The Zopo ZP980 is powered by quad core MediaTek processor with 1GB RAM and 16GB internal storage. It houses a 13MP rear camera and runs on the Android 4.2 OS. The handset sports a 5 inch screen with FHD resolution and is priced at Rs. 15999.

ZP980 Box pack
Inside the box you will find the handset, USB cable, user manual, power adapter, earphone, 2x 2000 mAh battery and a screen guard. The screen guard is actually not needed because the screen is using the OGS Technology with Corning Gorilla Glass 2 protection.

Design and Display
The handset looks very professional and of a premium quality. The built quality is superb and so is the finishing. The front facing side looks almost back and gives it a unique look. The touch buttons are faint and are better visible when the phone is switched on (back-lit).

The rear side has a mild texture with matte finish. The handset is 8.5 mm thick and weighs about 154 grams. The slim look with the 2.47 mm ultra narrow bezel, will definitely grab attention. The silver sides make the handset even more appealing.

A 3.5mm audio jack is placed on the top, volume rockers on the left and the power/lock button on the right side. On the bottom side there is the micro USB port and the mic.

Zopo Zp980 box pack

As for the display its 5 inch screen with FHD resolution (1920×1080 pixels ~ 440.58 ppi). It’s IPS screen with 16Million colours with excellent viewing angles. The screen comes with Corning Gorilla glass 2 protection. The screen is sharp and vivid. There are magnetic, accelerometer, light and proximity sensors. The handset supports dual SIM with dual standby mode. The SIM 1 is a micro SIM slot and SIM 2 the normal slot.

Memory, storage and OS
The Zopo ZP980 is loaded with 1GB RAM and 16GB storage. It runs on the Android 4.2.1 OS. The space allocated for app storage is 1.48GB of which 1.29GB is available. About 12GB is available as phone storage or internal storage. You can install apps directly on external storage. But with a good space of 16GB you will not care about the external space.

zopo zp980 review

Performance
its quad core @ 1.2GHz (Cortex A7 MT6589 processor with PowerVR SGX 544MP GPU. The performance is smooth with no lags. Check out the benchmark scores the FPS is lower because of the higher screen resolution.

Benchmark scores

  • Quadrant Benchmark : 3795, 2nd time – 3719.
  • Anututu Benchmark : 10256, 2nd time – 11688.
  • Nenamark2 : 27.2fps.
  • Linpack : single 36, multi 100.
  • Multi Touch : 5 point.

13 MP camera
The handset comes with a 13MP rear camera and a front 5MP as mentioned on the box pack, however you can set the front camera to a max of 8MP resolution. In video mode (video quality) there is the HD option which will record 1080p videos with 15fps and the fine mode that too records videos in 1080p at 30fps. The high option will record in 720p resolution.

13 mp AF camera on ZP980

I am quite happy with the camera quality as well as the videos. You can check out the sample images attached. Videos can be recorded in 1080p resolution.

Entertainment
The ZP980 plays 1080p videos smoothly. I have tried various video formats with MX player and everything looks good. The sound quality is very good and gets better with earphones. The sound output (via earphone) is better that as on MMX A116. Also the colour reproduction is far better on ZP980. Check the image below.

Colour reproduction mmx a116 versus Zopo zp980

Gaming
I will be testing the Nova 3 and MC3 game and will upload the video once done. Will need to check if the gameplay is smooth because the FPS is below 30. Though I believe it will work smoothly, 27fps is good enough.

Others
I have been using the phone since yesterday. The in call sound is clear and the volume quite loud. I tried the GPS and since it was the first time I did not get a lock immediately but after downloading GPS test, I got the lock within 7 seconds. Wi-Fi (a/b/g/n), 3G and Bluetooth are working fine.

Battery performance
The box pack contains two batteries of 2000 mAh capacity each. A full wall charge (with phone in standby mode) took 2 hours and 40 minutes to charge from 12% to 100%. After 21 hours the battery level is still at 50%. I was using the phone with auto brightness enabled, Wi-Fi off, Bluetooth Off but 3G on 24/7.

You can expect the usage time of well over 1 day on a full charge with moderate usage.

Zopo ZP980 review
ZP980 has got that premium look.. is sleek and loaded with excellent features. It is priced at Rs. 15,999. The flip cover is not included but can be purchased separately. Given the price tag and the specs it clearly beats the Micromax A116 that is now selling for about the same price on some websites.

The company will also launch a lower version of ZP980 model with a price tag of around Rs. 12K. For now the ZP980 is a very good handset, stable and with very good features considering the price tag. The UMI X2 is another model that many users are waiting for and that too comes with nearly the same specs (with 2GB RAM).

After sales is  one of the major concerns and as of now Zopo mobiles are lagging behind.

Image Gallery

Sample images

Outdoor


Outdoor Front camera

Indoor

Night – Outdoor

Zopo ZP980 unboxing and review

Sample 1080p video at 15 fps

Sample 1080p video at 30 fps

Modern Combat 3 and NOVA 3 gaming demo

 

By Rajeev Rana

Founder and Chief Editor - gogi.in