They only announced that this would be available the other day, but us being eager beavers here at Coolsmartphone (and with me being in Shanghai), I thought it would be worth a visit to ZTE. Before we get into that though let’s see what this thing is all about.
The Axon 7 builds on the previous Axon which we in the UK saw in its Elite guise earlier this year. The Axon in its full form was only available in the US and in some other Asian countries. The Axon Elite was a slightly dumbed down version which made it to Europe with very little fanfare. However, for the Axon 7 all this changes – we in the UK and in the rest of Europe will be able to order the device at the end of July. Head over to Amazon for more details.
So what makes the Axon 7 special then? Well some may say that it is due to the design, which was inspired by BMW. All we know is it down to the price that it is being sold for. The starting price is £359.99 and for that you are getting some great specs like we can see below.
- Network
TD-LTE：Band 38/40/41
FDD-LTE： Band 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/19/20, UMTS： Band 1/2/4/5/8,GSM： Band 2/3/5/8 - Platform
MSM8996,2*2GHz+2*1.6GHz - OS
Android M - Size
151.7*75*7.9mm - Display
5.5WQHD,2560*1440,16M Color,2.5D,Gorilla Gen4 - Camera
Rear: 20MP f/1.8, Dual IS(OIS+EIS)
Front: 8MP f/2.2, 88° Wide Angle - Battery
3250mAh, Quick Charge 3.0 - Ports
3.5mm Headphone Port, Type C, - Memory
64GB + 4GB - Features
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS/AGPS/GLONASS/BEIDOU, Accelerometer, Proximity, Ambient Light, Gyro, Hall, Dual SIM / Micro SD, Fingerprint Reader,Hi-Fi, Dual Speakers, Dolby Atmos Surround Sound
I was able to get a video of the device whilst I was on the show floor of MWC Shanghai. Some of the details of specs were a bit vague at the time apologise for that.
https://youtu.be/ArxkrVrf3WA
The phone feels nice in the hand thanks to its aluminium unibody construction. With stereo speakers at the top and bottom of the phone flanking the 2K AMOLED screen, it is clear that media consumption was something that was thought about whilst this phone was being designed.
The phone features a USB Type C charger and also a 3.5mm headset jack, bucking the trend of new phones not having it.
Around the back, we can find the 20mp camera with f/1.8 and Dual Image stabilisation, (it uses both Electronic and Optical Image stabilisation) below it is the Dual LED flash.
Below the camera module we can see the fingerprint reader which is of the standard capacitive style. It can also be used for future input to perform a variety of different tasks such as the camera shutter key or dragging down the notification shade.
But that is not the only thing that has had a substantial effort put into it. The camera has some very cool tricks up its sleeve. For one you are able to play around with the shutter speed, creating some very cool effects when capturing movement. On the stand they had a little miniature fairground scene setup to allow you to test this out – here is a picture of the setup.
Up front, we have the speakers as I mentioned earlier with some really funky speaker grill designs. This may be where BMW earnt their money!
Finally on the right side is where you find the lock and unlock button and your volume rockers.
So there you have it, the Axon 7 from ZTE. Definitely, one to keep an eye on if you fancy something a bit different.
One last thing – it has been revealed that this is going to the first Google Daydream-ready device as ZTE are one of the projects partners.
This phone could really give the OnePlus 3 a run for its money when it lands in the UK later next month.
Available to order now from Amazon.