ZTEs new rugged smartphone comes straight out of 2012

Chinese manufacturer ZTE has made its way onto the list of smartphone makers with rugged Android offerings with the G601U. The hefty device was leaked by China's Tenaa certification authority, weighing in at 156 grams and a thickness of 12mm.

While you can't necessarily expect low weight or a thin profile from a device designed to withstand high levels of abuse, it would've been nice to see more robust specs than a 4-inch WVGA screen, a dual-core 1.3GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 5MP rear shooter with VGA front-facer.

The good news is that the software runs on a relatively new version of Android (version 4.2.2 Jelly Bean), and the device is powered by a hefty 2,500 mAh battery, which judging by the weak processor and screen should last for quite a while.

Release date and availability are unknown at this time, and it will likely pick up a model name that's less of a mouthful than G601U. Nevertheless, the probability of the device making its way outside of China is low.