ZTE is taking steps to restore its position in the market by presenting at the IFA 2015 electronics exhibition, along with top models, a rather interesting smartphone, the Blade D6. For the Russian market there is another name - ZTE Blade X7. The manufacturer positions the device as an “affordable premium smartphone.” It went on sale in October 2015, and ranging between mid-range and budget price categories, the smartphone has a price tag of approximately $185 at the time of writing.

The design of the device is reminiscent of the iPhone 6 and 6S, especially on the back. The case is only 6.8 mm thick, made of aircraft metal, and the device weighs 120 g. Thin, light and metal, the smartphone gives the impression of an expensive device due to its appearance.

The technical part of the smartphone cannot be called “premium”, however, the capabilities of the ZTE Blade X7 will be sufficient for most users.

CPU

The performance of the smartphone is driven by the SoC MediaTek MT6735 processor (4 cores, 1.3 GHz), as well as the Mali-T720 graphics chip. Together with a decent amount of RAM, the capabilities of this hardware are enough for the smooth operation of the interface, applications and resource-demanding games (although not at maximum graphics settings).

Memory

Due to the constant development of software, in particular 3D games, 1 gigabyte of RAM will not be enough in some cases. ZTE Blade X7 has 2 GB of RAM and demonstrates good performance. Only 8 GB of permanent memory. This is the required minimum, but I would like a little more. Fortunately, there is a slot for a memory card.

Autonomous operation

The smartphone comes with a 2200 mAh non-removable battery. Judging by user reviews, it would not hurt to install a 3000 mAh battery in this smartphone, or at least make it removable. At the maximum permissible load, the smartphone works continuously for 3.5 hours. When watching video via WiFi in 720p resolution, the operating time without recharging is 8 hours. The smartphone will last approximately the same amount of time during active use.

Camera

The main camera is 8 MP (with interpolation up to 13 MP), has an f/2.0 aperture, is equipped with autofocus and a dual LED flash. The quality of the photographs can be called satisfactory. Focusing is quite fast, and an HDR mode is provided for difficult lighting conditions.

The main camera copes a little worse with video recording, although tools for electronic image stabilization, noise reduction, and even the ability to record Timelapse (slow motion) of up to 10 seconds are available for shooting. The maximum video recording resolution is 1920×1080.

The 5 MP front module cannot boast of good detail in the resulting image, so it is more suitable for video communication.

Display

5-inch IPS display with 1280×720 resolution rounded at the edges using 2.5D technology. Colors have a natural richness and viewing angles are good, which is typical for an IPS matrix, but not maximum. The color balance can be adjusted in the settings according to your preferences. The display owes its lack of air gap to OGS technology. Thanks to the special coating, fingerprints appear much less frequently and are easily erased. Not the highest level of maximum brightness is compensated by an anti-reflective coating, which allows the picture to remain visible when exposed to direct sunlight.

Networking capabilities

The smartphone works in 2G, 3G, and 4G networks. ZTE Blade X7 is designed for 2 SIM cards, 3G/4G will only work on one SIM. The SIM card slot is combined with a memory card slot. As a result, you can simultaneously use either 2 SIM cards, or one SIM card and a microSD flash drive. The smartphone demonstrates stable operation of all networks, including cellular communications and WiFi.

GPS/A-GPS navigation is supported, the operation of which has no complaints: satellites are found quite quickly.

Sound

The main speakers are definitely not one of the strengths of the smartphone. Not only is the sound not loud enough. At maximum volume, some sound distortion appears.

The sound reproduced when headphones are connected is much higher quality, without extraneous noise. It is possible to use an equalizer with preset sound parameters, or use manual settings. The sound of the conversational speaker is at an acceptable level, there are no complaints about it.

operating system

The device runs on Android 5.0.2. The OS has a built-in ability to update software over the air. Despite the mention of the presence of the proprietary MiFavor 3.2 shell, in appearance we still have the same Android version 5. The only additions that can be noted are a pre-installed launcher, as well as the ability to reconfigure the functionality of the lower touch control buttons.

