Historically, smartphones have always arrived with a warranty and by its extension even repair services. So what sets this particular handset apart from the rest in the after-sales regard. Well, this crowdfunded device arrives with a lengthy 4 years of warranty on top of which, repair services rates are relatively affordable as well.

The smartphone in question is the Teracube One which is set to start shipping later this month (January 2020). The smartphone is being crowdfunded and has surpassed its initial Kickstarted program goal of $25,000. According to the disclosed figure, the company raised a large sum of $125,000, which is five times the original goal. Keep in mind, the figure may not seem large in an industry dominated by multi-billion dollar corporations, but makes a large difference for a brand new company sourcing investment through crowdfunding.

The Teracube One with its 4-year warranty (granted one must cover the shipping costs if they live outside of the US) is also being well received for its repair rates. The team behind the smartphone offers a flat $39 repairs for accidental damages. The meager sum allows one to repair their screens and water related damages.

Editor’s Pick: OmniVision unveils 48MP sensor with large 2.4um pixel size with binning

Notably, Teracube has stated that it will even offer free battery replacements throughout the four year warranty period (if reasonable degradation is found in the battery). Even after your device is out of warranty period, it will only cost $39 for a new battery. Furthermore, the Terecube team is also planning to update its Android smartphone with up to 3 years of major OS updates in addition to security updates.

For those interested, the Terecube One is a budget smartphone features a MediaTek Helio P60 SoC. It is powered by a 3,300mAh battery and is equipped with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. In terms of photography, the Terecube One sports a 12MP+5MP dual camera setup with an 8MP selfie shooter at the front. The smartphone also supports NFC and houses a 3.5mm headphone jack. The phone starts shipping later this month and carries a $349 price tag.

For more coverage on CES 2020 events and launches, click here.

UP NEXT: Redmi Note 8 Pro Twilight Orange color variant to release tomorrow in China

(Via)

The post A Crowdfunded Smartphone offers a lengthy 4 year Warranty and inexpensive repairs appeared first on Gizmochina.

We have reviewed quite a few Blackview phones this year and the E7 is one of their latest budget offerings. The phone costs just $67, it has a decent design and more. Learn more in our full review.

Blackview E7 Review: VIDEO REVIEW

Blackview E7 Review: UNBOXING

The phone ships with all the usual stuff and some extras include a soft TPU case and a pair of earphones.

Blackview E7 Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

For just $67, the Blackview E7 is actually a pretty nice-looking phone. Although it does not use any premium materials like metal or glass in the construction, it is well-built.

We have a 5.5” display, which is only 720p but it is plenty sharp for the daily use. Unfortunately, we don’t have neither notification LED light nor backlit capacitive buttons.

There is only an 8MP camera on the back but we have a fingerprint sensor, which is not the fastest I’ve seen but it gets the job done.

The backplate can be easily removed to access a 2700mAh battery, two SIM card slots and the microSD card slot.

The loudspeaker is like on most of the cheap phones – the sound is flat.

Blackview E7 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

The Blackview E7 sports some pretty good specs for the price. The phone ships with a quad-core MTK6737 chip, 16GB of storage but it has only 1GB of RAM, which is kind of disappointing.

On the other hand, the gaming performance is pretty good. You should be able to run most of the 2D games and 3D games like Asphalt 8 on the medium graphics. However, you should expect quite a bit of stutter and skipped frames.

Blackview E7 Review: BENCHMARKS

Blackview E7 Review: USER INTERFACE

The phone runs on Android 6.0 with the Blackview’s skin on top of it. That means that there is no app tray but we have a few extra features like a bunch of gesture and motion controls. Some of them work great while others are kind of slow to respond.

I didn’t have any major lags or hiccups even after installing quite a few apps and I believe this is the most important thing for a cheap phone.

Blackview E7 Review: IMAGE QUALITY

An 8MP camera does not really impress as we’ve seen some better-performing shooters on the cheap phones. Nevertheless, you may get some images usable for social media but don’t expect any stellar results.

Same can be said about 720p video quality. See a video review for the video sample.

The selfie camera is just mediocre as the images come out soft and with lots of noise.

Blackview E7 Review: CONNECTIVITY

I didn’t have any connectivity issues and even the GPS lock speeds and accuracy were okay.

Blackview E7 Review: BATTERY LIFE

The 2700mAh battery will get you through the day quite easily. With my usage, I could get around 4 hours of screen-on time, which is a decent result for a cheap phone.

Blackview E7 Review: CONCLUSIONS

The Blackview E7 is a pretty nice phone for just $67. It is pretty fast on the daily basis, it has a decent design and some extra features like a fingerprint sensor. However, it lacks premium materials in the design, it has just 1GB of RAM and it lacks notification LED light and backlit capacitive buttons. Still, the Blackview E7 is a good phone for the price but you have to consider if these shortcomings are important to you or not.

The post Blackview E7 Review – A $67 Phone appeared first on Gizmochina.

We have reviewed quite a few Blackview phones this year and the A8 Max is one of their latest budget offerings. The phone costs just $80, it has a great design and more. Learn more in our full review.

Blackview A8 Max Review: VIDEO REVIEW

Blackview A8 Max Review: UNBOXING

The phone ships with all the usual stuff and some extras include a soft TPU case, a pair of earphones and a screen protector.

Blackview A8 Max Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

For just $80, the phone is very nice. It sports a metal trim and tactile buttons, and overall I’m happy with the build quality.

We have a 5.5” display, which is only 720p but it is plenty sharp for the daily use.

Unfortunately, we have neither notification LED light nor backlit capacitive buttons.

On the back, we have a 13MP camera and a loudspeaker, which is not fantastic but it is pretty good for the phone this cheap.

The backplate can be easily removed to access a 3000mAh battery, two SIM card slots and the microSD card slot.

Blackview A8 Max Review: BENCHMARKS

Blackview A8 Max Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

The Blackview A8 Max sports pretty good specs for the price. The phone ships with a quad-core MTK6737 chip, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage.

The gaming performance is pretty good. You should be able to run most of the 2D games and 3D games on the medium graphics.

