A quick pictorial review of the ZTE’s budget offering, the Z5

1. ZTE V5
Review in pictures
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2. 2
A typical design with a dash of blue…
Features a candybar design, just like most smartphones these days
The Android navigation buttons in blue attract attention
The home key at the center also doubles up as notification light
Sadly, the capacitive keys aren’t backlit
The power button is on the right, while the volume rocker is on the left edge. A 3.5mm
jack and a micro-USB port can be found on top and bottom sides respectively
DESIGN

3. 3
.. that’s unusually heavy
There are blue accents here and there
However, it tips the scale at 165g, making it equivalent to some of the phablets out
there in terms of weight
It’s also quite thick at 8mm
The back panel has a smooth finish, making it prone to slippage or fingerprints
Removing the rear cover gives you access to the battery, two SIM slots and microSD
DESIGN

4. Lovely is the word to describe the display
The V5 gets its name from its 5-inch display panel
It sports a resolution of 1,280 x 720 pixels, resulting in pixel density of 294ppi
The display reproduces excellent colours and sharp text
Viewable even under direct sunlight
Gets a protective layer of Asahi Dragontrail glass
DISPLAY

5. Android flavoured with Nubia UI
Comes with Android 4.4.2
KitKat
Heavily customised by
ZTE’s Nubia UI, version 2.5
Unifies the home screen
and an app drawer into one
with all apps stacked on
the home screens
The lockscreen shows
notifications, but only
limited to calls and
messages
Calls and messages also
indicate missed
notifications via superscript
USER INTERFACE

6. The UI has some really thoughtful features, but
there are gimmicks too
Notification panel is also
different, with all the
quick toggles showing at
bottom
Default apps like File
Manager and Music
player are also
completely customised
Supports numerous
gestures to capture
screenshots, pick a call
automatically, etc.
The biggest problem is
that there’s no
multitasking menu
USER INTERFACE

7. The shooter packs in a lot of bells and whistles…
Equipped with a 13-megapixel
Sony Exmor RS sensor at the
back, along with an LED flash
A custom camera app with
various modes like Auto, Pro
and Fun
These modes give you full
control of settings like ISO,
exposure as well as some
interesting shots such as
At the front, the ZTE V5 flaunts
a 5MP camera
The rear shooter is also
capable of recording videos at
1080p resolution
CAMERA

8. … but feels blue at most times
In terms of camera quality, the
images suffers from a blue tinge,
in case of long shot, while other
images have dull colours
Images don’t seem sharp enough
Not everything is bad and macro
shots and low-light shots are
decent
For selfie lovers, the phone is a
great option with its high-quality
secondary shooter
Long shot
Close up
CAMERA

9. Snappy Snapdragon halted by poorly-optimised UI
Draws power from a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor, helped by a
gigabyte of RAM
Rendered graphic-heavy games like Beach Buggy Racing smoothly, without any
trace of lag
However, the UI isn’t optimised properly and you’ll notice severe lags even with
basic navigation
PERFORMANCE

10. Storage is its sore point
Loaded with only a 4GB
of flash storage
That too, is further
partitioned with the first
chunk offering 2GB to the
user and the other only
having 500MB of free
space
For some reason, the
second chunk is used to
store camera images and
videos, and thus fills up
very quickly
Thankfully, there’s a
microSD card slot and
support for USB OTG
PERFORMANCE

11. Offers a decent battery life
Sips juice from a
2,400mAh battery
Able to give you good
results and can last a day
even with heavy usage
Battery can be extended
further, by enabling
different modes like
In our video loop test, it
was able to play back a
720p video for close to 10
hours
PERFORMANCE

12. At a glance…
5-inch display, 1,280 x 720 pixels
resolution (~294ppi)
1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400
quad-core processor
1GB RAM
4GB storage expandable up to
32GB via a microSD card
13-megapixel primary camera with
LED flash
5MP secondary camera
Dual-SIM with support for 3G on first
SIM slot
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS
2,400mAh battery
Android 4.4.2 with Nubia UI

13. Pros and cons
Great display
Good configuration
Decent battery life
Selfie-centric camera
Quite heavy for its size
Average camera
Poorly-optimised OS
Low storage

14. Pricing & verdict
“The ZTE V5 is placed in a fiercely competitive
budget segment. It offers a gorgeous display and
decent configuration, but there are a few glaring
flaws that can’t be sidelined, such as poorly-optimised
interface and average camera. In its price
range, smartphones like the ASUS Zenfone 5,
Xiaomi’s upcoming Redmi Note, Micromax Canvas
HD Plus and the slightly pricier Moto G (2nd gen)
comes across as better options”
Price:
Rs 10,999