ZTE Axon 7

Skripka said:
A review posted in August is still running May security patch....Well that clarifies how good ZTE is about updates, now don't it.

From what I've read the rooting scene is non-existent on their phones, so you're stuck with what you do get and don't get AFAIK.
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What OEM issues monthly security patches, besides Google?

From what I see it has been non existent because ZTE never offered kernels or a method to unlocked bootloaders. Plus, I dont think the phones were good enough to warrant a scene dev to commit time to it. IMHO, and I said this before, it looks like ZTE wants to steal some of One+'s lime light and they are essentially mirroring everything they are doing. I wouldnt be surprised if they get a big name rom chef to cook something up for the community just like One+ did. If I had to guess my bet is that as soon as someone on the scene unlocks one phone they will figure out how to unlock all of them and then restoring it to factory for warranty service will be a none-issue.

In any case, I expect to get the phone next week and i'll judge for myself. I can even try to make a review for you guys if you want, or maybe a Tiny Chat and we could all look at it together.

Worst case scenario, its a 90 day hassle free return if anything and pick up a One+3.
 
The Lurker said:
What OEM issues monthly security patches, besides Google?

From what I see it has been non existent because ZTE never offered kernels or a method to unlocked bootloaders. Plus, I dont think the phones were good enough to warrant a scene dev to commit time to it. IMHO, and I said this before, it looks like ZTE wants to steal some of One+'s lime light and they are essentially mirroring everything they are doing. I wouldnt be surprised if they get a big name rom chef to cook something up for the community just like One+ did. If I had to guess my bet is that as soon as someone on the scene unlocks one phone they will figure out how to unlock all of them and then restoring it to factory for warranty service will be a none-issue.

In any case, I expect to get the phone next week and i'll judge for myself. I can even try to make a review for you guys if you want, or maybe a Tiny Chat and we could all look at it together.

Worst case scenario, its a 90 day hassle free return if anything and pick up a One+3.
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Well they seem to be going after the stock-Android scene which is pretty much the sole realm of the Nexus brand. Hence my comparison wrt updates. If there was any hope it could be ROM'd and have a dev community around it, I'd be excited especially for the price. Why a (minor) Chinese OEM looking to break into the Nexus market locks their bootloader is beyond stupid. It really makes no sense from any perspective.

AFAIK past ZTE devices have been very problematic wrt root and bootloader unlock. Why these tools want to intentionally stifle their product popularity with the very market demographic they are after is bizarre.
 
IMHO they are not targeting the Nexus line. The nexus line is a development platform.
People that buy a Nexus dont cross shop a Samsung or HTC for the same reason.
They may be trying to compete with the likes of Samsung, Apple and LG. The hardware certainly does, but the marketing doesnt.

As far as the unlocking. If I had to guess its for the same reason Apple, Samsung and LG dont want to allow users to root their phones. They want to ensure compatibility, stability, control and reduce the likelihood of a device coming back to them. Its already a cheap device, I imagine exchanging tons of them would affect their profits. I support this conclusion with the voiding of the warranty after the unlock. Which is not unheard of, all the big players have the same policy. HTC for example, offers an unlock right through their site and voids the warranty on the spot. The others just dont honor the warranty if they receive the device and determine it was unlocked.

The modder community is small and thats not where they will make their money. It is certainly a huge plus they are listening to the request for an unlocked boot loader. But at the end of the day ZTE is trying to break into the market to undercut the big players and they are modelling their methods after One Plus. My only question is, why isnt the phone being offered through the carriers? If I had to guess, its the price. If Tmobile and ATT started offering this phone in their stores I bet half the people would get one over a Samsung and that would hurt whatever cut the carrier gets for shilling the big name brands.
 
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Skripka said:
Why a (minor) Chinese OEM looking to break into the Nexus market locks their bootloader is beyond stupid.
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In another thread Chang3d brought up an interesting point. He pointed out that the whole Huawei backdoor debacle may have the FCC putting stricter rules on foreign branded handsets.
 
The Lurker said:
IMHO they are not targeting the Nexus line. The nexus line is a development platform.
People that buy a Nexus dont cross shop a Samsung or HTC for the same reason.
They may be trying to compete with the likes of Samsung, Apple and LG. The hardware certainly does, but the marketing doesnt.

As far as the unlocking. If I had to guess its for the same reason Apple, Samsung and LG dont want to allow users to root their phones. They want to ensure compatibility, stability, control and reduce the likelihood of a device coming back to them. Its already a cheap device, I imagine exchanging tons of them would affect their profits. I support this conclusion with the voiding of the warranty after the unlock. Which is not unheard of, all the big players have the same policy. HTC for example, offers an unlock right through their site and voids the warranty on the spot. The others just dont honor the warranty if they receive the device and determine it was unlocked.