Blackview A8 Max Review: USER INTERFACE

The phone runs on Android 6.0 with the Blackview’s skin on top of it. That means that there is no app tray but we have a few extra features like a bunch of gesture and motion controls. Some of them work great while others are kind of slow to respond.

I didn’t have any major lags or hiccups even after installing quite a few apps and I believe this is the most important thing for a cheap phone.

Blackview A8 Max Review: IMAGE QUALITY

For an $80 phone, the picture quality is not bad at all. Sure, the images are not the best we’ve seen but you can get some nice looking photos in daylight.

As for selfie camera, it is not the best but it will do the trick for social media needs.

The video quality is just mediocre as on all cheap phones. See the video review for a video sample.

Blackview A8 Max Review: CONNECTIVITY

I didn’t have any connectivity issues and even the GPS lock speeds and accuracy were okay.

Blackview A8 Max Review: BATTERY LIFE

The 3000mAh battery will get you through the day quite easily. With my usage, I could get around 5 hours of screen-on time, which is a good result.

Blackview A8 Max Review: CONCLUSIONS

Blackview A8 Max is an $80 phone that is pretty good for the price. It does most of the things right but it lacks a few features that some other phones in this range have – a fingerprint scanner and notification LED light. If you don’t need these features, Blackview A8 Max is a pretty solid $80 phone.

The post Blackview A8 Max Review – A Nice $80 Phone appeared first on Gizmochina.

Leagoo M5 is yet another budget phone from China and it is actually one of the best $60 phones you can buy at the moment. Learn more in the full Gizmochina’s review.

Leagoo M5 Review: VIDEO REVIEW

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTfXfHpBoAo[/embedyt]

Leagoo M5 Review: UNBOXING

The phone comes with all the usual stuff and some extras include a pair of cheap earphones, which sound quite terrible.

Leagoo M5 Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

The Leagoo M5 is a very well-built phone. It uses a solid metal frame that goes all around the device and tactile metal buttons. Honestly, the phone feels a lot sturdier than some more expensive devices out there.

Although the backplate is glossy and it attracts fingerprints and smudges, it still feels high quality.

Since it is a $60 phone, we don’t have neither notification LED light nor backlit capacitive buttons but a 5” 720p display is sharp enough for the daily use.

Also, the phone is very compact but it is kind of on a heavy side as it weighs 180g.

We have an 8MP camera and a fingerprint sensor, which are installed in a high-quality metal frame. Speaking of that fingerprint sensor, it is not the fastest I’ve seen but it definitely gets the job done and it works straight from the standby mode. Also, you can use the fingerprint sensor as a touchpad. The ability to scroll through the menus is one of my favorite features.

It’s not that easy to remove a backplate but underneath it, you can find 2 SIM card slots, microSD card slot and a removable 2300mAh battery.

I was fairly impressed by the loudspeaker quality. Sure, it is not the best but it is better than a lot of phones that costs as twice as much.

Leagoo M5 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

For $60, the Leagoo M5 has some pretty good specs. The phone ships with the quad-core Mediatek 6580A chip, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage.

The 3D gaming performance is surprisingly good. The Asphalt 8, which is one of the most versatile games to test the phone’s performance runs absolutely fine on the medium graphics.

Leagoo M5 Review: BENCHMARKS

Leagoo M5 Review: USER INTERFACE

Having reviewed quite a few phones made by Leagoo, I knew what to expect. The Android 6 based user interface is highly customized. The app tray is gone but there are quite a few features and customization options. Some of them may look a bit gimmicky but others are actually pretty useful.

Most importantly, the phone has been fast and fluid even after installing quite a few apps.

Leagoo M5 Review: IMAGE QUALITY

You should never expect great-looking images from the phone this cheap and the Leagoo M5 is no exception. Sure, you can get some decent images that are usable for social media but nothing more.

Same can be said about the front facing camera.

Leagoo M5 Review: CONNECTIVITY

I didn’t have any issues with neither of the connectivity options except for the fact that it takes a bit longer to get the GPS position lock.

Leagoo M5 Review: BATTERY LIFE

A 2300mAh does not really sound impressive. The battery will get you through the day if you are not a heavy user only. That translates to just over 3 hours of screen-on time.

Leagoo M5 Review: CONCLUSIONS

Leagoo M5 is a very solid phone for just $60. Sure, it is not a perfect device but even with a few shortcomings, it can be highly recommended if you are in the market of a super cheap smartphone for under $60.

The post Leagoo M5 Review – My New Favourite Cheap Phone appeared first on Gizmochina.

This is not a Pepsi commercial, this is a Pepsi smartphone. It doesn’t matter if you like drinking Pepsi or not, this device is really good… and it doesn’t even cost a hundred bucks. Learn more in our full review.

Thanks to Banggood for sending Pepsi P1s for a review.

Pepsi P1s Review: VIDEO REVIEW

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6INCfU88Pns[/embedyt]

Pepsi P1s Review: UNBOXING

It all starts with beautiful presentation and all the items are packed neatly. In the box, you can find all the usual stuff and some extras like a pair of earphones, a screen protector and a soft TPU case.

Pepsi P1s Review: SPECS

Pepsi P1s Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

No one will ever tell you that this phone does not even cost a $100. The device sports an all-metal shell and it is well-constructed. In fact, I dropped the phone on the rocks from about 2 meters and the only damage there was – a few dings on the metal frame and metal buttons. Speaking of the buttons, they are nice and tactile.

We have a 5.5” LCD 1080p display, which is sharp, bright and vibrant, and it is one of the best panels on such a cheap phone.

Just above the display, there is a 5MP selfie camera. Unfortunately, there is no LED notification light and the capacitive buttons are not backlit.

As far as the main camera goes, we have a 13MP shooter coupled with the LED flash. Just below the camera, there is a fingerprint scanner, which is not the fastest around but it is accurate enough and it works straight from the standby mode.

The loudspeaker sits on the bottom and I have to tell you that it is one of the best I’ve heard in a sub-$100 phone.

