Considered ZTE Blade X3 is a representative budget smartphones. In modern mobile phone everything should be fine. What characteristics does it show us? this phone? The screen diagonal is 5 inches and the resolution is 1280*720. The smartphone runs Android 5.1 OS and has the ability to install two SIM cards. As for memory, the internal storage has a capacity of only 8 GB, and the volume random access memory is 1 GB - these are fairly average figures at the present time, but the price at which this device sold on the market, fully justifies this decision. The heart of the device is a 4-core MediaTek. The main camera is represented by a module with a resolution of 8 megapixels, and the front one is 5 megapixels.

The design of the smartphone is quite classic and pleasant in appearance. Besides touch screen, it is controlled using three touch buttons that have LED backlight, and when pressed, the phone responds with a vibration signal. It is also possible to customize them.

The rear panel of the phone houses the main camera module, LED flash and speaker. On the top edge there is a standard headphone jack, on the bottom there is a microUSB interface for charging the battery and transferring data, and on the right side there is a power/lock button and a volume rocker.

The back panel of the phone is removable. On the one hand, this is even better, because... available fast access to the inside of the device, but do not remove it too often, otherwise it may become unusable. Most of the space under the hood is occupied by a 4000 mAh capacity, which is not often found in cheap smartphones. If we compare it with other representatives of this class, the Blade X3 will be a clear leader in this indicator. Also in this area are the SIM card slot and additional cards memory.

The delivery set includes a USB cable, a microUSB-OTG cable and a power supply. The OTG cable is a rather unexpected piece of equipment that allows you to connect USB drives to the device. During the review this opportunity was tested and showed its best side. Also, using an OTG cable, the smartphone itself can be used as external battery for some other device.

The display resolution is 1280*720, which is quite enough for a 5-inch screen of a budget version of a smartphone. The brightness of the screen is sufficient for the image to be clearly visible in any weather conditions, as indicated by user reviews. The screen is covered with a special protective glass, which can save the matrix from damage when dropped.

There is no third-party firmware installed on the smartphone; there is only a launcher that can slightly diversify the standard Android 5.1 interface. Computing capabilities are provided by MediaTek MT6735 with 4 cores. The Mali-T720 video accelerator is responsible for the graphics. When exposed to loads, the phone heats up, but within normal limits. In the Antutu performance test, the phone averaged about 19,000 points.

Accelerometer(or G-sensor) - sensor of the device’s position in space. As a main function, the accelerometer is used to automatically change the orientation of the image on the display (vertical or horizontal). Also, the G-sensor is used as a pedometer; it can control various functions of the device by turning or shaking.
Gyroscope- a sensor that measures rotation angles relative to a fixed coordinate system. Capable of measuring rotation angles in several planes simultaneously. A gyroscope together with an accelerometer allows you to accurately determine the position of the device in space. Devices that use only accelerometers have lower measurement accuracy, especially when moving quickly. Also, the capabilities of the gyroscope can be used in modern games for mobile devices.
Light sensor- a sensor that sets the optimal brightness and contrast values ​​for this level illumination The presence of a sensor allows you to increase the battery life of the device.
Proximity sensor- a sensor that detects when the device is close to your face during a call, turns off the backlight and locks the screen, preventing accidental clicks. The presence of a sensor allows you to increase the battery life of the device.
Geomagnetic sensor- a sensor for determining the direction of the world in which the device is directed. Tracks the orientation of the device in space relative to the magnetic poles of the Earth. The information received from the sensor is used in mapping programs for terrain orientation.
Atmospheric pressure sensor- sensor for precise measurement of atmospheric pressure. Is a part GPS systems, allows you to determine altitude above sea level and speed up location determination.
Touch ID- fingerprint identification sensor.