The modder community is small and thats not where they will make their money. It is certainly a huge plus they are listening to the request for an unlocked boot loader. But at the end of the day ZTE is trying to break into the market to undercut the big players and they are modelling their methods after One Plus. My only question is, why isnt the phone being offered through the carriers? If I had to guess, its the price. If Tmobile and ATT started offering this phone in their stores I bet half the people would get one over a Samsung and that would hurt whatever cut the carrier gets for shilling the big name brands.
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Nexus is according to Google a development platform...according to everyone else (AKA the consumer), it is the only Android line with regular and dependable updates, is reasonably priced, and sells to most of its buyers on those grounds. Tons of Nexus users never even root their devices. ZTE I'll wager is probably like Huaweii, in having QC problems. RMA'd handsets over root/unlock are small drop in the bucket compared to shoddy build QC making it into consumer channels.

Further...to hard-brick a handset such that it is not recoverable is incredibly hard. Let's not pretend non-unlockable Android handsets are about warranty claims.
 
Phone shipped, should know how good or bad it is in a few days. All I know is it better be working, apparently some people are getting phones that don't charge and have to wait until the next round of shipments to get a replacement. If thats the case I'm returning it and getting a one plus.
 
Love how MKBHD calls the Axon 7 a "budget smartphone" in his review. No offense, Marques, but to me and many other folk budget means something between $150 and $250 give or take a few bucks either way, not $400+. ;)
 
Tiberian said:
Love how MKBHD calls the Axon 7 a "budget smartphone" in his review. No offense, Marques, but to me and many other folk budget means something between $150 and $250 give or take a few bucks either way, not $400+. ;)
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It's pretty budget compared to 600 minimum for basically every big brand flagship.
 
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The Lurker said:
It's pretty budget compared to 600 minimum for basically every big brand flagship.
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Tiberian said:
Love how MKBHD calls the Axon 7 a "budget smartphone" in his review. No offense, Marques, but to me and many other folk budget means something between $150 and $250 give or take a few bucks either way, not $400+. ;)
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Uh...remember Samsung flagships that carrier unlocked retail for $1000+ ....it is sort of "budget" as such things go....ish.

I still call "budget" $400 or less for anything nice or worth owning. At least in the carrier-unlocked category. That realm $650 retail was the norm for over a decade.
 
Ask most anyone on the street what "budget" smartphone means and you'll practically be guaranteed to get a response of "about $199" which is an almost mythical price point that's been embedded in the public consciousness for about as long as marketing has been around since the early 1920s, but whatever. There's a reason the Moto G had/has a $199 price point, there's a reason the Asus Zenphone had/has a $199 price point, and so on. Brand name devices designed to keep the pricing at about that mythical $200 price "ceiling" for the base models and yes it goes up a bit with more storage.

I know a lot of people that earn 6 figure incomes and when I mentioned this MKBHD comment as a joke to some of them they responded the same way I did: $400? Budget? Like hell it is. ;)
 
The Lurker said:
It's pretty budget compared to 600 minimum for basically every big brand flagship.
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Yeah, a better term would have been "budget flagship". It's pretty cheap compared to most other phones with the same specs. It's all relative.
 
Tiberian said:
Ask most anyone on the street what "budget" smartphone means and you'll practically be guaranteed to get a response of "about $199" which is an almost mythical price point that's been embedded in the public consciousness for about as long as marketing has been around since the early 1920s, but whatever. There's a reason the Moto G had/has a $199 price point, there's a reason the Asus Zenphone had/has a $199 price point, and so on. Brand name devices designed to keep the pricing at about that mythical $200 price "ceiling" for the base models and yes it goes up a bit with more storage.

I know a lot of people that earn 6 figure incomes and when I mentioned this MKBHD comment as a joke to some of them they responded the same way I did: $400? Budget? Like hell it is. ;)
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Most of this is due to the long-term effects of carrier "subsidizing" the cost...most Americans were not paying full-out-of-pocket until very recently. Many still don't.
 
After waiting 2 months for my pre-order to ship, I finally got it yesterday. And then last night when I was taking some pictures the phone froze. It turned itself off, started to boot, then the screen went black again. Left the phone in the charger overnight but still will not get past the "ZTE Powered by Android" boot screen.

/sigh
 
SolidBladez said:
After waiting 2 months for my pre-order to ship, I finally got it yesterday. And then last night when I was taking some pictures the phone froze. It turned itself off, started to boot, then the screen went black again. Left the phone in the charger overnight but still will not get past the "ZTE Powered by Android" boot screen.

/sigh
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I just sat down to setup my phone and while I am on hold with Tmobile to swap my sim I thought i'd login to check the thread. Your post echos the kind of QC bull shit I am worried about after reading the forums over at ZTE's site.

Have you called them yet? Have you tried going into recovery, maybe it has a wipe functionality there?
 
The Lurker said:
I just sat down to setup my phone and while I am on hold with Tmobile to swap my sim I thought i'd login to check the thread. Your post echos the kind of QC bull shit I am worried about after reading the forums over at ZTE's site.

Have you called them yet? Have you tried going into recovery, maybe it has a wipe functionality there?
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I'm doing an RMA with Newegg but have my doubts I'll get a replacement anytime soon. The phone literally is dead now. Holding the power button doesn't show anything and neither has keeping it charged overnight.
 
