ZTE has got its sights set on the western market with the powerful, yet inexpensive, Axon Elite
ZTE is still a fairly unknown company within the UK, having mainly focused on cheap and/or mid-range handsets until now. It is surprising then to see it ushering in an entirely new smartphone line dubbed ‘Axon’, which will aim to compete with the best devices from premium competitors such as Samsung, LG and Apple. Is this the definitive budget smartphone killer that everyone has been waiting for?
Design
With its striking Ion Gold paint scheme and unique styling, the ZTE Axon Elite is a device you’ll either love or hate, though we’re sure few would call it outright ugly. Overall build quality is decent, with a metal finish and machine cut geometric grilles flanking either side of the screen. The faux leather trim on the top and bottom succeeds in giving a unique look, though the plastic feel of it does little to impress. ZTE never provided the official weight, though our own scales say that it is roughly 169 grams. In the hand, you won’t even notice the extra weight and it actually feels pretty comfortable, with good weight distribution.
In terms of size, the Axon is a pretty well-proportioned device, if a little long. At 154 x 75mm, it is noticeably taller than comparative devices such as the LG G4 and OnePlus 2. The two grilles above and below the screen take up a lot of extra room and there’s quite a bit of dead space in the blackened bezel. This is odd since the overall screen-to-body ratio is 72%, which is actually quite high. The thickness is more impressive, undercutting similar devices at only 9.3mm.
Camera
ZTE has put a lot of effort into its camera, with the same 13 megapixel Sony IMX214 sensor that is featured in the OnePlus One. The dual-camera shooter is one of the standout points of this handset, producing some excellent bokeh effects thanks to its ability to dualfocus. Overall image quality is very good and low-light is acceptable, with plenty of detail and a wide contrast. Colour reproduction was natural, though picture processing was perhaps a touch aggressive on close inspection.
It also comes with an excellent camera application bursting with manual features and various filter modes, which allow for striking effects, though most of them are pretty gimmicky and a bit useless. It is capable of shooting video up to 4K in resolution and results were once again hard to fault overall. The lack of optical image stabilisation is disappointing, though not a deal-breaker. Audio quality is also impressive thanks to the DAC, which we’ll get to later.
The 8 megapixel front camera is a surprise addition and beats most of its nearest competitors on sheer pixel density. While there is a bit of noise under most conditions, fine detail is pretty well retained in all but the worst lighting. Full 1080p recording also makes this great for Skype and video chat.
Screen
The screen on the ZTE Axon Elite is a 5.5-inch 1920 x 1080 IPS panel with good viewing angles and plenty of vibrancy. At 400 DPI, pixilation is absent and images drip with detail. Colour reproduction is also impressive, with only a slight blue hue that will go unnoticed by most users. ZTE is the first company to include a Cornering microbial coating on their screen, which uses a silver ion composition to stop the growth of mould and bacteria. There’s little way to test this feature aside from doing something truly disgusting. In this instance, we’ll just have to take your word for it ZTE.
Performance
Performance on the Axon Elite is very good, with smooth UI navigation thanks to the Snapdragon 810 and 3GB of RAM. The Axon blazed the Geekbench test, with a multicore score of 4538. This puts it ahead of the Samsung Galaxy S6 and just behind the OnePlus 2, both of which are pretty much the pinnacle of performance right now.
Gaming reflects this, with a near-perfect showing while running Ashpalt 8: Airborne. Frame-rate was buttery smooth with zero slowdown on even the highest settings. The device includes 32GB internal storage, which is very generous, while the included MicroSD slot allows you to expand for a further 128GB of removable memory. Heavy users will no doubt appreciate this. ZTE has also thrown in a ludicrous DAC in the new Axon Elite capable of playing back audio files up to 32-bit 192 kHz.
Software
The software on the Axon is a heavily modified version of Android 5.0.2, which features a MiFavor overlay. ZTE has decided to go without an app tray, so you should be prepared for the home screen to get quite cluttered if you’re a heavy user. ZTE has bundled a small bit of bloatware on the Axon Elite, though the apps are minor and don’t really hinder performance or distract from the experience. The custom launcher itself is pretty ugly on first impression, carrying over that same ‘bling’ design theme found in the device aesthetics. This is a shame, as it actually carries quite a few intuitive features that I enjoyed using. The resizable keyboard and emoticon work really, as does the quickmenu for snappy theme alterations.
Battery
The non-removable battery on the new ZTE Axon Elite is a high 3000mAh, which should be more than enough for most users. Our benchmark test returned some spurious results, so we did an extended gaming session to compensate. Over the course of an hour, the battery lost just 19% of its overall charge, which is an excellent result. This should easily last a day of moderate usage and beyond. ZTE has also included Quick Charge 2.0 technology which allows the handset to reach 60% battery capacity in just 30 minutes.
Conclusion
The ZTE Axon Elite isn’t without its quirks but it’s still a quality device with plenty of top hardware inside. The Chinese manufacturer has done a good job with the price-point and it has more than enough juice to compete with similar smartphones such as OnePlus. While it never really excels in any particular area and some of the UI design is a little questionable, this is still a device brimming with features that anyone will be able to enjoy.
Verdict
Plenty of quality hardware components make this device a very enticing flagship killer, while the cheap asking price only helps to cement its position. It faces tough competition from the likes of OnePlus, which is more established, though this device arguably has the more rounded experience. It is just a shame that the design is one of those love/hate things.
Spec Sheet
Os Android 5.1.1
Processor Octa-core Snapdragon 810 (1.5 GHz quad-core and 2 GHz quad-core)
Screen 5.5 inches
Resolution 1920 x 1080 pixels
Memory 3GB RAM
Storage 32GB
MicrosD compatible? Yes, up to 128GB
Rear camera 13MP + 2MP
Front camera 8MP
Video 1080p
Connectivity 4G
Dimensions 154 x 75 x 9.3 mm
Weight 169g
Battery 3,000 mAh