Faea F1 is cheapest NFC smartphone worldwide so far, the solid quality and low price tag attract lots of users. What experience on this new brand phone by users? Here is a full review we translate from dutch site. I think this review will allow you to fully understand this phone.
A relatively unknown manufacturer, called Faeamobile decided to hook up with many manufacturers who preceded them, releasing its own smartphone in China. They offer two models: the F1 and F2, this review is about the first. What gave me the reason to buy the F1 was twofold in nature: it is affordable to call with $ 150-170 (around 113-128 euros) and Faea provides adequate specifications in a compact housing with their F1. Add that to my ZTE Blade now really at the end of his rope and I had plenty of reasons to purchase to proceed.
Specification
OS: 4.1.2 Jelly Bean
CPU: Qualcomm 8225Q 1.2GHz
GPU: Adreno 203
Memory: 1GB RAM & 4GB ROM
Extend: MicroSD(HC) max.32GB
Screen: 4.5-inch OGS IPS 1280*720
Camera: 8MP back & 2MP front
2G: GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz
3G: WCDMA 900/2100MHz
Data: EDGE, GPRS, HSPDA, GPS/A-GPS
Extra: Bluetooth + EDR, Wi-Fi, USB 2.0
Battery: 2000mAh
Other: NFC, Notificatie LED
Dimension: 128*63.8*10.3mm 138g
Packing
Once you open the package you will find this simple, simple packaging. It does not shout from the rooftops what content it hides, nor will your bottom as with many brand is common specifications are traced. What is only clear that the packaging of Faea hides something, but what? Faea the F1 course with accessories. The F1 is single in the package, you will find only on a U.S. plug right and a USB cable to right. Earphone is missing, further also not a standard screen protector included. The corresponding battery was already in the unit, so you not on the photo. Luck I had a via international website Faea screen protector ordered, I have taken the sake of completeness in the picture. The packaging is simple in nature but solid because everything was simple. The F1 is so scanty extradited but suffice for me. Included earbuds often make nothing (I use Sennheiser in-ear’s) so that I do not miss.
Appearance
The front is logically possessed by the 4.5 inch screen. Chinese characters on the trade-off foil supplied indicate that the left under the menu button, the center home button is right under the back button. Top left you will find the sensor that adjusts the screen brightness light, the right of the front camera. An LED light is placed around the menu button, which to approach in the setting menu is covered display> breathing light. By default, the LED light to save energy. The back is made of sturdy plastic, it will bend rather than crack if you ask me. It is also difficult to get off if you just cut your nails have despite the convenient notch top right.The back is quite a fingerprint magnet and feels cheap.
Great value for money, you can not expect for around 115-125 euros that the F1 Faea a premium-feel number. Once properly snaps but will seamlessly, so easy letting go will not do it. Turn to the back cover and you’ll surely USP beside the price: the F1 is equipped with an NFC sticker. Furthermore, you see left space for the 2000mAh battery, place for a micro sd up to 32GB right. Furthermore, this F1 or have MSM8225Q Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 SoC Play on board, that does not necessarily mean that it can have. SIM only one on board Association that I first had when I was told of this unit, due to the fact that Qualcomm is not unlike Mediatek mainly on dual-sim handsets. Although I do not need it, it is convenient to have. There go two ‘normal’ or mini-SIMs in, albeit in a curious way. Do it flattened square of the mini-sim-left corner of the stage and you have only GSM/2G. Reason for me to bottom right to stop so you have WCDMA / GSM reception and simply 3G can use. My mini sim with flattened square in the gantry All in all I think to mention, though there is one downside the build quality good to as the volume buttons and power button on its best to mention flimsy.They are poorly absorbed by the back cover closed and have quite some room for maneuver. With 128×63, 8×10, 3mm in size and 138 grams weight is the best compact Faea F1 to call if it is no lightweight. To show how the format fails, an idea I dropped him off in front of my trusty ZTE Blade (116x56x12mm, which although quite used still doing fine (if the battery wants to work that is) At the top you will find the audio jack and micro-USB to On the right you will find just the power-on button on the left side are the volume + / – buttons.. below and you will find a microphone to All in all, it goes fine in width to handle. but it seems to me stiff as the F1 is really only 128mm long (I have the additional measurement with a tape measure and it is true), optically then the difference of 1.2 cm larger than I had imagined. terms on paper thickness wins the F1 sipping the ZTE Blade, but by today’s standards this still qualifies as too thick. Being only a slight increase in length / width is still fine to use. F1 Anything with a size of> 130mmx65mm is before me for me easy to carry mobile with you however you’ll notice that it would have in the summer, a stiff back and side did help because I can imagine that I easily drop it because the plastic rather:. before the label ‘mobile’ as in smooth and gives little grip. covers 4.5 inch screen and has resolution inherited:. 