Large Chinese manufacturer electronics ZTE until recently was known in our country mainly for telecommunications equipment - modems and routers, including those sold under the brands largest operators communications and Internet providers. ZTE smartphones This is still a new product for us - let's get acquainted with them using the example of the Grand X Quad - a five-inch quad-core dual-SIM device!
Operating system - Android 4.2
Display - 5 inches, IPS, HD (720x1280 pixels)
Processor: 4-core 1.2 GHz MediaTek MT6589W + PowerVR Series5XT video accelerator
RAM - 1 GB
Built-in memory – 4 GB + microSD card slot
Camera – 8 MP, autofocus, LED flash
Number of SIM cards – 2
Other - Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, FM radio
Battery - 2500 mAh
Dimensions - 141 x 70 x 9.2 mm, 163 g
It is no secret that the cost of smartphones from manufacturers of 5-6 well-known brands that are leaders in this market is sometimes unreasonably high, especially if we talk about flagships at the start of sales. In view of this, many have already tried the advantages of smartphones from second-tier manufacturers, who are systematically expanding our market. ZTE is just one of these - along with, say, Meizu, Xiaomi, Oppo. These brands have nothing in common with the fakes of famous brands that Savela and Mitino are littered with - they are distinguished primarily by high characteristics and high-quality components. IPS display matrices from Sharp and Toshiba, camera modules from Sony, processors, albeit not always from leaders like Quallcomm (more budget ones from MediaTek are often used) - but quad-core ones, with an abundance of random access memory etc.
ZTE Grand X Quad:: Review:: Design and Features
It is important not to confuse the ZTE Grand X Quad (index V987) with the earlier model ZTE Grand X (index V970M). It's just that the Grand X is a completely different device with a smaller display (4.3 inches), a dual-core processor rather than a quad-core processor, etc. Grand X Quad is made in a rather faceless style - “Samsung design”, in a word. The “Quad” case is plastic, there is no metal or pseudo-chrome in the design. The Sotovik test included a white version with a black frame around the display (there is also a completely black version).
All controls are typical for Android smartphones, there is nothing unusual. The function keys are touch sensitive, with white backlighting, and are covered together with the screen in a single glass.
The edges of the case are flat and not smoothed, as is often the case - holding the phone in your hand is very comfortable. On the left edge there is volume and microUSB, on the right edge there is nothing.
The top edge is occupied by the power button and the headphone jack, the bottom, again, is empty.
The back cover is removable, with a thickening of about one millimeter in the camera area. Around the camera, a decorative translucent plate in the “a la carbon” style is glued into the lid.
Under the cover there is a removable battery, two slots for regular SIM cards, one next to the other, and a slot for a memory card.
The body of the device is not too rigid - when rotated in your hands, it sometimes makes slight creaks and rustles. When loaded with torsion, it exhibits slight distortions in the geometry. This is not too scary and is often found in a variety of devices, but it requires a little more care in use. Pressing your elbow on a gadget lying on the sofa or transporting it in a tight back pocket of jeans can end sadly - this must be kept in mind!
ZTE Grand X Quad:: Review:: Display
The large five-inch screen of the device is made using IPS technology and has excellent viewing angles and excellent brightness. Like the screens of all modern flagship devices, it is made without an air gap between the glass and the matrix, and also without a separate touch layer that is integrated into the glass. This solution increases brightness and “brings” the image closer.
The screen resolution is not FullHD (1280x1920), but only HD - 720x1280. For most ordinary users, the difference between these resolutions is not noticeable, but the lower number of pixels per inch allows the smartphone to save energy more efficiently - read more about this in the “Performance and Power” section below.
ZTE Grand X Quad:: Review:: Memory
The device does not have a lot of memory - in the budget category, the choice of the required number of “brains” is left to the will of the owner. Of the four built-in gigabytes, slightly less than two are free, but the kit includes a 4 GB Toshiba card.
