Review of the ZTE Blade A6 smartphone - do you need such 2 days of battery life?

The ZTE Blade S6 is a good Android smartphone that falls short of a flagship, but is still not budget ($249.99 without discount). What kind of smartphone is this, what does it have to offer and why is it worth paying attention to? In order to answer this question, the gentlemen from gearbest.com sent us this device for testing. We tortured him for a long time and are finally ready to make a verdict.

The best Telegram channel about technology (possibly)

And of course, we give all readers a bonus code for a discount - we’ll talk about that too.

Specifications

• OS: Android 5.0 Lollipop
• Shell: MiFavor 3.0 UI
• Screen: IPS 5'', HD 1280x720, 294 ppi
• Processor: Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615, 8 * 1.7 GHz
• Graphics: Adreno 405, 550 MHz
• RAM: 2 GB
• Built-in memory: 16 GB
• Memory card support: microSDXC up to 64 GB
• Communication: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 900/2100 MHz, LTE: 1, 3, 7, 8, 20
• SIM: nano-SIM x2
• Wireless interfaces: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, FM radio
• Navigation: GPS
• Cameras: main – 13 MP (autofocus, flash); front - 5 MP
• Sensors: accelerometer, proximity and light sensors, gyroscope
• Battery: Li-Ion, 2400 mAh, non-removable
• Dimensions: 144×70.7×7.7 mm
• Weight: 134 grams

ZTE Blade S6 review: another mid-range Android smartphone

Table of contents

• Introduction
• Specifications
• Packaging and equipment
• Appearance and design
• Display
• Software and firmware
• Hardware platform and performance
• Multimedia
• Wireless Interfaces and Communications
• File system
• Battery life
• Camera
• Comparison with competitors
• Conclusion
• Additional photos

Introduction

ZTE is well known to our readers.
Over the past six months alone, the laboratory has seen several devices released under this name - from the ZTE Star 1, a representative of the “smartphones for everyone” class, to the premium models ZTE Nubia Z7 Mini and ZTE Nubia Z7 Max. This time the object of our attention was the ZTE Blade S6 - one of the first mid-range solutions equipped with Android 5.0. A new version of the system called Lollipop was released relatively recently and is still found mainly on expensive and high-end devices. However, models of Chinese brands are slowly destroying this trend, and the hero of the review turned out to be one of them.

So, the ZTE Blade S6 is able to offer very good modern hardware and the latest version of the operating system. And all this for a really reasonable price. Next, we will find out what the smartphone developers were forced to sacrifice, as well as how this affected its user characteristics.

Before we start reviewing the ZTE Blade S6 smartphone, we would like to thank the Chinese online store with free shipping GearBest for sending us the smartphone for testing. Ordering a smartphone from an online store and receiving it by mail turned out to be quite easy.

announcements and advertising

2080 Super Gigabyte Gaming OC for 60 rubles.

Compeo.ru - the right comp store without any tricks

RTX 2060 becomes cheaper before the arrival of 3xxx

Ryzen 4000

series included in computers already in Citylink

The price of MSI RTX 2070 has collapsed after the announcement of RTX 3xxx

Core i9 10 series is half the price of the same 9 series

The price of memory has been halved in Regard - it’s more expensive everywhere

Also on sale in the GearBest online store is the ZTE Blade S6 Plus smartphone with a diagonal of 5.5 inches.

Specifications ZTE Blade S6

Of course, the first thing that attracts attention is the Android version. But the other parameters of the new product are no less interesting. For the right price, we are offered a new generation Qualcomm processor and support for 4G networks.

Packaging and accessories ZTE Blade S6

The ZTE smartphone comes in a relatively small white box. Traditionally, cardboard is chosen as the material. It is dense and strong enough to protect the device from damage during transportation. The inscriptions and ends of the main compartment, on which the top cover is placed, are made in gray.

On the front side, right in the center, you can see the name of the device, and in the upper left corner there is a small manufacturer’s logo. The ends of the box are empty. Only two seal stickers protect its contents from unauthorized opening.

There are two stickers on the back. One contains all the personal numbers of the device (serial number and two IMEI), device model, color (in this case “Silver”) and a notice that it was made in China. The second section contains brief technical parameters of the product.

