ZTE launched the Axon 40 Pro in China in May this year. Now, the brand announced the launch of the device for the global market. The phone is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 processor and up to 12GB of RAM, and it sports a 6.67-inch FHD+ AMOLED curved screen with a 144Hz refresh rate.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC powers the ZTE Axon 40 Pro. The chipset is coupled with UFS 3.1 storage and LPDDR5 RAM. The device has a cooling (thermal management) system based on graphene.

In the optics department, the ZTE Axon 40 Pro has a quad-camera configuration. The system has a 108MP primary sensor with a 1/1.52-inch size, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera, a 2MP camera with a 4-centimeter focal length, and a 2MP depth sensor. The phone boasts a 16MP front-facing camera for selfies and video calls.

A 5,000mAh battery powers the ZTE Axon 40 Pro. It is capable of 66W fast charging out of the box.

Connectivity options for the ZTE Axon 40 Pro include 5G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1, GNSS, NFC, and USB Type-C. It has an x-axis linear vibration motor, two stereo speakers that support DTS:X Ultra, and an in-display fingerprint sensor.

Pricing and availability

The ZTE Axon 40 Pro is available from ZTE’s official website and costs $499 (about Rs. 39,655/€499/£439)for 8GB+128GB and $599 (roughly Rs. 47,605/€599/£529) for the 12GB+256GB version. 

RELATED

• ZTE Blade V40 Pro with 6.67-inch AMOLED, UNISOC T618 SoC launched in Mexico
• ZTE Axon 40 Ultra Review: The world’s best Under display camera phone
• ZTE Axon 40 Pro now available for purchase in China; price starts at 2,998 yuan ($450)

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As ZTE prepares the launch for its flagship ZTE Axon 40 series in May, the company is not shy in teasing the highlighting features of the flagship Axon 40 lineup before the official launch next Monday.

The 2 latest teasers ZTE has revealed today highlight what the Axon 40 offers for the avid mobile gamer out there.

The first teaser confirms the ZTE Axon 40 series will be equipped with an infrared sensor. The reason for this feature is that gamers can screen share their smartphone content easily on the big screen like monitors or smart TVs without worrying about controls being affected. 

To illustrate, to reduce the latency of the game controls, instead of the higher latency Bluetooth and WiFi connections, ZTE makes use of the infra-red spectrum to give you a console-like experience like the Nintendo Switch and PS5 Controller which both utilise infrared sensors on their remote controllers as well. The gaming content on the other hand is screen shared via Bluetooth or WiFi technology to reduce signal interference.

The 2nd teaser is regarding the screen of the ZTE Axon 40 series. As announced earlier by ZTE, the Axon 40 series will be featuring ZTE’s next-gen under-screen camera, which pushes the screen-to-body ratio of the device to near 100%. The latest teaser shows that the Axon 40 series will also be featuring 120Hz flat AMOLED displays with a 360Hz touch sampling rate. The ZTE Axon 40 series will not only provide an uninterrupted gaming experience on your smartphone with no notches or punch holes, but also a smooth gaming experience with its high refresh rate display.

The ZTE Axon 40 launch event will be held online on May 9th Monday at 2 PM Beijing Time (UTC +8) / 11:30 AM IST (UTC +5:30). For more news coverage on the ZTE Axon 40 series, stay tuned to Gizmochina for the latest updates on the revolutionary technology within China.

RELATED:

• ZTE Axon 40 series teaser poster reveals display features; Axon 40 Ultra render leaks
• ZTE Axon 40 Series to Feature Next-Generation Stereo Speakers
• Get Redmi K50 for as low as $399 on Giztop

(Via)

The post The ZTE Axon 40 series has an Infrared Sensor along with its Underscreen Camera appeared first on Gizmochina.

To truly stand out amongst the crowded Android flagship market in 2022, phone manufacturers not only have to focus on putting in “over the top silicon” into their devices but also to consider putting the bells and whistles that the premium user demands in a flagship like a reliable camera setup, a top-tier AMOLED with a high refresh rate, and of course a set of highly commendable speakers for the users to enjoy.

ZTE may have the answer for you if what you’re looking for is a premium pair of speakers on your flagship smartphone as the company is due to launch its flagship ZTE Axon 40 series in China in May 2022.

Today, ZTE has posted another teaser for its upcoming ZTE Axon 40 series launch in China, and the teaser poster reveals that the Axon 40 lineup is to feature next-generation stereo speakers from the company. The poster reveals that the next-generation stereo speakers could provide an out-of-this-world audio experience as the Axon 40 series has incorporated Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sound and dtsX Ultra sound technology into the devices’ speakers. ZTE even describes the audio experience as a shockingly thunderous one.

As teased last week, the top-end sibling of the Axon 40 series, the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra has been announced to sport a triple 64MP+64MP+64MP camera setup. The main sensor is a 64MP Sony IMX787 main wide lens with OIS support, the secondary sensor is a 64MP ultra-wide OmniVision OV64GB sensor, and the zoom lens is a 64MP OmniVision OV64GB telephoto unit with OIS support as well.

Other highlights to be anticipated for the ZTE Axon 40 series are ZTE’s new under-display selfie camera technology for the lineup, the revolutionary full-screen flat display with a screen-to-body ratio just shy of 100%, and its flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset.

The ZTE Axon 40 series is to be launched in China on May 9th at 2 pm and to know more about the ZTE Axon 40, stay tuned to our news coverage here on Gizmochina.

RELATED:

• ZTE Axon 40 Ultra’s under-screen camera details revealed: 2.24μm pixel fusion technology
• ZTE Axon 40 Ultra to sport triple 64MP cameras with 8K video recording support
• ZTE Axon 40 with under-display camera, bezel-less design appears in leaked image
• realme GT Neo3 vs Redmi K50: It’s a tough choice!

(Via)

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ZTE was the first manufacturer to mass-produce an Under-display Camera phone. And recently, the brand launched the latest generation of Under-display Camera phone— the AXON 30. We all know that the performance of the first generation Under-display Camera on Axon 20 was not perfect. So can the Axon 30 finally give us a complete full screen experience?

Let’s find out!

ZTE Axon 30 Review: Under Screen Display Camera

The experience of using this screen is excellent most of the time. Because there is no hole-punch, the full screen is particularly good when watching videos.

