Reasons to buy ZTE ZMAX PRO

[horsecharles]

Just have to repeat, data speeds rocket like... Never had faster, and this at way over both unofficial limit and tethering limit.

 

[Marty_Since87]

Compared to the first stylo (which I have) how much better is it? I really want a new phone, there's nothing wrong with mine. I just wished it had more rom support. I was thinking of getting this phone but not until it's rooted and it gets rom support.

 

[horsecharles]

Compared to the first stylo (which I have) how much better is it? I really want a new phone, there's nothing wrong with mine. I just wished it had more rom support. I was thinking of getting this phone but not until it's rooted and it gets rom support.

For $99 it's an outstanding HOLDOVER phone.
Internally runs a lot faster than my original Stylo, and as well downloads data much faster.
By the time dev work arrives, if ever, you'll be tempted by a newer phone instead.

 

[ZMAX4EVER]

Compared to the first stylo (which I have) how much better is it? I really want a new phone, there's nothing wrong with mine. I just wished it had more rom support. I was thinking of getting this phone but not until it's rooted and it gets rom support.

It's a MUCH better phone than the original STYLO. I have the STYLO and the display on the ZMAX PRO is MUCH better. Better camera, better battery, it has a whole host of sensors (like Gyroscope) and is much faster. At $$99 it's well worth it. You'll be quite happy. Unlike the STYLO your entire screen is usable, no function buttons on-screen.

 

[Marty_Since87]

It's a MUCH better phone than the original STYLO. I have the STYLO and the display on the ZMAX PRO is MUCH better. Better camera, better battery, it has a whole host of sensors (like Gyroscope) and is much faster. At $$99 it's well worth it. You'll be quite happy. Unlike the STYLO your entire screen is usable, no function buttons on-screen.

Since I'm on T-Mobile I'll most likely just buy the phone from metro, buy a unlock code and use it like that.

 

[Masterchief87]

Nexus 6 lost to the zmax pro on geek benchmark3.
Nexus only has 4 cores and no fingerprint sensor.
Zmax pro cost 1/4 of the Nexus 6
8 cores, fingerprint sensor and better performance.
Now the support for the Nexus 6 is great compared to Zte
More devs involved.
I wonder why?

Is this a rhetorical question? The nexus 6 is almost 2 years old now and if you add up the speed of those 4 cores it is the same as if you add the combined speed of all 8 cores in the zmax pro. The zmax pro has four 1.5 GHz cores and four 1.2 GHz cores. The nexus 6 has a quad core 2.7 GHz processor and 50% more ram. Then there is the fact that Google releases the updated source code for nexus devices regularly. Lastly, in order to root a nexus all you need to do is build twrp for it. This is because the nexus supports fastboot and you can unlock the bootloader and flash twrp with a couple simple commands. Also, I guarantee the nexus 6 still beats the zmax pro in real world performance and reliability. Oh and let's not forget the stereo front facing speakers and 1440×2560 display. Basically, nexus devices are better all around and are infinitely more developer friendly.

 

[averagewonder]

Nope haven't seen him in a long time. Anybody talk to him on twitter

 

[caseyjp11]

I've had mine for a week now, and it is without question the best damn phone I've ever owned. (I refuse to spend 5-700$ on a phone.) This replaced a moto G 2nd gen.

I've looked at the pricier stuff, and this looks and feels right there with the big boys. ZTE just knocked it outta the park, imho.

The only "gripe" is that the camera isn't 'all that'...but for the price, oh darn. :-D

I did switch my launcher to my go-to APEX, but I haven't felt the need to unlock or root.

Smooth as butter, and fast. The 3400mah battery is outstanding as well.

Oh, and for those wondering, this unit DOES have quick/turbo charge capability, but just using the stock charger that comes with it is more than fast enough. Some youtube reviewers have tested and can't see a real boost from quick charge, so there might be an issue, but again, standard charging is lightning fast.

Sign me one satisfied customer. (Metropcs customer for three years, and no complaints from me in the Denver area.)

 

[Masterchief87]

I've had mine for a week now, and it is without question the best damn phone I've ever owned. (I refuse to spend 5-700$ on a phone.) This replaced a moto G 2nd gen.

I've looked at the pricier stuff, and this looks and feels right there with the big boys. ZTE just knocked it outta the park, imho.

The only "gripe" is that the camera isn't 'all that'...but for the price, oh darn. :-D

I did switch my launcher to my go-to APEX, but I haven't felt the need to unlock or root.

Smooth as butter, and fast. The 3400mah battery is outstanding as well.

Oh, and for those wondering, this unit DOES have quick/turbo charge capability, but just using the stock charger that comes with it is more than fast enough. Some youtube reviewers have tested and can't see a real boost from quick charge, so there might be an issue, but again, standard charging is lightning fast.

