ZTE Axon review: A killer flagship that won’t break the bank

When you think of an Android flagship, chances are ZTE isn’t at the top of your list. The company hasn’t exactly pioneered great smartphones, and if they have, its only been in Asia-Pacific, with other regions being dominated by bigger names like Samsung, LG, HTC, and even Apple. ZTE is looking to change that in its effort to become the world’s third largest smartphone vendor, and they might just be onto something with the ZTE Axon.

The Axon is ZTE’s best smartphone yet with its hefty and elegant design, audio experience, and beautiful 5.5-inch display. As far as specifications go, the Axon contends with much of what Samsung and LG put out this year, effectively adding to the already competitive smartphone market.

Does the Axon have what it takes to dethrone kings like the Galaxy S6, LG G4, and maybe even the beloved Nexus series?

Design

As far as design goes, ZTE may have something up its sleeve. While Samsung is busy creating beautiful smartphones with glass backs and chamfered edges, ZTE is taking the polished metallic look to a whole new level. Measurements comes in at 153.9 x 73.7 x 9.4mm and this handset weights a hefty 170 grams. And while that might be heavier than many flagships, it gives the smartphone a durable feel.

The all-around design screams premium. The body of the Axon is made out of smooth metal, and it feels great. It makes the phone feel slippery, but then again, what smartphone doesn’t these days? It has a tapered back and rounded edges, all normal things you would see on a smartphone. But what makes the Axon stand out is its unique grill pattern placed at varying locations on the phone — the rear camera, the earpiece, and the front-facing speaker. These aesthetically pleasing marks make the handset stand out from the crowd, having an authoritative feel to it, so to speak.

Some of those aesthetics do make the Axon a tad misleading. For instance, the unique grill pattern on the front of the phone gives the illusion that the handset features dual front-facing speakers, and unfortunately, that’s not the case. It only comes with one great sounding speaker hidden by the bottom grill. The top grill is solely for the earpiece and isn’t another speaker. It’s still a very nice and unique design, despite it being misleading.

As far as button placement goes, there’s a power button on the right side of the phone and a camera button below it for snapping photos without having to fiddle with the on-screen shutter. The physical camera button is truly just a shutter and doesn’t double as quick access to the camera application. On the left top side is a volume rocker with a SIM card tray placed above. The tray only holds only a SIM card. ZTE did not include an extra slot for a microSD card.

The Axon features a circular home button that doubles as a notification light, pulsing when you’ve received notifications or when your battery is low. It also has two dots on either side of it, acting as the Back button on the left side and the Recents button on the right.

ZTE has outdone itself with the Axon’s design.

Hardware

The Axon features a 5.5-inch Full HD (1920×1080) TFT LCD display, Snapdragon 800 quad-core 2GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, a dual 13MP and 2MP rear camera setup, an 8MP front camera, a 3000mAh battery (non-removable), WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, and Bluetooth 4.0.

Bands:

4G LTE (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 12, 17, 29, 30)
GSM (850, 900, 1800, 1900)
HSDPA (850, 1700, AWS, 1900, 2100)

Performance

ZTE has implemented a great media package in the Axon. It features a 5.5-inch TFT LCD display with a resolution of 1920×1080. Having a 5.5-inch display does mean that you’re going to be making some major adjustments when using the phone one-handed, but that’s a small price to pay for carrying around such a beautiful screen.

Viewing angles on the device were about normal for a flagship, and brightness levels were great, making the Axon a good candidate for outdoor use. Overall, it’s a nifty display, and while it’s not one of Samsung’s signature AMOLED panels, the TFT LCD screen will go above and beyond at delivering content with accurate colors and a crispness seen on many flagships today.

The Axon also employs a Snapdragon 800 quad-core 2GHz processor, making it nearly as slick as the LG G4 and even the Galaxy Note 5. I did put the Axon through a couple of stress tests that a smartphone may not otherwise go through. Loading up some fairly intensive games like Need for Speed and Godus proved to be no issue for the Axon.

The only noticeable change in performance was that the smartphone would heat up when manipulating terrain in Godus, but there was still no actual drop in speed. Both games played very well and I experienced hardly any stutter or lag. The stutter that I did see I believe was due to frames dropping, which seems to be more of a software issue with Android than a problem with smartphone manufacturers.

As far as day-to-day performance goes, the Axon was able to handle anything I threw at it, whether that be answering regular emails, shooting messages through Hangouts, checking up on my social networks, and so on. It goes without saying, the Axon will be able to handle any and all of your tasks. There’s no worry about that here, especially when it comes to that Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor paired with 2GB of RAM. It’s a very nice package, and one that’s certainly hard to pass up.