The front camera area performs almost identically to the other areas at normal viewing distances. So performance of the new generation Under-display Camera is much better than the Axon 20, and it’s finally a usable technology.

But! Be warned, if you’re being fussy, there’s a lot more to talk about this screen.

Why?

Well, the display is not really perfect. Not to mention that this screen can’t do 2k resolution. Since it has to add an Under-display Camera, it uses RGB Delta pixels, so the detail is a bit lower than Diamond-like pixels.

Secondly, there will be rainbow lines in the oblique view, and the Under-display Camera area will be easily visible under the influence of these rainbow lines. Even if you look at it from the front, some traces of the Under-display Camera can still be seen, at close range.

In low brightness, this will be even more obvious. Further, In extreme cases, you’ll find the appearance of tiny text around the Under-display Camera area. Since the chip controlling the Under-display Camera area can only control multiple pixels with a single circuit, the text edges will appear noticeably jagged. Of course, these drawbacks are rare in everyday use, so whether you would give up some high-end screen features for a full screen is entirely up to your own preference.

Axon 30 Review: Selfie Camera Quality

Now that we have talked about the quality of the screen, it’s time to talk about its front camera photo quality. If you’ve seen our MIX 4 Hands on Review, you’ll know how bad the Under-display Camera can be. Thanks to the AI processing, the front camera’s photo results are at the passing line. Although many details of the image have been lost, but at least the look and feel is not bad. But when it comes to video recording, which AI can’t handle, it’s probably only a little better than a laptop’s camera. So users who like to take selfies should choose other phones.

ZTE Axon 30 Review: Hardware & Gaming Performance

The Axon 30 features the Snapdragon 870 as its SOC, which we all have come to love. In Antutu Benchmark it scores 688,114, while in 3D Mark it gets a score of 4223, and in Geekbench 961 in single-core, and 3081 points in multi-core.

The Benchmark performance is conservative, but the gaming performance is not bad. PUBG basically runs at full 60fps throughout. While Genshin Impact does not run at full 60 fps, the frame rate curve fluctuates less and there is no frame lock. The average frame rate of 40.7FPS will still ensure a good gaming experience. Brightridge also performs similarly and has good temperature control. If you’re not looking for extreme frame rates, this phone is still pretty good for gaming.

ZTE Axon 30 Review: Rear Cameras

The two large circles in the middle of the camera housing are inspired by the lights of a sports car. The top one is the 64MP IMX682 main camera, and the bottom circles are the 8MP Ultra wide lens, Macro lens and Depth lens respectively.

Main Camera

The main camera performs quite well in the daytime, with bright colors and the samples being clear. At night, the dynamic range is lower in normal mode and the details in the dark are no longer clear. But night mode improves this problem significantly and gives you very good photos at night.

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Ultra-wide camera

Ultra-wide lens and main camera tuning are basically the same, so it has the same problem at night. However, since Ultra wide lens does not have night mode, try to choose a place with better light for taking wide-angle photos at night.

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Macro Camera

The Macro lens of Axon 30 performs beyond our expectations and is much better than the Macro lens of other phones. The image quality is very good and the usability of the photos is very high.

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ZTE Axon 30 Review: Battery & Charging

The Axon 30 comes with a charger in the box, and the phone’s maximum charging power is 65w without wireless charging. It charges to 22% in 10 minutes, 65% in half an hour, and it takes 50 minutes to 100%. Although the body only weighs 189g, it comes with a plastic back and features a 4200mAh battery capacity in exchange. Half an hour of Tiktok consumed 6%, half an hour of 1080p video consumed 4%. One PUBG game dropped the charge further by 11%, while in Genshin Impact the phone lost 12%, and in Brightridge 13%. With this battery life, it looks like if you want to use this phone for an entire day without charging, then you must use your phone less.

ZTE Axon 30 Review: Verdict

So Why did ZTE release the Axon 30 as a phone? Because I think ZTE has big dreams. It set the starting price for a phone with the latest generation of Under-display Camera technology at $500. It’s obviously to popularize this new technology and make more people appreciate how enjoyable it is to have a full screen. We have to thank ZTE for providing an option for those who like to try something new and are on a budget.

So that’s all about our quick review of the ZTE Axon 30!

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The post ZTE Axon 30 5G Review: The Budget Under-display camera phone appeared first on Gizmochina.

Xiaomi recently announced that it will launch the Mi 10 in Q1 2020 as the first Snapdragon 865 flagship. Chinese tech giant ZTE may snatch that crown from Xiaomi as the Axon 10s Pro has been certified by TENAA, making it the first Snapdragon 865 model to receive TENAA’s certification.

In response to the TENAA listing, Lu Qianhao, Director of Consumer Experience Department at ZTE released a statement which suggests that the device will be launched soon. We don’t know how soon but it may be outed before the Mi 10.

EDITOR’S PICK: First Samples from the 108MP Mi Mix Alpha is here & we are not impressed!

ZTE has not been able to fully recover since after the US ban was lifted. The company is looking up to 5G phones to mount a serious push for a slice of the market. The Axon 10s Pro comes with a Snapdragon 865 chipset integrated with 5G. In terms of specs, the AXON 10s Pro uses 6.47-inch display waterdrop OLED display that is integrated with a fingerprint scanner. The display neatly curves towards its left and right edges. The screen offers 19.5:9 aspect ratio as it produces full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels.

The phone comes in three RAM variants – 6GB, 8GB and 12GB. The storage options are 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB. The Android 10 OS comes preinstalled on the device. As the company has already confirmed, the Android 10 OS will be skinned with its latest MiFlavor 10 UI. The Axon 10s Pro has a 48-megapixel + 8-megapixel + 2-megapixel triple camera setup at the rear while there is a 20-megapixel front-facing camera.

The phone is backed by a 3,900mAh capacity battery with support for fast charging. The Chinese firm has already confirmed that the ZTE Axon 10s Pro will come in Black color. The other color variant dubbed as Ochre is also listed on TENAA.

UP NEXT: Oppo F11 series to start Android 10 based ColorOS 7 Beta tests

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ZTE Axon lineup has been really popular since these phones bring a lot of value to the table. I reviewed the original Axon phone 1.5 years ago and I was really impressed with it given its price tag of about $400. Right now you can get this phone for as low as $170 and I believe this is one of the best smartphones you can buy at the moment. Learn more in our full review.

