ZTE Grand X LTE Pro Reviews

Strong competition on affordable monthly deals scupper an otherwise capable budget handset

The ZTE Grand X is, all things considered, a perfectly good device. It’s cheap, it’s got Android 4.0, and — in case I haven’t said it enough yet — it’s stock. Combine that with a proven, battle-worn processor in the Tegra 2 and it provides all the functions that a user can expect from a modern smartphone, sidestepping the perils of over-design and bloatware. It’s not the best looking phone on the market, but neither is it ugly, and though elements of its construction could have been better executed, it’s not the sort of device that’s likely to fall apart after a few months of use. Any user without an irrational fear of fingerprints or a compulsive need for super-accurate touch response should get on with the Grand X just fine. Unfortunately, as an obvious (if not exactly self-professed) mid-range device, this phone will live or die by price. And here’s the rub: the Grand X is available now, not from any of the major UK carriers, but from Phones 4u (and coming soon to Virgin Media). It's available for free on any monthly contract over £20.50, or £49.99 on a cheaper plan. Virgin Media has revealed a prepaid cost of £189 ($293) and a range of 24-month contract options. Even the cheapest, offering 500MB of data at £24 ($37) for new users and £19 ($29) for existing Virgin customers, has to compete with subsidized and better-advertised deals from the likes of Carphone Warehouse, which until recently offered the HTC One S with unlimited data for a mere £16 ($25) per month. It’s still affordable compared to other phones on Virgin Media, with the Galaxy S III and the One X coming in at monthly tariffs of £38 ($60) for 500MB, but that’s hardly a massive point in its favor.