ZTE Axon 20 5G review: The first phone with under-display camera underwhelms

Our Verdict

While y'all may initially be astonished by how reasonably priced the Axon 20 5G is given nether-display camera, you'll eventually notice a fairly average smartphone.

For

Huge high-quality display for price
Futuristic selfie camera
Decent performance

Confronting

Unusual, unergonomic design
Choosy photography
Weak speakers

Tom'due south Guide Verdict

While you may initially exist astonished by how reasonably priced the Axon 20 5G is given under-brandish photographic camera, yous'll eventually find a fairly boilerplate smartphone.

Pros

+
Huge high-quality display for price
+
Futuristic selfie camera
+
Decent performance

Cons

-
Unusual, unergonomic design
-
Choosy photography
-
Weak speakers

ZTE Axon xx 5G specs

Starting price: $449/£419
Display: half dozen.9-inch OLED (1080 x 2460), 90Hz
Rear cameras: 64MP main (f/1.8), 8MP ultrawide (f/2.two), 2MP macro (f/2.4), ii MP depth (f/ii.four)
Front camera: 342MP (f/2.0)
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G
RAM: 8GB
Storage: 128GB
Expandable storage: MicroSD up to 2Tb
Battery: 4220 mAh
Charging: 30W wired
Operating system: Android 10 with MiFavor 10.five
Size: 6.78 x 3.07 x 0.31 in (172.ane x 77.nine 10 7.9 mm)
Weight: half dozen.98 oz (198g)

Usually, ownership a slice of cut-edge tech can be costly. But non so with the reasonably priced, purlieus-breaking ZTE Axon 20 5G. The Chinese telephone maker claims to accept made the kickoff commercial telephone in the world with an nether-display selfie camera, allowing a display-viewing experience unspoiled by notch, bezel or punch-hole.

In this ZTE Axon xx 5G review, you'll see why we recollect the phone is another example of a strong mid-range Android device, offer an acceptable level of functioning and enough premium features to satisfy users who don't desire to spend huge sums of money on a flagship device. The Axon 20's unique front camera, combined with the huge display and a good corporeality of computing ability, makes this phone peculiarly a delight for motion-picture show watching and gaming.

But you can't purchase the ZTE Axon xx 5G in the U.S. You can also find many of the aforementioned features on cheaper, more than readily available phones. We prefer the OnePlus Nord and specially the Google Pixel 4a 5G for its amend camera, just the Axon xx 5G is worth a wait.

ZTE Axon 20 5G review: Price and availability

While the ZTE Axon 20 5G is the commencement phone of its kind in some respects, it only costs $449 or £419. That's slightly more expensive than the equivalent 8GB RAM OnePlus Nord, or £fourscore less than the Pixel 4a 5G.

ZTE launches the phone globally via the ZTE online store on December 21 It will be available in the U.K., but not the U.S. American readers who like the audio of the Axon will need to go through culling online retailers or auction sites to become ane, which requires a petty more care and attention than just going to your local telephone shop, but is still manageable if y'all're willing. Only 1 version is on sale, providing you a black back, 8GB RAM and 128GB storage.

That initial launch is very limited however. You demand to get an invite from ZTE's website to be able to order the phone; in render you will get a gratuitous pair of ZTE LiveBuds earbuds. If y'all miss out on this showtime batch, the Axon will go along sale more widely next twelvemonth.

ZTE Axon twenty 5G review: Design

The moment you pick up the ZTE Axon 20 5G, you'll notice it's a big phone with its 6.ix-inch display. At 6.9 ounces, however, it feels oddly low-cal for the size. That's good news since you'll regularly need to change your grip to admission all the icons across that enormous screen unless you take larger than boilerplate hands.

While the superlative of the phone looks futuristic with its hidden photographic camera, the bottom looks a few years out of appointment.

Casting your eyes to the bottom of the display reveals i of the chunkiest chin bezels on a smartphone I've seen this year. It seems that what ZTE has given with one mitt it's taken away with the other.

Around the rather prominent metal side runway of the Axon 20, yous take the trio of power, volume up and book down buttons on the phone's correct-hand side, then the SIM tray, USB-C port and speaker on the bottom. While the phone feels well put together, at that place is a noticeable "step" between the display and the track, which not only makes the phone feel unusual when gripping it tightly, but also has me worried that there'southward no protection at all for this sophisticated display should I drop the phone.

