Original URL: http://www.computerworld.com/article/3096950/mobile-wireless/ztes-99-zmax-pro-smartphone-packs-in-top-line-features.html
ZTE's $99 ZMax Pro packs in some of the latest smartphone technologies, something you wouldn't expect in a low-priced handset.
The smartphone has a 6-in. screen and is available only through MetroPCS in the U.S. It weighs about 175 grams and is 8.9 millimeters thick.
It has some top-line features found in the latest smartphones, like a USB Type-C port. It also runs on the latest Android OS 6.0 code-named Marshmallow.
The Gorilla Glass 3 screen shows images at a full HD resolution. The handset has 32GB of internal storage and a micro-SD card for expandable storage. That's a lot of storage for a handset under $100.
The handset is comparable to the new fourth-generation Moto G handset, which is now available unlocked on Amazon.com for $199.99 for a 16GB model. The Zmax Pro has a 13-megapixel rear camera and 5-megapixel front camera, along with an eight-core Snapdragon 617 processor, all of which are also packaged in the Moto G.
[...] However, the smartphone lacks some other features. It includes 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, not the latest 802.11ac, which offers a wider range and faster speeds.
-- submitted from IRC
Also covered at: cnet.
Related Stories
China's ZTE slams U.S. ban, says company's survival at risk
China's ZTE Corp said on Friday that a U.S. ban on the sale of parts and software to the company was unfair and threatens its survival, and vowed to safeguard its interests through all legal means.
The United States this week imposed a ban on sales by American companies to ZTE for seven years, saying the Chinese company had broken a settlement agreement with repeated false statements - a move that threatens to cut off its supply chain.
"It is unacceptable that BIS insists on unfairly imposing the most severe penalty on ZTE even before the completion of investigation of facts," ZTE said in its first response since the ban was announced, referring to the U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security. "The Denial Order will not only severely impact the survival and development of ZTE, but will also cause damages to all partners of ZTE including a large number of U.S. companies," ZTE said in a statement.
ZTE said it regards compliance as the cornerstone of its strategy, adding it invested $50 million in export control compliance projects in 2017 and plans to invest more this year. A senior U.S. Commerce Department official told Reuters earlier this week that it is unlikely to lift the ban.
Also at WSJ.
Previously: U.S. Intelligence Agency Heads Warn Against Using Huawei and ZTE Products
The U.S. Intelligence Community's Demonization of Huawei Remains Highly Hypocritical
Huawei CEO Still Committed to the U.S. Market
Rural Wireless Association Opposes U.S. Government Ban on Huawei and ZTE Equipment
Related: ZTE's $99 Zmax Pro Smartphone Packs in Top-Line Features
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 22 2016, @07:24AM
yes or no?
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Friday July 22 2016, @01:59PM
Yes. Here's how I found out:
First, I did a google search for zmax pro
Second, I looked at the first page of search results. Second result read: ZTE Zmax Pro - Full phone specifications - GSMArena.com
Third, I click said link and read the specs. Notice under sound: "3.5mm Jack - Yes"
See, it wasn't too hard and it didn't hurt one bit. And yes, 3.5mm is 1/8 or 0.125 inch standard headphone jack.
(Score: 5, Touché) by zafiro17 on Friday July 22 2016, @03:05PM
Thanks, bro! Here's how A/C did it:
1. Asked the question
2. Waited for you to do the research.
3. WIN!
Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis - Jack Handey
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 22 2016, @02:00PM
Holy shit. We need a (score: -1, lazy shit head) mod.
(Score: 2) by Capt. Obvious on Friday July 22 2016, @07:27AM
Most of the use of wifi will be in public places, which will all be running b/g, maybe n. Starbucks, etc. have no real desire to spend the money to upgrade, and heck, they don't want people to have greater range (outside the store) or more bandwidth anyway.
Any large files at home, you can just use a direct physical connection.
Sad its the only missing feature listed specifically.
Also, sup with the advertisment.
(Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Friday July 22 2016, @07:54AM
I was impressed by the 3.4AH battery: until I realized that it has a USB type C port.