Buy ZTE Axon from Gearbest

ZTE Axon Review: VIDEO REVIEW

ZTE Axon Review: SPECS

ZTE Axon Review: UNBOXING

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ZTE Axon Review: USER INTERFACE

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The ZTE Axon runs MiFavor UI 3.2, which is company’s own take on the Android 5.0.2 Lollipop. Honestly, it is really frustrating that ZTE didn’t update this phone at least to Android 6.0.

The user interface has preserved the aesthetics of the stock Android but ZTE added quite a lot of its own by offering some extra features, kind of cartoonish looking icons and tons of customization options. As usual to the Chinese phones, there is no app drawer and all the apps sit on the home screens.

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ZTE added some functionality with the gesture controls. Also, you can customize the phone by changing transition effects, accent colors and so on.

The system ROM takes a hefty amount of 7.5GB. Fortunately enough, the device comes with the microSD card slot.

Overall, I am very pleased with how the UI works even though it is based on the outdated Android 5.0. Most importantly, the phone is fast and responsive on the daily basis.

ZTE Axon: BENCHMARKS

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ZTE Axon Review: CAMERA

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The camera app is fast and responsive, and it has tons of controls, shooting modes and features. You may take pictures using the auto-mode or choose the “SLR mode” to take a full manual control of the camera. A neat feature is that you can play with the aperture number as well.

In addition, the “SLR mode” allows you to use the secondary 2MP camera sensor and change the focus point and level of it after you take the picture. I was actually really pleased with the results you can achieve with the extra camera sensor. Well, sometimes pictures may look a bit artificial but other times you can get some really nice-looking images.

ZTE Axon Review: IMAGE QUALITY

If you consider that the ZTE Axon costs just $170, the image quality is one of the best in class.The daylight images look great as they have plenty of detail, colours look nice and pictures look sharp overall. Sometimes the dynamic range can be off, though.

The images taken indoors usually look good too but with a bit less lighting, a visible noise kicks in and the amount of detail goes down significantly, like on most of the phones.

As for the low-light shots, they look prety good for such a cheap phone.

I tried to play with the bokeh effect using the “SLR mode” to see what the secondary 2MP camera sensor is capable of. What I can say is that you can get some really nice-looking images but it will not happen all the time. Sometimes some objects may look a bit artificial. Still, this is one of the best dual camera setups on any budget smartphone.

DOWNLOAD FULL-RES CAMERA SAMPLES

ZTE Axon Review: VIDEO QUALITY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAmSKg02nwY

ZTE Axon Review: BATTERY LIFE

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The post ZTE Axon Review After 1.5 Years – Amazing Value for $170! appeared first on Gizmochina.

ZTE is one of the most reputable smartphone makers from China. It’s Axon lineup has been one of the most successful as these phones bring a lot of value for the price. Back in 2015, we reviewed the ZTE Axon Elite and then we praised it for its great overall quality. The phone used to cost about $450 but now you can get it for the amazingly low price of just $169 from Gearbest.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_2uUPzac90[/embedyt]

SPECS

The ZTE Axon is a really beautiful phone that comes with a 5.5″ 1080p display. 

The post Get the ZTE Axon Elite 4G International Edition for just $169 (3 days left) appeared first on Gizmochina.

ZTE has already confirmed that it will launch a new smartphone at IFA Berlin this year. The company has made sure that audio quality is going to be the trademark of its flagships, however, now, it looks like the camera is yet another highlight of the device. ZTE has released a new teaser which shows that the new Axon flagship will feature dual cameras.

UPDATE: Like one of our readers mentioned, it’s also possible that this teaser is for stereo speakers (which would make more sense since this is an audio-centric phone) and not for dual cameras. I guess, we’ll have to wait and see.

Dual cameras have become the new sought out feature in smartphones, with major manufacturers like Huawei, LeEco and Xiaomi releasing new models with such a setup at the back. So, it isn’t a surprise that ZTE is also trying out its luck with a dual camera setup on its upcoming Axon flagship.

RELATED: ZTE Will Release A New Device at IFA Berlin 2016 Featuring Breath-taking Audio

Unfortunately, at this moment, we are unsure about the specs of the device. The launch is just two days away, so we won’t have to wait too long to get those details.

Meanwhile, ZTE recently released the Axon 7 Mini in Europe. You can read all about that from our coverage on the phone.

(via1, via2)

The post ZTE Teases Dual Camera Axon Smartphone, Slated For IFA 2016 Launch appeared first on Gizmochina.

“We’re very excited by our achievement in Europe, especially given that there are so many other smartphone companies that are trying to gain popularity here,” said Jacky Zhang, CEO of EMEA and APAC, ZTE Mobile Devices. “As we continue to launch premium smartphones pegged with an affordable price tag, it makes it easier for consumers to try our devices. We are thankful for the support fans have given us and we’re confident that we’ll soon rise to number four in Europe.”

ZTE seems to be focused on the European market with its mid-range and high-end smartphones. This includes the company’s ZTE Blade as well as the high-end Axon series. The ZTE Axon 7 was recently released in China and the phone is quite the beast with advanced audio capabilities. The company confirms that the Axon 7 will be announced in Europe and it’s positive about the consumer demand for the device in the region. ZTE also revealed that it sold over 30 million Blade series smartphones by the end of 2015 and European regions such as Germany, France, Spain and UK were a few of the key markets.

The company has been increasing expansion activities in Europe in the past few months, establishing cooperation with large retailers for its smartphones. The company has even co-sponsored sports teams like the German football team, Borussia Mönchengladbach. In the next one and a half years, the company aims to increase its market share in Germany to 4%. Then there’s Spain, wherein the company enjoys a share of 4.4%. To further increase brand awareness, ZTE signed with Sevilla Football Club as the official smartphone partner and even sponsored the Copa del Rey Championship. Plus, there was the ZTE Experience Tour that we reported earlier that toured across Europe showing off the company’s smartphones.

So, it looks like ZTE’s promotions to increase its brand awareness in Europe are slowly paying off.

The post ZTE Was The Fifth Largest Smartphone Maker In Europe In Q1 2016 appeared first on Gizmochina.

