartphone scene with the budget V969

ZTE V969
ZTE touts its own name for the first time Down Under

While ZTE has a number of Android, Windows Phone and Firefox OS handsets available globally, the Chinese company has previously had its phones, tablets and hotspots, sold in Australia through Telstra - but only with Telstra's branding.

The ZTE V969, however, marks the Chinese company's first foray into the Australian smartphone market under its own name.

The budget dual SIM ZTE V969, set to go on sale this month, will be available exclusively through Dick Smith for AU$299 online and in store.

An Aussie ZTE

The handset, which sits comfortably in the budget phablet territory, comes with a 5.5-inch qHD display, powered by a a quad-core 1.3Ghz processor, 1GB of RAM and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.

There's 5MP shooter on the back, while a massive 3200mAh battery keeps things chugging on the back.

You also get a paltry 4GB of storage, with only 2GB available to the user, but this can be bumped up another 32GB with the microSD card slot.

It's not quite in the same league as the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 or Sony Xperia Ultra, but for a handset with a price tag of $299, the V969 was never intended for the power-user.

  • This one's not available to Aussies yet, but here's our hands on with the ZTE Grand Memo 2, another big-screen ZTE - one that sits on the higher-end of the scale