ZTE Sonata 3 User Reviews Back

dishe posted on Aug 23, 2017, 12:11 PM
Posts: 1; Member since: Nov 15, 2011

Bottom of the barrel for cheap phones.

dishe has owned it for more than one year before publishing this review

I know this is already an older handset, but I saw this phone got only one review here from someone who gave it a 10, and I feel like I need to set the record straight. My experience with this device has been the EXACT OPPOSITE.

I'm no stranger to cheap phones. I've used the freebies from Samsung and LG that you get with sign ups, and usually found them "good enough" for most basic usage. I figured why would ZTE's low end be any worse?
Boy was I wrong. The screen is the WORST display I've seen on a device in at least a decade. Being neither an IPS nor Amoled, the screen has a ridiculously narrow viewing angle. That is, unless you are holding the phone at EXACTLY the right angle, the contrast and colors are shifted and/or inverted. Its so narrow, in fact, than in landscape mode sometimes one eye sees a different contrast than the other, which can give you a royal headache if staring for prolonged amounts of time. I mean, we're talking throwback to the days of the Palm Pilot displays with their narrow viewing angles.
The cheap/free phones from other manufacturers do not have this problem. The build quality in general is actually pretty bad IMO. Its uncomfortable to hold (longer than it should be), and the screen to body ratio is so bad, its in fact larger physically that phones with bigger screens are. Funny because I like smaller phones, so one of the reasons I opted for this over another model is because I figured the 5" display would make this a smaller phone. Turns out its...  

I know this is already an older handset, but I saw this phone got only one review here from someone who gave it a 10, and I feel like I need to set the record straight. My experience with this device has been the EXACT OPPOSITE.

I'm no stranger to cheap phones. I've used the freebies from Samsung and LG that you get with sign ups, and usually found them "good enough" for most basic usage. I figured why would ZTE's low end be any worse?
Boy was I wrong. The screen is the WORST display I've seen on a device in at least a decade. Being neither an IPS nor Amoled, the screen has a ridiculously narrow viewing angle. That is, unless you are holding the phone at EXACTLY the right angle, the contrast and colors are shifted and/or inverted. Its so narrow, in fact, than in landscape mode sometimes one eye sees a different contrast than the other, which can give you a royal headache if staring for prolonged amounts of time. I mean, we're talking throwback to the days of the Palm Pilot displays with their narrow viewing angles.
The cheap/free phones from other manufacturers do not have this problem. The build quality in general is actually pretty bad IMO. Its uncomfortable to hold (longer than it should be), and the screen to body ratio is so bad, its in fact larger physically that phones with bigger screens are. Funny because I like smaller phones, so one of the reasons I opted for this over another model is because I figured the 5" display would make this a smaller phone. Turns out its almost the same size as another model with a 5.5! What's the point of a large phone body with a small screen? Which, mind you, is the WORST SCREEN, one that is so bad it physically gives me a headache.

Its a shame because otherwise the phone is OK performance-wise. I mean, the lock screen was kind of annoying but that can be changed. 1GB of RAM is weak, but there are other phones with that amount of RAM so I knew what to expect. One thing that people seem to complain about is that the 8GB of storage gets eaten up by the OS and ZTE has disabled adoptable storage on this handset to use the storage card.
While its true that ZTE disabled it, you can use ADB commands to format the storage card for adoptable storage mode and the phone will still accept it and use it to extend your internal storage.
Ironic because that's the one con the other poster here mentioned, and its the only one that ISN'T REALLY A CON. The rest of the phone is the con. Garbage. Move along!

Revd.b. posted on Nov 29, 2016, 3:53 PM
Posts: 0; Member since: Nov 29, 2016

great battery life

Revd.b. has owned it for less than 3 months before publishing this review

great battery, storage limited, fast 4glte, quadcore, good with games, great price, size is good for easy handleing ,an extra good value for the money! cricket service is outstanding! much better than my old htc desire 510 !