ZTE Axon 7 smartphone is all set to be announced on May 26, which is just a week away. The company’s executives have already started to reveal a few details about the device, like a top-end Sharp screen with 2K resolution, and a brand new screw-less design. Now, the executives have revealed a new feature on the Axon 7 — advanced Hi-Fi sound quality with dual speakers. 

ZTE had already hinted that audio was going to be the highlight of the upcoming Axon 7 in the invitations sent last week. The invites also came with a brief music clip with the theme “Theatre Sound and More”. So, there is no doubt that the company has put in a lot of efforts to improve the audio output on the device.

Now, ZTE’s Mobile Devices CEO, Adam Zeng reveals a few more details about the Axon 7. He said on Weibo that the company invited a team of conservatory professors to help and advise them in the development of the phone’s audio. In fact, ZTE’s Deputy Head of Strategy & Marketing, Dr Lv Qianhao recently posted a picture of two professors from the Xian Conservatory of Music. There’s no doubt that these two professors were given an early preview of Axon 7’s audio capability. Dr. Lv reveals that their comments have been positive so far.

New reports have even said that ZTE has opened a new lab to design the sound of mobile devices. The company’s own research in this field and with the use of AKM’s latest audio chipset technology, we can expect the Axon 7 to deliver a great audio experience. It is said that the phone will feature the 32 bit AK4961 advanced DSP Codec from AKM.

This new information definitely makes us want to check out the real audio performance of the Axon 7. For that we won’t have to wait too long. The phone will be officially announced on May 26 and soon we will get more details about its special features.

Meanwhile, you can check out the possible specs of the Axon 7 from here.

The post ZTE Axon 7 Will Come With Dual Speakers & Advanced Hi-Fi Audio Chip From AKM appeared first on Gizmochina.

We haven’t seen a new flagship smartphone from ZTE yet, but that may change soon. ZTE CEO Zeng Xuezhong has just revealed the new Axon 2 flagship via his Weibo page, giving us the first glimpse of the upcoming smartphone. The phone will reportedly come with a new design, without any screws at the bottom. The CEO revealed the picture down below and said that the company is aiming for a minimalistic design without the use of the boring old screws down at the bottom.

From the image above, we can see that the Axon 2’s design is going to be very simple. Unlike the Huawei P9 or the iPhone 6S shown in the image for comparison, the new Axon flagship will feature just the USB port and the microphone at the bottom. So, no speakers at the bottom. But that brings us to another question, if the speakers are located at the back of the phone, that may not be the ideal location. We have seen that speakers on the back give out muffled output when placed on a flat surface. We hope that the new design comes with a solution to this problem. But there’s another possibility, the previous TENAA images have revealed front facing speakers on the new Axon flagship, which could be the perfect location. We hope that’s going to be the case here.

Another question brought by this image is how well is the built quality of the Axon 2. Traditionally screws do a good job of keeping the body intact, but since ZTE is coming up with a different design, it would be interesting to see how overall built of the phone.

We have already seen the Axon 2 on TENAA in the past revealing most of the specs details of the device. The ZTE Axon 2 is expected to come with the Snapdragon 820 chipset with 4GB RAM, 64GB of storage further expandable up to 128GB. At the back, the phone will have a 20MP sensor while up front an 8MP shooter. Finally, a 3140mAh battery will be powering the phone.

While the above specs aren’t confirmed by the company, what we know for sure is that the new Axon 2 will come with a top-end Sharp 2K panel, which should also be ideal for VR. You can read more about the CEO’s comments on 2K from here.

The post ZTE CEO Gives Us A Glimpse Of the ZTE Axon 2’s New Design 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.

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.

Chinese smartphone market is full of affordable flagships that both have great specs and performance. However, how do they stack up against each other? This is the comparison of OnePlus 2, Letv Le 1 Pro, ZTE Axon Elite and Meizu MX5, which is brought to you by the TechLineHD. Find out more in the our review.

OnePlus 2 vs. Letv Le 1 Pro vs. ZTE Axon Elite vs. Meizu MX5: VIDEO REVIEW

OnePlus 2 vs. Letv Le 1 Pro vs. ZTE Axon Elite vs. Meizu MX5: DESIGN

Let’s take a look at the design first. These Chinese flagships are not the smallest out there as all of them sport 5.5” displays.

Still, Letv Le 1 Pro is the most compact one followed by the Meizu MX5.

As far as the choice of materials they are all metal-made except for the OnePlus 2 as it uses a combo of a metal chassis and sandstone back cover, which can be replaced to a variety of different ones.

To be honest, only the Letv Le 1 Pro is truly all-metal device as both the ZTE Axon and Meizu MX5 have plastic top and bottom parts for antennas.

As far as the build quality, they are all top-notch. However, Meizu MX5 has a bit rattling buttons but they are far from the deal breaker.

As far as selfie cameras go, OnePlus 2 and Meizu MX5 have 5MP shooters, Le 1 Pro sports 4MP Ultrapixel snapper and the ZTE Axon leads the way with 8MP in terms of megapixel count.

As far as notification LEDs, OnePlus 2 is a clear winner as it has a highly-customisable one.

All devices have fingerprint scanners except for the Le 1 Pro. If you ask me, I would say that the ZTE Axon has the fastest and the most accurate implementation despite being the only one with the scanner on the back. The second is the MX5 and the third is OnePlus 2 as it clearly lags behind in terms of speed and accuracy.

The button placement is very similar on all the phones except for the fact that Le 1 Pro and the Axon phone have volume rockers on the right.

The bottom is the part where the majority of devices have their loudspeakers but only the Axon phone has a front firing speaker grill.

As far as connectivity goes, the OnePlus 2 and the Le 1 Pro are more future-proof as they both use the USB Type-C ports whereas other phones in this review have standard micro USB ports.

All in all, I have to say that all phones have great design and build but my personal preference is the Le 1 Pro as it is the most compact and it is the only truly all metal phone out of the pack. However, design part is always subjective.

OnePlus 2 gallery:

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Check out the OnePlus 2 vs Letv Le 1 Pro comparison review:

Letv Le 1 Pro gallery:

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Check out Letv Le 1 Pro X800 review and video review:

ZTE Axon gallery:

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Check out ZTE Axon review and the video review:

Meizu MX5 gallery:

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Check out Meizu MX5 review and the video review:

OnePlus 2 vs. Letv Le 1 Pro vs. ZTE Axon Elite vs. Meizu MX5: DISPLAY

When it comes to the display, the Le 1 Pro has an edge in terms of sheer specs as it has a 2k panel. However, it is really hard to tell the winner as it all comes to the personal preference e.g. if you like slightly warmer or colder colours or if you prefer the Amoled panel found on the Meizu MX5.

