Xiaomi unveiled the Xiaomi Mi Max (aka Xiaomi Max) phablet a couple of days back and it is the largest smartphone from the company yet. Naturally many Xiaomi fans would be hoping to get their hands on the newly announced device. Now, Banggood has listed the Xiaomi Mi Max with Snapdragon 650 model for pre-order at a price tag of $357.99. As you can see, there is a good markup on the official price of the device, but you can use the coupon 5off4cellphone to get the price down to $340. This coupon gives you a discount of $18 on the listed price. If you are hoping to get hold of this handset, you can check out more details from here.
Coming to the specs, the Xiaomi Max phablet (the one up for sale here) comes with the Snapdragon 650 hexa-core chipset with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. The phone features a large 6.4-inch display with full HD 1080p resolution. There is a large battery as well, a 4850mAh battery to keep the phone running all day long. In fact, in the recent battery test of the Xiaomi Max, we were impressed by the phone’s performance. At the back, the Max comes with a 16MP sensor with dual tone flash and 4K video recording support. Up front, there is an 85 degree wide angle 5MP camera. Other features include NFC, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Fingerprint ID and MIUI 8 based on Android 6.0. Since the phone is going to be used internationally, here are the supported 4G Bands.
FDD-LTE: B1/3/7
TDD-LTE: B38/39/40/41
The phone seems to be available for pre-order in white and gold colours. Check out more details from below.
OUKITEL recently announced a new budget smartphone that goes by the name of the OUKITEL C3. The phone is targeted at those users who don’t want to spend much buying a phone but still want a decent smartphone experience. Now, the company has released a couple of more pictures as well as a new video showing the design of the new handset. We can tell that the company is trying to target the young generation with a diamond texture at the back and bright colours. There are give different colours available for the device right now, white, dark blue, rose gold, black and sky blue. You can check out the new video released by the company from down below.
The phone is available from May 13 and orders will ship out as soon as May 15. For a limited number of orders, you can also get a free silicon case with the device. Not at all a bad deal considering you get the phone for just $47.99.
Now, coming to the specs of the OUKITEL C3, it comes with the MT6580 quad-core chipset and 1GB of RAM inside. You get 8GB of expandable ROM, 2000mAh battery inside an 8.8mm body, 5-inch 720p display and a 5MP rear camera. To remind you, this is not a 4G LTE enabled device but works on 3G networks.
You can check out more specs and pricing options for the device from the link given below.
The UMi TOUCH was reportedly scored the success mainly thanks to the metal unibody design and endurance of the 4000 mAh battery at a price of $169.99.
For that price the phone offers a Octa-core chipset, 3GB RAM, upto 128GB extend memory, exclusive 13 megapixel SONY IMX 328 rear camera with front touch fingerprint scanner along with the home botton, 5.5-inch 2.5D Arc glass LTPS display. Android 6.0 is out of the box.
The chassis is machined to a through 100 processes, in order to give it a smooth finish, similar to high-end devices, and also resistance to shock and fall.
Speaking of the design, it’s a special 8.8mm R Criterion curved design. Every curve follow 8.8mm radius, achieving the golden ratio of 1:0.618 which is identical to iPhone 6s. Even the buttons and the interfaces have been designed to follow this ratio. The arc design makes the phone look like the iPhone 6S, simple, yet beautiful. The smooth curves and the ergonomic design make sure that the phone has MAX space for 4000mAh big battery for friendly curved to fit in your hand.
If you are looking at a big battery phone with a premium design, surely this $40 off snap deal would catch your eyes, which we’re happily to share to you.