The first thing we see under the cover is the device itself. It is covered with shipping films on both sides and firmly fixed in place with a plastic stand molded to fit the body. The manufacturer took care of additional fixation of the device using a foam rubber lining on the lid itself - a small thing, but a nice touch.

To remove the smartphone from the box, there is a plastic tab - if you pull it, the device will rise from its place.

Under it are hidden two cardboard boxes - one for the power adapter, the other for the USB-microUSB cable and paper clips for opening the card trays.

The scope of delivery is absolutely standard and not surprising at all. Although everything you need is available.

It includes:

• Power adapter;
• USB-microUSB cable;
• Clip;
• Documentation.

We have more or less figured out the characteristics and equipment, now let’s turn our attention to the smartphone.

Design

Since the beginning of 2020, many clones of the iPhone 6 have poured into the gadget market, and the ZTE Blade S6 was no exception in terms of appearance.

The body of the smartphone is made of inexpensive plastic, which immediately catches your eye. On the back panel there is the inscription “Designed by ZTE in California”.

On the left side there are three slots: for a microSD card and two for nanoSIM cards, by the way, the latter support working with LTE networks.

On the right side there is a power button and a volume rocker key.

The front side of the smartphone is completely covered with glass and, as you can guess, completely copies the front panel of the iPhone 6.

The buttons at the bottom are nice looking, the central one pulsates while charging. Otherwise, there are few differences with the iPhone - except that there are no areas with white stripes that give the iPhone's antenna the opportunity to work. There is no aluminum, which means there are no problems.

Official renders:

Review of ZTE Blade S6 - a nice mid-ranger from a major manufacturer

Today is a review of one of the most balanced smartphones from China's largest phone manufacturer - ZTE Blade S6 with 8-core Qualcomm, 2 GB RAM, 5-inch HD screen, 13 MP Sony camera, support for 2 SIM cards with LTE and based on Android Lollipop out of the box. Below are a lot of photos, tests and conclusions.

Characteristics

Processor
Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 1.5 Ghz MSM8939, 64 bit, 8 cores, GPU Adreno 405
OS
Android 5.0 Lollipop
Screen
5″, 1280*720, IPS
RAM
2 GB DDR3
ROM
16 GB + microSD up to 64 GB
Communications and networks 2 nanoSIM
, GSM 850 /900/1800/1900MHz WCDMA 900/2100MHz FDD-LTE 800/900/1800/2600MHz
Communications
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, HotKnot, GPS/Glonass/BeiDou
Cameras
: Main 13 MP Sony IMX214, front 5 MP
Battery
2400 mAh
Dimensions
144 x 70.7 x 7.7 mm
Weight
134 g

The smartphone was purchased from the GearBest store simply because the price there was $215, which was the lowest at that time. Payment screenshot for non-believers:

Manufacturer's promotional video

Options and packaging

The box is surprisingly cheap, made of soft white cardboard.
It seems that the manufacturer decided to save money on this by stamping identical boxes and changing only the stickers. Remembering that we saw a wonderful plastic box in the semi-basement Landvo, ZTE gets a “minus”... The equipment is banal - a USB cable, 1A USB charger, waste paper, and a clip for SIM card slots and memory cards.

Appearance and assembly

When you look at the Blade, it’s immediately clear where the ZTE designers drew inspiration - it’s almost an iPhone 6 with a couple of “chips” from ZTE!
Although in general the smartphone certainly looks very harmonious. On the front side, in addition to the 5-inch screen, there is a front camera, light and proximity sensors, and under the screen there are 3 functional touch keys, although in normal times only the “central” circle is visible, which performs the “home” function. Along the edges of the circle there are 2 points, also sensory. The owner can independently change the purpose of each key by swapping them - these are “menu” and “back”. All keys are illuminated in bright blue.

The back cover is boring to the point of disgrace - the ZTE inscription, a camera peephole with a flash and a speaker slot. The cover is completely plastic, over time it will probably become covered with scratches and abrasions, it is better to immediately buy a cover. The back cover is non-removable.

On top of the smartphone there is a 3.5 mm headset jack, on the bottom there is a microphone and a microUSB connector.

