The market for slim phones has flourished, outsmarting all impromptu guesses and precise estimations to the point that slenderized models are rapidly taking over a major share of public demand. Closely following the staggeringly racing demand for bar-style smart phones, Zopo has brought into being its new ZP1000. This 5 inch bar model smartphone has brought to its advantage and that of its users, a moderate pricing for its pack of impressive features. Dawdling through the entry-level sector of phones, this Android phone has grabbed the gold-craze in the smartphone market with a smart design and gold back panel.

All the way from China, the land of the phenomenal iPhone, ZP1000 has crossed its domestic boundaries to make an entry into the European market. Available only at selected stores, this one might need you to spend a little extra on import fees, in addition to its paltry price, to own one.

For an opening range phone, Zopo ZP1000 is quite a good one to use, with a plethora of features borrowed from high-end models from market leading brands. Its price is a big win over the features it carries. Even though it falls short in places, it rises above mediocrity for the most of it. With an above-average camera, stylish looks and good many features, it is as good as a hi-tech Smartphone, at the price of an entry-level one. Zopo has done a credible job in cramming in all possible features of a high-value smart phone into its low priced release meeting the expectations of the common buyers in a complete way.

Zopo ZP1000: Design and Display

Zopo ZP1000 weighs a mere 150 grams with a slight dimension comprising an expansive length and a width thicker than a couple of hair’s breadth. Aside the bar model of the phone, what’s remarkable is the part-metal finish of the rear part. The behind has a matt-gold detachable panel with white head and foot that forms shiny white plastic polish stripes against the metal middle. The speaker is located at the bottom-back parallel to the camera. The front and back of the phone is lined with a glossy gold bezel which is a new touch to the predictable mode. Though not toughly resistant against the heavy thuds and high falls, it’s more rigid than it‘s slight frame appears to be.

The frontal screen is fitted with a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 that is fully resistant to scratches and abrasions. The bottom of the front is lined with touch keys, while physical buttons are located on the sides. While the frontal keys are very responsive, the hard keys have clear pressure points for easy functioning.

Zopo ZP1000: Specs (Software Features)

The phone has a bundle of astounding features and this is where it rises out of the very mid-range tag it has been branded with.

Processor and OS

Working on a MT6592 1.7 GHz  Octa Core processor with a 1GB RAM, its loaded with the latest 4.2.2 Jelly Bean version of Google Android. However, the striking part is that it is overlain with an exclusive Zopo user interface which gives it a personalized appeal.

Connectivity

ZP1000 uses a WiFi module to connect home and other networks within the range of connectivity. It has full compatibility with IEEE 802.11 b/g/n standards with a frequency band of 2.4 GHz. This is quite a good range and users claim to have found signals with a range of about 20 meters from the location of the Fritz!Box 6360 router. Despite the bandwidth fluctuation, the speed was good enough for everyday internet browsing. With a nano SIM, the phone supports 3G network.

ZP1000 uses Bluetooth 4.0, with a flawless wireless standard. Data can be shared between the phone and computer via Bluetooth. Even the internet music can be rendered by using any external Bluetooth speaker. However, the NFC feature is missing. One can avail the HSPA+ function on ZP1000 while on mobile Internet. Downloads at the speed of 42.2 Mbit/s, and uploads at 11.5 Mbit/s can be done through this. However, this is not a promise for rural areas where network is weak and unstable.

Ports

Though the micro-USB 2.0 port is rather low-end for smart phones, it still supports connectivity with external storage and other input devices. The phone’s SIM slot tray is placed on the left side of the phone and is easy to pry open. The phone supports nano SIM cards, like all hi-end smart phones.

GPS Functions

The GPS receiver of Zopo ZP1000 is not in good shape however, with almost no indoor satellite signals. Conversely, once outside, the receiver signals get upped and remain stable. Route tracking is again not very convincing, but the phone uses Garmin Edge 500, which functions moderately for the phone of its specs.

Camera and Entertainment

Zopo has a 14MP camera with a 5 MP secondary one. However, unlike other manufacturers, Zopo’s camera is what a primary webcam is. The front facing one has a resolution of a high 8 MP that captures pictures at a resolution of 3264×2448 pixels. Thus the selfie camera can be trusted to capture moderate-quality pictures. While it’s not bad, the effects are at times a little too much, and sadly, there is no function that can disable, or at best optimize it.

