When you compare today’s flagship phones, you will probably notice that they offer a lot, but that are quite similar in many ways. Hardware is pretty much the same; the only differences are exterior of the phone and custom software built on Android. ZOPO Speed 8 is not you typical Android flagship device; it offers many similarities with leading Android devices, but it is unique in a way. It is the first smartphone in the world that is equipped with CPU with ten cores.
Is this device in the same league with other flagship phones? What are its advantages and disadvantages? All of this questions and many other will be answered in our review.
Specifications
Before we go any further with our review, please take a moment to check out ZOPO Speed 8 specifications:
| Brand | ZOPO |
| Model | Speed 8 |
| Available colors | White, Black |
| Screen size | 5.5 inches |
| Display resolution | 1920×1080 |
| OS | Android Marshmallow 6.0 |
| Chipset | MediaTek MTK6797 |
| CPU | 2.5GHz; 2.0GHz; 1.4GHz Deca-core |
| RAM | 4GB RAM |
| GPU | ARM Mali-T880 MP4 GPU |
| Internal memory | 32GB |
| Bluetooth | Yes, v4.1 |
| Connectivity | 2G,3G,4G Wi-Fi 802.11 ac/a/b/g/n, GPS, GLONNAS, Beidou |
| Battery | Li-Ion, built-in battery |
| Battery size | 3600 mAh |
| Front camera | 8 MP OmniVision with LED flash |
| Back camera | 21 MP Sony with Dual-tone LED flash |
Packaging
Aside from the phone, there is nothing special that comes in the box; at least, that is what we thought at first. When we opened the box, the first thing that surprised us was the quick charger and USB Type-C cable. Of course, standard phone manual that is written in many languages, needle for removing the SIM and warranty card were a must.
Another little thing that caught us off guard was a pair of headphones included in the box. It is not standard anymore that headphones are present in the box, and it was a pleasant surprise for us, we must add. Every piece of equipment is neatly folded and sealed in the box, and you don’t have to worry about damaging it.
| 1xZOPO Speed 8 smartphone |
| 1xCharger |
| 1xType-C USB cable |
| 1×3.5mm headphones |
| 1xUser Manual and SIM needle |
Design
From a design perspective ZOPO Speed 8 resembles some of the latest Motorola devices, with its front firing speakers and characteristic back. Taking hints from one of the leading companies in communication is nothing to be ashamed. ZOPO maybe took some elements, but it also refined them and made them even better. No matter how you observe and experience this device, you can’t deny that it’s got your attention. With it’s brushed back, metal sides, big screen with little to no bezel, and sturdy exterior, ZOPO Speed 8 is nearly a work of art.
The Device seems a bit larger than most of other phones, and you will not be able to use it single-handedly. On the front of the phone, there is a 5.5-Inch screen with a set of stereo speakers above and bellow it.
Aside from the speakers, there is a front facing camera with the flash, another very useful feature, and a bunch of sensors to assist you with further usage.
The right side houses power/lock and volume buttons that offer an excellent tactile feedback.
On the left side of the device, there is an SIM tray that doesn’t stick a bit and feels secured in the place.
The backplate of the phone is done in the brushed metal-like look, and it great. On the top of the back, the main camera that protrudes a bit is located along with Dual-tone LED flash and fingerprint scanner a tad bellow it.
Silver ZOPO logo is located under the scanner, and it adds to that premium feel. The Bottom side of the phone houses USB Type-C port and microphone.
There are several microphones located on the device for better noise cancellation.
On the top of the device 3.5mm headphone jack resides. There are only the basic black and white color options, but they both look very eye-pleasing.
ZOPO Speed 8 Display
The device is endowed with 5.5-Inch capacitive FULL HD IPS display with great color rendering and wide viewing angles. Many of its competitors are using Quad HD, even a 4K displays in their units, and one question remains. Why did ZOPO go with FULL HD instead of QHD?
There are several possibilities for that decision, and one may be that they wanted to stay competitive price-wise and went for a cheaper solution. The other possibility is that they wanted a smoother overall experience with better battery life. Whatever of these is true it can’t be denied that ZOPO Speed 8 has an excellent display. From an arms length, the human eye will not be able to tell the difference between FULL HD and QHD and that is a fact.
Processor and RAM
Now this is a part in which ZOPO Speed 8 excels because it is equipped with, world’s first, MediaTek’s Helio X20 64-Bit Deca-Core CPU coupled with Mali T-880 MP4 GPU. Helio X20 is the first mobile CPU in the world with Tri-Cluster architecture and ten processing cores. What this means in real life is that your device will be very optimised for high, medium and low tasks; think of it as gears on your car, the more the gears, the better fuel efficiency.
CPU and GPU are accompanied with 4GB of fast RAM, and that is great news for heavy multitaskers and power users. In our testing scenarios, ZOPO Speed 8 behaved well under different kinds of workload, whether it is an HD game, 4K video or a simpler task like sending SMS. Everyday performance is great, and there is no stuttering or skipping frames of any kind. The phone tend to heat up a bit under an extreme load (graphically intensive games), but that is entirely understandable, all that power in a little housing.
Camera
ZOPO Speed 8 is equipped with Sony’s IMX230 camera that has a 21-Megapixel sensor with a six element lens. Sensor size is 1/2.45” and it has a relatively large f/2.2 aperture.
