HOTWAV is giving a huge discount on its latest rugged smartphone the HOTWAV W10. Under this deal, the smartphone which generally retails for $200 is available at a heavily discounted price of $99.99 only on AliExpress. This early bird deal starts on 27 June and ends on 1 July 2022. 

HOTWAV W10 rugged smartphone features a 6.53 inches HD+ display with a 720 x 1600p resolution and 20:9 Aspect ratio. The phone uses in-cell technology to present natural and vivid colors in every frame and give you an immersive visual experience. Being a rugged smartphone, the W10 comes with IP68/ 69K and MIL-STD-810H certifications that make it waterproof, dustproof, and shockproof.  

The highlight feature of the HOTWAV W10 rugged phone is its 15000mAh ultra-large battery.  This massive battery can juice your phone for 5 days or more under normal usage and give you 55hrs of non-stop playback, 28hrs video, and 74hrs call time on a single charge. Moreover, with 18W fast charging, you can easily and quickly charge your large battery. The reverse charge function also helps to convert your phone into a mini power bank that can be used in case of emergencies to power other devices. 

HOTWAV W10 is powered by the MediaTek Helio A22 Quad-core processor and comes with 4GB RAM and 32GB internal storage, expandable up to 512GB. For your images and videos, you have a 13MP primary camera in the rear and a 5MP sensor in the front for your selfies. Other interesting features include global navigation systems, the latest Android 12 OS, rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, Face ID unlock, virtual outdoor tool kit, etc. 

Generally retailing for $200, you can now buy HOTWAV W10 rugged smartphone for $99.99 only under the early-bird deal at AliExpress. The deal starts on 27 June and ends on 1 July. 

Please note that the above price is region-specific and the final price may vary according to your shipping region, warehouse, and regional taxes.  

For more information on such exciting deals and offers check out our deals hub

The post Get Early Bird Discounts at Global Launch of HOTWAV W10 Rugged Phone appeared first on Gizmochina.

Giztop is giving a Flat 50% discount on the Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold flagship phone. The foldable smartphone which generally retails for $1999 is now available for $1099 only. Please note that this is a limited-time offer. 

Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold features an 8.01-inch WQHD+ OLED Inner display and a 6.52-inch AMOLED HD+ external screen. It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G processor and comes with  Adreno 660 GPU. The smartphone comes in multiple memory variants viz. 12GB / 16GB RAM and 256GB / 512GB ROM.

Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold comes with a triple rear camera setup with a 108MP main camera and 8MP + 13MP secondary cameras. On the cover display, you can find a 20MP selfie camera. This powerful foldable smartphone comes with dual batteries viz. 2460mAh + 2560mAh and supports 67W fast wired charging. It also supports QC 4+ and PD3.0.

Generally retailing for $1999, you can now buy Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold at a massively discounted price of $1099 only at Giztop. Please note that this is a limited-time offer. So place your order before the deal expires. 

For more information on such exciting deals and offers check out our deals hub.

The post Get Flat 50% Discount on Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold Smartphone at Giztop appeared first on Gizmochina.

The market is flooded with cheap smartphones from China and I just came across a cheap Cubot Echo device that gets most of the basics right for the low price of $85. Learn more in the full review.

Thanks to Tomtop for sending the Cubot Echo for a review.

VIDEO REVIEW

UNBOXING

The phone ships with all the usual stuff and some extras include a high-quality TPU case.

DESIGN

The Cubot Echo does not sport exceptional looks but it is a very well made phone as it has a solid metal frame that goes all around the device. The buttons, however, are plasticky and they feel cheap.

One thing you are going to notice is that the phone is very thick, measuring at 11cm. That is not only due to a pretty large 3000mAh removable battery but also due to the fact that the phone has an enormous speaker built-in.

The speaker can get really loud and the sound quality is pretty good for a cheap phone. However, the sound may get distorted at the highest volume settings.

Speaking of the display, the 5” 720p panel is pretty sharp and bright for a cheap phone but we have those enormous bezels on each side.

It’s great that we have a 5MP front facing camera and the LED notification light but the capacitive buttons are not backlit.

As for the main camera, there is a 13MP shooter.

HARDWARE

The Cubot Echo runs on a little outdated Mediatek 6580 chip with the clock speeds of 1.3GHz. Also, the phone has 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage.

Honestly, the spec sheet does not really impress but some 3D games like Asphalt 8 run absolutely fine on medium graphics.

USER INTERFACE

The phone ships with the Android 6.0 but we have a few added features by Cubot. Some of the extra features include a variety of gesture and motion controls. Some of them work well but others are very slow to respond.

In general, the UI performance is good. I didn’t have lag or stutter on the daily basis and I think that’s the most important thing for a cheap phone.

BENCHMARKS

IMAGE QUALITY

You should never expect any miracles from the cameras of budget phones but the Cubot Echo can take some pretty nice daylight photos for the phone this cheap.

Obviously, the quality decreases in lower-lit situations as on all cheap phones.

The selfies won’t look as sharp as you may expect but it may be enough for social media.

As for video, the quality of the footage is kind of poor like on most of the cheap phones.

CONNECTIVITY

When it comes to connectivity, the phone does everything quite well. The GPS lock speeds are fast but it could be more accurate when you use it with navigation apps.

BATTERY LIFE

The 3000mAh battery performs great. I could get about 1.5 days of usage out of this phone, which is a good result.

CONCLUSIONS

Cubot Echo is not going to be your next powerhouse device but it gets the basics right.

We don’t have any exceptional looks but the phone is well made, it has a metal frame, it is compact to carry around and stock Android is what the cheap phones need.

You can also take some okay looking photos and the battery life is great thanks to a pretty large capacity.

However, the processor is a little outdated if you are a spec head, the capacitive buttons are not backlit and there are those huge black bezels that a lot of people hate.

At the end of the day, Cubot Echo may not be the only cheap device out there but it gets all the basics right and it is a pretty fast phone on the daily basis. However, you have to consider if the previously mentioned shortcomings are important to you or not.

The post Cubot Echo Review – A lot of Sound for $85! appeared first on Gizmochina.

The market of cheap smartphones is crowded and it may not be easy to choose one. I just came across the Uhans A101S smartphone that costs just $70. Find out if this phone is any good in the full review.

Uhans A101S Official Product Page

Uhans A101S Review: VIDEO REVIEW

Uhans A101S Review: UNBOXING

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

Uhans A101S Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

When it comes to the design, this cheap phone draws quite a bit of attention since my review unit comes in pink colour. You can also choose from other flashy colors.

The phone does not sport any premium materials in the construction but it does not feel cheap either.

The buttons are nice and tactile, the backplate is made of rubberized plastic material and the phone sits nicely in the hand.

We have a 5” display, which has only 720p resolution but it is plenty sharp for everyday use.

Also, there is a 5MP camera above the display but we don’t have neither LED notification light nor backlit capacitive keys.

On the back, we have an 8MP Sony camera with a single LED flash.

You can remove the backplate to access the microSD card slot, two SIM card slots and a removable 2450mAh battery.

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

Uhans A101S Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

The Uhans A101S is not going to be your next flagship device but it still rocks solid specs for the price. The phone ships with the quad-core MTK6580 chip, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage.

The 3D gaming performance is pretty good. Asphalt 8 on medium graphics runs absolutely fine without any stutter.

Uhans A101S Review: BENCHMARKS

Uhans A101S Review: USER INTERFACE

When it comes to the user interface, Uhans A101S is all about the features and customization.

The Android 6.0-based UI offers you the ability to customize the phone using themes, wallpapers, various plugins and so on. You can also use some baked-in gesture and motion controls that work pretty well.

Last but not least, the phone is pretty fast on the daily basis and I believe this is the most important aspect on a cheap phone.

Uhans A101S Review: IMAGE QUALITY

You should not expect any stellar results from these cheap phones but the Uhans A101S can take some nice pictures that are usable for social media. Obviously, the color reproduction is off, there could be more detail but in general, the camera does a decent job for a $70 phone.

The video quality is kind of poor like on most of the cheap phones.

The selfie pictures will definitely do the trick for social media.

Download full resolution camera samples

Uhans A101S Review: CONNECTIVITY

I didn’t have any major connectivity issues. The GPS works okay but it could be slightly more accurate.

Uhans A101S Review: BATTERY LIFE

The removable 2450mAh battery allows you to use the phone for quite a bit of time. I was able to get over 4.5h of screen-on time on a mixed usage of the phone, which is a pretty good result.

Uhans A101S Review: CONCLUSIONS

The Uhans A101S is a pretty nice $70 that I kind of enjoyed using for more than a week.

Sure, it comes with some flaws that most of the cheap phones have and it lacks some basic stuff like backlit capacitive keys or LED notification light but in general, it gets all the basics right.

Also, it has kind of flashy design, good UI and gaming performance, a decent camera and good battery life.

Finally, the Uhans A101S is a decent offering for the price, despite a few shortcomings.

The post Uhans A101S Review – A $70 Phone appeared first on Gizmochina.

After reviewing some previous phones made by Vernee, I have the impression that the company can make some quality phones at affordable price. This time around we have the Vernee Mars, which has an outstanding build quality, good specs and more. Learn more in our full review.

Vernee Mars Review: VIDEO REVIEW

Vernee Mars Review: UNBOXING

In the box, you can find a fast charger, USB-C cable, SIM ejector pin and some paperwork.

Vernee was also kind enough to send me a very nicely-made wood smartphone cradle.

Vernee Mars Review: SPECS

Vernee Mars Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

The very first thing you are going to notice is an outstanding build quality of the device. It is made entirely of metal and I absolutely love the design of the antenna inlays.

We have a 5.5” 1080p display, which is sharp and vibrant but it could be just a tad brighter.

Just above the display, we have a 5MP shooter, which sits next to the notification LED light.

The phone just looks and feels premium in the hand. Also, the buttons do not rattle and they are tactile.

As for the camera, we have 13MP shooter coupled with a dual tone dual-LED flash and PDAF.

We have a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, which is convenient to use. It is pretty accurate and it unlocks the phone 8/10, and it can do it straight from the standby mode.