Pros and cons of ZTE Blade X7

Advantages

• Good performance, 2 GB RAM;
• Not a bad HD display;
• Thin and light body;
• Support 3G/4G networks.

Flaws

• The battery capacity is not sufficient for this model;
• The main speaker is quiet, with extraneous noise;
• The price of the smartphone is a little overpriced.

Our review of the ZTE Blade X7

The smartphone is primarily interesting for its light and thin metal body, as well as the presence of 2 GB of RAM. I am pleased with the good level of performance, as well as the presence of an LTE module. The device cannot be called optimally balanced due to the weak battery, which is probably a price for the 6.8 mm thickness. Despite the fact that for such a price you can find many competing models,ZTE Blade X7 is worthy of buyers' attention.

This is the official instruction for ZTE Blade V9 Vita in Russian, which is suitable for Android 8.1 Oreo. If you have updated your ZTE smartphone to a more recent version or “rolled back” to an earlier one, then you should try other detailed operating instructions that will be presented below. We also suggest that you familiarize yourself with the quick user instructions in question-answer format.

Official ZTE website?

You have come to the right place, because all the information from the official ZTE website, as well as a lot of other useful content, is collected here.

Settings-> About phone:: Android version (a few clicks on the item will launch the “Easter egg”) [Out of the box Android OS version - 8.1].

We continue to configure the smartphone

How to update drivers on ZTE

You need to go to "Settings -> About phone -> Kernel version"

How to enable Russian keyboard layout

Go to the section "Settings->Language and input->Select language"

How to connect 4g or switch to 2G, 3G

"Settings-> More-> Mobile network-> Data transfer"

What to do if you turned on child mode and forgot your password

Go to "Settings-> Language and keyboard-> section (keyboard and input methods)-> check the box next to "Google voice input"

Settings->Display:: Auto-rotate screen (uncheck)

How to set a melody for an alarm clock?

Settings->Display->Brightness->right (increase); left (decrease); AUTO (automatic adjustment).

Settings->Battery->Energy Saving (check the box)

Enable display of battery charge status as a percentage

Settings->Battery->Battery Charge

How to transfer phone numbers from a SIM card to the phone memory? Importing numbers from a SIM card

1. Go to the Contacts app
2. Click on the "Options" button -> select "Import/Export"
3. Select where you want to import contacts from -> “Import from SIM card”

How to add a contact to the blacklist or block a phone number?

How to set up the Internet if the Internet does not work (for example, MTS, Beeline, Tele2, Life)

1. You can contact the operator
2. Or read the instructions for

How to set a ringtone for a subscriber so that each number has its own melody

Go to the Contacts application -> Select the desired contact -> click on it -> open the menu (3 vertical dots) -> Set ringtone

How to disable or enable key vibration feedback?

Go to Settings-> Language and input -> Android keyboard or Google keyboard -> Vibration response of keys (uncheck or uncheck)

How to set a ringtone for an SMS message or change alert sounds?

Read the instructions for

How to find out which processor is on Blade V9 Vita?

You need to look at the characteristics of the Blade V9 Vita (link above). We know that this modification of the device has a chipset - Qualcomm Snapdragon 435, 1.4 GHz, 8 x Cortex-A53, Adreno 505.

Settings->For Developers->USB Debugging

If there is no "For Developers" item?

Follow the instructions

Settings->Data transfer->Mobile traffic.
Settings->More->Mobile network->3G/4G services (if the operator does not support, select only 2G)

How to change or add input language on the keyboard?

Settings-> Language and input-> Android keyboard-> settings icon-> Input languages ​​(check the box next to the ones you need)

Therefore, the appearance of a budget smartphone from ZTE - a direct competitor to Xiaomi and Meizu - cannot but rejoice. So, can it give the fight to other devices in this price segment?

Equipment

The device comes in a nice white box. The equipment is as follows:
The phone itself
Instructions + warranty card.
USB cable.
Charging at 1 amp.
SIM card/flash memory clip.

