ZTE launches Kickstarter campaign for crowd-sourced Project CSX "Hawkeye" phone

ZTE is taking the unusual step of launching one of its new Android smartphones via a Kickstarter fund raising campaign. The phone in question was previously announced as Project CSX, and now has an official name: Hawkeye. The company launched the campaign as part of its CES 2017 announcements.

Previously, ZTE held a contest for people to submit concepts for new devices and let the public vote for the top five designs. In this case, the winning product idea was an Android smartphone that included eye-tracking technology. ZTE says the final product will use a high resolution, front-facing camera on the phone but did not mention any megapixel numbers.  The camera will detect iris motion which can then be translated into any number of standard Android commands, such as swiping up and down.

In addition, the phone will also come with a self-adhesive case that will allow it to stick to walls and other surfaces. Even the final name of Hawkeye was voted on by the ZTE community. Aside from those two features, Hawkeye will also have a 5.5-inch HD display, dual rear cameras with enhanced image and zoom capabilities (again, no megapixel numbers yet), a fingerprint sensor, and a version of Android Nougat, The phone’s battery and memory size are currently unknown.

ZTE is looking to raise $500,000 within 44 days to begin production of Hawkeye. There’s only one backer reward tier of $199, which gets you one of the new phones. Assuming the Kickstarter campaign is successful, ZTE will begin shipping the phone in September, which is when it will also be made available to the general public.