Frankly, when I saw the configuration of the ZTE Axon 40 Pro, my first reaction was not to try its performance, but to flip back to the configuration table of the Axon 30 Pro released last year at the speed of light - the "predecessor" model was equipped with the Snapdragon 888 mobile platform, and now the one I have in my hand is the Snapdragon 870 model.
Although it seems to be a "reduction" in a sense, to evaluate whether a mobile phone has improved, we have to look at its comprehensive configuration and actual experience. So can the ZTE Axon 40 Pro become a good enough "iterative upgrade" product? Let's take a look at how it actually performs.
Classic double-ring design, four shots are located in an orderly manner
The ZTE Axon 40 Pro we received is a "night black" color scheme, which is a glossy black design. This calm black paired with ZTE and 5G logos will look like there will be an unexpected sense of simplicity.
The part of the lens module is the "classic" double ring we are going to talk about. Three of the four cameras fall into two gold-tone decorative circles, and one depth-of-field camera sits on the symmetrical axis of the two decorative circles, so even the four-camera design can be arranged in an orderly manner. Although the part occupied by the 100 million pixel main camera slightly highlights the decorative circle, the overall appearance is still good and has a sense of order.
As for the front, the ZTE Axon 40 Pro uses a somewhat familiar 144Hz refresh rate curved screen with A resolution of FHD+. This refresh rate configuration is slightly higher than many flagship machines at the same price, and there will be some subtle small advantages in the fluency of daily use.
Familiar Snapdragon 870, familiar with excellent performance
At the beginning, we also talked about the ZTE Axon 40 Pro is equipped with the Snapdragon 870 mobile platform that everyone is already very familiar with, and the biggest advantage of this chip is that while the performance ceiling is relatively high, it can also control its own heat and power consumption, so it will have a relatively good daily use performance and fluency.
We also tested its gaming performance. In "Glory of Kings", ZTE Axon 40 Pro can achieve a fairly stable high frame rate performance, even if it does not deal with the data that drops during the intermediate game change, the average frame rate can reach 118.49 frames, which can be described as a fairly smooth game performance.
By the way, some of the details of ZTE's experience in the game, the functional design of the game space is also quite unique, even if you do not start the anti-accidental touch after opening, you can not directly rely on gestures to return to the desktop, you must rely on the "desktop" key here, for friends who are often accustomed to large strokes and misoperation, they can indeed avoid some mistakes.
Funny MyOS, interesting Spirit Assistant
In terms of system, ZTE Axon 40 Pro also uses ZTE's latest MyOS 12 system this time, and the details of this operating system are also quite rich, such as "Climber Behavior Lock Screen 2.0". When the screen is screened, it shows the current altitude and simulates the mountain to be climbed, and calculates it with data such as difficulty, altitude and physical exertion values to show our daily exercise steps.
In addition to the screen display function will let us "climb", the lock screen interface will also show us a variety of beautiful landscape wallpapers and customs on the mountain that we are climbing, which is indeed a very interesting little function.
▲The fingerprint unlock position under this screen is high, which is relatively easy to use
In addition, compared with the current highly "localized" design of many domestic manufacturers, ZTE MyOS12 has some unique functional designs in addition to perfect functions, such as the "Lingxi Assistant" function. Although this module is more of an integration of some of the original functions of the underlying system, it is undeniable that ZTE has done quite well in these detailed functions.
Through the "5G smart communication" function here, we can also see the current network speed, signal quality and strength and other information, and it also explains some network connection functions and optimizations in the mobile phone, and it is more convenient for users to understand the current network communication status of the mobile phone, which is still quite practical for some friends who are entangled in the current signal situation.
▲We are on the upper floor here, and it can be seen that the signal coverage here is indeed somewhat imperfect, and the signal strength is low
The image stack is solid, and there are many tricks in the gameplay
ZTE Axon 40 Pro has also achieved a substantial upgrade in terms of imagery this time, and the main camera is directly stacked to 100 million pixels, and the improvement in resolution is still relatively significant. In the case of better light during the day, the picture quality of this main shot is good, and the color will be more plain.
▲Wide-angle main shot daytime sample
As for the ultra-wide angle, it is a pity that this time it is no longer a 64-megapixel sensor, but 8 million pixels. However, its imaging quality is still relatively good, and the color style is similar to that of the main camera, which can well present a different world under a wider perspective.
▲ Ultra-wide angle lens daytime sample
In terms of night scenes, the overall picture color of ZTE Axon 40 Pro is still good, but the dark part will be darker, and the picture quality will have a more obvious drop compared to the daytime, and the sense of smearing will be more, but it can still reach a relatively clear level. What is more peculiar is that its night mode does not support ultra-wide-angle lenses, and there is no nightscape sample display of ultra-wide-angle lenses here.
▲Wide angle main photography of the night scene sample
Although the picture quality can only be said to be mid-range, the Axon 40 Pro camera's gameplay is somewhat ingenious, and this time they provide a "camera family" that still has many ways to play, such as Hitchcock zoom, multiple exposures, ID photos, star tracks and starry sky. We also tried out the star orbit function, which can support both professional and second shot star track photography, the former requiring tripod support, and the latter adding star tracks to the night sky through software algorithms.
The actual star track sample taken is as follows, and it can be seen that this function is still more interesting, and it belongs to the kind of gameplay that looks a bit amazing at first glance. Considering that this one in our hand is still a test prototype, after the subsequent official sale optimization, I believe that its effect will be much better, you can look forward to it.
▲Star orbit function sample
Pretty good endurance performance
In the last part, let's talk about the battery life performance of the ZTE Axon 40 Pro. This time it chose a large battery of 5000mAh, with the excellent power consumption ratio of the Snapdragon 870 mobile platform, and it can be guessed that its endurance will be better by looking at the paper data.
The actual test results are the same, in our simulation endurance, it is in Weibo and Bilibili two applications of the one-hour power consumption performance is very good, especially in terms of watching online video, 1 hour of power consumption of only 6% of the level can be described as amazing; "Glory of the King" represents the game, it can also control the power consumption on the basis of continuous fluency, the power consumption is controlled at a good level, the overall performance is still very good.
In terms of fast charging, the performance of ZTE Axon 40 Pro will be more general, and the 66W fast charging effect is frankly not very fast, starting from 1%, it takes 47 minutes to fill this 5000mAh large battery. However, this fast charge win is relatively stable, and can basically maintain a charge of 5% to 6% every 2 minutes before 80% of the power, which is still enough for friends who need to "quickly return blood".
summary
At the end, let's review the product positioning problem mentioned at the beginning. Replaced by the ZTE Axon 40 Pro of the Snapdragon 870, it has actually achieved most of the configuration upgrades, especially the game experience, which is perfect in "Glory of Kings", and the fluency of the high frame rate is quite excellent.
As for the new classic double-ring design, the addition of a 100 million pixel main camera and the addition of a 5000mAh large battery, it can still maintain a good cost performance while "rising cup", and cooperate with its own super cup Axon 40 Ultra to enter the battlefield with two tracks of "true fragrance pricing" and "high-end configuration". However, there is no shortage of machines on the market that are positioned by Zhenxiang and use the Snapdragon 870 mobile platform, and whether it can break through successfully depends on the response of the market.