Design
When choosing a terminal there are many that give great importance to design while others look more in technical characteristics, performance, camera, battery, etc. In addition it is always difficult to qualify a mobile based on its design because for tastes colors, having said that, I will not enter if it is prettier or uglier.
The ZTE Blade
4G Vec is an angled smartphone, with quite sharp corners which, more or less, is somewhat more uncomfortable than a mobile with a more curved profile, although it is worth mentioning that the edges are slightly rounded.
4G Vec is an angled smartphone, with quite sharp corners which, more or less, is somewhat more uncomfortable than a mobile with a more curved profile, although it is worth mentioning that the edges are slightly rounded.
The mobile is manufactured in a single body, has a unibody design so the battery is not removable and the SIM card is accessible from the left profile with a removable tray. The storage capacity is 16 GB and you cannot expand it with a MicroSD card.
In the right profile you have the physical controls of volume and blocking / on-off of the terminal and on the lower edge the mini jack to connect the headphones. At the top edge the MicroUSB to connect to your equipment or to the current.
Screen
The ZTE Blade 4G Vec has a 5-inch HD screen with IPS technology and a very interesting resolution for a cheap smartphone like this, 1280 x 720 pixels under a pixel density of 291ppp and 16 million colors.
Hardware and performance
We liked it on the outside, but ... and inside? Let's now analyze the internal components to know what features they can offer when talking about performance and data processing.
The ZTE Blade 4G Vec features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core 1.2 processor along with an Adreno 305 GPU and a 1GB RAM.
Obviously we are not in front of a top terminal, far from it. But after installing and playing several demanding mobile video games such as Real Racing 3 or Dead Trigger 2 we have not seen excessive problems. Both games ran with ease.
If we talk about photo editing or multimedia content consumption, we notice slight delays, which you will only perceive if some of the most powerful mobile devices on the market have passed through your hands, but you will hardly notice if your experience and your previous mobility devices were in the range half. That is, delays, there are, but they are minimal.
We have also been struck by some flicker of lighting, but without excessive importance, although it is worth mentioning them.
The battery is not removable, it is a unibody device. It has a capacity of 2,300 mAh and in normal use, consult social networks, mail, web browsing and some other occasional call is able to arrive without any problems to the day of use.
Software and connectivity
At software level we find Android 4.4.2 KitKat, an S.O. that without being the newest in the market; it is not excessively outdated compared to the competition.
The customization layer used by the ZTE Blade 4G vec is very light and quite clean, with few modifications and extra applications. Something that is appreciated and that directly influences performance, for good, of course.
Another feature that we especially liked is the possibility of 4G connection offered thanks to the integrated fourth generation modem that enables you to download content at 150 Mbps low speed frequencies 800/1800/2600 MHz. It also has WiFi 802.11 b / g / n, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS.
Camera
In the camera section the ZTE Blade 4G Vec has left us with bit bittersweet and strange sensations. And it is that the webcam, that is, the front camera, offers very good features despite having a 1 megapixel sensor.
The webcam offers three modes, one the normal, another the beautification, which retouches the photos automatically, with a pretty good result. And I say this quite good, because we have found other mobile phones that used this software and deformed the features to the point of not recognizing us. But more than words, we leave you a graphic example so you can see the difference.
The third mode of the webcam is the smile detection, that is, the mobile should detect autonomously when you smile and take the picture. I say I should, because I have not been able to detect my smile, maybe it is that I am very serious; (It is not a significant problem, but it should also be noted.
The main camera, the rear one, uses an 8 megapixel sensor with Flash and autofocus. Like almost 100% of the phones in this segment, the camera shows great shortcomings in low light conditions. We have also detected certain autofocus problems in some photographs.
The camera has several modes and manual settings such as ISO control (100 - 800), scene setting (automatic, incandescent, natural light, fluorescent, cloudy) exposure and focus level (photometer, center and middle). It also has panoramic and HDR.
Conclusions
To summarize a bit my impressions after spending more than a month testing and analyzing this smartphone we could highlight that the ZTE Blade 4G Vec offers an HD screen with good definition and brightness. The battery without being its main asset, offers more than decent results exceeding the day of use without excessive problems.
At the level of performance let's say that it does not stand out but it does not show excessive problems either, it is what is expected for a mobile of its price.
The camera, powerful in its webcam section and slightly below the average in the main camera, but we cannot pretend that a mobile that costs 179 euros free has everything, right?