On the left are trays for SIM cards and memory cards, on the right are the power-lock and volume control keys.

The body is completely plastic and very light. The smartphone is comfortable to hold in your hand, thanks to its rounded body and thickness of only 7 mm.

The dimensions of the smartphone are standard for a 5-inch smartphone. A little larger than the iPhone 6, a little narrower than the ZTE Red Bull V5 (but noticeably lighter).

The build of the smartphone is excellent, although the plastic creaks when squeezed tightly.

Screen

The smartphone has a 5-inch IPS screen with HD resolution 1280*720, made without an air gap using OGS technology. There is no glare at angles, the screen remains readable in the sun - the brightness is very high.

But the color rendition of the screen is controversial - the colors on the ZTE Red Bull, which is a budget device, are more interesting. Blade S6 - top and left, Red Bull V5 - bottom and right, respectively.

Screen comparison with ZTE Red Bull V5

The screen is protected by protective glass (manufacturer unknown) and it reliably protects from scratches - it was not possible to scratch it during use, although I used the smartphone without a film and carried it in a regular jacket pocket. Although I managed to crush it easily by putting the smartphone in the back pocket of my jeans and plopping down on the leather seat of the car.

Battery

The ZTE Blade S6 has a 2400 mAh battery. ZTE is a large manufacturer, there is no reason not to trust it. With such a battery, a fully charged smartphone will last for a day or a day and a half, although with very intensive work it will only last until the evening. This must be understood. I will note here that there is a strong dependence on the firmware version - on firmware version 6, up to 10-15 percent of the battery was consumed overnight, on versions 10 and 11 - only 1-2 percent in the same mode.

Communications ZTE Blade S6

The smartphone operates in 4G networks FDD-LTE 800/900/1800/2100/2600 MHz, that is, support for Russian 4G is fully present. Bluetooth 4.0, USB 2.0 with OTG function, GPS are also supported, but NFC is not here.

Navigation in ZTE Blade S6

Since Qualcomm is used, no problems were expected here; processors are traditionally strong in navigation. In addition to GPS, Snapdragon 615 also supports Russian GLONASS and Chinese BeiDou, so the ZTE Blade S6 has excellent navigation. I won’t even provide track records - it leads along the road perfectly even in densely built-up areas, and does not deviate into forests and fields.

Camera ZTE Blade S6

The ZTE Blade S6 uses the well-known Sony Exmor IMX214 module with F2.0 aperture and single-section LED flash.
This is one of the coolest modules of the current time, however, as always, the question is adaptation to a specific device and working with the firmware. While the photographs are quite average, maybe over time the manufacturer will correct the firmware and the photos will be better, but for now, when shooting in low light conditions (twilight, night, dark room), the camera begins to “wash” the pictures and loses the clarity of the pictures. Photo examples

You can download all the photos (and a few others) without compression using this link.

ZTE Blade S6 performance and tests

The ZTE Blade S6 smartphone is built on a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 CPU. This is a processor with 8 cores - four ARM Cortex-A53 with a frequency of 1.7 GHz and another four ARM Cortex-A53 with a frequency of 1 GHz.
28 nm LP process technology, ARMv8 instruction set. Depending on the load and the operation being performed, either 4 “powerful” cores or 4 “weak” cores are turned on. Detailed description of the processor

Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 MSM8939 is a mid-range SoC based on ARMv8 for tablets and smartphones running Android OS. This model was introduced in February 2014, it became one of the first 64-bit solutions from Qualcomm. In addition to eight Cortex-A53 processor cores operating at up to 1.8 GHz, there is an integrated Adreno 405 video card with a 2x32 bit memory controller (LPDDR3-1600). The SoC also supports Wi-Fi (802.11ac), Bluetooth 4.0, UMTS and LTE. Cortex-A53 is the successor to the very popular Cortex-A7 design. In addition to the new 64-bit ARMv8 ISA, the kernels offer many other improvements, such as a branch prediction engine. Thanks to this, performance per clock has significantly increased to a level above Cortex-A9.