Design and ergonomics

The appearance of this phone is unremarkable. However, the ZTE Z10 in pink looks very unusual, especially considering the fact that all budget smartphones are similar to each other. If you take a quick look at the body of the device, it can even be confused with an iPhone.

True, the back panel and the absence of any mechanical buttons on the front panel put everything in its place. In front there is a 5 MP front camera and a 5.2-inch display with an IPS matrix. Apparently, there is no oleophobic coating, as the screen gets dirty quickly. The back of the phone is covered with a material very similar to soft-touch plastic. The back panel is not rough and quite durable; most likely it is rubber with metal underneath. Because of this, the device pleasantly cools your hand in the cold.

Advice! To maximize memory, I recommend using this inexpensive memory card.

Also on the back panel you can find a 13 MP camera and a small LED flash. The side panel is metal. On the bottom edge there is a microphone for active noise reduction and a microUSB connector, on the left there is a combined slot for a micro-SIM card or microSD flash memory, on the right there is a volume rocker and an on/off button.

The device fits well in the hand, the phone does not crack when squeezed, not least thanks to the non-removable battery.

Functional

The functionality of the device is standard for devices in its price category. Sixth Android, HD display with IPS matrix (diagonal - 5.2 inches), quad-core budget Snapdragon 425 chipset from Qualcomm, operating at 1.4 GHz, Adreno 505 GPU accelerator, 16 GB of internal ROM memory and 2 GB RAM memory, main camera and front camera of 13 and 5 MP, respectively, Bluetooth 4.1, support for LTE networks. In words, everything is fine, but is it really so?

We should start with what disappointed us the most: the slot for a SIM card and flash memory is a combined one. That is, you can get either a device with two SIM cards, or with one SIM card and a microSD card. Most Chinese manufacturers provide two full SIM slots, not to mention microSD. The display is bright and contrasty; viewing angles are 178-179 degrees - how else could it be with an IPS matrix?

Operation speed

Productivity is average. 29645 “parrots” in AnTuTu confirm this. Although, given the fact that the ZTE Z10 has a good Qualcomm processor with two gigabytes of RAM, the phone could reach 40,000 points.

In practice, however, the smartphone works quickly: there are no slowdowns with the interface, and the phone copes wonderfully with several simultaneously enabled applications (Chrome+Adobe Reader+Google Translate+VKontakte+Score! Hero). Problems arise when it comes to serious games like Asphalt X3 or FIFA Mobile: they slow down a bit. True, this does not interfere with playing. This point can be summarized as follows:

• The phone can be used for HD videos and light gaming;
• The budget accelerator from Adreno makes itself felt only in heavy 3D games;
• The phone has no problems with multitasking.

Camera

ZTE Z10 has two cameras: the main one is 13 MP with flash and the front one is 5 MP. The main camera takes decent pictures, not least because of its fast autofocus. Photos look best, naturally, in daylight color.

However, at night (in medium light) you can also take a good shot. The front camera is good for Instagram selfies and video telephony, nothing more.

GPS

What was pleasantly surprising was the performance of the GPS receiver. In 1 second the phone picked up a signal from 16 satellites, in 2 seconds - 20 satellites! Not all smartphones in the business segment are capable of this. So the ZTE Z10 has proven itself well as a navigator.

Other

Cellular communications, as well as Wi-Fi, work stably and without any complaints. The standard Android software comes with a good launcher from ZTE, AVG antivirus and an optimizer utility.

Other programs and games can be easily downloaded from the Play Market or downloaded from file hosting services. The 2540 mAh battery holds a charge for about 12 hours if you actively use the device (data transfer, Wi-Fi and GPS are permanently turned on).

conclusions

ZTE Z10 is a good smartphone for the “less than $150” category. It simply does not have any famous competitors such as Samsung or Xiaomi. At the same time, a potential buyer should also pay attention to devices from Impression or Lenovo: most of them have powerful batteries (4000-5000 mAh), two full SIM slots or Android with pre-installed ROOT rights. At the same time, ZTE Z10 can respond with a chipset from Qualcomm, 2 GB of RAM memory and good GPS. Which of these is more important is up to the buyer to decide.

