ZTE Axon 7 review: The brightest sound

26 October 2016
ZTE is back in the cheap and cheerful flagship race with the Axon 7. The company has its aim set up high, and we can't help but see the OnePlus 3 as a locked target. The thing is, the Axon 7 has a potential to aim for the stars of the show - the Galaxy S7 and iPhone 7.

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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • sUw
  • 27 Oct 2016

MMK, 27 Oct 2016GSMArena is still listing Non-removable battery as a disadv... moreatleast this one has quick charge 3.0 and good battery life out of the box unlike the iphone 7 plus with sealed battery and no fast or wireless charging.

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • sUw
    • 27 Oct 2016

    Am I the only one who prefers this over the OP3??
    ZTE truly failed to capitalize the 400$ flagship market by making this phone unavailable or hard to get in most places around the globe.
    The only reason OP3 captured the market is because this device failed to due to lack of availability.

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      • AnonD-514671
      • 0@D
      • 27 Oct 2016

      i think you should turn off dolby atmos when you test audio

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • vgM
        • 27 Oct 2016

        MMK, 27 Oct 2016GSMArena is still listing Non-removable battery as a disadv... moreand non removable battery its more has life span battery than removable battery. no no no, Note 7 its just got malfunction, looks at many phones with non removble battery.

          • M
          • MMK
          • nx2
          • 27 Oct 2016

          GSMArena is still listing Non-removable battery as a disadvantage! Seriously?

          I am not ignorant of how inconvenient Non-removable battery is for many. But this a feature of 99% of the flagships nowadays!

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • LaT
            • 27 Oct 2016

            I love the way you call £500/$600+ cheap,it's only "cheap" in comparison to other firms over priced rubbish,as we know,pixel costs less than $300 to make,there are no r&d costs,very little for advertising,not much on licencing,etc rtc so Google/alphabet are making a huge profit.
            And I bet ZTE are on AXON 7,before release,it was touted as an "affordable" high spec device,it wasn't,then ZTE jumped on the brexit profiteering bandwagon,sterling drops 5%,yet every single device maker suddenly uses that as an excuse to up their prices by 15+%,and just like every other greedy bastard,if the exchange rate goes the other way,they will not drop their prices,all makers seem to use the UK as a place to profiteer,most price their phones in us dollars,instead of using the normal exchange rate,most just change the dollar sign for pounds and rake in a massive extra profit,and the idiot moron public in the UK happily Queq..
            up to pay through the nose for the latest load of plastic tatt..
            I liked the idea of the AXON 7,right up until I saw the price..
            Doesn't anyone else find it strange that all the makers claim to never make a profit,except Apple,yet only two majors have vanished,one was suicide by refusing to ever make a decent device (blackberry) thebothet was purposely destroyed by an arsehole from ms (nokia) all the rest are still in business,even HTC,who haven't made a decent selling device since their hd2,12 years ago !! Not a bad record for firms that don't make a profit,I don't count Samsung because any profit their mobile division makes has to be dumped into the holding firm to prop up the rest of its bankrupt divisions,like shipping,old folks homes etc etc etc...
            Of course there is nothing suspicious in an entire industry apparently being pennyless but still trading years later...and It's not being spent on r&d etc,they don't do any,that's left up to the parts makers..

              • M
              • Mk
              • gMC
              • 27 Oct 2016

              This is really surprising for me. I always trust gsmarena reviews, specially audio quality test.i was eagerly waiting for gsmarena to review axon 7. Finally it came specially through headphones and gsmarena guys saying average volume level, audio through headphone not really impress. I mean all over the internet is flooded with the praising of axon 7 sound quality not only speakers but through headphones as well but here picture is totally different. I think gsmarena is tbe first site who saying audio is not that good through headphones. I am really confused now what went wrong.

                • m
                • mir
                • t7X
                • 27 Oct 2016

                Why is the headphone performance mediocre here while at pocketnow its being hailed as one of the best audio performers?

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                  • Allen
                  • FKy
                  • 27 Oct 2016

                  John0087, 27 Oct 2016Actually I was surprised when I read about headphones attac... moreSound is great with stock player and disabled Dolby atoms, there is a glitch now that prevent 3rd party player like Poweramp beta using dedicated DAC, resulting in lower volume and sound quality, check ZTE user forum for update. They are working on a fix like V10.

                    • D
                    • AnonD-357921
                    • mIg
                    • 27 Oct 2016

                    i dont know what to say anymore
                    i have the axon 7 , iphone 7 and galaxy s7 edge
                    the battery of the axon 7 is amazing
                    sound is very loud and clear
                    the earphones are sooo good and they even have some amount of bass in it
                    idk what gsm arena is reviewing
                    and if you are worried about the non backlit buttons just buy the chinese version as i did which had on screen buttons
                    the phone is just amazing

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • RXr
                      • 27 Oct 2016

                      I was looking at the specs of this phone and it seems to be offering the best specs for the given price. However, I have read that AXON 7 has some serious software issues. Also, some people also said that there are some issues with the mic as well. Is this correct? Please help me.

                        • h
                        • haircut
                        • t@S
                        • 27 Oct 2016

                        So if the same phone was made by Apple it would be the best phone of 2016, no faults whatsoever

                          Actually I was surprised when I read about headphones attached to the phone performance, guys, could you tell me which is the alternatives? Great sound in headphones and a good battery.. I really liked this phone but I want a good audio performer

                            • A
                            • Ahong Surahong
                            • vgN
                            • 27 Oct 2016

                            The battery life isn't what I expect for smartphone this size. I hope at least 80 hours of endurance rating. Come on, ZTE, you still got a lot of homework to do!

                              • S
                              • Samsungmaster
                              • t7X
                              • 27 Oct 2016

                              [deleted post]Why don't you make your own site of ch3ap devices and review them? Gsmarena is a god. Top tiers must be first.

                                • D
                                • AnonD-442781
                                • H5W
                                • 27 Oct 2016

                                Maybe not a big deal, but in contrast to the op3, you'd struggle to find a decent case for this, or basically any case tbh.
                                And the op3 has a slicker design too IMO.

                                But it has front facing speakers, expandable storage, better res display and better battery life (main reason it's similar to op3 is because it does poorly for calls, but that isn't that important). The camera seems to be better too.

                                I dunno why I was leaning to the op3, this seems to be the better choice overall. The software experience seems to be better and more convenient on the op3 though.

                                  • s
                                  • sree
                                  • wdK
                                  • 27 Oct 2016

                                  Dear reviewer.. Please review and compare with Lenovo Vibe X3...

                                    • A
                                    • Anom
                                    • RbX
                                    • 27 Oct 2016

                                    Something to point out:
                                    This review seems to be of the Chinese variant. In the US (since its mentioned in this review a few times) it comes with a Stock Android theme for Mifavor, which has the traditional android icons and app drawer.
                                    The US model also came with a screen protector mixed in with the doumentation packets.

                                      • A
                                      • Anom
                                      • RbX
                                      • 27 Oct 2016

                                      AnonD-594303, 27 Oct 2016Where we can buy it in Canada?or online?Exclusive to newegg.ca

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                                        • Anom
                                        • RbX
                                        • 27 Oct 2016

                                        AnonD-393912, 27 Oct 2016I know its a budget high spec, but c'mon. SD820 and no fron... moreSD820 is perfectly normal. The Axon 7 came out 5 months ago, way before SD821 was available. GSMarena is just super late in reviewing this device.