The eight cores of the Snapdragon 615 are divided into two quad-core clusters, each optimized for different operating tasks. While one cluster can handle more demanding tasks by operating at up to 1.8 GHz, the other cluster is limited to 1 GHz for power-saving purposes. All eight cores can be active simultaneously, although most applications today are not parallelized to efficiently support that many functional elements. Overall, the Snapdragon 615 has about the same performance as the Snapdragon 600 (Krait).

The integrated Adreno 405 graphics card from the Adreno 400 series has been significantly redesigned, so it now supports DirectX 11.2, including hardware tessellation, OpenGL ES 3.0 and OpenCL 1.2. In addition, graphics performance should be significantly higher than the previous Adreno 305 (Snapdragon 400).

Snapdragon 615 has support for numerous wireless technologies, such as Bluetooth 4.0 and WLAN 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, as well as a Multi-SIM cellular modem with LTE cat support. 4 (up to 150 Mbit), WCDMA, CDMA, EV-DO, TD-SCDMA and GSM/EDGE.

The SoC can process 1080p video using special hardware, outputting a stream of content to displays with a resolution of up to 2560x2048 pixels. A large number of video codecs are now supported, including H.265 (playback). The IPS camera can handle resources up to 21 MP.

The Snapdragon 615 is manufactured using TSMC's 28nm LP process. According to the specifications, the power consumption is such that the SoC can power large smartphones and tablets.

Series: Qualcomm Code: Cortex-A53 Clock frequency: 1800 * MHz Number of cores/threads: 8/8 Process technology: 28 nm Additionally: Adreno 405 GPU, 802.11ac WLAN, Bluetooth, LTE, NFC, GPS/GLOSNASS/BeiDou, 32/ 64 Bit LPDDR3 Memory Controller 64 Bit: 64 Bit support Release date: 02/24/2014

In standard tasks, the smartphone does not slow down and generally works perfectly; in most games there are no problems either. When minimizing large applications, freezes may be noticeable for a second or two, but this is really rare. On the first versions of the firmware, for some reason, sometimes the smartphone sometimes reported a lack of RAM, but this happened extremely rarely. I didn't notice this on the latest versions. In Antutu, the ZTE Blade S6 smartphone scores about 30,000 points.

Test results

Software features of ZTE Blade S6

The smartphone runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop out of the box, and 5.1 should be released soon. “On top” the MiFavor shell is used, a small and lightweight launcher reminiscent of “pure” Android. Among the additional add-ons - only the ability to control gestures and customize the buttons under the screen. There are no over-the-air updates; you need to dump the firmware file onto a memory card, and the smartphone will update everything on its own.

Multimedia

The speaker of the smartphone is very loud and clear, the voice speaker is also of high quality - you can hear your interlocutor perfectly. The manufacturer assures that the smartphone has a separate audio chip, the sound of the smartphone is definitely good, the sound detail is high, the smartphone can easily replace an iPod. The Music app has a Hi-Fi button. I don't understand why it is needed.

Video review

Part 1. Design, main features.

Part 2: Gaming and Productivity.

conclusions

The new smartphone from ZTE turned out to be very nice - cute, light, powerful and with 2 SIM.
For now, some “dampness” is affecting it, apparently they were in a hurry to release it faster, and therefore, when purchasing, it is better to immediately update the smartphone to the latest firmware version, fortunately this is done very easily and the manufacturer quickly corrects any flaws found in the firmware. One could write down the “low” screen resolution as a minus, but at 5 inches it clearly doesn’t look that way, but FullHD would obviously consume even more battery. The only thing that is definitely confusing about the smartphone is the price and the plastic case; for $200 it would obviously be a much better deal. Pros:

— Powerful processor — 2 SIM with LTE support — GLONASS support — Thin and light — Separate audio chip for music — Android 5.0 out of the box

Minuses

— Average battery — Plastic case — High price

Features (not pros, not cons, subjective for everyone) - HD screen resolution

In general, the smartphone can be recommended to those who buy a smartphone for a long time (with the caveat of the need for a case for the case) - the power will be enough for another couple of years, just like the stated characteristics, and the manufacturer’s support allows us to hope for a quick correction of software errors.

Display

The 5-inch screen has HD resolution, a good IPS matrix provides a clear, bright picture. Yes, the resolution is not so great, but I didn’t have an aversion to the display.