Pepsi P1s Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

The Pepsi phone is no slouch when it comes to the internal hardware. It ships with an octa-core MTK6592 chip, clocked at 1.7Ghz, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage.

These are not the flagship-grade specs but the phone handles 3D games pretty well. I enjoyed playing Asphalt 8 on medium graphics without any stutter but the phone gets quite warm quickly.

On the other hand, the device never got too hot that it became uncomfortable.

Pepsi P1s Review: BENCHMARKS

Pepsi P1s Review: USER INTERFACE

Speaking of the UI performance, it is good too. I didn’t have any hiccups or lags. The phone ships with the dido OS, which is a surprisingly good implementation of the already dated Android 5.1.

All the icons that sit on the home screens, have some Pepsi design elements. While it justifies the purpose of this phone, I’m not a huge fan of that cartoonish look. On the other hand, the user interface has quite a few customization options and some added features like a bunch of gesture and motion controls.

Pepsi P1s Review: IMAGE QUALITY

You can’t expect much from a cheap phone when it comes to the image quality but the Pepsi phone is capable of taking some decent looking images when there is enough lighting.

Some of the low-light images may be usable but don’t expect any stellar results.

A front-facing camera can take just mediocre-looking selfies but they may be enough for social media.

The 1080p video, on the other hand, is one of the best in class. See a video review for a video sample.

Pepsi P1s Review: CONNECTIVITY

When it comes to connectivity, the phone supports 4G and it can take either 2 SIM cards or a combo of 1 SIM and the microSD card.

I didn’t have any connectivity issues. Even the GPS lock speeds were fast and the GPS was accurate.

Pepsi P1s Review: BATTERY LIFE

The phone ships with 3000mAh battery that performs quite well. The device will get you through the day and I was able to get around 3.5h of screen-on time, which is not the best result but I can definitely live with that.

Unfortunately, the phone does not support fast charging feature.

Pepsi P1s Review: CONCLUSIONS

The Pepsi phone is a one pleasant surprise, to be honest. I didn’t even know it existed before I decided to review it. The device exceeded my expectations considering its low price tag.

It has a nice looking all-metal design and excellent build quality and brilliant display. Also, the phone performs well and its UI may look a bit cartoonish but it has some nice features.

Also, the camera can take some decent looking daylight images and the phone has a good loudspeaker.

On the other hand, you have to consider that the Pepsi smartphone lacks the notification LED light, its capacitive buttons are not backlit, the phone ships with the already dated Android 5.1 and last but not least, the phone ships with a few pre-installed bloatware apps.

All in all, the $93 Pepsi smartphone may not be the perfect device but it is definitely one of the best phones you can buy at this price point, despite a few shortcomings.

The post Pepsi Smartphone Review! A Fantastic $93 Smartphone! appeared first on Gizmochina.

If you are in the market of a 5.5” HD smartphone, which also has a fingerprint scanner but you don’t want to spend a pretty penny, the $66 Chinese phone Homtom HT17 brings a lot of value for money. Learn more in our full review.

Thanks to Chinavasion for sending Homtom HT17 smartphone for a review.

Homtom HT17 Review: VIDEO REVIEW

Homtom HT17 Review: UNBOXING

For just $66, you get all the usual accessories and some extras like a soft TPU case and a screen protector.

Homtom HT17 Review: SPECS

Homtom HT17 Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

The phone is made of plastic but the build quality is surprisingly good. The phone does not look fancy or anything but it does not look very cheap either. The 5,5” 720p display is pretty good but the main shortcomings are that it has a poor brightness output that leads to a subpar sunlight legibility.

We have a 5MP interpolated selfie camera along with LED notification light. The capacitive buttons, however, are not backlit.

Rounded corners of the soft plastic back help with the grip and thus it is quite comfortable to hold the phone in the hand.

You can easily remove the backplate and underneath it, you will find 2 SIM card slots and the microSD card slot. Also, you can remove the 3000mAh battery.

As for camera, we have an 8MP sensor that can take 13MP pictures and the LED flash. The fingerprint scanner is a nice addition considering a low price of the phone. It is not the fastest on the market but it is pretty accurate and it unlocks your phone straight from the standby mode.

The loudspeaker is mediocre in general but it is very good for the phone this cheap.

The buttons are tactile and easy to press.

Homtom HT17 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

For the price of just $66, you can’t expect any great specs. The Homtom HT17 ships with the quad-core MTK6737 chip, which has maximum clock speeds of 1.1GHz, 1GB of RAM and just 8GB of expandable storage.

The phone is definitely not designed for the hardcore gamers but you can still enjoy some games if you reduce the graphics settings. There are quite a few skipped frames while playing Asphalt 8 but it is still possible to enjoy playing it.

Homtom HT17 Review: BENCHMARKS

Homtom HT17 Review: USER INTERFACE

As for user interface, the device ships with Android 6.0 out of box. It clearly reminds stock Android but we have some redesigned icons and added features.

For example, there are plenty of gesture and motion controls that work pretty well.

The day-to-day performance of the UI is pretty fast. There were a few minor hiccups and it may take a bit longer to open certain apps but I was happy with the overall speed of the user interface.

Homtom HT17 Review: IMAGE QUALITY

The image quality is definitely far from the best but it is one of the best if we talk about sub-$60 phones.

The phone can take some pretty good looking photos in daylight but it will struggle in lower-lit situations.

The 720p video quality is mediocre as on most of the phones in this price range. See a video review for a video sample.

A front-facing camera is a bit disappointing as the images lack detail.

Download full resolution camera samples

Homtom HT17 Review: CONNECTIVITY

As for connectivity, I didn’t have any issues with Wifi, call quality or signal reception. Even the GPS lock speeds are fast and it is usable for navigation.

Homtom HT17 Review: BATTERY LIFE

The 3000mAh battery will last you at least a full day, depending on the usage. I could get around 4 hours of screen-on time on a mixed use of the phone.

Homtom HT17 Review: CONCLUSIONS

Homtom HT17 is a budget phone that brings quite a lot of value for money.

It has a decent display and good build quality, some added features in the user interface, decent overall performance and a fingerprint scanner that works pretty well.