Equipment

The ZTE Blade Z7 is sold in typical Blade series packaging.

Equipment included:

1. Power supply 5V 1A
2. Power cable
3. Warranty card and manual
4. Protective film
5. Transparent bumper
6. Scraper to install a SIM card or memory card.

Appearance

ZTE Blade Z7 looks attractive. 2.5D glass, metal frame, but the phone turned out to be quite thin (6.8 mm). Otherwise, it looks no different from other Blade series smartphones.

The device fits well in the hand. Due to its size, it can be operated with one hand.

The device has a five-inch screen with a resolution of 720p, made using IPS technology. Below the display are three familiar touch buttons. Above the screen there is a speaker and a camera. There is an LED for notifications (located between the camera and speaker).

The screen is bright enough that you can easily use it even in bright weather. At the same time, there is no strong distortion when you look at the screen at an angle.

On the back side there is a speaker at the bottom, and on top there is a camera with LED flash. There is also a microphone for noise cancellation. The company logo is located almost in the center.

On the left is the SIM card carriage. At the bottom there is a microUSB connector and a microphone, and at the top there is a headset jack. The lock and volume control buttons are located on the right side.

Multi-touch for five touches.

Connection

ZTE Blade Z7 supports two SIM cards (micro SIM and nano SIM). They are installed in a removable tray. Instead of a nano-SIM, you can install a memory card. It is not possible to use two SIM cards and microSD at the same time. It turns out that the manufacturer is slightly disingenuous when he calls his product a dual-SIM device.

When calling, we are asked which SIM card to use. In the settings you can select a priority SIM card. The connection is stable. There is 4G support.

In addition to 4G, there is Bluetooth, WiFi 802.11n and GLONASS.

Contacts, SMS and dialing are no different from other Android smartphones.

The Z7 has sensors for acceleration, orientation, proximity, lighting, as well as a gyroscope and a magnetic compass.

operating system

The smartphone runs on the new Android 5.0.2. In the settings you can see that the model is called ZTE T663. Build number - DIS_RU_NB158D_P635A20V1.0. As can be seen from the build number, the first version of the firmware is installed, and it is currently the newest. Mifavor shell.

The smartphone is pre-installed with the Google package, AntiVirus AVG, Chaatz, Facebook, Touchpal X keyboard, Shazam, Ume browser, Twitter, Family mode (turns the smartphone into a “granny phone”), FM radio.

Alerts are visible in the top pull-down curtain. In the quick menu, pulled out from above, you can turn on/off wifi, Bluetooth, flashlight, auto-rotate sensors, data transfer, and also change the sound profile.

The settings menu is no different from other smartphones on the fifth Android. For the ZTE Blade series, you can swap the actions of the right and left touch buttons. This is done using settings.

Performance

The processor is quad-core, MediaTek MT6735 (Cortex-A53) with a frequency of 1.3 GHz with a Mali-T720 graphics accelerator.

The result of AnTuTu Benchmark 6.0 is 30,083 points. Quite a high result for a device in the mid-price category.

Memory

Memory capacity - 16 GB. 4.95 GB are reserved for the system. 9.5 GB is available to the user, pre-installed applications occupy 1 GB.

The amount of RAM is 2 GB.

When connecting to a computer, you can choose several options for how your smartphone behaves: USB drive (connects an SD card as a flash drive), USB modem, MTP or PTP device, charging only, built-in CD-ROM (for installing drivers).

Camera

The ZTE Blade Z7 smartphone has two cameras: a 9.4 MP front camera and a 16 MP main camera. There are few settings for photography: a timer, HDR mode and turning on the flash.

Let's look at the settings and photography modes.

