ZTE Axon 7 Mini review

[Guest chief_wolfinjo]

ZTE Axon 7 Mini

Build quality & display
When it comes to size, the Mini is only slightly smaller than the Axon 7. In fact, the size difference is hard to notice unless you actually put both phones side by side. The Mini measures 5.8 by 2.8 by 0.3 inches and weighs 5.4 ounces, making it just a bit smaller and lighter than the Axon 7 (6.0 by 3.0 by 0.3 inches, 6.2 ounces), but not nearly as small as the more genuinely miniaturized Sony Xperia X.

The phone hasn't undergone any major changes in design, either. You get the same metal unibody build available in gray or gold, the same gentlyback, and the same button and port placement. a volume rocker and power button on the right side, a USB-C charging port on the bottom, a 3.5mm audio jack up top, and a SIM/microSD card slot on the left (which worked with a 256GB card). The back is home to a responsive fingerprint scanner set below the camera sensor.

The Axon 7 Mini's 1,920-by-1,080, 5.2-inch AMOLED display is smaller, and less sharp, than the 5.5-inch Quad HD panel on its larger sibling. It has 423 pixels per inch, compared with 538ppi on the Axon 7. That said, many other phones in this size range like the 5-inch Google Pixel, and the 5.5-inch Moto G4 also have 1080p panels. The Mini benefits from rich colors, great viewing angles, and a maximum brightness that's easy to see outdoors.

Performance
The phone is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 processor. It's a midrange chipset, nowhere near as powerful as the Snapdragon 820 you get the larger device. There's also less RAM, 3GB instead of 4GB. Unsurprisingly, this results in significantly lower benchmark results. The Mini scores 46,859 on AnTuTu, which measures overall system performance, which is a lot lower than the Axon 7's 141,989. It's on par with other midrange phones like the Snapdragon 617-powered G4 (46,260) and the Snapdragon 430-powered X2 (43,984).

That said, performance is still fairly smooth. While we encountered some stuttering when running lots of apps in the background, it wasn't any worse than you'll encounter on most midrange phones. A software update pushed out during testing seems to reduce many instances of sluggishness. The phone also handles games like Asphalt 8 and GTA: San Andreas without any difficulty.

Camera quality
Camera performance on the Mini's 16-megapixel rear sensor is solid, but it isn't particularly noteworthy. The phone takes good shots outdoors under brightly lit conditions, but compared with the 20-megapixel sensor on the Axon 7, it doesn't capture as much detail. In a shootout with the Axon 7 (in default Auto HDR mode), we noticed more instances of noise, a slower autofocus, slower shutter speeds, and notably worse low-light performance. The 8-megapixel front sensor is and still takes good selfies and video.

 

Youtube Review

 

Connectivity
2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 850/900/1700/1900/2100MHz
4G: FDD-LTE B1/B2/B3/B4/B5/B7/B8/B12/B17/B19/B20 TDD-LTE B38/B40/B41

For more information please visit ZTE Axon 7 Mini.

Thank you :)

Edited January 20, 2018 by chief_wolfinjo