The loudspeaker is placed on the bottom but the sound is kind of tinny and a little flat.

Vernee Mars Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

When it comes to hardware, the phone ships with an octa-core Mediatek Helio P10 chip with the clock speeds of 2.0GHz, 4GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage.

I’ve never been a huge fan of Helio P10 chips when it comes to gaming and the Vernee Mars is no exception. You should expect quite a few skipped frames and stutter if you want to play games like Asphalt 8 on the highest graphics. On the other hand, playing this game on medium graphics is much better and you may have some enjoyable gaming experience.

Vernee Mars Review: BENCHMARKS

Vernee Mars Review: USER INTERFACE

The Vernee Mars ships with the pretty much stock-looking Android 6.0.

There are not too many features to talk about except for the fact that there are some customization options like the ability to switch the position of on-screen navigation buttons.

Most importantly, I didn’t have any issues with the phone’s daily performance even after installing quite a few apps and I would say that the Vernee Mars is a pretty fast performer.

Vernee Mars Review: IMAGE QUALITY

IT IS HIGHLY-RECOMMENDED TO DOWNLOAD FULL RESOLUTION CAMERA SAMPLES TO SEE THE ACTUAL IMAGE QUALITY. THE PICTURES UPLOADED ON THE WEBSITE ARE 50% SMALLER IN RESOLUTION.

When it comes to the image quality, the Vernee Mars can take some decent-looking images in daylight. I took most of the pictures in the cloudy day and they look quite good but there could be a little more detail. Also, some of the shots look under-exposed and the colors look washed out. Finally, the camera does not really impress in low-light as there is quite a lot of noise and grain in the pictures.

As for selfie camera, the image quality could be better. The selfies could look a lot sharper and there could be more detail.

When it comes to the 1080p video, it is kind of mediocre as the footage could look sharper. Also, there is no continuous auto-focus on board. See the video review for a video sample.

Download full resolution camera samples

Vernee Mars Review: CONNECTIVITY

The phone comes with a hybrid dual-SIM card tray, which can take either 2 SIM cards or 1 SIM and the microSD card.

When it comes to connectivity, I didn’t have any issues with the signal reception. Also, the wifi and the call quality are pretty good. The GPS signal may not be the best, but it may get the job done most of the times.

Vernee Mars Review: BATTERY LIFE

The phone ships with a 3000mAh battery that performs quite well. I could get around 4 or even 5 hours of screen-on time, depending on the usage.

In case you need to re-charge it, the supplied fast charge will do that in around 2 hours.

Vernee Mars Review: CONCLUSIONS

The Vernee Mars is yet another sub-$200 phone from China that aims to bring a lot of value to the table.

I have to say that it succeeds in quite a few ways since the device has a premium all-metal design, excellent build quality, and nice and sharp display.

Also, the Vernee Mars is a pretty fast performer when it comes to the day-to-day use and the battery life is pretty good.

However, the camera department is where the phone struggles. Sure, you can take some decent daylight images but the camera falls short in lower-lit or more challenging situations like cloudy days.

In addition, you have to know that the Helio P10 chip allows you to play the latest 3D games only on medium graphics.

At the end of the day, Vernee Mars is still a pretty solid smartphone for the price but you have to consider if the previously mentioned shortcomings are important to you or not.

At the moment, Gearbest has the Vernee Mars on sale and Gizmochina readers can get it for $199 using the coupon code 4ALLVMS.

Also, Gearbest has 13% OFF Coupon for phones. Coupon code: GBMBP

The post Vernee Mars Review – A Thing of Beauty! appeared first on Gizmochina.

Umi has released quite a lot of phones this year and the Umi Plus is one of their latest models. It has some decent specs and all-metal unibody design but is it any good? Find that out in the full Gizmochina’s review.

Thanks to Coolicool for sending Umi Plus for a review.

Umi Plus Review: VIDEO REVIEW

Umi Plus Review: UNBOXING

The phone ships with all the usual items that come with any device.

Umi Plus Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

When it comes to the design, we are looking at the all-metal phone (except for the top and bottom parts for antennas).

In general, the build quality is great but I don’t like the fact that the buttons rattle just a little a bit.

We have a 5.5” 1080p display, which is pretty sharp and nice panel overall, and it has a decent sunlight legibility.

A nice touch is a customizable LED notification light, which sits next to the 5MP camera, and navigation buttons. You can choose between the on-screen keys and the capacitive keys, and change the position of them.

I love the fact that physical home button can be just tapped as it serves as a back key. Also, it has a fingerprint scanner. It is quite accurate but the display lights up very slowly if you unlock the phone from the standby mode.

A customizable shortcut button is a pretty nice idea but it would have been nice if it worked from the standby mode.

As for camera, we have a 13MP Samsung shooter with a dual tone dual-LED flash.

The loudspeaker sound quality does not really impress. Although the speaker has a decent volume output, the sound is tinny and flat.

The sound quality via the headset jack is pretty good for the price of the phone and that is thanks to the built-in Hi-Fi audio chip.

Umi Plus in pictures: 

Umi Plus Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

The phone ships with an octa-core Mediatek Helio P10 chip with the clock speeds of 1.8GHz, 4GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage.

I’ve never been a huge fan of Helio P10 chips when it comes to gaming and the Umi Plus is no exception. You should expect quite a few skipped frames and stutter if you want to play games like Asphalt 8 on the highest graphics. On the other hand, playing this game on medium graphics is a lot better.

Umi Plus Review: BENCHMARKS

Umi Plus Review: USER INTERFACE

The Umi Plus ships with the pretty much stock-looking Android 6.0.

There are not too many features to talk about except for those we have already mentioned (customizable navigation bar and LED notification light). Most importantly, I didn’t have any issues with the phone’s daily performance even after installing quite a few apps.

Umi Plus Review: IMAGE QUALITY

The camera department is where the Umi Plus struggles. Well, you can get some okay-looking photos and I see an improvement over some previous Umi phones.

However, the daylight images could have more detail and sharpness. Also, the colors look a bit washed out in some of the shots, the dynamic range and white balance adjustment is not always accurate.

The low-light camera performance is not so great either even for a $200 phone. The images lack in detail, there is a lot of noise and a visible purple tint in most of the shots.

The selfie camera disappoints too. Again, there is a lack of detail and sharpness, and the color reproduction is inaccurate.

When it comes to video, the footage does not really look good. The major problems here are the aggressive color and auto-exposure shifting. Also, the footage could look sharper.

Umi Plus Review: CONNECTIVITY

I didn’t have major connectivity issues with this phone except for the fact that the GPS is not always accurate once you use it for navigation in the car.

Umi Plus Review: BATTERY LIFE

When it comes to battery, Umi Plus is a great performer  as it ships with a beefy 4000mAh unit. I could get over 6 hours of screen-on time on a daily use, which is a great result. The phone ships with the fast charger and I was able to fully charge the phone in around 1:30 mins.

Umi Plus Review: CONCLUSIONS

Umi Plus is another phone from China that aims to deliver a lot of value for $200. It succeeds in a few ways.

The device has a nice and sharp display, the user interface is simple and fast, the phone is nicely designed and uses premium materials in the construction. Also, the battery life is great.

However, you have to know that Umi Plus can’t really handle the 3D games if you want to play them on the highest graphics. Also, the both cameras do not impress and the GPS is not always accurate.

At the end of the day, Umi Plus is a decent phone for the price but you have to consider the shortcomings before making a purchase.

The post Umi Plus Review appeared first on Gizmochina.

Zopo has one budget device that is called Hero 2. It costs around $70 but it has some nice features like a metal trim and fingerprint sensor. Learn more in our full review.

Zopo Hero 2 Review: VIDEO REVIEW

Zopo Hero 2 Review: UNBOXING

In the box, you are getting all the usual stuff and some extras include a high-quality screen protector.

Zopo Hero 2 Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

The key design elements of this phone is a metal trim and tactile metal buttons and a vinyl-like textured back cover.

In fact, the backplate can be easily removed to access a 2300mAh battery, two SIM card slots and the microSD card slot.

We have a 5.5” 720p display, which is okay but I’ve seen a bit higher quality panels even on the cheapest phones. My main concern is a slightly blueish tint.

There is no notification LED light and the capacitive buttons are not backlit but we have a front facing LED flash for night selfies. However, it is just a gimmick as it does not really help in the dark.

As for camera, we have just an 8MP shooter. The fingerprint sensor is not the fastest I’ve seen but it is pretty accurate.

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

Zopo Hero 2 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

The phone ships with a quad-core MTK6737 chip, 16GB of storage but it has only 1GB of RAM, which is kind of disappointing.

The 3D gaming performance is kind of a letdown. You should expect quite a bit of stutter when playing intensive games like Asphalt 8 on medium graphics.

Zopo Hero 2 Review: BENCHMARKS

Zopo Hero 2 Review: USER INTERFACE

The phone runs on Android 6.0 with a light Zopo’s skin on top of it. That means that some icons are redesigned and there are some extras features like 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.

Zopo Hero 2 Review: IMAGE QUALITY

In general, an 8MP camera does not really impress but it is pretty good for the price of the phone. You may get some images usable for social media but don’t expect any stellar results.

Same can be said about 720p video quality.

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

Zopo Hero 2 Review: CONNECTIVITY

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

Zopo Hero 2 Review: BATTERY LIFE

The 2300mAh battery will get you through only if you are a light user. With my usage, I could get just around 3 hours of screen-on time, which is just an average result.

Zopo Hero 2 Review: CONCLUSIONS

Zopo Hero 2 is yet another cheap phone from China that aims to bring a lot of value to the table. It succeeds in quite a few ways as it has a decent design and build, the user interface that performs fast and the phone does not have major shortcomings.

However, the display has a bluish tint, the 3D gaming performance is mediocre, there is no notification LED light, capacitive buttons are not backlit and the battery life is just mediocre. Still, Zopo Hero 2 is a decent phone for the price but if you are in the market of cheap phones, you may also want to consider some other options available. Anyway, most of the cheap phones share the same pros and cons.