SolidBladez said:
I'm doing an RMA with Newegg but have my doubts I'll get a replacement anytime soon. The phone literally is dead now. Holding the power button doesn't show anything and neither has keeping it charged overnight.
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That is insane.
 
Tiberian said:
Love how MKBHD calls the Axon 7 a "budget smartphone" in his review. No offense, Marques, but to me and many other folk budget means something between $150 and $250 give or take a few bucks either way, not $400+. ;)
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He definitely misspoke there, should have called it a "budget flagship" which it is. Budget SMARTPHONE it is not.
 
I am starting to find little annoyances scattered all over the OS. For example:
1. The battery usage module does not display, in hours, how much the application or screen was active.
2. The lock screen does not display notifications until you press the bell icon. Why the hell it has to be hidden like that is beyond me.
3. I can't create a shortcut on the home screen to direct dial a particular number belonging to a contact with multiple numbers. I can create a contact shortcut, I can toggle a default number, but I cannot figure out how to get it to dial the default number with one click.
4. The capacitative nav bar buttons are either not very responsive or have a narrow field of recognition; I find myself hitting them more often than I should. I resorted to using mi-pop to navigate. Mi-pop isnt bad, convenient actually given the very large screen, but its a problem that shouldnt exist. The fact that they are impossible to find in the dark is just icing.
5. Maybe I am blind, but I cannot find where the hell to encrypt the phones memory.
6. When dual sims are in use, the phone should have an option to remember last sim used to call a given number. But the settings are either ask each time or use a default sim for all calls(unless instructed to dial using the other sim from the dialer). This is a problem since it requires additional steps to initiate a call. However, the messaging app is smart enough to remember the last sim used to text a given number even if you switch sims in the middle of the conversation. I'd love to be able to configure which numbers are used with which sim.
7. Clock app does not have day dream option.
8. No always on\glance screen.

I guess the reviews are right, their are software issues that taint an otherwise great device. I cant say a single bad thing about the hardware. Maybe the screen could be a bit brighter. But other than that, its fast, smooth, screen has great colors, the buttons feel nice, the speakers are loud, the build quality is excellent. Battery lasts me a day, but I cant tell how much I am using it these days(home on staycation) because the fucking battery module doesnt show any useful data. I got two sims in it and that works very well. I can select default sims for calling, texting, data. I can have it ask each time which sim to use before a call is issued. Its very slick.
 
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See. This device this popular. There will be hacker support. Hopefully, they if not ZTE will solve your software problems with it soon! That phone app dual sim shit makes me glad I waiting.
 
CHANG3D said:
See. This device this popular. There will be hacker support. Hopefully, they if not ZTE will solve your software problems with it soon! That phone app dual sim shit makes me glad I waiting.
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One can dream.

Maybe someday it would have AOSP....most likely unofficial ports that have random unfixable bugs. Almost a month since reviews posted and not a custom ROM or kernel yet...yea this probably isn't going anywhere.

Smexy hardware once again stymied by fool software policy.
 
Skripka said:
One can dream.

Maybe someday it would have AOSP....most likely unofficial ports that have random unfixable bugs. Almost a month since reviews posted and not a custom ROM or kernel yet...yea this probably isn't going anywhere.

Smexy hardware once again stymied by fool software policy.
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I am going to remain optimistic. Personally, I have no plans to put a custom rom on this phone unless its a stock rom stripped of MiFavor. Right now ill gladly take a reversible, safe, root method that will allow me to get updates. If its from ZTE and allows me to keep the warranty like one plus, then even better.
 
Reading XDA looks like buyers are abandoning this baby after updates and development are basically nowhere to be found or seen.

Shame, could have been a great device. Once again stymied by corporate idiocy.
 
Just because ZTE isn't releasing the HAL yet or if ever, that doesn't mean the true hacker-developers are going to give up. It would just take a longer time to figure it out. Once that CyanogenMod ROM is complete, then see custom ROMs explode.

But If those Pixel and Pixel XL look good, I think most of those developer still trying to make the Axon 7 custom ROMs work would likely jump ship.
 
Skripka said:
Reading XDA looks like buyers are abandoning this baby after updates and development are basically nowhere to be found or seen.

Shame, could have been a great device. Once again stymied by corporate idiocy.
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Not sure why that is but on the ZTE boards their are several ZTE employees directly interacting with the community. In fact, today they released the second update that addresses some of the issues the community has been vocal about and promised to fix others. UPDATE: Axon 7 A2017U Build 27 | Z-Community

And this:

Official CyanogenMod Support Coming To ZTE's AXON 7 Handsets | Androidheadlines.com
 
New update with Oct 1st security update and a fix for notifications on the lock screen. Check your phones.
 
Now if they would just fix that bug that stops you from being able to add a contact from a text message.
 
returned mine, camera sucks beyond belief compared to Moto, Samsung or OnePlus.

ZTE messenger worked... but google messenger would not receive any messages, didn't feel like waste more time, so it went bye bye
 
ZTE just issued an update to 7.1.1 with Tmobile Wifi Calling and other fixes.
 
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