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Dual-core MT6577 Zopo ZP300+ Field on review!

AndiSeptember 18, 2012

This morning not one but two exciting dual-core MT6577 phones arrived on my doorstep! The first is the new ZP500+ Libero, while the other is the larger screen, higher spec dual-core Zopo ZP300+ Field!

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As with the Zopo ZP500+ Libero, I’ll be performing a full review of the ZP300+ over the coming days and unfortunately don’t have any benchmark results to share with you as I have literally just opened the package containing these two new dual-core phones from Zopo.

Again ZopoMobileShop have been great enough to send these phones for review, which I will be conducting fairly and unbiased (as usual).

I’ve had a quick play around with the new Zopo ZP300+ Field and can see that the dual-core MT6577 CPU from MediaTek has certainly made its mark on the performance, especially when capturing and saving photos. The ZP300+ is also a much smooth Android phone thanks to 1GB RAM when compared to the cheaper ZP500+ which only has 512mb.

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Zopo ZP300+ Field Specification

CPU: dual-core MT6577 1Ghz
Memory: 1GB RAM, $GB ROM and space for an SD card.
Screen: 4.5 inch 1280 x 720 with 326ppi
Battery: 1800 mAh
Camera: rear 8 mega-pixel with auto-focus, front 1.3 mega-pixel.
Supported Frequency: GSM (850/900/1800/1900Mhz) WCDMA (850/2100Mhz)
Wi-fi: 802.11b/b/n

As you can see some of the highlights of the Zopo ZP300+ Field are it’s large 4.5 inchscreen which is actually supplied by LG, and the 8 mega-pixel rear camera, which is the same as the model used in the Zopo Z900 so we expect great daytime performance with not so great low light performance.

I’ll be performing full, in-depth reviews of this and the ZP500+ Libero over the next few days so please keep posted for updated.

If you can’t wait for the review and you want to get your hands on one of these great Zopo phones then you can head over to ZopoMobileShop where the dual-core Zopo ZP300+ Field retails at $285.

Disclaimer: We may be compensated by some of the companies whose products we talk about, but our articles and reviews are always our honest opinions. For more details, you can check out our editorial guidelines and learn about how we use affiliate links.

About the author
Andi

September 19, 2012
Thanks Andi,
Can’t wait for the review of the ZP300+ because I can’t wait for the Jiayu G3 full stop.
Daniel
September 19, 2012
I get that Zopo is placing itself in the more premium brand category, but we’re talking about a difference of $100 between this and Jiayu G3. Also, I’m not buying a still relatively unknown CHINESE “premium brand” phone for its premium anyway.

Paul
September 19, 2012
I’ve have a ZP300+. My initial impressions were good until I used it daily for a few weeks:
– This phone has extremely poor battery life. Running stock applications and a couple of calls and email will not even last a day. As others have noted, the phone takes too long to charge.
– GPS is practically useless. Even with tweaks to gps.conf, performance is terrible and unusable.
– Screen in moderate to bright sunlight is unusable. The light sensor does not work properly and will not increase brightness automatically. Even when you set brightness to maximum setting, the screen is very hard to see outside.
– WiFi performance is below average. Signal strength when about 5M from the AP gives only 50-60% when other handsets report 100% strength.
– Call quality is poor and maximum volume is not loud enough (even with tweaks applied to the handset in engineer mode).
Where the LED notification light is, my handset has missing paint, so light leaks out when the LED flashes in low light conditions (looks very cheap).
At this price I expected better. You can now purchase android phones from major brands for only about $100 more that are considerably better than this phone in all respects.
- September 19, 2012
  @Paul cheers for that great review! You saved me a job LOL. I agree with the screen as it does seem really dull. Not used much else on it yet but will let you know what I think too. Cheers again for your honest review!

Milind
September 19, 2012

Arnold
September 19, 2012
@Paul. Thank you so much for your review! This is exactly the sort of direct and honest information I find is totally lacking on most “review” websites, and what stops me from buying an untested phone. I’ve read similar complaints about the THL W3+ on a Russian language forum, which is the only other similar phone that is available to purchase in the real world.
When I tried to ask one of the FCT shills about things like volume and signal life he made weak excuses about not being able to test those aspects!! All his reviews consist of a copy of the (usually wrong) specifications, a video of him flicking through some game demos and benchmarks and a reference to his sponsor… no idea about if the phone is actually any good as a phone!!
Guess I’ll be sticking to my good old Nokia E71 or pay a bit more and find a recognised brand that has been thoroughly tested.
- September 19, 2012
  @paul @arnold I agree with the screen! way to dark even on full brightness. I’m not too impressed so far the ZP900 was is in a different league compared to the ZP300+ and ZP500+

