ZTE Axon 10 Pro: At First Glance
Despite having a controversial year in the USA with being banned, this Chinese company didn’t relent. In 2019, ZTE launched their flagship 5G smartphone called ZTE Axon 10 Pro.
For a 5G smartphone, ZTE joined the likes of the OnePlus 7, Redmi Note 9, and ASUS ZenFone 6 – with the James Bond camera.
However, the ZTE Axon 10 Pro costs a whole lot more than its competitors. We can’t exactly say what is responsible for its $800 price tag (as of November 2021).
So, let’s delve into this review to find out!
ZTE Axon 10 Pro: Design, Dimensions, and Weight
ZTE’s flagship 5G smartphone looks the part in every way. The overall glass build with an aluminum frame makes this phone glossy and smooth.
As you may have guessed, it is also a fingerprint magnet. The mirrored back is quite reflective, making it easy to admire yourself without having to open the phone’s camera.
Unfortunately, the beauty of this phone can only be appreciated in one color variant. To be exact, the ZTE Axon 10 Pro comes in only blue.
Moving on, you may need a protective case for this phone because it is slippery in the hand. Speaking of its feel in the hands, the ZTE Axon 10 Pro weighs 175 g.
Comparatively, the Redmi Xiaomi Note 9 and Nokia 9 PureView are 5G smartphones that weigh similar to the Axon 10. More precisely, they weigh 173 g and 172 g respectively.
A far heavier competitor is the OnePlus 7 Pro that weighs 206 g. From the look of things, compared to its competitors, the ZTE Axon 10 Pro’s weight is fair.
In the aspect of dimensions, the ZTE Axon 10 Pro has a dimension of 159.2 x 73.4 x 7.9 mm. In comparison, this phone’s dimension isn’t as wide or tall as the Redmi Note 9 which has a dimension of 162.30 x 77.20 x 8.90 mm.
Surrounding the dimension of the ZTE Axon 10 Pro are bezels that are almost non-existent. In fact, this phone has a screen-to-body ratio of 88%.
ZTE was able to achieve such narrow bezels with the design choice for the screen. To give a very descriptive image, the ZTE Axon 10 Pro has curved edges similar to the Samsung S6 Edge.
The only thing you’ll see on the top bezel of the ZTE Axon 10 Pro is a teardrop notch for the selfie camera. Back to the phone’s edges, the power button and volume bar are located on the right side.
At the base of this phone is where you’ll find the single speaker, USB Type C port, and SIM tray slot. The inclusion of the SIM tray at the bottom is not something we often see in smartphones but it’s disturbing anyway.
If you’re wondering where the headphone jack is, just forget about it on this phone. The ZTE Axon 10 Pro does not have a headphone jack which is something we are beginning to get used to in flagship smartphones.
However, ZTE still included a USB Type C dongle and a pair of earphones in the box. Apparently, this dongle has the same USB Type as the charging port while the other end is the headphone jack.
This means you should get ready to move around with a dongle whenever you need to use an earphone. You can avoid all that though if you opt for earbuds instead – which you’ll purchase at your own cost.
Moving on to the back of the ZTE Axon 10 Pro, there’s the dual camera in one bump. On a separate segment are the third camera and an LED flash.
Following that are the inscriptions; “ZTE” “AXON” and “5G”. Apparently, all these texts were intentionally placed to let you know just what brand and network connectivity this phone is.
Furthermore, both the texts and the camera components are vertically placed to avoid unnecessary rowdiness at the back.
In a nutshell, the ZTE Axon 10 Pro with its impressive design feature is deserving of a nine out of ten in this review.
ZTE Axon 10 Pro: Display Features
For a 5G flagship smartphone at this price, we don’t expect a mediocre display and this phone doesn’t disappoint. The ZTE Axon 10 Pro has an AMOLED display panel, FHD+ (1080 x 2340) display resolution, and a 6.47″ screen size.
The combination of the AMOLED display and the FHD resolution makes this phone’s display super crisp. Colors appear as accurate as they can be especially with the deep blacks.
Along with the sharp colors are great viewing angles. These good viewing angles make it possible to view details on this phone even when the screen is tilted.
On a disappointing note, the ZTE Axon 10 Pro only has 400 nits of brightness. In case you didn’t know, nits refer to the screen brightness level of a device.
400 is a disappointing range because it is below the average 430 nits as expected in a smartphone. To clarify, 400 nits on this phone means you’ll struggle to use the Axon 10 Pro when you’re outdoors in direct sunlight.
