ZTE AXON 7-America's First HiFi Mobile Audio & Dolby ATMOS

[bhazard]

Anyone who has used an HTC10 able to give some comparisons regarding the two?

I'm selling my HTC 10 and keeping this.
 
The Axon 7 is more neutral. The HTC 10 DAC is U shaped by default. Both get loud and clear, but I like Axon's implementation better.
 
HTC Boomsound EQ isn't as good as USB Audio Player Pro's Parametric EQ, and I like the Axon Speakers better (made better with Atmos). 
 
Heck of a phone for $400, and better sound than most under $200 dac/amp standalones by far.

 

[RojasTKD]

I don't know why, but this mind set drives me batty.  Maybe i am nuts, but i have never had any issues taking my 650s around with me and enjoying them on the go. Nothing about them says they should stay tied to a desk.. and even then, when i am at work at my desk... i cant have all my audio gear with me, so...

Well I say this under the assumption that most of us can't wear open back headphone at work. If that's not you, great. Not to mention my relic was specific to use from the Axon 7. I mean, I think it drive some of my big boy headphones pretty well, but not as well as my bigger rig. I'd rather use something meant to be portable and easier to drive with the Axon 7.

Of course wear open headphone in public, like out on a bus or train in the presence of others, I would find a bit discourteous.

 

[SeeSax]

  Regular LTE works? That's great news. I may sell my Note 5.

 
I tested a phone call and that worked and I also did a speed test on LTE and got something like 55mbps download speeds. I only tried it briefly, but it worked fine for me. The only strange part was that it had an "R" above the signal strength indicating that the phone thought it was roaming. You can probably do something about this, but it didn't bother me. I'm not really impressed with Verizon's implementation of VoLTE and usually disable this anyhow due to many dropped calls. 
 

  I'm selling my HTC 10 and keeping this.
 
The Axon 7 is more neutral. The HTC 10 DAC is U shaped by default. Both get loud and clear, but I like Axon's implementation better.
 
HTC Boomsound EQ isn't as good as USB Audio Player Pro's Parametric EQ, and I like the Axon Speakers better (made better with Atmos). 
 
Heck of a phone for $400, and better sound than most under $200 dac/amp standalones by far.

 
Totally agree - I would own this over the HTC 10. While I'm going by memory on SQ of the 10, I prefer the Axon 7 as it is more neutral as you said. It does not have anywhere near the volume of the 10 for me though. You found it to be similar? I disable Atmos by the way. 
 
Also worth mentioning: as a phone, I am finding it surprisingly easy to live with. It's very thin, the build quality feels like an $800 competing rival phone and the screen is gorgeous. It's the little things, like the rotating beautiful lockscreen wallpaper that changes at every glance. I'm a sucker for this stuff. 
 
Only asks: update the damn Android security level and give me some sort of camera quick launch. 
 
-Collin-

 

[gordec]

How is the background noise? Does it hiss with sensitive IEMs?

 

[RojasTKD]

How is the background noise? Does it hiss with sensitive IEMs?

 
Just tried with my SE530, my most sensitive IEM and I can't hear any hiss.
 
Also I have to update by oservations from above regarding Dolby Atmos. It a different story using IEMs vs full size headphones.

 

[Madcat207]

Well I say this under the assumption that most of us can't wear open back headphone at work. If that's not you, great. Not to mention my relic was specific to use from the Axon 7. I mean, I think it drive some of my big boy headphones pretty well, but not as well as my bigger rig. I'd rather use something meant to be portable and easier to drive with the Axon 7.

Of course wear open headphone in public, like out on a bus or train in the presence of others, I would find a bit discourteous.

Discourteous?  Why?  I know what you are going to say.. "They bleed too much sound".. and i just don't understand it.  I have 650s, use em daily. In order to get them to a volume that could possibly disrupt somebody on a bus or train, my ears would be bleeding. In my office, my co-worker sits ~7ft away from me, and has never once commented on hearing my music, nor said he did when i asked him.
 
I admit, i am probably too passionate, but i am oddly frustrated by open cans getting such a bad rap, and scaring off new people.  They honestly don't leak sound like some people say , and are arguably a better experience than most closed back.