Accelerometer / Light / Proximity

Satellite navigation:

GPS(Global Positioning System) is a satellite navigation system that provides measurements of distance, time, speed and determines the location of objects anywhere on Earth. The system is developed, implemented and operated by the US Department of Defense. The basic principle of using the system is to determine location by measuring distances to an object from points with known coordinates - satellites. The distance is calculated by the delay time of signal propagation from sending it by the satellite to receiving it by the antenna of the GPS receiver.
GLONASS(Global Navigation Satellite System) - Soviet and Russian satellite navigation system, developed by order of the USSR Ministry of Defense. The measurement principle is similar to the American system GPS navigation. GLONASS is designed for operational navigation and timing support for land, sea, air and space-based users. The main difference from the GPS system is that GLONASS satellites in their orbital motion do not have resonance (synchrony) with the rotation of the Earth, which provides them with greater stability.

Autonomy is not strong point majority modern smartphones. The pursuit of the optimal “autonomy-performance” ratio has probably cost many sleepless nights for engineers at almost all companies producing mobile gadgets.

Improving performance and increasing productivity often entails reducing time battery life devices, forcing the user to frantically rush around in search of an outlet at the first sign of a low battery. Using a larger battery may result in changes in the worst side gadget dimensions. In this case, the device will delight you with a long operating time, but will have the size and design of a “brick”, which is also not always acceptable. Where is it, the golden mean?

Let's study the situation using the example of a smartphone with an increased capacity battery, ZTE Blade X3. Reviews about the device are somewhat contradictory. Has ZTE managed to achieve a long operating time of the device without recharging? And what did you have to sacrifice? Let's try to figure it out.

Unpacking and delivery contents

The device comes in a high-quality white cardboard box of a very unassuming appearance. There is nothing surprising in this approach to smartphone packaging. Many well-known manufacturers, even when supplying much more expensive and productive devices, prefer to use ordinary light-colored packaging in a restrained style without any special design flourishes.

Contents of the delivery set:

1. ZTE Blade X3 phone.
2. Charger.
3. microUSB cable.
4. OTG adapter for connecting external devices.
5. A set of documents including a brief ZTE instructions Blade X3, which will make it much easier to get started and help you understand the basic functions of your smartphone.

Such a modest list is not surprising. The absence of headphones in the package has become the norm for most modern devices.

Appearance and design features

I was surprised when we first met appearance ZTE Blade X3. User reviews on the Internet regarding the design of the smartphone are mostly positive. The phone looks finished and assembled. At first glance, you can’t even believe that it has a high-capacity battery; its appearance doesn’t give it away.

At first, the smartphone body seems inseparable. The rear plastic panel extends to the ends of the device. The fact that the back cover of the device can be removed can only be guessed by the absence of a SIM and card tray on the outside microSD memory.

The arrangement of connectors and buttons on the sides of the device is standard. At the top there is a jack for connecting stereo headphones; at the bottom there is a microUSB connector and a speaker. On the right side there is a double volume button and a power button, while the left side is empty.

On the back panel in the upper left corner there is a peephole for the main optical module of the device. Nearby is an LED flash. The main audio speaker of the device is located at the bottom of the rear panel. There are protrusions on the housing along the edges of the speaker slot. They are needed to ensure that the speaker is raised above the surface for better sound transmission.

Almost the entire front panel, like most modern smartphones, is occupied by the display. Above it are the front camera, light and proximity sensors, as well as a speaker for conversations. At the bottom are touch buttons management. On the left is the “Back” button, on the right is “Menu”, in the center is “Home”. The location is unusual, but it can be fixed. If desired, you can reassign functions to all control buttons through the smartphone menu. The buttons are backlit in a nice blue color.

The assembly of the device case raises absolutely no complaints. Nothing creaks, there are no gaps. Made of very high quality and reliable.

What does the back cover hide?

So, we found out that the back cover must open. You need to insert the SIM and memory card somewhere.

A detailed examination failed to detect any protrusions or recesses intended for opening the lid. Fortunately, Chinese manufacturer foresaw this difficulty: right on the smartphone box there is brief instructions upon opening back cover. It turns out that to do this, you need to hook your fingernail into the slot for USB port on the bottom edge of the device and pull it up.

