Coolpad Dazen X7 review: Another Chinese phone in town

Coolpad is eyeing the Android mid-range smartphone market.

After Gionee, Lenovo, ZTE and Xiaomi, Chinese mobile company Coolpad is looking to gain a foothold in India. With Dazen X7 (Rs.17,999), Coolpad is eyeing the Android mid-range smartphone market. It will be taking on the more established ZTE Nubia Z9 Mini (Rs.16,999) and Lenovo Vibe X2 (Rs.17,999).

Design: good-looking but glossy and slippery

The Dazen X7 is a fine-looking phone with a glass finish on the back and a metal frame on the sides. The four corners are slightly curved, so you won’t feel the edges while holding it. The glossy finish makes it a little slippery; putting a back case might help, but that may take away from the phone’s rather classy look. The glass cover on the back has a texture underneath it that masks smudges and fingerprints well, and looks similar to what Honor, a smartphone brand from Huawei, had done with its phones recently. The camera panel, which includes dual flash, juts out a little, which increases the chances of the camera lens getting scratched. For a phone with a screen that is quite big, the phone feels compact to hold and use.

In terms of direct competition, the Z9 Mini feels more comfortable because its metal frame is more rough and enhances the grip. The Vibe X2 is perhaps the most colourful phone, thanks to the three-layer design, each layer in a different colour.

Display: crisp and not very reflective

The Dazen X7’s biggest highlight is the display. It has a 5.2-inch LCD screen with a resolution of 1,920x1,080 pixels. This Full HD resolution is what one expects in most Android phones now, and is good not only for reading books and mails, but also easy on the eye for games and movies. Even though this is not an in-plane switching screen, the colours are vivid and look beautiful. The moment you press the power key, the splash of colours on the lock screen just jumps out at you. It has a rich screen that doesn’t have a bias towards a particular colour.

Software: useful but runs old Android

The Dazen X7 runs Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) with a customized user interface, called Cool UI. And it is this old operating system (OS) which is a bit of a drawback. The Z9 Mini, however, runs the newer Android 5.0 (Lollipop) OS, with a funky interface.

The Cool UI customization in the Dazen X7 lists all the apps on the multiple home screens, and just like Xiaomi’s MIUI and Lenovo’s Vibe UI, there is no separate app drawer to open and then tap on the icon of the app you wish to open. While this looks good (some may say this is an inspiration taken from Apple’s iOS for the iPhone), we feel that it makes searching for apps a little difficult—particularly if you install a lot of apps.

The Z9 Mini and Vibe X2 have somewhat similar UIs, but their interfaces look more polished (apps icons look cleaner and there are subtle shadows below the text). However, the Dazen X7 has an edge when it comes to utility—Wi-Fi and several other settings can be accessed quickly by tapping on the multitasking button (the extreme right option among the three navigation keys).

A fun feature called rock wallpaper changes wallpaper every time you shake the phone—though we did notice that it missed a few times. Also, the navigation keys are integrated with the UI but you can hide them at any stage you want, just drag them upwards and the keys will pop up.

Camera: great camera phone

The Dazen X7 comes with a 13-megapixel (MP) rear camera that uses Sony’s IMX214 EXMOR sensor. It is good not just in bright daylight but also in low light if the light source is static. Otherwise, reflections tend to spoil the colours and focus. We also liked the colour accuracy and the amount of detail this camera can capture in an image even when taken in auto mode. There is a Pro mode too, which allows deeper control over settings such as ISO, shutter speed and focus.

The refocus mode allows you change the focus area of a photograph, after you have taken the shot. The all-focus mode uses multiple focus points to make multiple objects in a photograph equally crisp and detailed—but this mode will have limitations such as the distance from which you take the shot and the number of in-focus objects in the frame.

In comparison, the Z9 Mini’s 16-megapixel camera uses the newer Sony IMX234 EXMOR sensor, which is good even in low-light conditions—a minor difference, which most people will not fret about too much.

The Dazen’s 8 MP front camera takes sharp and detailed selfies, and would do well for video calls as well.

Processing: powerful but not consistent

Under the classy exterior lies a formidable hardware. The MT6595 is a fairly powerful octa-core processor series from MediaTek, a variant of which has been used in the Lenovo Vibe X2 as well. The Dazen X7 has 2 GB RAM,16 GB internal storage and up to 32 GB expandable storage via microSD cards. The phone handles heavy games such as GT Racing 2, with ease. HD movies playback is smooth as well.

The only time the Dazen X7 stuttered was when we opened 10 apps in the background, at the same time. We also noticed some heating issues when stressed during gaming, and that can affect battery life, for that duration.

The Z9 Mini uses a Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor, but offers largely similar performance.

Battery: a big disappointment

The Dazen X7 comes with a non-removable 2,700 mAh battery that couldn’t even last a full day of social networking, Web browsing and reading. The Z9 Mini comes with a more efficient 3,000 mAh battery, which would easily last a day without giving the user any stress.

Verdict

The Dazen X7 will be available from 9 June only on Snapdeal.com. We recommend this phone for the good camera, excellent display and smooth performance. But opt for the Z9 Mini, if the latest Android version is an important factor for you.