Still, my personal preference goes to the ZTE Axon as it has the most pleasing to the eyes display for me.

OnePlus 2 vs. Letv Le 1 Pro vs. ZTE Axon Elite vs. Meizu MX5: UI

When it comes to the UI, each phone has a different take on Android.

OnePlus 2

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OnePlus 2 runs on the Oxygen OS, which has preserved most of the looks of stock Android. Timely software updates assure that you will get a smooth experience overall.

In short, you are getting a stock Android experience with quite a few customisation options and some useful added features.

Letv Le 1 Pro (original stock Chinese ROM):

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When it comes to the Le 1 Pro, it runs on the Le UI, which is built on Android 5.0.  The Chinese ROM works very fast and there is no lag whatsoever. It has a nice and flat design, some added features and some design inspirations from Apple. However, you have to keep in mind that the Chinese ROM is mainly designed for the Chinese users and the home button serves as a quick access toggle for Letv streaming services. Also, there are quite a few Chinese apps out of the box.

However, the stock Chinese ROM does not have Google Play services pre-installed. Thankfully, there is an easy way of doing that and you may find the detailed instructions in the video below:

Letv Le 1 Pro with the unofficial international ROM:

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You have to keep in mind that many third-party resellers ship the Letv phones with the unofficial international ROM, which has Google Play services out of the box, multi-languages and all the chinese apps removed and that’s a good thing.  However, I don’t recommend this ROM as it comes with lots of bloatware apps that you can’t simply remove, significantly worse UI, battery and camera performance. Please go with the Chinese ROM as you can easily live with the Chinese content on the phone and wait for the official release of international ROM.

ZTE Axon Elite:

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I have the Chinese version of the ZTE Axon Elite for a review and thus it has a Chinese ROM. In short, it runs fast and fluid, it has lots of customisation options and no app drawer. Keep in mind that there are no Google services pre-installed on the Chinese version, but they can be easily side-loaded.

Meizu MX5 (older version of the FlyMe OS):

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Meizu MX5 with FlyMe OS 5.0.1:

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The Meizu MX5 runs on the FlyMe OS, which was recently updated to 5.0 version. This is a Chinese version I have at the moment but to be honest, it doesn’t bother me at all.

I’ve been a fan of FlyMe OS for quite a while as it has tons of customisation options, probably the best working gesture controls on any Android phone and it is very fast and responsive UI overall.

However, the newest version of FlyMe OS has some questionable changes. Well, I really appreciate the recent apps menu that is finally more conventional but there are some odd decision made by Meizu. For example, the gesture controls menu is transferred to accessibility menu… but most importantly, I am absolutely disappointed by the new camera interface.

In the old version, everything was nice and straightforward, you could change the modes by simply swiping up and down very quickly. However, right now you need to go to a separate menu and it takes a lot more time.

Overall, all the UIs of these phones are great to use. At the end of the day, it all comes to the personal preference. I love LeUI, I like FlyMe OS but at the moment I’m in the mood of stock Android, so I’m choosing the Oxygen OS on the OnePlus 2.

OnePlus 2 vs. Letv Le 1 Pro vs. ZTE Axon Elite vs. Meizu MX5: BENCHMARKS

OnePlus 2:

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Letv Le 1 Pro:

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 ZTE Axon Elite:

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Meizu MX5:

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OnePlus 2 vs. Letv Le 1 Pro vs. ZTE Axon Elite vs. Meizu MX5: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

All the phones in this comparison have flagship-grade specs except for the Meizu MX5. It is still quite a powerful package as it has a Mediatek Helio X10 chip, 3GB of RAM and the base model has only 16GB of non-expandable internal storage.

OnePlus 2, Letv Le 1 Pro and ZTE Axon have Snapdragon 810 chips with slightly different clock speeds and different storage options. Keep in mind that only the Elite version of the Axon phone I have has the microSD card slot.

When it comes to the graphically intensive tasks, the Snapdragon 810-powered devices will provide you with the best possible experience. As far as Meizu MX5, it can also handle 3D games quite well but the level of graphics is simply not quite there yet.

OnePlus 2 vs. Letv Le 1 Pro vs. ZTE Axon Elite vs. Meizu MX5: MULTIMEDIA

When it comes to multimedia, consuming HD content is just a blast on all phones.

As far as loudspeakers go, I would choose the Axon phone since it has a front firing speaker, which is loud and has a decent amount of depth in its sound.

I would give the OnePlus 2 the second place, the third and the fourth to the Le 1 Pro and the MX5, respectively.

When it comes to the music via earphones, the Le 1 Pro is simply the best and the Axon phone is the closest competitor as both of these phones have dedicated Hi-Fi audio chips.

The OnePlus 2 and the MX5 are pretty much the same.

OnePlus 2 vs. Letv Le 1 Pro vs. ZTE Axon Elite vs. Meizu MX5: CAMERA and IMAGE QUALITY

You may check the out the camera interface of each phone in the dedicated reviews.

When it comes to the image quality, I tested these phones under exactly the same conditions and you may check out a dedicated in-depth camera comparison video as well, where I also included the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and the vivo Xshot:

Daylight and Indoors Image Quality

OnePlus 2:

Letv Le 1 Pro:

ZTE Axon:

Meizu MX5:

Low-light/night Image Quality

OnePlus 2:

Letv Le 1 Pro:

ZTE Axon:

Meizu MX5:

As usual, the daylight images are pretty much comparable and all phones are capable of producing really nice photos. However, OnePlus 2 manages to do the best job if we summarise the quality of lots of images. It tends to capture a very good amount of details, colours look nice, although they tend to be on a warmer side. Also, contrast and dynamic range are usually handled okay but not all the time.

Other competitors are very close to each other but I’m choosing the  either Letv Le 1 Pro or the Meizu MX5 for the second and third places and the Axon phone for the fourth.

As far as the night shots, OnePlus 2 leads the way as it tends to capture more details and the images have less noise and it is simply the most consistent performer.