1. UMi code: Touch1sj8u
2. You now can use the UMi code to redeem $40 coupon at here.
3. Valid time from May12th 11:00 GMT+2 to May31st.
4. Limited offer, first come first serve.
A few weeks back, LeEco (formerly known as LeTV) announced three new smartphones in its second generation Le family namely the Le 2, Le 2 Pro and the Le Max 2. Like most Chinese manufacturers, the company has used MediaTek chipsets to keep the price as low as possible on the first two models. The Le 2 comes with the Helio X20 chip while the slightly costlier model, the Le 2 Pro comes with a more powerful Helio X25 chipset. However, it looks like LeEco might have a Snapdragon powered variant as well for its fans, at least for the Le 2 budget model. The phone is said to come with an option of Snapdragon 652 inside. However, we are yet to receive an official confirmation from the company about such a version.
It was recently reported that the Le 2 model with Snapdragon 652 inside was listed and will soon go on sale. The phone was spotted with 32GB ROM inside and came in three colours, gold, silver and grey. Interestingly, the pricing was kept the same as the Helio X20 powered model, i.e. 1099 Yuan which comes to around $168.
This could easily make the Le 2, the cheapest Snapdragon 652 smartphone in the market. This is possible since this Chinese giant tends to resort to negative profit pricing for its phones. If you remember, the recently released Xiaomi Max phablet had a SD652 version, but that costs around $260. This would be way cheaper than that.
So, if LeEco did release a SD652 powered Le 2 model, would you choose that version or the one with Helio X20 inside?
Meizu released the Pro 6 flagship last month, just few months after the release of the earlier generation Pro 5. Considering the Meizu Pro 5 was one for the most powerful smartphones in the market last year, we expected the new generation model to feature high-end specs. However, the company released the new flagship with Helio X25 chipset inside, which although is a pretty decent chip, it’s less powerful than competitors like Snapdragon 820 and Exynos 8890. This helped the company to keep the price of the device down to $386.
But it looks like there’s a new device in the works that’s reportedly going to come with the mighty Exynos 8890 chip. This isn’t the first time we are hearing rumours about an Exynos 8890 powered Meizu smartphone, but this new rumour adds more information. The source adds that the new phone will come with curved display from Samsung. Once again, this isn’t the first time we are hearing about such a device, but this is the first time someone is claiming that both the devices are actually one and the same. So, basically, the upcoming Meizu smartphone will feature a curved display and Exynos 8890 which hints that the company is trying to target the high-end market.
So, what about the price? The source states that we can expect this phone’s price to be around 3000 Yuan. This comes to around $460 which is a little higher than the pricing of the top-end Meizu Pro 6 variant. If the curved Meizu device is really this cheap, then we may have a winner here. But it’s still too early to confirm any details. From the release point of view, expect the phone to be announced only in the second half of 2016. Maybe we will get to see this alongside the rumoured MX6 flagship.
We know that ZTE will soon release its new flagship in the Axon series, which according to the usual naming scheme should be called as the ZTE Axon 2. The company’s CEO has started to reveal a few details about the device recently like the presence of a new design and a high-resolution 2K display from Sharp. Now, the company has sent out invites for the phone’s launch event (we are invited as well) which will be held on May 26 in China. However, what’s really interesting about the invite is the name printed on it.
According to the invites sent out to the media, ZTE is actually going to release a new device that goes by the name of ZTE Axon 7. Now, this is really surprising given that the company’s Axon series is just a year old and logically it should be called as the Axon 2. So, why would the invite say Axon 7? At present, we have no clear answer. But it is likely that ZTE is going to skip the name Axon 2 and jump right on to Axon 7. This may be done to compete directly with the iPhone 7 series models releasing later this year.
The invite also reveals that the phone will come with good audio output. These were the words written on the invite (translated) “Listening to the heart of power”. From the picture leaked recently and the TENAA images, we know that the phone will come with front facing speakers. Also, we can expect Hi-Fi audio support as well.
As for the specs, thanks to the previous TENAA listing, we know the Axon 7 will come with Snapdragon 820 chipset under the hood with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable storage. At the back, there will be a 20MP sensor, while up front, you get an 8MP shooter. There will be a 5.5-inch 2K display on board and the phone will run on Android 6.0.1.
Since the launch is just two weeks away, expect more details about this flagship in the coming days.
