Why You Can Trust CNET ZTE Boost Max+ review: Big and cheap, but cuts vital corners
The Boost Max+'s large screen and strong battery life aren't enough to overcome its finicky performance.
ZTE's inexpensive, jumbo-screen Boost Max+ for Boost Mobile is the phone maker's antidote to huge, expensive devices like the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and the Apple iPhone 6S Plus , which can cost upward from $600 unlocked. Along with a 5.7-inch screen that gives you more room to watch media and browse the Web, the Boost Max+ also has a long battery life.
ZTE Boost Max+
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
But its low price comes with compromises -- the camera is poor, call volume is too quiet and it can act buggy sometimes.
With that in mind, I much prefer the more reliable LG G Stylo , which has the same display size and price, but also comes with an embedded stylus too. And if you want to spend more money without splurging altogether on top-tier phones, the 5.7-inch Motorola Moto X Pure Edition is a great halfway point at $400.
Design and build
- 5.7-inch display with 1,280x720-pixel resolution
- 6.5 by 3.25 by 0.4 inches (165.1 by 82.55 by 10.16mm)
- 6.87 ounces (194.76 grams)
With its gold metallic sheen that lends an element of elegance, the Boost Max+ looks like a decent, solidly built device. But the handset is big -- even when compared to "phablets" that have the same display sizes. It has a larger footprint (in terms of measurements, thickness and weight) than both the budget-friendly G Stylo and the more higher-end Moto X Pure Edition. In the hand and pocket, it feels hefty and weighty.
On the left are a Micro-USB port for charging and transferring files, a volume rocker and a microSD slot that you'll need a small pin to push open (one is included in the package). Up top is a 3.5mm headphone jack and on the right is a sleep/power button.
The back houses a rear camera with a flash, and below that is an audio grille for the speaker. For the most part, you can't remove the battery door except for a portion at the very top (a piece that's about an eighth of the whole backside). Using the small indentation on the top corner, you can pry this section off with your fingernail to access the SIM card.
As for the display, the screen has a high enough resolution that you can read text, watch video and browse through photos comfortably. Given its spacious size, there's also much more room to view content when browsing the Web and using apps.
However, it's not as responsive as it should be to touch -- from time to time it'd require a second, or even harder, tap to execute an action. And at 720p, it isn't very sharp -- you can see aliasing on text and lettering, simple icons look pixelated and there is noticeable color banding with images.
Below the display are three hotkeys for back, home and menu. By long pressing the home and menu buttons, you can launch Google Now and recent apps, respectively.
Software and other features
- Google Android 5.1 Lollipop
- Preloaded Boost Mobile apps
The device ships with the Google Android 5.1 Lollipop mobile operating system and has a number of Google apps such as Gmail, the Chrome Web browser, Maps, Street View, the Hangouts chat client, Docs, Photos and YouTube.
ZTE doesn't skin its handsets too heavily, so you'll be getting a relatively clean version of Android in terms of user interface. You can, however, pick among three different themes (Android, Fancy and Sports), which changes how your apps look, and how your home screen pages animate when you swipe through them.
The phone has apps from Boost Mobile, though fortunately you can uninstall them if you want. There is Boost411, a directory that lets you search for local businesses and people; a ringtone and music portal called Boost Music; the digital payment system Boost Wallet; and Boost Zone, where you can check your usage and account information and stay updated with carrier news.
Other apps include 1Weather, the social-networking app AirG, Amazon shopping, the rideshare service Uber and NBA Game Time. There's also the gaming portal PlayPhone, NexRadio, the security app Gadget Guardian, and Messaging+, which is an SMS and video calling service. And of course, you'll have basic task managing apps like a calendar, a calculator, music and video players and the like.
Cameras and video
- 8-megapixel rear-facing camera
- 1-megapixel front-facing camera
- Records 1,080p (rear) and 720p video (front)
Photo quality was mediocre. Even with well-lit indoor and outdoor settings, images can appear blurry around the edges of the photo and dark hues were hard to distinguish. Light sources were often blown out and overexposed, and sometimes unnatural blue hues would overlay some photos. Sometimes this was caused by the flash, which would light up a white background blue, but other times the flash was off and the blue tones were still apparent. For more on photo quality, check out the images below and click on them to view them at their full resolutions.
Video also didn't fare much better. Although objects, all in all, were clear and easy to make out, you can see footage "pulsating" every time the camera needed to refocus. And while nearby audio sounded fine, distant audio came off distorted and fuzzy. In addition, there were some really irritating times when my videos didn't save after I finished recording. I suspected this was due to a memory shortage (the Boost Max+ runs out of storage quickly), but instead of warning me before shooting a video, it lets me shoot video and then a dialogue box pops up informing me it couldn't save the footage. That was pretty frustrating even when I was just recording test footage; I imagine it would be much more annoying if I were recording something sentimental, like a concert or time with my family and friends.
The camera has three shooting modes that you can switch between by swiping left and right. The default is "Auto," which includes a timer and geotagging. You can also toggle on a "focus lock" when recording video. The second mode is "Fun," which features six other tools for photos and videos: panorama, HDR, nine effects you can view in real-time, multi-exposure, macro and a smile detector.
