ZTE is definitely one of the most respectable Chinese smartphone makers since our reviews have already proven that the company is capable of producing some high-quality products. The ZTE Axon mini was released more than a year ago and it used to cost $300. Now you can grab it for just $150 but you can find a $10 off coupon code at the end of the article. Find out if the ZTE Axon mini is still a decent phone for the price in our full review.

Thanks to Gearbest for sending ZTE Axon Mini for a review.

ZTE Axon Mini Review: VIDEO

ZTE Axon Mini: UNBOXING

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The ZTE Axon Mini comes in a premium looking packaging where all the items are packed neatly. Inside of it you can find the charging plug, USB cable, a pair of earphones, which actually sound pretty good; SIM ejector PIN, some documentation and a hard plastic case.

ZTE Axon Mini: SPECS

ZTE Axon Mini: DESIGN

As far as the design, we are looking at a really premium and well-crafted handset. It is made almost entirely of metal except for those top and bottom parts on the back, which are made of plastic.

The front top and bottom parts may give you an impression that the Axon Mini sports a dual stereo speakers setup. However, the top part is dedicated only for the earpiece, a usual set of sensors, notification LED light and 8MP selfie snapper. The bottom is the place where you can find a front firing speaker along with the main mic. The speaker quality is really good considering the price of the phone.

It may look that the Axon mini has a dual camera setup but it actually has just a one 13MP shooter with dual-LED flash.

Underneath the camera, there is a fingerprint scanner, which is easy to setup, accurate and it unlocks the phone straight from the standby mode.

On the top, there is a headset jack and on the bottom – a regular micro USB charging port. On the right, we have a power key and a dual SIM card and the microSD card slot for storage expansion. On the left, there is a just a volume rocker.

Overall, the build quality is top-notch and I love an all-metal design of the phone. The Axon mini definitely feels great in the hand and I really appreciate the fact that it is easily manageable with one hand due to its 5.2″ display.

ZTE Axon Mini: DISPLAY

As far as display, we have a 5.2” 1080p Amoled panel, which is just gorgeous to look at. Honestly, it almost looks like an LCD display as it has all the good aspects like colour accuracy, brightness of liquid crystal displays but adds a little bit of punchiness and saturation, which is typical to Amoled panels.

ZTE Axon Mini Review: UI

The Axon mini comes with the MiFlavor UI, which is built on top of the outdated Android 5.1. It is a bit frustrating that the ZTE didn’t update this phone to Android 6.0.

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As usual to the Chinese skins, the MiFlavor has quite a few customisation options, gesture controls and a lot of little tweaks and extra features, which work pretty well but it depends on your habits if you will actually use them.

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For example, the Axon mini has the iris scanner but I’m not sure if this feature is actually needed since it uses the front-facing camera to scan your eyes, not the dedicated sensor. That means that this feature works well in daylight but not so great in lower-lit situations.

All in all, the UI runs fast and fluid but again, you have to live with the Android 5.1 for now but the good news is that the phone should receive the update to the Android 6.0 pretty soon.

ZTE Axon Mini Review: BENCHMARKS

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ZTE Axon Mini Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

ZTE Axon Mini comes with an octa-core Snapdragon 616 chip with the maximum clock speeds of 1.5GHz, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage. The chipset may be showing its age but it can still handle a lot of stuff.

The 3D games work well but you have to make sure that any power saving features are off. The graphics look nice although not that spectacular like on flagship phones. I encountered with just a few skipped frames but nothing major. Finally, the phone doesn’t have any overheating issues.

ZTE Axon Mini Review: MULTIMEDIA

As far as multimedia consumption goes, the Axon mini is just fantastic. The front firing speaker is loud and it has quite a lot of depth in its sound. Also, listening to music via earphones is just a blast. The integrated Hi-Fi audio chips really make a difference if you love high-quality sound with lots of depth and rich tones.

ZTE Axon Mini Review: CAMERA

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As far as the camera app, it is fast, responsive and easy to use. It has a few shooting modes to select but the settings menu works only in the portrait mode for some reason.

The 13MP camera can produce some nice and sharp looking images but it is inconsistent.