Thankfully, the rear camera has a resolution of 14.2 MP which is pretty high with a picture resolution of 4352×3264 pixels. What’s noticeable is that the photographs taken through the back camera are sharp and crisp, while the edges lose their clarity. The loss of focus leaves behind a rather distinct mark in there. Though the pictures are averagely clear with well-picked colors, details are vague and often shapeless. Noises are clear in the images taken in low lighting conditions. Thanks to one thing, the video recording can be done in full HD. The filming camera has a resolution of about 1920×1088 pixels, which is non-standard, but still the 16 frames/second is still not bad after all, for the price it comes at.

Battery Life

Z1000 has a 2000 mAh Li-polymer battery that drains at about 1.1 to 1.8 watt in an idle state. It can go up to as much as 5.1 watts when loaded. Unfortunately, users cannot dislodge the battery like many HTC phones, because of the uni-body design of the model.

Pros

• Great looks
• Sharp camera
• Powerful processor
• Affordable price

Cons

• Poor GPS performance

The post Zopo ZP1000 review: a good Chinese Slim phone in a Low-Budget Package appeared first on Gizmochina.

It’s a buyer’s market when it comes to affordable smartphones and it’s rapidly expanding with the rise of the China phone. With ever more Chinese firms joining the race and vying for the throne, get the lowdown with this 4-way China phone showdown.

 The Huawei Ascend P7 with its flagship credentials is arguably the most well known of the four phones, both in terms of the manufacturer and press attention. Our phone comparison will feature the Huawei Ascend P7 going up against the Neo M1, iNew V3 and Zopo ZP1000. How do these young pretenders stack up? Let’s find out.

Huawei’s flagship Ascend P7 brings premium credentials

Design

For 2014, slim is definitely in. Showcasing premium credentials, the Huawei Ascend P7 shares the design language of its predecessor and boasts a depth of just 6.5mm. At 124g, this lightweight flagship features Gorilla Glass 3 front and rear, a double-glass unibody and aluminum sides for a classy combination. Light and superslim, Huawei’s flagship checks many of the right boxes.

The Neo M1 boasts similar premium appeal with an aluminum body that measures just 5.99mm thick, making it the slimmest of the four phones despite a weight of 148g. Wear-resistant third generation Gorilla Glass protects the screen with the manufacturer claiming a 40% reduction in visible scratches.

Joining the catwalk is the svelte iNew V3 with a super slim profile that’s just 6.55mm and weighs just 128g. The V3 takes a leaf out of Sony’s OmniBalance design book however, unlike the metal and glass that defines the Xperia models, the V3 utilizes a plastic shell to minimize weight.

As Zopo’s flagship phone, the ZP1000 measures 143.9mm x 72mm x 7.2mm with a weight of 150g, making it the least slim and heaviest of the phones – however, size and weight are relative and the ZP1000 still conforms to an ultraslim form factor.

The Neo M1 offers solid features at the mid-price bracket

 Screen

The defining feature of today’s phones is arguably the screen and Full HD is considered mainstream for bona fide flagship status.

While all four phones provide a 5.0” display, the Huawei Ascend P7 offers 1080P (1080 x 1920) at a mouth-watering pixel density of 455ppi that exceeds even the Galaxy S5’s 432ppi. Viewing angles are wide with good color reproduction and an excellent contrast ratio. Coupled with top notch image quality and decent sunlight legibility , the Ascend P7 offers a superb viewing experience.

In comparison, the iNew V3, Neo M1 and ZP1000 all bring 720p resolution (1280 x 720) and a still-respectable 326ppi to the table, although the displays look somewhat lackluster compared to full HD goodness.

Raw Power

All of the mobile phones bring plenty of horsepower to the party.

