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Imagine, a smartphone that actually pays you to use it. A game changer, right? Well, maybe. The ZmBIZI Z1 Android Smartphone is definitely worth checking out as a budget device, but is it going to change how we think about the cost of having a phone? Maybe not so much. Tech expert Dave Taylor runs the ZmBIZI (pronounced "zam-bee-zi", like the river) Z1 through its paces and finds that it's a bit lacking in the tech side, with a camera that might give you pause. His demos tell the story, so check it out.
Then learn more about the phone at https://www.zmbizi.com/
Check out Dave's Q&A Web site at https://www.AskDaveTaylor.com/
#android #smartphone #zmbizi
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0:00
A smartphone that pays you to use it? Let's check it out
0:03
Dave Taylor here, and I'm checking out this. This is the Zambezi Z1 smartphone, and it's pretty interesting
0:18
Now, it is, in fact, an Android phone. So you get the phone, comes with a screen protector, a clear case, earbuds, charger, charging cable
0:28
everything you'd want, right? But, in addition, it has some software installed that actually you earn points as you do things like
0:36
searches or watch shows or listen to music, and then you can convert that into various rewards
0:42
Pretty slick idea. Let me start by giving you some specs and talk a little bit about the phone
0:48
Then I'll give you some examples of photos and videos that I've taken
0:51
And then, finally, we'll talk just a little bit about some of the unique software they've dropped onto this device
0:57
So, first off, I did want to show you it has a really nice screen
1:02
This is a 6.23-inch screen at 2280 x 1080, so that's pretty high resolution
1:09
That's 405 ppi, or pixels per inch, and it features Gorilla Glass 3
1:15
But, of course, not only does it have Gorilla Glass 3, but you also have that screen protector
1:20
So you've got sort of double protection there. Now, Gorilla Glass has gone up a couple of generations since then
1:25
and this is very typical of budget Android phones. There's a bunch of things that are a little behind the times
1:31
I'll get to those as we go. But it's powered by a MediaTek Helio P70 processor
1:38
That's a 2.1 GHz octa-core, and it features an ARM Mali-G72 MP3 at 900 MHz for graphics
1:47
That's a lot of specs, right? 128 GB and 4 GB of RAM, and it's running Android 9, which is definitely behind the times
1:56
and it features Bluetooth 4.2, not Bluetooth 5.0. Probably you won't notice
2:02
Interestingly, though, it also has THX sound. In fact, when you start this phone up, you get that same THX sort of audio signature
2:12
that you'd get in a movie theater, which I find really funny, because, of course, in the theater, you're like, whoa, that's really loud
2:18
And on your phone, you're like, wow, that's a tiny little speaker
2:22
So, nonetheless, if you plug in earbuds or something, it sounds really good
2:27
It does a really nice job. They have a really good audio processing system on here
2:32
It's dual SIM support, and it's GSM and 4G. It's not a 5G phone, but you wouldn't expect that for this price
2:40
So let's talk about cameras. So, on the back, there is a 12-megapixel and 5-megapixel cameras
2:48
and here's a close-up so you can see what I'm talking about. And that's at f1.7
2:53
And then the selfie camera on the top here in the cutout is an 8-megapixel at f2.2
3:00
Now, let's just stop for a second and let me show you some photos that I took and some video
3:06
This first set of photos are the same location, and I'm just zooming in
3:11
So you can see it does a good job at some zoom levels, but that bright sunlight really sort of baffled it a little bit
3:17
Here's a selfie. So you can see it did a really nice job with the lighting on this shot
3:22
But then we get to nighttime mode, and I put it in nighttime mode in the camera app
3:27
and the processor just can't handle it. Neither of these pictures are really anything to share with anyone else
3:34
Finally, let's watch this video. Truth be told, it's kind of a little disappointing
3:52
I felt like the video was a little blown out on that direct sunlight
3:56
and when I tried to do macro photography, none of them were in focus
4:00
so I didn't even bother sharing any of those with you. And you could see even with the zoom photos, there are some that it actually understood
4:09
and the processing system on the camera worked well, but there are others where not so much, and that's a little frustrating
4:16
I mean, I feel like the hardware overall is really nice. It has a fingerprint sensor on the back