The post Zopo Hero 2 Review 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.

We have reviewed quite a lot of Oukitel phones and the U7 Plus is one of their latest budget offerings. It costs just above $80 but it has some decent specs for the price. Learn more in a full review.

Thanks to LightInTheBox.com for sending Oukitel U7 Plus for a review.

Oukitel U7 Plus Review: VIDEO

Oukitel U7 Plus Review: UNBOXING

The phone ships with all the usual stuff and there are no extras included in the box.

Oukitel U7 Plus Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

Design-wise, the phone looks and feels kind of plasticky but it is well-built.

We have a 5.5” 720p display, which is not the sharpest out there but it is definitely enough for daily use for such a cheap phone.

The buttons are made of plastic too but they have a decent tactile response.

The backplate can be easily removed to access a 2500mAh battery, two SIM card slots and the microSD card slot.

On the back, we have a 13MP camera and a fingerprint sensor, which far from the fastest I’ve seen but it works 8/10 times.

We have the LED light but the capacitive buttons are not backlit.

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

Oukitel U7 Plus Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

The Oukitel U7 Plus 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 okay. You should be able to run most of the 2D games and 3D games on the medium graphics.

Oukitel U7 Plus Review: BENCHMARKS

Oukitel U7 Plus Review: USER INTERFACE

The Android 6.0-based user interface will give you a pretty much stock Android experience but there are some added features like a theme store or a bunch of gesture and motion controls that work pretty well.

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.

Oukitel U7 Plus Review: IMAGE QUALITY

You can be picky with each cheap phone once you talk about the image quality but you should never expect any stellar results from cheap phones. The U7 Plus is no exception. The images look okay but they are usually overexposed, oversaturated, there could be more detail and so on.

The selfie camera does not impress but it may get the job done for social media needs.

The video quality is okay… for a cheap phone. See a video review for a video sample.

Oukitel U7 Plus Review: CONNECTIVITY

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

Oukitel U7 Plus Review: BATTERY LIFE

The 2500mAh battery is definitely too small for 5.5” display but it can still get you through the day on a mixed use. With my usage, I could get around 4 hours of screen-on time.

Oukitel U7 Plus Review: CONCLUSIONS

Oukitel U7 Plus is yet another cheap phone from China.

For the price, it does most of the things right and this is what you have to expect from a cheap phone. Most importantly, it does not have any major shortcomings expect for the fact that the battery capacity could have been larger. Also, the phone does feel a little cheap as it uses plastic in the construction.

Other than that, Oukitel U7 Plus is a decent phone for the price.

The post Oukitel U7 Plus Review 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.

I came across the Umi London, which is a $69 phone, it has decent specs and it sports a very good build quality.  In fact, it may be the most premium-looking super cheap Android smartphone we have tested so far. Learn more in our full review.

Thanks to Chinavasion for sending Umi London Umi Smartphone

Umi London Review: VIDEO REVIEW

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsl_DWl8t9g[/embedyt]

Umi London Review: UNBOXING

The device ships with all the usual stuff you would expect to come with any smartphone.

Umi London Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

The very first thing you are going to notice is that the device has a fantastic build quality for the phone this cheap.

It uses a solid metal frame, tactile metal buttons and rounded edges that definitely help with the grip.

The phone has a 5” 720p display, which may not sport the highest resolution but it is sharp enough for the daily use.

The capacitive buttons are not backlit but we have a notification LED light that most of the cheap phones lack.

One annoying thing is that the backplate is very hard to remove and I suggest using a credit card to do that. Under the hood, you can find 2 SIM card slots, microSD card slot and a removable 2050mAh battery.

The loudspeaker quality is just average as on most of the cheap phones.

Umi London Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

The Umi London sports a quad-core MTK6580 chip, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of expandable storage.

These are definitely not the flagship-grade specs but the phone is doing an okay job handling some 3D games like Asphalt 8 on the medium graphics. Well, there are quite a few skipped frames and a bit of stutter but you can still enjoy playing the game.

Umi London Review: BENCHMARKS

Umi London Review: UI

The phone ships with the stock-looking Android 6.0, which has a few added features like a bunch of different gesture and motion controls. Most of them are gimmicky to me but the ones I usually use work fine.

Sometimes it may take a bit longer to load an app or switch between different apps but in general, the user interface performance is pretty good for a $69 phone. However, you may have a little bit of random stutter if you install a lot of apps, so keep that in mind.

Umi London Review: IMAGE QUALITY

As you may have guessed, the image quality is quite terrible. Well, you may get some usable shots for social media needs but nothing more. Same can be said about the 2MP front facing shooter.

Umi London Review: CONNECTIVITY

I didn’t have any connectivity issues with this phone except for the fact the GPS lock speeds could be faster.

Umi London Review: BATTERY LIFE

The 2050mAh battery does not sound impressive on paper and the performance of it is not so great.

The phone may get you through the day only if you are a light user. I could get just over 3 hours of screen-on time.

Umi London Review: CONCLUSIONS

Umi London is yet another cheap phone from China but it has a very good build quality and it actually looks quite premium for just $69.

The phone also rocks a pretty good display and Android 6.0 with some extra features out of the box.

However, you have to know that you may have a little bit of stutter if you install a lot of apps on the phone. Also, both cameras are quite terrible, and the battery life is just average.

All in all, Umi London is a premium-looking cheap Android phone that has quite a lot to offer but it has a few shortcomings that justify a low price of the device.

The post The Most Premium Super Cheap Android Phone? 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.

Blackview has produced quite a few very cheap phones but the A5 model seems like the cheapest one on the market. You can get it for less than $45 and I will leave a link down below. This is Linus, learn more in the full review.

Blackview A5 Review: VIDEO

Blackview A5 Review: UNBOXING

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

Blackview A5 Review: SPECS and PERFORMANCE

Let’s start by the taking a look what kind of spec-sheet you are getting for such a low price. The Blackview A5 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.

Blackview A5 Review: DESIGN, FEATURES, BATTERY LIFE

The phone is very well built considering its price. One of the highlights is a textured plastic back cover, which really looks nice.

You can easily remove the backplate and underneath it you will find a removable 2000mAh battery, two SIM card slots and the microSD card slot.

Speaking of the battery, it should give a full day of moderate use. I could get around 4 hours of screen-on time, which is a decent result.

We have a 5MP camera but you should not expect any stellar results from it as this is a $45 phone after all.

Still, you may get some okay looking images that can be shared on social media if you take pictures in good lighting conditions.

The loudspeaker is actually pretty good and it is probably the best we’ve heard on any phone this cheap.

The 4.5” display does not even sport an HD resolution. Still, it is pretty good panel for the price of the phone.

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

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

Blackview A5 Review: UI

We have a near-stock looking Android 6.0 out of the box and the performance of it is great.

Some notable features of the UI include a few gesture controls, which actually work fine.

What is the most important to us is that the user interface is smooth and fast. Sure, the phone will not be a multi-tasking machine but it is good for basic daily tasks.

Blackview A5 Review: CAMERA

We have a 5MP camera but you should not expect any stellar results from it as this is a $45 phone after all.

Still, you may get some okay looking images that can be shared on social media if you take pictures in good lighting conditions.

Blackview A5 Review: CONNECTIVITY

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

Blackview A5 Review: CONCLUSIONS

Blackview A5 is one of the cheapest phones you can buy and it is a great basic smartphone for the price.

We love the fact that it is well built, it is compact, it has tactile buttons and you can easily manage the phone in one hand.

Also, you are getting processing power that is enough for daily tasks and Android 6.0 is running smoothly. You can even play some 3D games on the phone but keep in mind that the display does not even have HD resolution.

In general, Blackview A5 is a low-end device but if you consider a price of just around $40, it is one of the best options currently available on the market.

The post Blackview A5 Review: A Pretty Good $45 Phone appeared first on Gizmochina.

Elephone S3 Reservation Event from 12th of April

Elephone S3 Reservation event will start from the 12th of April and run through till the 27th of April

No actual price for the phone has been given yet but Elephone have given a clue to the price by putting $1?9.99 on their post.

What do you think the question mark will be replaced with? I am guessing they will be fairly agrressive as they normally are with their pre-sale pricing.

Personally I would like to see Elephone put the S3 up for pre-sale around the $140-$160 price point, as this would put it in a great position to compete with other mid range handsets.

The S3 comes with a 2.5d Bezel-less 5.2 inches display, with an 83% screen to body ratio making it look very premium.

The phone has an all metal chassis and curved back to help make the body feel even more sturdy and comfortable in the hand.

With the great screen to body ratio and the curvaceous design, this should be a phone that looks as good as it feels in the hand.

As far as specs go the phone features a Mediatek Octa-Core  MT6753 clocked at 1.3Ghz and will come with 3gb of ram and 16gb of rom (expandable with up to 128gb micro SD) and will run Android 6.0 out of the box.

Whilst the specs for the CPU and memory configurations are not exactly cutting edge, the phone should certainly have the looks and style to compete favourably with phones like the Redmi Note 3.

You can register here for the Elephone S3 Reservation event  hopefully if the price is competitive, this could be one of the best looking mid range handsets of 2016.

Please feel free to leave comments and questions below

Regards Shane

Original article published on gadgetz.tv

The post Elephone S3 Reservation Event from 12th of April appeared first on Gizmochina.

Blackview has been known to produce a lot of very cheap phones and the A8 is no exception. The device costs just around $50 but is it any good? Learn more in our unboxing and first impressions article.

Blackview A8: UNBOXING

The phones comes with a standard packaging and besides all the usual stuff there are some extras like the pair of earphones and a flip-style case.

Blackview A8: DESIGN and FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The device has a quad-core MTK6580A chip (1.3GHz), 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage (with a microSD card slot),  5.0″ 720p Screen,  8MP/2MP cameras on the back and front, respectively; a 2000mAh removable battery. It sounds like a pretty decent sheet of specs for a phone this cheap.

I have to tell you that I was initially impressed with the design and build quality of the Blackview A8. I’ve reviewed a bunch of very cheap phones but the A8 definitely shapes up to be one of the best.