Also, the phone has an okay camera, which is a rare feature to have in this price range.

However, don’t expect to play the high-end games or take a lot of low-light photos with this phone – the performance will be pretty disappointing. Also, the display could be slightly brighter.

Other than that, Homtom HT17 is a surprisingly good and usable $66 phone, despite a few shortcomings.

The post Homtom HT17 Review: 5.5″ Display and Fingerprint Scanner for $66! appeared first on Gizmochina.

We continue our segment of very cheap phone and this time around we have iNew U5W. The phone costs just $65. Learn more in our full review.

iNew U5W Review: VIDEO

iNew U5W Review: UNBOXING

The phone ships with all the usual stuff and some extras include a pair of earphones, a soft TPU case and a screen protector.

iNew U5W Review: SPECS, PERFORMANCE, BENCHMARKS

Let’s start by taking a look at what kind of specs-sheet you are getting for such a low price. The iNew U5W ships with a quad-core MTK6580 chip with the clock speeds of 1.3GHz, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of expandable storage.

The gaming performance is actually not bad. Of course, the graphics don’t look spectacular but I didn’t have any lag or major hiccups when I played Asphalt 8 on the lowest graphics.

iNew U5W Review: DESIGN, DISPLAY, FEATURES, BATTERY LIFE

The phone has a decent build quality and it uses plastic in the construction. The phone is compact and sits conformably in the hand.

You can easily remove the backplate and underneath it you will find a removable 3000mAh battery, two SIM card slots and the microSD card slot.

Speaking of the battery, it performs very well. I could get over 5.5 hours of screen-on time, which is a great result for the phone this cheap.

We have a 5MP camera but you should not expect any stellar results from it as this is a $65 phone after all. You may get some okay looking images usable for social media but most of the shots will not look great.

The loudspeaker is actually pretty good and you simply cannot ask more at this price point.

The 5” display does not even sport an HD resolution. Still, it is pretty good panel for the price of the phone. However, it would have been nice to see at least HD resolution.

On the front we have a 2MP shooter, which is not really impressive but you may get an okay looking selfie in good lighting conditions.

A few shortcomings would be that the capacitive buttons are not backlit and there is no LED notification light.

iNew U5W Review: UI

iNew U5W ships with Android 5.1 with some added features and customization options.

To begin with, there is no app tray but we have some fancy looking widgets, ability to customize your phone with different themes, transition effects, wallpapers and so on.

Most importantly, the phone does not lag or stutter on a daily basis.

iNew U5W Review: CAMERA

We have a 5MP camera but you should not expect any stellar results from it as this is a $65 phone after all. You may get some okay looking images usable for social media but most of the shots will not look great.

On the front we have a 2MP shooter, which is not really impressive but you may get an okay looking selfie in good lighting conditions.

iNew U5W Review: CONNECTIVITY

We didn’t have any major connectivity issues. The GPS lock speeds are good but the accuracy could be slightly better.

iNew U5W Review: CONCLUSIONS

iNew U5W is yet another cheap phone from China and this device shows that it has become possible to buy a basic smartphone for basic daily tasks.

Sure, you will not get a good camera or even and HD display but the iNew U5W gets the basics right.

It has a decent design and build, the UI has quite a few customization options and it runs smoothly most of the times.

We don’t say that this is the only phone that you should look for if you are on a tight budget but it is an option worth checking out, if you don’t want to spend more than $65.

The post iNew U5W Review – A Phone for $65 appeared first on Gizmochina.

We haven’t reviewed any phones made by Vernee and it will be interesting to see what kind of devices this company has to offer. Today we have a Vernee Thor in our review labs. The phone costs around $120 and it has some decent specs. Learn more in our full review.

Thanks to Oppomart for sending Vernee Thor for a review.

Coupon code for Vernee Thor at Oppomart: VENE20,$20 off.

Vernee Thor Review: VIDEO

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV8WRqgTamo[/embedyt]

Vernee Thor Review: UNBOXING

The phone comes with all the usual stuff. One thing worth mentioning is that the phone ships with a fast charger.

Vernee Thor Review: DESIGN

We are looking at quite a compact phone due to its 5″ 720p display (covered with Gorilla Glass 3), which is actually very nice to look at. It is quite sharp, vivid and it is a decent HD panel overall.

We have a 5MP selfie camera and non-backlit capacitive buttons. However, there is no LED notification light.

The phone is made of plastic but it does not feel cheap at all. In fact, it sports a soft “baby skin” coating and it makes the phone feel very nice in the hand. Also, rounded edges help with the grip and thus the phone is very comfortable to hold.

The phone sports a 13MP camera with a single LED flash. Just below the camera we can find a fingerprint scanner. We found this security option to be fast, accurate and it works straight from the standby mode. However, the display could light up a little bit faster after the fingerprint has been recognized.

On the bottom there is a loudspeaker, which is pretty good but, as usual to budget phones, the sound could have more depth.

The backplate can be removed and underneath it you can find 2 SIM card slots and the microSD card slot for storage expansion. A 2800mAh non-removable battery powers up the device.

The buttons feel nice and they are tactile.

Vernee Thor Review: SPECS, PERFORMANCE, BENCHMARKS

Vernee Thor has some pretty good specs for the price. It sports an MTK6753 chip (1.3GHz,) 3GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage.

The phone handles 3D gaming very well. I was surprised that Asphalt 8 ran with no lag or stutter even on highest graphics (see a video review for gaming performance).

Vernee Thor Review: UI

Vernee Thor is also a great performer on a daily use. Almost stock looking Android 6.0 based user interface does not have many features but it is very fast and responsive even after installing lots of apps.

Vernee Thor Review: CAMERA

The 13MP camera can take some good looking images in good light but since we are talking about $120 phone, they are not ideal. The main issue that I found is that the colors look a bit washed out in some of the shots.

When it comes to the low-light shots, they are not really impressive but this is what you have to expect from a phone at this price.

As for video, it could be less shaky and look a bit sharper. See a video review for a video sample.