The Ascend P7 utilizes Huawei’s custom HiSilicon Kirin 910T chipset under the hood, pushing four 1.8 GHz Cortex-A9 cores. This compares favorably with the MediaTek MT6582 chipset (1.3GHz quad-core) from Q3 2013 powering the Neo M1 and iNew V3. The Zopo ZP1000 features a MediaTek MT6592 (1.7GHz Cortex-A7 Octa Core) under the hood to ensure apps, games and multimedia shine.

All four devices offer dedicated GPUs (either the ARM Mali-400 MP2 or ARM Mali-450 MP4) for enhanced graphics performance however only the Ascend P7 offers 2GB RAM instead of 1GB. Power users will definitely appreciate the extra memory of the Ascend P7 at reducing lag during app switching and heavier multitasking scenarios.

With Sony-inspired aesthetics, the iNew v3 is quite the looker.

Operating System

The Ascend P7 comes with Android 4.4.2 Kit Kat pre-installed with the EmotionUI v2.3 overlay. The homebrewed interface design eschews the modern design of vanilla Kit Kat for a flat, more utilitarian appearance; the app drawer is completely gone however the overall responsiveness and customizability of Android remains.

In comparison, the other three handsets run the older Android 4.2 Jelly Bean out of the box. The twist to the tale is the dual OS offering of Neo M1 that pairs Android with Windows Phone 8.1. Presently, the official site states that the latter is “not available yet” and “will be finished in a few months” so Android 4.2 is the only flavor available.

Camera

The increasingly competitive nature of smartphones means that manufacturers have upped their game significantly and all four handsets are a case in point.

The Huawei Ascend P7 features a 13MP shooter supported by single LED flash, geo-tagging, touch focus, 360 degree panorama and HDR. Photos appear crisp and sharp thanks to the built-in camera module and the class-leading 8MP front camera should keep selfie fans happy especially with its onboard selfie mode. There’s also a “groufie” panoramic mode for those who enjoy group selfies. Both cameras are capable of capturing 1080p HD video at 30fps.

Neo’s M1 offering also incorporates a 13MP camera with LED flash utilizing a Sony Exmor RS series sensor with a 5MP front camera in tow. Following suit, the iNew V3 offers a 13MP rear camera as well as a multi angle mode where you can take shots around a target which you can move around during editing. The ZOPO ZP1000 brings a 14MP rear camera capable of 1080p HD video at 30fps along with a 5MP front facing camera.

All the cameras would be ideal for all-purpose snaps and, in the absence of special features from the likes of Nokia, the convergent nature of mobile camera technology means that all but the most strict purist will have issues with any of the cameras.

The ZP1000 is excellent for demanding power users.

Battery

Battery life has come along in leaps and bounds with incessant capacity-creep. The Huawei Ascend P7 houses a non-removable Lithium-Polymer 2500mAh battery. Online tests on battery use place the P7 at around the average level although a lot also depends on the individual usage cases.

Naturally there is a careful balancing act imvolved when bringing larger screens, high resolution and powerful CPUs into the mainstream. Manufacturers now understand the importance that customers place on battery life resulting in dedicated power saving modes in each phone.

The Neo M1 and Zopo ZP1000 both come with a non-replacable 2000mAh Lithium battery. This compares to the iNew V3 has the smallest capacity at 1830mAh although it is replacable; some early adopters on the iNew bandwagon have noted that it’s “a struggle to get a day out of the battery”.

Storage

The built-in internal storage capacity is par for the course with all four phones. Multimedia fans will be pleased to hear that the Huawei Ascend P7, Zopo ZP1000 and iNew V3 all come with 16GB onboard ROM out of the box, while the Neo M1 offers 8GB as standard for your storage needs.

It’s worth noting that the Zopo ZP1000 has non-expandable storage, you’re limited to the 16GB, while the Ascend P7, Neo M1 and iNew V3 all provide support for external cards up to 32GB.

Depending on your own requirements and the size of your multimedia collection, this may impact your purchase decision.

Price

The Ascend P7 comes with an RRP of $620 (based on €449) making it the most expensive of the four devices however you do get true flagship features for that price. With an expected release date of June across 31 markets, the P7 will be available in black, white and pink.

Undercutting the P7 by some margin, the Neo M1 has a presale price of just $179.99 at the official online store, or 999 RMB. An intro price of just $99.99 based on a special 50% discount for the first 500 customers predictably saw the phone being out of stock almost immediately.