Sharp isn’t a well known brand when it comes to smartphones, but we have seen some impressive models from the company like the Aquos Crystal with a true edgeless display. Now, the company has announced a new generation model in the Aquos family which will be called as the Sharp Aquos Zeta SH-04H. Specifications of the new model have been listed on the company website, revealing powerful hardware especially the camera at the back.
According to the latest information, the Sharp Aquos Zeta will come with the Snapdragon 820 quad-core chipset under the hood with 3GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage. The storage comes with up to 200GB MicroSD card expansion slot. Given that display is one of Sharp’s speciality, the phone will come with a 5.3-inch IGZO high-definition full HD 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution LCD screen. The display features 2.5D glass on top and is protected by Gorilla Glass 4.
While these are capable specs, what’s really going to be the speciality of the new Aquos Zeta SH-04H is the camera at the back. The new model will come with a large 22.6MP sensor with Ricoh GR lens certification. This setup can focus in just 0.4 seconds and comes with f/1.9 aperture. It is GR certified by Ricoh Imaging which ensures high quality images. The camera can shoot 4K videos, 240 fps videos and even time lapse at 120 fps. Further, there’s OIS and real-time HDR as well. Up front, there is a 5MP camera with wide angle lens ideal for selfies.
What’s more, the new Zeta SH-04H will be will be waterproof and dust proof as well. Inside its 7.6mm body, the new Aquos Zeta model features a 3000mAh battery. The phone weighs just 155 grams. As for software, it will run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS. There will be Sharp’s new AI emopa 4.0 which adds more health oriented features. Finally, there will be a fingerprint sensor as well, located on the side just below the power button.
No word on the pricing or availability yet, but don’t expect it to be released outside of Japan. There will be three colour options, green, black and white.
Xiaomi announced the large screen phablet, Xiaomi Max a couple of days back. Apart from the super large 6.4-inch display, the company also highlighted the large battery on the smartphone. It is the biggest battery smartphone we have seen from the company yet and comes with a large 4850mAh capacity battery inside. This was necessary considering Xiaomi is marketing the large screen as ideal for entertainment and hence, it becomes necessary for the phone to last long even when watching videos or playing games.
While we still haven’t got hold of the new phablet from Xiaomi, a Chinese media website recently conducted a Xiaomi Max battery life test and the results are quite impressive. The Xiaomi Max only lost 4% of charge in one hour of video playback. Even while gaming and accessing social network websites for half an hour each, the phone lost just 3% charge under each activity. So, in total, the Xiaomi Max lost 10% after watching videos, playing games and browsing social network websites. That’s pretty impressive.
When it comes to the battery, discharging isn’t the only thing that we are concerned about. We also want to know how fast can it charge, given its large size. From the test conducted by the website, the results were disappointing. It took over 3 hours for the Xiaomi Max to charge from 0% to 100% which is clearly unacceptable. However, if you remember, the Max supports Quick Charge 3.0 charging specification, so if you can purchase a QC 3.0 compatible charger, you can fully charge this battery a lot sooner, probably in an hour. The stock charger supports just 5V 2A charging, which is too slow for its large size.
So, overall performance of the Xiaomi Max in the battery life test seems to be good. We will have to test out the device for a lot other factors like camera and performance, but that’s only after we get a unit for review.
Xiaomi officially announced the new generation of the Yi 4K Action Camera today. We already knew a lot about the device thanks to previous leaks, and now, all those details have been officially confirmed. So, the Xiaomi Yi 4K camera will come with the 12MP Sony IMX377 sensor with Ambarella A9SE95 chip, f/ 2.8 aperture and 155 degree wide angle lens. This allows for the camera to capture 4K resolution videos at 30 fps. The battery inside the new camera is also going to be quite large, featuring 1400mAh capacity that will ensure up to 2 hours of continuous 4K video recording. Apart from 4K, you can also record slo-mo videos on the new Yi 4K action camera in 740p @ 240 fps and 1080p @ 120 fps. It also allows for time lapse videos with 0.5 / 1 /2 /5/ 10/ 30/ 60 seconds internals between shots.
