Overview of the smartphone ZTE Axon Mini - oh, these “mini”
Welcome everyone to the iCover blog! ZTE smartphones are not the most common in Russia, but the company often pleases our users with the release of decent and interesting gadgets. However, many smartphones of the brand are not represented on the Russian market until now. Today we will talk about the novelty of the end of 2015, on which the manufacturer makes the main stake in the Russian sales system - ZTE Axon Mini .
As it was possible to understand from the name, this is a smaller version of the flagship ZTE Axon, which, unfortunately, does not yet plan to enter the Russian retail. Axon Mini itself is primarily interesting for its appearance, materials of manufacture, screen and performance. An important advantage is the presence of various variations of device access protection, which today are not often noticeable in the mobile market. The most controversial point is still the price. In the review, we find out the essence of novelty, and begin traditionally with packaging.
')
ZTE Axon Mini comes in a modestly designed package, but at the same time rather large in size - 168 x 92 x 75 mm. At the same time, the manufacturer used high-quality, very pleasant, soft, but textured to a touch textured cardboard.
Opening the box is quite difficult, the fit is very good. On top of this is a smartphone in a soft backing, followed by an envelope with documentation, a transparent plastic case and a clip for removing the SIM tray. At the very bottom of the box is a charger, a USB cable and a wired stereo headset. The quality of workmanship accessories is good. The USB cable is soft, the headset is made using the “non-tangle-free wire” technology, and the charger is perfectly assembled to the touch and made of normal plastic. In general, there are no complaints about the packaging and its quality. After unpacking, a good impression remains, it is clear that the manufacturer did not miss the importance of this “detail”.
The form factor of ZTE Axon Mini is literally no different from millions of other gadgets - the same all-in-one touch-screen monoblock on the front side. But the design is rather unusual, and in the color presented on the review, smartphones are rarely produced. At a minimum, a large number of triangles are strongly striking, which are neatly inscribed in the design of the case, and this creates a pleasant impression on the work of the ZTE designers. The dimensions of the smartphone are not very combined with the concept of "mini", but, nevertheless, they are balanced - 70 x 145.3 x 7.9 mm. Holding a smartphone in your hands, it is difficult to call it heavy, and objectively it’s quite a light device - only 132 grams.
In his hand, the smartphone is arranged with comfort, angles, smoothed, and do not cut into the palm. The side frames are very thin, which adds positive impressions. Indents from below and from above within reason (which, as is well known, have no limits).
The case of the ZTE Axon Mini is made of aviation aluminum. It feels nice to the touch and looks good. Today, the smartphone is available in silver and gold color, and in the future they promise to release a pink-gold model. In general, the smartphone is not brand and not slippery. I want to evaluate the assembly and fitting of parts perfectly, all the gaps are even, no squeaks, nothing bends or bends.
The front panel, albeit not entirely, but still closes the tempered glass. The official website of ZTE does not provide data on the manufacturer of such glass and its protective properties, but during testing it proved to be positive. No flaws appeared on it, a layer of oleophobic coating is clearly present. The finger glides over the surface perfectly.
I draw attention that, despite the presence of the prefix “mini” in the name of the smartphone, the screen in the device is set to 5.2 ″ - inch. Matrix type - SUPER AMOLED, and the resolution of Full HD - 1920 x 1080 pixels. The density of pixels per inch is 424, making it impossible to examine the pixels even from a short distance. The effect of “ladder”, respectively, no. The display unit is built on OGS technology, there is no air gap between the glass and the matrix. With brightness and contrast, the smartphone will have no problems, the image is juicy and bright. And in the dark, you can set a comfortable brightness value so as not to blind your eyes. Very pleased with the deep black color, although it is natural for a matrix of this type. But the disadvantages of this technology, apparently, also have not disappeared anywhere, the white color is a bit dirty. Maximum viewing angles, almost no color distortion. Color rendition is hardly natural. In my opinion, the colors are slightly oversaturated. The display supports up to 10 simultaneous touches, there is also an automatic brightness control. It works fine, the values are generally correct and quite smart.