Stéphane
September 19, 2012
ZP300+ is a pretty good phone. I have it for the last two weeks and I’m pretty happy with it, despite some limitations.
I have also seen Paul great and honest review. I think we just have different references and expectations. My last phone was an Hero H3000: more a plastic toy than a real phone. So now, everything is SOOO much better with the ZP300+ that I tend to be radder happy and satisfied with some features.
* Screen light : Except for direct full daylight, the screen lighting looks pretty good to me. Does any phone perform very well in full daylight ? If most “real” brands perform well than yes, that’s a real minus. I personnaly don’t see it as a problem with mine. It’s cloudy today and the screen looks pretty bright when I’m outside even at half brightness.
* GPS practically useless ? Humm… OK, not as fast as my Garmin Oregon but not so bad either. Just made a test: 15 seconds for a new lock outside the house.If I had a previous lock, I get a new lock in less than 5 seconds. For me it’s acceptable performance.
* WiFi: Again, compared to my old H3000, ZP300+ is soo much better than i tend to have a favorable bias. When I go outside the house with the door closed, I still have a -65db signal (and a full 4 bars on the phone) when I’m more than 20 meters from the router. I don’t have a longer distance to test it since a got the the limit of my backyard… 😉
* Call quality: not so bad to me. As good as my fixed phone. Again, that depends what are your expectations and what you compare it with.
Where I agree with Paul is the fact that this phone is not particularely cheap, pretty close to the price of established brands so the quality and performances should be pretty close too if not better. It’s always better to buy a phone in a physical store where you can take it back when you have a problem without any postage fees and wait time. So the extra quality/features and/or lower price should compensate. I wish I had one of those established brand phone to compare the ZP300+ with so I can know what expectations should be.
GOOD:
* Very nice sharp display. Perfect size to put in the pocket and have enough space to work on screen, display movies. The 1280X720 screen is a plus but I think that we don’t really take advantage of so many pixels on a small screen like that. We also have a ZP100 with a lower resolution and there is absolutely no difference in sharpness.
* Very fast. No lag. Around 5300 score on antutu. Dual core and 1G RAM are the best features of this phone.
* It comes very decent earphones.
* If you buy it from zopomobileshop.com, also buy a screen and back protector for few dollars. It really worth it.
* Battery duration is average. Very correct sleep-time. 1-2 hours on continuous use with screen on. I think battery life is a common problem of all phone. This one is not a lot worst but surely not the best.
* Construction feels prety good. Feels quality built. Better than the ZP100, which is a little bit more plastic…
* ZOPO has a website where you can ask question and they actually try to help you
* Pretty easy to root with explaination from ZOPO website
* Support magnetic compass !
* And all the other good features listed in the phone specs.
NOT SO GOOD:
* The annouced ROM of 4G : In fact, you only have access to 502Mo to store applications on your phone. The rest has to go to your SD card. The reste of the 4G: 2213Mo of internal SD card (imposible to move application there but you can put other stuff using USB: photos, vidéo…) and the sytem takes the rest of the 4G. So 502 Mo is pretty limiting. Strangely, on ZP100, which also has 4G ROM, the 2.2 is included with the 502Mo has application memory so you really have 2.5G or so to install application on the phone. Why haven’t they done the same thing with ZP300+ ?
* No support for android beam / NFC chip
* Languages dictionnary are not installed so you can’t have correction. Only system language. Have to install SwiftKey to have words suggestions.
* Only background effects in video. No face deformation that should come with ICS. This I really don’t care…
* I’m seeing some light screen flickering in some applications, when the screen has to display with screen with some darker elements. Only in vertical mode. Maybe software related ?!?
- Kanat
  November 4, 2012
  I’m seeing some light screen flickering in some applications, when the screen has to display with screen with some darker elements. Only in vertical mode. Maybe software related ?!?
  I have some problem. Do you know about solutions?

psilo110
September 19, 2012
Paul –
if battery life is a concern, Zopo has larger batteries available. My Zp500 has a 1300mah battery and I am able to get a full day of use out of it even with moderate gaming and internet use, I only charge overnight.
Paul
September 19, 2012
I think everyone’s experience due the parts that they use. Some of this parts might be overrun parts. Hence some people have the bad phone while the other ones has the phone that they expected. That is the only logical thing I could think of. Maybe some of this part(s) perhaps didnt pass the quality check and in order to make up for lost money the manufacturers of the parts ship it to other manufacturers that would accept it in order to save money or to meet the demands perhaps, all of these are all theories.