1280×720, resulting in a 320dpi Faea indicates that the F1 only 2.5mm bezels is so new I do not think that because the. view is that just as with my ZTE Blade But with my experience with Jiayu G3 (also 4.5 inch 720p resolution but with the dimensions: 135mm*65mm). because I think 2.5 mm affect the handling of the device . About the quality, I can not judge well, for lack of good comparison. Faea claims to have used the screen as co OGS (One-Glass-Solution). IPS technology It looks better than the TFT screen with WVGA resolution my ZTE Blade, but their properties will not be stuck in at a SGS S4, iPhone 5, HTC One and Sony Xperia Z. However, I can not complain. I do not suffer from ghost touches, the screen suddenly something click on what you have not meant for example. There is no lag to observe when scrolling through the app drawer nor apps. For browsing / email / what juices / what have not they been 720p although sooo 2012 but perfectly usable on a 4, 5 inch screen is not top notch but this screen again:.. great value for money, the fact that Faea (how compact the F1 is) still a 4.5 inch screen could lose it at 720p gives me enough to be pleased about. . And whether OGS and IPS than just a marketing slogan or not, I am satisfied with the screen, even though it will many other screen in terms of viewing angles, brightness, contrast, etc. do better. edit: I have the Faea for the photo test carried out. There I can compare to that of my Blade. And the screen then I notice one thing well. in bright sunlight, the screen of the Faea with auto-brightness viewable itt my Blade. The key question for some tweakers course.
Benchmark
How well the Faea with Qualcomm MSM8225Q Snapdragon S4 Play SoC, based on the old A5 architecture and ‘but’ Adreno 203 GPU, come in many benchmark? Well .. pictures say in this section more than 1000 words. I Antutu turned , next Nenamark 2 Quadrant and Vellamo.
As you can see from the benchmarks MSM8225Q the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Play does not excel in raw power. Know thanks to the 720p resolution on a 4.5 inch screen Faea F1 in Antutu to pass. 10,000 border (To compare:. My ZTE Blade running on Android 4.2.1 with CM10.1 achieved a score of 2012) Many China Phone with MTK6589 board scores to around 12,000 and the MTK6589T on board even at around 14,000. Furthermore, the F1 with MSM8225Q aboard just not near the HTC One X in Quadrant. Given that this year followed by the HTC One and therefore be regarded as an expense gene falls, it is noteworthy that the Qualcomm S4 Play the previous generation did not even know to keep up. In Vellamo F1 in the middle, which likewise does not really significant. Scores Who the specs had read had also probably not expect the MSM8225Q would perform in terms of fps, which surely once again endorses miracles. F1 is called with this SoC no game monster
Battery
The first rumors indicated that Faea F1’s battery is only 1800mAh. That gave for doubting the purchase, I rise because I want to do (as I’m used to with my ZTE Blade) can at least do with the battery without having to recharge. 16 hours a day At home I load it on while I’m sleeping. For comparison, I looked at the watch price to 4.3 / 4.5 inch screen with 720p and their battery capacity. So I found the Huawei G615 that has a battery of 2150mAh. The recently announced HTC Mini One has to do with 1800mAh. Sony does their Xperia V and Xperia S 1750mAh with a 4.3 inch screen.Only the Sony Xperia Arco S is more spacious equipped with 1910mAh battery for a 4.3 inch screen. Seen 2000mAh is for a 4.5 inch screen is not large enough. Use the long term should show whether I use 16 hours (including 4.5 hours screen time) manages to get out or not. For now there is not much to say about those few charging cycles which I have now behind us. Nevertheless, I expect with my (WiFi/3G enabled only when used and different, GPS / BT / sync all out) and use applications (whatsapp, email, browsing, occasionally calling / texting) add to (or with 2000mAh as a shot-for-the-bow conclusion).