Flipping the phone around, you see some adequately large Axon 5G and ZTE branding, plus a rectangular photographic camera array containing four sensors. The main 64MP photographic camera gets a special mention on the camera bump itself, but none of it is particularly distracting thanks to a swish silvery font color.

I found myself entranced past the Axon 20's colour. The blackness is pretty apparently, simply the issue ZTE has added to the glass creates waves depending on how the calorie-free hits it. Information technology looks like the picayune islands and channels that the tide creates on a sandy beach. Fifty-fifty in this dark colorway, this phone volition draw attention to itself if y'all place it on a table in front of your friends.

ZTE Axon 20 5G review: Display and sound

The Axon 20 5G's display measures a considerable vi.9 inches diagonally. ZTE uses an FHD+ OLED panel with a 90Hz refresh rate and x-flake color. But this obviously pales in comparison to the fact that the screen has a disappearing photographic camera hidden underneath it, making what ZTE calls a "Truthful Full Brandish."

We'll talk about the quality of that photographic camera's images afterward on, only its bear upon on the brandish depends on what you're doing. The patch of pixels that hides the camera is noticeably lower-res than the main display around it, but ZTE has done its all-time to hide the camera. The included wallpapers are all dark at the superlative of the screen, which is when the effect is least visible. If yous go an all-white webpage or settings menu, however, it looks kind of ugly.

Sure, these are bug I wish didn't be, but in the context of the wider telephone market place, ZTE's under-screen camera is really quite impressive. As an iPhone 12 Pro user, I have to contend with the meridian center of my display permanently beingness unusable because of the camera/Face ID notch, just I don't really mind it.

Watching the trailer for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on the Axon twenty showed where this phone excels. The pocket-sized foursquare of irregular-looking brandish is easily disregarded when you have 6.9 inches of panel to savour Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson teaming up.

What's harder to ignore is the sound. As well every bit hiding the camera underneath the screen, ZTE accept as well fitted an under-brandish top speaker. While information technology's OK when making a telephone call, if yous're trying to heed to music information technology's basically like listening to a mono speaker.

The audio of Taylor Swift's "Willow" was pretty average from the Axon 20, which produced Swift'south vocalization, piano and guitar nicely but none of the top or bottom end. The trouble is a misplaced palm volition easily stifle the music unless you printing your ear to the top of the phone to hear the tiny corporeality of sound coming from the under-display speaker. The Pixel 4a 5G's stereo speakers are far better balanced, and Google'due south telephone was actually able to play some of the less prominent of the latest Swift single likewise, similar the violin or backing vocals.

ZTE Axon 20 5G review: Cameras

Normally I'd try out a phone's rear cameras first, simply the Axon xx 5G is a special case, so we'll beginning with its 32MP front photographic camera, hidden beneath the brandish. ZTE has used some clever hardware to create what is finer a tiny 1-style mirror in the display with transparent layers and a redesigned matrix of pixels. There's likewise some software trickery involved to overcome the color, dissimilarity and focus issues that putting a camera behind the display creates.

I took a serial of portrait mode and standard selfie shots with the Axon'south front camera, followed by the same shots with the Pixel 4a 5G and my regularly-used iPhone 12 Pro, the device I consider the benchmark for good photography.

With portrait mode on, the Axon produces an OK image, just one that I retrieve the Pixel handles better. Not just is the cutout effectually my head and shoulders neater on the Pixel, just its postal service processing has had some restraint, making the photo look a lot more natural than the overly-smoothed i produced by the Axon. Every bit is mutual with Chinese phones, selfie manner on the Axon automatically enables a gear up of beautification tools, although I disabled them before taking these shots.

Turning off the bokeh effect, we run across once more how much brighter the ZTE's image is compared to the Pixel'south. It's skillful to run into that the Axon's photo functioning isn't harmed too much by the display in the way of its sensor, only the Pixel remains my favorite for self portraits. Brightness in an image is one affair, but altering the colors to the point where they no longer stand for reality is a step too far. Plus, the background nevertheless looks weirdly blurry fifty-fifty though we're not in portrait mode.

The difference is fifty-fifty greater when comparing the standard selfies of the Axon and the iPhone 12. Apple'southward mix of 12MP selfie camera, a depth sensor and some subtle mail service processing brand its image expect much meliorate.

