Product Listing

First Looks: ZTE Axon Elite

By James Lu - 15 Oct 2015

First Looks: ZTE Axon Elite


Overview

The ZTE Axon Elite is quite possibly the world’s most secure smartphone. Not satisfied with just fingerprint scanning, the Axon Elite boasts three forms of biometrics: fingerprint, voice, and eye.

Aimed at the premium high-end smartphone market, the ZTE Axon Elite is also armed with top-of-the-line specs, including a 5.5-inch Full HD display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 octa-core processor paired with 3GB RAM, and a dual rear camera setup, utilizing a 13-megapixel shooter and a secondary 2-megapixel auxiliary module. All of this for just S$699. 

  ZTE Axon Elite
  ZTE Axon Elite
Operating system
  • Android 5.1.1 Lollipop
Processor
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 octa-core (Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & Quad-core 2 GHz Cortex-A57)
Built-in Memory
  • 3GB RAM
Display
  • 5.5-inch / 1,920 x 1,080 pixels (401 ppi) / IPS LCD
Camera
  • Rear: 13-megapixel + 2-megapixel (Dual camera), 4128 x 3096 pixels, autofocus, dual-LED flash
  • Front: 8-megapixel
Connectivity
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot, 4G LTE, Bluetooth v4.0, A2DP, GPS, NFC
Storage Type
  • 32GB internal storage
  • microSD support up to 128GB
Battery
  • 3,000mAh
Dimensions
  • 154 x 75 x 9.3 mm
Weight
  • 173g

Design

The Axon Elite has a pretty interesting design. The front of the phone has an elaborate pattern of triangles covering the dual front facing speaker grills. It looks a bit like a honeycomb design, which is further accentuated by the phone’s Ion Gold finish.

Flip it over and you’ll find the same triangular pattern in between the dual camera lenses. The rear of the phone also has faux leather panels at the top and bottom, complete with fake stitching, which may not be to everyone’s taste.

 

At 9.3mm thick, the phone is a bit chunkier than similar-sized phablets, but thanks to a slightly curved rear profile, it actually feels pretty comfortable in hand. As for the actual phone chassis, it’s made from an aircraft-grade aluminum-magnesium alloy with a smooth but not slippery finish.

The Power and volume rockers are on opposite sides of the phone, with the power button on the right, and the volume rocker on the left. This lets both be positioned towards the middle of the handset, keeping them within easy reach.

Display and Audio

The 5.5-inch display sports a Full HD 1,920 x 1,080 pixels resolution (401 ppi) which puts it on par with the iPhone 6s Plus. The display itself is pretty good, with bright colors and wide viewing angles.

Audio is provided by a single speaker located below the screen (the top speaker is for phone calls only). Sound quality is pretty decent, and the speaker is quite loud too.

Interface

The Axon Elite is running Android 5.0.2 Lollipop, and ZTE's custom MiFavor user interface. ZTE’s custom skin is pretty far from stock Android and is closer in look and feel to iOS. The app tray is gone, with all apps instead residing on the home screen. ZTE has also added some custom icons and a gold color scheme to match the phone’s bling hardware.

Biometrics

On the rear of the phone you’ll find a square fingerprint scanner. This operates much like other fingerprint scanners, just press your digit on it for a couple of seconds to unlock your phone. It’s pretty reliable and quite fast too.

If finger scanning isn’t high tech enough, the Axon Elite is also the first phone to feature biometic eye scanning. Setup is pretty easy. Just head to the settings menu and look for the Sky Eye option. The Axon Elite's front-facing camera will then scan your eyes several times - take note that you do have to hold the handset quite close to your face.

Once your eyes are registered you're good to go. Hit the power key to wake the screen, then drag down from the top of the display and the camera will scan your eyes. It takes around a second (if you're holding the phone in the right place) to unlock. There's a flashy onscreen graphic and some sound effects while you're scanning your eyes, which makes it look super high-tech, but it seems to just be for show.

Eye scanning is pretty quick, but not as fast as the fingerprint scanner, and if you wear glasses, you’ll have to take them off to get a consistent scan. You also have to hold the phone pretty close to your face to unlock, so maybe don’t do it while you’re walking down the street.

You can also unlock the phone with your voice. This one requires you to set up an unlock phrase (minimum of three words), then you just have to speak it into the phone at the unlock screen. This one works best in a quiet environment.

Cameras

On the back of the Axon Elite you’ll find a dual-camera setup, similar to the HTC Duo Camera setup we first saw on last year’s One M8. The main camera is a 13-megapixel module, and the one below it is 2-megapixel. The secondary module is mainly for capturing depth of field information, which can then be used to refocus a picture after you’ve taken the shot. It works quite nicely, and the main camera module is also pretty good, with sharp focus and good detail retention.

There are a range of other features included in the camera including the always-popular background-blurring Bokeh mode, a fully manual mode which gives you control over shutter speed, ISO, aperture and others, multi-exposure and super-exposure. The phone is also capable of recording video in 4K resolution. On the front, you’ll find an 8-megapixel camera, which is perfect for selfies.

Performance

Inside the Axon Elite, you’ll find Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 810 octa-core processor paired with 3GB RAM. As expected, benchmark performance was pretty good, and measures up to similarly specced smartphones like Sony’s Xperia Z5 and HTC’s One M9.

As for battery life, you get a non-removable 3000mAh battery, which is a bit on the small size for a 5.5-inch phablet, but the phone is armed with Quick Charge 2.0, which will let you get the battery up to 60 percent in just 30 minutes of charge time.

Conclusion

This is ZTE’s first truly high-end smartphone to be launched outside of China, and the company has packed it full of bells and whistles to help it stand out from the crowd. The eye scanning tech is fun to play with and is great to show off to admiring onlookers, and if you ever find it inconvenient, you can always use the fingerprint scanner.

As for the dual rear camera setup, while it doesn't really break any new ground, it's got plenty of useful features and modes that give you a lot to play with.

Combined with its good performance, great display, and very reasonably price tag, the ZTE Axon Elite could be worth a look at for anyone interested in a high-end flagship that’s a bit different from the usual fare.

The Axon Elite will be available from 31st October on contract exclusively from M1. Interested customers will also be able to purchase one from Challenger, Gain City and www.abonlineshop.com at a non-contract price of S$699.

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