The phone feels sturdy and well-made. We have an 8MP camera on the back and the plastic backplate itself is removable.

Under the hood we have two SIM card slots, a microSD card slot and a removable 2000mAh battery.

We have a 2MP selfie snapper and non-backlit capacitive buttons on the front. However, there is no LED notification light.

The metal CNC frame adds some premium look and feel to the device. The buttons have a decent tactile feedback but they are made of plastic.

Overall, the first impressions are positive. The phone has a build quality of a $100 phone, it sits comfortably in the hand so far the UI has been running smoothly. As usual, we need to spend some more time with the device to give you a full and honest review.

The post Blackview A8 Unboxing 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.

The TCL M2U was released quite a while ago, let’s see how does it look today. Find out more in our full review.

Thanks to LightInTheBox for sending TCL M2U for a review.

TCL M2U: VIDEO REVIEW

TCL M2U Review: UNBOXING

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

TCL M2U Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

TCL M2U is not a small device as it has a 5.5” display, which has only 720p resolution but it is actually not bad.

It is not on par with the 1080p panels but the display is quite sharp and bright, and you can also adjust the colour temperature in the settings.

On the front we have an 8MP selfie shooter, some other usual stuff and the capacitive buttons, which, however, do not have a backlight. 

The backplate is non-removable, it is made of plastic and here we have a 13MP camera with a single LED, and the rear-mounted speaker on the bottom.

The buttons are located on the right, they are clicky and tactile. 

An interesting thing is that we have 3 slots for each SIM card and the microSD card. That’s actually really convenient as you can easily hot-swap all the cards and you can do it very easily by just simply pushing a little button on the flap. 

On the top there is a headset jack and on the bottom you can find your micro USB port, and the mic.

Overall, the phone feels solid and it is well-constructed despite using mainly plastic materials in its design.

TCL M2U Review: UI

When it comes to the UI, we have TCL’s own take on Android but the phone is still rocking outdated 4.4 Kitkat version. A funny thing is that there is no software update feature in the settings menu and I couldn’t find any newer firmware on the Internet. On the other hand, the UI is running fast and fluid and I had just a few minor hiccups.

There is no app tray but there are plenty of customisation options and features. Just to name a few, you can shake the device to quickly re-arrange the icons, use and customise plenty of gesture controls, which are actually working fine; customise quick toggles and so on.

Overall, the UI is fast and responsive but the thing that the phone is still rocking Android 4.4 is kind of disappointing. 

TCL M2U Review: BENCHMARKS

TCL M2U Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

TCL M2U rocks a quad-core MTK6752M chip with the clock speeds of up to 1.5GHz, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. 

Surprisingly, Asphalt 8 runs absolutely fine even on the highest visual settings with just a few skipped frames. Also, the phone does not overheat to uncomfortable levels. 

TCL M2U Review: MULTIMEDIA

The sound via earphones is not bad and the loudspeaker is actually pretty good for the price of the phone. It is pretty loud and it has a decent amount of depth in its sound. 

TCL M2U Review: CAMERA

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The image quality is not always impressive. While decent looking pictures are possible but most of the shots lack in detail and the noise levels are high.

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The night shots don’t look spectacular either. The biggest concern is that most of the shots are affected by the purple tint and the level of detail is quite low. 

The phone can shoot up to 720P videos and they look just mediocre.

As for selfies, the 8MP shooter will do the trick for social media but the image quality is not very good. 

TCL M2U Review: CONNECTIVITY

All the connectivity options that include Wifi, Bluetooth and GPS are working fine. Also, the signal reception is excellent and the call quality is good.

TCL M2U Review: BATTERY LIFE

The phone has a generous 3500mAh battery, which is not user replaceable. The performance of the battery is very good. I could get over 5 or even 6 hours of screen-on time on light usage. 

TCL M2U Review: CONCLUSIONS

So, here it is, TCL M2U. It was released quite a while ago but it still looks like a decent phone given the current price of under $120. 

The phone is well-built, the dedicated slots for each SIM and microSD card are really convenient, user interface is fast, the performance and the battery life are great.

However, the image and video quality are not really impressive and the phone is still rocking the outdated Android 4.4 and there is almost zero chances of getting a software update.

All in all, TCL M2U is a decent phone for the price as it does most of the things well. However, make sure to take the shortcomings into consideration. 

Buy TCL M2U from LightInTheBox

The post TCL M2U Review: Android 4.4 Phone Which Is Still Pretty Good appeared first on Gizmochina.

Blackview BV2000s: VIDEO REVIEW

Blackview BV2000s: UNBOXING

The phone comes with just a power plug and the USB cable.

Blackview BV2000s: DESIGN

The device is very compact as it has a 5” display and the phone is made of plastic. My review unit comes in white colour but it has a lot more other colour options.

On the front top there is a 2MP snapper along with other usual stuff. On the bottom you can find a physical home button and non-backlit capacitive keys.

On the back you can find an 8MP shooter with dual LED flash and the speaker grill.

The buttons are located on the right side and they have a great tactile feedback.

Under the hood, there is a removable 2400mAh battery, two SIM card slots and the microSD card slot.

Overall, the phone is well built and I have no complaints at all.

Blackview BV2000s in pictures:

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Blackview BV2000s: DISPLAY

The Blackview BV2000s has a 5” 720p panel, which is pretty sharp, it has decent colour reproduction and it is a good display overall for such a cheap phone.

Blackview BV2000s: UI

The phone runs on Android 5.1 with the Blackview’s skin on top of it, which removes the app tray without any reason but it adds a lot of customisation options and other features for a budget phone.

You can customise the device using the dedicated theme store, change wallpapers, adjust launcher settings and so on.

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As far as extra features go, you have some typical gesture and motion controls. They all work okay and gesture recognition is pretty accurate. However, I found them to be kind of slow to work.

When it comes to day-to-day performance, it is pretty good and I can see a significant improvement over the regular BV2000. The UI is running smoothly most of the times. There were just a few times when some stutter kicked in but there is nothing to be worried about.

Blackview BV2000s: BENCHMARKS

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Blackview BV2000s: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

The Blackview BV2000s is not going to be your next powerhouse device. It has an MTK6580 64bit Quad Core 1.3GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM and just 8GB of expandable storage.

The 3D gaming experience is actually no bad. I played Asphalt 8 for extensive period of time on medium graphics settings. I didn’t have lags and there were just a few skipped frames. Still, I would say that the Blackview BV2000s is a good performer for the phone this cheap.

Blackview BV2000: CAMERA and IMAGE QUALITY

As far as camera, the 8MP shooter does not impress. Even the daylight shots don’t look good. There is a low amount of details, there are some focusing issues and the images will not impress you.

The low-light shots…. They do not impress either as the images lack in every aspect you can imagine.

Same can be said with the 720p video quality.

Blackview BV2000: MULTIMEDIA

Consuming HD content is an okay experience as the playback is smooth. However, the sound that is coming out of the rear mounted speaker is kind of tinny. Well, this is what you should expect from such a cheap phone.

Blackview BV2000: CONNECTIVITY

As far as connectivity, everything is working fine as I had no issues with the Wifi, GPS, Bluetooth, call quality or signal reception.

Blackview BV2000s: BATTERY LIFE

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When it comes to the battery life, it is pretty good. The 2400mAh unit can last you a full day and you will get around 4 hours of screen-on time on light usage.

Blackview BV2000s: CONCLUSIONS

The Blackview BV2000s is indeed a cheap phone and you can get it for less than $70. It has a decent design and good build quality, and a pretty good display for such a low price.

Also, the UI and even gaming performance is pretty good and I can see a noticeable upgrade over the previous BV2000 model.

However, the camera is kind of disappointment but this is what you get with the phones this cheap.

All in all, Blackview BV2000s is a pretty good offering for a very low price of just below $70. While it is not perfect as the camera does not impress but it does other things pretty much right and you simply cannot expect more for the price.

Buy Blackview BV2000s

The post Blackview BV2000s Review appeared first on Gizmochina.

This is a review of a phone that has been made by a company you have probably not heard of. It is any good? Learn more in the full Morefine Max1 review.

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Morefine Max1: VIDEO REVIEW

Morefine Max1: UNBOXING

As usual, let’s start by unboxing and see what’s inside. The contents of the packaging include a nice soft TPU case, two screen protectors, some instruction manuals, a charging plug and USB cable.

Morefine Max1: DESIGN and DISPLAY

I was initially surprised by the premium design and great build quality of the phone that is built by a rather unknown Chinese manufacturer.

Morefine Max1 has a metal frame going around the device along with metal buttons and the 5” display makes this device compact, and manageable with one hand.

Speaking of display, it is surprisingly good for a the phone that costs $120. It is bright, vivid and colour look vibrant. Also, it has excellent viewing angles.

Just above the screen there is a bright LED light, which has a few different colours but it is not customisable. As far as front firing optics, we have a modest 2MP shooter.

The chin of the phone is empty since Morefine Max1 has on-screen navigation buttons.

The glass back is a ridiculous fingerprint magnet but at least it helps with a grip. Here we have only 8MP camera with a single LED flash.

The buttons, which are very tactile, are located on the left but I never liked this idea on any phone. It could be just me but I am used to pressing keys on the right side and the buttons on the left are just not right.

The dual SIM card tray, where one slot also doubles as a microSD card slot is on the right.

As far as the loudspeaker, it is placed on the bottom where you can also find you micro USB charging port.

Finally, on the top there is just a headset jack.

Overall, the phone feels solid, it is well constructed and it does not feel cheap at all.

Morefine Max1: USER INTERFACE

As far as UI, we are looking at a nearly stock Android 5.1 build. Day-to-day performance is very smooth even with lots of apps running in the background and I didn’t have a single hiccup.

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To be honest, there are not too many extra features to talk about. The only neat addition would be a conveniently placed notification shade button. It is not something new but it is a cool feature to have.

However, there are a few minor bugs that hopefully will be fixed with the future software updates.

