First impressions after five days of use

It is time to sum up my impressions of the phone after just about five days of use. Overall I must say that I am vary happy with this phone.

Size, form and feel

The phone measures 141 x 70 x 8.9 mm (a little thicker where the camera is), which I do think is quite good for a 5 inch phone. The size is just about max of what I can use in one hand, but I still can reach all keys on the keyboard and all of the buttom 80% of the screen with one hand.

Only 8,9 mm thick, but a little thicker in the top where the camera is placed.

If you want to try holding the phone, the size is just about the same as the Samsung Galaxy S3, only 4 mm longer and 0,5 mm thicker. So try one of those in a shop, that will be almost the same as holding the V987.

The phone can be hold and used in one hand, but it is big.

I can reach all keys on the keyboard, while using one hand.

The volume rocker is placed low enough, so that it can be easily reached in one hand operation, holding it in either hand.

The power button is in the top, which is good so you don't accidentally hit is when trying to use the volume rocker, but it is quite a reach in one hand, though it can be reached. 

The headphone jack is also placed in the top, just as you would like it to be. 

  

Power button an 3.5 mm headphone jack in the top.

Materials are plastic, but it feels solid, and while holding it in the hand. The back is not piano blank, and it not a fingerprint magnet.

Use and stability 

So far I have had no stability issues with the phone, and no problems making or receiving calls. It works well, and WiFi comes on and connect immediately when the screen comes on (I have "Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep" set to"Only when plugged in") - something you that sometimes can be a problem.

I have not had any spontaneity reboot in the time I have used the phone, which is great.

GPS

I am happily surprised about the GPS in the phone, as the ZTE V970 had quite bad GPS performance (slowwww lock and not vary precise). On the ZTE V987 that is not the case. First fix only took 24 seconds, and after that it has generally taken 5-20 seconds.

In all cases I have used both AGPS and EPO assistance, which is featured on the phone. Read more about those settings here.

 

Battery Life 

I have not had any problems with battery life. Drainage is stable/linear and I have had no strange quick drops. From here you can see that 26% have been used after 12,5 hours, equaling about 48 hours to reach 0%.

I have only had a short phone calls and a few texts in that time, but bluetooth, WiFi, GPS and internet is all on. But also in the days where I have been playing allot with the phone and used it for games, camera and more calls, I have not had any problems. Yesterday after 14 hours of use, I stillhad about 70% of juice left.

Camera

The camera is 8 mega pixel, it features LED flash and is of the BSI type, that shoud require less light for sharp pictures.

The picture quality is good, and focus have been functioning really well.

In the camera there is shortcuts to three modes: Scene (default: Auto), HDR and "Face beauty". The last is for portraits.

There is quite a few scene modes to choose from, and an "Auto" mode that will automatically choose the best scene mode. This is also the default setting.

HDR will take several pictures at different exposures and add the together to get a more dynamic pictures. It is a great feature, though naturally it can only be used for still targets (moving targets will create "shadows" when combining the pictures). The phone will prompt you ho hold it still while capturing.

There is a specific mode for portraits - "face beauty"

A vary good feature is that the camera feature speed capture mode, that enables you to take several pictures fast after each other. Simply keep holding the shutter key, and it will fire away.   

Here is a few test shots, more in this entry.

Dual Sim Functions

Dual sim features is about unchanged from the ZTE V970, so for comments about that have a look at my ZTE V970 review here.

Dual sim settings is as you normally see the on MT6575 and MT6577 phones.

One new feature is, that when you are using a messaging or phone app, there will be a quick shortcut in the menu bar to change sim.

The camera and test shots

The camera on the ZTE V987 is 8 mega pixel BSI, and features LED flash. The interface is standard Android.

The camera is quite fast and the pictures is pretty good. Here is some test shots.

HDR:

Not HDR:

In the dark with flash:

In the dark with flash:

Pictures of ZTE V987

The famous "return button" problem

The ZTE V987 is also known for an not so good thing: The "return button problem", or in other words, too sensitive to touch, so that would make the "back" button activate without directly touching it. Quite annoying.

My phone had that problem on earlier software, but the good news is that after I have upgraded to a 3.20 based ROM, the problem is gone! So it seems that it was a software problem after all.

I need to say, that my phone is from the 2013.03 production or "second lot".

ZTE V987 Benchmark (AnTuTu)

As expexted for a MT6589 phone, the score is in the 12'th thousands.

ZTE V987 GPS

The GPS in the ZTE V987 works really great. I have only used if for turn-by-turn navigation once, but that worked gread.

The first GPS lock was done in 24 seconds - and that is fast. After that I seem to get a lock in between 5 - 20 seconds. Pretty good.

The test was done with EPO Assistance and AGPS on. Do remember to turn them on for a fast lock.

How to turn on EPO and AGPS

Go under System Settings -> Location access

Make sure to tick bothe GPS EPO assistance and A-GPS. Enter EPO settings and activate "Auto Download"

Size and form: ZTE V987 vs. ZTE V970 vs. Huawei U8950D

Not much to say. From the left: ZTE V970, ZTE V987 and Huawei U8950D