Furthermore, the Axon 10 Pro didn’t surpass its predecessor – the Axon 9 Pro which has 517 nits. Still in comparison, the OnePlus 7 Pro has as much as 605 nits.
That aside, the ZTE Axon 10 Pro has a whopping screen size of 6.47″. With such a screen size, it won’t be out of place to refer to this phone as a phablet!
To give you a more comparison, the ZTE Axon 10 Pro has the same screen size as the Infinix S5 Pro. Another phone with that screen size is the iPhone XS Max.
If you’re a lover of big screens, the ZTE Axon 10 Pro offers just that for your viewing delight.
As a whole, the display features of ZTE’s flagship smartphone are impressive except for its low brightness level. Considering that, I will be rating the display feature of the ZTE Axon 10 Pro an eight in this review.
ZTE Axon 10 Pro: Camera Features
This ZTE flagship smartphone comes with four camera lenses. To start off, the main camera is 48 MP with ƒ/1.7 aperture.
Next is a 20 MP wide-angle lens with ƒ/2.2 aperture. The third rear-facing camera is an 8 MP telephoto lens with ƒ/2.4 aperture.
Furthermore, this telephoto camera captures images with 3x optical zoom and 5x hyper zoom. The front-facing selfie camera on the other hand is 20 MP with ƒ/2.0 aperture.
Notably, you can quickly launch the camera app by pressing the power button twice. Now, let’s talk about what these cameras can actually do.
The selfie cam takes decent pictures with fine details. However, don’t try zooming in on those pictures because you won’t find any clarity in them anymore.
Also, this selfie camera sometimes overexposes the object in focus. As for the main cam, photos in the daytime look sharp and bright also with a good amount of detail.
Taking pictures in the nighttime is no fun without the night mode. The night mode feature on the ZTE Axon 10 Pro does well by boosting the shadows and taming the highlights.
Zooming in with the optical zoom feature of the telephoto cam is also really clear and sharp. The wide-angle lens also doesn’t disappoint as it captures everything before it.
In general, the camera of the ZTE Axon 10 Pro captures good, decent, and bright pictures. This is however not a camera-focused phone so don’t think too much of it in this aspect.
Considering that, a rating of eight is befitting for the camera features of the ZTE Axon 10 Pro in this review.
ZTE Axon 10 Pro: Battery Life and Talk Time
The battery of the ZTE Axon 10 Pro is a 4000 mAh non-removable battery. This battery size and its non-removable feature is expected for a flagship smartphone of its kind.
This is especially true when competitors in this same range have similar battery sizes. Anyway, battery life speaks more volume than battery size right?
Then, let’s talk about the battery life of the ZTE Axon 10 Pro.
If you decide to use the ZTE Axon 10 Pro for continuous web browsing in a day, you will get 11 hours 20 minutes. Surprisingly, the OnePlus 7, with a smaller battery size lasts longer than the ZTE Axon 10 Pro.
To be exact, the 3700 mAh battery of the OnePlus 7 lasts 15 hours on continuous web browsing. Still in comparison, the Redmi Note 9 with its 3300 mAh battery lasts 9 hours on continuous web browsing.
Apparently, the ZTE Axon 10 Pro is not the king of battery life but it does serve well. As for the OnePlus 7, we often see it perform incredibly well even with a smaller battery size.
Moving on, the ZTE Axon 10 Pro has the Qualcomm QuickCharge feature. Together with the fast charger in the box, this phone takes two hours to get a full charge from 0-100%.
Two hours is not the best we’ve seen as fast charge. For example, the OnePlus 7 gets a full charge in 1 hour 15 minutes.
Even at that, the ZTE Axon 10 Pro charges fast at its own pace.
On a different note, the ZTE Axon 10 Pro also has a wireless charging feature. This feature functions as its name suggest – this means that you won’t be needing any cables to charge the ZTE Axon 10 Pro.
In case you need further clarification, wireless charging is the transfer of power from a power outlet to your device without the use of a connecting cable.
This is done with the use of a power transmitting pad and a receiver. This pad uses two electromagnetic coils that transmit power from the smartphone to the receiver.
In simple terms, both the wireless charging enabled smartphone and the transmitting pad have coils that transmit enough power to charge the phone. To further read up on this, check out the “References And Further Reading” section at the end of this article.
All the same, the battery life and fast charging feature of the ZTE Axon 10 Pro are not disappointing. On that note, I will rate the ZTE Axon 10 Pro battery a nine in this review.