With portrait way on, I notwithstanding remain firmly in favor of the iPhone'southward movie. The Axon makes me look like I'm trapped in a magical dream sequence instead of standing in my parents' backyard; due to its softer focus and positively glowing color temperature.

Hopefully these images are bear witness that the under-screen selfie camera tin can all the same produce adequate pictures, but you can practise better, both in general and in this price range. Personally I'm only going to exist sure an under-display camera is a good thought when a manufacturer with a better reputation for smartphone photography tries out this kind of display. ZTE is blazing a trail, simply as is often the case, get-go doesn't hateful all-time.

Moving to the back camera array now, we'll get-go with the ZTE'south centerpiece 64MP sensor. Typical of a sensor this size, it takes very bright photos, which you tin meet in this movie of a wood path.

The Pixel 4a produces much richer colors, at the expense of accuracy to the original scene. I like both images on residual, but master sensors accept to deal with more than simply straightforward shots similar this.

Heading back out at twilight to try the phones' respective nighttime modes, I was not confident that the ZTE had what it took to challenge Google'southward industry-leading Night Sight low-light photo mode. That prediction came true, as yous can run into beneath. There is far more to encounter in this picture of a blank tree on the Pixel 4a's shot than on the Axon'south, both in terms of color and detail, although the Pixel's photograph looks more obviously post-candy.

To make matters worse, it took the Pixel 4a about 2 seconds to take the picture, and before that it showed me a adept estimation of the final paradigm through the viewfinder. The Axon took most eight seconds from pressing the shutter push button to completing the capture, and I didn't know what the concluding shot would really wait like until I checked information technology later on in the gallery.

Yous'll find the Axon 20'southward 8MP ultrawide camera above the principal sensor at the top of the photographic camera stack. We see in this shot overlooking a golf course fairway that the image from the Pixel 4a's 16MP ultrawide sensor is much more saturated than the ZTE's, which doesn't take a resolution advantage to fall back on. Whether it's the sensor size or the post processing that'south responsible, the Pixel'southward image is much better looking.

The third principal sensor on the ZTE is the 2MP macro camera. In theory, this allows you to take great farthermost close-ups or photos of pocket-sized objects. Simply unfortunately like all other macro cameras we've tested lately, the upshot isn't that good.

This photo of a pot plant is obviously noisy and night. That could be improved with some improve lighting, but that goes against the snapshot-style photos nearly users want to take. The Axon is yet more proof that smartphone macro cameras are a waste product of time.

Finally, we have the Axon's depth sensor, which doesn't accept its ain photos merely helps add depth to other shots. Information technology's a niggling finicky to use, since there'due south both portrait and bokeh modes bachelor in the ZTE'due south camera app. The former relies on you taking a picture of a person, which I only plant out after taking a film and noticing there was no background blurring.

With the correct setting selected, I once again took pictures of Lola the cavachon. I'yard pleasantly surprised with the quality of both shots, and notice it hard to pick between them. I like the depth of field present on both phones, and don't have much of a preference between either phone's representation of the colors in the scene. This is probably my favorite of all the photos I took with the ZTE, and goes to evidence how adding a depth sensor tin can do good any telephone.

With so many strong competitors around this price range, photography is something the ZTE desperately needs to become right in order to stand up a risk. The Axon 20 has plenty of breadth in its photo arsenal thanks to the big primary camera and the defended depth sensor. But the results don't compare well to the competition, so the Axon isn't going to ascend to the hallowed halls of our best camera phone listing where the Pixel 4a 5G resides.

ZTE Axon 20 5G review: Functioning

ZTE has given the Axon some decent silicon musculus for the cost, just its ability isn't limitless. Like many equivalent Android phones, the Axon uses a Snapdragon 765G chipset with a built-in Adreno 620 GPU, backed upwards by 8GB RAM.

On the Geekbench five benchmarking app, the Axon scored 606 in the single core test and 1876 in the multi-core test. That's appreciably better than the Pixel 4a 5G's 1,614 multi-core score, but a little worse than the i,948 achieved by the OnePlus Nord, perhaps due to the Nord using 12GB RAM instead of simply 8GB.