Power=Current*Voltage
100W/3.6V=27.8A
3.4AH/27.8A=0.12239H run-time -> 7minute, 20 second run-time.
(Score: 3, Informative) by JNCF on Friday July 22 2016, @09:00AM
The USB-C port doesn't have to use 100W, and probably can't. [androidauthority.com]
For devices making use of USB Power Delivery, communication is exchanged over the connector’s CC pin, which was introduced with the new 2.0 standard. This communication configures the right power between the charger and device, allowing for up to 100W of power at its most extreme, using up to 20 volts and 5 amps of current. This mode is most likely to be used by laptops and other more power hungry devices, as it supports higher voltage modes.
A handshake between micro-controllers overwrites all of the lower power modes and sets up the correct voltage and current settings, while no handshake means that these higher power modes can’t be activated. This also means that lower power use cases, such as smartphones, can be covered without this extra technological cost.
(Score: 2) by JNCF on Friday July 22 2016, @09:08AM
From TFA (so take it with a grain of salt):
The ZTE phone also has a 3,400 milli-amp-hour battery, which provides about 25 hours of talk time and 400 hours of standby time.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Friday July 22 2016, @01:42PM
Your math as well as your understanding of everything you are referring to is all wrong.
Is your first bit of math implying a 100W power drain or charge of the battery? I can't tell. The second bit looks like you confused run time with charging time for a 100W charge mode. I doubt that little li-po in the phone will be happy with a 27.8A charge current.
The new USB C standard includes a 20 volt/5A power option to deliver 100W. It does not mean that battery/phone is forced to charge at 100W. That is simply what you can draw at a maximum.
The amp/hour rating of a battery is the rate of discharge the battery can accommodate for an hour without a significant drop in voltage or current. Meaning, a 10V 10AH battery should be able to deliver 10A@10V (or 100W) for one whole hour before voltage starts to drop off.
(Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Friday July 22 2016, @03:25PM
I was talking discharge current. I have an anti-USB-Type-C bias.
I stand corrected if small USB devices are not required to supply 20V.
My experience with older USB devices is that few of them actually properly negotiate power draw.
(Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Friday July 22 2016, @03:29PM
OK, I understand the confusion now: most phones do not act as a USB host.
(Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Friday July 22 2016, @03:36PM
Nevermind, USB type C is reversible,
(Score: 2, Disagree) by q.kontinuum on Friday July 22 2016, @08:06AM
I don't mind too much the advertisement, but please mark it as such. And I'd hoped to see a direct impact on the progress for our funding goals.
If this was actually meant as an article about the price decline for top-notch hardware, a short collection of brand examples would have been fitting instead of just one.
Registered IRC nick on chat.soylentnews.org: qkontinuum
(Score: 3, Interesting) by n1 on Friday July 22 2016, @08:18AM
it's not an advertisement anymore than any other product launch or announcement that makes it to the front page is.
I put this story through on the basis of the price point being noteworthy. now, the original article was probably published with cooperation from ZTE.
if it was Apple releasing a new phone with nothing of note to it, we'd run a story, why not on a competitor that's 1/8 the price.
for good and bad functional smart phones are available for around $100 up front, in the world of 48month contracts and a new galaxy s and iPhone every few months at $600 or more, hearing about cost effective solutions is worth it, even if it does give some free advertising to a Chinese corporation.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 22 2016, @10:24AM
Is this a 99 dollar phone on or off contract?
IE is this a prepay phone we can go buy at the store, neve active, then use as a glorified PDA/Camera?
That interests me a lot more than utilizing it as a phone, with MetroPCS no less (always preferred GSM derivatives, plus Metro never provided coverage where I needed it.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 22 2016, @05:24PM
MetroPCS doesn't have contracts. It's pay as you go. This is a GSM/LTE phone. MetroPCS uses T-mobile's network, which is GSM.
(Score: 2) by q.kontinuum on Friday July 22 2016, @01:54PM
it's not an advertisement anymore than any other product launch or announcement that makes it to the front page is.