ZTE Grand X Quad:: Review:: System/User Interface
Does the device greet the user with an unlock screen atypical for Android phones against the backdrop of an agricultural landscape? – the unlock key must not be moved, but pressed and held for a second and a half. For many, this will be unusual after more traditional “unlocks” with a slide.
Applications
Settings
Menu of running programs
Events and quick settings menu
ZTE Grand X Quad:: Review:: Main functions
Calls. SIM cards in the phone are equivalent - any of them can be configured to make calls, send SMS and transfer data within your network and while roaming. You can also not configure anything - then when performing this or that action, the phone will ask which card to use. Separate button for managing SIM cards, as is sometimes the case, no.
Calendar/Planner
Alarm clock/timer/stopwatch
File manager
Dictaphone
Calculator
Audio player
Video player
Internet
ZTE Grand X Quad:: Review:: Camera
The 8-megapixel camera shoots, in principle, not bad - quite quickly, juicily, although it is prone to overexposure of the frame, which can be seen in test shots. The menu contains all sorts of useful and not so useful things, traditional for smartphones with good cameras- the vertical scroll bar on the left side of the screen is used to switch modes, of which there are nine:
The mode switch does not look very logical - it is not clear how “normal” differs from “ automatic detection scenes”, it is unclear why “best shot” is a camera mode, since such editing is usually characteristic of a photo viewing application, etc. But in general it is a matter of habit.
In the lower right corner of the screen there is a “settings” button, with which you can manually change the white balance, exposure, and set characteristics such as sharpness, brightness, saturation, hue and contrast.
ZTE Grand X Quad:: Review:: Performance and Power
The device does not have the most powerful of the 4-core platforms (1.2 GHz MediaTek MT6589W + PowerVR Series5XT video accelerator + 1 GB of RAM) - this is a fairly budget version of the quad-core. However, there is no need to complain about performance – the device is very fast.
To assess energy efficiency, I conduct a test traditional for my reviews: I charge the battery to 100%, reboot the device to clear the memory of clogging programs, turn off all wireless interfaces except cellular communications, I set the screen brightness and volume to maximum. I start a regular movie in AVI format, lasting 1 hour 23 minutes and weighing 1.45 GB. After finishing the movie, we look at the remaining battery charge using a visual and free application"Battery" from Google Play.
82% - excellent result! An indirect indicator of energy efficiency can also be called the barely noticeable heating of the case during operation - this means that only a small part of the energy is wasted, going into heat.
In many ways, this result depends on the display - if the Grand X Quad FullHD screen were on, we could safely subtract 10-12% from the result! In our case, due to the insignificant difference in pixel resolution, it is possible to last a couple of days on one charge without compromising on cost-saving measures.
On the issue of power and energy saving, it is also worth mentioning the interesting standard function of turning the smartphone on and off according to a schedule, which will allow you to turn off the device automatically at night, saving the battery.
By the way, in the food section we can also mention non-standard appearance chargers included in the package. The charger is made extremely miniature - even the connector for the USB cable is made remote so as not to increase the dimensions of the case. Not to say that this provides any special convenience - rather a design move, but compared to other “second-tier” smartphone manufacturers who put a universal faceless adapter in the box, this looks good - like attention to their own style.
ZTE Grand X Quad:: Review:: Conclusions
The retail cost of the device is 9,990 rubles – just barely reaching the “psychologically important” threshold of ten thousand. At the same time, finding it on sale is not so easy - YandexMarket gives out almost the only seller - a network of branded stores of one of mobile operators"Big Three".
The smartphone seems very attractive at this price - the only significant complaints we can name are wishes for greater rigidity of the case. The presence of an HD display instead of FullHD should perhaps be considered one of the advantages, no matter how strange it may sound, because thanks to it the device is very moderate in energy consumption. But it would be very desirable to see a “subway ticket scanner”, that is, NFC, for the money (although this particular chipset from MediaTek does not support NFC)….
At the same time, “Grand” does not look like a “no-name” - many people still know the ZTE brand, and those who don’t know it are easily convinced of its thoroughness of “non-immediateity” from the very first lines of the answer to a query in any search engine. Although, of course, brand recognition still leaves much to be desired - our “Grand” still needs to grow to become the market giants.
|
|
Information about the make, model, and alternative names of the specific device, if available.