A 5MP front camera does not impress. The pictures lack detail and sharpness but most importantly there are no wide-angle lens that we are used to.

Download full resolution camera samples

Vernee Thor Review: CONNECTIVITY

I didn’t have any issues with this phone. Wifi, GPS and Bluetooth works fine and call quality is decent.

Vernee Thor Review: BATTERY LIFE

Speaking of the battery, it performs great. I could constantly get around 5 hours of screen-on time on a mixed use and if you need to re-charge it, a fast charger comes to help.

Vernee Thor Review: CONCLUSIONS

Vernee Thor is a pretty good offering for the price of $120. It has a decent design and build, the display is nice and the phone is a good performer both in terms of day-to-day use and gaming. Also, the device has a pretty good battery life.

However, the low-light camera performance is not impressive and a selfie camera is quite terrible.

Overall, the Vernee Thor is a decent phone for the price if you don’t mind a few shortcomings.

Coupon code for Vernee Thor at Oppomart: VENE20,$20 off.

The post Vernee Thor Review – Simple But Fast appeared first on Gizmochina.

Meizu is one of those Chinese manufacturers, which produces some great yet affordable smartphones and the M3 Note is one of their latest offerings. It is pretty cheap, it has an all-metal unibody design and some great specs. This is Linus, learn more in the full review.

Thanks to Giztop for sending Meizu M3 Note for a review.

Meizu M3 Note Review: VIDEO REVIEW

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqsa2tXqehQ[/embedyt]

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlCkny83UFA[/embedyt]

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD05ShR-w1w[/embedyt]

Meizu M3 Note Review: UNBOXING

The phone ships with the some paperwork, a charging brick, USB cable and a SIM ejector pin.

Meizu M3 Note Review: SPECS

Meizu M3 Note Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

I’m really impressed with the design and all-metal build. The phone is very comfortable to hold in the hand but it may be a bit slippery as most aluminium phones.

The M3 Note is quite huge due to its 5.5” 1080p display, which is sharp, vibrant and you can adjust colour temperature to your liking in the settings menu. The only shortcoming is that it could be slightly brighter for outdoor use.

We have a 5MP snapper along with the LED notification light on the top.

On the bottom there is only one button but it has quite a few features. Firstly, it can be physically pressed as it acts as a home button. Also, it has a touchpad and it is a feature that I love and miss on some other phones. E.g. you can simply tap they key and it acts as a back button. Last but definitely not least, we have a fingerprint scanner, which is fast, accurate but it does not work straight from the standby mode. That means that you have to physically press it to wake the screen up and then use your fingerprint to unlock the device. A really cool feature that you can use your fingerprint for other purposes, e.g. you can lock certain apps.

A 13MP camera with dual-tone dual LED flash is on the back and we have plastic top and bottom parts for antennas.

The buttons are nice and tactile, and they do not rattle at all.

However, a hybrid dual-SIM or microSD card tray does rattle quite a bit.

We still have a regular micro USB port, which sits next to the loudspeaker. Speaking of which, it is pretty good but the sound could have more depth. However, the main issue is that sometimes it starts crackling at the highest volume setting.

Overall, I’m really happy with the design and the way the M3 Note is built except for the rattling SIM card tray.

Meizu M3 Note Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

Our review unit has a quad-core Mediatek 6755 Helio P10 chip with the max. clock speeds of 1.8GHz, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage.

To be honest, this is the first Helio P10-powered phone we are reviewing and I have to say that I was not impressed by its performance.

Asphalt 8 is one of the most versatile tests to check phones’ abilities and the M3 Note does not perform well. Firstly, I made sure that the phone is set to performance mode and tried playing the game on the highest graphics setting. The performance was horrible. There was a lot of lag, stutter and it was practically impossible to play the game.

Then I switched the graphics to medium, things have gotten a lot better but still, there were quite a few skipped frames.

Meizu M3 Note Review: BENCHMARKS

Meizu M3 Note Review: USER INTERFACE

Meizu M3 Note ships with the FlyMe OS 5.1, which is built on top of Android 5.1.

If you are familiar with the FlyMe OS, you will feel right at home. There is no app tray but there are some neat features. For example, you can swipe down anywhere on the screen to open up the notification shade. Swiping up brings a search bar. If you swipe from the bottom, you will open up your recent apps and this is one of my favorite features.

We have a bunch of other features, plenty of customization options, various tweaks and settings to play with. Just to name a few, you can use choose from a variety of themes, use gesture controls, which work fine and so on.

However, you have to keep in mind that the Chinese version of the phone ships with some bloatware, you would need to flash Google services manually and there are no multi-languages.

On the other hand, the FlymeOS runs fast and fluid, I didn’t have a single hiccup and it may be may be a personal preference but I really enjoyed using it on a daily basis.

Meizu M3 Note Review: CAMERA

The camera app is simple, easy to use and it is fast to take pictures. You have a few shooting modes, including a manual mode, and some settings to play with.

Meizu M3 Note Review: IMAGE and VIDEO QUALITY

When it comes to the daylight image quality, it is pretty good and you can get some nice looking pictures with a decent amount of detail, natural looking colors and even pretty accurate dynamic range.

However, the quality decreases in lower-lit situations. You may still get some very good looking images but there will be a bit more noise and slightly less detail. Still, the image quality is pretty good for the phone this cheap.

The night camera performance is kind of a letdown. It is not the worst I’ve seen but I expected a bit more from this phone. The images are not bright enough, there is a low amount of detail and a lot of noise.

The selfie camera is pretty good and you will be able to take some decent looking selfies with it.

As for 1080p video, the quality is actually pretty good. Sure, the footage could look a bit sharper but the biggest downside is that the camera does not have continuous auto-focus feature.

Meizu M3 Note Review: CONNECTIVITY

As you may have expected, Meizu M3 Note has no connectivity issues. In fact, I was really curious how the Helio P10 works when using the GPS and I can assure you that it is very accurate.

Meizu M3 Note Review: BATTERY LIFE

We’ve come to the battery life and it is great. A 4100mAh unit allows you to use the phone for at least a few days depending on the usage. I could constantly get over 6 or even 7 hours of screen-on time on a mixed use.

