ZUK Z1 smartphone review: power and autonomy at an affordable price
Hello friends! In early June, sales of the ZUK Z1 smartphone began in Russia. Recall that Lenovo owns 70% of this young company, which relies on a combination of excellent technical characteristics and affordable prices.
Unfortunately, we were a little delayed in terms of deliveries, but this made it possible to keep the price at a very attractive level. In Russia, a certified Z1 with a one-year warranty, Cyanogen OS, Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, 3 GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal memory costs 14,990 rubles. Want to learn more about the gadget? Welcome under the cut!
At first glance at the ZUK Z1, you immediately feel the spirit of thoughtful minimalism. Visually lightweight design is underlined by a number of convenient solutions. The smartphone is big enough - the screen diagonal is still 5.5 inches. Along the perimeter, the gadget encircles a sturdy and sturdy frame of brushed aluminum. It is difficult to find fault with the build quality: all elements fit together very precisely.
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If you take the smartphone in hand, then the thumb will immediately fall on the volume rocker located on the right side. Just below it is the on / off button of the smartphone. To press you need to make a little effort: it is not annoying at all and gives insurance against accidental positives.
The tray for two nanoSIM cards is located on the left side of the ZUK Z1. MicroSD card slot is not provided. However, the lack of free space is unlikely to worry, given the presence of 64 GB of memory on the built-in flash drive.
The back of the smartphone covers the plastic cover. In the case of the white Z1, it is glossy: it shimmers beautifully, and the fingerprints on it are almost invisible due to the color. In the gray version of the smartphone, this panel is matte - such an invoice was chosen specifically so that users do not complain about greasy stains.
Next to the conversational speaker under the protective glass hidden LED, which notifies of missed calls or new messages. Its color and intensity of blinking can be changed in the settings.
At the bottom of the ZUK Z1 front panel is a rectangular element, which is also the Home button (when pressed) and the fingerprint scanner. The sensor works very quickly and accurately. To the left and to the right of it there are two touch pads with points - such a tricky implementation of the “Menu” and “Back” buttons.
The display of the ZUK Z1 meets all modern requirements despite the modest price of a smartphone. At the heart of the 5.5-inch screen IPS-matrix with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels and a density of 401 pixels per inch. The maximum level of brightness is high - it is comfortable to use a smartphone outdoors in direct sunlight.
The color coverage is wide, which will especially appeal to those who love saturated colors. If not, then the menu to choose from, there are three profiles, among which you can choose the most suitable. The viewing angles are wide, the color distortion when the smartphone is tilted to the side is very slight.
The display recognizes up to five simultaneous key presses, and also has an anti-glare filter and oleophobic coating.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset was released in 2014, and performed well in such great flagships as the Sony Xperia Z3, LG G3, HTC Desire Eye, our own Lenovo Vibe Z2 Pro and many others. It is even a little surprising that in 2016 this chip feels great inside the ZUK Z1 and, most importantly, it shows excellent results in combination with 3 GB of RAM.
Judge for yourself: ZUK Z1 in the overall performance test AnTuTu 6 scores 65,000 points, and this level is enough for today to solve any problems. The system turns briskly, in the browser you can open a bunch of tabs, Full HD video is spinning without slowdowns, even demanding games that can be downloaded from the Play Market, run with a high frame rate.
In the test, the performance of the Geekbench 3 Qualcomm 801 processor with a frequency of 2.5 GHz scores about 1,000 points in a single-core and almost 3,000 points in a multi-core test.
Well, in the test of the graphics subsystem ZUK Z1 scores about 1,100 points - the result is quite decent and only 2-2.5 times different from what the modern flagships give out for 50-60 thousand rubles.
The smartphone can connect to Wi-Fi networks of both bands and, of course, supports LTE. Due to the fact that the processor is not new, the gadget loses a bit in data transfer speed to modern devices. But in practice, without special measurements, the user is unlikely to even have to think about such a nuance.
ZUK Z1 is running Android 5.1. In export devices for Russia and the countries of Europe, the system is supplemented with Cyaonogen OS 12.1, with which many of you are probably very familiar. Well, if suddenly not, then we will briefly tell you what's what. The main feature of the OS is the set of available settings while retaining all the advantages in the form of lightness and stability of the “bare” Android with its branded Material Design.
There are almost no pre-installed third-party programs, an application menu has been saved, a huge number of topics are available to the user, with which you can change both the entire interface and its individual elements.
From the lock screen, you can instantly go to the camera or dial a phone number — to do this, swipe right or left. In this case, you can assign the launch of any other programs based on your own preferences.
The built-in equalizer helps to adjust the sound of the smartphone "by itself".
