Maze unveils the Alpha X phablet

The new Apple iPhone X is a very popular handset and, since many potential customers located in various emerging markets simply cannot afford it, many small Chinese brands decided to use it as an inspiration for cheaper smartphones or phablets. Maze Mobile's attempt is known as the Alpha X and comes just a few months after the Maze Alpha, which was also a 6-inch phablet.

Before moving on with the Maze Alpha X, I have to mention that the Maze Alpha had a dual camera setup on the back, but the photo quality failed to improve to the expected level even after a few software updates that at least made things far less worse than they were in the beginning. Even more, the glass back of the handset was very frail, so many users ended up with broken Alphas after very light bumps and shocks. To make things easier, Maze Mobile decided to drop the dual camera setup, but they still needed to give themselves a headache and chose two different cameras for the two Alpha X variants announced. 

Both Alpha X variants come with a MediaTek Helio P25 processor and 6 GB LPDDR4X memory, as well as a generous 6-inch touchscreen display with 2,160 x 1,080 pixels that gives this handset a screen-to-body ratio of almost 90 percent.

In the front, there is an 8 MP Sony IMX 219 camera with f/2.0 aperture. The main camera, on the other hand, comes in two flavors: the 64 GB variant gets the 13 MP Sony IMX 258 sensor, while the 128 GB model has a 16 MP camera that uses an OV 16880 sensor. In both cases, the aperture value is a decent f/2.0.

The Maze Alpha X also has a notification LED, another feature that the Maze Alpha skipped. The front is protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass 5 layer, while the back glass uses Corning Gorilla Glass 4 with a special anti-fingerprint coating. The 3.5 mm headphone jack is present, as well as an USB Type-C port for faster charging. Unfortunately, the 3,900 mAh battery should provide barely enough power for a day of regular use.

Those who need more storage should drop the idea of using two SIMs since the Maze Alpha X comes with hybrid microSD support. Just like its non-X sibling, it features a front-facing fingerprint reader. The operating system is (almost) stock Android 7.0 Nougat, but an update to Android Oreo should become available in the future. 

The color choices available are black, silver, and blue. Although the retail package of the Maze Alpha X includes a tempered glass screen protector, it comes without a protective case and finding a good one could turn into quite an epic quest. The 64 GB Alpha X can be pre-ordered until November 25 from GearBest for US$209.99. Shipments should begin in the second week of December. Sadly, the 128 GB variant will probably surface after a month or so.