ZTE Blade V7 Plus

A BEAUT DISPLAY AND SLICK DESIGN CAN’T COMPENSATE FOR POOR BATTERY LIFE.

DECENTLY PRICED (YOU can find it for under $200 if you shop around) and with a nice Full HD display, the ZTE Blade V7 Plus seems like a steal on paper. However, while its build and screen quality impresses, its battery life leaves much to be desired. Our PCMark for Android battery benchmark measured just 5 hours and 46 minutes of heavy use — close to half of what the Huawei Y7 and Oppo A57 are capable of. Thankfully, it fared a little better in our performance benchmark tests, but still below many of the other handsets in this roundup. Still, we like the device’s quick fingerprint scanner, and while it’s only running Android 6.0, it is, at least, a very stock version of it. Its 13MP rear facing camera is also quite decent for a phone in this price range, with phase detection autofocus and the ability to capture video at 1080p. Put aside the weak battery life and the ZTE Blade V7 Plus is a capable, if unremarkable, handset at a nice price.