In the world of mobile technology, progress is underway.leaps and bounds. But there is also a niche for devices with low productivity, inconspicuous design and a small screen. These are entry-level budget smartphones. And the battles of competitors here flare up exactly the same as in the premium segment. The “old men” (like ZTE, Huawei and Samsung) are fighting the influx of “youth” (Xiaomi, Digma, Meizu), but the forces are too unequal. And only "ZTE" somehow still holds in this segment. At one time, the company introduced the entry-level smartphone ZTE Blade A5. Pro version is also available. Although it is rather weak, it will do for the budget segment. Let's take a look at its specifications and hear what people say about this gadget. But first, a few facts about the manufacturer. This is very important, because it helps to better understand how this manufacturer has not yet buried its branch of smartphones.
A little about the manufacturer
The ZTE brand appeared in 1985.Even then, the company was engaged in the production of network equipment. Everyone remembers their network cabinets and devices for providing wireless communications. The first smartphone of the company appeared at the beginning of the two thousandth. Then he did not particularly stand out against the background of more powerful devices recognized masters of the genre. Then the device was unclaimed. But the manufacturer was not going to stop. After some time, users paid attention to the brand. In Russia, the company owes its success to Megafon mobile operator. That he began to sell devices "ZTE" in installments. Among them was the ZTE Blade A5 phone. But it still remains relevant. In a sense of the word. He is not powerful enough for many applications, but still can call and send SMS.
It is worth noting that the scandals associated with "ZTE",It never happened. Unlike the same "Huawei." This company tried to do everything on their own. The peculiarity of this company is that the controlling interest of the company is under the jurisdiction of the state. This allows the company to keep afloat without any particular difficulties. But let's move on to the phone ZTE Blade A5. What is interesting about it and how can it be attractive for a modern user? The answer to this question is contained in further chapters of the material. We hope that the representatives of ZTE will forgive us a dismissive attitude towards their gadget. So, consider the design of the "old man". Of course, he went out of fashion, but the main thing - not in appearance, but in the "inner world".
The appearance of the apparatus
Let's start with the design.Call the phone ZTE Blade A5 riding design art is impossible. It looks usually and even faceless. Pretty cheap plastic is used as a material for the case. The front panel occupies a screen with thick frames. Below it is a row of buttons for controlling smartphones. A speaker is located above the display, front camera (completely useless) and proximity sensor. On the back panel (which, by the way, is removable) is the camera module, flash and speaker. Mechanical type control elements are arranged in a standard way - on the side faces. The screen is closed by the usual touchscreen. About the protected glass and speech can not be. As well as on grease repellent coating and anti-glare system. Therefore, the device does not look particularly attractive. But this should be the budget gadget.
Performance
Now consider the hardware platform ZTE BladeA5. Characteristics say that this is not a very powerful device. Judge for yourself. The device is installed is not very productive processor from the MTC with a clock frequency of 1.3 gigahertz. Although it is a quad, but this is of little use. RAM is only 512 megabytes. It is not surprising that the device is constantly buggy and slow. "Android 4.4" is too heavy for this filling. And this is a fact. The internal drive is 4 gigabytes, which in the modern world of mobile technologies looks very funny. Now about the schedule. It is monstrous, because it uses a hopelessly outdated graphics coprocessor. The device is not able to even play HD-video. Not to mention the games.
Screen, network
The screen is small, with a dull touchscreen and verypoor color rendering. Contrast is also none. Although what to demand from a budget device with a TN-matrix? The device supports only 3G networks and is not able to work with GPS. Such is the budget gadget.
Device firmware
Now consider the software platform ZTE BladeA5 Pro. In the normal version, it is exactly the same. The operating system uses "Android 4.4". This firmware is all good, but heavy for such a device. In addition, the engineers of ZTE did not care about optimization at all, as a result of which the OS mercilessly “eats” the battery and cannot work normally. It is better to install another firmware here. But how to flash ZTE Blade A5? To do this, you will first need to get root-rights using the program Kingoroot or Framaroot. After that, you will need to install third-party recovery. And then you can download another firmware and install it from a memory card. There are special versions of lightweight firmware that make this smartphone work much faster and save battery.
Positive owners feedback
This section will be very short because there is nothose who would praise the ZTE Blade A5. Price is what can be good in this device. This refers to the standard version with the original firmware. Those who could change the version of the operating system and installed a lightweight firmware, note that the gadget began to work much better. With the change of firmware and the touchscreen began to behave more adequately, and the smartphone began to work much faster. But the main thing is that the charge on the battery has significantly decreased. This is good news.
In a sense, the device can be considerednot bad if you modify it. It’s good that you don’t need to spend money on it. Only free time. It is worth noting that some owners spoke well about the version of ZTE Blade A5 for all operators. That is, problems exist only in the model, which is sold under the label "Megaphone". Then it's not so bad. Apparently, the "specialists" of the cellular operator have nudged something in the firmware itself. Hence the inadequate behavior of the smartphone. Anyway, it's time to move on to negative comments, of which there are much more.
Negative owners feedback
Here the commentators have already gone out in earnest,in all ways scolding ZTE Blade A5. Negative feedbacks concern everything: design, performance, camera, battery and call quality. All polls users complain about the lack of quality of communication. In many places, the gadget simply refuses to search the network. Also, owners complain massively about an insufficiently powerful battery. The device barely survives the day during normal use.
And another bad feature ZTE Blade A5 -characteristics of the hardware platform. In our time, the smartphone should be more productive. Otherwise, it will not pull even simple applications. The authors of negative reviews, as well as the authors of positive comments, believe that there is only one strong quality in ZTE Blade A5 - the price. She did not change for this model and was 2 620 rubles. This is really happy. Everything else is just frustrating. By the way, it seems that negative reviews were written by those who could not change the firmware in the smartphone. If this were done, the negative impressions of the apparatus would quickly evaporate. Be that as it may, it is clear to everyone that this device does not correspond to modern trends and user requirements. he even copes with his direct responsibilities. Why is he so needed?
Conclusion
So, we reviewed the phone ZTE Blade A5.What do we have in the bottom line? Once this smartphone was good. But his best times are left behind. Today, it no longer meets the requirements of most users. It is only attractive price. In all other respects, this is a morally and physically obsolete gadget. Buy it definitely not worth it. It is better to add a small amount and take something from Meise or Xiaomi. They have quite interesting budget devices that are ten times more powerful than our today's hero. This way you can save time and nerves.