The positive side is that you will usually get a good looking image, which has accurate colours, decent dynamic range and contrast. If you are not lucky, you may take some daylight images with softer focus and not that impressive level of detail.

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When it comes to the low light shots, some of them are pretty good but again, the camera is inconsistent as some of the images have a huge amount of noise and the level of detail is pretty low.

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8MP selfie shooter is pretty good and it will definitely do the trick for social media needs.

The phone can shoot videos at the max. resolution of 1080p. The most impressive thing is… the quality of sound recording. Other than that, the level of detail is decent but the auto-exposure is too aggressive as it is jumping like crazy. Also, the footage looks shaky despite the fact that I tried to hold my hands as steady as possible. See a video review for the video sample.

All in all, the Axon mini has a good camera but it has some shortcomings like most of the cheap phones.

ZTE Axon Mini Review: CONNECTIVITY

The signal reception has been excellent and the call quality of the Axon phone is good. Also, other connectivity options like Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS work absolutely fine.

ZTE Axon Mini Review: BATTERY LIFE

The 2800mAh non-removable battery performs very well both in terms of active usage and standby. I could constantly get over 4.5 hours of screen-on time using max. auto-brightness setting, browsing the web, checking emails and social media, taking pictures and so on.

ZTE Axon Mini Review: CONCLUSIONS

So, there you have, the ZTE Axon Mini after 1 year. I have to tell you that there is a lot to love about this phone for the price of just $140. A great design and all-aluminum body makes it look like an expensive handset.

Also, the Axon mini is very compact considering today’s standards as it has 5.2” display, which is just brilliant to look at.

Also, the phone has a great battery life, a microSD card slot, good performance, fast and accurate fingerprint scanner and a high-quality sound.

While the camera can take some nice-looking pictures, it is not always reliable, especially when it comes to the low-light photography or video recording.

The biggest frustration is that the phone still runs on the Android 5.1 but there are some news that the Andoid 6.0 update is just around the corner, which is a great move by the ZTE, considering the fact that the phone is more than 1 year old.

At the end of the day, the ZTE Axon mini may not be the most powerful device even in this price range and it has a few shortcomings you have to consider but it is still quite a solid offering for such a low price.

The Gizmochina readers get a special discount with the Coupon: AXGB that lets you buy the ZTE Axon mini for $139.99 (limited 150 Pieces for this price!  Valid to Dec 31)

Phones at GearBest 13% OFF Coupon: GBMBP

The post ZTE Axon Mini Review 1 Year Later – A Great Option for just $140? appeared first on Gizmochina.

ZTE is definitely one of the most respectable Chinese smartphone makers since our reviews have already proven that the company is capable of producing high quality products. We have already reviewed the ZTE Axon Elite and even compared it to other Chinese flagships of 2015.

We were definitely impressed by an affordable yet premium handset and this time around we are looking at a little brother – ZTE Axon Mini. It turns out that it is not only another mini version of a flagship but it is one of the world’s first Android smartphones (along with the Huawei Mate S Luxury Edition) that has a force touch display technology. Find out more in our full review.

Thanks to the ZTE Official for sending ZTE Axon Mini for a review.

ZTE Axon Mini Review: VIDEO

ZTE Axon Mini: UNBOXING

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The ZTE Axon Mini comes in a premium looking packaging where all the items are packed neatly. The contents include the charging plug, USB cable, a pair of earphones, which actually sound pretty good; SIM ejector PIN, some documentation and a soft plastic case, which is always a nice addition to have.

ZTE Axon Mini: SPECS

ZTE Axon Mini: DESIGN

As far as the design, we are looking a really premium and well-crafted handset. It is made almost entirely of metal except for those top and bottom parts on the back, which imitate a leather finish with some fake stitching. It is very subjective and many people may not like it but I have to say that they look okay to me. As a matter of fact, they have a somewhat rubberised finish, which definitely helps with the grip.

The front top and bottom parts may give you an impression that the Axon Mini sports a dual stereo speakers setup. However, the top part is dedicated only for the earpiece, usual set of sensors, notification LED light and 8MP selfie snapper.