Meizu M3 Note Review: CONCLUSIONS

So, there you have it, the Meizu M3 Note. The device is well built, it has a nice metal design, the display is sharp and vibrant, the UI has tons of features and it works fast.

Also, the camera can take some good looking daylight images, the battery life is great and the fingerprint scanner is fast and accurate.

However, the Helio P10 chip does not handle 3D games at the highest graphics settings the way we expected. Well, at least on the M3 Note.

Also, you have to know that the fingerprint sensor does not work straight from the standby mode, the device ships with some Chinese bloatware, the low-light camera performance does not impress and the SIM card tray rattles quite a bit.

All in all, Meizu M3 Note is still a great offering for the price and it can be highly recommended for those who don’t mind a few shortcomings.

The post Meizu M3 Note Review – One of the Best in Class appeared first on Gizmochina.

Cubot has quite a few stylish yet affordable devices and S500 model is one of them. Learn more in a full review.

Cubot S500 Review: VIDEO

Cubot S500 Review: UNBOXING

Besides all the usual stuff you expect to come with any phone, Cubot S500 ships with some extras like a tempered glass screen protector and a nice plastic case.

Cubot S500 Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

As soon as I picked the phone up, I really enjoyed the design and build quality of it. It uses a metal frame around the device and glass on the front and rear. Also, the phone sits very comfortably in the hand as the device sports a relatively small 5” display. 

Speaking of which, the panel only has 720p resolution but it still sharp enough, vibrant and bright.

Just above the display we have an 8MP selfie shooter and on the bottom there are 3 non-backlit capacitive buttons. Unfortunately, there is no notification LED found on the device. 

As for camera, we have a 13MP shooter with a single LED flash. Right below it there is fingerprint scanner. The setup of it was easy and while it is neither the fastest nor the most accurate scanner I’ve tested, it gets the job done. I would say it works 8/10 times. 

The buttons feel nice and they have a good tactile feedback. Right next to the power button we have a hybrid SIM card slot. You can either put two SIM cards in it or a combo of 1 SIM and the microSD card for storage expansion. 

Overall, the phone feels really nice in the hand and it is well built.

Cubot S500 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

Cubot S500 has a quad-core MTK6735A chip clocked at 1.3GHz, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. 

While the phone is definitely not a powerhouse in terms of sheer specs, it can handle 3D games really well. Asphalt 8 runs fine with just a few minor skipped frames on medium graphics settings.

Cubot S500 Review: BENCHMARKS

Cubot S500 Review: UI

The device ships with a near stock Android 5.1 build and the performance of it is buttery smooth. I didn’t have any stutter whatsoever and I can say that this phone is fast. 

We have some added features like gesture and motion controls. There are so many of them and I’m not sure if you are going to use them all. Anyway, they work great but some of them are useful only if the fingerprint security option is off.

Speaking of which, the fingerprint scanner can be used for other things too. For example, you can take pictures just by pressing a fingerprint reader and that’s pretty cool.

Overall, I’m really happy with the way the UI works. It is fast and fluid, and it preserves a stock Android look and feel. 

Cubot S500 Review: MULTIMEDIA

The loudspeaker quality is pretty good. Of course, it is not perfect as the sound is a bit tinny and lacks depth but this is what you get with the phone this cheap.

Cubot S500 Review: CAMERA

The camera can take some good looking daylight images with a reasonable amount of detail. Most of the shots look okay but some of the images came out slightly overexposed and have more noise than expected. 

The low-light camera performance is not that good. Some of the images tend to have a purple or red tint, quite a low amount of detail and more noise.

The video quality is not that bad. Sure, it could look sharper but the quality of footage is decent for the phone this cheap. See a video review for a video sample or download it here.

Cubot S500 Review: CONNECTIVITY

I didn’t have any connectivity issues. Call quality, Bluetooth, Wifi and GPS seem to be working fine. 

Cubot S500 Review: BATTERY LIFE

The phone has a 2700mAh battery, which performs well. I could constantly get around 4 hours of screen-on time with a mixed use of the device and auto-birghtness feature on. 

Cubot S500 Review: CONCLUSIONS

Cubot S500 is a really nice phone for the price of around $120. It is well crafted, compact and it uses some premium materials in the construction.

Also, the device has a nice looking display, very fast UI and you can even play some 3D games on it. If you add a good battery life and some extra features, it is a pretty good phone for the price.

However, you have to consider some shortcomings like a poor low-light camera performance, the lack of notification LED and the fact that the phone is a huge fingerprint magnet due to its glass back panel.

All in all, Cubot S500 is a good phone for the price despite a few shortcomings. 

The post Cubot S500 Review: Beautiful Yet Affordable appeared first on Gizmochina.

Cubot has released quite a few budget devices lately and Note S is one of them (it costs just below $80).Learn more in a full review.

Cubot Note S VIDEO REVIEW:

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmaS7p8GhyE[/embedyt]

Cubot Note S Review: UNBOXING

The phone comes with a some documentation, a power plug, USB cable and a nice soft TPU case to protect your phone.

Cubot Note S Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

Cubot Note S is not a small phone as it has a 5.5” 720p display, which is actually not bad at all. It is bright, sharp and you simply cannot ask more for a price.

The phone is built entirely of plastic, which is okay considering a low price but the problem is that the backplate makes a lot of wobbling noises when pressed. Speaking of which, the back cover can be easily removed and underneath it you can find a removable huge 4150mAh battery, two SIM card slots with only 3G support and the microSD card slot.

On the front we have a 5MP shooter and non-backlit capacitive buttons. Unfortunately, there is no notification LED light.

The main camera has 8MP and it is accompanied by a single LED flash. 

The buttons have a good tactile feedback but they feel a bit cheap.

Overall, Cubot Note S has a decent build quality but that back cover, which makes some wobbling noises when pressed reminds you that this is a cheap phone after all. 

Cubot Note S Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

As you may have already guessed it, Cubot Note S is not a high-end device. It sports a quad-core MTK6580 chip with the clock of speeds of up to 1GHz, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. 

