Review: ZTE Grand X Plus [UPDATED]
ZTE sent me the new Grand X Plus which is their new budget minded phone that they say is “designed in Canada”, and it is an early contender of the 2015 IT Nerd award for the best entry level smartphone. After reviewing this phone, it should make quite a few people at Motorola freak out as it beats the Moto G LTE in a lot of ways. For the most part, ZTE has managed to come up with a phone that packs a lot into it for not a whole lot of money.
Here’s the specs that it has under the hood:
- 5” IPS display with 1280×720 resolution
- 1.2Ghz quad-core processor
1GB RAM2GB of RAM- 8GB Storage
- 8MP autofocus camera with LED flash
- 2MP front facing camera
- Android 4.4
- LTE, HSPA
- WiFi 802.11N (2.4Ghz only)
- Bluetooth 4.0
Those aren’t low end specs at all. Physically the Grand X Plus feels solid. Though the back cover feels thin and I feel that if you take it off too many times, it will break. The power button is on the right side. The MicroUSB port is now on the bottom. Volume buttons on are on the right left side and the headphone jack is on top. The screen is bright and easy to read in most lighting conditions. The phone is easy to hold and it won’t slip out of your hand.
You get Android 4.4 KitKat that has ZTE customizations in it. For example, the lock screen has been changed so that you just have to press and hold it to unlock or press and hold the lock screen apps to launch them.You also get two versions of some of the apps. Google’s versions and ZTE’s versions. Thus you get 2 browsers, 2 music players, 2 image viewers for example. The phone feels quick for the most part. You have to push it really hard before it starts to struggle. In terms of speed, I was sent an unlocked version of this phone, so I borrowed a Bell LTE SIM to test this phone and got a stunningly fast average of 50.86 Mbps downstream and 37.68 Mbps upstream on the Bell LTE network. Moving the SIM to other phones that I had on me did not yield the same results in the same location. Thus I have to have to assume that the phone is responsible for the result.
One tip: Get yourself a MicroSD card as with 8GB of storage, you’ll run out of space in a hurry.
The camera is a 8MP shooter that does 1080p video and is quite good. First, here’s the still picture that I took outside Pearson Airport in Toronto. Click to see it at full size:
Given the lighting conditions, this is a very good photo and the quality isn’t lacking in any way. Here’s the video. Set it to 1080p and at full screen:
The video quality is quite good and so is the sound quality. One thing to note is that the Moto G and Moto G LTE both only do 720p. That gives the ZTE Grand X Plus a distinct advantage over those phones.
Battery life is decent. Anyone but power users will get a day out of this phone, but power users will have to top up during the day. With that in mind, the $200 that Fido is asking for this phone, is more than reasonable. The ZTE Grand X Plus checks off a lot of boxes and as a result it has to be on your list if you’re looking for phone at a low price. It’s also a phone that will force the competition to up their game before ZTE takes their breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
UPDATE: ZTE pointed out to me that the phone is indeed designed in their new R&D center in Ottawa. More details can be found here.
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