4:22
It has all the different servos and sensors, so there's lots you can do with games
4:27
It has a high-resolution screen, but they need an upgrade to that camera
4:32
and they do have an upgrade coming. I'll come back to that in a minute, but I wanted to mention a couple of more things in terms of the specs
4:38
It has a 3450 mAh battery, which should give you at least a solid day
4:45
It should be able to be on a phone call for a dozen hours. Who the heck's on the call for 12 hours
4:50
But you could do that without having to charge it. When you are ready to charge it, there's no wireless charging
4:55
but there's USB-C on the bottom. In fact, while we're at it, let's do a quick tour of all the sides
5:01
This is the left side, and you can see it has volume up and down and the little tray to put in the SIM card
5:07
On the top, you have, yes, a 3.5 mm jack. Yay! And I think that's a microphone on the very top
5:15
And then on the right-hand side, you have the power button and not much else
5:20
And then on the bottom, you have that USB-C charging plug and cutouts for both sides of the speakers that you have in here
5:28
So let's talk about this whole pays you to use it. What the heck's that all about
5:33
And that's front and center on the screen. If I tap on this, I then go into what they call Zambezi points
5:40
And this basically is, or I guess Zambezi rewards, same idea. And basically, there's a bunch of different things you can do
5:49
and when you do them through their recommended apps, then you're going to see some ads
5:55
and then it will actually, you will earn rewards for doing that
5:59
And those rewards you can trade in for various things. This is not dissimilar to how Microsoft tries to encourage you to use Bing
6:06
by giving you points for doing searches that you can then convert from like one zillion points to $1 on Amazon
6:14
It's not a really highly rewarding experience, but it is better than Google's doing, right
6:19
Google's not paying us to use their search engine. So the Zambezi rewards is the same sort of idea
6:26
And why not? It's kind of fun. If this is something you get for a teen, for example
6:31
if they're going to be doing these things anyway, why not earn some rewards and see what they can get for them
6:36
Now, it also supports touchless pay with Visa. The company just announced that, which is pretty cool
6:43
And it also offers point-of-sale software once you register as a merchant
6:47
So if you're an artist, if you're, I don't know, if you're on the road
6:52
if you actually work at street fairs or something like that, you could use this as your point-of-sale device
6:57
That's pretty slick. So, you know, there are a lot of things I like about this phone
7:03
I really like the packaging. I even like the company name. I think that's really cool
7:08
The Zambezi is a huge river in Africa. Beautiful, beautiful river. That's where they got their inspiration from
7:15
Interestingly, Zambezi rewards is only for people in the U.S. So if you are in Africa and you're thinking this is a nice option for you
7:22
yeah, it might be, but beware of those rewards. You can't use them yet
7:27
So I did mention that they have a new phone coming out, and it is true
7:32
The Zambezi Z2 smartphone is coming out in a couple of weeks
7:37
So I would probably give that a really close look, too, if you saw this and you saw my demos and you thought
7:44
hmm, those photos, that video, that's nothing to write home about. I'm expecting the Z2 will have a much better camera sensor
7:52
Hopefully I'll get one and I'll be able to review it and give you some demos
7:56
But in the meantime, this is the Z1, and it's really pretty darn well priced
8:02
But before we get to the price, let me ask you if you could subscribe to my channel
8:06
Super easy. A click or a tap on that red subscribe button, and you're subscribed
8:10
Great. Now, as I said, this is the Zambezi Z1 smartphone, and it is $296 at Zambezi.com
8:21
Pay attention to how I've spelled it on the screen, because that's how you got to spell it
8:25
And there's things to like about this. This is a solid option if you're not heavily reliant on taking pictures
8:33
The selfies work fine. Maybe if you just avoid direct sunlight in really low light situations
8:39
then the rest of the time, this will work just fine for you. Great screen. Reasonably fast
8:45
There's lots to like. Definitely lots to check out. And with that, I think I'm out
8:50
So I hope to catch you in my next video. ♪♪♪��
#Mobile & Wireless
#Mobile & Wireless Accessories
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