Battery

The ZTE Axon isn’t the thinnest flagship you’ll ever see, but trading a little thinness for a bigger battery isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In the Axon is a 3000mAh battery and lasts well through the work day with plenty left over for play and any other errands or activities you may need to do in the evening and night hours. ZTE’s battery optimization is spot on. Under moderate usage, the Axon unit I was sent lasted on 1% of juice left for a good hour. I was able to reproduce these results a couple of times.

I tested a high definition video on the Axon playing continuously with all other applications closed. The Axon lasted about six or seven hours doing this. That said, if you’re on a plane or traveling, you could easily get a movie or two off of a single charge. ZTE does include a battery saver, which reduces performance and background apps, and that helps at increasing your battery life exponentially if you’re a power user. It might helps users who use the smartphone lightly, but in testing, I didn’t notice much of a difference under moderate usage with and without the power saver.

Speaking of charging, the Axon sports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0 technology, meaning this handset charges fast. It only takes a couple of minutes to the Axon back from dead to 20 or 30% life, giving you a good few hours of usage on the device.

Camera

One of the major aspects of the Axon is the dual-camera setup. You get a main 13-megapixel sensor with f/1.8 aperture and OIS with a 2-megapixel sensor directly below it for capturing depth information. ZTE also included a 8-megapixel front camera for taking great self portraits.

With the dual-camera setup, you’d think photos would be out of this world. Unfortunately, that isn’t entirely the case. You have to remember that the megapixel count doesn’t necessarily mean a device takes good photos. Much of the quality of photo depends heavily upon software processing. With that in mind, photos do look good on the Axon, but only when there’s plenty of light available.

I noticed that low light photos and even photos with adequate lighting appeared very grainy (I have included a gallery of photos as an example below). You’re just not going to get an iPhone 6S or Galaxy S6 level of photo quality out of this smartphone without plenty of lighting. It’s an overall good camera, but certainly nothing that all the hype led to believe.

As far as the Camera UI goes, it has all of your standard features you’d expect to see in any smartphone–panorama, sport, HDR, and Manual. However, there’s some unique to the Axon in that you can alter the f stop control. Well, sort of. The only thing I noticed in altering it was the change in depth of field. It’s most definitely not an actual aperture change as you might see on an actual DSLR camera.

Software

One of the highlights of the Axon phone is that it boasts of a very clean user interface compared to other skins, such as Samsung’s TouchWiz. The Axon is loaded with Android 5.1.1 straight out of the box, and as of the time of this writing, there hasn’t been any official statement whether the device would be receiving Marshmallow.

While Google’s Material Design elements have been left in the user interface, ZTE did add some of their own features, such as a theme engine. Unfortunately, there aren’t many themes to choose from, and it doesn’t work anywhere near as well as the Galaxy S6’s theme engine.

As far as pre-installed apps go, ZTE did an excellent job including just a couple to help keep tabs on your health. One of them is Argus, a pedometer that keeps track of your steps. The other is RockMyRun, which is a music player that alters the tempo to match the pace of your run. Both are handy applications to have available, but better ones can be found in the Play Store.

ZTE added some minor changes to the Quick Settings, allowing users to swap around the order in which shortcuts are shown. There’s also a ton of other options available to add to your Quick Settings panel. Finally, there’s an oddly placed quick info panel that you can access by swiping from the bottom of the screen (similar to what you would do in iOS). It offers quick access to your media player, favorite contacts, a step counter, and Yahoo! Sports news. In my real world testing, I hardly used this panel at all, though it may be useful to some.

Overall, ZTE has provided a clean user interface in the Axon over something bogged down with software that you’ll never use. We hope ZTE continues to keep this slick and speedy interface in software updates going forward, as it truly makes or breaks a smartphone for many.

Closing

You can pick up the Axon in Phthalo Blue, Ion Gold, and Chromium Silver from outlets like Amazon, and Newegg for around $330. Considering that many other flagships of the same specifications will run you anywhere from $800 – $1000, the Axon is one of the cheapest flagships available unlocked today. ZTE has excelled with the Axon, and though many are still wary about off-contract devices, they would be mistaken to not try out the Axon.

