14 DAY TRIAL // ZTE Hawkeye is an interesting crowd-sourced handset project that might not see the light of day even if the Kickstarter campaign was successful. But that doesn't mean that the innovative smartphone that ZTE presented to the world won't be released at some point.
When ZTE launched the Kickstarter campaign for the Hawkeye, it wanted to make the smartphone available in just about every country, which is why it put mid-range specs inside and a similar price: $199.
The Hawkeye stands out from other mid-range phones through two key features: eye tracking and self-adhesiveness. Adding more high-end features into the mix would have increased the phone's price and make it compete with other flagships launched by companies like Samsung, LG, Huawei, Lenovo, and others.
Unfortunately, the ZTE Hawkeye wasn't received too well by Kickstarter backers due to the fact that the smartphone was packing mid-range specs. The reason ZTE made it mid-range was to be able to sell it worldwide, as customers in many emerging markets would not have the money to buy a high-specced phone.
However, during the Kickstarter campaign, ZTE realized that those backing the project are early adopters who want high-end specs inside their smartphones and they are willing to pay for it.
In an interview with MobileSyrup, Jeff Yee, ZTE vice-president of technology planning and partnerships, had the following to say about the project:
“In retrospect, yeah, maybe we should have put out a flagship device because the Kickstarter people are early adopters therefore they want flagship specs. So, hindsight is 20/20 but the nice thing about this project is that we’re doing everything with transparency and so early in the process that we can still change and shift.”
Yee has also said that his company is most likely to pull down the Kickstarter pager, redo the technical specifications list of the Hawkeye, and come up with a new crowdfunding campaign very soon.
“Pulling it down [is] most likely because I think the current specs aren’t interesting to people. It doesn’t matter if the campaign is funded or not, it’s not like we’re a startup that’s going to go out of business without that funding.”
ZTE asked backers to provide their feedback and tell the company what they would want to see packed inside a high-end Hawkeye smartphone.
The good news is ZTE has already committed to at least adding a high-end spec to the phone, but it will be interesting to see what the phone's specs list will look like in the end.