Paul (ZP300+ Owner)
September 19, 2012
@Arnold – I’m glad I helped you out. I wish I had access to the information I have now. I would have saved myself over $300.
@Andi – Glad I saved you some work 🙂
@Stéphane – I don’t believe my expectations are very high considering the cost of this phone. Zopo positions themselves as a ‘Premium Brand’. This is far from accurate. For not much more, you can purchase a brand name phone which does not have any of these problems. In fact, I’m currently testing this alongside the HTC One X and Galaxy Nexus (Only $20 more!) (both obtain GPS lock with high accuracy within 10 seconds indoors!) They also don’t have the issues outlined above.
If the phone were half the price, then I don’t think I would be as critical.
@psilo110 – They don’t offer a larger capacity battery for the ZP300.
Lesson learned here – I wanted a dual sim phone (which Is one of the very few things that work), but was sucked in by the specs that Chinese manufacturers throw around, which in the real world mean nothing if the phone doesn’t perform simple tasks well like actually making phone calls 🙂

Snorlax
September 20, 2012
Well Andi, good luck with your review.
I don’t think you have had a reaction like this before a review previously. It appears people either love, hate or want to love the Zopo’s. Maybe you could do a comparison between a Zopo and it’s Hero equivalent? It was good to know you think the ZP900 was an altogether better phone dispite the size difference.
Cheers

Simon
September 20, 2012
Thanks for the reviews guys. Looks like I’m back to waiting for the G3 (and someone to review it).
will there be a giveaway of these as well? LOL
Snorlax
September 25, 2012
How’s that review coming?
Cheers
- September 25, 2012
  @Snorlax they are both sitting on my desk 🙂 Video review later this week if I get time 😉 Also have the Hero 2000+ iPhone 5 clone on it’s way for review too 🙂

Olav
September 25, 2012
@Paul (Zp 300+ owner), Thank you wery much for your review, i had already ordered the Zp300+ when i red your review, and I had second thaughts.
You made my expectations not so good, i got the phone yesterday.
So far im very happy! I knew about the battery issues from reading up on it, so i got one extra.
Now i am wery satified, time will show if it will last, i will follow up in a week or two. Mike sound, on calls, wery good. Screen, not like samsung galaxy s, but a lot better than i expected from your review (and other chinese phones i had. Wifi, wery good, used it in my guarden 30 meters from house, router on the other side, inside my house, wifi signal full. (makes me kinda worrying about the radiation issues).
Anyway, thanks to your harsh review, im a happy man today. 🙂
So i guess its alot about expectations.
Will do a follow up on the gps, i really use it a lot, so we’ll se in a week or so..
I,m really looking forward to the jelly bean update for my new, different, expencive cheap china phone 🙂
Sry for my crappy english, im norwegian.
This review of yours Andi, shure will be interesting, good luck. 🙂

Tom
September 27, 2012
I got,this ZP 300 for the dual sim capability that is not offered in the USA and the GSM spectrum. Generally happy but call voice quality is making calls difficult. When calling out the other party says voice sounds like I am inside a can with poor sounds and lack of volume. No good English language instruction books or help screens. The Navigation only works outside and cannot find street addresses, though I thought Google Maps would work as part of the Nav App. Battery life on mine is fine with an 1800 Mah battery. ZOPO needs a US support and sales office as I expect more business people to seek the Dual Sim phones.

Stéphane
September 27, 2012
@Tom & Olav
Hello,
I am still bugging on the amount of Internal memory on the ZP300+.
Could you tell me how much total space of INTERNAL STORAGE you see when you go to:
System settings > Storage under INTERNAL STORAGE : Total Space ?
and confirm if you have the ZP300 or the ZP300+
Thanks !

Olav
September 28, 2012
@Stéphane : 300+ : 503Mb.
Tried the gps some, it takes a few mins before locating, but after that my signal is exellent, cloudy today, no problem, works good with edomondo, and google maps. It does not work inside my house, lucky for me, my house is kinda small, and I never get lost inside, I am satisfied with mic qualyty, the ones i talk to hear me loud and clear, my last phone (Haipai x710d) was bad sound, this much better, i call in speaker a lot, holding the phone 50 cm from mouth , no prob.
I am waiting for Newman N1 and the JiayYu G3, so i will compare them all.

Rob
October 10, 2012
I am in the market for a new phone, shortly, and don’t want to be tied in to a UK carriers overpriced contract phones, so this one looks like a good option,
are Zopo a cut above the rest.?
Ender
October 15, 2012
Snorlax
November 1, 2012
Hey Andi. Still waiting for the full review of the Zp300+. I mean it is now November. If you are too busy, send it to me and I will review it :).
Cheers