The third mode is "Pro," which grants users the most control over their photos. Here you can change the ISO and exposure levels; access five white balance options; turn on the gradienter and display either the golden spiral or rule-of-three guidelines. There are eight photo resolutions (ranging from 640x480 to 3,264x2,448-pixel resolution) and five video sizes (from a MMS text video to 1,080p video).
Other features include a beauty meter for the front-facing camera (which changes the blurriness and softness of an object or face), a 4x digital zoom and the ability to pause recording and take pictures while shooting video.
Hardware performance
- 1.2GHz quad-core processor
- 16GB of internal storage with up to 64GB of expandable memory
- 2GB of RAM
- 3,400mAh non-removable battery
The device's quad-core processor provides enough power to carry out necessary and daily tasks smoothly, but it can feel slow. I didn't run into any problems returning to the home screen, launching apps or switching between landscape and portrait mode. But I did notice that these actions did take a hair longer to execute compared to high-end handsets.
For the most part, day-to-day usage is problem-free, but the phone can be glitchy from time to time. Apps, like our continuous video player, would quit randomly a couple of times before we were finally able to calculate an average for the battery tests (more on that later). This arbitrary quitting has also been mentioned by users online on Boost's product site, who also noticed the same behavior.
Switching gears to benchmarks, the Boost Max+'s results place it consistently within the midrange bracket. It takes about 51 seconds for it to restart and 1.7 seconds to launch the camera. It did, however, score higher than the G Stylo, on all our app tests. Its best 3D Mark Ice Storm Unlimited was 4,435 while the LG's device scored 4,360. The Max+'s best Geekbench 3 single- and multicore results were 480 and 1,409 respectively, compared to the G Stylo's 460 and 1,394. For comparison, though, the Moto X Pure Style scored 19,725 for Geekbench, and its Geekbench results were 1,271 and 3,528 for single- and multicore. Keep in mind, though, that these results come with more powerful hardware and a higher price.
Benchmark test comparison
- 3DMark Ice Storm (unlimited)
- Geekbench 3 (single-core)
- Geekbench 3 (multi-core)
Call quality and data speeds
- LTE B0/1/10/25
- Wi-Fi 2.4GHz b/g/n
I tested the handset in our San Francisco offices and call quality was steady and continuous. My calls didn't drop, I didn't hear any extraneous buzzing or noises and my calling partner was easy to understand. However, I did find that call volume could stand to be louder. In a quiet room, I didn't have trouble hearing my partner, but if the noise level around me increased just a tad, I'd have a hard time hearing the other line. The same applied to the audio speaker -- when I held the phone at arm's length, my partner sounded too soft.
As for the other line, I was told that I sounded clear as well, and that I could be heard consistently without any distortion or static.
Boost Mobile relies on its parent company Sprint for its network connection and 4G LTE speeds were slow -- even by Sprint standards (which usually trail behind that of AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile). Using Ookla's speedtest app, the average download and upload rates were at a low 3.14 and 6.65Mbps, respectively. It takes about 7 seconds to download CNET's mobile website and 13 seconds to load the full desktop version. Downloading and installing the 44.68MB game Temple Run 2 takes 2 minutes and 21 seconds on average and downloading the 1.7GB movie "Gravity" once in high definition took almost twice as long compared to other Sprint devices at 24 minutes and 25 seconds.
As always, you should take these scores with a grain of salt. Data speeds vary due to a number of reasons like time of day and location. What I timed here may not be exactly what you'd experience personally.
ZTE Boost Max+ average data speeds
| 4G LTE download rate | 3.14Mbps |
|---|---|
| 4G LTE upload rate | 6.65Mbps |
| CNET mobile site load | 7 seconds |
| CNET desktop site load | 13 seconds |
| Temple Run 2 app download (44.52MB) | 2 minutes and 21 seconds |
| "Gravity" movie download (1.7GB) | 24 minutes and 25 seconds |
Battery life
The Boost Max+'s battery has an estimated talk time of 16 hours. During my time using the device with mild to high usage, the battery provided enough juice to last a whole work day and then some into the evening. During our lab test for continuous video playback, it lasted an impressive 13 hours and 20 minutes. As a comparison the G Stylo took 13 hours and 50 minutes long, and the Moto X Pure Edition lasted only 8 hours and 46 minutes.
Unfortunately, charging the battery took a long time. With its stock charger, the handset took nearly three hours to go from a completely drained battery back up to 100 percent.
Conclusion
With its $200 price, the ZTE Boost Max+ looks tempting if you're looking for a generously-sized, but affordable, device. But it has some notable drawbacks. Its camera is middling and while its day-to-day performance is generally fine, the random app quitting can be annoying in the long run (and avoidable if you get another phone).
If you can afford to spend a little more, the Motorola Moto X Pure Edition gives users the latest Android updates and you can customize its look. Mind you, it costs twice as much and the battery does not last as long, but if don't mind those two things, the handset is a solid choice.
If your can't increase your budget though, the LG G Stylo is your best option. Not only does it perform more reliably, but it also has an embedded stylus and has the same price. With LG's handset, you won't have to make as many sacrifices in terms of both price and experience.