ZTE has been steadly climbing up the ranks in the U.S., currently situated at the fourth largest smartphone manufacturer spot.  In the past weeks, they’ve given us a tease that something significant was coming, dubbed the Axon phone.

Today is the day we got to hear what it’s all about, and she’s quite a contender.

zte_axon_3

Coming in at a starting price of $450, we’re not looking at a budget phone, but not a pricey beast either.  ZTE is reinforcing their stance in the U.S., claiming that “Axon is a flagship phone designed in the U.S. for the U.S.”.  Their aim was to make a phone that encompassed all that consumers desired in a phone.  That’s a bold undertaking, let’s review what they’ve come up with:

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  • Design/Build:  Metal chassis, 9.3mm thickness, Ion Gold, Chromium Silver, or Phthalo Blue color options
  • Display:  5.5″ QHD LCD with Gorilla Glass 3
  • SoC:  Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 @ 2.0GHz
  • RAM:  4GB
  • Storage:  32GB
  • Camera:  Dual rear (13MP + 2MP depth sensor) and 8MP front
  • Speaker:  Mono front-facing, from the bottom of the phone
  • Battery:  3,000mAh
  • Buttons:  Capacitive navigation and a dedicated camera button
  • OS:  Android 5.1 Lollipop with light ZTE UI tweaks

zte_axon_2

If the Axon performs well, I would say this is an outstanding value.  ZTE has also made a point to deliver outstanding audio.  The Axon is said to contain two dedicated audio chipsets for HiFi sound from your headphones and HiFi recording via twin microphones.

Although this is a phone aimed for U.S. customers, it is GSM only.  Thus, Verizon and Sprint customers are left out.  This fact leaves me scratching my head.  How can you make a phone for the U.S., but ignore two of its major carriers?

The Axon phone is now up for pre-order, with shipments beginning as early as July 27th.  Hit up the source link for more info.  Did ZTE sway you with the announcement or are you underwhelmed?

Source: ZTE

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3 COMMENTS

  1. You know honestly Verizon and Sprint are all left out!!! Show me a decently spec and price CDMA phone period. If some overseas company made a model of the Axon for the United states CDMA band it would sell like hotcakes IMO.

    • That’s a good point, I think the CDMA carriers just bet on customers doing contract, not buying the phones outright. The favoritism towards GSM customers may stem from the legacy ability to buy any phone unlocked and use it easily.

      • There is little to no phones at a decent spec and price range for CDMA carriers. The only phones that may be good in terms of CDMA carrier is Moto X on the Republic Wireless that uses Sprint from behind the scene. And the S4 or S5 or even Nexus 5 from the Freedom Pop that also uses Sprint from behind the scene.

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