Review: ZTE Grand X
ZTE isn’t a phone company that you’re likely familiar with. But they aren’t small. ZTE is one of the top five largest smartphone manufacturers in its home market of China and in the top ten worldwide. They’ve come to Canada with the Grand X on the Bell network. Let’s see if they’ve come to play with the big boys like Motorola.
Here’s what it comes to table with:
- Quad Core 1.2 GHz CPU
- Android 4.3 Jelly Bean
- 5″ 1280×720 220 PPI screen with Gorilla Glass
- 1 GB RAM and 1.3 GB of storage which is expandable up to 32 GB via a MicroSD slot
- 5 MP Auto focus rear camera with flash
- 1 MP front camera
- 802.11 b/g/n
- Bluetooth 4.0
- HSPA with a max speed of 21 Mbps
The phone is largely plastic. But it feels solid in my hands. The back is easily removable and so it the battery which is a good thing. It’s fairly thin and easy to hold in my hand. Though fitting it in your pocket may be a bit of a stretch. The screen is very sharp which is something that I didn’t expect from a phone that’s in the budget category. Neither is the fact fingerprints on the screen don’t affect the viewing quality. It comes with a largely stock version of Android Jelly Bean. Other than the addition of some Bell apps, it really seems that ZTE hasn’t done much to it. That’s a formula that will work for them. Just ask Motorola with the Moto G and Moto G LTE. Users will find it easy to adapt to. Plus with the quad core processor it is reasonably quick. However, because it’s a HSPA phone, it’s not quick when it comes to mobile data. Using Speedtest.net, I got an average of 4.45 Mbps downstream and 2.70 Mbps upstream on Bell’s network. However, someone who is buying a phone at this price point isn’t going to care. Plus, the’ll likely leverage WiFi as well.
Now when it comes to the camera, it’s a 5 MP shooter. The user interface for the camera is well thought through giving you a surprising level of control. You can customize ISO, white balance exposure and contrast among other items. That’s something that I wasn’t expecting from a phone that’s classified as a budget phone. It also does 720p video. So to test both out, I went to Pearson Airport to photograph planes landing. First, here are the stills. Click the picture to see it at full resolution:
For a 5 MP camera. It’s pretty good. Now here’s the video. Set it to full screen and 720p resolution:
It was pretty decent though it did have problems trying to keep the focus perfect when tracking the plane. Still, I think for most people, this will be fine as long as you don’t take action videos.
Finally there’s battery life. I got just over a day of usage which is very good as that’s what you want from a phone regardless of what price point it’s at.
What’s the bottom line? The ZTE Grand X brings a quad core processor and lean implementation of Android along with a decent camera and decent battery life to the budget phone market. It’s $0 on a 2 year plan or $149 outright. Clearly, ZTE is serious about playing in the budget end of the market and you should take a look of them if you’re in the market for a smartphone at that end of the market. Also, Motorola might want to keep an eye on them as well as ZTE is clearly going after their turf.
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