Gadgetory

what's going on guys lawn here from Android Authority and in a sea of budget smartphones does ZTE s latest offering have what it takes to stand out among the rest well that's what we're here to find out what the ZTE grand X Max Plus in design the grand X Max Plus might not appear to look like much and essentially what you're getting is a very simple and straightforward design that doesn't try to be overly flashy the front and back panels are made of glass which can be very prone to fingerprints by the way with the back panel featuring a carbon fiber pattern to give the phone a little bit of extra Flair along the sides is a smooth plastic frame that holds it all together with the top and bottom portions of the phone being slightly more rounded than the rest and in the hand the phone does feel very well constructed with a six inch screen on the front this will be a phone that many will consider a phablet and it certainly isn't easy to use in one hand there's no denying this is a large phone and the thick side bezels sharp corners and relatively flat profile all the way around makes this phone feel pretty unwieldy in the hand and the material choices of smooth plastic and glass don't exactly provide a lot of grip for the phone either while the sheer size of the phone and the slippery materials haven't led to me dropping the phone I did notice that I was a lot more careful than usual especially when I was trying to reach the top of the display because in order for me to do so I typically had to loosen up my grip and that was when the phone felt the least secure and most prone to being dropped going around the rest of the device the power button is located on the right side making it easily reachable with the micro sim and SD card slot sitting right above the volume rocker can be found on the opposite side with the 3.5 millimeter headphone jack up top microUSB port on the bottom and a notification LED it's located next to the front-facing camera along with the usual earpiece and sensor like I mentioned earlier the display on the front measures in at a hefty six inches which is only fitting for a name like Grand xmax plus the resolution is fairly standard for a mid-range phone at 720p and with the resolution being stretched across a six inch screen the pixel density does take a pretty big hit meaning pixels are noticeable if you look closely enough regardless the screen still looks quite good for everyday tasks including watching videos and playing aimes especially on such a large screen color saturation brightness outdoor visibility and viewing angles are all good with very little color shifting making this a very enjoyable display all around the performance is also pretty standard and simply just gets the job done the processor is a Snapdragon 400 paired with 2 gigabytes of RAM which is not all too uncommon among budget devices and for most tasks like navigating through the OS opening up applications and multitasking the grant xmax plus performance reasonably fast most games including first-person shooters and 3d racing games like asphalt a also ran smoothly without much of a hiccup so for most users the performance will be more than adequate and shouldn't bring many complaints the grant X Max Plus certainly isn't going to set any new benchmark records but this mid-range processor has proven itself many times before in other devices and is proving itself here once again with the rest of the hardware the grand X Max Plus brings LTE on the Cricket Network along with all the other usual connectivity options 16 gigabytes of storage can be found on board with the microSD card slot allowing up to an additional 32 gigabytes of storage if the internal storage simply isn't enough the single speaker is located on the back denoted by a tiny slit in the glass and besides the poor speaker placement that can easily be muffled by laying the phone on a flat surface the speaker volume is fairly low making it difficult to hear in anything but the quietest of environments the camera on the grand xmax plus brings a 13 megapixel shooter on the rear and a 5 megapixel wide-angle lens on the front at 88 degrees which allows not only for great-looking selfies but also the ability to easily fit a lot of scenery or a few of your friends into the frame the camera UI packs three different shooting modes to cater to a variety of users for the regular everyday casual picture taker the automatic mode keeps things simple with modes like HDR and a short list of general camera settings available on the left side tapping on the viewfinder will adjust the point of focus but exposure is fixed based on the scenery for the more advanced user the pro mode will allow for manual controls over white balance ISO and exposure and introduces other elements onto the screen like a horizon leveler and a camera grid the third mode is what ZTE likes to call the fun mode which brings about several different options for layering images together either on top of one another or side by side to achieve a certain effect the picture quality however is what's going to matter most and the camera has turned out to be a decent shooter at best it autofocuses fairly quickly and the majority of the time photos will come out clear and in focus but the biggest weakness to this camera is its lack of dynamic range as it tends to blow out the highlights and crush the shadows pretty much every single time HDR certainly will help alleviate the issue and I'd almost recommend shooting an HDR at all times if it wasn't for the long processing times between shots it's also very aggressive in its color saturation which I actually don't mind but I know not everyone will love the highly saturated look close-up shots are also pretty difficult with this camera as it struggles to grab focus and this problem becomes even more apparent in low-light speaking of low-light the camera doesn't bode well in these situations either not only is there a lot of digital noise but they're also very dark and muddy in appearance however even with all these issues it's one of the better cameras you can get on a smartphone in this price range and the images are still good enough for social media battery life is probably one of the better aspects of the grand xmax plus inside is a very large 3200 milliamp hour battery keeping the phone running and with basic usage like texting reading up on social networks and light web browsing this phone easily lasted a good couple of days with five plus hours of screen on time battery life is also helped by the great standby time as the grand xmax plus only loses two to three percent overnight with more heavier tasks like gaming and a lot of picture-taking thrown into the mix the grand xmax plus was still able to easily make through a day with screen on time still breaking the 4-hour mark with the software the grand xmax plus is currently on android 4.4 kitkat with a custom overlay by ZTE unlike other versions of ZTE skin or many other Chinese om skins in general the grant X Max Plus still features an app drawer that falls more in line with a standard Android experience the odd combination of jelly beans holo blue Kit Kats white and some green thrown into the mix doesn't make it the prettiest of skins out there and it's mostly just for aesthetics the amount of features are minimal to say the least but they include things like customizable quick launch shortcuts on the lockscreen and what ZTE likes to call me pop that puts virtual navigation keys on a floating bubble for easier one-handed navigation if you bloatware applications can be found along with some cricket specific apps but other than that the experience is pretty tame and doesn't try to do too much the ZTE grand X Max Plus is available now on the Cricket Network here in the States for $200 prepaid making one of the more easily affordable large screen smartphones out there for the price of only $200 ZTE was able to create a very formidable package the design might not be too flashy but it provides a great overall experience and most importantly great battery life the six inch screen size will make many consider the grand X Max Plus to be a phablet but if you're looking for a large screen without paying a large price then this is definitely a solid option worth considering as always guys thank you so much for watching this video if you did enjoy it please give the thumbs up down below we definitely appreciate that and also subscribe to the channel which is also down below if you haven't already and if you want to see more make sure to check out the videos that are linked over here on the side and also check out the website as well for more in-depth coverage and Georgia thorny com because we are your source for all things Android