The second place goes to the Le 1 Pro but sometimes you can take a better shot with either the Meizu MX5 or the ZTE Axon. Thus, it is really hard to rank these phones. That leads to the conclusion that they are pretty much comparable but the night shots will be a hit or miss.

At the end of the day, the OnePlus 2 is your best bet when it comes to the overall image and video quality.

Check out a detailed 1080p and 4k video comparison of each smartphone in the video below:

OnePlus 2 vs. Letv Le 1 Pro vs. ZTE Axon Elite vs. Meizu MX5: CONNECTIVITY

When it comes to connectivity, I don’t have major complaints regarding call quality, signal reception, Bluetooth or Wifi. The only thing is that the GPS may be less accurate on the Meizu MX5 but the difference is not that significant.

OnePlus 2 vs. Letv Le 1 Pro vs. ZTE Axon Elite vs. Meizu MX5: BATTERY LIFE

When it comes to the battery, OnePlus 2 has a 3300mAh unit, Letv Le 1 Pro and ZTE Axon both have 3000mAh and finally the Meizu MX5 comes with 3150mAh battery.

The actual battery life is pretty much comparable on all phones except for the Letv Le 1 Pro. Still, the maximum screen-on time of almost 5 hours can be reached on the OnePlus 2 but it is only possible when doing non-demaning day to day tasks. The Meizu MX5 comes out second with the average 4-4.5 hours of screen-on time, the Axon phone comes third with around 4 hours or less. Finally the Letv Le 1 Pro reaches only around 3.5 or max. 4 hours of screen-on time if you reduce the brightness significantly.

OnePlus 2 vs. Letv Le 1 Pro vs. ZTE Axon Elite vs. Meizu MX5: CONCLUSIONS

We have finally come to the conclusions and you may ask what’s the best phone out of the pack.

Well, it’s not that easy to answer as all offerings are great bangs for the buck but I will try to rank them according to my personal preferences.

I really care about the camera, the battery life and the fact that the phone has a great software designed for international users. Thus, I am choosing the OnePlus 2.

The second option would be the Letv Le 1 Pro and that is mainly due to the all-metal design and fantastic build quality, good camera and probably the best-in-class audio quality via earphones. Also, due to the recent price drops, the Le 1 Pro is just an absolute steal.

The third place goes to the ZTE Axon as it is also a very well designed phone with mainly metal materials, although those fake leather stitchings may look more appealing for female users.

Finally, I love the Meizu MX5 due to its nice metal design but mostly due to great software experience. However, Mediatek Helio X10 processor is good but it is not as powerful or future-proof as the Snapdragon 810 chip found in the latter 3 phones.

At the end of the day, all phones are great choices if you are looking for affordable Chinese flagship. You really need to ask yourself what are your personal preferences but if you ask me, the OnePlus 2 and the Letv Le 1 Pro are your safest bets.

Check out the OnePlus 2 vs. Letv Le 1 Pro comparison review:

The post Best Chinese Smartphones 2015 Comparison – OnePlus 2 vs Letv Le 1 Pro vs ZTE Axon vs Meizu MX5 appeared first on Gizmochina.

Ultimate Best Chinese Smartphones 2015 Camera Comparison: VIDEO

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQaVwqn-5vA[/embedyt]

Camera is definitely one of the most important features on smartphones.  A lot of Chinese manufacturers stepped up their game in the optics department. However, how do they stack up against each other? This is a 6-way camera comparison between the OnePlus 2, ZTE Axon Elite, Letv Le 1 Pro, Meizu MX5, vivo Xshot and the only non-Chinese flagship – Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.

The full comparison review of the first 4 Chinese flagships is coming soon but this time around I want you to be the judge and let me know what you guys think in the comment section below the video.

Before we dive in to the actual comparison, let’s compare the camera specs of each device.

The OnePlus 2 uses a 13MP Omnivision (OV13860) sensor with f/2.0 aperture, OIS, singe tone dual LED flash and laser-assited auto-focus system.

The ZTE Axon went with the 13MP Sony IMX214 sensor and ZTE implemented a brighter f/1.8 aperture, single tone dual LED flash and OIS. In addition, there is an extra 2MP sensor, which is designed to collect depth information.

Letv Le 1 Pro uses the same Sony IMX214 13MP sensor but it has f/2.0 aperture with OIS and dual tone dual LED flash. Just bare in mind that the current Le 1 Pro unit I have runs on the unofficial international ROM, which, however, performs worse than the Chinese one.

The Meizu MX5 has a 21MP sensor made by Sony (IMX220) and it is the same camera module that has been used on the Sony Xperia phones for years. It has an f/2.2 aperture, dual tone dual LED flash and laser-aided auto-focus system.

Next up in the camera battle is the old vivo Xshot. Although it was released quite a while ago, it was made as a camera-centric device. The Xshot uses the Sony IMX214 sensor with f/1.8 aperture, dual tone dual LED flash and OIS.

Last but not least I included the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge in the comparison since it has one of the best if not the best camera on any Android phone today. My review unit has a 16MP Sony IMX240  sensor (Samsung ships their Galaxy S6/S6 Edge with either Sony or Samsung sensor) with f/1.9 aperture, single tone LED flash and OIS.

Right now sit back, relax and don’t forget to like the video, comment, subscribe and see you in the full 4-way comparison review where I’m gonna say best camera choice.

DOWNLOAD LINKS FOR ALL FULL RESOLUTION CAMERA SAMPLES ARE COMING SOON (currently I’m in the location with the super slow internet….)

The post Ultimate Best Chinese Smartphones 2015 Camera Comparison appeared first on Gizmochina.

ZTE made a big move internationally this year with its brand new Axon flagship. Even before launching Axon in China, the company released it in US. The company has different versions for different regions. The recently showcased Axon Elite version will be the international variant that will be available for purchase in a number of emerging markets in Europe and Asia-Pacific.

ZTE Axon combines good looks, powerful hardware and affordable pricing in one device, which is why the phone was awarded the ‘User Experience Gold Award’ by IDG and German Industry and Commerce Ltd. at IFA 2015 in Berlin. The award comes in the category of Product Technical Innovation Award and ZTE is the only Chinese smartphone manufacturer to receive such an award.

