ZTE’s 10.1-inch Windows 8 tablet hands on does not fail to impress

ZTE is not a name we are too familiar with and we generally associate them with more low to mid quality phones. As it turns out, they have plans for Windows 8 and tablets in the form of the V98, a 10.1-inch tablet running Windows 8 (x86) on a 1.8GHz Intel Atom CPU and 2GB of RAM.

And it's kind of awesome.

The ZTE V98, due out later this year, has a nice chrome finish around the edges and a metal back, yet the device is remarkably light and easy to hold (10.1 inch is quite ideal, in our opinion). The specs aren’t too shabby either as it has GSM/LTE built in, 32GB of storage (microSD expandable), and a 1366x768 TFT display.

We’re big fans of Atom processors running Windows 8 akin to the Acer W510 tablet. Performance is remarkably good as it battery life and you don’t get the limitations of RT. This device is going to China sometime in the future and there’s no word if it will head West thereafter but between the ideal size, the Atom CPU and the nice finish, we’re keeping an eye out for this one. Yeah, we’re surprised too.

Watch the video and let us know what you think.

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and wearable tech. He has reviewed laptops for over 10 years and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, Arm64 processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, performed polysomnographs in NYC, and was a motion-picture operator for 17 years.