The 3D gaming performance is possible but you have to expect occasional stutter and skipped frames.

Cubot Note S Review: BENCHMARKS

Cubot Note S Review: UI 

The phone ships with near stock looking user interface, which is built on top of Android 5.1. There are not too many features to talk about. The phone has just some basic apps and no bloatware at all. Thus, the performance of the UI is fast, fluid and responsive on a daily basis. 

Cubot Note S Review: MULTIMEDIA

The rear-mounted speaker provides an average quality sound. It is a bit tiny and lacks depth but this is what you have to expect when you are buying a cheap phone.

Cubot Note S Review: CAMERA

Cubot Note S Review: IMAGE QUALITY

The daylight picture quality is pretty good for the price. Of course, we can’t expect much from an $80 phone but you can take some nice looking images that can be usable for social media.

Naturally, the image quality decreases with a lower amount of light. The pictures become grainy, have less detail and more noise.

As for selfie shooter, it could be better as I mainly got blurry self portraits. 

The video quality is not really impressive as there is a low amount of detail and the footage looks shaky. See a video review for a video sample. 

Cubot Note S Review: CONNECTIVITY

A call quality is okay but the earpiece could be louder. Other connectivity options work great but I found that the GPS is not always reliable. Sometimes it works fine, sometimes it is a pain when using Google Maps navigation.

Cubot Note S Review: BATTERY LIFE

4150mAh battery is definitely a strong selling point of the Cubot Note S and it performs great in real life. I could get 4-5 hours of screen-on time depending on the usage with auto-brightness setting on.

Cubot Note S Review: CONCLUSIONS

Cubot Note S is an $80 phone, which does most of the things very well. 

The display looks nice for the phone this cheap, the UI is running fast, camera can take some decent looking daylight images and a battery life is great. 

However, you have to keep in mind that the phone is made entirely of plastic, which is okay taking into account a low price of the phone but the wobbling noises when you press the device will remind you that this is a cheap phone after all. 

Other cons that you have to know are that the earpiece could be louder and the GPS is not always accurate. 

All in all, Cubot Note S is a decent phone for such a low price but you have to take all the shortcomings into consideration before making a purchase. 

The post Cubot Note S Review: An $80 Phablet appeared first on Gizmochina.

Cubot has released quite a few new devices lately and Note S is one of them. It is a very cheap (below $80) phone that actually has pretty good specs and design for the price. Find out more in our unboxing and first impressions article.

Buy Cubot Note S

Cubot Note S: UNBOXING

Cubot Note S comes with the USB cable, charging plug and instruction manuals.

Also, Cubot included a nice soft TPU case to protect your device.

Cubot Note S: DESIGN and FIRST IMPRESSIONS

When we first took the phone out of the box, we immediately noticed its plasticky build. The frame, that is going around the device imitates plastic and it makes the phone look cheap.

Well, it is a cheap device after all and the build quality is not bad at all for such a low price.

On the front we have a 2MP camera with other usual stuff.

On the bottom there are 3 capacitive buttons, which do not have a backlight.

The backplate is made of plastic and it is easy to remove it. Under the hood you can find a removable large 4150mAh battery, two SIM card slots and the microSD card slot. The phone supports dual-SIM dual standby mode (2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz; 3G: WCDMA 900/1900/2100MHz). Unfortunately, there is no 4G support.

As for optics, we have an 8Mp shooter with a single LED. On the bottom, there is just a speaker grill.

All the buttons are on the right and they have a good tactile feedback although they feel cheap.

On the top we have a headset jack and the micro USB port.

Overall, the phone does not sport any premium materials but it is actually well built considering a low price of it.

The 5.5″ display has only 720p resolution but it is nice to look at it it gets very bright at the maximum brightness settings.

Also, the UI seems to be working very fast so far.

However, we need to spend more time with the device to test all the features of it. Stay tuned to Gizmochina for a full review.

Buy Cubot Note S

The post Cubot Note S Unboxing and First Impressions appeared first on Gizmochina.

We have plenty of cheap phones and on of them is TCL 302U. Find out more in a full review.

A special thanks to LightInTheBox for sending TCL 302U for a review.

TCL 302U Review: VIDEO

TCL 302U Review: UNBOXING

The device comes with the USB cable, charging plug and some documentation. 

TCL 302U Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

As for design, we are looking at a rather compact phone, which has a 5” display. However, the panel does not even have HD resolution and it is far from the best. My biggest complaints are that the colours start fading once you tilt the device just a little bit. Also, the display has a somewhat reflective coating, which gives a mirror effect. 

On the front we have just 0.3MP camera and on the bottom there are 3 nicely backlit capacitive buttons. 

The backplate is made of glossy plastic, which attracts fingerprints quite easily. As for optics, the phone ships with just a 5MP shooter. 

The buttons feel nice and they have a good tactile feedback. 

The backplate is removable but it is very hard to do that as it sits very tight. Under the hood you can find a removable 1800mAh battery, 2 SIM card slots and both of them support 4G. Finally, there is a microSD card slot.

Overall, the phone is well made and feels solid in the hand despite using plastic in its design.

TCL 302U Review: UI

The phone was released quite a while ago and it has never been updated to the newest version of Android. The device runs 4.4 Kitkat ROM and we have a pretty much stock looking UI.

Everything is running fast and fluid and probably the only extra feature worth mentioning is the built-in themes store, which allows you to customise your device. 

However, I had some issues with the Google Play store as the apps could not be downloaded, so I had to re-install it manually to make it work.

TCL 302U Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

The TCL 302U sports a MTK 6735P chip, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage. This combo of hardware is definitely not designed for gamers as the was a lot of lag and stutter while playing 3D games.

TCL 302U Review: MULTIMEDIA

The loudspeaker quality is pretty good for the phone this cheap but don’t expect anything spectacular from it.

TCL 302U Review: IMAGE QUALITY

We can’t expect stellar results from the budget phone’s camera. Some images turned out to be pretty good and can be used for social media but in general, pictures lack in detail, the camera struggles with focusing and the colours don’t always look natural. 