The new generation Yi camera will be available in five different colours including gold and rose gold, and supports Bluetooth 4.0 and 5GHz / 2.4GHz dual band Wi-Fi connectivity for high-speed transfer of files between the camera and the connected device. Finally, there’s a 2.19-inch 330 ppi Gorilla Glass Touch screen on board visible from 160 degree angle.
We got our hands on the new Yi 4K Action camera (black version) and here’s a basic overview of the device. We also have added the hands on pictures of the new camera below the video. Do check them out!
We have reviewed quite a few Bluetooth speakers and this time around we are looking at Blitzwolf F1 – a speaker that costs $38, has a beautiful all-metal design and a lot of controls. Learn more in our full review.
The Bluetooth speaker comes with the USB cable, AUX cable, carrying string and some paperwork.
Blitzwolf F1 Bluetooth Speaker Review: DESIGN and FEATURES
The very first impressions once I took the speaker out of the box were that it had an outstanding build quality and great choice of materials (metal unibody design). Also, the speaker is very compact.
We have some speaker grills and underneath it we can find a pretty powerful package – dual 45mm drivers with a total volume output of 10w (2x5W). That is a lot of sound for a speaker this small.
What is great about this device is that we have a bunch of controls. The buttons are tactile and clicky.
The back side sports a similar design to match the front.
We have an AUX input and micro USB ports that are covered by a flap since the speaker is IPX5 certified, which means it is splash-, shock- and dust-proof.
On the bottom we have some silicone pads to prevent speaker from sliding.
Blitzwolf F1 Bluetooth Speaker Review: SOUND QUALITY and TEST NOTES
When it comes to the sound quality, we would rate the Blitzwolf F1 as one of the better sounding speakers in this price range. The sound has a good balance between mids and highs. Also, it has a reasonable amount of bass considering its size. Last but not least, the speaker can get really loud and it may actually surprise you that the device of this size can produce so much volume.
We have tested the speaker with the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge and we didn’t have any Bluetooth issues (it uses Bluetooth 4.0).
The battery life is one of the best in class. We were able to achieve around 10 hours of music playback and it is one of the best results we have ever seen in a speaker this small.
The hands-free calling feature is pretty good too but you have to make sure you lower the volume of the speaker. Otherwise, people on the other end will start hearing themselves.
Blitzwolf F1 Bluetooth Speaker Review: CONCLUSIONS
The Blitzwolf F1 Bluetooth speaker has great looks, tactile control buttons and very sturdy all-metal design.
Also, the speaker has a great sound quality, it has no issues with neither Bluetooth connectivity nor with the hands-free calling feature.
All in all, Blitzwolf F1 is a great Bluetooth speaker and it can be recommended for those who are looking for a great sounding yet compact device that looks good and it is IP44-certified. Sure, we have plenty of other options out there in this price range but you will make no mistake choosing the Blitzwolf F1.
Banggood and Gizmochina teamed up to provide the readers a 10% off the retail price. Just use the 10BWF1 coupon code at the checkout to claim the discount.
We all have been patiently waiting for the next generation Mi Band 2 from Xiaomi. Earlier rumours had revealed that the new wearable was going to be announced alongside the Xiaomi Max phablet on May 10. Well, that didn’t happen, which brought up questions about the release date of the device among fans. Xiaomi CEO, Lei Jun had earlier showed off the new band at the event, but revealed no details about its release. However, considering the concern about the progress of the Mi Band 2, he confirmed today that the new wearable will be announced early June.
While he didn’t reveal any features of the device, thanks to an earlier leak, we already know how the new Mi Band 2 will look in real life. There will be a display on board the device, now displaying a lot more information than the previous generation Mi Band 1S. The earlier leak revealed that the display on board the new Mi Band can reveal information such as the steps walked, speed, heart rate as well as the calories burned. So, it looks like the new generation model will rely less on the connected smartphone. You can check out all the images leaked from here.