Firstly, there is no way to see the battery status in percents except for going deep in settings menu. Secondly, the auto-brightness of the screen feature dims the display too much for my taste, so I had to turn this feature off.

Also, you cannot simply close all the apps that run in the background and you have to close them one by one.

Well, these are just minor issues and hopefully they will be fixed soon.

Morefine Max1: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

The Morefine Max1 is not a powerhouse device as it has a quad-core MTK6735 chip with the clock speeds of just 1GHz, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage.

While daily perforance is nice and smooth, playing Asphalt 8 on the highest graphics setting is laggy. However, once you reduce the graphics to medium, playing a game can be actually enjoyable with just a few skipped frames but with no major lag.

Lastly, the phone does not have any overheating issues.

Morefine Max1: MULTIMEDIA

When it comes to multimedia, the Morefine Max1 has a decent quality sound output via earphones but if you want to listen to some tunes via the loudspeaker, it will not impress you as any other phone in this price range. The sound is tinny and it lacks depth.

Morefine Max1: CAMERA

You can’t expect much from a phone this cheap that has only 8MP camera, right?

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The daylight images look pretty okay but the level of details is not that impressive and there could be less noise in some images.

The indoor and low-light shots are actually not the worst I’ve seen and many of them are more than usable. However, some of the shots came out blurry and there is quite a low amount of details and lots of noise in each image.

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As far as 2MP selfie shooter, it is not really impressive but it will do the trick for social media, just make sure to take selfies in good lighting.

720P video is like on most of similarly priced phones. Although, the footage is not terrible, it lacks in details and sharpness. See a video review for a video sample.

Download full resolution camera samples

Morefine Max1: CONNECTIVITY

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

Morefine Max1: BATTERY LIFE

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The phone has a 2150mAh battery and it performs surprisingly well for its capacitiy. I could get over 4 hours of screen-on time while mixing heavy and light usage and using various screen brightness settings.

Morefine Max1: CONCLUSIONS

So there you have it, Morefine Max1, the phone that looks great, it is compact and it sports some premium materials in its construction.

Also, Morefine Max1 has a decent 720P screen, the UI is very fast but it has a few minor bugs that have to be fixed.

The camera is pretty mediocre but it is capable of producing okay looking images in daylight.

The battery life is surprisingly good and overall, Morefine Max1 is a decent phone for the price of around $120 despite a few shortcomings.

Buy Morefine Max1

The post Morefine Max1 Review – Beautiful Yet Affordable Smartphone appeared first on Gizmochina.

We have recently reviewed the Blackview BV2000 and right now we have a slightly upgraded model. Find out more in our first impressions article.

Thanks to the Blackview Official for sending Blackview BV2000s for a review.

Blackview BV2000s: Unboxing

The contents of the packaging include only the USB charging plug and the cable.

Blackview BV2000s: DESIGN and FIRST IMPRESSIONS

When it comes to the design, nothing has really changed in comparison to the BV2000 model. The phone is made of matt plastic and it feels comfortably in the hand due to rounded corners.

The device has a 5″ display, which is okay to look at but it only has a 720p resolution. It is definitely not the sharpest out there but it is quite good considering a low price of the phone.

On the top we have a 2MP camera, LED light and some other usual stuff. On the bottom there are 3 non-backlit capacitive buttons.

The back is made of matt plastic and thus the fingerprints are not that visible.

As far as optics, we have an 8MP snapper and a dual LED flash.

Under the hood you can find a usual combo on China phones: two SIM card slots and the microSD card slot.

The buttons are located on the right and they are made of plastic. I can’t say they are of a bad quality but they feel a bit mushy.

The headset jack and the micro USB port are on the top.

Overall, the Blackview BV2000s is well made cheap device. It does not look or feel premium but it does not look very cheap either. Matt plastic finish and rounded corners definitely help with the grip. Also, 5″ display makes this phone compact and manageable with one hand.

The specs of this phone do not impress but the Blackview BV2000s is all about budget. So far the phone looks and feels nice for a $68 device but we have to use it for some time. Stay tuned for a full review.

The post Blackview BV2000s Unboxing and First Impressions appeared first on Gizmochina.

Thanks to the Blackview official for sending Blackview BV2000 for a review.

Blackview BV2000: VIDEO REVIEW

Blackview BV2000: UNBOXING

The phone comes with just a power plug and the USB cable.

Blackview BV2000: DESIGN

The device is very compact as it has a 5” display and the phone is made of plastic. My review unit comes in pink colour but it has a lot more other colour options.

On the front top there is a 5MP snapper along with other usual stuff. On the bottom you can find a physical home button and nicely backlit capacitive keys.

On the back you can find an 8MP shooter with dual LED flash and the speaker grill.

The buttons are located on the right side and they have a great tactile feedback.

Under the hood, there is a removable 2400mAh battery, two SIM card slots and the microSD card slot.

Overall, the phone is well built and I have no complaints at all.

Blackview BV2000: DISPLAY

The Blackview BV2000 has a 5” 720p panel, which is pretty sharp, it has decent colour reproduction and it is a good display overall for such a cheap phone.

Blackview BV2000: UI

The phone runs on Android 5.1 with the Blackview’s skin on top of it, which removes the app tray without any reason but it adds a lot of customisation options and other features for a budget phone.

You can customise the device using the dedicated theme store, change wallpapers, adjust launcher settings and so on.

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As far as extra features go, you have some typical gesture and motion controls. They all work okay and gesture recognition is pretty accurate. However, I found them to be kind of slow to work.

When it comes to day-to-day performance, I can’t say that everything is running smoothly. There is occasional stutter and even a little of bit lag. To make the situation even worse, the stutter kicks in even when you are just scrolling through menus. Hopefully, this  issue is only due to an early software build and we will see an update to fix that.

Blackview BV2000: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

The Blackview BV2000 is not going to be your next powerhouse device. It has an MTK6735 64bit Quad Core 1.0GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM and just 8GB of expandable storage.

The 3D gaming experience is kind of terrible. There is a lot of stutter and lag, and basically this phone is not the best choice for the hardcore gamers out there.

Blackview BV2000: CAMERA and IMAGE QUALITY

As far as camera, the 8MP shooter does not impress. Even the daylight shots don’t look good. There is a low amount of details, there are focusing issues and the images look terrible.

The low-light shots…. They do not impress either as the images lack in every aspect you can imagine.

Same can be said with the 720p video quality.

Download full resulotion camera  samples

Blackview BV2000: MULTIMEDIA

Consuming HD content is an okay experience as the playback is smooth. However, the sound that is coming out of the rear mounted speaker is kind of tinny. Well, this is what you should expect from such a cheap phone.

Blackview BV2000: CONNECTIVITY

As far as connectivity, everything is working fine as I had no issues with the Wifi, GPS, Bluetooth, call quality or signal reception.

Blackview BV2000: BATTERY LIFE

When it comes to the battery life, it is good but not great. The 2400mAh unit can last you a full day of usage but it will give you only around 3 hours of screen-on time.

Blackview BV2000: CONCLUSIONS

The Blackview BV2000 is indeed a cheap phone and you can get it for around $70. It has a decent design and good build quality and a pretty good display for such a low price.

However, the UI performance needs some polishing as it is not smooth all the time. Also, this phone is definitely not for gamers out there as the most graphically intensive games have a lot of lag.

In addition, the camera is kind of disappointment and the battery life could be a little bit better.

All in all, Blackview BV2000 is not a perfect device in general but it’s okay for the price. If we see a software update to make the UI faster along with other possible improvements, it can be a decent phone for $70. At the moment, you have to take all the shortcomings into consideration before making a purchase.

Buy Blackview BV2000

The post Blackview BV2000 Review – A $70 Smartphone appeared first on Gizmochina.

It seems that Letv has just announced their trio of “Le Superphones” but we already have the Letv Le 1s – the successor of the cheapest device from the company’s portfolio. A lot of things have change, some remained the same. Find out more in our unboxing and first impressions article.

Thanks to Giztop for sending Letv Le 1s for a review. 

Letv Le 1s: UNBOXING

Letv Le 1s comes in a box, which has some design inspirations from Apple. However, it does not look that premium as the first generation Letv phones.

Still, the contents are very well made and they include a fast charging brick (up to 2.7A), USB Type-C cable, documentation and a fancy SIM ejector pin.

Letv Le 1s: DESIGN

When it comes to the design, we are looking at all-metal phone, which is an upgrade over the previous generation Le 1 model. The device definitely looks and feels like a high-end phone due to a very good construction and some quality materials.

As the majority of the Letv smartphones, the Le 1s comes with a 5.5″ display, which has become a standard nowadays.

On the top we have a 5MP selfie snapper, earpiece and LED notification light. On the bottom, there are 3 nicely backlit capacitive buttons.

On the back there a 13MP main shooter with a single LED flash and right underneath it you can find a fingerprint scanner, which works very well and setting it up is a breeze.

USB Type-C port takes care of charging/syncing and it sits next to the speaker grill and the mic.

Letv Le 1s: FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Overall, Letv Le 1s is well built metal phone and it sits comfortable in the hand. As I just wrote in the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 first impressions article, I am very happy about the evolution of budget smartphones – premium looks and great specs for affordable price.

I am familiar with the LeUI, which comes with the Letv phones and the Le 1s is no exception. Everything is running smoothly, apps are opening/closing fast and there are no major hiccups during the daily use. However, I am keeping a final judgment for a full review.

All in all, my first impressions are only positive at this stage. Still, it’s been just a day I’ve been playing with the Le 1s (as well as the Redmi Note 3) and there are many aspects that require a thorough testing. Stay tuned to Gizmochina for upcoming full review.

The post Letv Le 1s Unboxing and First Impressions appeared first on Gizmochina.

Cubot has released quite a few device lately and this time around we have the X17 in our review labs. Find out more in our first impressions article.

Thanks to Cubot Official for sending Cubot X17 for a review. 

Cubot X17: Specs

Cubot X17: UNBOXING

Cubot X17 comes with the instruction manuals, screen protector, USB cable, charging brick, SIM ejector pin and a hard plastic case.