If suddenly you don’t like the touch buttons on the bottom panel, you can always turn them off, and instead display the “Forward”, “Back” and “Home” buttons on the display.
One of the main features is a huge number of settings for user profiles.
And these are just a few basic functions, in fact, there are much more of them in Cyanogen OS 12. This is a rare system that is really worth reading a few guides to unlock its full potential.
Let's be frank: taking photos is not the strongest side of the ZUK Z1. Nevertheless, the 13-megapixel module is able to take good pictures during the day, in rooms with bright light and at dusk. In the dark and with insufficient artificial light, it is unlikely that we can manage without a flash. For self-portraits meets the front camera with a resolution of 8 MP.
The interface of the Camera application is simple and minimal. There are only two virtual buttons, one of which takes a photo, and the second starts recording video. Plus three icons on the right side. One helps to switch from photo mode to selfie mode, the second one turns the flash on and off, the third one gives access to fine settings (white balance, exposure correction, selection of special shooting mode, shutter self-timer), and the fourth one opens a large menu. In the latter, you can select the metering mode, set the ISO value and turn face detection on or off.
You can download all the photos in the original resolution in one archive using this link .
The skill of the ZUK engineers is impressive: in a thin 8.9 millimeter case, they were able to place a battery with a capacity of 4100 mAh! Even with a rather active use of the smartphone, the employees of our Moscow office, who use the Z1, have a full charge for a day "with a tail."
The smartphone is able to continuously play video for more than 11 hours, and in gaming mode, the full charge of the built-in battery lasts for 5.5-6 hours.
By the way, ZUK Z1 is charging from the modern Type-C connector with full support for the USB 3.0 standard. There is also support for the Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 fast charging standard.
The package includes such an unusual flat USB-cable. It can be carefully folded and secured with a clasp, although in the unfolded state, due to its shape, it is not at all confused.
Prices for ZUK Z1 in Russian stores start at 14,500 rubles and end at around 19,990 rubles. The lower limit is almost close to the prices for the model on Chinese trading floors.
Of course, we recommend buying a gadget in the Lenovo online store. So you will overpay quite a bit (the issue price is 14 990 rubles ), but you will receive free shipping and a smartphone certified for the Russian market with support for the actual LTE bands and the official one-year warranty. Plus one hundred percent confidence that the Z1 will work out of the box under the control of Cyanogen OS, and not the ZUI system made for the Chinese market.
Thank you so much for your attention! If you have questions about the smartphone, we will be happy to answer them in the comments.
Unfortunately, we were a little delayed in terms of deliveries, but this made it possible to keep the price at a very attractive level. In Russia, a certified Z1 with a one-year warranty, Cyanogen OS, Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, 3 GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal memory costs 14,990 rubles. Want to learn more about the gadget? Welcome under the cut!
Design and controls
At first glance at the ZUK Z1, you immediately feel the spirit of thoughtful minimalism. Visually lightweight design is underlined by a number of convenient solutions. The smartphone is big enough - the screen diagonal is still 5.5 inches. Along the perimeter, the gadget encircles a sturdy and sturdy frame of brushed aluminum. It is difficult to find fault with the build quality: all elements fit together very precisely.
')
If you take the smartphone in hand, then the thumb will immediately fall on the volume rocker located on the right side. Just below it is the on / off button of the smartphone. To press you need to make a little effort: it is not annoying at all and gives insurance against accidental positives.
The tray for two nanoSIM cards is located on the left side of the ZUK Z1. MicroSD card slot is not provided. However, the lack of free space is unlikely to worry, given the presence of 64 GB of memory on the built-in flash drive.
The back of the smartphone covers the plastic cover. In the case of the white Z1, it is glossy: it shimmers beautifully, and the fingerprints on it are almost invisible due to the color. In the gray version of the smartphone, this panel is matte - such an invoice was chosen specifically so that users do not complain about greasy stains.
Next to the conversational speaker under the protective glass hidden LED, which notifies of missed calls or new messages. Its color and intensity of blinking can be changed in the settings.
At the bottom of the ZUK Z1 front panel is a rectangular element, which is also the Home button (when pressed) and the fingerprint scanner. The sensor works very quickly and accurately. To the left and to the right of it there are two touch pads with points - such a tricky implementation of the “Menu” and “Back” buttons.
Screen
The display of the ZUK Z1 meets all modern requirements despite the modest price of a smartphone. At the heart of the 5.5-inch screen IPS-matrix with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels and a density of 401 pixels per inch. The maximum level of brightness is high - it is comfortable to use a smartphone outdoors in direct sunlight.
The color coverage is wide, which will especially appeal to those who love saturated colors. If not, then the menu to choose from, there are three profiles, among which you can choose the most suitable. The viewing angles are wide, the color distortion when the smartphone is tilted to the side is very slight.
