Review: Updated: ZTE Axon

By Matt Swider

Introduction, design and display

Update: Make way for the ZTE Axon 7, the 2016 successor to the original ZTE Axon (technically named Axon Pro in the US and Axon Elite in the UK). Here’s a look back at what the now cheaper ZTE phone did.

The ZTE Axon is the best sign yet of Chinese phone manufacturers finally starting to build flagship-level US smartphones at a fraction of the price of the iPhone and Androids.

Here we have a new Android phone with a metal build, 5.5-inch quad HD display and specs that are enough to rival today’s best phones, all for $450 unlocked.

That obviously contrasts with Android handsets that cost $600 at full retail, like the Samsung Galaxy S6, LG G4 and HTC One M9. Even more expensive are Apple’s iPhone 6 at $650 and, for a more accurate size comparison, its 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus at $750.

The ZTE Axon does cut some corners, of course. Its admirable, albeit thick aluminum design isn’t a sleek unibody frame, and it uses Qualcomm’s troubled processor that runs hot and eventually throttles when under pressure. You get what you pay for.

Then there’s …read more

Source:: techradar.com – Phones