[ZTE Axon 7 Questions & Answers] Galaxo60:
Update

I write this with the sole purpose of informing (as objectively as possible) possible buyers of the advantages and disadvantages of this terminal, since there is always a lot of talk about the good things of the phone, but seldom is spoken of the bad; given that these 2 terminals are in my opinion the best and most complete in the market today, I will write what I think and feel after having the Mate 9 for 3 days and comparing it with Axon 7.

Size

I loved it, and I think it's exquisite. I really thought that the phone would be bigger, but it is almost the same measures of the Axon 7, being that one has a screen of 5.5 "and the other one of 5.9".

Screen

I honestly thought the screen would be worse because of the change in resolution, but it's pretty decent, and I can say that unless you're not playing, you're not going to notice the difference between the QHD screen and the FHD of Mate 9. The resolution difference will be noticed immediately in games, I already installed 2 and I can say that it is quite annoying to see the graphics a little pixelated and with that lack of sharpness and definition that I had in Axon 7. Still not sure if the lack of quality is because most of the applications are not optimized for Kirin yet or is because of the limitation of the screen,

Performance

I can say that I had never had such a fast and responsive terminal, even with Android stock. Comparing the 820 and 4GB RAM from the Axon 7, I have to give this one to the Mate 9 because the stupid speed it has, there is nothing more to say.

Software

Both UI pleased me, although I must say that EMUI 5 is a breakthrough. MiFavor of the Axon 7 still feels like past versions of EMUI, while EMUI feels a little to iOS, which is nice for me, even when I hate Apple and its products, I must accept that they have good taste for designs. Both ZTE and Huawei have already launched some updates and both have been polishing things, so this should not be a worry. I didn't take in consideration the version of Android, because in the UI i always more important the version of this than the version of Android.

Sound

The Axon 7 is better, both in speakers and in audio output. I didn't like the speakers of Mate 9, especially for the positioning. Although the headset works as a speaker, the reality is that the volume is far below the other speaker, and this panning at the end does not feel like stereo and just confuses. The concept is good, but the implementation was not the best, they would have put up speakers of similar power to achieve this correctly.

Camera

I am one of the few (starting to be many) who are disappointed by this camera. It is not a wonder or magic, it takes good pictures, but nothing more. I sincerely bought the equipment with the promise that it would be an incredible experience in photography, but the only thing I got are decent photos and several times I had to use the manual mode, when I expected that the Auto mode was already quite good, and only use the manual mode in very complicated conditions. There is much to improve here, and I can say that I do not notice any difference between the photos made with Mate 9 and Axon 7, and even, I like more the colors that the Axon 7 has. On the other hand, the videos on the Mate 9 are way better that the mediocre quality on the axon 7.

Battery

There is nothing to say, the battery on the Mate 9 is impressive; at the end of the day I come around 60% with about 3-4 hours of screen. The Axon 7 was giving me at most 4-5 hours of screen.

Price

The Axon 7 can be bought for about € 400, while the Mate 9 can be get for around € 650. Does the difference is justified ?, no in my opinion, and I think that if you are not looking for a big phone or a giant battery, the Axon 7 is the device to buy. Having a "just decent" screen, a poorly achieved sound and a camera that does not behave much higher than the Axon 7, made it a big disappointment for me to have buyed this equipment.

:(

I waited the Axon 7 for many months but I gave up on it because I never could get one, is really hard to get where I live.

I was going with the Mate 9 because Huawei has big presence in Europe and is easier to get, but just last week I saw an Axon 7(A2017G) at good price and I pulled the trigger. The initial plan was to play some days with the Axon 7 and then sell it, because I already had the plan for the Mate 9, but with each day that passes, I'm thinking in keep it.

I was planning to get the Mate 9 because I'm really interested in camera quality, and I have seen Mate 9 is slightly better in this, but not for much in my opinion and it comes with the cons of losing the nice audio and the screen resolution, but with the pros of a better camera and battery.

I'm not interested anymore in development(root, ROM's, kernels, mods, etc), usually all the things I need now come with the stock ROM. I'm more interested in the camera, screen, battery and overall performance and experience.

Both cost the same where I live, so I was wondering if anyone has any experience with the Mate 9 or had the opportunity to play with it, I would be interested in your opinions and comments so I can take a decisions about these 2 devices.

Thanks

:highfive: