ZTE Axon Mini Premium unboxing and first impressions

ZTE sent over a ZTE Axon Mini Premium for us to take a look at last week, take a look at our hands on and unboxing video here.

The ZTE Axon Mini Premium is one of those odd smartphone designs that you absolutely love and positively hate. Had this phone been designed and manufactured from some unknown phone maker (Uhans for example) then nobody would have taken notice and it would have gotten a lot of flack, but because the mighty ZTE is behind it and loaded it up with some really interesting features then we have taken notice.

ZTE Axon Mini Premium First Impressions

First of all I am not keen on the design. I don’t like the fake leather and faux stitching and I am not keen on the odd design around the camera and flash area. It’s obvious that ZTE really have tried to make a phone that oozes quality, but for me they shouldn’t have bothered. On the other hand my wife loves the look and design (she even likes the terrible icons in the custom Android ROM!).

So while I might not have been won over with the looks of the phone I do like the compact design, I love this thin narrow body, the 5.2-inch display is wonderful and the tech behind this phone is really interesting.

Up front the ZTE Axon Mini sports a 5.2-inch FHD AMOLED panel, it’s as vibrant and lovely as other AMOLED displays and at 5.2-inches it is (in my opinion) the perfect size for a smartphone.

It’s not just how good the screen looks but also the hidden tech behind it. You see the ZTE Axon Mini Premium has Force Touch. Basically this means the screen is pressure sensitive and you can activate functions by simply pressing more firmly on the display. There are a few features enabled as standard but the best I have found is the option for a hard press on an app icon to show the available shortcuts (check out the video below for a demo).

Above and below the display are front facing speakers. Awesome! Front facing speakers are why I’ve personally ordered the new Lenovo flagship, and front speakers on the Axon Mini give amazing audio for watching video or playing games. Please more phone makers do this!

ZTE have also packed the phone with security features. There is a rear fingerprint scanner that requires just 6 touches to set up, and then there is the ‘Sky Eye’ feature that uses a scan of your eye for app locking. At this time I’ve not had the chance to play around with this. Finally there are pattern and pin options for locking your phone and a voice print, again I’ve not tried this.

The rear of the phone is where we find the 13 mega-pixel PDAF rear camera and dual LED flash above the single touch fingerprint scanner. I’ve not had much chance to try the camera yet, but so far it seems about average, I was expecting better really but we will see the final results in the finished review.

As already mentioned the ZTE Axon Mini Premium has a very customised ROM with added features, its own UI, custom settings and a voice assistant. The ZTE voice assistant is interesting as it does not require an internet connection for certain features, and it accurately understands you out of the box. Again more time with the phone will tell just how useful the feature is.

Other interesting spec details of the ZTE Axon Mini Premium include an octacore Snapdragon 616 chipset running at 1.5Ghz, 3GB RAM, 32GB memory, 8 mega-pixel front camera and a 2800mAh battery.

ZTE Axon Mini Premium First Impressions – Conclusion

So far I am super intrigued with the ZTE Axon Mini. I’m excited by the cool unique tech packed in to the slim body, I wonder how well optimised the battery and performance will be, and most of all I want to figure out who exactly ZTE are aiming this phone at. The design says the style conscious, but the cool tech says otherwise. Its an odd mix so how will it all turnout? Find out in our ZTE Axon Mini review coming soon.