Gadgetory

it's been a while since I've handled a ZTE device but when they put out an exclusive release for t-mobile it did catch our attention and now here we are because it's Josh of Agartha mandrill authority what's going on everybody and this is my full review of the ZTE zmax ZTE went by way of the large form factor in this t-mobile exclusive device a 5.7 inch screen sounds like it would be much like a galaxy note but in reality a lot of real estate around the screen just adds to the girth capacitive Keys line the bottom in addition that I thought wasn't really needed considering the very stock like nature of the Android build underneath glossy plastic lines the top and bottom of the phone held together with a hard plastic frame though the look of this phone is actually quite sleek a few choices in material hinder the handling experience trouble handling a large phone is one thing but the hard plastic material isn't the most ideal for preventing slippage and to exacerbate this further the buttons are actually slightly curved into the sides making them quite awkward to reach and push when using your thumbs index finger input is a little bit better but still this setup is far from ideal it's almost as if ZTE was trying to merge different design languages together particularly with the glossy plastic on the top and bottom that seemed a bit disjointed from the overall package and handling is still not an easy task for a number of the already mentioned reasons and that is something the zmax is good looks simply cannot distract from despite having a larger display the resolution of the c-max unfortunately doesn't do it justice 720p resolution brings 8 258 pixel per inch density to this TFT panel this is the first having a while that I could actually notice the difference in sharpness on the phone it wasn't so much when the text was stationary as text still looked pretty crisp but when I started to move that text around that was when I was fully aware of the separation in the pixels when viewing media and playing some games this wasn't as bad a problem due to their native resolutions but that's a small consolation because colors weren't particularly vivid and that flatness did translate to media a lot can be said about how displays are a dime a dozen but it's in the ZTE zmax that I found one that simply did the job without flying colors quite literally performance is decidedly mid-range as well as the zmax sports the Snapdragon 400 clocked in at 1.2 gigahertz with the Adreno 305 and two gigabytes of RAM it's no surprise that this isn't the fastest or the smoothest processor available now but it should get the job done for pretty much any moderate general user well that may be the case it was hard for me to not notice the difference after I've been inundated with processors over the 800 mark recently nonetheless I didn't find the milliseconds more it took this phone to load applications unbearable by any means and despite some jarring transitions from time to time the aesthetic and experience was still pleasing enough Moore has to do with how ZTE built the UI for this particular device but the bottom line is the snapdragon 400 is certainly as mid-range as you can get and it performs perfectly well under that umbrella hardware features on the zmax are a largely standard affair though its inclusion of a micro SD card slot over the on-board 16 gigabytes is one that is always welcome as t-mobile is the main place to get this phone in the States its performance on the LTE network was expectedly solid call quality on the other hand sounded well enough though a noticeable lag from the spoken to digitized word on either end happened on more than one occasion the rear-facing speaker suffers from the same issue any rear-facing speaker faces on top of its general sound quality yielding a very narrow soundstage with a distinct lack of body and richness to the sound its in battery life that I found some good to this phone as it handled really heavy usage and lasted for over 12 hours still a solid day's worth is pretty much guaranteed with this 3400 milliamp hour capacity units those performance will certainly be average for heavy usage compared to other large phones but it was when I lowered my usage that I found a surprisingly incredible standby time if you're not going out of your way to keep the screen on you can really go the distance with this phone and that's a huge plus for the zmax the 8 megapixel optics of the zmax are backed by a 1.6 megapixel front facing shooter with video modes of 1080p and 720p respectively the app is actually pretty simplistic like the rest of the software suite but does provide some modes for a bit of creativity night modes bring down the shutter speed for better low-light shots and HDR actually does add some color to an otherwise blown out subject bursts are taken advantage of for Best or group shot modes where you can select the best of the bunch picture quality takes an expectedly decent turn in highly lighted situations where you can certainly get some usable shots an ISO limit of 1600 means that low-light situations will be very and the quality does reflect that you can use the flash but it does more to flood the subject than to just illuminate it it's clear that despite submode editions the camera is meant to just get the job done without really performing above and beyond and finally the software experience is decidedly Spartan as the very stock like version of Android KitKat 4.4.2 comes with the zmax anyone looking for a more stock like experience will get it here but I still question some of the choices made in its implementation the lockscreen requires a press and hold to unlock the device which isn't a huge change but somehow doesn't feel as fast as a quick swipe close to no ZTE additions at all make it into this build and it feels highly more generic than anything to keep things as minimalistic and less cost effective as possible this does make a little bit of sense but it's more of a button layout that I find just jointed having a dedicated capacitive menu button almost feels archaic here especially considering this KitKat build nonetheless this is a case of Android Spartan build being easily used for any number of manufacturers devices and it still feels just fine as a means to bring the Android world to any device and to any user looking for a particular experience without paying too much and that's exactly what ZTE is able to do because we're talking about a very affordable device here with zero down on t-mobile's payment system and according to the website it would be two hundred fifty two dollars outright if you did not do the payment system that's a pretty great price for a phone that easily brings an Android experience to a very large screen though there are plenty of competitors in the large form factor space they cost a hell of a lot more but that does mean in the end you will get what you pay for and so there you have it ZTE is able to bring a large screen experience the very affordable segment of the Android space but does so under a decidedly mid-range scope there's nothing inherently wrong with the zmax as long as you factor in how affordable it is after all there are plenty of people out there that want to enjoy a large screen without having to spend an arm and a leg and in that case ZTE has succeeded in making that a reality there will of course be better performance pretty much all around from other higher-end models but that isn't the point of the zmax and that makes this a decidedly average but justified addition to the Android world as always thank you guys very much for watching and I hope you enjoyed this review of the ZTE zmax it is a decidedly mid-range offering but it is one of the few out there that brings a large screen experience to anybody that's not looking to pay as much as you would for plenty of the other ones in the market already today keep it tuned here to andrew authority for all of 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