I've been very busy lately and only now had the needed spare time to finish the review of a recent MT6575 based smartphone that I've got as replacement of my ThL V9. The review will focus on ZP300 (also known as Field) from the Chinese manufacturer ZOPO.
Previous and quite successful models from ZOPO are ZP100 (Pilot) and ZP200 (Shining). Just like ThL, this manufacturer provides ROM updates very often. This is worth to mention because it is always important to have such kind of support.
Previous and quite successful models from ZOPO are ZP100 (Pilot) and ZP200 (Shining). Just like ThL, this manufacturer provides ROM updates very often. This is worth to mention because it is always important to have such kind of support.
Specifications
Chipset
Name: MediaTek MT6575 CPU: 1 GHz ARM Cortex™-A9 GPU: PowerVR™ SGX 531 Instruction set: ARMv7 Software environment
Embedded:OS: Android 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich) Body
Dimensions
(width x height x depth):133 x 68.2 x 11.3 millimetres Weigth: 123 grams (battery included) Color: Black (or white) Battery
Capacity: 1800 mAh Memory
RAM:capacity: 1 GB ROM-capacity: 4 GB Expansion slot: microSD memory card, supporting up to 64 GB Network support
Primary phone: GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900, UMTS850, UMTS900, UMTS1900, UMTS2100 Secondary phone: GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900 Data links: GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, HSUPA Display
Type: LG AH-IPS capacitive touchscreen Size: 4.5 inches, HD resolution (720 x 1280 pixels) Camera
Main (rear): 5 megapixels with autofocus and single LED flash Secondary (front): 2 megapixels Interfaces
Bluetooth (802.15): Bluetooth 3.0 + Enhanced Data Rate Wireless LAN / Wi-Fi (802.11): IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n USB: USB 2.0 Client, Hi-Speed (480 Mbit/s)
USB Series Micro-B (Micro-USB) connectorSatellite navigation
MT6620 chipset GPS antenna: Internal Complementary GPS services: A-GPS (Assisted GPS), MediaTek EPO (Extended Prediction Orbit) Additional features
Gravity, Proximity, Light and Magnetic field sensors Analog Radio: FM radio (87.5-108 MHz) with RDS radio receiver Others: Dedicated LED for notification of missed calls / new messages
In terms of design, it is very similar to LG Optimus LTE and the built quality is very good. The display covers almost all the front of the phone. There are three soft-buttons in total, although when the backlight is turned off, only Home button can be noticed. When turning on the display the other two soft-buttons are seen, Menu on the left and Back on the right.
Near the front camera, more or less on the upper right corner, it is placed the usual power charging LED (red colored). But in addition to that, there is also a green LED that becomes permanently lit when the battery is more than 90% charged and also blinks in order to notify the user of eventual missed calls / new messages received.
The volume rocker is placed on the right edge.
Near the front camera, more or less on the upper right corner, it is placed the usual power charging LED (red colored). But in addition to that, there is also a green LED that becomes permanently lit when the battery is more than 90% charged and also blinks in order to notify the user of eventual missed calls / new messages received.
The volume rocker is placed on the right edge.
The 3,5 mm headset jack and dedicated power button are located on the top edge.
On the back side, we find the 5 megapixels autofocus camera above a single LED flash.
Placed on the left side of the bottom edge, there is a small notch that allows you to easily remove the rear cover.
The two SIM slots and the microSD slot can only be accessed after removing the battery.
Display quality
This phone features an AH-IPS LCD from LG. With a 1280x720 resolution on a 4.5 inch surface, this display has an impressive pixel density of 329 ppi.
The phone comes pre-installed with Android 4.0.3. Here are some screenshots and details of the most important features with a special detail of the dual SIM functionality.
The notification panel provides a fast access for brightness and display timeout setting, enabling or disabling auto rotation, Wi-Fi, BT, GPS and data connection, as well as alternating between sound profiles.
The notification panel provides a fast access for brightness and display timeout setting, enabling or disabling auto rotation, Wi-Fi, BT, GPS and data connection, as well as alternating between sound profiles.
The user interface of Android 4.0 is definitely very polished.
The dialer interface has changed a little bit, although the features are exactly the same. It supports smart dialing feature which works perfectly and very fast!