For details. On the front side there is a front camera, light sensors and proximity sensors, the LED indicator of notifications is located almost at the same level. It lights up approximately once every two seconds, the ignition is smooth. But the settings of the indicator could not be found. Slightly above the display unit under the perforation hidden conversational speaker. And behind the lower mesh there was a conversational microphone.
The main speaker is one, there are no problems with it. It sounds quite loud and relatively clear, but flat. The conversational speaker has a good volume margin, the speech of the interlocutor is picky. There are no complaints about the microphone of the smartphone either. During the conversation, all interlocutors claimed that the speech was legible, and there were practically no extraneous noises. On the back side there is an additional microphone for noise reduction.
Next to the optional microphone, there is a unit on the back panel consisting of a main camera and a dual LED flash. The unit is covered with a single tempered glass. Just below the square fingerprint scanner fits neatly into the design. The location is quite controversial, not everyone will like this decision. Of the benefits, I note his quick work. The bottom is empty, only the manufacturer's logo and the mention that the design of the gadget was developed in the United States.
At the end of the top - headphone output, bottom - Micro USB. On the left above is the power key and the SIM tray. Right volume rocker. The buttons are made of the same aluminum as the case. Pressed with a characteristic pleasant to the ear click, do not play.
In recent years, many have become accustomed to the fact that most Chinese smartphones use MediaTek solutions. Good or bad - hard to say. However, today we will talk about the decision of ZTE to use the Qualcomm chip and how this choice is noticeable in real use.
The ZTE Axon Mini is equipped with a 64-bit SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 MSM 8939. It encloses an eight-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor family, built on a 28 nm process technology and operating at a maximum clock frequency of 1.5 GHz. And the Adreno 405 chip is responsible for the graphics. There are about two RAM available in the 3GB smartphone, in the unloaded mode. The main built-in memory is 32 GB, memory cards are also supported. Available to the user "out of the box" for personal needs in the order of 25 gigabytes.
The smartphone shows itself from the good side in most synthetic tests, but I want to remind you that the ZTE Axon Mini is a gadget with a Full HD matrix, and Adreno 405 is hardly given this permission for full-scale work. In this regard, of course, there is a slight lag in graphic tests when compared with competitors. However, in everyday work there are absolutely no complaints about the device. The interface works smoothly and quickly, while surfing “lags” was not noticed. Applications open quickly, switching between them is also fast and smooth. Test results can be viewed under the spoiler just below.
What about games? In the gaming performance of the smartphone, unfortunately, not an equal player, even with last year's top solutions, but it is quite possible to play comfortably. Dead Trigger 2 is comfortable at medium graphics settings, with the exception of, perhaps, “heavy” scenes, FPS drawdowns are noticeable in them. Playable on the same settings Real Racing 3. No problems with graphics in this game were noticed. GTA: San Andreas podlagivaet on the minimum settings, but if you really want - you can also play.
Everything corresponds to the level of the installed SoC. The advantages of this solution include the weak heating of the device, tactile smartphone is not felt "hot" even when performing complex demanding tasks. The main operating system is Android 5.1.1. On top of the clean system installed shell from the manufacturer, MiFavor, version - 3.2. Root access is closed. An update by air is available. There are no problems with localization, with fonts too. On the plus side, the firmware is not overloaded with third-party applications. In fact, in the presence of only the more useful corporate software and Google apps package. No obvious bugs were identified in the system, everything works stably well.
For familiarization with the interface, traditionally, I will provide a package of screenshots.
Of the most interesting pieces, I would like to mention a wide choice of the possibility of unlocking a gadget. Available option for voice recognition, as well as retina using proprietary technology SkyEye. And, of course, the classic version is unlocking by fingerprint. The first two methods are rather unstable and rather difficult to use in everyday life, unlike the fingerprint scanner. It works really well and without “glitches” - just one finger is enough to make it work, and two times if the smartphone has been inactive for a long time.
