ZTE Axon 30 Review: Bye bye notch
Verdict
The ZTE Axon xxx 5G is a fairly ordinary mid-range smartphone with one stand out characteristic: a big, fluid, and notchless OLED display. As a parcel, information technology's not every bit compelling as the OnePlus Nord two, and the Poco F3 provides superior value, but information technology's a solid option for those who watch a lot of video on the go.
Pros
- Huge, vibrant display
- Brilliantly well-hidden selfie camera
- Strong operation
Cons
- Drab design
- Mediocre cameras
- Underwhelming battery life
Availability
- UK RRP: £429
- U.s.a. RRP: $500
- Europe RRP: €500
Key Features
- Rear photographic camera 64MP broad, 8MP ultrawide, 5MP macro, 2MP depth
- No notch Nether-screen allows for a huge display with no distractions
- Chipset Powered by the Snapdragon 870
Introduction
Apple fabricated a fairly big deal out of the fact that the iPhone 13 notch had been reduced in size by 20%. That'due south virtually as close to an admission that notches are undesirable as we're likely to get from the company that kicked the whole trend off.
ZTE makes Apple look rather airheaded with the Axon 30 5G. Information technology removes the notch from the equation altogether with arguably the best under-display selfie camera implementation we've seen yet. What's more, it does and so in a package that starts from just £429.
The ZTE Axon 30 5G is far from flawless, and information technology's definitely not the all-time mid-range phone to get in this yr. But information technology is a unique add-on to the roster and a solid all-rounder. Notch-haters and media fiends, in particular, volition want to have annotation.
Design and Screen
- Drab plastic design
- Large body
- Huge, vibrant display
The ZTE Axon 30 5G has a fairly unremarkable pattern in most respects. It's got a large 170.two x 77.8mm footprint, for reasons that will become apparent, but information technology'southward fairly thin at 7.8mm, and it weighs a just-so 189g.
From the rear, at that place'due south footling to brand it stand out from the mid-range crowd. Its camera module is fairly typical, and not especially prominent, though the shiny circular surrounds do at least look a little different from the usual rectangular approach.
Otherwise, the shiny plastic material used for the rear console is typical cheaper telephone fare. Information technology'south smudgy, bland, and not especially pleasing to handle.
The real design fireworks here relate to the forepart of the phone. ZTE has fitted the Axon 30 5G with an nether-display selfie camera, which means that the entire front of the phone is given over to the screen.
It'southward arguably the all-time attempt at such a technology that we've even so seen. It's certainly a lot better than the equivalent endeavour made in the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3. You actually wouldn't know that in that location'southward a camera sensor back at that place if y'all weren't looking for it, and fifty-fifty then information technology's tough to spot.
This is a rather strange inclusion from ZTE. Every bit nosotros've already mentioned, the ZTE Axon 30 5G is not a premium telephone. It'due south virtually a quarter of the cost of that same Galaxy Z Fold 3.
What's even odder is that ZTE didn't incorporate this feature into the more premium ZTE Axon 30 Ultra.
Whatsoever the thought procedure, ZTE has actually made good use of that notchless design. The ZTE Axon 30 5G's display is a huge six.92-inch FHD+ AMOLED with a 120Hz maximum refresh charge per unit. I recorded a non-auto maximum brightness of 445nits, which is pretty decent for a mid-range phone.
The telephone's colour accuracy is strong too. Using a colorimeter I recorded gamut coverage of 99.i% sRGB, 82.2% Adobe RGB, and 96.4% DCI P3.
The only real disappointment here, given how brilliant this display is for media playback, is a poor audio showing. There are no stereo speakers, and there'southward no 3.5mm headphone jack either.
Camera
- Mediocre 64MP broad sensor
- Sub-standard ultra-wide and pointless back-ups
- Selfie camera well-hidden but poor
ZTE hasn't exactly gone all out with the Axon xxx 5G'due south camera arrangement. It's a competent effort, but it'southward far from the all-time, even within the £400 smartphone category. I certainly wouldn't put it up in that location with the OnePlus Nord 2, for example.
