VK 1000 Review: An affordable 4G LTE Android smartphone

In the past few months, VK has been releasing a number of affordable smartphones in Europe, which has increased its popularity in the region.

The company’s latest offering is the new VK 1000 which retails for only around $150 making it an extremely affordable LTE handset in the market. Given its affordable price, we decided to take a look at the specifications and features of the device.

DESIGN

Like most other Android smartphones out there, VK 1000 comes with a rectangular design with slightly round edges. The device is made of plastic but still looks sturdy. There’s a camera up front, besides the ear piece along with three capacitive buttons at the bottom. On the back, you get the rear camera module along with the speaker grill.

The power button is situated on the right side, while the volume rocker keys are on the left. The button placements feel quite natural and overall, we are happy with the design. Nothing too fancy, but still well built enough for the price tag.

DISPLAY

VK’s latest offering comes with a 5.0 inch 960 x 540 resolution screen. This display should be good enough for your daily use as it will deliver clear and bright pictures.

You get the same resolution display on most smartphones in this price range, so we are pretty happy with the screen.

HARDWARE

VK 1000 comes with a Mediatek MTK6582 + 6290 Quad Core processor which has helped the company to keep its price low. You also have 1GB RAM inside with Mali 400 GPU alongside the 4GB internal storage which can be expanded up to 32GB using a MicroSD card.

After the OS and apps that come pre-installed with the device, you only get around 2.5GB of internal storage, so you may have to purchase an external card to suffice all your storage needs.

CAMERA

VK has included an 8MP rear camera on the device with flash and features like auto focus and touch to focus.  There’s a 2MP shooter too for selfies and video calling.

Camera is one area where we felt VK could have done better. Our recently reviewed Leagoo Lead 2 smartphone had a much better 13 MP Sony Exmor sensor with a 5MP front camera. So, Lead 2, which is way cheaper, clicks better pictures than the 8MP camera sensor found on VK 1000.

BATTERY AND CONNECTIVITY

You get all the standard connectivity features like Bluetooth, FM Radio, Wi-Fi, proximity and compass sensors, GPS etc. But the highlight of the device is its 4G LTE support, which makes it one of the cheapest LTE handsets currently in the market.

VK has included a 2,300 mAh battery inside the device, which we feel is a bit small given the LTE support. But it should power the device atleast for a few hours, if not a whole day like other Android handsets.

SOFTWARE

The device comes with the Android 4.4.2 Kitkat version out of the box.

CONCLUSION

VK 1000 may not be the best Android smartphone in the market in its pricerange, but it is still one of the cheapest LTE handsets that we have seen. It offers decent specifications for a great price and anyone who’s looking to take advantage of the high LTE speeds should take a look at this device first before making a decision.

VK 1000 is currently available on Deal Extreme for $149.61, so head over to the website to take a look at this low cost LTE device.