ZUK Z1 - Flagship & OnePlus Killer?

Harika · 15-10-2015 2:52pm

40 Euros more expensive compared to other trusted shops, on the other side amazon is well known for its customer service and in fringe cases leaning towards you as customer and not the seller.

ronano · 20-10-2015 12:53am

Is the battery removable in the zuk z1?

Harika · 20-10-2015 8:01am

ronano wrote: »

Is the battery removable in the zuk z1?

No

Ardennes1944 · 20-10-2015 9:58am

fozz wrote: »

I ordered the LeTV One Pro from Oppomart on the weekend there so awaiting delivery.
All in was €310 inc delivery and Expedited EU delivery so no VAT etc.

Specs and overall design look excellent for that price.
Check this vid review and comparison with the OPO2 which is a v good phone also:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGssvYE_XV4

Will post feelings and findings when I get it if anyone is interested.

Any update??

Lucas Hood · 20-10-2015 10:11am

Got the z1 yesterday. Liking it so far battery is really impressive. Really quick phone.

pedatron · 20-10-2015 7:03pm

Thinking of ditching the OnePlus One for this. Am I mad? Just growing frustrated with parts of the phone and want a change.

Harika · 20-10-2015 7:04pm

pedatron wrote: »

Thinking of ditching the OnePlus One for this. Am I mad? Just growing frustrated with parts of the phone and want a change.

Performancewise it is no upgrade, battery should be better, so it depends really
which parts frustrate you.

pedatron · 20-10-2015 7:10pm

Harika wrote: »

Performancewise it is no upgrade, battery should be better, so it depends really
which parts frustrate you.

I'm running different ROMs on the OnePlus and I'm finding them to be hit and miss performance wise. Phone very laggy at the moment and I'm cross OnePlus appear to have abandoned development on this phone already. Love the idea of Cyanogen out of the box, big battery and coming with a fingerprint reader too. Definitely worth a shout I would think.Thanks!

connemara man · 20-10-2015 7:22pm

I've had the Z1 a few weeks now and happy out with it overall. The battery is good lasts a full day with a fair amount of camera and internet use. I like Cynagen, it's my first time using it and I find it really slick. Finger print scanner can be funny but that could be how I'm set up. Overall I'd recommend it.

fozz · 21-10-2015 9:49am

Ardennes1944 wrote: »

Any update??

Still in transit!
Has arrived in the UK as of yesterday evening so I expect it in my Parcel Motel in a day or two...will get stuck into it as soon as possible and feedback.

I'd like to make a short youtube vid of it but I dunno how competent I'd be at that :eek:

Lucas Hood · 21-10-2015 11:27am

Anyone rooted their z1 yet?

mhiggy09 · 21-10-2015 6:18pm

So I am looking at this phone as my next and just looking into it more. What's the coverage like I'm on Vodafone sim at the moment.

fozz · 23-10-2015 4:15pm

OK, got the Letv One Pro yesterday and have been messing with it a lot so here are my first impressions (apologies for the text wall!)

First up, a lovely handset for sure. Comes with a hard thin see-thru' case which I am keeping on as it's not at all bulky and will protect it in some regards.
Also comes with a Type-C USB cable and a little adapter to convert a Micro-USB into a Type-C.

The SIM is accessible with one of those iPhone pin yokes so and that reveals a two SIM slots so u can have the standard small one and the newer even smaller one

Booting up it goes thru' a setup and here's where the fun began - I selected English and all the rest of the standard settings. Once on the desktop, where Google Play is installed (and Nova Launcher by the way - more on that later), I fired up Google Play and went to login with my gmail a/c. The keyboard was English but with lotsa Chinese symbols and typing in my name of 'firstname.lastname@gmail.com' came out as something like 'fi'rt'st'na'me .la''st'nam'e@go'gl'e.com' or some such. Mad stuff and I couldn't get it to look right.
So I simply reset and started again figuring I selected something wrong in the setup but no...went thru' again and the same. So after a bit I managed to type in my gmail a/c as above and then edit out all the spaces and ' marks and whatnot and it accepted my password no problem. Once in I installed Swiftkey and that resolved that whole issue.

