Yesterday we reviewed WiFi, LCD, speaker and external build with the MT6592 Zopo zp980+. It presented a very good first impression. Read on to see whether the charisma translated to character.
Zopo ZP980+ Performance
Despite the very positive unboxing and many very good traits, the Zopo zp980+ has several quirks that may leave some a bit frustrated.
Unfortunately, touch leaves something to be desired. It’s not that the screen doesn’t sense touch, it’s that it’s too sensitive and senses taps as movement, or senses an up wipe with any slight diagonal as a left or right swipe. Touching carefully and with intent normally gets the tap / swipe correct. However, “sloppy” taps and swipes will often result in unintended behavior. It’s an issue that some Zopo phones are known for. Regardless, it’s not so bad that it leaves you swearing. The touch issue is just a minor annoyance, and this can likely be adjusted in future firmware, or by adjusting the build.prop.
The touch sensitivity doesn’t affect typing. Typing is easy and true other than the issue mentioned below. The stock Google keyboard often disappeared as we typed and it normally took several taps in a text box to get it to come back. This is a known issue with the Zopo ZP980+ and it can be solved simply by installing a 3rd party keyboard.
While the ZP980+ was normally quite responsive, there were infrequent occasions when you could see it struggling to move the 1080p smoothly. For example when opening or closing a side menu in ES Explorer. But this was only on occasion. Usually the phone was very responsive and quickly navigated Android.
The above mentioned negatives are relatively minor and forgivable. We did run into issues with the phone and the camera however. While the pictures came out quite nice, in the process of taking about 15 pictures, the phone reset once and hard locked up twice so that a battery pull was required. We’re not sure if it’s just our unit, as this issue has not been seen by any other owners of the MT6592 Zopo ZP980+.
Zopo zp980+ OTG
OTG went off without a hitch. We tested with a keyboard and OTG support was present in the stock firmware. It simply requires an OTG cable which can be had from any decent computer shop for relatively cheap. Excellent to see OTG as the standard in 2014 as opposed to a rarity.
Zopo zp980+ Mic & Earpiece
Calls were loud and clear both with listening and being heard. The person on the other end heard us perfectly, and we heard them just fine.
Zopo zp980+ GPS
GPS with the Zopo zp980+ was good. Obtaining a cold lock with WiFi and SIM radios disconnected took approximately 90 seconds. Warm locks with WiFi on were obtained in <5 seconds. The GPS signals were quite strong averaging in the 30+ range.
Zopo zp980+ Battery Life
Battery life for the Zopo zp980+ was decent. We obtained about 4 hours on screen through a 12 hour period before the battery needed to be charged. This should be enough to get the average user through the day
Zopo zp980+ Camera
We recently had some comparison shoot outs with the Zopo zp980+ vs H9008 vs iNew v3. The zp980+ seemed to produce the most detailed shots out of the 3 when viewing pixels 1:1. You can see the photo comparison here.
Zopo zp980+ Review Conclusion
Generally we liked the MT6592 Zopo zp980+. The extra thought they’ve put into presentation, such as the matte backed case and back piece add an extra element of style that’s often missing in China phones. The 1080p OGS screen is beautiful. You can be sure that anyone who sees this phone in your hands isn’t going to guess it’s a China phone, and likely will be asking where you got it and surprised that it was only $250.
The performance issues with touch left us often irritated, but generally if touching with intent it wasn’t a problem. Also this is something that can be solved via firmware updates and perhaps by adjusting touch sensitivity in build.prop. The keyboard disappearing was by far more irritating, but still an issue that can be gotten around by installing a 3rd party keyboard.
The biggest problem for us was the phone resetting and locking up while taking just a few simple pictures. This however has not been a wide complaint and we suspect it may be a quirk with our test model.
We can recommend the zp980+, with the caveat that you must be prepared for a bit of tweaking and perhaps with waiting for some firmware updates to fix the niggles as mentioned above. Zopo is generally quite good about getting firmware updates out and we suspect these issues will be addressed.
Further Reading
- Zopo ZP980+ Part 1 (Unboxing and first impressions)
- Zopo ZP980+ Part 2 (LCD, Build, WiFi, External Speaker)
- Zopo ZP980+ Part 3 (OTG, Mic, Earpiece, GPS, Performance, Conclusion)
- Zopo ZP980+ Picture war 1
- Zopo ZP980+ Picture war 2
– This ZP980+ was purchased from 1949deal.com. Coupon code is 1949dealzopo980.
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