ZTE has announced its latest big-screen smartphone, and its forthcoming availability with Cricket Wireless. It’s the Grand X Max+, and it has a gigantic 6-inch display, but while it’s a whopper of a phone, its specs are rather modest, keeping the price down to a very reasonable $200 without a contract.
The 6-inch screen has a 1280 x 720 pixel resolution, which may make diminish the sharpness, something we’ll investigate when we get some hands-on time with the device at CES 2015. The processor is a trusty Snapdragon 400 running at 1.2GHz, and supported by 2GB of RAM. No, it’s not a powerhouse, but this spec is a popular one — larger screen aside, it’s similar to the HTC Desire 816, the Xiaomi Redmi Note, and the new Meizu M1 Note — and could prove popular with bargain-hunting buyers.
Android 4.4 KitKat is installed, but we’ve yet to discover if this is a clean install, or if ZTE’s own user interface is over the top (removable/replaceable). ZTE will pre-install the AskMD app, recently released for Android. Otherwise, the phone is equipped with 4G LTE connectivity, 16GB of internal memory, and a big 3,200mAh battery, plus Qualcomm’s QuickCharge technology. A MicroSD card slot can be used to add another 32GB of storage space to the Grand X Max+.
A 13-megapixel camera is fitted to the rear, along with an LED flash, while a wide-angle 5-megapixel cam is mounted above the screen. ZTE says it’s good for “groupies,” but we’d imagine it’ll work perfectly well for those who don’t follow bands around the country, too. The phone weighs around 171 grams, and measures just under 8mm thick, which is surprisingly compact for such a large device.
ZTE expects the Grand X Max+ to go on sale January 9 through Cricket. Look out for our hands-on report soon.