Exclusively to the pluses, I'll take the presence of the ability to hide virtual keys in all applications with standard settings tools and change the control buttons in places. The smartphone is generally quite rich in settings, which can be seen in the screenshots.
As for the multimedia component of the smartphone, the exact number of supported video formats was checked using AnTuTu Video Tester. I propose to get acquainted with the results, because they are clearly worth it.
Problems with playing video from the network at the smartphone did not arise. A music player, like other standard applications of a pleasant appearance in the style of a general interface. Applications are easy to use. There are no problems with playing music in various formats.
Subjectively, I liked how the smartphone plays. Testing of the device took place with headphones Sony-MDR 1R. It feels like the gadget is loud, there is a volume reserve, the sound is surround and detailed. No interference or distortion was noticed by me.
ZTE Axon Mini, perhaps, supports most of the communication modules required for everyday use. Namely, the smartphone can operate in GSM / GPRS / EDGE (900/1800 MHz), WCDMA / HSPA + (900/2100 MHz) and LTE (1800/2100/2600 MHz) frequencies. Also there is Wi-Fi (b / g / n), Bluetooth 4.0, and also GPS (A-GPS) / GLONASS. The dialer application and the SMS messenger design are closer to the standard Google applications.
There are no failures or connections related to communication modules. A cold start of GPS takes about two minutes, and a hot one in the area is half a minute or even slightly less. Accuracy of positioning is very good, tracking when moving is smooth. The smartphone provides stable communication with satellites. Stably holds the LTE network, where it is present according to the operator. However, there were no problems with other types of connection (3G, 2G) either. The smartphone completely lost the network, except in the elevator of a residential apartment building, but such a test has not yet passed more than one smartphone.
ZTE Axon Mini is equipped with a non-removable battery with a capacity of 2,800 mAh. With a complete charger, your smartphone charges in about 2.5 hours at up to 100% of the value.
Before the actual operation tests, I conducted a test in AnTuTu Tester and GFX, the results of which are below and demonstrate.
In everyday life, battery life cannot be called the best. With moderately active use, the standard work days come out, of which about 5-5.5 hours of active display. When using Auto-brightness, this indicator can be both reduced and increased by about an hour, it all depends on the operating conditions. In Dead Trigger 2, the smartphone was completely discharged in 3.5 hours with a brightness of 50-60%. With continuous video playback in 1080p, the smartphone lasted 4.5 hours. Night "zhor" in standby mode was minimal and amounted to no more than 3% charge. With a more economical use and a rational approach to performing tasks on the gadget, I will assume that the total work time can be increased to two days and the same screen performance indicators with a spread of ± an hour.
In the ZTE Axon Mini, the manufacturer installed two camera modules, the front one at 8.0 MP and the main one at 13.0 megapixels. The dual LED flash module complements the main camera. There is nothing special to say about the front-facing camera, it takes off quite moderately. There is not a small number of noises and “soap” around the edges. But the main camera shoots already noticeably better, which, however, is not surprising. In daylight, good lighting get a sharp, juicy picture is not too difficult. Not bad the camera will cope with macro modes. In the dark, the quality of the resulting photograph drops noticeably, but, nevertheless, if you wish, you can try to take a good shot in this mode of lighting. True, efforts will have to be done a lot and it is better to switch to manual mode, otherwise nothing will be visible or the picture will “smear”.
The interface of the Camera application is standard for all ZTE gadgets. In general, the application is rich in functional elements that are not difficult to understand. There are various shooting modes, including manual, as well as extensive camera settings.
Actually, during testing, ZTE Axon Mini proved to be a more balanced and interesting gadget. Find weighty flaws in the apparatus itself is difficult. I think Axon Mini will occupy a niche between the current flagships and last year’s. The only nuance is its cost. Well, as the motivation for the purchase will make the curiosity of the consumer or his informed choice. In any case, disappointments should not be expected.
