Grand X Max 3 Cricket

The ZTE Grand Ten 3 is an bonny, affordable Android phone for Cricket Wireless users. For the price ($129.99; 16GB) you get a bright, crisp display, equally well every bit a removable battery and expandable memory. The Yard Ten 3 is also one of the first phones in this cost range we've seen with a USB-C port. It'south a decent choice for budget-minded buyers, but it'south held back by a weak processor. You'll get better performance from the older (and slightly less expensive) ZTE Grand X Max+, though your best bet is the Alcatel Idol 3.

Design, Display, and Features
The Grand X 3 is a very large phone. Information technology measures half-dozen.07 by ii.99 by 0.37 inches (HWD) and weighs 6.0 ounces, making it thicker and heavier than the Idol 3 5.five (6.01 by 2.96 past 0.29 inches; five.0 ounces). Information technology'due south even thicker and merely virtually as heavy as the large Grand Ten Max+ (6.38 by iii.27 by 0.31 inches; 6.1 ounces). Despite its size, the telephone doesn't experience clunky, thanks to a slim bezel and a display that curves to come across the edges of the device. It's a good-looking telephone, especially when you consider the toll.

Grand X 3 back

There'south a set of capacitive buttons below the display, a pair of clicky volume buttons and a power push button on the right side, a 3.5mm sound jack upwardly top, and a USB-C port at the bottom. The back is smooth, dark grayness polycarbonate. It peels off to reveal a removable 3,080mAh bombardment, a microSD card slot that worked with a 200GB SanDisk carte ($42.05 at Amazon U.k.)(Opens in a new window) , and a SIM carte du jour slot. In that location'south a muffled-sounding speaker back there likewise.

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The front end is home to a v.five-inch, 1,280-by-720 IPS LCD, which is surprisingly brilliant. Very shut inspection of the screen, especially app icons, reveals some individual pixels, and then information technology isn't quite as sharp as the 1080p panel on the Idol 3. That said, I had no problem seeing information technology in direct sunlight, and viewing angles are decent.

Network Performance and Connectivity
Cricket Wireless is AT&T'due south low-cost arm, so service is nigh identical across the ii. The Grand X 3 supports LTE bands 2/4/5/12/. On AT&T and Cricket, band 17, which offers improve edifice penetration, is a subset of band 12. I saw solid connectivity in midtown Manhattan. Average download and upload speeds outdoors varied from 5Mbps to 11Mbps depending on location, though indoor speeds dropped to a paltry 1Mbps or less. The phone lacks dual-ring Wi-Fi, which is present on the Idol 3.

Grand X 3 right

Voice calls on the Grand Ten 3 are good, with stiff dissonance cancellation that almost entirely blots out groundwork noise. Earpiece volume is loud, and wired headphones tin can take advantage of the built-in Dolby Sound for great depth of sound. The phone also supports Bluetooth 4.ane.

Processor, Bombardment, and Camera
If it weren't for the processor, yous'd be seeing a college score at the top of this page. The One thousand X 3 is powered by a Snapdragon 210 chipset clocked at one.3GHz, which is an entry-level chipset at all-time. The phone scored a paltry 22,962 in AnTuTu, which tests overall system performance. That'southward a far cry from the Snapdragon 615-powered Idol three (28,990).

There are noticeable instances of lag when you launch apps or switch between them. Only the biggest performance shortfall comes with gaming, as the phone struggled with games like Cobblestone 8: Airborne and Mortal Kombat 10. Information technology'due south possible to play both on lower resolutions, but even then I experienced dropped frames and sluggish controls.

Battery life is adept, with the Grand X iii clocking 5 hours and 48 minutes in our rundown test, where we set screen brightness to max and stream full-screen video over LTE. Information technology handily beats the Idol 3 (four hours and 12 minutes). You should have no problem with all-solar day use, plus y'all can always swap the battery out for a new one.

The Grand X iii'south camera is decent. The eight-megapixel rear-facing sensor has reasonably reliable autofocus, and snaps usable outdoor pictures. At that place is some grain and racket, peculiarly around areas of fine detail (like tree branches and snowfall-covered bushes), but I as well saw this issue with the Idol 3. Colour reproduction is a bit drab, though, which is where the Idol 3 has an advantage.

Camera image

The rear camera is capable of recording 720p video at 30 fps but tends to endure from jerkiness. The 2-megapixel front-facing camera takes passable selfies, but information technology struggles with auto-exposure washing out the epitome.

Software and Conclusions
The Chiliad X 3 runs Android 5.one.1 Lollipop; I wouldn't bet on seeing an update to Android vi.0 Marshmallow anytime soon. That said, ZTE made few changes to the interface, and then everything is more often than not stock Android, aside from the lock screen, which requires y'all to hold downwards the screen, rather than swipe.

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There is some preinstalled bloatware like Deezer, a music streaming service, as well as the same Dolby Sound app, a My Cricket app, Sound Recorder, Chore Manager, Visual Voicemail, and a few other apps, most of which can't be uninstalled. Of the 16GB of internal storage, you lot're left with 8.21GB available out of the box, so yous should think virtually adding a microSD card especially if you're interested in music, pictures, and video.

The ZTE Thou Ten 3 is a decently well-rounded and highly affordable Android phone. Nevertheless, it faces stiff contest from the Alcatel Idol three. For the same price, the Idol 3 has a higher-resolution display, a ameliorate camera, a faster processor, and a sleeker build. Since Cricket Wireless is a GSM carrier, you also take the option of bringing your ain phone, and there are plenty of good unlocked devices to choose from. I recommend the Huawei Honor 5X and the Blu Life I X, an Editors' Choice. Either of these phones will give you more than blindside for your buck than the Grand X iii.

ZTE Grand X 3 (Cricket Wireless)

The Bottom Line

The ZTE One thousand X 3 is a decent Android phone for Cricket Wireless buyers on a upkeep, but other options offer more bang for your buck.

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Source: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/zte-grand-x-3-cricket-wireless