Good screen, decent processor, long battery life, 4G network capability
No expandable memory, not latest version of Android
Chinese manufacturer ZTE has been working hard to establish its smartphone credentials in the UK and its latest is a midrange cousin to last year's Grand S, with a fatter body and reduced-spec screen, processor and camera. It has a bigger battery, but has it lost too much to be interesting?
It should be on sale soon with an expected price of around £200.
Design
It's a little fatter than the exceptionally slim Grand S, bulking out from 6.9mm to a comparatively portly 8.9mm and it's gained an extra 20g. Few will mind though -- it doesn't feel overly chubby and the extra girth is needed to house the larger battery. At 2,300mAh it's considerably bigger than the original's 1,780mAh and sure enough, it also lasted longer in practise, easily delivering close to two days of steady use, which is really quite impressive.
The rubberised plastic of the unibody casing feels warm to the touch and there's a slot on the side for the micro SIM card.
Unfortunately there's no similar slot for a microSD card, so you're stuck with the 16GB of memory it comes with, unlike the Grand S.
The 5-inch screen offers a not-quite-full HD resolution of 1,280x720 pixels, which works out at 294ppi. It can't quite compete with full HD high-enders like Samsung's Galaxy S4 or indeed the Grand S, but it still looks plenty sharp and bright, whether you're watching a movie or playing HD games like Real Racing 3.
Android and processor
It's running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean -- not the very latest 4.4 KitKat version, which isn't a surprise, but not 4.2, which is. The original Grand S ran 4.1, but that was last year, and we'd have expected an update by now.
The dual-core processor is clocked at 1.2GHz and backed by 1GB of RAM. That's a drop from the Grand S's quad-core 1.7GHz with 2GB of RAM and very much a midrange rather than a high-end spec. Still, it performed reasonably well without any obvious signs of lag when moving between apps. In our AnTuTu benchmark test it delivered a score of 14,114, which is more or less what we'd expect, placing it not too far behind the quad-core engine of fellow midranger the Google Nexus 4.
Photography and conclusion
The 8-megapixel camera comes with autofocus, red eye reduction and an LED flash plus a range of modes including HDR, panorama and rapid capture. It delivered surprisingly good quality pics too, with realistic colours and no small level of detail. There's also a perfectly fine 1 megapixel camera on the front for video calls.
The ZTE Grand S Flex strips out some of the higher specs that graced the original Grand S but is available for around £100 less.
If you don't feel the need for a full-HD screen and slightly more powerful processor, but appreciate the longer lasting battery, it retains a high enough standard to make it worthwhile.
Software: Google Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
Processor: Dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm MSM 8930
Memory slot: No
Display: 5in IPS TFT, 1280x720 pixels
Connectivity: Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
Ports: microUSB, 3.5mm headphone jack
Camera: 8 megapixel with autofocus, LED flash; 1 megapixel front-facing camera
Video playback: MP4, H.264, H.263
Audio playback: MP3, WAV, AMR-NB, eAAC+
Radio: Yes
Battery: 2300mAh
Size: 143x70x8.9mm
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