So, loaded up all my apps...all good, lovely screen and responsive and all me various apps work fine.

But I cannot enter the Nova Launcher settings (I am familiar with this launcher having used it the last two years on me S4 SlimRom) - it keeps crashing and asking me to submit a report. So I installed Google Launcher and it tells me to deselect Nova as the default but that doesn't take for some reason. So I'm still on Nova (which is great otherwise) without access to it's settings. I am assuming this is just a bad break and am hopeful a Nova or system update will resolve.

So other stuff...the wifi and 3G is all good (I don't have 4G on my a/c am afraid) and the call equality is good.
Sound quality out of the headphones is excellent so am delighted with that.
You unlock the screen by pressing the right-side power button. Same as my Galaxy but not as cool as the double screen tap on the HTC.

Battery life overnight is great...just went down a few % but during use it does seem to drain so will have to keep an eye on that.
There's no inbuilt 'night mode' or 'do not disturb' so I am going to use 3rd party apps for that.
Charging from a USB on my laptop or PC doesn't seem to charge - it says it is charging but the % doesn't go up so I assume you need more amps than these ports are outputting. That was with the micro-USB to Type-C adapter so maybe the supplied cable is better. I'll find out.
Charging from the wall adapter is fine with the micro-USB to Type-C adapter.

The UI is nice.
There's 3 buttons (not physical) on the bottom. They light up when pressed but you can only really see that in the dark. You should instinctively know where they are anyway.
So pressing the left key brings up a screen that allows you kill all yer apps and also lots of toggles for the likes of wifi, data, hotspot, torch, screen rotation and all that malarkey. Nice and effective and as I get more used to it I like it more and more.
The centre key brings you home to the desktop while the right key is simply 'back'.
So very similar to any Samsung device but the centre button is not 'real', so to speak, but you've seen that from the online reviews.

Oh, a note on the included s/w. So we have Nova as I said but it also comes with the CleanMaster app. I'd be happy to uninstall that so will look to root son and get rid of it. Like, when the phone is on charge and u unlock the screen u get a CM screen with adds and also useful info. Silly and unnecessary so has to go.
You also get harassed by this app so the sooner I can remove it the better.

As for rooting I installed 'kingroot.apk' and installed it but that app says no rooting was available. I will use the desktop PC version over the weekend and see how I get on.

So that's all for the initial impressions.
I know I seem to have focused on the bad but I figure it's the bad y'all wanna hear. Apart from these issues I mentioned (Nova crash, initial setup keyboard, Cleanmaster) I have had a great time and am liking it more and more.

Please feel free to ask any questions and I'll respond and I hope I can sort out my teething issues in the coming days also.

I'll feedback with any updates.

have a good weekend

Ardennes1944 · 23-10-2015 6:17pm

Thanks a million for that man, been really tempted for a while now.

I'll hold off and see what you say in a few days.

Whats the loudspeaker like for sound, i heard both listening to headphones as you said, and the loudspeaker are very nice.

Kristopherus · 26-10-2015 8:24pm

Guys/Gals, the Zuk 1 is on offer by Amazon Uk in todays Lightening Deal at £203.19. Might be of interest to someone.

fozz · 27-10-2015 12:13pm

Ardennes1944 wrote: »

Thanks a million for that man, been really tempted for a while now.

I'll hold off and see what you say in a few days.

Whats the loudspeaker like for sound, i heard both listening to headphones as you said, and the loudspeaker are very nice.

Heyup..OK, more updates...
First up the loudspeaker is fine. I would never really use that but I did use it for a call there and it was v good. No complaints.
Loaded lotsa music onto the device and will say again, the sound out of the headphone jack is great.