Design
Information about the dimensions and weight of the device, presented in different units of measurement. Materials used, colors offered, certificates.
| Width Width information - refers to the horizontal side of the device in its standard orientation during use. | 70 mm (millimeters) 7 cm (centimeters) 0.23 ft (feet) 2.76 in (inches) |
| Height Height information - refers to the vertical side of the device in its standard orientation during use. | 141 mm (millimeters) 14.1 cm (centimeters) 0.46 ft (feet) 5.55 in (inches) |
| Thickness Information about the thickness of the device in different units measurements. | 9.2 mm (millimeters) 0.92 cm (centimeters) 0.03 ft (feet) 0.36 in (inches) |
| Weight Information about the weight of the device in different units of measurement. | 160 g (grams) 0.35 lbs 5.64 oz (ounces) |
| Volume The approximate volume of the device, calculated based on the dimensions provided by the manufacturer. Refers to devices with the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped. | 90.8 cm³ (cubic centimeters) 5.51 in³ (cubic inches) |
| Colors Information about the colors in which this device is offered for sale. | White Black |
SIM card
The SIM card is used in mobile devices to store data that certifies the authenticity of mobile service subscribers.
Mobile networks
A mobile network is a radio system that allows multiple mobile devices to communicate with each other.
Mobile communication technologies and data transfer speeds
Communication between devices on mobile networks is carried out using technologies that provide different data transfer rates.
Operating system
An operating system is a system software that manages and coordinates the operation of hardware components in a device.
SoC (System on Chip)
A system on a chip (SoC) includes all the most important hardware components of a mobile device on one chip.
| SoC (System on Chip) A system on a chip (SoC) integrates various hardware components, such as a processor, graphics processor, memory, peripherals, interfaces, etc., as well as the software necessary for their operation. | MediaTek MT6589 |
| Technological process Information about technological process, on which the chip is made. Nanometers measure half the distance between elements in the processor. | 28 nm (nanometers) |
| Processor (CPU) The primary function of a mobile device's processor (CPU) is to interpret and execute instructions contained in software applications. | ARM Cortex-A7 |
| Processor size The size (in bits) of a processor is determined by the size (in bits) of the registers, address buses, and data buses. 64-bit processors have higher performance compared to 32-bit processors, which in turn are more powerful than 16-bit processors. | 32 bit |
| Instruction Set Architecture Instructions are commands with which the software sets/controls the operation of the processor. Information about the instruction set (ISA) that the processor can execute. | ARMv7 |
| Level 1 cache (L1) Cache memory is used by the processor to reduce access time to more frequently used data and instructions. L1 (level 1) cache is small in size and works much faster as system memory, and other levels of cache memory. If the processor does not find the requested data in L1, it continues to look for it in the L2 cache. On some processors, this search is performed simultaneously in L1 and L2. | 32 kB + 32 kB (kilobytes) |
| Level 2 cache (L2) L2 (level 2) cache is slower than L1 cache, but in return it has a higher capacity, allowing it to cache more data. It, like L1, is much faster than system memory (RAM). If the processor does not find the requested data in L2, it continues to look for it in the L3 cache (if available) or in RAM memory. | 1024 kB (kilobytes) 1 MB (megabytes) |
| Number of processor cores The processor core performs program instructions. There are processors with one, two or more cores. Having more cores increases performance by allowing multiple instructions to be executed in parallel. | 4 |
| CPU clock speed The clock speed of a processor describes its speed in terms of cycles per second. It is measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz). | 1200 MHz (megahertz) |
| Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) The Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) handles calculations for various 2D/3D graphics applications. IN mobile devices it is used most often by games, consumer interface, video applications, etc. | PowerVR SGX544MP |
| Number of cores GPU Like a CPU, a GPU is made up of several working parts called cores. They handle graphics calculations for various applications. | 1 |
| GPU clock speed Running speed is the clock speed of the GPU, measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz). | 286 MHz (megahertz) |
| Amount of random access memory (RAM) Random Access Memory (RAM) in use operating system and all installed applications. Data stored in RAM is lost after the device is turned off or restarted. | 1 GB (gigabytes) |
| Type of random access memory (RAM) Information about the type of random access memory (RAM) used by the device. | LPDDR2 |
| Number of RAM channels Information about the number of RAM channels that are integrated into the SoC. More channels means more high speeds data transmission. | Single channel |
| RAM frequency The frequency of RAM determines its operating speed, more specifically, the speed of reading/writing data. | 533 MHz (megahertz) |
Built-in memory
Each mobile device has built-in (non-removable) memory with a fixed capacity.