It’s a superb smartphone, and like all handsets, it does have its caveats. The software wasn’t great, to say the least. The real thing that makes or breaks this device is the camera, which wasn’t superb. But the question is, are you looking at buying a smartphone for the camera or media experience? If it’s the latter, the Axon is the right choice. With great sounding speakers and a gorgeous display, the Axon offers an unmatched media package. And in my opinion, that’s not worth passing up.

[ZTE] [Amazon] [Newegg]

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ZTE Boost MAX+ review: Big, bulky, and just enough

If you’ve been paying attention to smartphones over the last couple of years, then you certainly understand that these things are getting bigger all the time.

Whereas a few years ago a 4-inch or 4.5-inch handset would be considered unwieldy or too big for the average person, today’s smartphones range from 5-inches to nearly 6-inches. To help keep phones from getting too big (out of hand) we have seen some manufacturers trim the bezel around the display. This works in most cases and provides a good single-hand experience.

The Samsung Galaxy Note series is the first name in plus-size screens, but the space is getting increasingly crowded.  And, for a lot of us, we don’t need a stylus for jotting down notes or marking up photos. Other big-screen models of the day include the Nexus 6 and the LG G Stylo. ZTE is another brand that has been putting out larger display smartphones for some time as well. We’ve spent some time playing with of them, the Boost Max+, and are here to offer up our takeaway.

Design

Running Android 5.1 Lollipop, the Boost Max+ is a 5.7-inch smartphone. You will find that there is quite a sick bezel around the display which leads to a somewhat bulky in-hand experience. Upon taking out of the box we were immediately reminded of how the Galaxy Note and the Galaxy Note 2 felt prior to Samsung slimming things down.

Looking at the device from the front we have a speaker at the top center which rests just above the front facing camera. There are capacitive buttons at the bottom so you will not find any hard keys. To the right of the face is the power button which sits about three quarters of the way up. Roughly an inch up from the bottom is a physical camera button.

It’s worth pointing out that you cannot quick launch directly into the camera using the button – you must have the display open and the camera app running. We have seen other devices that let us launch directly into the camera, bypassing the lock screen or without having to tap any icons. We would have certainly liked to see that here.

On the opposite side of the phone you will find the microSD card slot for expansion. The internal memory is 16 gigabytes so you could  certainly run the risk of filling up if you download a lot of music or apps. Below the microSD slot are your volume rocker buttons; further down is the microUSB port. Indeed, you plug this one in on the side as opposed to on the bottom like most phones. The 3.5mm headphone jack can be found at the top of the phone.

Flipping the device over we find the 8-megapixel camera in the top left with a flash. It is possible to remove the plastic, upper panel which protects the camera. It is here where you will find the IMEI and serial number as well as access to the SIM card slot. There are no other removable aspects to this phone. The 3400mAh battery is non-removable.

Performance

Performance is what we expected with the 1.2 gigahertz quad-core processor bolstered by 2GB RAM. It’s middle of the road stuff and gets the job done for the average consumer. If you are looking to play games, do some serious multitasking, or push your phone a little bit, you may be disappointed with the overall performance.

Things don’t necessarily lag, however we never got the sense that this one had any “snap” to it. Basic stuff like email, texting, and web browsing went just fine for us. As we got into more graphic intense or demanding apps we found it slowed a bit. Hopping from one app to another or going back to the home screen was just on this side of speedy, but the more apps we had open, the more we noticed performance dwindle.

Display

The screen resolution is listed at 720 pixels which is technically considered high definition. By contrast, many of today’s larger handsets dabble in the 1080p or 2k resolution. This means double or quadruple the number of pixels spread out over the same screen. In other words, a sharper picture.

The lower resolution screen, of course, leads to a lower price point. However, at this size, it becomes pretty obvious that it won’t look as sharp as some of the pricier and bigger name counterparts. Is it good enough for the average person? You bet. And, consider that shortcomings are only obvious when you measure one model against something else. On its own, we like the display, but we certainly do not love it.

The display itself is moderately bright, if only in standard lighting conditions. Get outside, however, and you will find that it is little more difficult to see – naturally. We found we didn’t have to strain our eyes or look closely at the phone to read emails and text. Pictures and graphics looked good, and we were pleased with the overall experience. Direct sun wasn’t fun, but using our body for shade or holding our hand over the screen went a long way.

Camera

The camera setup is adequate but it’s not anything to write home about. The rear camera is 8 megapixels which is lower than what you’ll find in some of the other mid and upper smartphones. The front-facing camera is 1-megapixel which is just enough to satisfy selfie takers and provides the most basic quality for video chat. Our sample pictures showed a grainy picture, sometimes in average lighting conditions.