Further, it is said that the pricing will be competitive and cheap. But we still don’t have a figure for the device. Anything less than $50 would be a good deal. But let’s wait for some official details.
ZTE’s Nubia smartphone division unveiled the ZTE Nubia Z11 Mini smartphone last month. Unlike last year, where the company had revealed the Z9 Max along with the Z9 Mini, this year, the company released a single model at the event. But we knew that a larger model in the series was around the corner and now the Nubia Z11 Max smartphone has just passed through TENAA confirming our speculation.
Staying true to its Max name, the Z11 Max comes with a large 6-inch 1080p display with thin bezels. According to TENAA certification, the phone will have an octa-core processor clocked at 1.8GHz under the hood, which should most likely be the Snapdragon 652. For memory, the phone will come with 4GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage. This is further expandable via MicroSD slot. At the back, the Z11 Max features a 16MP camera while up front, there is an 8MP shooter. The phone will be running on Android 5.1. Other features of the phone include a large 4000mAh battery, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS etc.
The company is yet to reveal a release date for the new Z11 Max model. But given that the Z11 Mini is already announced, it shouldn’t take long for Nubia to release this large screen handset.
If Nubia manages to price the Z11 Max aggressively, do you think it can take on the newly announced Xiaomi Mi Max?
Vernee Thor orders have started shipping and there are already a lot of users who have got the device in their hands. The company had revealed earlier that the phone was going to get its first OTA update soon. Now, Vernee has informed us that the first OTA update for the Vernee Thor has been finished and the company will start the roll out of the new update today. So, customers who have the new Vernee smartphone in their hands can expect to update their smartphone very soon.
The first OTA update for the Vernee Thor brings a lot of improvements and optimisations including speeding up the fingerprint recognition on the device. In fact, Vernee had released a video revealing the most efficient way to unlock the Thor, you can check that out from here. The full change log of the first OTA update are as given below.
The update will fix or optimize the following aspects:
1. Optimized the lock-screen wallpaper presentation
2. Improved the fingerprint recognition rate
3.Reduced the heating effect when charging
4. Lowered the possibility of probabilistic fingerprint failure
5. Optimized the compatibility of third party apps
6. Addressed the problem that system time doesn’t update probabilistically
7. Enhanced the fingerprint recognition speed by 10%
8. Addressed the problem of probabilistic icon overlap
9. Improved the touching experience of the screen
10. Optimized the dual SIM settings and the function of rejecting incoming calls with an SMS
11. Added the function via which the incoming SMS will turn on the screen
In case you are wondering how to update your Thor, here’s how you can do it.
Go to settings > about phone > wireless update. You should see a notification for the update on top. Just download the update and follow instructions to complete the first OTA update for the Vernee Thor.
After Vivo entered the curved edge display market, many rumours starting making rounds on the internet claiming that other Chinese handset makers including Xiaomi, and Huawei are working on their own curved edge smartphones. Looks like these two aren’t the only new Chinese smartphone manufacturers working on such a smartphone as alleged images of a curved display smartphone from Meizu has just surfaced online. Like the Galaxy S7 Edge, these images reveal a new Meizu smartphone featuring dual edged curved display.
Although the images aren’t as clear as we would have liked, it does reveal that the phone will have dual edged screen. The basic design seems to be in line with Meizu’s flagship philosophy, and it reminds us a little of the Pro 5 flagship announced last year. Another very Meizu like design is the physical home button, located just below the display. Its oval in shape and similar to the ones we have seen on the company’s smartphones in the past. Also, a couple of images reveal that the phone is running Meizu’s own Flyme OS. Unfortunately, apart from this, no other information was revealed about the device.
We are not sure whether the company is planning to release this dual edged screen smartphone as a variant of the existing flagship Pro 6. This is a possibility as the company could follow the same strategy as the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. But another possibility is that this could be a new smartphone lineup, like the update of the popular MX series. We haven’t seen the Meizu MX6 model yet and this could be it or at least one variant in the series.