Our other articles and events
As it was possible to understand from the name, this is a smaller version of the flagship ZTE Axon, which, unfortunately, does not yet plan to enter the Russian retail. Axon Mini itself is primarily interesting for its appearance, materials of manufacture, screen and performance. An important advantage is the presence of various variations of device access protection, which today are not often noticeable in the mobile market. The most controversial point is still the price. In the review, we find out the essence of novelty, and begin traditionally with packaging.
')
Package and Delivery
ZTE Axon Mini comes in a modestly designed package, but at the same time rather large in size - 168 x 92 x 75 mm. At the same time, the manufacturer used high-quality, very pleasant, soft, but textured to a touch textured cardboard.
Opening the box is quite difficult, the fit is very good. On top of this is a smartphone in a soft backing, followed by an envelope with documentation, a transparent plastic case and a clip for removing the SIM tray. At the very bottom of the box is a charger, a USB cable and a wired stereo headset. The quality of workmanship accessories is good. The USB cable is soft, the headset is made using the “non-tangle-free wire” technology, and the charger is perfectly assembled to the touch and made of normal plastic. In general, there are no complaints about the packaging and its quality. After unpacking, a good impression remains, it is clear that the manufacturer did not miss the importance of this “detail”.
Design, design features and display
The form factor of ZTE Axon Mini is literally no different from millions of other gadgets - the same all-in-one touch-screen monoblock on the front side. But the design is rather unusual, and in the color presented on the review, smartphones are rarely produced. At a minimum, a large number of triangles are strongly striking, which are neatly inscribed in the design of the case, and this creates a pleasant impression on the work of the ZTE designers. The dimensions of the smartphone are not very combined with the concept of "mini", but, nevertheless, they are balanced - 70 x 145.3 x 7.9 mm. Holding a smartphone in your hands, it is difficult to call it heavy, and objectively it’s quite a light device - only 132 grams.
In his hand, the smartphone is arranged with comfort, angles, smoothed, and do not cut into the palm. The side frames are very thin, which adds positive impressions. Indents from below and from above within reason (which, as is well known, have no limits).
The case of the ZTE Axon Mini is made of aviation aluminum. It feels nice to the touch and looks good. Today, the smartphone is available in silver and gold color, and in the future they promise to release a pink-gold model. In general, the smartphone is not brand and not slippery. I want to evaluate the assembly and fitting of parts perfectly, all the gaps are even, no squeaks, nothing bends or bends.
The front panel, albeit not entirely, but still closes the tempered glass. The official website of ZTE does not provide data on the manufacturer of such glass and its protective properties, but during testing it proved to be positive. No flaws appeared on it, a layer of oleophobic coating is clearly present. The finger glides over the surface perfectly.
I draw attention that, despite the presence of the prefix “mini” in the name of the smartphone, the screen in the device is set to 5.2 ″ - inch. Matrix type - SUPER AMOLED, and the resolution of Full HD - 1920 x 1080 pixels. The density of pixels per inch is 424, making it impossible to examine the pixels even from a short distance. The effect of “ladder”, respectively, no. The display unit is built on OGS technology, there is no air gap between the glass and the matrix. With brightness and contrast, the smartphone will have no problems, the image is juicy and bright. And in the dark, you can set a comfortable brightness value so as not to blind your eyes. Very pleased with the deep black color, although it is natural for a matrix of this type. But the disadvantages of this technology, apparently, also have not disappeared anywhere, the white color is a bit dirty. Maximum viewing angles, almost no color distortion. Color rendition is hardly natural. In my opinion, the colors are slightly oversaturated. The display supports up to 10 simultaneous touches, there is also an automatic brightness control. It works fine, the values are generally correct and quite smart.
For details. On the front side there is a front camera, light sensors and proximity sensors, the LED indicator of notifications is located almost at the same level. It lights up approximately once every two seconds, the ignition is smooth. But the settings of the indicator could not be found. Slightly above the display unit under the perforation hidden conversational speaker. And behind the lower mesh there was a conversational microphone.