Cubot X17: DESIGN

The very first impressions are that the phone is very well made and it is very thin at just 6.1mm. Also, the materials used in the construction mainly involve metal and it adds that premium look and feel.

The Cubot X17 has a 5″ display and thus it is a compact phone, so you can manage it with one hand.

Although the design looks nice, I immediately recognised that it looks like the vivo X5 Max or Oppo R5. It is not necessarily a bad thing and we’ve seen this done before by other Chinese manufacturers.

Cubot X17 in pictures:

Cubot X17: INITIAL IMPRESSIONS

To be honest, I’ve been playing around with the Cubot X17 for a few days already and the thing I like most is the design and build. Also, the phone is really compact and it doesn’t bother me when I am going out as I usually wear skinny jeans.

The phone runs on Android 5.1 out of the box. I’ve installed the usual apps and a few games, and some other apps that I use to test the phones out during the reviews. So far, everything’s running smoothly but I still need a few more days to tell a final opinion.

The full Cubot X17 review is coming out later this week. Stay tuned to Gizmochina.

The post Cubot X17 Unboxing and First Impressions appeared first on Gizmochina.

Today we are looking at a very cheap Doogee Valencia 2 Y100. This phone costs below $100 and it falls into cheap phones category. Find out if it is any good in our full review.

We wanted to say thanks to Focalprice for sending Doogee Valencia 2 Y100 for a review.

Doogee Valencia 2 Y100 Review: VIDEO

Doogee Valencia 2 Y100 Review: SPECS

Doogee Valencia 2 Y100 Review: UNBOXING

The Doogee phone comes in a usual box you would expect for a cheap device. The contents include a charging brick, USB cable, a pair of earphones, a screen protector and some paperwork.

Doogee Valencia 2 Y100 Review: DESIGN

When it comes to the design, we are looking at a compact 5” device and my review unit is in a flashy yellow colour.

The phone has an 8MP selfie shooter and all other usual stuff on the front top and on the bottom there are 3 non-backlit capacitive buttons.

The back is made of textured plastic and on the top we have a 13MP shooter with a single LED flash and a speaker grill.

On the right we have power on/off key and the volume rocker, which, however, feel a bit mushy.

On the left, there is a trio of LED lights and all of them are used for different tasks. I have to say that they look pretty good and I’ve never seen a phone with this type of implementation before.

On the top we have a headset jack, a charging port and on the bottom there is just a mic.

The back cover can be removed and underneath it you can find a removable 2200mAh battery, dual SIM card and the microSD card slots.

Overall, the phone has a decent build quality although it uses plastic in its construction and the buttons could have a better tactile feedback.

Doogee Valencia 2 Y100 Review: DISPLAY

Doogee Valencia 2 Y100 has a 5” 720p panel, which is pretty good for a cheap phone but not spectacular in general. It could definitely look sharper and the colours look more natural.

Doogee Valencia 2 Y100 Review: UI

As far as UI, we have an outdated Android 4.4.2 Kitkat with quite a heavy Doogee’s skin on top of it.

All the apps with the redesigned system apps’ icons sit on the home screens.

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One of the selling points of this device is the back touch panel and it can be used for a variety of different things like scrolling up/down or to the sides, triggering the camera and so on.

However, I found the key feature of scrolling up/down not working at all as I could scroll only to the sides. Also, the double tap to access camera feature has become very annoying as I kept opening the camera accidentally.

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Other features include gesture controls and they seem to be working well.

Overall, the UI of the Valencia 2 Y100 is fluid and responsive most of the times but there is just a bit of stutter from time to time. Also, turning off the back touch panel feature increases the overall UI performance significantly.

Doogee Valencia 2 Y100 Review: HARDWARE and PERFROMANCE

Doogee Valencia 2 Y100 has an octa-core MTK6592 chip with the clock speeds of 1.4GHz, 1GB of RAM and just 8GB of expandable storage (up to 64GB via the microSD card slot).

All these specs result in the okay gaming performance with not so impressive graphics but the stutter is just occasional, so it is still possible to enjoy some 3D gaming.

Doogee Valencia 2 Y100 Review: MULTIMEDIA

When it comes to the multimedia, there are no issues consuming Full-HD content. Also, the loudspeaker quality is pretty good for a budget phone.

Doogee Valencia 2 Y100 Review: CAMERA

Doogee Valencia 2 Y100 Review: IMAGE QUALITY

When it comes to the image quality, the 13MP camera does not impress.

The problem is that most of the images came out a bit blurry meaning that the camera struggles with focusing. Also, the pictures could have more details.

The good point is that the colours are pretty natural and the contrast levels are decent.

When it comes to the video recording, the footage does not impress either.

DOWNLOAD FULL RESOLUTION CAMERA SAMPLES

Doogee Valencia 2 Y100 Review: CONNECTIVITY

As far as connectivity, I have no major complaints but as usual with some MTK chips, the GPS lock speeds are not the fastest out there.

Doogee Valencia 2 Y100 Review: BATTERY LIFE

When it comes to the battery life, the 2200mAh unit can get you through the day if you are a light user as I was able to get around 4 hours of screen-on time (SOT) when doing basic tasks but the SOT decreased with more demanding tasks.

Doogee Valencia 2 Y100 Review: CONCLUSIONS

Doogee Valencia 2 Y100 is a phone that wants to be different in the budget devices category. Well, it succeeds at some points.

It is compact, lightweight and it has a flashy design. Also, Doogee tried to kind of innovate with the 3 LED lights on the side of the phone and they look nice.

However, the UI is not always perfectly smooth and while the back touch panel is indeed a great addition to the budget phones’ category, it simply does not work if you want to scroll up/down. Also, if the touch control feature is enabled, it alters otherwise decent UI performance.

Also, the camera leaves a lot to be desired with both image and video quality but it is hard to expect something significantly better in this price range.

All in all, Doogee Valencia 2 Y100 is an interesting addition to the cheap Chinese phones market but you have to take all the cons into consideration before making the purchase.

The post Doogee Valencia2 Y100 Review – Innovative Cheap Phone but… appeared first on Gizmochina.

Thanks to Coolicool for sending Umi Fair for a review

What we have in the packaging are the UBS cable and a power plug.

Umi Fair Review: DESIGN

When it comes to the design, we are looking at a fairly compact phone due to its 5” display.

Umi Fair is lightweight and sits comfortably in the hand due rounded corners and a soft somewhat baby skin finish on the back.

On the front we have a 2MP shooter, earpiece and a sensor light. This time around, Umi chose to implement on-screen navigation buttons.

The chassis is made of metal and on the right we have volume rocker along with the power key.

On the top there is a headset jack and on the bottom we have a charging port.

As far as optics go, there is a 13MP shooter along with a dual LED flash.

Right underneath the camera, there is a fingerprint scanner.

On the bottom we have a speaker grill.

The backplate can be removed and underneath it you can find a removable 2000mAh battery, 2 SIM card slots and a microSD card slot.

Umi Fair Review: DISPLAY

The Umi Fair comes with a 5” 720p panel, which is definitely not the sharpest we’ve seen but it’s pretty good for a budget phone. However, the sunlight visibility could be better.

Umi Fair Review: UI

When it comes to the UI, UMI Fair runs on Android 5.1 out of the box with a light Umi skin on top of it.

It is almost a stock Android build but, as usual, we have extra features like gesture controls built-in. However, they don’t seem to be working all the time or working slowly.

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The star of the show of this phone is supposed to be a fingerprint reader. However, it does not impress. Firstly, the setup is very slow and it takes forever to register your fingerprint. Also, the reader is super slow and inaccurate despite registering the same finger 3 times. Honestly, I ended up turning off the fingerprint scanner feature off.

In general, the UI is working smoothly but I’ve had quite a few error messages from Google Play store, a few app crashes but most importantly, downloading huge apps like Asphalt 8 can be a pain. It just takes forever to download them in comparison to higher-end phones.

Umi Fair Review: BENCHMARKS

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Umi Fair Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

The Umi Fair has a pretty standard configuration for budget phones:  MTK6735 chip, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of expandable storage.

While the day-to-day performance is usually smooth and the 3D gaming is also possible but you will experience a constant stutter and lots of skipped frames.

Umi Fair Review: MULTIMEDIA

Consuming HD content is smooth. As far as the rear mounted speaker, it is a similar story like on other cheap phones. It is just mediocre.

Umi Fair Review: CAMERA

The 13MP camera does not impress. There is a low amount of detail, colours tend to look washed out and the dynamic range adjustment is just terrible.

Same can be said about the video quality.

Umi Fair Review: CONNECTIVITY

I would rate a call quality okay and same goes with other connectivity options. They work fine but the GPS is not the fastest to get a lock speed and not the most accurate one.

Umi Fair Review: BATTERY LIFE

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The battery life is decent but nothing really impressive. I could get over 3 hours of screen on-time on a daily basis and doing just some basic tasks.

Umi Fair Review: CONCLUSIONS

I would call Umi Fair just another budget phone from China. Well, it has a decent design and good build quality.

However, the main selling point, which is a fingerprint reader, does not work properly. It is very slow to setup and the real life usage is just a pain. It is not accurate and very slow, and it makes you want to turn this feature off.

In general, I was happy with the UI performance but those Google Play store errors and a few app crashes were annoying.

All in all, Umi Fair is not the worst phone we’ve seen in this price range but it is not the best either.

Here is a coupon code for Coolicool.com, save $5: forum-5

Buy Umi Fair from Coolicool

The post Umi Fair Review appeared first on Gizmochina.

It seems that a lot of Chinese manufacturers are trying to solve a weak battery life issue by simply producing the phones with enormous size of the batteries. Cubot is no exception here as they have the H1 in their portfolio. But is it any good? Does a large battery alone make the phone a good device to use?

Thanks to Pandawill for supplying us with the Cubot H1 for a review. 

Cubot H1 Review: VIDEO

Cubot H1 Review: UNBOXING

The phone comes with a charging plug, USB cable, documentation and a screen protector.

