Itseemsasthough‘lowcost,highvalue’isthe
new battleground.This unconventional approach
tothemarketwaspioneeredbyOnePluswith
the One, a phone that packed great
specificationsataknockdownprice.Itwas
inevitable that others would try and emulate this
success and now they are: the ZUK Z1 ticks
manyofthesameboxesandevenincludes
Cyanogen OS, just like the OnePlus One.
ZUK itself might be a start-up releasing its
first device, but behind them it has the might of
Lenovo (also owners of Motorola) and this
experience shows in the Z1, both from the
materials and construction perspective and on
the carefully chosen spec sheet. Although theinspired choice and when you use the device,
you’ll be further convinced that this is the case.
No doubt helped by the lightweight Cyanogen
OS, the Z1 positively fl ies. It really does feel
faster than some of the latest fl agships. Use of
the Cyanogen OS provides assurance that
updates will be fast and the device has an
unlocked bootloader that is likely to be very
popular among custom ROM creators.
The ZUK has a 5.5-inch full HD IPS display,
which seems to be the most popular screensize for devices at the moment. The screen
also has a fi ngerprint-proof coating (not made of
Gorilla Glass – this tempered glass-screen
protector is an optional extra), gapless
construction and is extremely bright. What’s
more, the touch sensitivity is excellent.
One area that is often skimped on in cheaper
devices is the camera. The Z1 has a 13MP Sony
Exmor RS sensor with OIS. Yes, OIS on a
non-fl agship device! The Cyanogen camera app
itself is rather basic, which detracts from theReviews
ZUK Z1
Lenovo-backed ZUK attempt to emulate the success of
OnePlus with a low-cost, high-value, Cyanogen OS device
USB Type-C
The ZUK Z1 includes the new
USBType-Cport.Thisisgreat
DGECWUG[QWŦNNPQNQPIGTƒPF
yourself trying to plug a cable
in upside down, but also slightly
annoying because you’ll need
tobuyanadapter(not
included) to charge the deviceSpeaker quality
The speaker is on the bottom
ofthedevicealongsidethe
USBportandthemicrophone.
While it’s relatively loud, the
sound quality isn’t great with
no real bass. A graphic
equaliser application is
included with Cyanogen OSAmple storage
The ZUK Z1 offers ample
storage out of the box with
64GB being the only model
available.Thisisnotexpandable
viamicroSD,butevenforthe
most demanding users this
shouldn’t be a problem