Memory cards
Memory cards are used in mobile devices to increase the storage capacity for storing data.
Screen
The screen of a mobile device is characterized by its technology, resolution, pixel density, diagonal length, color depth, etc.
| Type/technology One of the main characteristics of the screen is the technology by which it is made and on which the quality of the information image directly depends. | IPS |
| Diagonal For mobile devices, screen size is expressed by the length of its diagonal, measured in inches. | 5 in (inches) 127 mm (millimeters) 12.7 cm (centimeters) |
| Width Approximate screen width | 2.45 in (inches) 62.26 mm (millimeters) 6.23 cm (centimeters) |
| Height Approximate screen height | 4.36 in (inches) 110.69 mm (millimeters) 11.07 cm (centimeters) |
| Aspect Ratio The ratio of the dimensions of the long side of the screen to its short side | 1.778:1 16:9 |
| Permission Screen resolution shows the number of pixels vertically and horizontally on the screen. More a high resolution means sharper detail in the image. | 720 x 1280 pixels |
| Pixel Density Information about the number of pixels per centimeter or inch of the screen. Higher density allows information to be displayed on the screen with clearer detail. | 294 ppi (pixels per inch) 115 ppcm (pixels per centimeter) |
| Color depth Screen color depth reflects the total number of bits used for color components in one pixel. Information about the maximum number of colors that the screen can display. | 24 bit 16777216 flowers |
| Screen area Approximate percentage of screen area occupied by the screen on the front of the device. | 70.05% (percent) |
| Other characteristics Information about other screen features and characteristics. | Capacitive Multi-touch |
| OGS (One Glass Solution) |
Sensors
Different sensors perform different quantitative measurements and convert physical indicators into signals that a mobile device can recognize.
Rear camera
The main camera of a mobile device is usually located on its back panel and may be combined with one or more secondary cameras.
| Flash type The rear (rear) cameras of mobile devices mainly use led flashes. They can be configured with one, two or more light sources and vary in shape. | LED |
| Image Resolution One of the main characteristics of cameras is resolution. It represents the number of horizontal and vertical pixels in an image. For convenience, smartphone manufacturers often list resolution in megapixels, indicating the approximate number of pixels in millions. | 3264 x 2448 pixels 7.99 MP (megapixels) |
| Video resolution Information about the maximum video resolution that the camera can record. | 1920 x 1080 pixels 2.07 MP (megapixels) |
| Video recording speed (frame rate) Information about the maximum recording speed (frames per second, fps) supported by the camera at maximum resolution. Some of the most basic video recording speeds are 24 fps, 25 fps, 30 fps, 60 fps. | 30fps (frames per second) |
| Characteristics Information about additional software and hardware features of the rear (rear) camera. | Autofocus Geographical tags Touch Focus Face recognition |
Front-camera
Smartphones have one or more front cameras of various designs - a pop-up camera, a rotating camera, a cutout or hole in the display, an under-display camera.
Audio
Information about the type of speakers and audio technologies supported by the device.
Radio
The radio of the mobile device is a built-in FM receiver.
Location determination
Information about the navigation and location technologies supported by your device.
WiFi
Wi-Fi is a technology that provides wireless communication for transmitting data over close distances between various devices.
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a standard for secure wireless data transfer between various devices of different types over short distances.