Most of your shooting will be done with the 64MP ane/ane.73″ wide sensor, which is accompanied by an f/one.8 aperture. There'due south no OIS, different the aforementioned Nord 2, which takes its price in lower lighting atmospheric condition, where quick coincidental snapshots can tend to yield a little blur.
Even in potent lighting, some of the shots I took yielded a weirdly overprocessed, overexposed look. This would seem to be an issue with ZTE's AI scene selection more than anything else. It'south simply a piddling inconsistent in the choices information technology makes.
Backing this sensor up is a modest 8MP ultra-broad, which completely fails to friction match upward to the wide sensor on detail or colour tone, and often overexposes areas that the chief camera does not.
Meanwhile, the lack of a defended telephoto sensor introduces noticeable noise to any zoom attempts. ZTE has washed the usual thing of fitting the Axon thirty 5G out with a 5MP macro sensor and a 2MP depth sensor, neither of which are much apply in mean solar day to solar day shooting.
Equally for that hidden 16MP selfie camera, well, allow's just say it'southward good that information technology does such a good job of staying hidden. As a selfie camera, information technology'south sorely lacking, producing soft and hazy shots that fall short in every department. The selfie portrait mode is one of the worst I've seen of belatedly, with a deeply fake bokeh upshot and all fashion of weird artefacts around the edge of the subject area.
Performance
- Snapdragon 870 provides strong operation
- 8 or 12GB of RAM
- Custom MyOS 11 is relatively flab-free
The ZTE Axon 30 5G runs on a Snapdragon 870 5G processor, backed by 8 or 12GB of RAM, which results in more than respectable performance. This is the same SoC that you'll find in the Poco F3, the Realme GT Neo 2, and the Black Shark four.
As that illustrious list should tell you, this is a chip that manufacturers volition turn to in order to proceeds excellent performance on a tight mid-range budget. It's effectively 2020's flagship Snapdragon 865 with a higher clock rate.
The scrap yields suitably strong results here in the ZTE Axon thirty 5G. In the CPU-focused Geekbench 5 benchmark test I recorded an boilerplate unmarried core score of 967, and an average multi-core score of 3125. That's non far off the score of the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra with its Exynos 2100 chip.
Turning to direct rivals, it'due south comfortably ahead of the OnePlus Nord 2 and its speedy (for the price) Dimensity 1200 5G fleck. The two mid-ranged competitors are more closely matched in GPU terms. The ZTE Axon 30 5G scored 4218 in my 3D Mark Wild Life exam, while the OnePlus Nord ii scored a very like 4226.
The practical outcome of all this is that the ZTE Axon 30 5G effectively runs like a phone worth twice the money. Running games similar CoD Mobile on ramped up graphical settings isn't an consequence, and the whole navigation experience is blissfully free of stutters.
On the software front you lot're getting MyOS xi on meridian of Android 11. Yes, it'due south some other custom UI from a Chinese manufacturer, merely it turns out to be far from the near egregious example. You get the choice of gesture or virtual button controls during the initial set-upwards, and Google Feed is right in that location where it should be, side by side to the main home screen.
On the other hand, in that location'southward a securely ugly weather widget splashed on said home screen by default. You lot can remove this, of course, but it doesn't make a neat showtime impression.
Generally speaking, MyOS is fast and fluid, and free of both ads and needless secondary app stores, and indeed apps.
As ever with such custom UIs, at that place'south no indication as to how many software updates the ZTE Axon 30 5G will receive. This will e'er put such phones on the back pes against efforts from Google, Nokia and the like.
Battery Life
- 4200mAh bombardment worryingly minor
- Underwhelming stamina
- Impressively rapid 65W charging
4200 mAh doesn't sound like a particularly large battery by modern standards, especially in a phone with such a large and fluid display. While the ZTE Axon 30 will mostly go you through a day of normal usage, information technology'south far from a star performer.
