ZTE Axon 7 was launched as an alternative to the iPhone 7 and the Samsung Galaxy S7 and we can say that it does some things unexpectedly great. If you are interested just in the main things, what has to be mentioned as positives includes very good design, suitable performance, an excellent battery life, good dual front stereo speakers and a price tag that is highly affordable. The main problems are that camera performance is bad in low light, the smartphone is a little slippery and software is not as great as you would initially want to see.
The Axon Phone was highly publicized and ZTE was eventually highlighted as the manufacturer, coming to the table with the promise of affordability. Value is definitely very high.
Design
ZTE smoothed the edges of the first Axon and although you will not be impressed, we are faced with a much better-looking phone. Axon 7 does not use plastic caps and embraces a unibody made out of aluminum. Character is present and the curved back does feel excellent and elegant in your hands. You get high build quality and even if the present camera hump is not that wonderful, it will not bother most users. Unfortunately, the fact the smartphone is slippery will be a problem for some users, especially those that are used to dropping their phones.
Display
Most reviewers agree that the ZTE Axon 7 offers a display that is much better than what was expected at this price tag. In many cases manufacturers compromise panel quality or resolution to obtain affordability. Axon 7 manages to offer a very good display that is among the best in the industry at the moment, an AMOLED Quad HD 5.5’’. Sharpness is excellent and the colors will look great. The display manages to directly compete with the displays on the high-end smartphones like the Galaxy S7.
What is more surprising than the quality of the display is that sunlight readability is pretty good. A large screen means that most content will be viewed without a problem. Gorilla Glass 4 brings in extra protection against scratches and you receive a consistent premium feeling as you use the display.
Performance
ZTE Axon 7 brings forth the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, having 2 cores at 2.15 GHz and 2 at 1.66 GHz. This is definitely a lot of power and the processor is common in the best smartphones of the moment. It is a true beast that is actually a whole lot better than the 810 Snapdragon model. At the same time, you get 4 GB of RAM, which is a lot more than you would need in most multitasking scenarios. Mobile gaming will not be a problem because of the included Adreno 530 GPU.
Other Facts Of Importance
Axon’s 2016 version was not that great in terms of storage since just 32 GB was available. ZTE Axon 7 now offers 64 GB and microSD expansion possibilities, with the maximum possible being 256 GB. However, dual SIM is no longer available if you use microSD. This is just a trade that would have to be made.
In terms of audio, Axon 7 is also very good. The internal microphones actually have noise cancelling and the Hi-Fi audio recording is going to be a great option for many users. We can say that we are faced with an extraordinary listening experience with this smartphone.
Talking about the fingerprint reader, we can say that it works as expected, being better than Nexus 6P. Connectivity becomes a real option with USB Type-C and you will end up charging the smartphone to half in only 30 minutes, which is definitely a treat.
Conclusions
ZTE Axon 7 is a wonderful phone. It does not really have many negatives. Professional reviewers usually recommend it instead of the iPhone 7 and the Galaxy S7 mainly because of the wonderful value that you get for the money that you pay.