Pictures captured with this device offer a lot of details and little to no noise is good lighting conditions. The dynamic range is not on par, but HDR mode can be enabled so no problem here. Low light shots are a bit trickier to pull off because the lack of OIS but Dual-tone LED flash assist greatly here.
The camera is equipped with Sony’s PDAF fast focus technology. Focusing and snapping a picture is quick and can be compared to other flagship phones on the market. All in all, we are pleasantly surprised with what this camera can do. Here are some examples:
click for a bigger image
Front camera sensor has a resolution of 8-Megapixel, and it is made by OmniVision. On the positive side, front camera has a large f/2.0 aperture and single LED flash. Self-imaging never looked better in the dark, and we were able to shot some incredible selfies on the rock concert, for instance.
Videos, on the other hand, are a bit disappointing. Although we are pleased with the video quality, resolution of the videos shot on this device is not on par with other flagships currently on the market. Unfortunately, highest resolution for video capture on ZOPO Speed 8 is limited to 2K although the CPU and camera can produce 4K shots with ease. We don’t know why has ZOPO limited the video recording on this device, but we hope that they will enhance it with future updates.
Storage Capacity
ZOPO Speed 8 comes with 32GB of the onboard storage, and it will be enough for most users. Sadly, additional expansion of the memory via micro SD card is not an option. Power users will have to use some alternative cloud-based storage for pictures and videos.
Operating System (OS)
You can’t have a flagship device without the latest and the greatest OS. Fortunately, ZOPO Speed 8 is equipped with mostly stock Android 6.0 Marshmallow. The most recent version of Google’s proprietary OS brings many improvements under the hood and in overall smoothness.
Features like Google now on tap, Doze mode, Applications standby feature and Alphabetically accessible vertical application drawer are included in the latest version, and they are very useful. Most current version of the OS is build to be lag free and because it is Vanilla Android there are no lags or bloatware whatsoever. Google Play Store is supported for installing apps and games, but you can easily install any of additional stores of your choosing.
Connectivity
ZOPO Speed 8 is a dual SIM phone, and it works on a Nano SIM cards. It covers a large number of network bands, and 4G LTE networks are supported as well.
FDD-LTE+WCDMA+GSM
FDD-LTE (800/1800/2100/2600MHz)
TD-LTE(1880-1920/23002400/2555-2655MHz)
WCDMA (900/1900/2100MHz)
GSM (850/900/1800/1900MHz)
4G LTE, 150Mbps Downlink, 50Mbps Uplink
In case, you don’t have an unlimited monthly data plan you can always connect to the Internet via integrated Wi-Fi modem. Wi-Fi speeds supported are 802.11 ac/a/b/g/n. Bluetooth version onboard is 4.1 and offers higher transfer speed at lower battery drain. GPS, GLONASS and Beidou, are in charge of locating you in a blink of an eye via Google Maps app. NFC is supported by this device, and you can use it for transferring files, paying the checks, transferring money and much more.
ZOPO Speed 8 Battery
The device comes with a non-removable 360mAh lithium-polymer battery. The manufacturer claims 10+ hours of talking and 120 hours on standby. We can confirm those numbers and even say that battery life is on par with other flagship phones. With our regular usage (surfing, social networks, e-mails, calls, chats and a few SMS) the device lasted nearly two days on a single charge. Even if you are a power user, the battery will last through the whole day. A great feature incorporated in this phone is quick charging technology and with it, you can charge you battery in no-time and continue where you left off. Very pleasing result in battery performance.
Additional Features
There are a plethora of other features on this device. An incredible amount of sensors; gravity, 3-axis accelerometer, ambient light sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, hall sensor and range sensor. All of these sensors are working together to provide you with the best user experience. Because of the Android 6.0 Marshmallow, the device comes with extended codec support out of the box.
USB Type-C is present on this smartphone, and it is ideal for transferring because the transfer speeds are incredibly fast. It is also aiding in the quick charging of the battery. FM radio and USB OTG are also supported. Last, but certainly not the least, the fingerprint scanner is a great addition to this heavily beefed phone. It is an excellent tool that is protecting your device from unauthorised usage because only you fingerprint can unlock it. It works pretty accurate, blazingly fast and can also be used for answering the calls, take photos, etc.
Pros and Cons
After several days of using the ZOPO Speed 8, we are very much satisfied, but there are a few thing that bothered us as well.
Pros
- Incredible performance with world’s first Deca-Core CPU
- Good battery life
- Attractive design and good build quality
- Great camera performance with additional LED flash in front for low-light selfies
- Latest Android OS on board
- It offers NFC for payment and transferring the files
- Fingerprint scanner for additional security
Cons
- No storage expansion with micro SD cards
- No 4K video recording out of the box
Our Opinion
When Helio X20 was first announced everyone was wondering will it work in practise. There were a lot of sceptics about this CPU and its performance and while it’s not the best of the best, it is on top and offer similar performance with considerably lower price. These words can be transferred over to ZOPO Speed 8 phone. It is an excellent device with great performance, and while it is not the best out there, it can certainly hold its ground among the other flagship phones.
If you wish to preorder ZOPO Speed 8 you can do this on any of the links bellow.
Buy ZOPO Speed 8 from everbuying.net for 299.99 US Dollars / 1946.10 Chinese Yuan
Buy ZOPO Speed 8 from gearbest.com for 299.99 US Dollars / 1946.10 Chinese Yuan
Check out the Zopo Speed 8 Scores below:
What do you think about Zopo Speed 8? Feel free to comment in the comment section bellow the article.