Telstra Tough Max 3 (2020)

Junk pile – Worst phone I've ever used. Torch button in the worst possible place, screen darkens by itself despite being turned up to 100%, WiFi slow to open and the it fights with the network till it freezes and you have shut down and Start again. I'm glad I didn't have to pay for it, provided by my employer and this is the second one. The first one had no call volume and was replaced under warranty. Total rubbish don't bother. Show details

Telstra Tough Max , NOT!!! – Brought this phone on the hope that it would live up to its name. But wasn't I disappointed, it shattered the screen when it fell out of my pocket, even though it had a screen protector on it. Went to a least 6 different phone repairers to get this sorted and to my surprise no one will repair or even get parts for this pansy of a phone. Memo to… Read more

Telstra , if you are going to market something as Tough I suggest you check out the goods beforehand and compare to what written in the dictionary first.

Not so Tough! – I had a constant problems with this phone till Telstra gave me a refund. The phone would change settings on various things. The worst problem being the ring tone. I almost daily for 6 months had to reset it each morning. I missed a lot of calls! Notifications, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and other settings would turn of randomly. A software up grade did help… Read more

a little in reducing the small problems. I had to go to settings all too frequently to change things back. Once whilst sailing I took it out of a waterproof satchel. I did get hit with a little spray. After that I couldn't download pics for 2 weeks. For 4 plus weeks the no problem charging became difficult. Too make matters worse I had 3 booked visits too the Telstra store. They wanted to send it away for 6 weeks and there was no loaner phone. Thanks to Fair Trading Telstra came good. Note I gave 3 out 5 Value for money only if it worked.

Not tough – This phone is as tough as my neighbours VN Commodore. I wanted a tough phone. What I got was a cracked screen when the phone feel off my bedside table. Show details

Realy Bad – All that i required from this phone was a screen that didnt break realy easily,being able to talk to people without hiding in a closet with a closed door so people can here me,check txt easily and the odd email.The list goes on with this phones inabilty to do anything well. Show details

Useless phone that should never be sold – Spelling mistakes IN the programming. If you use fingerprint sensor and it doesn't match it will show "Fingerprint not match, please try again". Misspellings seem small to idiots, but one misspells word in code can cause major problems. If Telstra can't use Proper English, this phone should be sold cheap or not at all.

Great ruggedised handset for the Telstra network – The Telstra Tough Max 3 is the fourth generation of tough Android phone from ZTE for Telstra and I have used everyone of them as my work phone and this latest one has filled in the missing bits that the previous model was missing and I never clicked to until now. Like my personal handsets that I have updated last year, this model has now come… Read more

with better CPU, RAM, Memory and external memory support. It also supports Voice over 4G / LTE (VoLTE) and Voice over Wi-Fi (VoWiFi) which means if you are on a Wi-Fi network in a building and you have trouble seeing the Telstra network due to poor mobile signal you can still receive and make calls using the Wi-Fi network.

As for the handset itself, it is large, solid feeling and has a good display. It is loud and the display is bright. One key feature on this handset is it has an external RF port which only ZTE appears to do for Telstra and I wish my Optus handset had it. The External RF port means I can use a ZTE Patch Lead to connect to a much larger External Antenna and really stay connected. My only gripe is Telstra didn't opt for a ZTE cradle to be made for this handset and that is a let down as while the patch lead is great it would of been so much better to have a cradle to hold the handset while charging and connecting to the external Antenna like the old ZTE handsets I use to use years ago.

I drive alot and cradles that are available today are a let down if they don't support the handset features. I know Strike make cradles for Telstra devices but they can't do the external RF connections which is a key point for the handset and cradle combo.

Other than that single bug bear the handset is good out in the country where I live and beats my mates iPhones and some other android devices, especially if I don't let them on my WiFi network which they all jump on to since they have poor mobile signal levels at my place and need to use Voice over WiFi.

Case wise I am still looking as while it is a rugged handset I still want to protect it and screens can and do break if you drop them and are unlucky. Hopefully there will be some options in the near future.

The final point of note is Telstra and ZTE are running a competition and if you purchase a Tough Max 3 then you can enter it to win a D-Max 4x4.... and I would so love to win a new 4x4 as my Bravo is getting old...