On Tuesday, Nov. 13, Sprint announced the addition of ZTE Flash to its Android-powered 4G smartphone portfolio. The mid-ranged ZTE flash looks impressive on paper when compared to other handsets in this category and has been competitively priced by Sprint at $129.99 (on a two-year contract).

The ZTE Flash sports a 4.5-inch HD display and IPS Technology with 960 x 540 pixels resolution at 256 pixels per inch (ppi). A Qualcomm MSM8960 dual-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz will power the ZTE flash.

The smartphone will boast a whopping 12.6-megapixel rear-facing camera with autofocus and LED flash. The camera will also have 1080p video recording capability. The ZTE Flash will also sport a 1-megapixel front-facing camera. On the official press release Sprint describes the camera of the device as "Best-in-class camera at a reasonable price."

The ZTE Flash will have 8GB internal storage with the option to expand to a further 32GB via a microSD card. The device includes 1GB of RAM and a 1780mAh lithium-ion battery will fuel the smartphone. Sprint claims that users can get up to 8 hours talk time, presumably on the 4G LTE network.

The ZTE Flash measures 5.27 x 2.56 x 0.38 inches and weighs 5.2 ounces. Keeping up with the latest technology in the industry and to stay in the race, the ZTE flash will have Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Near-Field Communication (NFC) connectivity.

The device will come pre-loaded with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS); however, with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update rolled out to various Android devices, users will hope to get the software update soon in the near future. However, there is no word regarding the software update from Sprint.

Sprint announced that the smartphone would also have Google Mobile wireless services such as Google Search, Gmail, Google Maps for Android, Google Calendar, Voice Search, and YouTube.

Currently, the competition in the Android smartphone market is increasing rapidly with brands like Samsung, LG, HTC et al bringing new devices in all categories. Time will tell if ZTE Flash can attract smartphone enthusiasts and make a mark in the smartphone market.