Well, the lid is open, and an unpleasant discovery awaits us: despite the fact that the socket is removable, the battery cannot be changed. But why? It's completely unclear. Give access to the battery and make it non-removable - by at least strange decision. Well, there's nothing to be done. On the other hand, the smartphone may not live to see the end of its battery; the owner will most likely change the device to a newer and more modern model much earlier.

Above the battery there are slots for SIM micro form factor, as well as a slot for memory expansion cards.

I was pleasantly surprised by the large number of screws under the lid. This once again speaks to the overall build quality of the gadget.

Specifications

Let's briefly go over the main technical specifications ZTE Blade X3.

Overall dimensions of the device: height - 145 mm, width - 71.5 mm, case thickness - 8.9 mm. The device weighs about 120 grams.

ZTE smartphone Blade X3 is equipped with a five-inch IPS display. Screen resolution - 1280x720 pixels. The processor is a 4-core Mediatek MP6735P, with reduced power consumption, and the Mali-T720 accelerator is responsible for graphics. The volume of RAM is 1 GB, the internal storage is 8 GB. According to reviews, only 4 GB is available to the ZTE Blade X3 user, the rest is occupied by the system and pre-installed applications. There is support for microSD memory cards. The smartphone is running operating system Android 5.1.

The device can accommodate two micro SIM cards. There is only one radio module in the device, so SIM cards can only work one at a time. The smartphone supports 4G (LTE) networks. Navigation is carried out using GPS satellites, there is support for A-GPS. GLONASS is not supported.

The device contains wireless modules Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11 n.

The smartphone has a significant battery, capacity - 4000 mAh.

Screen

The display of the ZTE Blade X3 is the most ordinary. IPS matrix, HD resolution, screen diagonal is 5 inches, has uniform backlighting. The screen has a good reserve of brightness, which is more than enough in sunny weather. At the minimum brightness level, you can comfortably read the smartphone screen in the dark.

The color rendition of the ZTE Blade X3 display is natural, the viewing angles are decent, and the screen practically does not fade when tilted.

Smartphone performance - as expected

The smartphone uses a Mediatek MP6735P processor with 4 cores of 1 GHz. The main chip of the ZTE Blade X3, according to its characteristics, is characterized by reduced power consumption, which should have a beneficial effect on the battery life of the device. Graphics accelerator - Mali-T720. 1 GB of RAM allows the smartphone to perform its basic functions. The built-in storage memory may not be enough for the buyer. The drive's characteristics include the figure 8 GB, but here the manufacturing company cheated a little, because only half of this volume is available to the user. In this situation, only the most unassuming consumer will be able to do without using a microSD memory card.

In performance tests, the ZTE Blade X3 smartphone, according to online reviews, showed an average result. You won’t be able to play “heavy” new games on your phone normally. The processor's low performance affects it. Regular games, such as Asphalt 8, run and function without problems on the device. In terms of the gaming component, the smartphone is, in principle, no different from most similar devices. With his ZTE price Blade X3 does not pretend to be a gaming phone (the phone will cost about 7.5 thousand rubles).

Camera: I wish it was better

The main optical module of the gadget has a resolution of 8 megapixels. Of course, nothing supernatural from the camera ZTE phone Blade X3 was not expected. And so it happened. During the day, in good weather outside, the pictures turn out to be quite good, but as soon as the meteorological conditions worsen a little, the smartphone camera begins to lose its position. Noise appears in the photo and the sharpness of the images decreases.

Of course, these are rather unfair “stones in the garden” of ZTE. The device is budget, and it’s simply pointless to expect more from the camera. It allows you to get nice photos under appropriate conditions, and to demand more from her is, at least, unreasonable.

The front camera is ordinary. It is no better and no worse than similar optical modules among budget class devices.

Wireless modules, navigation and communication

The smartphone is equipped with a standard set of wireless modules - Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11 n. The wireless interfaces are completely ordinary, they can’t boast of anything special, but they work stably.