The dial button can immediately start the call when a SIM is set as default for voice calls or open a pop up which let's you choose from which SIM the call should be established.
Many options can be set under the dual SIM management menu. The user can edit the name of each SIM and also set the associated background color that will appear in call log as well as in the notification bar (behind the network strength bars).
In the same menu, the user has the possibility to set a default SIM card to establish all outgoing calls (both voice and video) or set it to always ask, thus enabling the pop up that I have referred above (with the options of which SIM card should initiate the call). The same thing can be set for messaging and data connection purposes.
Android 4.0 adds new controls for managing network data usage. The user can monitor total usage by network type and application and then set limits if needed. Of course, as mobile data can be enabled on SIM1 or SIM2, data usage of each SIM card can also be tracked.
Just like it was mentioned on my previous review, on the MT6575 platform, SIM2 will be reachable even if there is an active data connection established on SIM1. The data connection will be immediately dropped when a new call is incoming from SIM2 and the download will be automatically resumed after the call is over.
Other than that, I have recently found that 3G can be enabled for SIM1 or SIM2 (one at a time), which means that you don't need to exchange the SIM cards from one slot to the other when you want to enable 3G data services.
A part of the ROM is available as internal memory storage for user data. There is plenty of space available, letting you to have several applications and games installed.
The stock ROM includes support for the following languages: Indonesian, German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese (from Portugal and from Brazil), Vietnamese, Turkish, Russian, Malay, Arabic and Chinese (traditional and simplified).
All Google applications are already pre-installed on the stock ROM, supporting e-mail, contact and calendar syncing. Google Play Store (formerly known as Android Market) works flawlessly, providing access for free and paid applications / games.
Final thoughts
If you like phones with such a big screen, then ZP300 is perfect for you. The performance is very good, even taking into consideration the higher resolution (HD vs qHD from other MT6575 based phones). Phone runs very stable and the display quality is simply amazing.
And now the usual advertisement... in order to avoid questions regarding where to buy it from, you can always visit my partner shop (etotalk.com). ZOPO ZP300 is available for 299 USD.
And now the usual advertisement... in order to avoid questions regarding where to buy it from, you can always visit my partner shop (etotalk.com). ZOPO ZP300 is available for 299 USD.
Best dual sim till now? :)
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteCould you confirm that the ZP300 has a Magnetic field sensor ? It's hard to find a definitive answer to that. There are contradictory informations and yet, it should be very easy to know when you have the phone in your hands...
Thanks
Yes, it does have a magnetic field sensor. I can guarantee that because I have already tried some compass applications.
DeleteThank you so much !
DeleteWhat about battery? how much does it last? Does it worth the wait for the MT6577 phones? I already have a dual sim (MT6573) so i am not in a hurry.
ReplyDeleteHi Bruno,
ReplyDeleteI am Partha - an ex DX 900 user and more importantly used your custom ROM for long. Its been a long time since I sold off my DX900. I casually visited eten-users after an year just to see the happenings there and landed over here. I feel like buying this phone. But do you have plans to give support for this phone too in future in eten-users.eu?
Thanks
Is the notification LED working? You wrote at ThL V9 it is not working. Maybe Zopos driver could help them ...
ReplyDeleteOf course the notification LED is working. Otherwise why would I mention it on the review?
DeleteAs far as it concerns to the LED driver for ThL V9, this is not the proper place to discuss.
You mentioned ThL will often update their rom, can I know what is their website? I am thinking to buy ThL w3. What do you recommend Zopo zp300 or ThL one?
ReplyDeleteSure, here is the direct link to ThL website. From their homepage, go to Service / Download / Brush package.
DeleteI can't tell if ThL W3 is better or not when compared to ZOPO ZP300. The only thing I can tell is that ZP300 is a very good phone as stated in the review. ZOPO also provides regular updates for their devices. Here is also the direct link ZOPO support page.
I think there is a design fault in th Zopo ZP300. I have seen a video review,in that we can see a home button at the bottom of the screen. And there are also two soft buttons(menu and back) on the left and right of central home button. But there is no led indication for those, but if you touch those areas, it will work
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFUWaI9o5iQ
Updated: But in the etotalk video, I can see those soft buttons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAsTw6EShGc
Can you confirm do your phone have those buttons?