Meizu has had a good relationship with Samsung in the past, with the company using the South Korean giant’s Exynos chipsets inside its flagship models. So, it is quite possible that the company extends this relationship for curved edged displays. A recent leak event showed off an Exynos 8890 powered variant of the Meizu Pro 6, you can read all about that from here.
So, what do you think? Is it a good idea for Chinese giants to release dual edge curved display smartphones?
UMi formally announced their new “sub brand” “Super” phone by $70 subscription on the website, claiming Super will works with all-new suppliers from well-known brands to be the game changer, while others phone manufacturers still are not aware of the importance of how to make a good phone.
“A true good phone is an interpretation sharing the best balance between design, craftsmanship and the power of technology”, said by UMi the company.
UMi decided to change the picture with their Super phone, hopefully like the Superman change the world.
Today the company finally revealed the full spec of UMi Super by listing on the website, for more detail check here.
It’s Super Premium, it’s Super Powerful, it’s Super fast.
The presales of UMi Super would start in about two weeks at $249.99. if you have a UMi code you can redeem $70 to pre-order.
You can get this $70 coupon by subscribing from here and participant giveaway by finishing a questionnaire. Head to the site for more detail.
Xiaomi officially announced the Xiaomi Max phablet yesterday. This is without any doubt the biggest smartphone from the company till date, sporting a large 6.4-inch 1080p display up front, ideal for your entertainment needs. The company says the size brings the best phablet experience on a smartphone, bringing you the largest possible screen real estate without adversely affecting your user experience.
The phone is slim as well as light for its size, measuring 173.1 x 88.3 x 7.5mm and weighing 203 grams. Apart from its beautiful metal body, the phone sports 2.5D glass up front to give it a premium feel. Overall, the phone looks like a well built large screen device and one of the best looking offerings from Xiaomi till date. You can check out the unboxing of the Xiaomi Max in pictures from down below.
To recap, the Xiaomi Max comes in three different versions, with the low-end model featuring Snapdragon 650 hexa-core chipset and the other two high end models coming with the much more powerful Snapdragon 652. The low-end model comes with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, while the other two models feature 4GB RAM, and 64GB and 128GB storages respectively. Other common features on all the three models include 16MP rear camera sensor, 5MP front camera sensor, dual SIM dual standby, fingerprint sensor and a large 4850mAh battery.
Meizu has been teasing the launch of the recently announced Meizu M3 Note in India. Now, the company has officially announced the device in India, just a month after the phone was announced back in China. It looks like for now, only the M3 Note will be sold in India, so the two other models released last month, namely the Meizu M3 and the Meizu Pro 6 flagship won’t be sold here yet. The company will be selling the same variant of the M3 Note as sold in China.
Meizu’s Blue Charm series models are usually made out of polycarbonate body. But this year, the company decided to change this tradition by using a unibody metal design on the new M3 Note. As for the specs, the phone comes with a 5.5-inch 1080p display with 2.5D curved glass on top. The phone will be powered by the Helio P10 octa-core processor with 2GB and 3GB RAM options. However, in India, the company seems to be selling only the 3GB RAM and 32GB storage variant. At the back, the phone will come with a 13MP sensor with f/2.2 aperture and PDAF while on the front, you get a 5MP shooter. Like the Redmi Note 3 Pro, Meizu has given the M3 Note a large 4100mAh battery which is good enough to last for more than a day. The battery is housed inside a 8.3mm body and the phone weighs 163 grams. As for the software, the phone comes with Android 5.1 Lollipop with Meizu’s own Flyme 5.1 UI on top.
At Rs. 9999 ($150), the Meizu M3 Note turns out to be a great option for Indian consumers. The phone will be available for sale on May 31 via flash sale model at 2PM exclusively on Amazon.
