For starters, the ZTE Blade V8 Pro is super inexpensive for it’s kind, and it has a killer battery. Unlocked, it’s $230, and lasts over a full day with heavy use. Besides that, it has a headphone jack (seemingly absent from the newer phones), NFC, a fingerprint sensor, and a dual-camera setup with some cool editing tools that lets you have a blast with your photos.
ZTE Blade V8 Pro Design
The Blade V8 Pro has a really sturdy build, and its metal trimmings is a nice added look. The 5.5″ IPS LCD display with Gorilla Glass 3.0 has a 1,080-pixel resolution that is sharp and really responsive, with photos and videos exploding with clarity and color. The handset itself is not the thinnest on the market, and at 6.5 ounces, it’s pretty heavy in the hand.
The ZTE Blade V8 Pro measures 156 x 77 x 9.1mm (6.14 x 3.03 x 0.36in). On the back is a soft matte cover, which gives the phone some sophistication. Also on the back you’ll find the dual 13MP cameras with dual-LED flash. These two cameras allow you to adjust your focus and aperture before or after you shoot, adding a bit of flexibility to your shots.
On the front of the device is the earpiece, 8MP selfie camera, capacitive buttons and a physical home/fingerprint reader button. On the bottom of the phone are the mic, a down-firing speaker and USB-C charging port. Thankfully, ZTE included a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top of the phone, so no dongles are needed to use wired headphones. The phone’s power and volume keys are located all on the right side.
Camera
The ZTE Blade V8 Pro’s cameras works fast and takes really sharp photos. More impressive is how it handles low-light environments. It gathers every light point it can, and produces really good photos without very much digital artifacts or graininess.
The phone has two 13-megapixel cameras, one of which is a monochrome camera, that let’s you do a lot of effects to your photos. One setting gives your images a bokeh effect, which lets you blur the background or foreground after you take an image for a dramatic look.
Black and whites look pretty damn good as well. You can also take a photo with just one pop of color. There’s also a Live Photo option where you can take short, GIF-like photos that have movement. Keep in mind though, that these pictures take about twice as much memory as a regular photo.
The ZTE Blade V8 Pro is capable of capturing 4K video at 30 frames per second, but 1080p at 30fps is the default mode. Overall, the camera of the ZTE Blade V8 Pro is not bad at all for a mid-range phone.
Performance and Battery
The ZTE Blade V8 Pro has a Snapdragon 625 processor, somewhat common in mid-range phones, but runs the phone with above-average speed. We didn’t find any hiccups or glitches during normal operation, but for those more robust apps, you might experience just a little lag. Still though, there wasn’t any significant delay with other common commands like launching apps, scrolling through websites or swiping through the home page screens. It also runs Android Marshmallow 6.0, predecessor to Nougat, and comes with 32GB of internal memory.
Speaking of the operating system, ZTE did a great job of keeping Android feeling like stock while adding its own features. While some Android skins are not great and slow up processing, ZTE’s stock software does a great enough job imitating stock Android.
All in all, the ZTE Blade V8 Pro performs at or above its competition, such as the Moto G4. The Blade V8 Pro also has X9 LTE, which can handle all your surfing, streaming and swiping needs. Also often not found on affordable smartphones, the dual SIM slot allows users who travel the ability to switch carriers as needed. It also allows you to use either a second SIM card or microSD up to 256GB to expand storage.
The battery on the ZTE Blade V8 Pro is the real deal breaker here. With video playback, the phone will last an average of 15 hours, which is an excellent time and it can easily last through a workday without a charge. Also, the handset has fast charging capabilities. It takes under a half-hour to charge the phone back to 50% from zero, and just over an hour to get fully juiced, which is on par with other phones that have Quick Charge technology.
Bottom Line
The ZTE Blade V8 Pro is an excellent smartphone for the price. It’s gets you great battery life, a decent dual-rear cameras and a near-stock Android experience. If you’re okay with having an older version of Android, the Blade V8 Pro is an excellent budget smartphone.
It’s nice to see NFC included in a mid-range phone for easy speaker pairing and mobile payments, something a lot of mid-range phones just don’t have. We were impressed overall of how close it comes to a flagship phone. Sure, you don’t get the multitasking performance of more powerful smartphones but for a majority of tasks, the Blade V8 Pro is perfectly adequate and will suit most needs. .
You can purchase the ZTE Blade V8 Pro Click Here.
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