Thanks
There's no design fault on ZP300!
DeleteAs mentioned in the review there are three soft-buttons in total, although when the backlight is turned off, only home button can be noticed. When turning on the display the other two soft-buttons are seen, menu on the left and back on the right. I will take a picture evidencing that feature later on and update the review.
Thanks, I thought that some zp300 didn't have those soft buttons. I am waiting to get zp300 pro with mtk6577 release.
DeleteHai, how about the face unlock? Will this work correctly? And will this phone's battery last for 2 days without charging?
ReplyDeleteYes, I've tried face unlock and it works correctly. With data connection always enabled, BT always on and a moderate use in terms of phone calls I need to charge the phone every 2 days.
DeleteHi Bruno (Portuguese?),
ReplyDeletei where surfing the net finding info about ZP300 and ZP900. So i had "step" in your review of ZP300. Congratulations, great review by the way! I don't know if you already put your hands in the ZP900? If yes, the only diference it's the MTK 6577, right?
Other important thing, buying the phone, what can you tell me about etotalk... do you have experience of buying there? The phone comes from where? China, US or Europe? If i will buy it, could i have problems in the costums in Portugal?
I'm sorry about all of this questions... thanks in advance and keep with the good work!
Yes, I'm Portuguese.
DeleteI have only tested ZP300. ZP900 was just released and besides the fact that is based on MT6577 there are also differences like the screen size. I would say that ZP300+ is the same as ZP300 apart from the chipset.
The shop that I advise you to buy these phones from is etotalk. They are very professional and I have been dealing with them since the end of 2010. The phones are shipped from China, so you have to take into account that it can be held by Portuguese customs and may have to pay import taxes.
ZP300+ with mtk6577 is released. I am thinking to get this. But it is showing little expensive at the movement.
ReplyDeleteYes, due to the fact that MT6577 is pin-compatible with MT6575, manufacturers can easily move into the new MediaTek platform without any need to develop new printed circuit boards. ZOPO is releasing new versions of its previous models: ZP500+ (MT6577 powered ZP500), ZP300+ (MT6577 powered ZP300), ZP200+ (MT6577 powered ZP200) and ZP100+ (MT6577 powered ZP100).
DeleteUnless you really want a big phone like ZP300+, you have other options like ZTE V970.
There are no ZP200+ or ZP100+. ZOPO have not upgraded these two with the MT6577 chip to my knowledge.
DeleteHi, can you tell me if this phone supports calling via SIP over data connection natively, or does one have to install an apk to do that.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
Hello Bruno,
ReplyDeletehad this phone the caller ID bug, or non changing us number format in the phonebook,
like the god old G11i or HD7 Pro.(To fix this i use your rom on my HD7Pro and donated for it)
Or is this fixed generally with ICS?
Thank you.
The caller ID bug and the US numbering formatting are not present in ICS ROMs, at least on the phones that I've already tested (V9, ZP300 and currently V970).
DeleteIs there any problem with GPS? In one video, they said GPS didn't work? Do you any issues like that?
ReplyDeleteI don't know which video you are referring to, but from my experience there was no problem at all with the GPS. The first fix could take 1-2 minutes, but the next fixes were in seconds.
DeleteStrangely on my ZP300+, I only have 503Mo of Internal storage but also an additional 2.16Go as phone storage that act as an internal SD card. I'd rather have all this memory as Internal storage because phone only applications cannot be stored on the phone storage. It is strange that my ZP300+ wuold be configured differently than de ZP300 ?!? Anybody else has a ZP300+ and see the same thing ?
ReplyDeleteHi my friend, First at all, thanks for the best review!
ReplyDeleteI got a ZP100 a few months ago, the only big problem is about the 3g. I've already downloaded the new rom (but it still sucks!). When I turn the 3g mode, it says, restrict area changed on top of the screen the cell phone stuck going lazy and useless... so I cant surf on internet with 3g, just 2g works fine... did you alredy test 3g on zp300?
Sure, I've used 3G data connection when I had ZP300. It was working perfectly.
Delete