The main speaker is one, there are no problems with it. It sounds quite loud and relatively clear, but flat. The conversational speaker has a good volume margin, the speech of the interlocutor is picky. There are no complaints about the microphone of the smartphone either. During the conversation, all interlocutors claimed that the speech was legible, and there were practically no extraneous noises. On the back side there is an additional microphone for noise reduction.
Next to the optional microphone, there is a unit on the back panel consisting of a main camera and a dual LED flash. The unit is covered with a single tempered glass. Just below the square fingerprint scanner fits neatly into the design. The location is quite controversial, not everyone will like this decision. Of the benefits, I note his quick work. The bottom is empty, only the manufacturer's logo and the mention that the design of the gadget was developed in the United States.
At the end of the top - headphone output, bottom - Micro USB. On the left above is the power key and the SIM tray. Right volume rocker. The buttons are made of the same aluminum as the case. Pressed with a characteristic pleasant to the ear click, do not play.
Hardware, performance and software platform
In recent years, many have become accustomed to the fact that most Chinese smartphones use MediaTek solutions. Good or bad - hard to say. However, today we will talk about the decision of ZTE to use the Qualcomm chip and how this choice is noticeable in real use.
The ZTE Axon Mini is equipped with a 64-bit SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 MSM 8939. It encloses an eight-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor family, built on a 28 nm process technology and operating at a maximum clock frequency of 1.5 GHz. And the Adreno 405 chip is responsible for the graphics. There are about two RAM available in the 3GB smartphone, in the unloaded mode. The main built-in memory is 32 GB, memory cards are also supported. Available to the user "out of the box" for personal needs in the order of 25 gigabytes.
The smartphone shows itself from the good side in most synthetic tests, but I want to remind you that the ZTE Axon Mini is a gadget with a Full HD matrix, and Adreno 405 is hardly given this permission for full-scale work. In this regard, of course, there is a slight lag in graphic tests when compared with competitors. However, in everyday work there are absolutely no complaints about the device. The interface works smoothly and quickly, while surfing “lags” was not noticed. Applications open quickly, switching between them is also fast and smooth. Test results can be viewed under the spoiler just below.
Test smartphone in benchmarks, carefully, a lot of traffic
What about games? In the gaming performance of the smartphone, unfortunately, not an equal player, even with last year's top solutions, but it is quite possible to play comfortably. Dead Trigger 2 is comfortable at medium graphics settings, with the exception of, perhaps, “heavy” scenes, FPS drawdowns are noticeable in them. Playable on the same settings Real Racing 3. No problems with graphics in this game were noticed. GTA: San Andreas podlagivaet on the minimum settings, but if you really want - you can also play.
Stability test
Everything corresponds to the level of the installed SoC. The advantages of this solution include the weak heating of the device, tactile smartphone is not felt "hot" even when performing complex demanding tasks. The main operating system is Android 5.1.1. On top of the clean system installed shell from the manufacturer, MiFavor, version - 3.2. Root access is closed. An update by air is available. There are no problems with localization, with fonts too. On the plus side, the firmware is not overloaded with third-party applications. In fact, in the presence of only the more useful corporate software and Google apps package. No obvious bugs were identified in the system, everything works stably well.
For familiarization with the interface, traditionally, I will provide a package of screenshots.
Of the most interesting pieces, I would like to mention a wide choice of the possibility of unlocking a gadget. Available option for voice recognition, as well as retina using proprietary technology SkyEye. And, of course, the classic version is unlocking by fingerprint. The first two methods are rather unstable and rather difficult to use in everyday life, unlike the fingerprint scanner. It works really well and without “glitches” - just one finger is enough to make it work, and two times if the smartphone has been inactive for a long time.