Cubot H1 Review: DESIGN

The Cubot H1 is not the smallest phone as it comes with 5.5” display but this is what we need to deal with when it comes to most of the phones nowadays. Nevertheless, the phone sits comfortably in the hand.

On the top we have sensor lights, earpiece and an 8MP shooter, which is interpolated from 5MP sensor, a non-customisable LED light, which flashes in two colours, and on the bottom there are 3 capacitive keys, which have a really bright backlight that is visible outdoors.

The backplate is made of textured plastic material and here we have the 13MP camera, which is again a result of interpolation from 8MP sensor. Also there is an LED flash.

On the bottom we have just a speaker grill.

You can remove the back cover and underneath it you can find one full size SIM card slot with the 4G support, a micro SIM card slot for GSM networks and the microSD card slot for storage expansion. The star of the show, however, is a huge removable 5200Ah battery and I will talk about it a bit later.

The phone measures at 9.2mm thick due to its large battery. The frame is made of plastic but the sides I believe are metal. Still, they feel plasticky to me.

On the left we have a volume rocker and on the right there is power key.

On the top there is a headset jack, micro USB port and the IR blaster.

Overall, the phone does not really impress when it comes to design. It uses mainly plastic all over the phone and it feels kind of cheap. A good thing is that the build quality is really good.

Cubot H1 Review: DISPLAY

The Cubot H1 comes with 5.5” 720P display, which is slightly curved on the sides to give that 2.5D glass effect. It is an okay panel for a budget phone as it is quite a sharp with decent colour reproduction but we’ve seen better ones.

A disappointing thing is that my review unit came with one dead pixel on the left corner.

Cubot H1 Review: UI

The phone runs on Android 5.1 with a light Cubot’s skin on top of it. It is almost a stock Android build but Cubot removed the app tray and changed the design of the icons.

There is no extra functionality like gestures or any customisation options on this phone. Well, let’s say that Cubot went with the “You keep it simple, you keep it fast” philosophy as the UI is running really smoothly all the time even with many apps running in the background.

The only software bug I found is that the backlight under the capacitive keys does not turn off when talking on the phone.

Overall, I’m happy with the fast and smooth UI performance but keep in mind that you are not getting any extra  features we usually see on other phones.

Cubot H1 Review: BENCHMARKS

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Cubot H1 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

The Cubot H1 has a quad-core 64-bit MTK6735P chip, which is clocked at 1GHz, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage.

The specs are not really impressive but given the 720P panel the phone manages to handle 3D games quite well. The graphics do not look stunning, there are some skipped frames but gaming experience can be still enjoyable.

Also, I didn’t notice any severe overheating issues.

Cubot H1 Review: MULTIMEDIA

The Full-HD video playback is smooth and the loudspeaker quality not bad but nothing impressive either. It could be louder but a good thing is that it does not make crackling noises as it is common to some budget phones.  However, the sound is tinny and it doesn’t not have much depth in it.

The sound via earphones is nothing to be impressed about but it is not a disaster either.

Cubot H1 Review: CAMERA

We have a stock Mediatek camera app we’ve seen on lots of phones lately and the Cubot H1 is no exception.

Cubot H1 Review: IMAGE QUALITY

The image quality is not really impressive. Well, you may get some decent looking daylight images and some macro shots in good lighting conditions but these pictures will be a hit or miss. Also, the colour reproduction is not always accurate and the dynamic range is usually off.

When it comes to the low-light shots, they do not impress at all. Usually, there is a noticeable purple tint in each picture. If the object is more illuminated, the purple tint disappears but as expected, the level of details is low and there is plenty of noise.

I took a selfie in the low light. Well, it can serve for Facebook just fine…

Cubot H1 Review: CONNECTIVITY

I had no issues with any of the connectivity options like wifi, Bluetooth and even GPS was fast to lock and pretty accurate to use for navigation. The call quality is also good.

Cubot H1 Review: BATTERY LIFE

The 5200Ah battery sounds really impressive given the 720P 5.5” panel and I can say it delivers in real life. I could get almost 7 hours and once I got 8 hours of screen-on time on moderate use with the wifi or 4G always on and the auto-brightness setting on. Also, the standby times are very good as the Cubot H1 takes only around 3% of power overnight. In addition, you are getting a fast charge feature on top of that and you can even charge other devices.

Cubot H1 Review: CONCLUSIONS

So here it is, the Cubot H1, the phone that it is designed with a great battery life in mind and it delivers in reality. It may have not the best but a decent screen, a fast UI and even okay gaming performance.

However, the phone’s camera does not impress, UI is just bare bones as it does not have any extra features. Also, the device looks and feels kind of cheap. Yes, it is well made, it does not make any crackling noises when pressed but the choice of plastic is what makes the Cubot H1 look plain and cheap.

If you are looking for the phone that does most of the day to day tasks right and has a killer battery life with a fast charge feature and ability to charge other gadgets, this phone can be for you. However, you have to consider the mentioned shortcomings and decide if they are a deal breaker to you or not and is it worth the price as currently you can get the Cubot H1 for as low as $130 unlocked.

Buy Cubot H1 with $15 OFF (COUPON CODE: CUBOTH1)

The post Cubot H1 Review – A Cheap Battery Monster appeared first on Gizmochina.

Here on Gizmochina.com we have a lot of readers who are looking for Chinese phones not only because they love Chinese tech, but also they want to find a phone that is the best bang for the buck. Naturally, Xiaomi is the company that comes to their minds and this time around we are taking a look at the highly anticipated Xiaomi Redmi Note 2.

We wanted to thank Giztop.com for sending the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 for a review and we suggest you visiting the Giztop product page.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: VIDEO REVIEW

[embedyt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpPOTiapj1U[/embedyt]

Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 vs Meizu M2 Note:

Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: UNBOXING

The Redmi Note 2 comes in a plain box and all you are getting is the micro USB cable, a power plug and some documentation.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: DESIGN

The phone has a very similar design to the previously released Xiaomi Mi4i and I suggest you checking out the Xiaomi Mi4i full review as well.

It is made of quality matt plastic and the phone is very comfortable to hold in the hand. However, the back cover makes a few wobbling noises when pressed and this tells that the Redmi Note 2 is a budget device after all. Nevertheless, it is nothing to be worried about and the build quality is good.

On the front top side we have a 5MP snapper, earpiece, proximity sensor and a highly customisable LED light.

On the bottom there are 3 capacitive keys, which also have a nice backlight.

On the back we have a 13MP shooter along with a single LED flash and on the bottom there is a speaker grill.

On the right there is a volume rocker and a power key. They have a good tactile response but feel a bit plasticky.

On the top we have a headset jack, noise cancelling mic and yeah, there is the IR blaster on the budget phone!

On the bottom there is a micro USB port and the main mic.

The backplate is easy to remove and underneath it you can find a swappable 3060Ah battery, 2 micro SIM card slots and the microSD card slot for storage expansion.

Overall, the Redmi Note 2 is a nice looking phone and it is well built device for such a low price. The only shortcoming is the small crackling noise once you press the back cover or the sides of the phone a bit harder but it is far from the deal breaker to me.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: DISPLAY

The phone is not the smallest one due to its 5,5” display. I honestly believe that this is one of the best panels we’ve seen on a budget phone as the display is bright, sharp, vivid and has great viewing angles. In short, you would never think this is a cheap panel used to reduce the cost of the device.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: USER INTERFACE

The phone runs on MIUI 6, which is built on top of Android 5.0 Lolipop. If you are familiar with the MIUI, it has tons of features, settings, customisation options and it is just so much different than the stock Android.

You can select from thousands of themes available online. Also, you can change wallpapers, fonts, transitions, animations and so on.

Pressing a menu key brings a recent apps tray where you can swipe them up to close or swipe down to lock.

Swiping down anywhere on the screen opens up the notifications menu and if you swipe left you go to the quick toggles menu, which is also customisable.

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Other features worth mentioning are the ability to customise the notification LED light, assign different tasks to navigation buttons, adjust the colour temperature of the screen, play with music equaliser settings, enter the one-handed mode, choose a lite mode and do so much more. There are literally tons of settings and features to play with that you will never find on the stock Android version.

A few downsides would be that MIUI is memory hungry and I usually got less than 1GB of RAM left and if I ran a few apps in the background, the amount of RAM reduced even more.

Other annoying things include that the phone came with a few pre-installed bloatware apps like speed booster and cleaner. While it may be useful for some but I don’t like any of these third-party apps but the worst thing is that you cannot simply uninstall them. Well, at least you can disable them.

In addition, I found a few apps like Google Play Store and Facebook work a bit slower than usual at times.

Overall, the MIUI is full of features and settings but I cannot say that it flies through everything once you install lots of apps and use the phone on a daily basis. Yes, it is fluid most of the times but there is occasional stutter from time to time. You can live with that but I believe the phone needs to get a software update to improve the overall user experience.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 is quite a powerhouse for the price. It has a Mediatek 6795 Helio X10 chip, which has 8 cores and the clock speeds of up to 2GHz. The chip is supplemented with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. If you opt in for a more expensive Prime model, you will get a slightly more powerful chip (2.2 GHz) and 32GB of storage.

This combo of specs proves to be a real deal when it comes to 3D gaming as Asphalt 8 and Real Racing 3 ran almost perfectly. The graphics are not on par with flagships but still look very good. I didn’t experience stutter or lag that it is worth complaining. Overall, I am very happy with the performance.

A downside is that the phone gets a bit warm pretty quickly but not hot that it becomes uncomfortable to hold it in the hand.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: BENCHMARKS

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Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: MULTIMEDIA

Consuming the full HD content on a nice looking screen is just a blast. Also, the sound that is coming out of the loudspeaker is one of the best ones that we can hear on a budget phone.

The sound via earphones is not bad either.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: CAMERA

The Redmi Note 2 comes with the MIUI camera app, which is nicely designed, it has some a few shooting modes and settings to play with.