Sign me one satisfied customer. (Metropcs customer for three years, and no complaints from me in the Denver area.)

The reason why people can't tell the difference when using a quick charger is because the phone only supports Qualcomm quick charge 1.0. Quick charge 1.0 has a max charging current of 2.1 amps at 5 volts. Guess what, the stock charger that comes with the phone puts out 2.1 amps at 5 volts. I actually use an app called Ampere which measures the amount of current going into or out of the battery and I have gotten charging speeds of 2,190 milliamps with the stock charger and 2,310 milliamps using a Samsung charger that came with one of my older devices. Neither of them are a "fast charger". The stock zte charger is 2.1 amps and the Samsung charger is rated at 2.0 amps.

 

[Spec2nirvash]

Nope haven't seen him in a long time. Anybody talk to him on twitter

I talk to shabby once in a great while. He doesn't do Android dev work or hang in the OUDHS forums anymore. But, from what I see in the forums, hroark13 was recently able to hack R/W on some other ZTE devices.

You may see him around here some time, granted he ever gets his hands on a ZMPro. He plays around with a lot of budget devices

 

[xyourxhighnessx]

The number 1 reason to buy the ZTE zmax pro:

It's the best damn phone selling for 100 ever made in the history of Android smartphones.

You'd be hard pressed to find another phone for 100 with half as many features.

Not having NFC is a small price to pay. Unless you rely heavily on Android pay. I always root my devices so it never gets much use...except maybe before there's a root method lol. But that's mostly just for the novelty of it.

I was saving for a nexus but the price gap vs features made this an easy call. I can live without qhd. Or an AMOLED display (even though id like one anyways lol) . Beyond the speedy updates and 2 extra GB of RAM. ...what are we really missing?


Fingerprint sensor?
Check
Gyroscope?
Check (and a HUGE surprise.)

It's running mostly stock. Nice for stock lovers but you can always use a launcher. I'm playing with Nova currently. It has a few bugs but nice for shrinking the icons down and the scrollable dock

 

[ZMAX4EVER]

Look at this negative review by this incredibly dumb guy. He backs up his dislike with ZERO facts. If you disagree with his unfunny pathetic rant.... leave some positive comments about the phone.

 

[tube517]

That is satire. He's just making fun of Tech Reviews on YT in general.

 

[anubis2048]

This phone is the best option for those on a budget, and a really good option for others as well. Why would you pay so much more for a phone that is only 3x-4x faster than this one? The Galaxy S7 is like 3x faster than this phone, but is the price 3x higher?.... LOL NO it's 8x higher. You're paying out the ASS to get a more up to date experience for what? 4GB of RAM for WHAT? It's running Android! You don't need a super powerful device to run facebook! Even if you do stuff like run chroot linux, 2GB of RAM is more than OK for this task! Literally no excuse for buying expensive devices like the S7 when phones like the Zmax exist.

 

[horsecharles]

This phone is the best option for those on a budget, and a really good option for others as well. Why would you pay so much more for a phone that is only 3x-4x faster than this one? The Galaxy S7 is like 3x faster than this phone, but is the price 3x higher?.... LOL NO it's 8x higher. You're paying out the ASS to get a more up to date experience for what? 4GB of RAM for WHAT? It's running Android! You don't need a super powerful device to run facebook! Even if you do stuff like run chroot linux, 2GB of RAM is more than OK for this task! Literally no excuse for buying expensive devices like the S7 when phones like the Zmax exist.

Yeah, you've addressed the universal point that also applies to everything else - for the same money we can drive one Ferrari or several Land Rovers... and besides the higher initial outlay, we'd also spend more on insurance, accessories and replacement parts.

But let's not kid ourselves, Zmax Pro is only a holdover phone - nothing else - in spite of the admirable job ZTE has done. I doubt any of us will use this more than a half year:
For starters, forget the critical dev work needed to fix the many issues in both the ZTE firmware and Marshmallow itself... plus any update to Nougat.
The rest of the shortcomings - cumulatively mean a lot, however unfair it may seem to ask of a $99 phone - still, we're debating zmax vs a flagship.
No NFC, no usb 2/3, no quick charge 2/3, no removable battery, 32gb not enough for all my progs-and I don't want to go adoptive storage route.
2gb ram may seem enough because zte doing fantastic job - better than LG if you ask me, but there are still some slowdowns & random reboots that more ram could alleviate.
The new Axon is tempting @$399 BUT it's smaller AND the higher GB version only for China.

Zmax Pro is a wonderful phone @$99, right now... until something better comes along... although likely for 2-3x that price.

 

[anubis2048]

Holdover phone? What? I'm not switching for at least another year or more, this phone is worth the price and if you somehow need more than 2GB of RAM on your phone, perhaps you should invest in an actual computer and not a mobile device like the ZTE Zmax? I don't have random reboot issues, infact I haven't had any issues. This phone is wonderful for what I need. I could hardly imagine someone needing 4GB of RAM on a phone... You want to have several apps open... Why? Android will force close it anyway.

