Over the holiday weekend, I was fortunate enough to attend two family dinners, and I brought the AT&T ZTE Axon M with me to both. It was a strange experience for everyone involved.
Upon being shown to people, they assumed the device was the new iPhone. Once the second screen was opened, however, everyone became more confused as to what it could do. At both dinners, no one was sure what the need for a second screen was, even after showing them the various screen modes.
Using both screens to display a single article, people noted problems with the alignment near the center and pointed out that the image appeared to be elongated where the two screens meet. However, both parties seemed to like the screen mirroring function, but one of my grandparents felt it was unnecessary.
One of my grandfathers said that device could use a case, to keep it from sliding all over the place, but then realized that no such case would help since there’s a screen on both sides of the phone. A grandmother also mentioned that she thought the phone was too big, being slightly larger and significantly wider than her iPhone 7.
Storing the phone was also a concern that was brought up since both sides of the phone are a screen it may be unsafe to lay it down on one of those screens since it might lead to scratches. On the other hand, the phone takes up a good amount of space when it’s unfolded. At one dinner we had it sitting on the table, unfolded, and found it so intrusive that it had to be put away. At the other, we had it set on the sofa, and everyone was surprised by how quickly the phone slipped along the cushion.
It would seem like members of my family (myself included) aren’t necessarily in love with the device, given our personal preference is too lean towards iOS. But the Axon M does push some boundaries, given the dual displays, but like most first tries it doesn’t fully succeed with round one.
While some of these issues could potentially be fixed with software updates, it seems that the issue of a case is not one that can be solved so quickly. We’re finishing up our full review of the device, and you can expect our full thoughts soon.