The display recognizes up to five simultaneous key presses, and also has an anti-glare filter and oleophobic coating.
Performance
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset was released in 2014, and performed well in such great flagships as the Sony Xperia Z3, LG G3, HTC Desire Eye, our own Lenovo Vibe Z2 Pro and many others. It is even a little surprising that in 2016 this chip feels great inside the ZUK Z1 and, most importantly, it shows excellent results in combination with 3 GB of RAM.
Judge for yourself: ZUK Z1 in the overall performance test AnTuTu 6 scores 65,000 points, and this level is enough for today to solve any problems. The system turns briskly, in the browser you can open a bunch of tabs, Full HD video is spinning without slowdowns, even demanding games that can be downloaded from the Play Market, run with a high frame rate.
In the test, the performance of the Geekbench 3 Qualcomm 801 processor with a frequency of 2.5 GHz scores about 1,000 points in a single-core and almost 3,000 points in a multi-core test.
Well, in the test of the graphics subsystem ZUK Z1 scores about 1,100 points - the result is quite decent and only 2-2.5 times different from what the modern flagships give out for 50-60 thousand rubles.
The smartphone can connect to Wi-Fi networks of both bands and, of course, supports LTE. Due to the fact that the processor is not new, the gadget loses a bit in data transfer speed to modern devices. But in practice, without special measurements, the user is unlikely to even have to think about such a nuance.
System and shell
ZUK Z1 is running Android 5.1. In export devices for Russia and the countries of Europe, the system is supplemented with Cyaonogen OS 12.1, with which many of you are probably very familiar. Well, if suddenly not, then we will briefly tell you what's what. The main feature of the OS is the set of available settings while retaining all the advantages in the form of lightness and stability of the “bare” Android with its branded Material Design.
There are almost no pre-installed third-party programs, an application menu has been saved, a huge number of topics are available to the user, with which you can change both the entire interface and its individual elements.
From the lock screen, you can instantly go to the camera or dial a phone number — to do this, swipe right or left. In this case, you can assign the launch of any other programs based on your own preferences.
The built-in equalizer helps to adjust the sound of the smartphone "by itself".
If suddenly you don’t like the touch buttons on the bottom panel, you can always turn them off, and instead display the “Forward”, “Back” and “Home” buttons on the display.
One of the main features is a huge number of settings for user profiles.
And these are just a few basic functions, in fact, there are much more of them in Cyanogen OS 12. This is a rare system that is really worth reading a few guides to unlock its full potential.
Camera
Let's be frank: taking photos is not the strongest side of the ZUK Z1. Nevertheless, the 13-megapixel module is able to take good pictures during the day, in rooms with bright light and at dusk. In the dark and with insufficient artificial light, it is unlikely that we can manage without a flash. For self-portraits meets the front camera with a resolution of 8 MP.
The interface of the Camera application is simple and minimal. There are only two virtual buttons, one of which takes a photo, and the second starts recording video. Plus three icons on the right side. One helps to switch from photo mode to selfie mode, the second one turns the flash on and off, the third one gives access to fine settings (white balance, exposure correction, selection of special shooting mode, shutter self-timer), and the fourth one opens a large menu. In the latter, you can select the metering mode, set the ISO value and turn face detection on or off.
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Autonomy
The skill of the ZUK engineers is impressive: in a thin 8.9 millimeter case, they were able to place a battery with a capacity of 4100 mAh! Even with a rather active use of the smartphone, the employees of our Moscow office, who use the Z1, have a full charge for a day "with a tail."
The smartphone is able to continuously play video for more than 11 hours, and in gaming mode, the full charge of the built-in battery lasts for 5.5-6 hours.
By the way, ZUK Z1 is charging from the modern Type-C connector with full support for the USB 3.0 standard. There is also support for the Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 fast charging standard.
The package includes such an unusual flat USB-cable. It can be carefully folded and secured with a clasp, although in the unfolded state, due to its shape, it is not at all confused.
How much and where to buy?
Prices for ZUK Z1 in Russian stores start at 14,500 rubles and end at around 19,990 rubles. The lower limit is almost close to the prices for the model on Chinese trading floors.
Of course, we recommend buying a gadget in the Lenovo online store. So you will overpay quite a bit (the issue price is 14 990 rubles ), but you will receive free shipping and a smartphone certified for the Russian market with support for the actual LTE bands and the official one-year warranty. Plus one hundred percent confidence that the Z1 will work out of the box under the control of Cyanogen OS, and not the ZUI system made for the Chinese market.
Thank you so much for your attention! If you have questions about the smartphone, we will be happy to answer them in the comments.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/395693/
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