I was curious about the GPS performance given the F1 is equipped with a Qualcomm SoC instead by many competitors as Jiayu, Neomobile, iOcean and others with a Mediatek SoC equipped. Now N = 2 insufficient to even remotely be able to draw a good conclusion, but my experience with the Jaiyu G3 (Mediatek MTK6577 dual-core SoC on board) and iOcean X7 (Mediatek MTK6589 quad-core SoC on board) was so that or manufacturers with Mediatek SoC’s use the cheapest antennas as capstone or Mediatek just has their GPS in many SoC in order. Where is it now does not matter, I experienced at least with both Jiayu G3 and iOcean X7 disappointing performance of the GPS related that I never had with my Blade (with single core Qualcomm MSM7227 SoC) experience. Once enabled grabbed my Blade almost immediately a fix, where the Jiayu G3 and iOcean X7 there considerably longer as did all they could get (because they had incorrect information xx.pool.ntp aboard on China focused) But a fix even with a European / NLse custom eu.pool.ntp / nl.pool.ntp walked the Mediatek SoC’s way behind in my experience in terms of GPS compared to my only frame of reference:. Qualcomm MSM7227 So far my experience in the field of GPS in smartphones. But how does the F1 now what GPS is concerned? Out of the box, I could never aGPS or EPO switch as I was well accustomed to the iOcean X7 and Jiayu G3 (admittedly, before I took advantage of MobileUncleMTKtools which is not used for a Qualcomm SoC course). I have the GPS on and tried many app. (GPS Status, Test & Fix, GPS Status & Toolbox + GPS Test) Given my experience with the Jiayu G3 iOcean X7 and I was afraid that the F1 (Faea seen in particular as other brands focusing on China) in terms of server : cn.pool.ntp would be set so that the fix would last long or would never come. When starting fasterfix and superuser permission screen I got to read: “developer warning: android.permission.ACCESS_superuser not declared in manifest” and then the message: “busybox not installed?” Then I got the screen Fasterfix and who gave as current server: time.gpsonextra.net. I clicked ‘Netherlands’ on but it did nothing, so I let it be so. Time to test how long my first fix would take!
First Fix:
So I almost have two minutes waiting in the garden outside my F1 finally out cold start would get a fix in GPS Status,
Test & Fix .
GPS Test showed how many satellites F1 had in my image. Almost immediately saw my F1 four, shortly after six, walked up from 10 in the front yard and 8 in the backyard.
Second Fix:
GPS Status & Toolbox I used to after the first fix to see how fast the F1 it would manage to get. a second fix Once warmed manages the F1 there quickly with only 4 seconds. Overall I am pleased that the F1 has no tweaks after a cold start almost immediately to get a fix. I use the GPS on a smartphone often in combination with iMapmyWalk and / or RunKeeper to see post after a walk on Google Maps which I made round so it’s nice to have on board that operates a GPS.
Notificationscreen / Toggles
Something what everyone is used with an Android device is quickly enable and disable Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth and more. Now I was on my ZTE Blade thanks to CM10.1 more or less accustomed to stock Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2.When approaching the togglescreen the F1 I noticed that really good peel Faea applied. Because it did not look togglescreen divided into tiles as with CM10.1 and stock Android 4.2.2. the case, no, Faea has its own togglescreen designed as follows: So you have 8 hoofdtoggles to adjust the brightness, sound, WiFi, Bluetooth, data connection, screen rotation, airplane mode, GPS, and vibrate mode on / off or change.Below are four subtoggles to go, turn the F1 or restart and remove. all notifications to the settings menu / setting menu I still insufficiently investigated whether it just like CM10.1 at its layout is configurable but because CM10.1 a custom ROM is very adaptable and I’m afraid not.
So looks like the Setting Menu. Which is convenient that you can immediately throw out data connection with a switch, without me as with my ZTE Blade to ‘more> mobile networks> Data roaming’ had to be close to throw the whole thing.
As can be seen above and as can be read on many webshop: F1 is not equipped with Dutch on board. Via MoreLocale two would you schedule things should be able to tweak so you just have apps in Dutch, but I think the addition of MoreLocale second best lean. The settings menu will be English, the appdrawer remains in English. Only the Play Store and apps you’ve downloaded it in Dutch. Best a half-baked solution so, but who knows Faea in a future firmware update or Dutch as language meebakt in their ROM.
Once you start the Faea, have set in English you little bloatware find. default, the F1 equipped with Play Store. Through a gapps-fix of Faea-mobile add your own Google apps. The only bloatware who insists are two apps, a Chinese Google search-like thing and another Chinese app. Both fall to remove without requiring root immediately.
As requested, I am gone out to take pictures under various conditions to shoot with the Faea F1, to show as the picture quality of the camera. Now one picture no picture when you can not compare them. And so I have the exact same composition as much as possible try to capture with my ZTE Blade, so you can see the difference. Both cameras In advance I want to say one thing about how I look at camera modules in smartphones. I like to shoot photos with a dSLR (currently a Canon 40D with Tamron 17-50mm f / 2.8 lens) so I therefore have over depth of field and better quality pictures available from the sensor size control. Therefore my smartphone camera module plays second fiddle. This is useful for a snapshot here and there, a movie here and there. To throw, to serve as a photo that I can fast forward etc etc. via Whatsapp on facebook short .. my requirements for a camera module in a smartphone are not high, because I already have a Canon 40D with a nice lens at my disposal. But because it was asked .. to this compromise in: more or less wide-angle position, more or less macro mode, a photo with sunlight along photographed a picture in the shade, a picture in low light, a photo with backlight and panorama.
