Initial Verdict: Using the ZTE Blade A75 5G as the base for its first own-branded 5G phone, Smart has a promising offering to the masses in the Philippines, especially those looking to own their first 5G-ready phone.

Pros

• Affordable for a 5G phone
• Better storage type than the competition
• Can shoot 4K videos

Cons

• SIM 1 and Data is locked to Smart
• No storage expansion

Smart has announced a “successor” to the Amazing Phone from the 2000s with its own 5G phone. Made possible through a partnership with ZTE, Smart’s own 5G phone is based on the ZTE Blade A75 5G. Armed with an under Php 6k price, Smart hopes that their 5G phone will make 5G connectivity more accessible to Filipinos–just as how the Amazing Phone back then made smartphones more accessible to the masses. We got our hands on the Smart 5G phone on its official launch, and here are our first impressions:

 

Smart ZTE Blade A75 5G Philippines: Design

Just like the Focus Pro 5G from ZTE sub-brand nubia, the Blade A75 5G has a huge camera module at the back that we felt was unnecessary since you only have one actual camera–more on that later. While it is a recent design trend, we’re not a fan of it especially if you have the cameras to fill up that space.

As for the back panel, the Blade A75 5G has a glossy finish that’s noticeable especially in the black colorway. Just like most 2024 budget phones, you get flat sides for its plastic frame. The button and port layout is typical of what you’d expect on a budget phone, but ZTE gave a red accent color to the power button/fingerprint scanner.

 

Smart ZTE Blade A75 5G Philippines: Display

The Blade A75 5G has a modern-lookiong display with a punch-hole and a 120hz refesh rate. While it only has an HD+ resolution, offering a high refresh rate is a good compromise, as it makes the Blade A75 5G feel smoother when scrolling through different apps. Binge-watching your favorite Netflix shows is limited to SD resolution due to its Widevine L3 certification, but colors on the Blade A75 5G are decent so videos look good on its display.

As for audio, you’re stuck with only a single, bottom-firing speaker, so you’re better off using the headphone jack for your favorite wired earphones–or just use you go-to pair of TWS earbuds. The Blade A75 5G has support for DTS Audio–but again, you’ll have to manage your expectations especially if you’re using the speaker.

 

Smart ZTE Blade A75 5G Philippines: Cameras

Despite that huge camera module, looks can be deceiving because the Blade A75 5G has two cameras–and only the 50-megapixel shooter in the center is the useful one. For selfies, you only get an 8-megapixel shooter that’s typical of any budget phone these days.

We haven’t tested the cameras yet, but it can shoot video at 4K resolution, which is a absolute rarity on any budget phone. We will need more time with the Blade A75 5G to properly test its cameras, so stay tuned for our full review.

 

Smart ZTE Blade A75 5G Philippines: Internals and Battery

The Blade A75 5G is powered by a Unisoc T760 processor that’s paired with 4GB RAM and 128GB UFS 3.1 storage. While the RAM may be limiting for multitasking purposes, the Blade A75 5G has an advantage with its use of UFS 3.1 storage, which offers faster read and write speeds compared to the UFS 2.2 or eMMC 5.1 storage used by most budget phones. Some of the benefits of using UFS 3.1 storage include faster app loading times.

As for the processor, the T760 is a relatively new chip from Unisoc that is made using a 6nm process. We didn’t have time to benchmark the T760, but we expect it to be roughly at par with the Dimensity 6080.

Being an offering under Smart, one of the caveats of the Blade A75 5G is that the SIM 1 slot is locked to Smart and data is limited to SIM 1. so you’re limited to using SIM cards from Smart, Sun, and TnT. That may be a turn off for some, but that’s one of the reasons why Smart is selling it for a low price–for context, a non-SIM locked Blade A75 5G would cost you around Php 7k. As a fair compromise, the SIM 2 slot is open to all networks–but is limited to only call and text.

Like most budget phones, you get a 5000mAh battery on the Blade A75 5G, which supports 10w charging speeds. We expect it to last a day with full use of 5G, so we will test that out in our full review.

 

Smart ZTE Blade A75 5G Philippines: Wrap-up and Conclusions

It’s like the 2000s once again, as Smart’s goal of making 5G accessible to everyone reminds us a lot of how they made smartphones accessible to Filipinos with the Amazing Phone. While the pricing is good for what the phone has to offer (along with its relatively minor caveats), it remains to be seen if Smart can replicate its success through its partnership with ZTE for its own 5G Phone.

Smart ZTE Blade A75 5G Philippines: Price

The Smart ZTE Blade A75 5G is priced at Php 5,450 and includes a Smart 5G prepaid SIM that comes with a 5 GB open access data, Unlimited All Net Texts for 3 days, and 8 GB open access data plus Unli TikTok for 3 months.