ZTE Axon 30 Reviews | Committed

ZTE’s family of devices is a bit confusing at the moment. The Axon 30 is a direct sequel to the Axon 20, which was the first phone to feature an on-screen camera. However, the company subsequently released the Axon 30 Pro and Ultra in some territories. So, oddly enough, the Vanilla Axon 30 is the last of the Axon 30 family to appear.

At $ 500, it’s also the cheapest – another attempt by ZTE to squeeze under the more expensive smartphones and offer a compelling mix of features, albeit tempered by some tradeoffs. The main function of the Axon 30 is a much improved Sub-Display Camera (UDC), which is almost invisible. It’s also a ZTE smartphone that’s launched in the US, which doesn’t always happen.

But with growing competition from mid-range phones like Samsung, OnePlus, and Google, does ZTE’s Axon 30 offer more than just a hidden selfie camera?

So what’s going on with this camera anyway? Well, the 16-megapixel under-screen selfie shooter of the $ 500 Axon 30 puts the one on Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 3 to shame. ZTE’s implementation is imperceptible unless you’re really, really looking for it. No perforation, no notch, no pop-up camera.

In comparison, the Fold 3’s selfie camera has a pixelated effect that indicates where the camera is and ruins the entire effect. (Yes, in Samsung’s defense, there’s another front camera on the Fold 3 when it’s closed and you’re using the smaller screen.)

The difference seems to be the pixel density, or according to ZTE, their makeup, with a “special pixel array” that ensures the screen appears at 400 PPI – double that found on the Axon 20. If the light catches on the device just to the right, so yes you can see it. You will probably never notice it again.

There’s also a dedicated UDC chip that apparently works to keep the camera area consistent with the rest of the screen. For a closer look, I used Oppo’s Find X3 Pro, which has a microscope phone camera – perfect for visually explaining what could otherwise get very technical.

As you can see, some pixels look slightly smaller or darker than those around them. In this close-up you can see the outline of the UDC area, but at this magnification it’s impressive that it doesn’t look more out of place. I’ll touch on the camera’s performance later, but spoiler: while that may sound like part, it’s not quite capable enough.

The hidden sensor also complements the expansive 6.92-inch AMOLED display, uninterrupted by the presence of notches or camera holes. With a 2,460 x 1,080 resolution panel and 120Hz refresh rate, the Axon 30 offers a flagship display at mid-range prices. You can switch between 120 and 60 Hz modes, with an automatic option allowing the Axon 30 to decide when to increase the frequency. On more expensive phones, like the recently announced OnePlus 9 Pro and iPhone Pro 13, there are more refresh rate options that drop even more, but at this price point it seems like a fair compromise.

Leaving it in automatic mode is probably the best solution for most people, but the manual options are interesting, especially since there seems to be a tangible benefit to battery life at the lower setting.

The phone itself is quite big but feels sturdy despite its plastic back. ZTE added a translucent reflective effect to the rear of the Axon 30, which I like. However, I’m less in love with the giant camera unit, which protrudes a few millimeters from the phone and is more susceptible to holes and scratches. Unfortunately, this design is now everywhere.

The screen might be comparable to a high-end phone, but some features didn’t make a difference at this price point, like wireless charging and certified dust and water resistance.

Performance and software

There are other tradeoffs. The Axon 30 is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 870 processor – which is a bit underpowered compared to the Snapdragon 880 and 880 Plus we currently see in flagship Android smartphones.

But at $ 500, phones like the Pixel 5a (and its Snapdragon 765G chip) are a better comparison. The Axon 30 has a more powerful chip than Google’s latest device, although it’s hard to notice a difference in performance between the two.

The Axon 30 handled everything I threw at it, whether it was video streaming, Stadia, or playing games on the phone itself. (The Stadia app reported that the phone was not officially supported, although it worked fine for me.) There was some noticeable slowdown when recording a full 4K resolution video. and jump into the gallery, but otherwise I didn’t have a lot of complaints.

I should also mention that the Axon 30 is not exactly ideal for supporting 5G in the United States. It only works on T-Mobile’s 5G mid-band. If you are on Verizon or AT&T, you will be relegated to 4G.

ZTE, however, knows what it is doing with the power of smartphones. The phone has a 4,200mAh battery which when I turned off the 120Hz refresh rate lasted a good two days of typical use before needing to recharge. And when I needed it, it hardly took any time.

The Axon 30 supports blazingly fast charging speeds of up to 65W with the right charger, which (thankfully) comes with the phone. ZTE estimates that it can charge the phone to 100% in under an hour, but reaching 50% takes proportionately less time – around 20 minutes.

The software is fairly harmless, which is generally a good thing. ZTE stays pretty close to the original Google experience. Its new MyOS 11 skin, based on Android 11, is pretty close to what you would find on a Pixel. There are a few gesture quirks (shake the Axon 30 for the flashlight!) And a floating shortcut widget that can be minimized around the edges of the screen. It’s similar to Samsung’s Edge panel on its larger phones. The version of ZTE is called Z-Pop and you can change the four shortcuts for system commands and application switching. Having said that, it’s not something that makes you think ‘Mmm, what a memorable experience this is’.

Cameras

While the 16-megapixel front-facing camera is technically impressive, it doesn’t take great selfies. Make no mistake, it takes much better photos than the SVP on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 and the Axon 20. The work done for pixel-bin for low-light performance, along with algorithms to help l camera to “see” through the AMOLED panel make it the best UDC to date. But it still offers average to mediocre photos. To be honest, it’s a bit of a time warp, which gives me the kind of photos I used to have on smartphones years ago. Details are blurry, and any strong backlighting causes reflections and lens washout.

There’s also an AI assist mode that doesn’t seem to help much – if it does, modes like Brightness seem to erase skin tones even more, and they’re a little gray to begin with. Even if you turn off this option, the images look quite unnatural.

Engadget, Mat Smith

It still captures enough detail to offer a face unlock feature if you prefer that method over fingerprint unlock. And yes, there is also an integrated fingerprint reader in the display. Face unlock worked well for me nine out of ten times and was pretty quick, but I used a combination of the two. Fingerprint unlocking seemed more reliable in darker environments.

But what about the rest of the cameras? On the back, the Axon 30 has an array of four cameras, led by a Sony 64-megapixel sensor. While you’ll mostly be taking photos that merge a lot of those pixels together for less noise and better low-light performance, ZTE has retained the ability to take full-resolution photos if desired. There’s also an 8-megapixel wide-angle camera, a 5-megapixel macro camera, and lastly, a 2-megapixel depth sensor to aid in your bokeh photography efforts and help you focus. You get up to 2x optical zoom, which is what you would generally expect at this price.

When shooting with the Axon 30 at a family event, images of friends and family looked especially good. There is a smoothness in some shots, probably due to the photos being scaled down from the 64-megapixel original, but the phone was able to handle most of the things I threw at it.