ZUK Z1 Review

[MattBoxer]

So a few weeks ago I received my ZUK Z1 from amazon as it seemed it had an excellent bang for buck ratio. A Snapdragon 801, 4100mAh battery, 1080p IPS screen, USB type C (3.1), 64GB onboard storage and it runs Cyanogen OS all for £229.

 

Screen 

The sceen is a 5.5" 1080p IPS panel and this was quite the upgrade from the crap-tastic Galaxy mini with a 240x380 resolution screen. When I first booted it up, it seemed like it was going to be a very cool temperature panel (6500K) and because I get eye strain quite easily, this is where Cyanogen OS helps with its live display, it is basically a tool to change the temperature and colours of the screen. 

 

Performance

This phone runs the Snapdragon 801 V2 SOC and in Antutu it easily scores 55000 without a sweat as well of getting a single score of 971 and a multi core score of 2956 in Geekbench 3. (WARNING LARGE IMAGE)

With daily usage this phone performs flawlessly with no hiccups at all and it is a beast at multi-tasking with 3GB ram.To push it to an even further limit, I played a 1080p 10Bit .MKV file and they require a lot of power to play and to my surprise it played buttery smooth. Also the 64GB flash storage built in has a score of 231MB/s read with a 51MB/s write as you can see this is where ZUK may have cut a corner to get this device so cheap.

 

OS

The ZUK Z1 runs 5.1.1 lollipop and has a marshmallow upgrade planned for this upcoming March. Where this device differs is that it runs Cyanogen OS, which is the same thing the OPO runs and it is basically stock android with MUCH MUCH more customization. Using the built in theme engine, the user gets many tweaks available at their fingertips even to change the boot animation. Other ways the OS compliments this device is that you can choose between on-screen and capacitive buttons which can make it easier to use this beast of a 5.5" device.

 

Battery

Let me clear one thing up. This battery is insane! It has almighty SOT's ranging from 9H and 30M on heavy use and 10H 30M on medium/ heavy use which for me, lasts around 2 days with a bit of juice left for the third. With it's bundled in charger (A 5V 2A affair) it charges in under two and a half hours from 0%. And because the battery was made by Sony, you can rely on it's quality.

 

Build

The device is made out of three main materials : Glass, aluminum and plastic. On the front is a layer of Corning gorilla glass 3 which I have applied a tempered glass screen protector onto. The frame is made out of a grey anodized aviation aluminium which is sturdy and gives this phone its premium"ish" feel. On the back you get a choice of a matt grey or a glossy white depending on you preference.

 

Overall Feelings

Overall I love this device and it should be able to be my daily driver for a long time. However there is no such thing as perfection and with life everything has its downsides and this device is no exception, even more so if it costs under £300.

 

1. Unstable Google play services when I plug my device in (can be fixed with update.)

2. No 60 FPS YouTube (this one really bugs me.)

3. Supplied charger is only available in the EU version well that's what you get for buying a Chinese device.

4. Large if you have small hands and it is on the heavier side.

 

Thank you for reading my first review on the LTT forum and please respond in ways that I can improve!

 

[atrash]

How long does it take to charge the phone from almost empty to full? 

[MattBoxer]

How long does it take to charge the phone from almost empty to full? 

" it charges in under two and a half hours from 0%."

[atrash]

" it charges in under two and a half hours from 0%."

 

LOL how did I missed that. Silly me. Seems fast enough considering it does not have fast charging. I could've gotten two of this phone for the price of my Lumia but I can never really get used to using android. Makes you wonder why no other manufacturers make their phones with this much battery capacity. They could have easily do it without adding that much bulk to the phone imo. 

[MattBoxer]

LOL how did I missed that. Silly me. Seems fast enough considering it does not have fast charging. I could've gotten two of this phone for the price of my Lumia but I can never really get used to using android. Makes you wonder why no other manufacturers make their phones with this much battery capacity. They could have easily do it without adding that much bulk to the phone imo. 

Yeah I know but I guess its everyone's own opinion as far as OS's go, because i don't mind Windows Phone OS because of how nicely it runs I just dislike the fact most Windows phones do not have much power under the hood unless you get the new Lumia phones. But even then I wouldn't use them because they lack material design and a lot of apps.

[atrash]

Yeah I know but I guess its everyone's own opinion as far as OS's go, because i don't mind Windows Phone OS because of how nicely it runs I just dislike the fact most Windows phones do not have much power under the hood unless you get the new Lumia phones. But even then I wouldn't use them because they lack material design and a lot of apps.

 

I'm not here to criticise android btw. I have an android tablet but I just can't see myself using one as a phone. Something I envy with these kind of cheap phone but with decent high end specs. 

[Guest]

Looks like a solid device.