ZTE Axon 20 5G Review: First Selfie Cam Underneath Display!

ZTE Axon 20 5G is the first phone with a selfie camera underneath the brandish. ZTE Axon series has brought a lot of innovations in the by. And the newest ZTE Axon 20 5G ensures that the innovative streak continues.

For a phone that launched a while ago why is our review and then late? Well for starters we only got information technology a couple of weeks ago. Turns out the strained USA/China relationship means only a few units are allowed which are slowly making rounds with the various reviewers.

Unboxing Experience

For a phone with a radical new feature, there isn't anything fancy with the box at all. The unboxing is decidedly a slow matter. Box, phone, insert with case and SIM tool, fast charging brick, USB-C cable, and a headphone jack dongle. Everything in the box is in obviously vanilla white. However, you get everything you need to get started which is a proficient affair I guess.

ZTE Axon 20 5G hardware is definitely premium looking

The ZTE Axon 20 5G has a drinking glass front, drinking glass back and a plastic frame. The device is built extremely well and looks-wise definitely feels premium. There are no obvious creaks or squeaks.

Since it has a glass back, it is glace as an eel then for day-to-solar day use, information technology is all-time to slap on the nice matte texture case included in the box. The correct-hand side rail houses the ability button and the volume rocker. The power push has a slanted texture finish to help distinguish it from the volume buttons.

On the top frame, we get a microphone and nothing else. Moving forth on the left-hand side rail is clean so on the lesser rail, we have a microphone, USB-C port, and speaker grille.

Allow's take a expect at the front of the device. Here we have no punch hole or notch in the display area thank you to the nether-display selfie camera. The screen is gargantuan in size as information technology is almost 7 inches diagonally. One would think that with no photographic camera cutout or notch it would exist an all display look in the front. Yet, the slightly larger chin at the bottom is a lost opportunity by ZTE to achieve an near full-screen await.

As we accept a look at the back of this phone, you can't help just notice the large rectangular quad-camera module. And with a big camera array, you get a lot of wobble on a flat surface which is a mutual miracle for smartphones that take big photographic camera modules. As well the photographic camera module, there is the Axon 5G logo at the bottom and a ZTE logo just nether the camera. Other than that at that place is some light CE marker opposite to the Axon 5G logo.

The back shows a slight surface color gradient depending on the lighting condition and viewing angle which is a nice touch. The color gradient is definitely more subtle than another devices such as the Oppo Reno five Pro 5G. Oh and since it is a shine glass back this telephone is a fingerprint magnet, luckily ZTE includes a nice matte case in the box to assist convalesce this problem.

The Axon 20 5G has a massive half dozen.92″ brandish and a 4220 mAh battery. Somehow though ZTE has managed to distribute the 198 grams quite evenly so the in-hand experience isn't as weighty. Despite this observation, I experience that the device is a scrap also large for my taste.

2 other quick things to bear in mind equally far equally hardware impressions get. I am non able to ascertain what sort of glass is protecting the display. In addition, my review unit came without a factory screen protector but that may non be the instance with retail units.

ZTE is offering the Axon 20 5G in four colors – Regal, Orange, Blueish, and Blackness. I also recall that ZTE has priced the phone attractively for the various features it is offering as well the under-brandish selfie camera.

The 10-bit 90Hz refresh charge per unit OLED Brandish is first-class

You take to admit, the best of this smartphone is the no-hole punch display. Bated from that headline, the Axon 20 5G packs a massive 6.92″ 90Hz refresh rate FHD+ OLED panel with a 388 ppi pixel density. It also features a 240Hz sampling charge per unit which results in a smoother UI along with improved touch response.

Permit's talk virtually the x-bit color depth display of the Axon 20 5G versus the standard 8-bit color depth displays. An eight-bit display has 256 gradations of carmine, blue, and green which gives united states 256x256x256 or a total of xvi.7 million possible colors. Now for ten-bit panels, each pixel shows 1024 versions of red, blue, and green which 1024^3 yields i.07 BILLION possible colors. Needless to say, the OLED display panel on the Axon 20 5G is superb and has 100% DCI-P3 color gamut.

Rounding out the display specs we take a 20.5:9 tall aspect ratio and Always On Display (AOD) back up. No official brightness numbers simply in broad daylight outdoors at a subcontract, I had no problems with visibility when capturing pictures and video. So the summit effulgence by my guesstimate is definitely around 1000 nits or more.

With a cute high refresh rate OLED display supporting ten-scrap color depth means video and gaming feel is good. Even so, there are ii issues that mar this visual experience. Beginning is a pixelation in the area where the selfie photographic camera is in white backgrounds. The second is a disappointing 84.eight% screen-to-body ratio. For comparison purposes, my current daily driver S20 Iron has the aforementioned screen-to-body ratio even with the pigsty punch. And then I simply wish ZTE had made the bottom mentum a bit smaller.

Speaking of Display options, MiFavor UI has a lot of customization options. Screen refresh rate, improved dissimilarity, dark mode, reading mode, nighttime light, and screen colour temperature can all be tweaked to your personal preference. So from a brandish settings perspective, ZTE allows a level of customization equal to other top-tier smartphone manufacturers.