Going outside where it was bright, mid-day images would often have a “blown out” white. Viewing these on a phone isn’t so bad, but look at the original images on a PC and you’ll see where the camera falls short.

As for the camera software, well, that’s more impressive. There are a number of shooting modes to choose from including Auto, Pro, and Fun. Dig into fun a little and you’ll discover Macro, HDR, Smile, and some filter effects.

Although the filters don’t slow the picture taking process down, HDR takes about three seconds to process a photo. And, even at the higher dynamic range, we still ended up with images that had too much white. Keep that in mind if you’re planning on action shots.

Sound

The phone features Dolby Digital Plus for audio which is designed to enhance your movies and video playback with a virtual surround sound. The speaker itself is found on the back of the phone so  it broadcasts away from the user. Depending on how you hold it, sound can get louder but it’s never “too” loud – even at max volume.

Compared to other phones we felt this one came in around 3/4 as loud. Along those lines, placing the Boost Max+ on a table give the sound some amplification as it bounces off the surface. We would have liked to have something that played out of the side, front, or bottom of the phone. A screen this big begs for media consumption like YouTube or Netflix; we want sound to go with it.

Battery

The 3400mAh battery is a bright spot for the Boost Max+. We were consistently able to get into a second and, sometimes, even third day of use. After initial setup and playing around we found that this phone lasts far beyond one day of usage. Your mileage may vary, of course, but we suspect the target demographic will not tax this device to heavily. When you’re not playing high end games and only pushing a 720p screen, that capacity of battery is bound to do well.

Software

The software experience is nearly stock with Android 5.1 Lollipop. ZTE and Boost Mobile do not do much to enhance the user experience in terms of customization. You will, however, find a number of pre-loaded applications for services such as Boost Music, Boost Wallet, Boost Zone, Uber, and a few others. On the plus side, you can uninstall a number of these applications and get them out of the way. If you are not married to the services or features, you can remove them to free up small amounts of storage space.

We found there were a few instances that the phone notified us of other apps or services to check out, something that doesn’t come with the standard Android build. Between the pre-loaded apps, widgets, and services it does feel like Boost is pushing a carrier agenda or fulfilling licensing agreements. It’s not necessarily worse than any of the other major carriers, but it’s not exactly fun to wake your phone up to seemingly random recommendations.

Conclusion

The phone feels a little bulky however it is not actually all that thick. A lot of it comes down to the bezel around the display and the extra space above and below the screen. If you’re not happy holding or using a 4.5-inch or 5-inch phone, this one might feel unwieldy.

We found the HD display, which is protected by Gorilla Glass, does take a pretty good beating. Toss it in the pocket or purse, or sliding onto the desk, the phone handles basic life carelessness quite well.

Considering the $200 off-contract price, it’s hard to complain about the handset without sounding overly picky. The Android 5.1 is respectable even though there’s newer stuff to be had. Given that 6.0 Marshmallow is not a must-have update, most Boost Max+ users should be happy.

While this one certainly isn’t as glamorous or look as “premium” as other brands, it is hard to fault this device. It does not pretend to be anything that it isn’t and the price point is in line with performance. There are a number of phones from Boost Mobile that command a much higher price, some of them more than a few years old.

Prepaid phones tend to get a bad reputation when it comes to smartphones. The idea, generally, is that these are yesterday’s devices and cannot compete with the models found that other carriers. Is that the case here? Somewhat. If this is your first foray into Android smartphones and/or with Boost Mobile, we suspect you’ll be happy with the Boost Max+. For those who have previous experience with an Android handset, this one may feel like a side-step.

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Verizon scores slam dunk by taking NBA partnership over from Sprint

Verizon and the NBA announced they have entered into a new, multiyear content and marketing partnership that will make Verizon the Official Wireless Service Provider for the NBA and several of their related properties. With this move, Verizon moves into the spot previously held by Sprint. Verizon plans to use the partnership to help promote various “features” offered by the carrier, including the newly launched go90 platform.

Through go90, Verizon and the NBA will offer NBA content like daily highlights, original content and access to live out-of-market games through the NBA League Pass. Diego Scotti, Chief Marketing Officer for Verizon says,

“The NBA has rapidly evolved into a year-round digital experience that engages millions of young, cross cultural fans, in many interesting ways. We are always looking for new ways to add value for our customers, and this partnership creates great opportunities to do just that. We’re thrilled to bring exclusive and awesome content to go90 and to offer unprecedented access to unique experiences.”

