ZTE Axon 7 or Nexus 6P

[powerplayer75]

which one will probably last longer essentially. nexus may have battery issue but good software and updates where zte has fine battery and specs and all that but software is some random crap and never gets updates. both have front speakers and amoled, all i really care about

[dizmo]

The Axon got a lot of updates. I'd go with the Axon, not a huge fan of the 6P.

[THE ABSURD BIRD]

I would go with the htc u ultra. You can pick it up for cheap on eBay. Htc makes some of the best lcd panels and the speakers are good. The ZTE is also a great option, and I would highly recommend it.

[powerplayer75]

11 hours ago, huilun02 said:

Nexus 6P uses the Snapdragon 810 chipset which will give you third degree burns before throttling down its performance

ZTE actually did make Oreo for the Axon 7, but then this happened.

You can get Oreo 8.1 into your phone through custom roms though

can you link me a place on how to do that? also, does that mean that zte simply will stop giving updates or does it mean that all google services cant be used on zte phones?

[Zodiark1593]

9 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

Installing custom roms is not for the faint hearted. There are general procedure guides that try to cover all Android phones. But in actuality, to get a specific rom to run on the supported device requires you to have your device in a unique prep state just for that rom. You never want to deviate from the installation instructions provided by the rom developer. The files required are also device model specific. To put it bluntly, there is no one trick pony that applies across all devices and roms.

 

And as I linked above ZTE has apparently stopped their update servers so no matter what you do, you will not be receiving updates. Not that it matters if you use a custom rom. Whatever rom you use, stock or modified, you will be able to use Google apps, the Play store and Google services.

 

If you wish to go custom rom, I will have to warn you first that there is no complete guide that will walk you through every action from start to finish. Neither will I be able to hold your hand in the process because it is complicated and I have never used an Axon 7. If it is your first time doing it be prepared to set aside an entire day operating on your device. You are going to have to do some research and thinking on your own because that is simply the nature of custom development software. For example if I were to tell you to boot into fastboot/bootloader, you are going to have to find out what I'm talking about and how to do it, while for someone with experience it is as easy as breathing. Installing a custom OS is something less than 1% of phone users do, and less than 5% even know it is a thing (although 1% is still a LOT of people)

 

Of course, you can use the Axon 7 as it is out of the box. I see no problem with that as it is not nearly as important as people make it out to be, to have updates and be on the latest Android version. In the end it is your call to decide if going through all that effort is worth it to you.

With the way you make out installing custom ROMs to be, I should be patting myself on the back for installing the ROM on my own phone in just a couple hours.

 

Custom ROMS also sometimes exhibit odd behavior (mine certainly does ), and things may, or may not spontaneously break (looks at VOLTE), so I refuse to install ROMs for friends and family as, while I'm fine with taking on the downsides for my own device, I don't want the headache of supporting other's devices after the fact.

[Zodiark1593]

1 minute ago, huilun02 said:

Well once you've done it enough you get a lot faster and more confident at it. But for someone who has never done it before, I cannot understate the consequence of going off the beaten path. When OP is going to have to rely on poorly written manuals that he barely understands, to do something that is alien to him, soft bricking the device from making a mistake or missing an implied step could easily land him in a death spiral of panick and frustration. In fact it is not unexpected for phone modders to have that daunting experience at least once in their endeavors. 

Been there, done that. And at the seemingly innocuous step of flashing GAPPS too, no less. There was a bit of frantic research of finding out how to unbrick my phone.

 

This was only the second phone I've installed a ROM to (only rooted my old G2). My first phone, the LG Optimus 2X, practically installed it's own custom ROM by comparison, so I can hardly count that as experience.

 

I too recommend that OP doesn't pursue the custom ROM route, at least, for right now. OP needs to learn a bit more before going down that potential Rabbit Hole.

 

Going back to OP's original question, the Axon 7 would be the far better choice of the two. If an LG G6 can be had for a good price, I'd recommend that as well.