The bottom is the place where you can find a front firing speaker along with the main mic.

The ZTE Axon Mini keeps the same design language as its bigger brother but this time around it ditches the dual-camera setup and opts in for a more conventional 13MP shooter with dual-LED flash.

Underneath the camera there is a fingerprint scanner. I’ve setup it up since the first minute I had the phone and I have to say that it is super easy to setup, very fast and accurate to use. Also, the rear placement of the scanner feels much more natural than on the one found on the front. Again, this may be subjective.

On the top there is a headset jack and on the bottom – a regular micro USB charging port. On the right we have a power key and a dual SIM card and the microSD card slot for storage expansion. On the left, there is a just a volume rocker.

Overall, the build quality is top-notch and I love all-metal design of the phone. The Axon mini definitely feels great in the hand and I really appreciate the fact that it is easily manageable with one hand due to its 5.2″ display.

ZTE Axon Mini: Display

As far as display, we have a 5.2” 1080p Amoled panel, which is just gorgeous to look at. Honestly, it almost looks like an LCD display as it has all the good aspects like colour accuracy, brightness of liquid crystal displays but adds a little bit of punchiness and saturation, which is typical to  Amoled panels.

ZTE Axon Mini Review: UI

The Axon mini comes with the MiFlavor UI, which is built on top of Android 5.1. However, the app drawer has been removed and we are not huge fans of it.

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As usual to the Chinese skins, the MiFlavor has quite a few customisation options, gesture controls and a lot of little tweaks and extra features, which work pretty well but it depends on your habits if you will actually use them.

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For example, the Axon mini has one of the best implementations of the iris scanner but I’m not sure if this feature is actually needed. Well, it may be cool to show it off to someone in the bar.

The Pressure Sensitive Display Tech: Features and Functionality

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We’ve seen the latter features on other phones but the star of the show here is a force touch display technology and the Axon mini is one of the first Android phones to have it. Basically, it is a pressure sensitive display and, if we use Apple terminology, it works like peek and pop gesture as the panel recognises the amount of force of your pressure of your fingers.

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The main question here: is it useful? Once you get used to it, definitely yes. Does it work well? Again, when you get used to it, it is. Most of the force touch features are associated with the built-in apps and gallery, and they work pretty well. If the app does not support this feature, the screen will just blink. However, you may have a few accidental touches there and there. Finally, if you asked me if this feature is really necessary, I would say no but it is definitely a fun and innovative way of interacting with your phone. Also, ZTE did a pretty good job with the implementation. We suggest you checking out the video review to see how this technology works.

All in all, the UI is running fast and fluid, and it is really impressive given the early software build of the phone.

ZTE Axon Mini Review: BENCHMARKS

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ZTE Axon Mini Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

ZTE Axon Mini comes with an octa-core Snapdragon 616 chip with the maximum clock speeds of 1.5GHz, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage.

The 3D games work well but you have to make sure that any power saving features are off. The graphics look great although not that spectacular like on flagship phones. I encountered with just a few skipped frames but nothing major.

Finally, the phone doesn’t have any overheating issues.

ZTE Axon Mini Review: MULTIMEDIA

As far as multimedia consumption goes, the Axon mini is just fantastic. The front firing speaker is loud and it has quite a lot of depth in its sound. Also, listening to music via earphones is just a blast. The integrated Hi-Fi audio chips really make a difference if you love high quality sound with lots of depth and rich tones.

ZTE Axon Mini Review: CAMERA

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As far as the camera app, it is fast, responsive and easy to use. It has a few shooting modes to select but the settings menu works only in the portrait mode for some reason.

The 13MP camera can produce some nice and sharp looking images but it is inconsistent.

The positive side is that you will usually get a good looking image, which has a accurate colours, decent dynamic range and contrast.

If you are not lucky, you may take some daylight images with softer focus and not that impressive level of details.

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When it comes to the low light shots, some of them are pretty good but again, the camera is inconsistent as some of the images have a huge amount of noise and the lack of details.

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8MP selfie shooter is pretty good and will definitely do the tick for social media needs.