USB
USB (Universal Serial Bus) is an industry standard that allows different electronic devices to exchange data.
Headphone jack
This is an audio connector, also called an audio jack. The most widely used standard in mobile devices is the 3.5mm headphone jack.
Connecting devices
Information about other important connection technologies supported by your device.
Browser
A web browser is a software application for accessing and viewing information on the Internet.
Video file formats/codecs
Mobile devices support different video file formats and codecs, which respectively store and encode/decode digital video data.
This model has a five-inch screen. Many people will not like it - it is inconvenient for them to use one hand.
The back cover is difficult to remove, but this will change over time. I liked that the lid is matte and does not collect fingerprints.
The weight of the device is 163 grams, but it seems lighter.
Control
On the left side of the Grand X Quad phone there is a volume rocker and a microUSB connector. This location of the connector seems terribly inconvenient to me.
There is only a microphone at the bottom end. And on the right side of the smartphone there is nothing.
On top there is a second microphone for noise reduction, a power button, and a headset jack.
On the front panel at the bottom there are three touch buttons: “back”, “home”, “menu”. Above the screen there is a speaker and a camera. Protects the front part of the glass.
Equipment
In the kit we see: a power supply, a cable for charging and connecting to a computer, a headset and pieces of paper. Because back cover If it's plastic, it wouldn't be a bad idea to include a bumper and a film for the screen in the package.
Display
The ZTE V987 has a five-inch IPS HD display, made using OGS (One Glass Solution) technology and protected by glass. The screen has HD resolution (1280x720).
I was very pleased with the quality of the picture. It feels like you're looking at a matte photograph. Excellent viewing angles. The screen also performs well outdoors.
Connection
Dual SIM
The phone can use two standard SIM cards. To install them, you need to remove the battery. Next to the SIM card slots is a memory card slot. You can take it out or put it on “hot” mode, that is, you don’t have to turn off the phone.
The phone has one radio module. This means that if you use one SIM card, the second one will be offline. In the settings, you can specify a SIM card that will be used “by default” for certain actions: calls, SMS and the Internet. Or you will be asked which SIM card to use.
3G is supported only by the first slot.
Wireless interfaces
The phone from ZTE supports all the main standards of modern connections: Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi and GPS. Also supports 2G/3G in the first slot, but only 2G in the second.
Camera
The Grand X Quad phone has two cameras. The rear camera is 8 megapixel BSI (back-illuminated sensor), which will allow you to take acceptable pictures in low light. Front-camera 1 MP.
The camera has many settings. It has its own tricks. For example, photographing an object from different sides. It is saved on the phone in mpo format.
To take a series of photographs, you just need to hold down the shutter icon.
Android 4.2.1 is installed on the phone with a modified interface and installed proprietary utilities: ZTE Apps, ZTE Cloud, system for Reserve copy Backup & Restore, My Assistant, touchpal keyboard and others.
The system is responsive and responds quickly to inputs.
Unlocking the phone is a little non-standard - you need to hold your finger on the “lock” for a few seconds.
When you long press the home button, a list of recent programs will appear.
Video player
The pre-installed player can play many videos without problems, even in FullHD format. But he does not understand not very common formats (Kodak).
The standard player launched the videos, but the system did not have the required codec; as a result, the videos sometimes contain “cubes” and other video distortions.
Sound
Standard music player no different from many others found on other phones. I note that the speaker produces good sound.
Connecting to a computer
I was a little pleasantly surprised when I connected it to the computer. It was identified as a virtual CD-Rom that contained drivers for the smartphone. And I didn’t have to look for them on the Internet. And after installing the drivers, the phone was identified as a drive.
Testing
Gives 3,030 points.
The result is 13,355 points. Performance is good. The device is slightly inferior in performance HTC One X.
The phone does not support OpenGL ES 3.0
There are sensors: FM radio, G-Sensor, Gyroscope, Light sensor, Proximity sensor.
The test gave a result of 4,023. The result is the same as a tablet Asus Transformer TF201.
Shows performance of 14.30 frames per second (for a comfortable game you need more than 25).
