ZP200 User Review - (1 month) (
from: ?)
This site and reviews proved VERY useful to me in selecting two phones recently. After a month of use I thought I would post to assist would be purchasers in making up their mind.
First let me point out that this is NOT my first Android device as I have a Motorola Xoom and two other cheaper tablets. It is however my first Android phone having migrated from the Palm Treo.
Experience with Etotalk:
I must state that this was VERY pleasant and informative. I am by no means a newbie to internet purchasing or even ordering from the Orient, but it was my first electronic purchase from China for an item that could easily be crap. At the time I ordered, the Company Zopo had only launched their line 2-3 weeks prior and there were no REAL USER reviews. All of the reviews here and on other ecommerce sites were really just clarification questions. I was taking a gamble and the Etotalk CSR was patient and VERY informative through the thousand++ questions that I asked.
I ordered two phones (ZP200 and Lenovo A65) and paid for DHL shipping. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the items were delivered to my doorstep in Houston in LESS than one week. All ordered accessories and phone configurations were as requested including a FREEBIE cable promised by the CSR.
First Take on the Phone:
Okay a bit of history...my search for this phone started based on the experience of a friend of mine who had ordered a Chinese clone to one of the HTC phones. That was a BIG disappointment and that phone is now sitting under a pile in a drawer somewhere. Though I was promised that this is not a cheap knock-off, I did not expect much better since the price difference was not that great.
I must say that from packaging to feel, balance, overall build, this phone is EXCELLENT!! It surprised both my friend and myself and has since silenced ALL detractors who giggled when I mentiond that I had gone for 'One of those' phones. The layout, the quality of the components EVERYTHING about this phone speaks of a quality product.
Speed and Performance:
This phone is fast enough for most that I have thrown at it thus far. It is no Galaxy SII, but I believe the specs are similar to that of the Galaxy S. If you are looking for the fastest phone out there, look elsewhere. If you are looking for the fastest RELIABLE DUAL SIM phone, then this is probably it. There are several different 1 GHz chips out there, but I believe that this is one of the faster ones.
I have had some lag on some of the Need for Speed Games, but they have been playable. Gestures are as smooth as a baby's b**, scrolling and app load and switching are as fast
as the Galaxy S, even SII in some cases.
The ZP200 phone is stable and has not crashed in my usage thus far. I have carried it through some typical usage paces and I find that it shines. This a testament to both the hardware and the custom ROM loaded as requested at time of order. I should mention that I have not upgraded to ICS and am still using the 2.3.6 ROM that the phone was delivered with.
Call Quality and Dual Sim:
Call quality is good on both networks. Calls are clear both for user and the other party at each time I have enquired. I do find however the volume on speakerphone to be a bit low.
Handles calls and data as advertised. Please note that it is not Dual Active so you cannot receive call notification from SIM 2 if you are actively on a voice call on SIM 1 or vice versa. The second call will simply go to voicemail. For my usage, this is fine
since I am mainly on ONE network with the occasional call from the other. For someone actively on two networks you may wish to consider one of the dual active units (ZTE U960 I believe).
Each Sim handles all its features well though, and network features such as call waiting and call forwarding are handled as should be expected and so far without any problems.
Bluetooth, GPS, WiFi and WiFi Tethering:
Bluetooth - Good for handsfree and sync. Quick to start and connect. Stable.
GPS - Actually better than the Galaxy S which had some initial GPS problems with locking onto sats. The ZP200 connects quickly enough even without A-GPS or eGPS enabled.
Quite frankly, I have not enabled these on the phone save but to test and find that I get reliable positioning within 15-30 seconds of switching on location services.
WiFi - Stable on G and N. There is a bonus to this phone that blew me away and I must say was not known by the folks at Etotalk. Not only will this phone create a WiFi hotspot off of a 2G/3G data connection, but even more intriguing and important to me is that it does so off of an existing WiFi connection as well!! Let me explain as this was not known by the Etotalk CSR that I dealt with prior to ordering. This phone DOES create its own WiFi AP that up to five devices can connect to and share internet. The internet that is shared can be 2G/3G or WiFi itself. I was told that it could not do it off a WiFi connection and that this was redundant. Well it is not as when I travel I do not use a US data service in order to avoid high roaming charges. Most countries allow you to purchase a Sim card and pay as you go, but this usually does not come with data plans. WiFi is therefore my main means of internet when I travel. One usually has to pay for internet at the bigger name hotel chains, but When you pay at these hotels what you get is a code that you can enter into ONE device (say a laptop). You CANNOT use the same code for your phone or tablet. In this case the ability to share the paid hotel's WiFi connection is a BIG PLUS. The Zopo ZP200 allows me now to configure the hotel's connection on it and tether my laptop, wife's tablet and her phone off of it...SWEET!!
Camera:
Have not played around a lot with this, but have taken both 8MP shots and 720 Video and they both look good in the right light. The daylight stills are actually very good and do go some way to back the claim that the camera uses Sony technology. I was pleasantly surprised that quality was good even when viewing on my 17 inch laptop and is virtually indistinguishable from pictures taken on my Canon 7MP Powershot camera. The flash is not really all that good so night or low light shots are not that great. Also DO NOT use the zoom feature if you want quality pictures/videos...as in MOST phone cameras, the zoom is purely digital and this just really degrades the quality.
Media Playback:
Excellent screen resolution and good audio playback. The quality through headphones is good though as mentioned above with the speakerphone, I do find the unit speaker volume could be a bit higher.
HDMI Output:
Have not used this feature, but what a bonus to have and others here have said that it works great.
Battery Life:
Hmmmm...where do I start with this one. Keep the charger at hand and definitely DO NOT forget to charge overnight else you are screwed for the next day. Question is, is this different from any other smartphone? I do not think so having used the Treo for years and been around iPhone and Android phone users. Dual Sim + 2G/3G + Bluetooth + WiFi + GPS PLUS all the other things that you now use these devices for (think games) means that it would be nice to get more time, but for now near unrealistic to expect much more than a day of use before the battery goes on you. I have gotten a day and a half where there were no games and WiFi/BT/Data and GPS were off for the most part. That however is basically just a phone and let us forget that it is we who wanted it to get smart. All that intelligence takes up battery power and I do not know of any Smart device save for tablets that are capable of longer times between charges.
Accessories:
This is one of the challenges with this or ANY of Zopo's phones at this time for anyone outside of China. You better make sure that any desired accessories are ordered with the phone since you are simply NOT going to pick up a custom fit case or screen protector, battery or the likes from Amazon. Fortunately the above mentioned accessories are available, just not in the US. Maybe with time if the brand persists and becomes a household name, but for now it's ordered with the phone or nothing.
This phone really got me excited and continues to keep me so each and every time I use it. This is a definite keeper and the only thing left to see is how it stands up over the long haul. Chinese phones are not known to last the distance, but I have hopes given this is defintely NOT one of those cheap knock-off, but a quality product from a new company.
Hail Zopo!!
Reply:
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