The iNew v3 matches the M1 with a $179.90 price tag quoted on iNew’s official site and is available to buy now in black, white and gold.

Last but not least, the Zopo ZP1000 is priced marginally higher at $259.99 at the online Zopo Store (for that you also get a free gift package) and the handset available in either blue or gold.

Early Verdict

From a purely tech-oriented view, Huawei Ascend P7 brings an impressive spec sheet and a superslim profile that trumps the other pretenders to the throne; however, within the premium price bracket, it faces serious competition from the usual suspects including Samsung, Sony, HTC and Apple.

At around a third of the Ascend P7’s price, the other three Chinese phones are comparatively affordable with solid, though similar, feature sets for tremendous bang for your buck. They still vie and jockey for position in an increasingly crowded mid-range market space.

With only marginal product differentiation, most users will be content with any of the four offerings. Individual usage cases and personal preferences will naturally apply in determining purchase decisions. However if you want a Chinese phone that scores well in almost everything, you could do worse than the Ascend P7 although be prepared to pay a king’s ransom for it.

Top Slim Phones: Huawei Ascend P7 vs Neo M1 vs iNew v3 vs ZOPO ZP1000

This is my first article for GizmoChina, so I would love to hear from the readers. Which of the four phones take your fancy? Or do you have your sights set on another one? Let us know in the comments below.

Discount code for NEO M1 on NEO official store: neomobile.me

Coupon code: NEOM110

Coupon Price: $169.99 (normal price: $179.99)

The post Chinese Slim Phones Smackdown: Huawei Ascend P7 vs Neo M1 vs iNew v3 vs ZOPO ZP1000 appeared first on Gizmochina.

ZOPO has been announced their new ZOPO 2, ZOPO 2A and ZOPO 2X, and now they also ready to release the new ZOPO Black 3, this phone is becoming their flagship products and the interesting news is, those phone will be running with MIUI ROM for Xiaomi.

According to the news earlier today, the ZOPO Black 3 or also known as ZOPO 8510 will be porting with MIUI ROM and now we have a coupled picture that show the new ZOPO Black 3 with MIUI ROM diplaying on it’s screen. It’s seems the MIUI V5. ZOPO trying to adopt the MIUI ROM since those ROM has good user interface with and Xiaomi has good experience and those ROm is very popular for most Chinese user.

The new ZOPO Black 3 has a good smartphone and slim phone since it’s phone has 7mm body thickness, nice molding body design process and the body material made from metal. The phone is also has variety of color although the name is Black but the clor cover is so colorful.

The ZOPO Black 3 is also packs with 14 megapixel HD camera and according to recent news, the phone is powered by six-core processor from MediaTek. sports with 2GB of RAM and packs with 5 inch screen size with 720p screen resolution.

The moset Chinese smartphone is now turn to multi-core processor and they also choose Mediatek chipset because those chipset is offers high-performance, low-battery consumprion but offers with very affordable price.

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ZOPO is one of the Chinese smartphone that always offers a nice looking design and good quality smartphone, after they sucessfully to offers ZOPO Black or ZOPO 2/2A lineup, and now they ready to introduce another model. ZOPO ZP1000.

The upcoming ZOPO ZP1000 is also known as ZOPO Black 3 and this phone is powered by the first Six-core processor (hexa-core processor) from mediaTek, the chipset is MT6591.

The ZOPO ZP1000 will bring the ice design with silver and blue color covers, the phone will has 7.2mm body thickness. But the recent rumor says that the ZOPO ZP1000 will sale with MT6592 octa-core processor and not using the MT6591 hexa-core chipset. many people says that the octa-core version is targeting to sold outside China while the hexa-core version is offers for domestic market.

The phone will comes with 5 inch screen size with Corning Gorilla Glass cover, the screen has 720p resolution and has 1Gb of RAm and 16GB of internal storage, coupled with 5 megapixel front faing camera and 14 megapixel rear facing camera, and has 2100 mAh battery capacity and running Android 4.2 operating system, support for WCDMA/GSm network.

And according to rumor the phone will be offers for $260 USD price tag.

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