I managed to disable the CleanMaster charging screen so am no longer harassed by adds when charging and I also disabled notifications from an inbuilt browser called 'KK Browser' so no hassles there either..so now it runs much more like stock and no bloatware is annoying me even though they are still there. The LeUI is very nice..I really like it now.

Overall am really liking the phone but the flaws are serious - the battery life I got out in the pub on Sunday was v bad..needed me battery pack to get me thru' the day and that's just accessing IM and twitter and whatnot...not playing games or watching youtube or anything like that.
Battery stats showed the screen and Android Services as sucking the power so it wasn't some runaway app.
Phone also gets quite hot which is likely related to the same issue.

Also still can't access the Nova Launcher settings.

I am hopeful that s/w updates will resolve these issues but just bear in mind they exist for now (on my device anyway..I'd love to hear if anyone else experiences them). I would say this International Android 5.0.2 ROM is not fully realised so I hope LeTV get to updating and improving it in time. I would expect so assuming they want to expand to the International market.

I'll be sure to post back about any updates etc:cool:
Any questions, fire em my way

Ardennes1944 · 27-10-2015 12:32pm

Really appreciate that fozz thank you.

Letv have announced the Letv 1s today http://www.gizchina.com/2015/10/27/letv-le-1s-price-specifications/#comments

Which I think I am going to get. Metal build like the pro but only a 1080p screen so should help battery.

Chad_Fantastics · 27-10-2015 1:01pm

Big thanks Fozz for the updates, very useful!

The nova launcher/cleanmaster/battery issues, I'm wondering if you've one of these reseller images where they stick various bloatwares on or is it part of the stock image? Installation of ad driven sofware seems strange to me.Certainly I'm planning on reimaging whatever I get day one from the OEM site.

Other question is space consumption, any idea what you had free on first start up? Even an idea of what's free now after your normal app footprint would be helpful.

ronano · 27-10-2015 1:18pm

Fozz really appreciate the hands on experience reply. I was gonna sell opo for this but will hold off

Chad_Fantastics · 27-10-2015 6:36pm

Gizchina has a review up, 8.7 is a good score (though I know some question their partiality) and it's the first pictures I've seen of the grey version, do think it's the one to go for looks wise:

http://www.gizchina.com/2015/10/27/zuk-z1-review/

I think the argument is getting strong for this one, chap at work got the one plus two today, I'll see if it in the hand justifies dealing with the invite system and the extra moola (Moola is not a problem but that invite asshattery grinds my gears!)

Copper_pipe · 27-10-2015 8:20pm

Tempted to get this to replace my S4

fozz · 28-10-2015 11:30am

Chad_Fantastics wrote: »

The nova launcher/cleanmaster/battery issues, I'm wondering if you've one of these reseller images where they stick various bloatwares on or is it part of the stock image? Installation of ad driven software seems strange to me. Certainly I'm planning on reimaging whatever I get day one from the OEM site.

Other question is space consumption, any idea what you had free on first start up? Even an idea of what's free now after your normal app footprint would be helpful.

Hi Chad.
I believe you may be right there. I posted my points on a YouTube review and the reviewer said the same thing - that the ROM may be a re-seller one. He even went on to say that LeTV haven't formally released an International ROM yet. He said he had tested the phone with an 'unofficial' International ROM like what I have and found plenty of bugs and bad battery consumption while the Chinese ROM had no such issues.
This is good and bad - good in that we can be more confident the h/w is solid once it gets a solid ROM..and bad in so far as we don't know when/if we will get that solid International ROM...

As for flashing with a OEM ROM, all I can find are Chinese ones so I don't want to do that. Bear that in mind for the ZUK as well, I'd say.

On space consumption, well, I got the 32Gb version which meant just over 29Gb formatted. I reckon I've installed a few Gb of apps (I have 55 apps per Play store) and I copied on 11Gb of music and I still have 10.5 Gb free. I don't see space being an issue as really, I don't need that music local as I could stream it. I just wanted to mess with the installed local player.