Viewing angles are wide, color reproduction is quite accurate, without visible or annoying distortions.

Simultaneous recognition of ten touches is supported.

Software

ZTE Blade S6 runs the brand new Android 5.0 with ZTE's proprietary interface.

Almost all pre-installed applications are something really interesting and useful (you won’t even have the desire to delete them all). For example, a utility that rids your smartphone of unnecessary unnecessary “garbage” is Clean Master, a navigation application with the amazing name Navigate and much more.

The pre-installed standard TouchPal X keyboard is quite simple, fast and functional. So much so that you even get lost when typing the text for the first time.

Otherwise, there are not so many changes in visual terms in the fifth Android.

Advantages and disadvantages of the Blade S6 phone

The dimensions of the ZTE Blade S6 are 70.7 mm wide, 144 mm long and 7.9 mm thick. With such dimensions it is convenient to operate the device with one hand. In addition, the weight of the device is about 154 g. Even if you operate the device with one hand, its weight is almost not felt.

If we evaluate the overall ease of use of the phone taking into account the size and weight, then there will be no problems with everyday use.

The smartphone is equipped with an 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 MSM8939 processor, which is manufactured at 28 nm. technical process.

The smartphone has 2 GB. RAM, which is quite enough. In very rare cases it will not be enough, but with this amount of RAM, you will rarely have problems.

The device's data storage capacity is 16 GB, and while this is enough for photos, it may not be enough for video shooting and a large number of games.

The phone is compatible with SD cards, so you can easily expand its memory. So you probably don't need to worry about storage capacity.

The Blade S6 has a 5-inch display diagonal. The display is large enough that you will rarely have problems with its size. However, this display is not suitable for writing long texts.

The smartphone has a high-end display and any graphic content you display on it, including videos and games, will be displayed clearly.

The main camera of the phone has 12.78 megapixels and can take high-resolution photos and videos. While you're shooting landscapes or printing high-definition photos, you may want a higher-resolution camera, but most of the time you'll be happy with the camera.

Also, the smartphone has a 4.92 megapixel front camera, which is average for smartphone cameras. This is good enough for taking selfies, but you may not be satisfied with group photos or their print quality.

The battery capacity of the ZTE Blade S6 is 2400 mAh, which is a common capacity indicator. Compared to other smartphones, the ZTE Blade S6's battery life is average. You don't have to worry about anything during daily use. However, if you spend time surfing the internet or playing games, you might be a little underwhelmed by the battery life.

Iron

The smartphone runs on the new eight-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615, which is sufficient for both an HD screen and 3D games, which launch quite quickly and work without any complaints.

Based on the test results, we can say with confidence that the performance of the smartphone is worthy of flagships, and this is good news considering its price.

Work with browsers, applications, games and videos took place without slowing down, freezing or shaking.

Camera

The quality of the images taken with the camera of an “average” smartphone is appropriate. Outdoors in daylight, the photos come out good, but if you try to shoot something indoors or dark, the pictures are filled with noise and unclear white balances.

It is also worth paying attention to problems with focus - the camera practically refuses to focus on what is necessary, it misses and takes a long time to determine. But the focal length itself is good.

The front camera also copes with its tasks quite well. Seriously speaking, this quality of cameras is quite tolerable for me - it’s clear that they didn’t put it in for show and it won’t be a problem to shoot something more or less cute on Instagram.

In the settings you can select two-point focusing, various modes and filters, HDR, panorama, etc.

Getting to know the ZTE Blade S6

You won’t be able to twirl your smartphone in your hands before purchasing. At least in the near future. Sales started exclusively on online platforms. Initially it was AliExpress, where sales started on February 10 at a promotional price of $249.99. Also on this day, 10 dollar coupons were distributed, valid only for ZTE Blade S6. The phone was ordered on this day. Upon receipt of the parcel, I still had to pay customs duties and customs fees on this amount: 283,000 BYN. rub. (just under $19).

It is unknown when the certified ZTE Blade S6 will appear in Russian stores. In addition to China, it is already available in the UK, France, Germany and Spain as of February 27.

See technical specifications of ZTE Blade S6 for more details.