In eighteen hours of adequately moderate usage, I found that the ZTE Axon 30 would drop to around 30%. Not a disaster by any ways, but neither is that a massively impressive figure.
The archetype Trusted Reviews battery test is to run the 3D Mark Wild Life Stress test repeatedly for a solid 60 minutes, and see what's left in the tank. It's a good way to encounter how a device'south battery stands up to more intensive tasks like gaming.
The ZTE Axon thirty lost 32%, which is significantly worse than the score we got for the OnePlus Nord 2 (10%) and the Sony Xperia 10 III (8%).
I and so ran the PC Mark Piece of work 3.0 bombardment exam, which models more than intensive real world usage through a successive loop of varied tasks such as web browsing, photo editing, and writing. The ZTE Axon xxx 5G scored 6 hours twoscore minutes, whereas near mid-range phones, including the likes of the OnePlus Nord 2 and the Xiaomi 11T, will comfortably pass the 10 hour marker.
While the ZTE Axon 30 5G's battery life isn't too impressive, its charging speeds are very good indeed. It comes with a 65W charger, which is enough to get this slightly small prison cell from 0 to 50% in 11 minutes, and to 100% in forty minutes.
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Should yous buy it?
You hate notches: ZTE has managed to effectively practise away with the dreaded display notch. The ZTE Axon 30 5G'due south display is too unusually big, bright, and vibrant for the money
You're a power user who needs to get through a long day: The phone's too-modest battery and underwhelming stamina makes long, intensive days a flake of a no-no if you're abroad from a charging signal
Final Thoughts
The ZTE Axon thirty 5G is a welcome addition to the competitive mid-range smartphone market place. While information technology'southward pretty ordinary in many respects, its vi.92-inch 120Hz OLED display really stands out from the crowd.
We can't say we understand ZTE's determination to focus on hiding the selfie camera then effectively backside that display, and nosotros would have liked to have seen such a component married with more convincing specs elsewhere. But there's no denying how tight the implementation of this engineering is, fifty-fifty if it takes its toll on selfie quality.
In that location are better-rounded mid-range phones on the marketplace, such as the OnePlus Nord 2 and the Xiaomi Mi 11. But the ZTE Axon 30 5G's party play a trick on undoubtedly earns information technology a place at the tabular array as an affordable media playback specialist.
How we exam
We test every mobile phone nosotros review thoroughly. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly and nosotros use the phone as our main device over the review menses. We'll always tell you what we observe and we never, ever, have coin to review a product.
Used equally our primary handset during exam period
Camera tested in variety of situations with all modes
Tested with constructed benchmarks and existent globe use
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FAQs
Does it have 5G support?
The Axon 30 is a 5G phone
Does the Axon 30 come with a charger?
Yeah, there is a 65w charger in the box
What software does the ZTE Axon thirty run?
This phone runs Android 11 with ZTE's peel
Trusted Reviews exam data
‹
Geekbench 5 single cadre
Geekbench 5 multi core
sRGB
Adobe RGB
DCI-P3
Max brightness
1 hour video playback (Netflix, HDR)
1 hour music streaming (offline)
Time from 0-100% charge
Time from 0-50% charge
3D Mark – Wild Life
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Total specs
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Ports
RAM
Chipset
Refresh Rate
HDR
Release Appointment
Commencement Reviewed Date
Resolution
Weight
Forepart Camera
Video Recording
Fast Charging
Bombardment
Rear Camera
Size (Dimensions)
Screen Size
Manufacturer
Storage Capacity
U.s. RRP
UK RRP
Eu RRP
›
Jargon buster
mAh
An abbreviation for milliampere-hour and a fashion to limited the chapters of batteries, especially smaller ones in phones. In near cases the higher the mAh, the longer the battery volition last but this isn't always the case.
5G
Offering faster download and upload speeds when compared to 4G. Keen for game streaming and HDR video playback. Not supported everywhere yet and speeds vary wildly.
Source: https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/zte-axon-30
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