ZTE Axon 10 Pro: Storage Options and Performance
Storage on the ZTE Axon 10 Pro is as you would expect for its price point. To be exact, this phone comes with 128 GB or 256 GB onboard storage.
This means that the ZTE Axon 10 Pro has two variants with two different storage size options. If you believe that 128 GB will be just right for you, then you can opt for that or step it up a little with 256 GB of storage.
With whatever you go for, there’s still room for more storage. As you would rightly expect in an android smartphone, this phone comes with room for expandable storage with a microSD card.
More precisely, you can have up to 2 TB of storage using a microSD card. However, it’s worth noting that the microSD card you’ll need for this will have to be purchased separately – so don’t expect it to come in the box.
By and large, the storage options of the ZTE Axon 10 Pro are very well worth a nine in this review. This is because this smartphone has great storage options that would definitely suit those in need of large storage.
ZTE Axon 10 Pro: Security Features and Sensors
For a smartphone with such a price tag, the ZTE Axon 10 Pro has the ideal sensors. These sensors include the accelerometer, proximity, fingerprint, facial recognition, ambient light sensor, compass, gyro, and hall sensors.
In the next few paragraphs, I’ll explain what each sensor does and the benefit they provide.
To kick things off, the accelerometer sensor does the job of turning the phone screen in the direction you want. This is why your phone responds when you activate auto-rotate.
One sensor that is somewhat similar to the accelerometer is the gyro sensor. This gyro sensor measures a greater level of acceleration.
To be exact, the gyro sensor is what tells Snapchat that you’re on the move when using those moving filters. The gyro sensor is also responsible for the gaming pleasure in that car racing game.
Another common sensor is the proximity sensor which is popular for turning off the screen light when you’re on a call. The essence of this sensor is to turn off the screen light when it comes in contact with your ears, during a phone call.
Similar to the proximity sensor is the ambient light sensor. This ambient light sensor detects the present lighting environment of the phone.
If this sensor realizes that there is sufficient light in that environment, it responds by reducing the screen brightness. Notably, both the proximity and ambient light sensors are great battery optimizers.
Next are the two security sensors. The ZTE Axon 10 Pro can be secured with fingerprint and facial recognition sensors.
It is important to mention that before you can use the face recognition feature, you must first register your face. The same is true for the fingerprint as well.
Actually, there’s an on-screen fingerprint sensor that is responsive to the touch but you’ll have to press it a bit harder.
If using the fingerprint sensor doesn’t sit well with you, there’s always the facial recognition feature. With the use of the selfie camera, the phone detects your face and responds by unlocking the smartphone.
Up next is the e-compass sensor that lets the phone know the orientation of the earth. This sensor communicates to the phone on which way is north, south, east, and west just as we see in digital maps.
This information provided by the e-compass sensor is useful in compass apps like Apple map and Google Maps.
Moving on, the hall sensor is a feature that functions when your phone uses a flip case. Whenever the cover of that flip case opens, the hall sensor communicates to the phone to turn on the screen light.
Notably, the ZTE Axon 10 Pro has some additional sensors that make its use more enjoyable. To be precise, shaking this phone turns on the flashlight.
Also, you can screenshot by moving three fingers on the screen.
If you’re familiar with sensors, you’ll realize that these sensors are the typical ones you’ll find even in mid-range smartphones. On that note, the sensors features of the ZTE Axon 10 Pro deserve an eight in this review.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. This smartphone is not exactly water-resistant. It can withstand a few splashes of water but don’t make the mistake of dropping this in a full bucket.
Yes. There is an option to charge this phone using the wireless charging feature.
ZTE made an entry with this smartphone in May 2019.
ZTE is a Chinese-owned telecommunications corporation. Since its inception in 1985, the company focuses on telecommunication, mobile phones, and wireless data transmission gears.
Yes. This phone makes use of 5G connectivity along with 3G and 4G as well.
Conclusion
Concluding this review, the ZTE Axon 10 Pro is a good phone but just not worth the price. With a price tag of about $800 (in November 2021), its only selling point is its 5G connectivity.
Such limiting specifications will leave you looking at other alternatives. 5G smartphones like the OnePlus 7 Pro and the Redmi Note 9 are phones that come at a lesser price with similar features as the ZTE Axon 10 Pro.
That said, the ZTE Axon 10 Pro is hard to recommend. Unless you get it for a far lesser amount, there are other options you can consider.
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