Graphically the ZTE gets some points back. On 3DMark's Wild Life graphics benchmark, the Axon scored 1,674 points and an average of 10 frames per second. That'south considerably better than the Pixel 4a 5G, which managed 1,199 points and 7 fps, despite sharing the same chipset and GPU.

That's some fairly decent operation from a phone with a mid-tier chipset in. What makes the Axon twenty'southward performance improve is a rather constructive three-role cooling system within the phone. I didn't notice the phone heating up much during testing or charging, so information technology remains comfortable to apply fifty-fifty when y'all're putting it through its paces.

ZTE Axon 20 5G review: Connectivity

The proper noun of ZTE'due south telephone gives away the Axon's 5G abilities. I was unable to test the speed while staying in the cell signal-free zone of Northumberland, England, only what is sure is that the Axon 20 only offers sub-6GHz 5G, not the mmWave sort.

This won't be a problem for U.K. users, as sub-6GHz is all we have right now. Go to the U.S. however, and mmWave is the mode of choice for Verizon and its customers, likewise as a few other 5G-ready nations around the world like South Korea. If yous're going to purchase this phone, double check what signal bands it supports on ZTE'due south website and cross-reference them with the bands that your mobile carrier supports. Otherwise you may finish up with a 5G phone that can't actually employ 5G.

ZTE Axon 20 5G review: Battery and charging

For its concrete size, the battery in the Axon is kind of small at four,220 mAh. Unremarkably when phones are pushing seven inches in size, they can require equally much as 5,000 mAh, but the Axon 20 still features an acceptable corporeality of battery to have.

We were unable to perform our usual bombardment rundown test, but I can report that playing fullscreen YouTube videos not-cease over Wi-Fi for an hour ate near ten% of the total battery capacity. That equates to enough juice for a full solar day's video watching, and probable longer if you're using the phone for less power-intensive tasks like messaging and social media.

If you were worried about that battery draining, rest assured that ZTE has charging sewn up. The Axon just offers wired charging, merely at 30W, it'due south plenty quick. In our test, the phone filled up from 0% to 31% over 15 minutes, 61% over 30 minutes, and was filled to the brim by 58 minutes. That'south non the fastest nosotros've seen, only that'south certainly respectable operation that will satisfy virtually users, equalling the 30W charger with the OnePlus Nord and beating the 18W charger of the Pixel 4a 5G.

ZTE Axon 20 5G review: Software

ZTE has equipped the Axon xx 5G with MiFavor UI, its take on Android 10. Unfortunately that means no Android 11 features, at least non yet. ZTE says it will be introducing the new version of Android soon.

While I don't think it'south the most attractive version of Android I've come beyond, moving through the ZTE's menus is easy to understand and pleasant enough to look at. The only major difference is that the home screens loop around to the outset when you reach either finish, which to me makes more sense than having information technology artificially stop and make you lot coil back and along all the time.

What is also good is that the Axon 20 doesn't come with a bunch of pre-installed apps. Bated from the basic Google ones, all you lot become is a custom browser, a phone switching app, a game aid app, ZTE's client support app, plus Facebook and WPS Office. If fifty-fifty these are too many, you can easily delete them or move them off of your dwelling screen into the app drawer.

ZTE Axon 20 5G review: Verdict

If it weren't for its under-display camera, the ZTE Axon 20 5G would be quite an ordinary mid-range Android phone. This phone excels in multiple ways. The large notchless brandish makes the Axon 5G a compelling option for watching video and playing games (provided y'all plug in headphones to avert using the sub-par speakers). And the disappearing selfie camera volition draw as much attention as more expensive phones.

Overall, we prefer the Google Pixel 4a 5G considering of its ameliorate cameras. And spending a picayune more money volition net yous the excellent OnePlus Nord, which is a pretty big pace-up in UX and photography quality from the Axon xx 5G. Despite ZTE's impressive party play a trick on, at that place are a few besides many caveats to make this Android phone a height pick.

Richard is a Tom's Guide staff writer based in London, covering news, reviews and how-tos for phones, gaming, audio and whatever else people demand advice on. Post-obit on from his MA in Magazine Journalism at the Academy of Sheffield, he'southward also written for WIRED U.K., The Register and Creative Bloq. When not at work, he's likely thinking near how to brew the perfect cup of specialty coffee.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/zte-axon-20-5g

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