- Jun 1, 2015
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So I've had the pleasure of using the Axon 7 Mini (gold variant) for the passed 12 days as my daily driver. I put my Galaxy S6 to the side and gave this puppy a try. One of my favorite phones was the HTC One m7 and I've been looking for a phone like it ever since so how was my experience?
First boot went pretty smooth and quick (unlike the pocket now first impressions which was a longgggggg first boot) I've installed the apps on it I needed most to see if it would be a good replacement to my S6 battery-wise
(apps include Instagram, note taking app, calculator, and a music game to test speakers)
I'm gonna have a good section and bad section for my review.
The Good-----------
The phone ran smooth, not the fastest thing in the world but if you are just gonna go on instagram with it, watch a few videos and send some text messages you should be good to go. The phone was slower in other uses tho (seriously a game called opsu that doesn't use that many resources with settings turned down was dropping from 60FPS to about 27 and averaging around 44... unacceptable if you ask me... ran flawlessly on every other phone I've tried)
Speakers was AMAZING! I left my phone playing a song and went to the other side of my house and could clearly hear it, I went to a crowded mall and heard music from the speakers without issue loud as can be. No distortion at full volume
The fingerprint scanner was the quickest I've ever used, there is no point of a lock screen on the phone honestly you never see it.
Phone comes with dual Sim support and SD card support for those who use those features. I never use them so it didn't really add to my experience
1080p res was perfectly fine I watched a ton of YouTube and a downloaded movie with no issue colors were pretty good (I used high contrast mode in the settings)
Phone charged pretty quickly, nothing crazy but faster than other phones I've used
Build quality was top notch! ZTE didn't skimp out on build quality that's for sure
Headphone playback was above average, louder than my S6 meaning it was more enjoyable (especially in my truck with the AUX)
The Bad----------
Like I said above the frame rate skipping is kinda crazy if you ask me, this wasn't some HD graphics intense game it puts up little circles you have to hit to the beat of the music so that was disappointing (note: i only tested 1 game I wasn't gonna use this phone to game with so I only tried something that made sense with the speakers
Phone call experience was horrible, I barely make phone calls but the few that I made was all bad experiences... the phone would lock up if you pressed the speaker option and not actually change to the speaker phone for like 10 seconds pretty crazy
When using the music app it would take about 5 seconds longer than another phone just to bring up the list (something that should be instant, I have 630 songs FTR)
the phone had a lot of stutters and app crashes (T-Mobile visual voicemail crashed on me at least 12 times and it never crashed on another phone for me)
When plugging in headphones and removing them the phone would sometimes think they was still plugged in and not give out any audio unless you used the headphones or restarted the phone
the battery wasn't that great, there wasn't a screen on time viewer but I would estimate I was getting no more than 3hours 25minutes SoT (note: the phone does not come with a quick charger in the box)
the camera wasn't anything special, dull colors washed out images and blown out highlights (front camera was below average)
So was this phone worth $200? for sure! if they make another software update and fix some bugs yes. Would I say this phone is worth $300? no not at all. a lot better options imo
Who is this phone for? if you like hearing music without headphones, watching a lot of YouTube/media on your phone and primarily use texting/messenger apps this phone is for you.
Do not buy this phone if you want to take pictures, videos or make a lot of phone calls on the current update it has
Have any questions? feel free to ask
First boot went pretty smooth and quick (unlike the pocket now first impressions which was a longgggggg first boot) I've installed the apps on it I needed most to see if it would be a good replacement to my S6 battery-wise
(apps include Instagram, note taking app, calculator, and a music game to test speakers)
I'm gonna have a good section and bad section for my review.
The Good-----------
The phone ran smooth, not the fastest thing in the world but if you are just gonna go on instagram with it, watch a few videos and send some text messages you should be good to go. The phone was slower in other uses tho (seriously a game called opsu that doesn't use that many resources with settings turned down was dropping from 60FPS to about 27 and averaging around 44... unacceptable if you ask me... ran flawlessly on every other phone I've tried)
Speakers was AMAZING! I left my phone playing a song and went to the other side of my house and could clearly hear it, I went to a crowded mall and heard music from the speakers without issue loud as can be. No distortion at full volume
The fingerprint scanner was the quickest I've ever used, there is no point of a lock screen on the phone honestly you never see it.
Phone comes with dual Sim support and SD card support for those who use those features. I never use them so it didn't really add to my experience
1080p res was perfectly fine I watched a ton of YouTube and a downloaded movie with no issue colors were pretty good (I used high contrast mode in the settings)
Phone charged pretty quickly, nothing crazy but faster than other phones I've used
Build quality was top notch! ZTE didn't skimp out on build quality that's for sure
Headphone playback was above average, louder than my S6 meaning it was more enjoyable (especially in my truck with the AUX)
The Bad----------
Like I said above the frame rate skipping is kinda crazy if you ask me, this wasn't some HD graphics intense game it puts up little circles you have to hit to the beat of the music so that was disappointing (note: i only tested 1 game I wasn't gonna use this phone to game with so I only tried something that made sense with the speakers
Phone call experience was horrible, I barely make phone calls but the few that I made was all bad experiences... the phone would lock up if you pressed the speaker option and not actually change to the speaker phone for like 10 seconds pretty crazy
When using the music app it would take about 5 seconds longer than another phone just to bring up the list (something that should be instant, I have 630 songs FTR)
the phone had a lot of stutters and app crashes (T-Mobile visual voicemail crashed on me at least 12 times and it never crashed on another phone for me)
When plugging in headphones and removing them the phone would sometimes think they was still plugged in and not give out any audio unless you used the headphones or restarted the phone
the battery wasn't that great, there wasn't a screen on time viewer but I would estimate I was getting no more than 3hours 25minutes SoT (note: the phone does not come with a quick charger in the box)
the camera wasn't anything special, dull colors washed out images and blown out highlights (front camera was below average)
So was this phone worth $200? for sure! if they make another software update and fix some bugs yes. Would I say this phone is worth $300? no not at all. a lot better options imo
Who is this phone for? if you like hearing music without headphones, watching a lot of YouTube/media on your phone and primarily use texting/messenger apps this phone is for you.
Do not buy this phone if you want to take pictures, videos or make a lot of phone calls on the current update it has
Have any questions? feel free to ask
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