ZTE’s Axon 7 has received an OTA update that takes it to Android 7.1.1, well before of most of the major brands roll out Android 7.0.
iTWire reviewed the Axon 7 in late February. ZTE allowed iTWire to hold onto the unit, first placing its beta version of Android Nougat 7.0 on it and recently the over-the-air Android update and update of its user interface MiFavour to version 4.2.
It has made the smartphone faster, given it better battery life and addressed a few minor firmware issues, and updated the camera app.
It is not that the upgrade from Android 6.x to 7.1.1 has dramatically altered the experience or the review.
{loadposition ray}But the update has added a few new features like Android 7 material design, updated the Google apps, new emoji, Wi-Fi calling support (carrier dependent), camera app update (faster and better on moving objects, improved low light, and supports both HDR and Flash at the same time), and Google Android March security updates.
In doing so it seems to have extracted more from the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, and its X12 Cat 12/13 (600/150Mbps) LTE modem and hardware – it is faster and smoother.
The phone has achieved what could be best described as a cult following. To quote XDA developers “Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you?”
In part, it is because for $699 it has a 5.5” QHD [Samsung] AMOLED display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 (2.15GHZ full version), 4GB LPDDR4 ram, 64GB UFS 2.0 storage, microSD support, OTG support, 20MP OIS camera, 3.5mm headphone jack, Dolby Atmos and a build quality equal to the best.
A review of the various user forum indicates that the update has been effectively trouble-free and ZTE will roll it out to the Axon 7 mini soon.
iTWire will continue to test the Axon 7 and update the review as necessary.