Finally, @Copper_Pipe, I came from an S4 to this LeTV One Pro and the phone is a major step up. Sure, I am having issues as above but I feel they will be resolved in time and the handset itself is a stunner. The LeUI is excellent.
The ZUK phone may lack a little of the aesthetics but is probably a very good choice also in the 5.5'' arena of phones so it's a case of making an informed choice.
Just bear in the back of the mind that the s/w may not be 100% stable for non-Chinese markets as I am finding with the LeTV One Pro.

Lucas Hood · 28-10-2015 11:41am

Lads can you start another thread for that phone.
I've no interest in reading about it and don't see what its got to do with the Zuk.

fozz · 29-10-2015 4:03pm

Lucas Hood wrote: »

Lads can you start another thread for that phone.
I've no interest in reading about it and don't see what its got to do with the Zuk.

Apologies, Lucas.

Will do if I have anything else to add.

connemara man · 29-10-2015 4:46pm

Anyone seen anyone who has good cases or covers for the Z1 its just a matter of time till I damage it

Harika · 30-10-2015 9:15am

connemara man wrote: »

Anyone seen anyone who has good cases or covers for the Z1 its just a matter of time till I damage it

I found this thread some time ago: http://wonderfulengineering.com/10-best-cases-for-lenovo-zuk-z1/

Chad_Fantastics · 01-11-2015 11:54am

Gizchina has a report that zuk are making resellers have a higher base price minimum from tomorrow, strange response to the one plus x:

http://www.gizchina.com/2015/10/30/zuk-tell-all-resellers-to-raise-pricing-to-319-99-after-this-weekend/

Funny thing is I was very likely to get this tomorrow when I got back, now not so much, have to assume they'll flip flop on this and compete instead

Zurbaran · 01-11-2015 9:51pm

Gone down to €320 on Amazon Uk with as far as I can tell free delivery.

keithclancy · 01-11-2015 10:05pm

Ordered mine 307 from a Belgian seller on Amazon.

Should come tomorrow or the day after

For me the big draw is the battery capacity and CyanogenOS.

I can't be arsed with Oneplus, the invitation system is ridiculous and their customer support is a joke.

CantGetNoSleep · 01-11-2015 11:00pm

keithclancy wrote: »

Ordered mine 307 from a Belgian seller on Amazon.

Should come tomorrow or the day after

For me the big draw is the battery capacity and CyanogenOS.

I can't be arsed with Oneplus, the invitation system is ridiculous and their customer support is a joke.

Could you share the link to that please?

Chad_Fantastics · 02-11-2015 2:10pm

Yeah, prices seem to have gone up on resellers, what was coming in at 300 including delivery is closer to 330 (Only looking at EU supplied phones).

Hmmmm, I might stretch to the One Plus Two instead...

keithclancy · 02-11-2015 3:45pm

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

Could you share the link to that please?

http://www.amazon.de/ZUK-Cyonangen12-1-Snapdragon801-Doppelkameras-Identification-Grau/dp/B016QD7ZUM/ref=aag_m_pw_dp?ie=UTF8&m=AT2QXFTZ6P2MN

Gone up to 330 now

SteM · 02-11-2015 7:09pm

Any chance this thing will get an upgrade to marshmallow in the future?

SM01 · 02-11-2015 7:31pm

Between one thing and another I've only got my Z1 up and running a few days ago and it's a thing of beauty, coming from a faithful but stuttering second gen moto G. The battery is simply magnificent.

thomasj · 02-11-2015 7:43pm

ED E wrote:

EDIT: 4k mAh (we'll wait and see for that) but no mention of quickcharge?

No devices that have come out with USB-C have come out With quickcharge as of yet. The closest we have seen is the nexus 6p and 5x, but its only because their charge blocks Have a higher voltage. The rest are around the 2 hour or greater mark.