“We are both honored and excited to receive this award for Axon, our new global flagship smartphone,” said Adam Zeng, CEO, ZTE Mobile Device. “Axon represents an unprecedented effort on ZTE’s part to truly put the consumer at the heart of our product development. Today’s award is great recognition of this effort, and we will continue to take user experience to new and unexplored heights with future iterations of Axon.”

As we have previously reported, the ZTE Axon is definitely a value for money device. You can check out our review for more information about the device. Apart from the impressive specs on board, the international and Chinese variant of the Axon is the world’s first smartphone with three different biometric identification options. You can secure the device with fingerprint, voice control and eye-scan. What’s more, these models are also one of the first ones to feature Corning’s Antimicrobial Gorilla Glass.

So, what do you think about the ZTE Axon. Do you think the Axon phone will help this Chinese giant achieve success internationally?

The post ZTE Axon Wins User Experience Gold Award at IFA 2015 In Berlin appeared first on Gizmochina.

ZTE is trying hard to capture the international market with its Axon range of smartphones. The range specializes in high-end hardware at an affordable price tag as compared to competitors like Apple and Samsung. The company had announced the ZTE Axon, Axon Lux and Pro version in US a few weeks back. Now, the company has outed yet another Axon smartphone, called as the ZTE Axon Elite. This particular device will share most of the specs as the Axon model, but will be aimed at the international market.

As for the specs, the ZTE Axon features the same Snapdragon 810 chipset that was found in the US edition, with 3GB of RAM  and 32GB of storage on board. This is further expandable via MicroSD card slot. The phone comes with a 5.5-inch Full HD LCD display with 2.5D glass. As for the camera, you will find dual camera setup (13MP + 2MP) at the back. Up front, theres the standard 8MP wide-angle shooter.

Under the hood, the ZTE Axon Elite features a 3,000mAh battery with Quick Charge. This should be enough for a day’s usage easily. Like the flagship, the Elite will also feature the AKM 4961 Hi-Fi Audio chip inside. So, audiophiles won’t be disappointed. Finally, the phone comes with three different types of biometric identification options: fingerprint, voice scan and eye scan.

The ZTE Axon Elite model will be available for sale for 420 EUR ($468) in France, Italy, Spain, Germany and UK from September 24. Users can purchase the device directly from Ebay for the said price. In the coming weeks, the phone will enter some Asian markets such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong.

The post ZTE Axon Elite Will Be the International Version With SD810 & Biometric Identification appeared first on Gizmochina.

ZTE, one of the largest smartphone makers on the planet, needs no further introduction when it comes to the smartphone game. We usually talk about the ZTE’s sub-brand Nubia and its smartphones but this time around we are looking at the just announced ZTE Axon Chinese model, meaning that it has a fingerprint scanner and some other minor differences than the international variant.

We wanted to say thanks for GIZTOP.com for sending the ZTE Axon for a review.

ZTE Axon Fingerprint Model Review: VIDEO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_2uUPzac90

ZTE Axon Fingerprint Model Review: SPECS

ZTE Axon Fingerprint Model Review: UNBOXING

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ZTE Axon Fingerprint Model Review: USER INTERFACE

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The ZTE Axon runs MiFavor UI 3.2, which is company’s own take on the Android 5.0.2 Lollipop. The user interface has preserved the aesthetics of the stock Android but ZTE added quite a lot of its own by offering some extra features, nicely looking icons and tons of customisation options. As usual to the Chinese phones, there is no app drawer and all the apps sit on the home screens.

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ZTE added some functionality with the gesture controls and various interesting apps like a Karaoke. However, some of these apps are designed for the Chinese users as we have a Chinese version as a review unit.

The system ROM takes a hefty amount of 7.5GB. Fortunately enough, the device comes with the microSD card slot.

 

The ZTE Axon comes with the iris scanner! The company did not really advertise it but this may be a neat feature for some. It was quite interesting to test it out since I have recently reviewed a much cheaper Umi Iron phone, which has the same feature.

The setup was really easy as I just needed to scan my eyes a few times. How does it work? It actually works pretty good. I was able to unlock the phone using a retina security option most of the times and I believe this is one of the better iris scanner implementations I’ve used.

Overall, I am very pleased with how the UI works. It is fast, fluid and very responsive. Also, it has lots of customisation options and some neat features but it is not overblown with gimmicky functionality, which we would never use.

ZTE Axon Fingerprint Model Review: BENCHMARKS

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ZTE Axon Fingerprint Model Review: PERFORMANCE

 

Graphically intensive tasks like gaming (tested with Asphalt 8 and Mortal Combat X) just fly on the ZTE Axon and the graphics look stunning. A flagship-grade performance.

Snapdragon 810 = Overheating? No, not this time. The device gets warm a bit but it does not heat up to uncomfortable levels even after extended periods of gaming. It may feel a bit warmer than usual due to a natural heat dispersion on metal surfaces, though.

ZTE Axon Fingerprint Model Review: MULTIMEDIA

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The ZTE Axon is being advertised as the “First Hi-Fi smartphone in North America”. It may be true but we have already seen a lot of phones carrying Hi-Fi audio chips.

The sound via headphones is indeed very good, which has a very loud volume output, rich tones and a lot of depth. It is undoubtedly one of the best music phones out there.

The sound via loudspeaker, which is located on the bottom right of the device is also very good. It is loud and has a lot of depth and bass for a tiny speaker. Also, the placement on the front side of the device is the best you can possibly think of. A dual stereo speakers would have been nice but hey, you are getting a really good speaker.

Other multimedia options like 1080p or 4k video playback work flawlessly.

ZTE Axon Fingerprint Model Review: CAMERA

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The camera app is fast and responsive, and it has tons of controls, shooting modes and features. You may take pictures using the auto-mode and choose the “SLR mode” to take a full manual control of the camera. A neat feature is that you can play with the aperture number as well.

In addition, the “SLR mode” allows you to use the secondary 2MP camera sensor and change the focus point and level of it after taking the picture. I was actually really pleased with the results you can achieve with the extra camera sensor. Well, sometimes pictures may look a bit artificial but other times you can get some really professional looking images.

ZTE Axon Fingerprint Model Review: IMAGE QUALITY

 

The daylight images look great as they have plenty of details, colours look nice and pictures look sharp overall. Sometimes the dynamic range can be off, though. Keep in mind that all the images where shot at 10MP as it was  a default setting due to wide screen (16:9) ratio. If you want to take 13MP images, the ratio changes to the old-school 4:3.

