Hey Mobile Entrepreneurs, Smartphones are Now Even Smaller

When ZTE introduced the Axon 7 earlier this year, the Chinese company was looking to boost the image of its brand with a high-quality full featured phone. By all accounts it succeeded, because it was able to deliver it for $400. As smartphones continue to get bigger, there is a segment of users, mobile entrepreneurs among them, that want smaller phones with full functionality. And ZTE might have just delivered again with the new Axon 7 Mini.

With more small businesses becoming mobile first, the smart phone they select must have all the features they need to effectively communicate and carry out different tasks without having to worry about power or capability. While the large phones have all these features, having to lug them around all day long can be a bit too much.

A look at the Axon 7 Mini

Although the ZTE Axon 7 mini is smaller, a closer inspection of the specs reveals only the components within the phone are small. That is because physically they are pretty much the same.

The display size for the regular Axon is 5.5-inches and for the Mini it is 5.2-inches, and as far as the dimensions, it is 151.8x75x8.7 mm (6x3x0.34 in) for the Axon 7 and 147.5x71x7.8 mm (5.8×2.8×0.31 in) for the Mini. The weight difference is not that substantial either, but in an industry where differences are measured in grams, the 185 g (6.53 oz) of the Axon 7 is more than the 153 g (5.4 oz) of the Mini.

When the rest of the specs are compared, the Mini has some noteworthy features, but it is not exactly like the Axon 7. The phone is powered by a 1.2GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 617, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage that can be expanded to 256GB with a microSD card.

The display has a resolution of 1080 pixels by 1920 pixels, and it uses a rear 16 MP and a front and 8 MP cameras to capture images.

The battery for the Mini is also slightly smaller, with a 2705mAh non removable battery. The exact output of the battery hasn’t been revealed, so we will have to wait until further testing.

The other features include: dual SIM; Bluetooth v4.1, A2DP, LE; Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot; NFC; and v2.0, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector.

The preliminary hands on reviews for the Axon 7 Mini have been positive across the board. Techradar said:

“This is an affordable, all-metal phone that competes with much higher-priced handsets from Samsung, LG, HTC and Apple. The design will fool everyone into thinking it costs more than it does.”

The ZTE Axon 7 mini is going to be available this month in China and Europe for €249. When it arrives in the US by October, it will be $300.

Image: ZTE