As for video recording, it is not really impressive neither. See a video review for a video sample.

TCL 302U Review: CONNECTIVITY

As for connectivity options, I have no major complaints except for the fact that the GPS is kind of slow to get a position lock.

TCL 302U Review: BATTERY LIFE 

The battery life is actually pretty good. I could get over 4 hours of screen-on time with light usage and that is a pretty good result.

TCL 302U Review: CONCLUSIONS

The TCL 302U is designed to do the basic tasks and it does it well. It has a great design and sturdy construction, the UI is simple, easy to use and stutter-free. Also, the battery life is good.

However, the camera is not really impressive and the back cover is extremely hard to open. Also, the phone is still rocking outdated Android 4.4.

Overall, the phone is an option for those who want to get all the basics done right but don’t mind some shortcomings. However, you may also want to check out what the competition has to offer. 

Buy TCL 302U from LightInTheBox

The post TCL 302U Review appeared first on Gizmochina.

Today we are looking at affordable yet very nice looking Cubot S600. Is it any good? Find out in our full Cubot S600 review.

Cubot S600 VIDEO REVIEW:

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ–_0FV2WQ[/embedyt]

Cubot S600 Review: UNBOXING

Cubot S600 Review: SPECS

Cubot included some nice accessories along with the S600 phone. The contents include a tempered glass screen protector, a nice soft TPU case, a charging plug, USB cable, SIM ejector pin and some documentation.

Cubot S600 Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

As soon as you pick up the phone, Cubot S600 feels like an expensive flagship device. It uses a high quality metal frame around the device and 2.5D glass on the front and rear.

Also, the phone is compact due to the 5” inches display, which only has 720P resolution but it is a high quality panel. It is bright, vivid, colours look natural and it has exclellent viewing angles.

There is an 8MP selfie shooter and a highly customizable LED light on the front top. The capacitive buttons, which also have a nice backlight, are on the bottom.

The glass back is a ridiculous fingerprint magnet and if you hate all the smudges I suggest you going with the white or gold S600 models.

As far as camera, we have a 16MP Samsung shooter with PDAF and dual LED flash. Right below the camera is a fingerprint scanner. I found it to be very easy to setup and accurate to use. Also, it works straight from the standby mode. However, it could be slightly faster at times.

On the bottom there is just a speaker grill.

The headset jack is on the top and the micro USB port is on the bottom.

Overall, Cubot S600 sports a great build quality, it is nice to look at and hold in the hand, and it literally looks like an expensive handset. However, I don’t like a glass back as it attracts fingerprints and smudges very quickly.

Cubot S600 Review: UI

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Cubot S600 comes with Android 5.1 with a light Cubot’s skin on top of it. A great thing is that we still have an app drawer and overall the UI looks like a stock Android with just a few added features and minor design changes.

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A few notable features would be the ability to highly customise the LED light and assign different colours to different events. Also, the phone has some gesture controls and they work pretty well if you really care about them. However, I miss some more conventional gesture controls like double tap to wake up the screen and so on.

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There is one annoying bug that hopefully will be fixed with a software update. Almost every time you enter the camera app, it thinks you have opened it for the first time. Believe me, it is really annoying as it happened to me almost every time I wanted to take a picture.

Overall, the UI is running very fast and fluid, and this bug is my only complaint but I believe it will be fixed with a software update soon.

Cubot S600 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

Cubot S600 is not going to be your next flagship device as far as sheer specs go. It has a quad-core MTK6735A chip with the clock speeds of up to 1.3GHz, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage.

While these specs assure that day to day performance is nice and smooth, what about gaming?

Well, Asphalt 8 runs without lag but you have to keep in mind that there are quite a few skipped frames and a little bit of stutter. On the other hand, it is still possible to have an enjoyable gaming experience and Cubot did a great job optimising the software and hardware.

However, there is one bug that I haven’t seen on any other devices. The game interface gives a pop-up message saying that the keyboard is connected then it is disconnected and it happens randomly.

Cubot S600 Review: MULTIMEDIA

As usual, full-HD content plays without any issues. The sound via earphones is pretty good but nothing expectational.

As far as the loudspeaker, I would say it is above average. While it is not bad, it could have slightly more depth and the volume output is kind of low.

Cubot S600 Review: CAMERA

When it comes to the daylight image quality, they look pretty good as the pictures have a decent amount of details and colours look natural. However, some of the images don’t have even focus throughout the entire picture.

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Indoor shots are usually okay but when there is not enough light, you have to keep your hands steady to avoid blurry shots.

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Night shots are above average for the phone carrying this price tag. However, most of images are ruined by a slight purple tint.

1080p video looks pretty mediocre with just average amount of details but this is what you have to expect with most of the phones in this price range. See a video review for the video sample.

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As far as selfie camera, it will be enough to take pictures usable for social media.

Download full resolution camera samples

Cubot S600 Review: CONNECTIVITY

All the connectivity options work great. Call quality is okay and signal reception is excellent. Also, Wifi, GPS and Bluetooth are working fine.

Cubot S600 Review: BATTERY LIFE

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Cubot S600 has an embedded 2700mAh battery and it performs well for its capacitiy but it is far from the best. I could get just over 3.5 hours of screen on-time when using auto max. brightness setting.

Cubot S600 Review: CONCLUSIONS

Cubot S600 costs around $130 and although it is not a perfect phone, it is definitely worth the price.

It all starts with a nice looking design and excellent build quality, and the fact that the device is compact and can managed with one hand.

Also, Cubot S600 has a high quality display although it is only 720P, it is very fast and responsive in daily use, the camera performs quite well in good lighting conditions and you can use 2 SIM cards and the microSD card at the same time.

However, the battery capacity could have been slightly bigger, the loudspeaker could be louder and the glass back is a huge fingerprint magnet.

Still, despite a few shortcomings, Cubot S600 is a reasonably priced smartphone that can be recommended and you can check out the product link down in the description if you are interested.

Buy Cubot S600

The post Cubot S600 Review – Beautiful and Affordable appeared first on Gizmochina.