 

[alphawave7]

Mine is a bit odd.
My Nexus 6 was seeming a bit small in the screen..once I went over 50YO, , my eyes aren't adjusting to smallish screens anymore, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna run around with reading glasses or go to contacts like an old man! I had a larger phone screen on my radar for the past few months, and was waiting for something to come along to catch my attention. Slickdeals had a Hot Deal entry on it, and it seemed almost perfect: HUGE screen, near vanilla OS, snappy, sexy looking, and CHEEEP! Got mine for $40, not incl. service and taxes I also paid. VERY impressed with phone so far, especially since it IS larger then Nexus 6 screen by JUST ENOUGH to not need glasses (for now), and I'm not a gamer nor care much about photos beyond snapshots of my beers! LOL!
Cheers!

 

[Masterchief87]

Mine is a bit odd.
My Nexus 6 was seeming a bit small in the screen..once I went over 50YO, , my eyes aren't adjusting to smallish screens anymore, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna run around with reading glasses or go to contacts like an old man! I had a larger phone screen on my radar for the past few months, and was waiting for something to come along to catch my attention. Slickdeals had a Hot Deal entry on it, and it seemed almost perfect: HUGE screen, near vanilla OS, snappy, sexy looking, and CHEEEP! Got mine for $40, not incl. service and taxes I also paid. VERY impressed with phone so far, especially since it IS larger then Nexus 6 screen by JUST ENOUGH to not need glasses (for now), and I'm not a gamer nor care much about photos beyond snapshots of my beers! LOL!
Cheers!

When you say the nexus 6 you are actually talking about the huawei nexus 6p right? The Motorola nexus 6 has the same size screen as the zmax pro.

 

[alphawave7]

Not exactly...the ZMax is larger by a tad. Nexus is what..5.9? The res and typestyle is larger on the ZMax, at least to my eyes.

edit: Yes, I know I couldn't played with DPI and stuff, but again, this ZTE slickdeal caught my attention. OH! and no, not the 6P..ole school Nexus 6..

Looks like the main diff is DPI:

Nexus 6 Shamu

Type AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size 5.96 inches (~74.1% screen-to-body ratio)
Resolution 1440 x 2560 pixels (~493 ppi pixel density)

ZMax Pro

Type IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size 6.0 inches (~71.7% screen-to-body ratio)
Resolution 1080 x 1920 pixels (~367 ppi pixel density)

Screen still just looks bigger to me, but that could be the hangover...

 

[Masterchief87]

Not exactly...the ZMax is larger by a tad. Nexus is what..5.9? The res and typestyle is larger on the ZMax, at least to my eyes.

edit: Yes, I know I couldn't played with DPI and stuff, but again, this ZTE slickdeal caught my attention. OH! and no, not the 6P..ole school Nexus 6..

Looks like the main diff is DPI:

Nexus 6 Shamu

Type AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size 5.96 inches (~74.1% screen-to-body ratio)
Resolution 1440 x 2560 pixels (~493 ppi pixel density)

ZMax Pro

Type IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size 6.0 inches (~71.7% screen-to-body ratio)
Resolution 1080 x 1920 pixels (~367 ppi pixel density)

Screen still just looks bigger to me, but that could be the hangover...

I thought that I had read somewhere that the zmax pro has an actual screen size of 5.96 inches like the moto nexus 6 but after reading your response I did a search and everything I saw said 6.0 inches. You are right. The zmax pro has a screen that is .04" or 1.016mm larger than that of the Motorola nexus 6 when measured diagonally from one corner to the other. If there seems to be a significant difference it is probably due to the fact that you don't have a navigation bar with the zmax pro.

 

[alphawave7]

Bingoboomshakalaka! The Nav bar is the big difference, and typestyle is larger/more legible, due to dpi default. Not to mention the screen annoying screen burn those bars created on the N6! Cheers!

 

[Spec2nirvash]

Holdover phone... Yup. Exactly what the zmax is to me. I've already discovered quite a few annoying things about it. The only phone I've ever kept for over a few months is my old Nexus 5, which I may end up switching back to soon. Only issue for me was the external speaker.

I bought the zmax assuming that I'm going to dump it after a short time.. I have three kids that need new phones anyway, and they're not as finicky about the OS and build quality as I am. As long as Snapchat and Pokemon Go work, they'll never complain.

With a Nexus 5, I can choose any firmware from 4.4.4 to 6.0, custom ROM or stock, anytime and easily installed. Zmax pro is absolutely worth the price; unfortunately it fell just a bit short of my expectations. I feel that Google perfected Android with Lollipop 5.1, and seems when they finally perfect any OS, they force a new POS, like MM on us. Bummer.