Conclusion: Draw your own conclusion, but what you will perform better. Bottom line? The Faea delivers some nice snapshots for Facebook / twitter / whatsapp, provides comprehensive capabilities in the settings menu, more zoom in and out and is so versatile, but delivers less punch / sharpness of themselves in pictures so they can come over blurred . A good camera I do not, but I find not an iPhone 5, an SGS S4, a PureView Nokia Lumia 808, HTC One or One X or Sony Xperia. The fussy little sensor in many smartphone gets regardless whether you have 8, 13, 16 or more megapixels nothing. Because all of which must be divided into the same small sensor = less = each pixel may receive less light = less performing so. Moreover, the various lens elements pick up the quality smartphones not up because of size / space. What remains so that a slightly better casual shots can take than others, but in the end I think it all three times nothing. It just depends on what your frame of reference uses.
View the original pictures: please click here
Where to buy
~ $ 152 – $ 180 or € 114-134
Faeamobile Shop (official) / Android-Inside / Pandawill / Ante Life / AliExpress
After a long piece of text and pictures I come finally to the conclusion. As I said in the introduction I paid 107 euros for the F1. I was looking for a replacement phone so I could finally send. My ZTE Blade after 1 year and 9 months finally retire So first I bought in November last year Jiayu G3. But through the thick bezels + overall length / width not. Liked the size me What he liked me was the price: roughly $ 195 or € 165 at the time. This resulted in a high bang-for-buck content and 720p on a 4.5 inch screen with 2750mAh battery was a real breath of fresh air compared to what I was used to:. WVGA on a 3.5 inch screen with 1250mAh battery When I took me all for: keep it features (screen size, resolution) but if possible in a compact housing. Behold the purchase of F1. Also 4.5 inch 720p resolution, but with 2000mAh battery I have to give up. 1 usp of Jiayu G3 What i got back was a small but nice device. In addition: a working GPS, as icing on the cake NFC (nice that it’s there, but I’m not going to really start using the lack of really useful applications) That it is not Android 4.2.1. meekreeg I felt pity, because I was already accustomed to my ZTE Blade. I also regret that F1 can be, while the F2 Faea Specials Does include this with their MTK6589T appliance. Not set in Dutch The build quality does not to be desired, but the finish of the volume buttons and power button does. It is unfortunate that the F1 Faea some plastic / cheap feel fantastic either resists, but what can you expect for that price? It is also regrettable that the F1 a fingerprint magnet + with warm temperatures now slippery feel rather awkward by the used hard plastic as back cover. By choosing the Qualcomm MSM8225Q aka Snapdragon S4 Play offers the F1 fortunately dualsim and a good GPS, but lost on the raw power / gaming performance. The latter will find avid gamers pity on smartphones, well: if you go to a similar device: check the Xiaomi Mi-2s / a Snapdragon with 600 so a correspondingly better GPU onboard. If that is too expensive: select from the range of Mediatek MTK6589T devices such as iOcean X7 Elite / Plus, zopo C2/C3, a Neomobile N003/Jiayu premium G4. I lay with my use of the emphasis on communication / informational effect. I want to call / texting / what juices / browsing / email. That works fine with the Faea F1. I also find it helpful to turn when I go for a walk, so my smartphone I am very satisfied with the good GPS performance. So if you’re looking for a no-frills, small, cheap dualsim device and you prefer is gaming on a tablet, laptop, PC and / or console … yes then the Faea F1 good choice. Would you necessarily have a good GPS signal and can play: looking ahead and remove the zopo C2/C3, Xiaomi Mi2s / or a Huawei Honor 2. GPS makes you less and want more raw power and can budget gaming wise? Random which MTK6589 (T) device is sufficient in this case. All in all I am happy with my purchase. The F1 does exactly what I expect it will do, I did not have high expectations.Because given the amount I’ve paid you can not expect everything. So that the finish to be desired, the volume buttons / power button the back feels cheap and also smooth to the touch is unfortunate but surmountable for me considering the price. The Faea F1 is a great device for those undemanding apps running and little money has / may issue or like watching price / quality ratio.
Scorecard
Resource: Tweakers