Battery capacity 2500 mAh. This is enough for one to two days of use with Wi-Fi and GPS turned on. But if you turn off everything unnecessary, you can use it without recharging for more than a week. With active use (for example, games), the battery will last for one day. And this is with a five-inch screen. This is achieved thanks to the energy-efficient Cortex-A7 architecture processor.
The device charges with standard charging for about 3-4 hours. If you use Charger from a tablet, the time can be reduced by almost half.
Since this is Android 4.2, you need to enable access to GPS coordinates so that the unit can be used by A-GPS. It took me about 20-30 minutes to determine my location for the first time. I already thought that I had gotten a phone with a faulty chip. In subsequent search runs I found the location in a few minutes.
Bottom line
Functional budget phone ZTE Grand X Quad, which is perfect for many:
- As a soap dish.
- As a navigator.
- As a registrar.
- As a gaming platform.
- As a long-lasting “dialer” on Android.
Powerful, energy-efficient filling, but the “cheap” appearance is not for everyone.
| |
|||||||
| photo ZTE Grand X Quad | |||||||
Type: smartphone Dimensions: 141x70x8.9 mm Market Data: ZTE Grand X QuadAnnouncement date: 06.06.2013Deliveries to Russia: supplied Start date of sales in Russia: June 2013 Recommended price at the start of sales: 9990 rub. General characteristics: ZTE Grand X QuadCommunication standard: GSM 1800, GSM 1900, GSM 850, GSM 900, HSDPABattery type: Li-Ion SIM card type: regular Housing design: monoblock Case materials: plastic Color options: White black Display Specifications: ZTE Grand X QuadType: 5-inch, TFT, 16 million colors, 720x1280 pixels, capacitive, pixel density 294 ppiAdditionally: built-in accelerometer (automatic screen orientation), proximity sensor for automatic shutdown backlights, multi-touch gestures Sound: ZTE Grand X QuadVibration alert: There isSilent call: There is Speakerphone: yes yes Additionally: 3.5 mm audio output, MP3 file as a call, active noise reduction technology Call Control: ZTE Grand X QuadCall hold: There isConference call: There is Call forwarding: There is Number identification: There is Voice dialing: There is Additionally: Recent Call Log: Automatically remember unlimited number of incoming/outgoing/unanswered calls User Interface: ZTE Grand X QuadVolume adjustment: There isSpeed dial: There is Organizer: ZTE Grand X QuadWatch: There isAlarm: There is Calendar: There is Scheduler: There is Stopwatch: There is Timer: There is Calculator: There is Converter: There is World time: There is Dictaphone: There is Input Specifications: ZTE Grand X QuadBacklight: There isLock: There is Predictive text input: There is Entering in Russian letters: There is Communication capabilities: ZTE Grand X QuadSMS: There isMMS: There is GPRS: There is Bluetooth: 4.0, A2DP WiFi: 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hot spot, DLNA standard NFC: There is PC connection: microUSB 2.0 Email: There is EDGE: There is HTML5: There is Additionally: Instant Messaging, Push email Additional features: ZTE Grand X QuadGames: downloadableMP3 player: eAAC+, MP3, WAV, WMA Main camera: 8.1 megapixels, maximum resolution 3264x2448 pixels, LED flash, autofocus, geo-tagging of images, Face Detection mode (face recognition), touch focusing Front-camera: 1 megapixel Video: 30 frames per second, H.263, H.264, MPEG4, WMV, maximum video resolution 1920x1080 pixels (Full HD) FM receiver: No Java applications: No Number of records phone book: unlimited, photo on incoming call Built-in memory capacity: 1 GB RAM Type of supported memory cards: microSD Maximum memory card capacity: up to 32 GB CPU: 1.2 GHz, quad-core processor QWERTY keyboard: virtual (screen) GPS: yes, with A-GPS support Operating system: OS Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean Additionally: Google Maps, Google Search, Google Talk, phone integration with social networks, support postal service Gmail support YouTube service, work with two SIM cards, digital compass | |||||||
Loading...