 

[bhazard]

 
Only asks: update the damn Android security level and give me some sort of camera quick launch. 
 
-Collin-

There is one. I think its two fingers down. Check the settings menu for it.

 

[SeeSax]

  There is one. I think its two fingers down. Check the settings menu for it.

 
I'm still looking...
 

 
 
Edit: When searching "Camera" in the settings menu, an option comes up for pressing power button twice to launch the camera, but I can't enable it. Very odd. This phone has outsmarted me lol
 

 
 
-Collin-

 

[SeeSax]

Well, it looks like most of my complaints are being answered. I guess the ZTE CEO is reading my posts? There was an update this morning which brings the Android security patch level to July. Awesome!
 
Wonder if SQ has changed or anything? It was only an 80mb update. 
 
-Collin-

 

[Jerry Wilson]

  Well, it looks like most of my complaints are being answered. I guess the ZTE CEO is reading my posts? There was an update this morning which brings the Android security patch level to July. Awesome!
 
Wonder if SQ has changed or anything? It was only an 80mb update. 
 
-Collin-

What is your experience with the phone so far?  I find your last "review" to be disappointing.  Making 1 call and doing a speed test is not a review.  I've seen several reviews saying the data stops wroking throughout the day and you have to restart the phone for it to start wroking again.  I have Verizon and would love to have this phone.

 

[SeeSax]

What is your experience with the phone so far?  I find your last "review" to be disappointing.  Making 1 call and doing a speed test is not a review.  I've seen several reviews saying the data stops wroking throughout the day and you have to restart the phone for it to start wroking again.  I have Verizon and would love to have this phone.

Well I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I never indicated that my statements were a review. Nor have I put my Verizon SIM card back in. If you'd like, I can try to test drive it for a day and see where that lands me, but I have a different phone I use on Verizon.

Now, on AT&T it has been a wonderful phone for me over the last week for what that's worth.

-Collin-

 

[Jerry Wilson]

Well I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I never indicated that my statements were a review. Nor have I put my Verizon SIM card back in. If you'd like, I can try to test drive it for a day and see where that lands me, but I have a different phone I use on Verizon.

Now, on AT&T it has been a wonderful phone for me over the last week for what that's worth.

-Collin-

Yes that would be great.  There are only about 2 people on the net talking about using this phone with verizon, and they are all 1 statement that it "worked."  A whole day to see your actual speeds and connections would be wonderful.
 
ATT and Tmobile are no doubt as the phone works with all GSM signals.  They have not confirmed it working with Verizon though.

 

[SeeSax]

Yes that would be great.  There are only about 2 people on the net talking about using this phone with verizon, and they are all 1 statement that it "worked."  A whole day to see your actual speeds and connections would be wonderful.

ATT and Tmobile are no doubt as the phone works with all GSM signals.  They have not confirmed it working with Verizon though.

Okay, will swap my SIM in the morning and spend tomorrow on the Axon 7 with Verizon. I will report back at the end of the day.

-Collin-

 

[SeeSax]

  Yes that would be great.  There are only about 2 people on the net talking about using this phone with verizon, and they are all 1 statement that it "worked."  A whole day to see your actual speeds and connections would be wonderful.
 
ATT and Tmobile are no doubt as the phone works with all GSM signals.  They have not confirmed it working with Verizon though.

 
Okay, mid-day check in: most of what I see on the XDA thread makes sense now. I'm getting a constant popup of that update screen for no reason at all: 
 

 
Other than that, I made a 45 minute phone call while driving into work and it sounded fine with no drops. You can' do VoLTE, but normal voice calls via CDMA work fine. I also took the advice of one of the members on XDA and changed the phone to LTE/CDMA Auto PRL and have experienced no data dropping. I'm only halfway through the day, but that's a good six hours of testing. Texts have worked fine as well. 
 
The only thing I've noticed was a pretty slow speed test at one point where the upload speed failed to reach 1mbps. I'm in a pretty dense area and Verizon has capacity issues here, so I'll continue to test throughout the day. 
 
Best, 
 
-Collin-

 

[Niyologist]

The Bootloader is unlocked. WARNING. It will void your warranty. So carefully decide if you want to do it or not.