Exclusively to the pluses, I'll take the presence of the ability to hide virtual keys in all applications with standard settings tools and change the control buttons in places. The smartphone is generally quite rich in settings, which can be seen in the screenshots.
As for the multimedia component of the smartphone, the exact number of supported video formats was checked using AnTuTu Video Tester. I propose to get acquainted with the results, because they are clearly worth it.
Video playback tests
Problems with playing video from the network at the smartphone did not arise. A music player, like other standard applications of a pleasant appearance in the style of a general interface. Applications are easy to use. There are no problems with playing music in various formats.
Subjectively, I liked how the smartphone plays. Testing of the device took place with headphones Sony-MDR 1R. It feels like the gadget is loud, there is a volume reserve, the sound is surround and detailed. No interference or distortion was noticed by me.
Wireless interfaces and communication
ZTE Axon Mini, perhaps, supports most of the communication modules required for everyday use. Namely, the smartphone can operate in GSM / GPRS / EDGE (900/1800 MHz), WCDMA / HSPA + (900/2100 MHz) and LTE (1800/2100/2600 MHz) frequencies. Also there is Wi-Fi (b / g / n), Bluetooth 4.0, and also GPS (A-GPS) / GLONASS. The dialer application and the SMS messenger design are closer to the standard Google applications.
There are no failures or connections related to communication modules. A cold start of GPS takes about two minutes, and a hot one in the area is half a minute or even slightly less. Accuracy of positioning is very good, tracking when moving is smooth. The smartphone provides stable communication with satellites. Stably holds the LTE network, where it is present according to the operator. However, there were no problems with other types of connection (3G, 2G) either. The smartphone completely lost the network, except in the elevator of a residential apartment building, but such a test has not yet passed more than one smartphone.
Battery and running time
ZTE Axon Mini is equipped with a non-removable battery with a capacity of 2,800 mAh. With a complete charger, your smartphone charges in about 2.5 hours at up to 100% of the value.
Before the actual operation tests, I conducted a test in AnTuTu Tester and GFX, the results of which are below and demonstrate.
Battery test
In everyday life, battery life cannot be called the best. With moderately active use, the standard work days come out, of which about 5-5.5 hours of active display. When using Auto-brightness, this indicator can be both reduced and increased by about an hour, it all depends on the operating conditions. In Dead Trigger 2, the smartphone was completely discharged in 3.5 hours with a brightness of 50-60%. With continuous video playback in 1080p, the smartphone lasted 4.5 hours. Night "zhor" in standby mode was minimal and amounted to no more than 3% charge. With a more economical use and a rational approach to performing tasks on the gadget, I will assume that the total work time can be increased to two days and the same screen performance indicators with a spread of ± an hour.
Camera
In the ZTE Axon Mini, the manufacturer installed two camera modules, the front one at 8.0 MP and the main one at 13.0 megapixels. The dual LED flash module complements the main camera. There is nothing special to say about the front-facing camera, it takes off quite moderately. There is not a small number of noises and “soap” around the edges. But the main camera shoots already noticeably better, which, however, is not surprising. In daylight, good lighting get a sharp, juicy picture is not too difficult. Not bad the camera will cope with macro modes. In the dark, the quality of the resulting photograph drops noticeably, but, nevertheless, if you wish, you can try to take a good shot in this mode of lighting. True, efforts will have to be done a lot and it is better to switch to manual mode, otherwise nothing will be visible or the picture will “smear”.
The interface of the Camera application is standard for all ZTE gadgets. In general, the application is rich in functional elements that are not difficult to understand. There are various shooting modes, including manual, as well as extensive camera settings.
Shooting examples
Instead of conclusion
Actually, during testing, ZTE Axon Mini proved to be a more balanced and interesting gadget. Find weighty flaws in the apparatus itself is difficult. I think Axon Mini will occupy a niche between the current flagships and last year’s. The only nuance is its cost. Well, as the motivation for the purchase will make the curiosity of the consumer or his informed choice. In any case, disappointments should not be expected.
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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/367453/
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