Probably a matter of different viewpoints. This device is a consumer phone, which - in my opinion - doesn't have any geeky aspects. It's cheap, but it has neither some special new features, nor is it specifically useful for maker-projects or something.
if it was Apple releasing a new phone with nothing of note to it, we'd run a story, why not on a competitor that's 1/8 the price.
Fair point. I would consider that irrelevant as well, or at a maximum slightly relevant because Apple is one of the biggest players and their design / advertisements decision has some impact. But I understand that in this case my opinion might be not mainstream and as a consequence, the current article should be accepted as well.
Registered IRC nick on chat.soylentnews.org: qkontinuum
(Score: 2) by n1 on Friday July 22 2016, @04:42PM
There will inevitably be differences of opinion, and on another day I might have ignored this story, or the final article might have come out different. I appreciate being challeneged and called out if someone takes issue with my contributions.
Yesterday, based on the submissions in the queue and my attempt to have a wide range of topics, it seemed like a reasonable one to go with. However, it's certainly not going in my editorial 'greatest hits' collection.
I personally don't get too hung up on the 'techy/nerdy/geeky' aspects of stories, i'm probably the least techy/nerdy person on SN staff. Only do anything close to coding under duress, i have very little interest in sci-fi, my own affinity for technology in general is diminishing. What I do try to do is have a balance of 'nerd', 'stuff that matters' and general interest in stories I put through. I don't think it's beneficial to push ourselves into a strict geek niche. If that's what the community wants, ok, but that's not the submissions we get.
I'm with you on this really. I'm not a fan of the free publicity certain major players get for any utterance to the press, just because they're major players. That said, the platform we have enables us to take these press releases and have an open discussion about any and all aspects of it. I have put stories through hoping the community would see through the doublespeak and tear them apart. It's not my place as an editor to do that to a submission. I'd like to see more stories on companies that matter but we don't hear too much about. Names like MSFT AMZN AAPL TSLA are far too easy and bankable for media outlets to ignore any story from them.
ZTE is an important company, just not quite a behemoth, unless you include association with the Chinese establishment. If you do, perhaps there's more reason to consider the ramifications of more compromised devices entering more hands every day. ZTE has sold infrastructure to countries from Iran to Australia and would obviously like to expand in the US market beyond handsets.
(Score: 2) by zafiro17 on Friday July 22 2016, @03:14PM
I appreciate the post. I didn't know about the product, it's different in a way that's interesting (relatively good specs for a very inexpensive phone) and the write up was good.
I'd have been less enthusiastic about an article for a device with relatively little new to offer.
Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis - Jack Handey
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 22 2016, @11:31AM
This is cheap enough to be a possible option as a headunit for my car.
The rear camera and storage would be useful as a dashcam, bluetooth connection with my OBD-II diagnostic port, wifi connection with my backup camera, osmand~ navigation, could fill it with netcasts, and it would also be used for 911 calls without activation.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 22 2016, @12:25PM
This will never get a single security update.
Have fun!
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Friday July 22 2016, @02:50PM
I've been searching for a new phone, and because I'm never happy I haven't found what I want. The feature I've come to mention is the LTE bands supported. It is really difficult to find a phone that is truly a world phone these days; there are 70 LTE bands specified (not all used) and different countries use varying ones.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTE_frequency_bands#Deployments_by_region [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks [wikipedia.org]
I am based in America, and travel to Israel and China about yearly. Israel is simple; all networks use band 3. China and N America have more bands, but my real quick search is to look for bands 1, 2, 3, 4. Only the latest, and most expensive phones meet the bill. For me the Nexus5X is the closest I've come to making a purchase, but I just cannot stomach the expense.
The phone in the article, only supports bands 2, 4, and 12. That is bad even for a budget phone, but when the phone is tied to a single operator I guess it isn't a big deal.
http://www.gsmarena.com/zte_zmax_pro-8096.php [gsmarena.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 22 2016, @05:19PM
MetroPCS is offering a free leather flip case for the first 5000 customers who pre-register!
Also here's a link to the article mentioned above that tells what features it has.
http://www.gsmarena.com/zte_zmax_pro-review-1466.php [gsmarena.com]