We haven’t seen a new flagship smartphone from ZTE yet, but that may change soon. ZTE CEO Zeng Xuezhong has just revealed the new Axon 2 flagship via his Weibo page, giving us the first glimpse of the upcoming smartphone. The phone will reportedly come with a new design, without any screws at the bottom. The CEO revealed the picture down below and said that the company is aiming for a minimalistic design without the use of the boring old screws down at the bottom.
From the image above, we can see that the Axon 2’s design is going to be very simple. Unlike the Huawei P9 or the iPhone 6S shown in the image for comparison, the new Axon flagship will feature just the USB port and the microphone at the bottom. So, no speakers at the bottom. But that brings us to another question, if the speakers are located at the back of the phone, that may not be the ideal location. We have seen that speakers on the back give out muffled output when placed on a flat surface. We hope that the new design comes with a solution to this problem. But there’s another possibility, the previous TENAA images have revealed front facing speakers on the new Axon flagship, which could be the perfect location. We hope that’s going to be the case here.
Axon 2 Spotted On TENAA
Another question brought by this image is how well is the built quality of the Axon 2. Traditionally screws do a good job of keeping the body intact, but since ZTE is coming up with a different design, it would be interesting to see how overall built of the phone.
We have already seen the Axon 2 on TENAA in the past revealing most of the specs details of the device. The ZTE Axon 2 is expected to come with the Snapdragon 820 chipset with 4GB RAM, 64GB of storage further expandable up to 128GB. At the back, the phone will have a 20MP sensor while up front an 8MP shooter. Finally, a 3140mAh battery will be powering the phone.
While the above specs aren’t confirmed by the company, what we know for sure is that the new Axon 2 will come with a top-end Sharp 2K panel, which should also be ideal for VR. You can read more about the CEO’s comments on 2K from here.
LeEco (formerly known as Letv) may be still considered as a newcomer to the smartphone game but they have released quite a few high-quality smartphones in a short amount of time. LeEco Le 2 is one of their latest offeringsand it indeed looks like a nice phone for a reasonable price. Learn more in our full review.
The phone ships with some paperwork, USB C cable, SIM ejector pin, a fast charger and last but not least USB type C to 3.5mm headset jack adapter since the LeEco Le 2 does not have a classic 3.5mm headset jack.
LeEco Le 2 Review: SPECS
Display
5.5″ 1080p (Full-HD)
Processor
Mediatek MTK6797 Helio X20, 64-bit, octa-core (up to 2.3GHz)
The first impressions once we took the phone out of the box – it is just gorgeous. The phone has an excellent all-metal build quality, nice and tactile buttons and rose gold color looks awesome.
One of the most interesting aspects of this phone is that it does not have a headset jack. Instead, LeEco assures that this phone is capable of providing even a better audio experience via the USB C port. I have to tell you that the sound quality via the earphones is very good and the volume output is loud.
We have a 5.5″ 1080p display, which is nice, sharp and visible outdoors, nicely backlit capacitive buttons, notification LED and 8MP camera on the front. Design-wise, Le 2 is very similar to the Le 1s, which is also a great looking phone.
The metal material of the phone is very nice to the touch.We have a 16MP camera, dual tone dual-LED flash for picture taking. The fingerprint scanner works straight from the standby mode, it is fast and accurate.
The IR blaster is here to control devices like TVs. The sound quality from the loudspeaker is pretty good and it can get pretty loud. However, the sound could have slightly more depth.
LeEco Le 2 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE
LeEco Le 2 sports some great internal hardware components. It uses a Mediatek Helio X20 clocked at 2.3GHz, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, which is not expandable.
The gaming performance is good but not perfect. If you play high-demanding games like Asphalt 8 on medium graphics, there will be no skipped frames or lag and the gaming experience is very good.
However, once you set graphics to maximum, you should expect some occasional stutter from time to time. Still, the phone is a pretty good performer considering it’s price and the phone will get only better with future software updates.
Also, the phone gets a little warm pretty quickly but it does not overheat to uncomfortable levels, so you do not need to worry about that.
