Believe it or not, the newly announced ZTE Axon 7 promises to be a more powerful Android phone next to the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, and it looks almost as good.
The specs for this all-metal smartphone include a spacious 5.5-inch display with a 2K resolution, a fast Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor and 4GB of RAM.
There's also a Samsung-beating 128GB model that includes 6GB of RAM, which is what we only suspect the Samsung Galaxy Note 6 will come with in August. Only, it'll certainly be at a much higher price and is rumored to launch three months from now.
We're updating our ZTE Axon 7 review to see how it fares against universal benchmark tests, but what we're most excited about is the standard configuration that it includes 64GB of internal storage by default, not the usual 32GB offered by Samsung and LG.
There's also expandable storage, and just in case you're not one to use a microSD card, and it doubles as second SIM card instead. Dual SIM phones are rare among the US and UK among the premium category, and this is big deal for travelers.
Axon 7 has a 20MP camera using a Samsung OIS-equipped F/1.8 sensor on the back and an 8MP selfie camera on the front. This is one of those Android phones that captures more vibrant tones than duller iPhone 6S Plus photos.
Battery life is promising with a capacity of 3,250mAh with Quck Charge 3.0 and a USB-C port. You'll find front-facing speakers on front (of course) and a fingerprint sensor on the back (just like the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P).
ZTE Axon price and VR headset
ZTE Axon 7 is being touted as an alternative to an expensive iPhone and Samsung, taking a lot of design cues from its top competitors in order to craft a fashioning all-metal phone.
It doesn't hurt that people at BMW subsidiary Designworks, got the job done. Having the brains beind luxury cars imoproved the alumium aesthetics and on-screen user interface when you compare this phone to last year's ZTE Axon Pro.
It costs $450 in the US, with UK pricing to be confirmed soon. That's leagues better than what we've seen from the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S7 and iPhone 6S, which have smaller screens and around the same benchmarks the Axon 7 is promising.
The company has also unveiled the ZTE VR headset today to meet the needs of a virtual reality future. It's gold, like the Ion Gold ZTE Axon 7, and works with the phone (making it a true Samsung Gear VR clone).
While ZTE hasn't revealed its plans for content, it has promised that it'll be one of the first Google DayDream VR devices and is future-proofing it for that very reason once the Android N maintenance update becomes available.
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