I call back ZTE should have made the device with really slim bezels like on their marketing materials. And I am bummed that ZTE missed out on capitalizing this despite the under-display selfie camera. The finish upshot would take been a gorgeous large screen display since there is no hole punch or notch. Instead, there isn't anything that makes the Axon 20 5G stand up out when compared with other similarly priced devices. ZTE could have scored a dwelling house run simply instead looks like they bunted for just get-go base.

Snapdragon 765 and 8GB RAM mean performance is equivalent to a Pixel 4a 5G

There are three flavors of the ZTE Axon 20 5G for sale. Mainly the differences are in RAM and storage – 6GB/128GB, 8GB/128GB and 8GB/256GB. My review unit is the middle of the route (8GB/128GB) which resembles the specs for the Pixel 4a 5G.

Geekbench score for this device compares well to what we have seen for other smartphones with a Snapdragon 765 (7nm) processor. My review unit got a Single-Core score of 715 and a Multi-Core score of 3018 on Geekbench five.

Gaming performance on this device is fantabulous and comparable to other devices running a similar hardware setup. The Snapdragon 765 processor with the Adreno 620 GPU is quite capable of playing PUBG or COD at normal settings without any hiccups. Extended gaming periods did non result in any meaning amount of heating which indicates that ZTE engineers did pay proper attending to rut dissipation during hardware design.

The system software automatically turns on Game Mode when you launch a gaming app. So to summarize, from a performance perspective at that place don't seem to be any glaring drawbacks for the virtually or distant future.

Software on the ZTE Axon twenty 5G is still Android ten

The software on this device is a custom ZTE UI called MiFavor. The version on the Axon twenty 5G is MiFavor 10.5 which is based on Android 10. So it is about a generation backside compared to devices from other mainstream Android manufacturers. Nevertheless, ZTE did update the security patch to January 2021. So overall from a device software standpoint you lot go some mixed signals.

The MiFavor skin isn't too far off from the stock Google Android experience. Since information technology is a fairly large phone, I chose to use the navigation buttons in lieu of gestures. The best function about the ZTE MiFavor UI is that there aren't whatsoever extra app stores like the ones on Samsung, Oppo, or Xiaomi devices. You get the Google Play Shop and that's it.

The other perk that MiFavor has that there aren't any indistinguishable caller or messages apps. These apps are all identical to what yous will observe on a Pixel device. The only departure I see in terms of regular employ is that swiping left doesn't bring up the Google Detect Feed. This is because the dwelling house screen is a rotating carousel of sorts. There are also a lot of options such every bit one-handed manner and Z-Pop which is like to the Border function on a Samsung Galaxy series device.

A few other bright spots are at that place are no ads that try to promote other apps when you are installing a software update or an app from the Play Store. This is something Xiaomi needs to implement with their devices going forward. There isn't any noticeable bloatware on the phone and the WPS Office that comes preloaded tin be uninstalled for a near-stock Android feel.

For unlocking the phone there is a adequately quick under-display fingerprint scanner. At that place is an option for face unlock but on most Android devices this isn't very secure I typically skip past information technology during setup.

Overall with the exception of the phone running Android 10 in 2021, I accept no complaints related to the software on the ZTE Axon twenty 5G.

Selfie Camera is not skilful but Main Rear Camera is very skilful

For this review, let'due south first talk about the elephant in the room. Which is, how good is the selfie camera on the first commercially bachelor smartphone with an under-display selfie camera.

The short answer is that the results aren't that great. And this is despite having a 32MP f/2.0 high spec hardware nether the screen.

Before nosotros dissect the selfie camera performance let's learn a bit more virtually how ZTE accomplished this feat. To get a photographic camera underneath the screen, ZTE uses ii screens simultaneously. One is a small square screen on meridian of the selfie camera and the other being the main OLED display. For a detailed breakdown go see Jerry's teardown video here. In well-nigh use case scenarios y'all volition not notice the under-brandish camera but in certain apps with white backgrounds, it is very like shooting fish in a barrel to spot it.

As far as the output of the selfie photographic camera is concerned, exposure and focus are fairly stable, just the unique under-display blueprint of the Axon 20 creates a agglomeration of image quality issues. 1 matter you will notice correct away is that the dynamic range is pretty poor and then you constantly get blown out pictures. You lot volition likewise see pictures consistently underexposed as well.

Outdoors I noticed that if you shoot a selfie while holding the camera apartment in your mitt and looking down results amend quite a bit. Notwithstanding, the nose hair POV is not near people's idea of a good selfie so take that with a pinch of table salt. There are plenty of issues with white rest, unnatural pare tones, and blurring if the altitude is around 2 anxiety from your confront. Dissonance levels are high in regular light and get progressively worse when lighting conditions aren't optimal.

So we get a make clean aesthetic look on the forepart display but the downside is relatively poor selfie camera performance. If y'all don't take a lot of selfies then this device might be something you should consider. This is because the rear main photographic camera performance is a solid B+.