The latest phone by Motorola the moto x force is claiming to be the fastest charger and that is for a phone with a battery size of 3760mah, but that uses micro-usb.

I'm wondering can Qualcomm do something to resolve this with their upcoming SD820 chip?

Lucas Hood · 02-11-2015 8:06pm

SteM wrote: »

Any chance this thing will get an upgrade to marshmallow in the future?

They've confirmed it's coming . probably a few months away though.

SteM · 02-11-2015 8:30pm

Lucas Hood wrote: »

They've confirmed it's coming . probably a few months away though.

Thanks, that might push me towards it.

SteM · 03-11-2015 7:47pm

http://www.efox-shop.com/versandkostenfrei-aus-de-lenovo-zuk-z1-internationale-version-qualcomm-snapdragon-801-25ghz-quad-co-g-303936

€289 with free shipping from here. Only available in white though.

keithclancy · 03-11-2015 9:16pm

Just received mine ... very pleased with it !

Screen is great
The fingerprint unlock works flawlessly
It's really fast compared to my older Moto G Second Gen, seems to be no lag between apps, also stuff doesn't close (the 3GB of RAM makes a big difference)
Camera front and back are excellent
The screen adjusts temperature and brightness depending on the time of the day

Now I just need to get a case before I drop it

Will report back on the battery life, so far it seems quiet good.

Overall quiet pleased I didn't go for the Oneplus 2, the big draw for me was the Battery and fingerprint unlock, NFC Doesn't really mean much for me as my bank cards are NFC anyway.

Chad_Fantastics · 03-11-2015 11:48pm

New oak backed version announced, I went 'ooooo' as the One Plus Two ones are pretty sweet and then I saw the pics

http://www.gizmochina.com/2015/11/03/zuk-announces-new-z1-variant-with-oak-wood-back-cover/

There's something about the metal frame and the light wood that makes want to just...

...blek

ronano · 04-11-2015 11:36am

keithclancy wrote: »

Just received mine ... very pleased with it !

Screen is great
The fingerprint unlock works flawlessly
It's really fast compared to my older Moto G Second Gen, seems to be no lag between apps, also stuff doesn't close (the 3GB of RAM makes a big difference)
Camera front and back are excellent
The screen adjusts temperature and brightness depending on the time of the day

Now I just need to get a case before I drop it

Will report back on the battery life, so far it seems quiet good.

Overall quiet pleased I didn't go for the Oneplus 2, the big draw for me was the Battery and fingerprint unlock, NFC Doesn't really mean much for me as my bank cards are NFC anyway.

Do you think you have the same ROM as fozzy? How long is the battery lasting on a charge and with what usage? I'm tempted to buy one for 'newness' and longer battery but having a opo I'm weary of change. FYI to anyone interested, a half decent one plus one gets you 232 euro trade in cash value in CeX.

keithclancy · 04-11-2015 3:36pm

ronano wrote: »

Do you think you have the same ROM as fozzy? How long is the battery lasting on a charge and with what usage? I'm tempted to buy one for 'newness' and longer battery but having a opo I'm weary of change. FYI to anyone interested, a half decent one plus one gets you 232 euro trade in cash value in CeX.

I'm not sure who fozzy is

Mine came loaded with.

CyanogenMod cm-12.1-YOG4PAS3AJ

Fully charged it yesterday at 10 PM. Used it for around 2 hours then went to bed didn't plug it in overnight got up at 8 and being using it heavily since Web Browsing, Netflix, Antutu Benchmark, Google Music, some games)

Battery is sitting at 60 percent

keithclancy · 05-11-2015 10:44am

Update:

After the first full charge I got 6hrs 35 minutes on screen time with 20 percent battery left.