 

The images taken indoors can sometimes can look good but with a bit less lighting a visible noise kicks in and the amount of details goes down significantly.

 

The night shots are just okay as I expected a bit more from this device considering a great specs sheet of the camera it carries. It may be a software related issue as noise levels could be lower. I tried to play with the aperture and set it to the lowest – f/1.0 to see if it works. The image quality may be a tad better but there is no major improvement here.

 

I tried to play with the bokeh effect using the “SLR mode” to see what the secondary 2MP camera sensor is capable of. What I can say is that you can achieve some professional looking images but it will not happen all the time. Sometimes some objects may look a bit artificially. Still, this is one of the better implementations of duo camera setup I’ve tested (HTC One M8).

DOWNLOAD FULL-RES CAMERA SAMPLES

ZTE Axon Fingerprint Model Review: VIDEO QUALITY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAmSKg02nwY

ZTE Axon Fingerprint Model Review: BATTERY LIFE

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The post ZTE Axon Fingerprint Model Review: A Superb Phone appeared first on Gizmochina.

ZTE manged to impress us all with its powerful ZTE Axon flagship. The overall build quality and specs of the device were top-end which clearly showed that the company was targeting the premium crowd.

Now we have the device in our hands and its feels just as good as we thought. The all metal build makes the device look premium and solid, giving it an edge over other plastic bodies competitors. The design is also a bit different than traditional offerings, kind of like HTC’s One S. You also get the standard ZTE’s Nubia like circular home button.

One important thing to note is that the ZTE Axon comes with an advanced anti-microbial gorilla glass panel from corning. This makes it the first smartphone with such an anti-microbial glass.

Given that we will be testing this phone thoroughly later, we won’t be talking much about the details. This is just an initial hands on of the device and our initial impressions. The Snapdragon 810 under the hood with 4GB RAM made sure that there were no lag whatsoever.

The UI was fluid and everything was responsible and working on the device. Registering your fingerprint would take only about 5-10 seconds and after that you can unlock the phone pretty quickly. On an average, it took around a second for the phone to unlock from the screen off stage using the fingerprint unlock.

Another interesting aspect of the device is going to be its rear cameras. The dual rear cameras (13MP+2MP) was unsurprisingly impressive. There were a lot of options in the manual mode, but even the auto mode worked flawlessly. The pictures captured came out pretty good with natural colors and minimum noise. The focus times were also pretty fast. Overall, we think the Axon comes with a great camera. But for making the right conclusions, we will have to wait for the full review. Just to let you know, the phone even comes with EyePrint ID, eye scanning technology! We need to test that too in our review that will be up next week.

Meanwhile, check out our first hands on with the ZTE Axon from above.  Also, if you have any specific question answered or want any feature tested, do let us know in the comments section below. The phone will be in our labs for the next couple of weeks, so we can test it out thoroughly during that time.

The post First Hands On With The ZTE Axon (Fingerprint Sensor version) appeared first on Gizmochina.

Today, ZTE officially announced the ZTE Axon and the ZTE Axon Lux at the company’s Beijing event. The Axon phone was already announced a few days back in US, so we knew most of the specifications of the device. However, there is one major difference between the international model and the Chinese version. The latter comes with a three different biometric sensors namely fingerprint, voice control and eye-scan. Other specs are more or less the same.

The ZTE Axon Lux is the higher-end version, and features a WQHD 5.5-inch display with pixel density of over 534 ppi. There will be 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM on board along with 128GB of internal storage which is further expandable. As for the standard Axon model, it comes with a 1080p 5.5-inch display (400ppi) and 3GB  + 32GB internal storage (expandable) option.

Other specs are same, which include Snapdragon 810 octa-core chip, Hi-Fi AK4961 chip, dual cameras (13MP+2MP) with dual LED flash and a 3000mAh battery with Quick Charge.  There are a lot of security features as well on both the devices like Fingerprint Scanner, Visit Mode, TrustZone, Eyeprint ID, and Voice Unlocking. This also makes it the first phone to support three different biometric authentication options.

As for pricing, the Axon Lux costs 3888 Yuan while the standard Axon edition costs 2699 Yuan. There will be two color options, namely Ion Gold and Chromium Silver. Users can order the phone from ZTE’s official website or via JD.com.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSmGSQJySp8

You can check out the full tech specs of both the handsets from down below.

ZTE Axon Lux

ZTE Axon 

The post ZTE Axon & Axon Lux Officially Unveiled In China, First Phone With Three Different Biometric Authentication appeared first on Gizmochina.

ZTE has a special event in Beijing later today and our team is already present at the location.

We will be live blogging important updates from the event as and when it happens and it looks like there’s going to be more than one launch today.

We expected the Axon phone to debut in China at the event, but the company has teased us with yet another product, a brand new ZTE smartwatch!

In fact, the company has just sent out three cookies, one shaped like the ZTE Axon (there’s fingerprint sensor at the back!!!), one shaped like a smartwatch and there’s one more, which we still have to figure out exactly what it is. Well, you can have a guess by checking out the images down below.

In case you are curious, this is probably what the Chinese variant of Axon would end up looking, according to TENAA.

ZTE has just revealed all the products that will be launched at today’s event.

Here’s a summary of the products and their specs:

ZTE Axon Smartphone:

Yes, like expected, ZTE will be announcing its ZTE Axon flagship in China today. The company has officially revealed the specifications of the device. They are as follow:

ZTE Axon Lux:

There will be another surprise launch at today’s event, the new ZTE Axon Lux flagship. The phone features slightly upgraded specs as compared to the standard Axon version.

The specs are as follow:

ZTE Axon Watch:

Another interesting addition to the Axon family is the ZTE Axon Watch. The full specs of the watch are as follows:

The company is also going to announce a new smart projector, called as the Spro 2. We will will update more details about the projector soon.

Meanwhile, the Axon event has almost started. We will be updating live during the event, so stay tuned to this post.

Here’s the first image from the event…more to follow soon

ENDED

You can check out the launch articles of these products from the below links:

AXON & AXON LUX

AXON WATCH

AXON MINI (With Force Touch Screen)

SPro2 Smart Projector

The post LiveBlog: We Are Live At ZTE’s Axon Event In Beijing! Stay Tuned [Updated] appeared first on Gizmochina.