The German offices of ZTE Mobile have announced (via their Facebook page) that the Android 7.0 update will be coming later in this quarter, which would be before the end of March. In November, this branch announced that the update would be coming in January. This update is supposed to bring Daydream to the handset, as this was one of the big promises that ZTE made about the device before it launched. They are not confident with it in its current state, though.
Our readers were asking about my opinion of the device, since I published a “Just Delivered” post about it four months ago. I said that I would wait until the Nougat release, which I was, at the time, expecting in October or November, because I had a feeling that ZTE envisioned the phone with that OS version. Since then, bugs have come and gone, most of which were relatively benign, like messing up whitespace in the lock screen’s current date. Personally, I started getting a bug where my camera would occasionally fail to focus, instead humming and blurring like it’s focusing in and out tens or hundreds of times per second until you close the app using the camera. (It started happening, off and on, just after the last service update, although it could just be a coincidental hardware issue with my unit. I’m waiting until I see it in Nougat to call customer support.)
Either way, it’s probably a good thing that ZTE is taking their time with this one. I’m guessing this update is when those who adopted the Axon 7 will begin to solidify judgments about the company as a higher-end phone vendor going forward.
I want to know if ZTE is
I want to know if ZTE is still working on official CM (now Lineage OS) support for the Axon 7. Starting to lose some faith in their promises if they can’t even get Nougat out, I hope they deliver. It really is a nice phone.
Personally own an AXON 7 and
Personally own an AXON 7 and this thing is built like an old truck.
It fell out of my pocket as I was moving furniture, sat out in the pouring rain over night, and still works flawlessly.
AFAIK it’s not even marketed as a water-resistant phone.
Hopefully they can get their shit together on the software side, because hardware and build quality is superb.
Aw, shit. Daydream is what I
Aw, shit. Daydream is what I bought this phone for. I got it as soon as it was available and it sits in the box awaiting Nougat. What a disappointing announcement.
Hmm, that’s disappointing to
Hmm, that’s disappointing to hear. I, too, bought the phone for it’s Daydream capabilities, but I’ve very pleased with it overall for the price. Of course it could be argued that at this rate, by the time the phone is actually Daydream ready, other daydream ready phones will have fallen in price. I only feel mildly deceived, though.