Equipment

The equipment is bare: phone, key for removing SIM card trays and memory cards, charger and USB cable. In a large box containing only a USB cable, there would have been room for headphones and more, but apparently ZTE decided that this was a luxury. Although, with such a price tag, it would be worth at least adding headphones.

Appearance

The design of the ZTE Blade S6 smartphone is compared to the design of the Apple iPhone 6. There are some similarities. It also has a streamlined body with rounded corners, and the corners of the glass are also rounded. The back and sides are painted silver (it's plastic). This is probably where the similarities end.

A pink version is expected to be released later.

The first impression of the phone is good. It has small frames, and, accordingly, with its 5-inch display, it has quite convenient dimensions. The small thickness, only 7.7 mm, can also be considered a plus.

The first owners of the smartphone complain about the flimsy back cover (it is removable). And it is true. In the area of ​​the logo it bends and creaks significantly. Creaking even happens when you just turn/hold the smartphone in your hands. Another question is how soon the paint will start to wear off. I would recommend a case for mandatory use.

The camera eye and flash are slightly recessed, which will protect the camera glass from scratches (in fact, this glass is located on the cover). There is obviously a second microphone nearby.

There is one additional speaker. There is a small protrusion next to it so that the sound of an incoming call is not muffled when the phone is lying on a flat surface with the speaker down.

On the left side there is a tray for two SIM cards (Nano-SIM) and a tray for a MicroSD memory card. Right: Double volume key and lock key. There is no separate key for the camera.

Below the screen there are three touch keys illuminated in blue. The central one has the shape of a ring, the two side ones, which are visible only when illuminated, are just small dots.

At the bottom: microphone and MicroUSB. On the top: 3.5 mm audio output.

Screen

The display is very good: the colors are saturated and do not change at any viewing angle. HD resolution is quite enough for this 5-inch display. You will not see any grain with the naked eye. It is stated that the display is made using In-Cell technology.

Smudged fingerprints on the glass are almost invisible. Only if you look closely from certain angles. There are no noticeable marks left on the lid at all.

Camera

ZTE focused on the Sony IMX214 13 MP camera with F/2.0 aperture and an aspherical lens. The Sony IMX214 module is relatively new (used since the second half of 2014), I wanted to look at its capabilities. But the camera in this smartphone was a disappointment. No, it’s not bad, but despite the fact that it’s so well advertised, it’s no better than the 13-megapixel modules in other Chinese products, for example, in the same ZTE Red Bull V5, which is now asking for half as much as the Blade S6.

You can evaluate the quality of the images yourself from the photo (to view the original, right-click on the image and select “Open in a new tab”).

You can launch the camera application directly from the lock screen by swiping from right to left on the corresponding icon located in the lower right corner. When you first launch, you will be asked to choose which shooting application to use: standard or Camera360.

Let's look at the capabilities of the standard application. You can use "Simple Mode". There are minimal settings here. You can use "Expert Mode", where you can select horizon alignment, ISO, exposure and light type (auto, lamp, cloudy, etc.).

In any of the modes, the following settings are available: flash, resolution, self-timer, interval, face detection, touch shooting, shutter sound, storage memory and geotagging. You can also select the type of photo: HDR, panorama, smile, group, etc. Let’s look at what “Group” is. If you are photographing several people in the frame, then this mode will take 5 photos. From each of these five photos, you can select the best face image and combine all the images into one photo.

BY

ZTE Blade S6 runs Android 5.0 out of the box. There have been no updates since receiving the phone. To update, an application is used, the stash of which is located on the desktop. That's what it's called: Software update.

The OS is stable and fast. There are no problems with the Russian language (the language is selected when you turn on the smartphone for the first time).

Gesture and motion control is one of the features of the ZTE Blade S6. Whether someone needs it or not is a personal matter. Not as useful as it is cool.

What is Gesture and Motion Control? For example, when the phone is lying on the table with its screens facing up and someone is calling you, you can hang up the call by turning it face down. Same thing with the alarm clock.

When someone's contact is selected in the phone book, when you bring the phone to your ear, a call to that number will be activated.

For a convenient shallow place, you can only turn off the alarm clock by moving it.