The main rear camera is a 64MP f/1.8 sensor and then in that location is an 8MP f/2.2 ultra-broad. At that place are as well a 2MP f/2.4 macro and a 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor. The main photographic camera sensor is capable enough to keep pace with other phones in this cost range especially in daylight. Nonetheless, a similarly priced Pixel 4a 5G will run circles effectually the Axon 20 5G.

ZTE Axon 20 5G Photographic camera Samples - Flickr Gallery

With a fleck of practice, you tin expect fairly good results from the primary camera. Even though it is 64MP, the final output is 16MP due to the iv-in-one pixel binning. Nighttime mode works reasonably well on this device in low low-cal but information technology however struggles a bit more than the competition. Expect a bit of a learning curve and a steady paw to coax out some good pictures from the primary camera and the ultra-wide cameras.

Not much to written report on video capabilities for this device. Basically, you can record in 4K at thirty FPS or 60 FPS from the rear camera. The camera app has a variety of other modes/options for VLOG, lighting weather condition, etc.

Bombardment Life is good for a total day of use

Thanks to an OLED screen and Snapdragon 765, the ZTE Axon 20 5G offers reasonable battery life with a 4,220mAh battery. However, there are other big-screen phones that have larger batteries and end up getting ameliorate battery life than the Axon 20 5G.

And so if you are looking for absolutely stellar multi-solar day battery life, this device will disappoint you. Having said that, you lot can easily go from dawn to sunset without having to worry about having to elevation up. I consistently got over 5 hours Screen-on-Fourth dimension during my review period.

And as far as recharging goes, there is no support for wireless charging. Even so, ZTE does include a 30W fast charging brick in the box. It is strange mentioning a charging brick in reviews, but this is 2021, and smartphone makers are busy eliminating the charging brick from their retail packaging.

I quick caveat nigh bombardment life, my SOT time was quite good but this is because my phone for some reason never connected to the 5G signal on T-Mobile. So your individual feel may differ from mine.

Audio is just satisfactory, even with DTS:X and under-display tiptop speaker

In that location is no headphone jack on the ZTE Axon 20 5G. Using the headphone jack dongle or a Google Pixel dongle yields slightly dissimilar results. The sound output quality is better in my stance with the factory dongle. I used my Audio Technica wired earbuds for test purposes. Bluetooth sound quality is fantabulous and I had no issues with pairing my Realme Air Buds Pro. Supposedly there is a Hi-Fi Earphone setting in the Sound carte only I was not able to test information technology out.

As far as speaker output goes the quality is satisfactory, to say the least. The bottom-firing speaker is quite loud just I am not and so certain about the quality of the output from the nether-brandish tiptop speaker. The call quality in handset style using the summit speaker was okay since information technology uses the bone conduction method to evangelize sound.

And so best to use the dongle or BT headphones for enjoying music, video, or play games. For regular calls, either handset or speakerphone works like other smartphones. Another category where I would charge per unit this phone a solid B+.

ZTE Axon 20 5G never got a 5G indicate on T-Mobile in Southern California

On paper, the ZTE Axon 20 is a dual SIM 5G device. However, on the T-Mobile network in Southern California, I never saw the 5G signal logo in the tiptop left corner. I only saw 3G, 4G and LTE symbols while out and nigh. Download speeds ranged effectually 2-4 Mbps similar to my Pixel 4a which is a 4G device.

The review sample was provided by ZTE USA yet I was unable to get 5G on T-Mobile's GSM network. This was perplexing because I made sure to utilize the R15 SIM carte du jour from T-Mobile. And that same SIM card in my S21 gets 5G on T-Mobile without any issues.

Telephone call quality was excellent via handset (under display speaker) or speakerphone modes. Every day calls, texts, downloading apps, watching YouTube videos, or streaming music via Spotify Stations has no known bug even with the meager download speeds. Bluetooth 5.i support means there were no issues pairing my Enacfire E90 earbuds with this smartphone. Wi-Fi connectivity is bang-up with dual-band Wi-Fi Direct support.

The ZTE Axon 20 5G has NFC including Dual-SIM NFC settings. The Connected devices settings menu has Screen Cast, and Nearby Share to circular out connectivity options.

Should yous buy the ZTE Axon 20 5G?

Then is there one standout reason to buy the ZTE Axon 20 5G? The hope of an under-display selfie camera on paper is dashed past poor selfie camera results. Not to mention a fairly large screen-to-body ratio. On the rear camera front, merely the main photographic camera operation is decent. The output from the remaining three requires quite a flake of effort to produce proficient results. The other nagging problem is the lack of 5G connectivity at least in the USA on T-Mobile.

I think that ZTE missed the opportunity to make the front of the phone standout with the under-display camera. I mean an edge-to-edge display with no hole punch would definitely get more folks interested in this device.

Having said that, there are some expert points, the first existence the price. One thing ZTE did exercise well is set a realistic MSRP. And then if you want a large 10-chip OLED brandish, decent battery life, gimmick-free software, and don't care about selfies then the ZTE Axon xx 5G should be on your list.