ZTE's flagship is high-end and ultrathin (hands-on)

LAS VEGAS--Though it has been on the show floor since CES 2013 opened its doors to the public this morning, ZTE officially announced its newest flagship phone, the anticipated Grand S, at an afternoon press conference today.

As part of ZTE's high-end line of Grand Series handsets, which include the Grand Era and the Grand X, the Grand S is equipped with a 5-inch full HD touch screen, which features 440ppi and is made out of Corning Gorilla Glass.

During my brief time with the handset, the display looked pleasingly bright and crisp, and it's the biggest display I've seen on a ZTE device. However, it was slightly unresponsive -- it took a few extra swipes and hard presses to navigate through its five home screens and open apps.

A not-so-sensitive display isn't uncommon in ZTE smartphones, especially in the entry-level range, but it was disappointing to see such performance on a higher-end product like this.

Fortunately, the build quality was impressive. Its sturdy and thin unibody design (its profile measure 6.9mm) prevents the battery from being removable, but the Grand S comes in two finishes: matte and glossy. If you want matte, black and white colors are available. Glossy colors include pink, yellow, red, and mint green.

The 4G LTE handset also ships natively with Android Jelly Bean and is powered by a 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 processor.

Instead of featuring a nearly skinless Android UI, ZTE included its MiFavor UI. Though it isn't as chic as pure Android, it still looks clean and simple, while being vaguely reminiscent of HTC's Sense.

On the front is a 2-megapixel camera and on the back is a 13-megapixel camera that's capable of shooting 1080p video. I tested the camera for a few shots, and though it isn't as fast as I've seen in other quad-core devices, it showed adequate shutter speeds.

Additional camera options include facial recognition, a flash, and panoramic shooting.

The Grand S' other features include a 1,780mAh battery, 2GB of RAM, a microSD card slot, and Dolby Digital surround sound.

The device will be available online in China in the first quarter of 2013, with plans to hit the U.S. afterward. Pricing is still not available.

For more of CNET's CES 2013 coverage, click here.