Dual SIM. Net. Connection

The smartphone supports simultaneous operation with two SIM cards. Each SIM card can be given the desired name. Unfortunately, it was not possible to check the work with two SIM cards, since there was no second Nano-SIM (I had to cut off my own anyway).

ZTE Blade S6 supports 4G networks. But here, too, it was not possible to test the possibility of working on this network, since there is simply no 4G in Belarus yet. There were no complaints about 3G performance.

During a conversation, the audibility of the interlocutor is good. There is a proximity sensor, so the screen turns off and locks itself when you bring the phone to your ear, and turns on again (unlocked) when you move it away from your ear.

Navigation

When Navitel Navigator was first launched, it found 12 satellites in about half a minute. The GPS Test app also quickly finds satellites.

I liked the navigation.

Sound. Video.

We are told about a separate sound chip and Hi-Fi sound quality. I'm not an expert in sound, I can only say that in good vacuum headphones, music sounds good, the volume reserve is very large. Hi-Fi is turned on separately in the audio player and video player when headphones or separate speakers are connected.

By the way, you expect an advanced player from a smartphone with good sound. But there is nothing like that here: there is no equalizer settings, or any advanced settings at all. You can create playlists, set a ringtone, etc. The standard video player refused to open video in AVI format (resolution 704×384, 24 frames/sec, video stream 2778 kbit/sec). Installing MX Player solves the problem.

The radio only works with connected headphones.

The additional speaker located on the rear side is loud enough not to miss a call.

Performance

Hardware: 2 GB of RAM and 64-bit 8-core Snapdragon 615 processor manufactured using a 28 nm process technology. The processor has 4 Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1 GHz and Cortex-A53 cores clocked at up to 1.5 GHz. Graphics accelerator: Adreno 405. The processor performance is quite high, and it is more energy efficient than the powerful Snapdragon 805. So I would give preference to the Snapdragon 615, due to the fact that battery life is more important to me. And this processor, coupled with 2 GB of RAM (DDR3), is more than enough for heavy applications. Moreover, with HD resolution, which is no longer high by today’s demanding standards.

There is significant heating when running heavy games. The phone heats up around the logo.

Well, a few numbers for those who like to “measure themselves”.

As you can see, according to the results of the AnTuTu Benchmark 5.6.1 test, the ZTE Blade S6 smartphone is slightly behind the HTC One and slightly ahead of the Xiaomi Mi2. A total of 25,346 points were scored in the test.

Battery

The battery is lithium-ion, removable, with a cable. You can get to it by removing the cover and unscrewing a couple of bolts. Capacity: 2,400 mAh.

The cover should be removed carefully, preferably only with your fingernails; although it is flexible (it won’t break), it scratches easily.

If the battery charge drops, the blue ring under the screen begins to pulsate. When charging is connected, the pulsing continues, and when fully charged, the ring glows continuously. The smartphone turns off only when the battery is discharged to 0%. You can turn it on immediately by putting it on charge; it will turn on when the charge level is still shown at zero.

The battery was charged to 81% in 2 hours and 5 minutes. A 100 percent charge is achieved in 2 hours 45 minutes.

With a heavy load (Internet, communication, etc.) the charge will last for the whole day.

Bottom line

Of course, the ZTE Blade S6 is worth paying attention to. Even if you find some shortcomings in it for yourself, its advantages will still outweigh. $250 is a lot or a little, you decide. Given the available capabilities, the price tag seems very reasonable.

Behind:

1. Thin and comfortable body, pleasant appearance 2. Productive and at the same time energy-efficient processor 3. Good screen 4. High-quality sound in headphones 5. Fifth Android 6. Support for working with two SIM cards

Against:

1. The camera is “average” 2. The cover creaks and will get scratched.

Let's sum it up

ZTE Blade S6 is another good Android smartphone, its appearance completely copies the iPhone 6 (with the only difference being that the body of the former is made of plastic). Of course, you can throw sticks at me and say that the review was purchased - but let's face it - what other smartphone of a less well-known brand (not Pshunwun and Ovvumovu) can be found on the market now at SUCH a price with SUCH characteristics and the fifth Android? Therefore, if you really want a five-star rating and a good smartphone for $200, go to gearbest.com