The phone can shoot videos at the max. resolution of 1080p. The most impressive thing is… the quality of sound recording. Other than that, the level of details is decent but the auto-exposure is too aggressive as it is jumping like crazy. Also, the footage looks shaky despite the fact that I tried to hold my hands as steady as possible. See a video review for the video sample.

All in all, the Axon mini has a good overall camera but hopefully we will see a software update as it needs some more polishing to show its full potential and be more consistent.

ZTE Axon Mini Review: CONNECTIVITY

The signal reception has been excellent and the call quality of  the Axon phone is good. Also, other connectivity options like Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS work absolutely fine.

ZTE Axon Mini Review: BATTERY LIFE

The 2800mAh non-removable battery performs very well both in terms of active usage and standby. I could constantly get over 4.5 hours of screen-on time using max. auto-brightness setting, browsing the web, checking emails and social media, taking pictures and so on.

ZTE Axon Mini Review: CONCLUSIONS

So, there you have, the ZTE Axon Mini Premium with a pressure sensitive display tech. I have to tell you that there is a lot to love about this phone. It all starts with great design and all-aluminum-titanium body makes it look like an expensive handset.

Also, the Axon mini is very compact considering today’s standards as it has 5.2” display, which is just brilliant to look at and pressure sensitive related features are definitely a fun way of interacting with your phone if you get used to using them.

Also, the phone has a great battery life, a microSD card slot, good performance, fast and accurate fingerprint scanner and high quality sound.

However, while the camera experience is mostly positive and you may get some good looking images, we may want to see a software update to improve its consistency. Also, the video recording quality could be a bit better overall.

Finally, the ZTE Axon Mini Premium is definitely a great all-around phone despite a few shortcomings that may be even fixed with future software updates. All in all, given the current pre-order price of just below $300, it is easy to recommend it.

Buy ZTE Axon Mini

The post ZTE Axon Mini Premium Review – Force Touch and Hi-Fi For the Masses appeared first on Gizmochina.

Those who want to try out the popular Force Touch display without having to spend a fortune can take a look at the ZTE Axon Mini Premium. The phone was one of the first models in the market to be announced with Force Touch display and usually retails for around $400. But as a part of a special one-day offer, the phone is currently being offered at just $299.99.

Force Touch brings a lot of new functionality to the device. For example, you can use the device as an electronic scale, or adjust the force with which you touch the screen while gaming or to even set 3D passwords which can identify whether your press is hard or light.

For the specs, the ZTE Axon Mini Premium comes with an FHD 1080p 5.2-inch display. The front features 2.5D glass and with such resolution, the pixel density goes up to 423ppi. Under the hood, the phone features the Snapdragon 616 octa-core chip with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage which can be further expanded via a MicroSD card slot.

At the back, there’s a 13MP Samsung 3M2 camera sensor with PDAF with f/2.2 aperture. The front features an 8MP sensor with f/2.2 aperture and wide angle lens for the perfect selfies. There are a lot of camera specific software features such as auto portrait perfection feature, creative manual mode and automatic face beautification.

Like its elder sibling, the ZTE Axon, the premium edition Axon Mini comes with three different types of biometric security features. So, you can unlock the device with voice commands, or via eye scan or even via the traditional fingerprint sensor located on the back. 

As for other features, there’s the AK4961 chip for better audio output, smart voice assistant, 2800mAh battery and dual SIM card slots with 4G LTE support. The supported LTE bands are as follows: FDD-LTE:800/900/1800/2100/2600.

Overall a great device for its price! You can check out more details from the link given below.

The post ZTE Axon Mini Premium With Force Touch Available At Just $299 For Today appeared first on Gizmochina.

ZTE is definitely one of the most respectable Chinese smartphone makers since our reviews have already proven that the company is capable of producing high quality products. We have already reviewed the ZTE Axon Elite and even compared it to other Chinese flagships of 2015.

We were definitely impressed by an affordable yet premium handset and this time around we are looking at a little brother – ZTE Axon Mini. It turns out that it is not only another mini version of a flagship but it is one of the world’s first Android smartphones (along with the Huawei Mate S Luxury Edition) that has a force touch display technology. Find out more in our unboxing and first impressions article.

