![]() If you have wired headphones, you can tune in your favorite local stations no problem.If T-Mobile offers strong service in your area, you may be able to save money with a prepaid plan that runs on the same towers. Point-to-point navigation worked as it should. The GPS radio matched the Avid 4's real-time location with Google Maps on the regular. Call quality was pretty rough over headsets and via my car, but music sounded good enough through earphones.Īs a navigation tool, the Avid 4 gets the job done. The phone gave me a little trouble with my car's hands-free system, but some perseverance got the two talking. I was able to pair and connect with accessories such as headsets and speakers. Unsurprisingly, the Avid 4 does not support rapid charging, nor wireless charging. My guess is most people will be able to enjoy all-day uptime without worry. Only on the heaviest-use days did the phone's battery capacity ever dip below 30%. We can likely thank the low-resolution screen for the Avid 4's fine battery performance. The phone ships with a 2,520mAh battery and it easily pushes the phone through a full day with plenty of power to spare. If there's one place the Avid 4 excels, it's battery life. Ringers and alerts are just barely loud enough. Moreover, the speaker is located on the rear panel this means if you hold the phone in your hand, you'll likely muffle the speaker. The speakerphone only works in quiet spots, such as home or an office with a closed door. People I spoke to through the Avid 4 said I sounded "okay." I struggled to hear calls nearly everywhere I took the phone. ![]() I could barely use the phone to make calls at home, let alone in a noisy space such as a coffee shop or moving car. Voices coming through the earpiece are fairly clear and have a nice tone, but the earpiece simply doesn't produce enough volume. The Avid 4 does as well as any other Metro-branded handset. Perusing media-rich social networks over 4G worked well, as did browsing the web and downloading apps from the Google Play store. I was able to enjoy Spotify and YouTube streamed over LTE, though at average quality settings. The Avid 4 consistently connected calls on the first dial and only dropped one call at highway speeds in a known dead spot. The phone did a fine job finding the network and remaining hooked up. Thankfully the phone includes support for T-Mobile's somewhat newer band 66, in addition to the Un-carrier's more traditional LTE bands. MetroPCS is owned and operated by T-Mobile, and thus the Avid 4 runs on T-Mobile's network. Maybe a young kid could deal with the experience, but no one else should have to. Brightness is acceptable for indoor use, but it's not enough for outdoor use (particularly considering the fingerprint problem). Visible pixels are everywhere and the screen door effect is distracting. The gap between the surface and the LCD may only be a millimeter or two, but it may as well be a mile.Ĭrucially, the low-res screen is no fun to look at. Second, the display is set deep below the glass and it looks cheap. The phone has a 5-inch display with sub-HD resolution (854 by 480 pixels) and it's a dealbreaker for me.įirst, the glass lacks a fingerprint-proof coating and is seemingly on a mission to collect as many oily smears as possible. The ZTE Avid 4 doesn't elicit oohs and aahs, yet it suffices as a usable piece of hardware. Worse, the display is gray in comparison to the black framing, which causes it to stand out in an unpleasant way. Huge, unsightly bezels surround the display. The gray frame creates a thin rim around the glass that's probably not enough to protect the screen should the phone be placed face down. The Avid 4 has a face only a mother could love. I had total confidence in the hardware while testing it, though it's worth mentioning that the phone isn't waterproof and it isn't designed to be particularly rugged. The Avid 4 may come off as cheap, but it's not flimsy. The phone is plastic through and through, and you'll know it when you hold it. The glass, frame, and shell are all tucked togeher tightly. It fits into pockets well enough and was never a burden to cart around.īuild quality is solid enough. The plastic materials keep the weight down. My one complaint about the size is the thickness: at 9.1mm front to back, it feels a hair on the chubby side. Most people should find it comfortable to hold and use.
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