The ZTE Axon M is an oddball phone with two 5.2 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel displays. When the displays are folded you can use the Axon M like a normal phone. But expand the second display and you can either use it for some heavy-duty multitasking thanks to two side-by-side displays or like a small tablet with a 2160 x 1920 pixel display (and a line going down the middle).

Officially unveiled earlier this month, the ZTE Axon M goes up for pre-order at AT&T on Wednesday, November 1st. It’s expected to be available in stores starting November 17th.

AT&T is the exclusive US carrier for the phone, which will sell for $725 (or 30 monthly payments of $24.17).

The dual screens are the Axon M’s most noteworthy features, but here are some of the other key specs:

  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor
  • 4GB of RAM
  • 64GB of eMMC 5.1 storage
  • 20MP camera (used as both front and rear camera)
  • USB Type-C port
  • 3,180 mAH battery (and Quick Charge 3.0 port)
  • 3.5mm audio jack
  • microSD card slot
  • 802.11ac WiFi + Bluetooth 4.2
  • fingerprint sensor (in the home button)

The phone measures nearly half an inch thick and weighs 8.1 ounces, making it heavy for a phone, but light for a tablet.

In a lot of ways the Axon M seems like a stop-gap measure that allows ZTE to beat Samsung and LG to market with a folding phone that can be used as a smartphone or a tablet… but which doesn’t require heavy investment in folding display technology.

That line that will run down the middle of the phone sort of limits the tablet-like usability of the phone since it would make videos, games, web pages, and other content look a bit funny when it spans the two screens. But the dual-screen solution could be useful for keeping a chat window and a video window open at the same time, or a social media window and a web browser, just to name a few examples. You could also use the phone as a sort of tiny laptop, with a keyboard filling the bottom screen without obstructing your view of any apps running on the upper display.

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5 replies on “ZTE Axon M dual-screen phone hits AT&T Nov 17th (pre-orders open Nov 1st)”

  1. “You could also use the phone as a sort of tiny laptop, with a keyboard filling the bottom screen without obstructing your view of any apps running on the upper display”

    This would probably be the only reason I’d have for a dual screen phone. Although, are you sure you can actually do this? None of the PR photos/videos I’ve seen show a keyboard filling the entire bottom screen.

    Anyway, how’s ZTE with updates? That’s my main concern when buying any Android phone.

  2. I wonder if it has an option for a large virtual keyboard on one display, sort of like the old Moto phones that spread out to access a mechanical keyboard?

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