After going through a few android phone over the years I am blown away :pac: perfect .. now I can spend a whole day out and not have to carry an annoying battery pack or wander around like a weirdo asking people for spare charge

While the USB-C cable is great for the not plugging it in the wrong way around, are there any Micro USB adapters that would fit on a key ring or something ?

Wouldn't mind having one just incase I'm at someones house and need to avail of their charging facilities

Chad_Fantastics · 05-11-2015 11:39am

Saw mention on the XDA threads that Real Racing wasn't listed on the play store due to some compatibility issue, side loading works apparently so probably more certification process then technical problem.

But as I'm wanting a decent gamer for a specific app so could a owner check for me to see if World of Tanks: Blitz is showing in the play store for install? Thats my make/break game and well worth checking out if you fancy a thinkings (older) man team based MMO battler.

And not just because I'm VERY interested to hear how it runs ;D

keithclancy · 05-11-2015 1:00pm

Chad_Fantastics wrote: »

Saw mention on the XDA threads that Real Racing wasn't listed on the play store due to some compatibility issue, side loading works apparently so probably more certification process then technical problem.

But as I'm wanting a decent gamer for a specific app so could a owner check for me to see if World of Tanks: Blitz is showing in the play store for install? Thats my make/break game and well worth checking out if you fancy a thinkings (older) man team based MMO battler.

And not just because I'm VERY interested to hear how it runs ;D

Woah ... big game ... almost 3 GB when it's unpacked

Installed it an played the Intro for a bit, runs pretty smooth and the controls work well.

Chad_Fantastics · 05-11-2015 4:25pm

keithclancy wrote: »

Woah ... big game ... almost 3 GB when it's unpacked

Installed it an played the Intro for a bit, runs pretty smooth and the controls work well.

You, Sir, are a gentleman! Thanks for checking it out and yep it is a big game, only 1.2gb when I started playing it 15 months ago and they've been adding content almost every month.

Battery and storage space to play this monster are the reasons I'm interested in the Z1 as it'll be replacing my nexus 7 which is fading from relevance and I'm behind the dog in the queue for the ipad...

...and we don't even have a dog! :eek:

morgana · 05-11-2015 6:19pm

Torn between the ZUK and the Elephone Vowney - it looks like a super phone for the price. Waiting for some reviews of the Vowney (and availability from an EU warehouse :P)

Zurbaran · 05-11-2015 10:21pm

morgana wrote: »

Torn between the ZUK and the Elephone Vowney - it looks like a super phone for the price. Waiting for some reviews of the Vowney (and availability from an EU warehouse :P)

Sounds good but Elephone have some serious build quality issues from what I've seen/read so I decided to swerve them.

Still haven't bought a Z1 yet. Would like to get one under 300 and am still worried about the size moving up from a 1st gen moto g (4.7). It's between this the One Plus x and One plus 1 for me.

CantGetNoSleep · 05-11-2015 10:25pm

Zurbaran wrote: »

Sounds good but Elephone have some serious build quality issues from what I've seen/read so I decided to swerve them.

Still haven't bought a Z1 yet. Would like to get one under 300 and am still worried about the size moving up from a 1st gen moto g (4.7). It's between this the One Plus x and One plus 1 for me.

I'm in a similar situation although I'm using a OnePlus One, torn between a OnePlus X or Z1

SteM · 05-11-2015 10:47pm

Zurbaran wrote: »

Sounds good but Elephone have some serious build quality issues from what I've seen/read so I decided to swerve them.

Still haven't bought a Z1 yet. Would like to get one under 300 and am still worried about the size moving up from a 1st gen moto g (4.7). It's between this the One Plus x and One plus 1 for me.

€289 with free shipping from here
http://www.efox-shop.com/versandkost...ad-co-g-303936

I'm on a oneplus 1 at the moment and won't be buying from them again. After having mine for a year the battery is lasting approx 5 hours. It needs charging constantly.

ZUK Z1 - Flagship & OnePlus Killer?

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