LeEco Le 2 Review: BENCHMARKS
For some unknown reasons, Antutu 3d bench app could not be installed. We will update this section with Antutu scores soon.
LeEco Le 2 Review: USER INTERFACE
When it comes to the user interface, we have the eUI 5.6, which is built on top of Android 6.0. If you are familiar with the eUI, it hasn’t really changed much. All apps sit on the home screens and we have LeTV services’ quick access button at the center. However, all the content is in Chinese on our Chinese review unit.
What I love about the eUI is that you can quickly access settings toggles, adjust brightness, open or close your recent apps and so on, and you can do that all in one place by simply clicking a left capacitive button.
As usual, we have some customization options, quite a few settings and tweaks to play with.
A few software bugs include duplicated icons for some apps and camera crashing issue once you go into settings menu (only in picture taking mode). I’m pretty sure these issues will be fixed very soon with the upcoming software update.
Another issues include quite a few missed Chinese-English translations. LeEco simply did not really bother translating some menu sections.
Most importantly, the UI is running fast, fluid and I didn’t have a single hiccup no matter how many apps were open in the background.
The 16MP camera can take some great daylight images, which have plenty of detail, natural looking colors and sharpness.
The quality decreases with a lower amount of lighting but the pictures still look pretty good.
The low-light camera performance is mediocre as on all phones in this price range. You may get some okay looking images but they will still have a lot of noise and low amount of detail.
The phone can shoot videos at 4k resolution. However, I could not play 4k videos on my Macbook. This is exactly the same issue I had on the Le 1 (tried 5 different players, downloaded various codec packs etc.) but I will leave download links to the original files below the video.
As for 1080p video, it is not bad but the main issues are that it is a bit shaky and there is no continuous auto-focus feature.
An 8MP selfie shooter is pretty good for some self-portraits.
You can be rest assured that there will no connectivity issues (including GPS) on this device. The only shortcoming is that the 5GHz wifi range could be better (compared it with the Samsung Galaxy s7 edge).
LeEco Le 2 Review: BATTERY LIFE
LeEco decided to stick with the 3000mAh battery and I was able to fully charge it in 1h 20 mins with a supplied charger.
As for day-to-day use, I could get around 4.5 hours of screen on time on a light use and around 4 hours on a heavy use of the phone. Not the best result but pretty good for the size of the battery.
LeEco Le 2 Review: CONCLUSIONS
So, here it is, the LeEco Le 2. The phone looks and feels premium due to its all-metal build and it feels great in the hand.
Also, we have a nice, sharp and bright display, very fast user interface with quite a few customization options, good cameras, accurate fingerprint sensor and fast charging feature out of the box.
For some users, the lack of the headset jack is a shortcoming but if you usually use a pair of Bluetooth earphones like me, you don’t really care about it.
Although we like the UI, it has quite a lot of missed translations, which is inexcusable for the company, which aims to become a big player in the international market.
Also, the lack of the microSD card slot may not be a deal breaker but a lot of users really appreciate this cheap storage expansion option.
Other than that, LeEco is a great and high-quality phone. You can get it for around $200 via the third-party resellers and it is definitely one of the better options for the price at the moment.
Another leak showed from UMi forum. This time UMi revealed that Super will go with SHARP supplier to pursuit an ultra-high color saturation Sunlight screen.
What does Sunlight screen mean? We’ve seen this function used on some model of Xiaomi and Meizu claiming it is feature to have 17% better overall color saturation for a richer viewing experience. The great thing to have sunlight screen is that you will not have problem reading your phone in the sun.
Not to mention Super display will has 95% NTSC gamut which enhanced from “vivid colors” based, according to UMi.
Whether you’re looking at photos, watching videos, or using exciting apps, Super delivers intense vivid colors.
Unlike other brands using different component in one model, UMi says that Super will use only SHARP display in order to bring out the richest and consistent user experience.
I guess this is why they call it Super – super suppliers
If you’re interested in UMi Super then you should go hurry and subscribe this $70 coupon here before it’s too late.
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