On the right there are icons for turning on HDR, photo flash, switching cameras and auto photo when the “V” hand gesture appears in the camera. No matter how much I tried to show this sign with my hand, the smartphone did not want to take photos. On the left is an arrow for selecting a photo filter. From bottom left to right: enable settings, record video, photo button, launch gallery. From the top you can select photography modes: normal photo, beautiful face, panorama mode, live photo, motion tracking.

There is also an object tracking mode. I don’t know what it’s for, but the device doesn’t work well with it - tracking errors appear after just a few seconds of use.

Settings

There are three tabs in the settings: general, photos and videos.

In general settings, you can select options: recording location information, selecting exposure, selecting shooting mode (auto, night, sunset, party, portrait, landscape, night portrait, theater, beach, snow, steady photography, fireworks, action, candle light) , white balance selection (auto, incandescent, sunlight, fluorescent, cloudy day, twilight, shade, fluorescent), image options (three options each: sharpness, hue, saturation, brightness, contrast) and flicker reduction ( auto, off, 50Hz, 60Hz).

On the “Photo” tab, you can select the following options: ZSD (software stabilizer), stabilization, face detection, smile shot, auto scene detection, self-timer, continuous shooting, photo size, preview size, ISO, face correction, volume keys.

The video settings tab allows you to select parameters: noise reduction, electronic stabilization, microphone, audio mode, slow motion, video quality.

Taking a photo

On the street on a normal, not too sunny day, he takes a photo quickly. General photos (landscapes, buildings, distant objects) contain strong noise. If we photograph objects at a distance of 2-3 meters, the photos may turn out blurry (soapy).

When the ZSD option is turned on, the photos turn out better.

It can be seen that the camera is very “soapy” (lubricated).

At the same time, it does good macro, if the camera were 5 or 8 megapixels. But for 16 megapixels the photos are of poor quality.

The camera handles light well. There is strong noise in the room in the photo. I liked the flash. It is bright enough to easily take photographs indoors without light, and focusing works well - there are no flares. On the street it will be of little use if the object is located further than 10 meters. The smartphone tries to take photos even without light sources (the photo was taken in the evening when it got dark).

Mode for shooting panoramas. It works simply. First, select the starting point for shooting and click “Start”. Then you need to move the device in one of four directions. After you start moving, two arrows will appear: the white one displays the current position, and the blue one displays the desired position. When they match, the smartphone takes a photo. Then we move on. When finished, click the checkmark. A maximum of 9 pictures are taken. I tested this mode on several devices and I can say for sure: the Z7 quickly stitches frames together, resulting in good panoramas.

The front camera is designed for selfies only - focusing only on the face. Otherwise, it is no different from the 3-5 megapixel cameras of other devices - the quality of the images could be better.

Results of photographing

All applications write that the main camera has 15.9 megapixels, and the front one is 9.4 megapixels. The manufacturer does not indicate which camera module is used. Also, there was no response from the support request about the module used and the likelihood of interpolation (software increase in resolution). As you know, the MediaTek MT6735 processor used in the ZTE Blade Z7 can work with cameras with a resolution of 13 megapixels.

Main camera parameters: focal length 3.5, video recording up to 60 frames per second, viewing angle 62 degrees.

The parameters of the front camera differ only in the angle, it is 71 degrees.

In principle, an excellent camera, if only it were 8 megapixels. But for 16 megapixels it is clearly rather weak. There are suspicions that the camera will work better with the new firmware version, because the device has a very weak software component.

Battery

The Blade Z7 uses a 2,200 mAh non-removable battery. The manufacturer writes that this phone will last for 450 hours in standby mode and 12 hours of talk time.

I was surprised by the consumption of the smartphone - with active use for 2 hours, the discharge was only a few percent. With moderate use, it will last for two to three days.

In conclusion of the review

A good inexpensive device on which you can do almost everything that a modern person might need - it can be used as a navigator, point-and-shoot device or e-reader. At the same time, the smartphone has light weight (for a five-inch screen), a metal body and good battery life. All this sets it apart from the extensive list of analogues.