ZTE’s $299 4G Blade S6 reviewed

Mobile performance is also equally strong, providing 4G speeds between the 15 and 35Mbps mark on our tests with the Telstra 4GX network in Sydney’s CBD, but also possible at providing even superior speeds thanks to the Category 4 modem found inside the hardware.

While it is totally network dependent, the Blade S6’s Cat4 setup means speeds as high as 150Mbps down and 50Mbps up are possible.

And the inclusion of two SIM slots might actually make some people happy, both with nanoSIM, which is a first for us.

Battery life is a little less impressive, though, netting a day but not much more.

Mind you, that’s more or less on par with other phones that this model targets, devices in the mid- and high-end spectrum, all which provided a general 24 hours of life, but not much more, and we suspect that’s the octa-core chip making a dent there, because devices with a high definition 720p screen and either a duo-core or quad-core chip tend to handle around two days of life.

We suspect you could get that if you wanted it, but you’d have to not use the display all that often, or the phone much, either.

The camera could also be a lot better, and is proof that a larger megapixel amount doesn’t always amount to something capable.

While the 13 megapixel shooter on the back might appear to be a fairly sizeable choice, results from the camera are questionable at best, and they’ll do the job for social media, but won’t be useful for much else.

Images out of the rear camera were frequently blotchy and didn’t focus with the same ease as you’d expect, which is one of the first times we felt a phone camera totally missed the marks in years.

Despite appearing sharp on screen, images were often far from it, with an infinity focus point often yielding images that were blurry.

When the camera did pull off a decent shot, images were sharp enough from afar, but with blotchy details up close, helping to make this camera feel as cheap as its plastic heavy build.

Low light performance wasn’t much better, and those soft details popped up again, though at least the colours were a little more vibrant than we expected.

ZTE’s choice of front-facing selfie camera doesn’t help the situation much, with weak low-light performance and obvious noise in places where there was light at the time.

Again, social media junkies will probably not notice this as much, but this isn’t the best 5 megapixel selfie camera we’ve seen, and you’ll get better results out of some of the 1.3 and 2 megapixel front-facing cameras.

Conclusion

It certainly is nice to see some manufacturers finding a way to get in well under the $500 mark with something that would typically cost around that much, and that’s sort of what the ZTE Blade S6 appears to be.

To answer our original question, “is this a bargain, or just plain cheap,” ZTE’s S6 appears to be both a bargain and cheap, packing a spec-driven punch for a cost that we’ve seen budget 3G phones of a lesser quality hit.

While the name could certainly do with some work — seriously ZTE, you’re not fooling anyone that this is an S6 — as could the style and design — again, you’re not fooling anyone that this isn’t an iPhone — ZTE’s take on what constitutes a mid-range phone for a less-than mid-range price is intriguing, and would certainly be compelling for someone keen for a new phone who has no qualms about trying a brand that isn’t totally recognisable.

If that’s you and there’s definitely a budget for a new phone, ZTE’s $299 outright smartphone is worth taking a look at, if only because it offers great value above else.

But if you need a good camera and something with style, we’d take a gander at something else as neither are really offered here.