Besides the headlining NBA, Verizon will also be picking up sponsorship of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), the NBA Development League (NBA D-League) and USA Basketball (USAB). The NBA will also give Verizon title partner status for the NBA All-Star Slam Dunk contest and presenting partner status for the NBA All-Star Balloting Program, the NBA Draft, NBA Summer League and the Jr. NBA.

Fans of the NBA who are not part of Verizon better get used to seeing the name as Verizon marketing will also be integrated throughout NBA TV, NBA.com, the NBA App and during national broadcasts on ABC, ESPN and TNT. Verizon will also be collaborating with various NBA teams, so additional tie-ins are likely to be spotted.

One interesting aspect to the new deal will be possible interaction between Verizon and ZTE, which currently sponsors three NBA teams.

source: Verizon

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REX Global takes majority stake in Yota Devices

Hong Kong based REX Global has taken a 64.9% stake in Yota Device’s, the company behind the unique YotaPhone smartphones that include a second, E-Ink powered screen on the back side of the devices. According to the terms of the deal that have been revealed, REX Global is investing $100 million in Yota with at least $50 million of that being made available to Yota to provide an immediate cash infusion.

The next major event for Yota will be the release of the next generation YotaPhone in early 2016. That device is going to be produced by ZTE, which should help address some of the manufacturing issues that befell Yota in bringing the YotaPhone 2 to market. Access to other players in the Chinese market will be one of the intangible benefits of the new investment by REX Global. Yota’s CEO Vladislav Martynov says the company has “a pipeline of different products” and the infusion of financial resources from REX Global will help the company start to pursue some of those opportunities.

Yota will continue to operate out of Russia where most of the company’s employees are located. Yota’s long-time investor Rostec will continue to maintain a 25.1 percent stake in the company and Yota Management will retain a 10 percent share.

source: Engadget

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ZTE Axon chosen as Chinese President’s gift to UK officials

The rise of China as a major market for smartphone manufacturers is well-known and is helping lead to a shift to Chinese manufacturers rising to the top of the hill when it comes to market share on a global basis. Despite the huge market opportunity in China, manufacturers still want to expand into other global markets, including mature markets like the U.S. or several European markets like the U.K. Chinese manufacturer ZTE will get a boost in their efforts based on a move by Chinese president Xi Jinping who is planning to promote Chines products during visits with British officials by gifting them with ZTE Axon smartphones.

When heads of state visit other countries, it is normal protocol for gifts to be exchanged. The tradition may even be older in China where “Guo Li” calls for the exchange of gifts at the start of political, diplomatic or business meetings. After being selected as the provider of the gifts for this latest state visit, and unofficially representing the smartphone industry in China, a ZTE spokesperson said,

“We’d like to wish Mr. Xi all the best for his time in the UK, and hope that the gifting of the Axon smartphones brings good luck to everyone involved. We hope to see more collaboration between the East and the West in the future, spurring businesses and economic growth in both parts of the world – and one thing’s for sure: ZTE will be a big part of it.”

ZTE currently sells 7 out of 10 devices it produces in markets outside of China and has design teams based in the U.S. and Germany as it continues efforts to expand its global reach. Being selected for this prominent honor during Mr. Xi’s visit to the U.K will be nice feather in the cap for ZTE.

source: GSMArena

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ZTE adds new variants to its Axon line

ZTE on Wednesday added another pair of variants to its Axon line, giving US customers new options in the unlocked smartphone space.

The Axon family now consists of  the following three models: Axon, Axon Pro 32GB, Axon Pro 64GB, Axon Mini, Axon Max, and the Axon Watch. US buyers, however, only have the first three to concern themselves with, for now.

All three models run Android 5.1.1 Lolipop and feature 13-megapixel dual lens rear camera with 4K video recording. Moreover, each has the same screen size and overall physical dimensions.

Key shared specifications for the Axon Pro 32GB and Axon Pro 64GB include 5.5-inch 2K displays, 4GB RAM, and Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processors. The former, of course, has 32GB internal storage while the latter doubles down at 64GB. Both include 3,000mAh battery.

The ZTE Axon has the same 5.5-inch screen, however it’s a 1080p resolution. Additionally, it comes with 2GB RAM with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor.

Pricing for the threesome ranges $330 (Axon) , $400 (Axon Pro 32GB), and $450 (Axon Pro 64GB). ZTE sells the unlocked smartphones directly to consumers through its website.

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