The built-in one is responsible for navigation. GPS module with A-GPS support. There are no complaints about GPS performance, satellites are found quickly, and the connection with them is stable when driving. Unfortunately, the device does not support GLONASS.

The sound component of the gadget

The sound reproduced by the device cannot be called outstanding. He's ordinary. Listening to music through the main speaker does not cause rejection even for people with an ear for music, but to name great sounding it is forbidden. Rather, another word would be more suitable here - acceptable. This will be enough for the vast majority of smartphone users. When played through headphones, the sound quality is at a fairly high level, although it may not satisfy true music lovers. This is confirmed by reviews of the ZTE Blade X3.

The sound settings in the pre-installed smartphone application are very primitive. Only the most basic parameters can be set. But if standard programs for listening to music do not suit you, you can always download third party applications With big amount settings and adjustments.

A little about the software...

The gadget operates under operating control Android systems 5.1. ZTE Blade X3 firmware update over the air is supported.

The operating system works in symbiosis with branded shell ZTE. All application shortcuts are located on desktops, there is a separate menu for working with installed programs No.

I liked the ability to reprogram the control buttons located under the screen.

To the factory ZTE firmware Blade X3 comes with a standard set of pre-installed applications.

The battery, or what it all started for...

So we get to the main feature of the ZTE Blade X3 smartphone - a battery with a long battery life. The manufacturer promises a long operating time without charging, however, as they say, trust, but verify. Let's see what the phone battery is capable of.

Tests revealed the following results: when watching videos in HD format, the smartphone lasted about 15 hours (this is with a brightness value slightly below average), the battery capacity allows you to listen to music continuously throughout the day, browsing Internet sites with working Wi-Fi drained the battery in 11 hours . Now we add two plus two, figure it out and get a wonderful result: in normal mode, for the average user, the device can last a whole week! A very good indicator for a modern smartphone.

Of course, for the sake of autonomy we had to sacrifice performance, but here, as they say, to each his own.

Summarizing

In terms of autonomy, the device was a very pleasant surprise. Still, a week of battery life without recharging is very good.

The build quality of the ZTE Blade X3, according to reviews, was liked by many users. Everything is neat, nothing to complain about. Looking at the thickness of the case, you wonder how the developers squeezed such a capacious battery into it.

Of course, the smartphone also has its drawbacks. Performance is sacrificed for long battery life. The device cannot particularly boast of this parameter. The processor power is enough for everyday work and light games, but nothing more. The device’s cameras were also not impressive; they are ordinary; good quality pictures can only be taken in ideal conditions.

Despite its shortcomings, the ZTE Blade X3 will find its buyer. Many will not pay attention to the performance or the camera, but will appreciate the autonomy of the device.

The cost of the device is about 8,000 Russian rubles. At this price, the ZTE Blade X3 is an honest budget gadget that has its disadvantages and advantages.

In terms of its characteristics, it is an unremarkable smartphone, if not for one thing: ZTE Blade X3 has powerful battery capacity 4,000 mAh. Will have a positive effect on low power consumption and 4-core MediaTek processor MT6735P with a low core frequency of 1 GHz.

Despite the fact that the smartphone has a high-capacity battery, its thickness remains within reasonable limits: 8.9 mm.

The Russian model X3 is called ZTE T620, which is indicated in the firmware. In China, the device is known as , and there is also an international model ZTE Blade A452. It appeared in Russia much later than China, joining the new X-series of ZTE smartphones. The first in this series was, which also has other names abroad.

In general, the characteristics of the ZTE Blade X3 smartphone are not bad: a screen with an IPS matrix with HD resolution, 1 gigabyte of RAM, support for 4G networks. An excellent choice for those who use the Internet every day, watch videos and download large files. The screen will provide a fairly high-quality picture with rich colors and good detail. But it's not for games optimal choice. Yes, the smartphone will work for a long time without additional charging, but the processor used for reduced power consumption will not be able to handle the most demanding games.

Front camera: 5 MP.

The SIM card slots accept two micro-SIM cards. Memory card is supported up to 32 GB.