Thanks to the ZTE Official for sending ZTE Axon Mini for a review.

ZTE Axon Mini: UNBOXING

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The ZTE Axon Mini comes in a premium looking packaging where all the items are packed neatly. The contents include the charging plug, USB cable, a pair of earphones, which actually sound pretty good; SIM ejector PIN, some documentation and a soft plastic case.

ZTE Axon Mini: DESIGN

As far as the design, we are looking a really premium and well-made design. It is made almost entirely of metal except for those top and bottom parts on the back, which imitate a leather finish with some fake stitching. It is very subjective and many people may not like it but I have to say that they are okay to me. As a matter of fact, they have a somewhat rubberised finish, which definitely helps with the grip.

The front top and bottom parts may give you an impression that the Axon Mini sports a dual stereo speakers setup. However, the top part is dedicated only for the earpiece, usual set of sensors, LED light and 8MP selfie snapper.

The bottom is the place where you can find a front firing speaker along with the main mic.

The ZTE Axon Mini keeps the same design language as its bigger brother but this time around it ditches the dual-camera setup and opts in for a more conventional 13MP shooter with dual-LED flash.

Underneath the camera there is a fingerprint scanner. I’ve setup it up since the first minute I had the phone and I have to say that it is super easy to setup and very fast, and accurate to use. Also, the placement of the scanner feels much more natural than on the front. However, it may be just my habit I acquired after having reviewed tons of phones.

ZTE Axon Mini in pictures:

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ZTE Axon Mini: FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Honestly, I was pretty excited to test the ZTE Axon Mini but I have no reasons why. It may be due to the fact that I really liked the regular Axon phone.

Well, the reasons I like this phone start with a great presentation, which makes you believe that you have an expensive phone.

Of course, none of the presentations/packagings has ever made a phone great but as soon as you pick the ZTE Axon Mini up, you feel a well constructed device, which is compact due to its 5.2″ display, and it definitely feels great in the hand.

Also, I’ve played with the UI, camera (at the first glance the pictures seem to be pretty good), did some other stuff and everything seems to be running smoothly.

The force touch? Yes, it is working on the phone and it seems like a pretty neat feature. However, I need to spend a little more time with the device to tell my opinion.

All in all, the ZTE Axon Mini seems like a really decent offering for the price of just over $300. Stay tuned to our full review.

Buy ZTE Axon Mini

The post ZTE Axon Mini Unboxing and First Impressions: Great Phone with Force Touch Display! appeared first on Gizmochina.

We had reported a few months back that ZTE was working on a 3D Force Touch smartphone called as the ZTE Axon Mini. However, we had little details about the device since the company decided to keep it a secret till now. Since then, we have seen Force Touch on Huawei Mate S as well as a similar technology branded as 3D on the new iPhones.

Now, more details on the ZTE Axon Mini is official, and the specs show that this will be a upper mid-range device. First of all, the phone will be powered by the Snapdragon 616 octa-core chip with Adreno 405 GPU. There will be a 5.2-inch AMOLED display with 2.5D curved glass and full HD resolution. To aid the processor, it will come with 3GB of RAM and 32 of storage. There will be a 13MP camera with PDAF and 5P Lens at the back and an 8MP sensor up front. Finally, the phone will sport a decent 2800mAh battery at the back.

As you can see, the phone features quite impressive specs. The body is made out of aircraft grade aluminum and looks wise, its almost the same as the other Axon family smartphones. You also get the powerful AKM4961 Hi-Fi audio chip inside. Other highlighted features include voice search, biometric fingerprint and eye print authentication.

The phone will be available in three colors, Ion Gold, Chromium Silver at a starting price tag of $379 & Rose Gold at $399. There’s an NBA themed design option as well, but we have not yet received more details about the customization options available.

We had a quick hands on with the ZTE Axon Mini earlier. You can check out the few pictures down below. We hope to bring you a full review of the device real soon.

The post First Hands On With ZTE Axon Mini With Force Touch appeared first on Gizmochina.