The shutter speed is very fast and this is thanks to the phase-detection auto-focus.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: IMAGE QUALITY

The 13MP camera on the back is capable of producing some nice looking images for a budget phone. However, the pictures could have a little bit more resolved detail but my biggest complaint is that the dynamic range is a hit or miss and some shots came out a bit blurry.

The indoor shots have more noise and less details and it is a similar story with the night shots but it is one of the better performing phones in this price range.

Overall, the Redmi Note 2 has a decent camera for a price. While it has some issues there and there, a decent image quality and the shutter speed is what makes this phone a decent performer in this price range of phones.

Download full-res camera pictures 

Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: VIDEO QUALITY

The 1080P video quality is usually not impressive on cheap phones. Well, I cannot say that the Redmi Note 2 does an amazing job but it is not a disaster either and I’ve seen much worse performers. Just keep in mind that you have to have a steady hand to avoid shakiness. See a video review for the video sample.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: CONNECTIVITY

The call quality is decent, Bluetooth, Wifi are working fine. Also, the GPS lock speeds are fast and the navigation is pretty accurate to use it while driving.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: BATTERY LIFE

The battery life is okay but I expected a bit more. I could get a maximum of 4 hours of screen-on time but with a bit more intense use it reduced to less than 2 hours. Well, it seems that the phone takes too much energy while idling and we may want to see a software upgrade to see an improvement.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: CONCLUSIONS

So there you have it, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 – a phone that has a reseller price tag of under $160.

The phone has a decent design, a brilliant screen, a feature rich MIUI operating system and good gaming performance  Also, for this price you are getting a good camera with a fast shutter speed, 2 SIM card slots with the 4G LTE support, microSD card slot, a good loudspeaker, removable battery and more.

That doesn’t mean that the phone is perfect though. The MIUI still needs some polishing and I would love to see an improvement an RAM management, and the pre-installed bloatware is annoying. Also, the battery life is not the worst but it is not great either. Well, at least it is removable.

Is it worth $160 price tag? Definitely yes. Well, the Redmi Note 2 is not perfect but it is impossible to find a device in this price category that it doesn’t have any flaws. To be honest, I’ve seen a lot worse phones with a lot more disadvantages. All in all, if you are on the budget, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 is a great bang for your buck.

We wanted to thank Giztop.com for sending the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 for a review and we suggest you visiting the Giztop product page.

The post Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 Review: Yes, Please appeared first on Gizmochina.

Another day, another review, guys. I’ve been carrying a cheapo Doogee Nova Y100X with me for the past 8 days and I wanted to share my opinion about this phone.

Doogee Nova Y100X Review: VIDEO

Doogee Nova Y100X Review: SPECS

Doogee Nova Y100X Review: UNBOXING

The phone comes with the charging plug, USB cable, screen protector, instruction manual and a pair of headphones. Also, manufacturer included a TPU case.

Doogee Nova Y100X Review: DESIGN

When it comes to the design of the phone, the device clearly reminds me the Samsung Galaxy S3. Nevertheless, the phone is small due to its 5” display and sits very comfortably in the hand because of the rounded corners. It is made entirely of plastic though, so it doesn’t look or feel premium.

On the front there is a 5MP camera, which also has a front firing LED flash, earpiece and a sensor light.

On the bottom there are 3 non-backlit capacitive keys.

On the back side yo can find an 8MP camera on the top and a speaker grill on the bottom.

On the left side there is a volume rocker and Doogee says it made it to reach it better. The company believes that implementing it on the back rather on the side is better. Well, they may have a point but I’ve never had issues reaching it if it is implemented on either side.

On the top there is a headset jack, which is okay,  but the power button sits next to it and I don’t think it was a good idea to place it here as it is inconvenient to reach it. I suggest all the manufacturers to stick with the right side placement of the power key. I do not understand why some of the phone makers try to re-invent a wheel here.

On the bottom there is a micro USB port and the mic.

Overall, the phone feels plasticky, the back plate is a fingerprint magnet and while the built quality is okay, the choice of materials make this phone look and feel cheap.

Doogee Nova Y100X Review: DISPLAY

The 5” 720P panel is quite bright, sharp enough and while it is far from the best panels we’ve seen, it is good for a cheap phone.

Doogee Nova Y100X Review: USER INTERFACE

Doogee Nova Y100X runs on Android 5.0 with the Doogee’s skin on top of it. You are getting a pretty much stock Android experience with some redesigned icons and a little bit of extra functionality. That includes a lot of different gesture controls. Some of them are working pretty good while others are either slow or not working very well. Either way, a lot of these controls are gimmicky and I am not sure if you are the fan of them either.

Overall, the UI is fast on a day to day use but you may face an occasional stutter especially when running lots of apps in the background.

Doogee Nova Y100X Review: BENCHMARKS

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Doogee Nova Y100X Review: HARDWARE AND PERFORMANCE

The phone does not have a beefy specs sheet and the processing power includes a quad-core MTK6582 chip, 1 GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage, which can be further expanded up to 64GB.

I was actually surprised that the phone can handle 3D games pretty well. Yes, the loading times are long, there are skipped frames but the stutter was just occasional and I would say that the performance is good given the hardware this phone has and the price category of the device.

Doogee Nova Y100X Review: MULTIMEDIA

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The Doogee Nova Y100X has no issues handling Full HD content and the loudspeaker is not bad for a budget phone. Yes, the sound is tinny, doesn’t have bass or depth in it but it is quite loud and doesn’t make crackling noises.

The sound via earphones is not very impressive as on any other cheap phone.

Doogee Nova Y100X Review: CAMERA

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The phone comes with a Mediatek camera app we’ve seen on a lot of phones lately.

Doogee Nova Y100X Review: IMAGE QUALITY

The 8MP camera on the back does not impress. A lot of images are out of focus doesn’t matter that I tried to hold my hands as steady as possible. Also, there is plenty of noise and the dynamic range adjustment is bad.

Sometimes you can take some better looking images but they will be usable only for social media.

The 5MP selfie snapper can sometimes work for social media but overall the picture quality is bad. Also, the front firing LED can help you to take that night selfie but the quality would not impress you.

Doogee Nova Y100X Review: VIDEO QUALITY

[embedyt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOqzU-oFF0c[/embedyt]

The video quality is bad overall and Doogee Nova Y100X will definitely not be your main cam-recorder. Anyway, this is what you can expect from any device, which costs less than $90.

Doogee Nova Y100X Review: CONECTIVITY

The call quality is good but not great and other connectivity options like Wifi, Bluetooth work well. Also, the GPS look speeds are quick but the accuracy could be a little bit better.

Doogee Nova Y100X Review: BATTERY LIFE

The 2200Ah removable battery performs quite good but there is nothing to be impressed about. I could get around 4 hours of screen on time and my main activities included Internet browsing, Youtube, Facebook, sending some emails and of course, making calls.

Doogee Nova Y100X Review: CONCLUSIONS

Doogee Nova Y100X is a really cheap phone that costs below $85 and it has an okay built quality but the choice of plastic in its build makes the phone look and feel a bit cheap.

The UI is usually fast but occasional stutter is possible when you are running lots of apps in the background. A good thing is that more graphically demanding tasks work quite good for a budget phone. You will see a bit of stutter and skipped frames but enjoying some 3D gaming is possible on this device.

For $85 you are also getting a decent display and okay loudspeaker for media consumption. Also, the battery life is not impressive but it will get you through the day if you are not a heavy user.

However, this device is not for you if you love taking lots of pictures as the main camera usually disappoints. Same can be said about the selfie snapper.

All in all, basically you get what you pay for if you choose the Doogee Nova Y100X. If you need just to get the job done for basic daily tasks, this phone can work for you. However, you need to take all the shortcomings into consideration before making a buying decision.

The post Doogee Nova Y100X Review appeared first on Gizmochina.

When it comes to very cheap phones, they usually lack in a lot of different departments and that’s why we are not really interested in them. However, Oukitel has some intentions to change that with their latest U2 model. Will it be another cheapo device with too many “compromises” or will it be a cheap phone worth looking at?

We wanted to say thanks to Comebuy.com for sending Oukitel U2 for a review.

Oukitel U2 Review: VIDEO

[embedyt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rpAde1P7QM[/embedyt]

Oukitel U2 Review: SPECS

Oukitel U2 Review: UNBOXING

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The phone comes in a plain box and all you are getting is the wall charger along with the USB cable and some documentation.

Oukitel U2 Review: DESIGN

When it comes to very cheap smartphones, they usually have a questionable build quality and the choice of materials used in the construction.

Oukitel, which is a small Chinese smartphone maker, managed to make a really good looking phone for a price.

It has a metal chassis going around the device along with metal buttons, which have a great tactile feedback and a 2.5D glass on the front and the back with slight curves on the edges.

On the front top side you can find a 5MP selfie camera along with the earpiece and proximity sensor light, and on the bottom the are non-backlit capacitive keys.

The volume rocker sits on the left and the power button is on the right.

On the top side there is a micro USB port and the headset jack, and on the bottom there is just a mic.

The back plate is kind of a fingerprint magnet due to its glossy glass finish but its not that visible on the white model.

On the top side there is an 8MP camera along with the single LED and on the bottom you can find a loudspeaker.

A great thing is that the back cover sits tight but it is very easy to remove it and under the hood you can find a 2050mAh removable battery, a microSD card slot, which takes cards up to 32GB and two SIM card slots and the first one has the 4G LTE support.

Overall, I am really impressed about the design and built quality of this $90 phone. Metal and glass sandwich construction looks and feels premium, the phone is easily manageable with one hand due to its 5” display and overall you no one would ever think this device is so cheap.

Check out all design pictures in one gallery:

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Oukitel U2 Review: DISPLAY

The Oukitel U2 comes with a 5” display but it has a pretty low 540×960 qHD resolution. Its definitely not the sharpest panel I’ve seen but definitely one of the better ones in this price range. The colour reproduction is not very accurate but the panel is bright that can be easily seen outdoors, it has good viewing angles and contrast.

Oukitel U2 Review: UI

A really cool thing is that the Oukitel U2 comes with the newest Android 5.1 version. Basically, you are getting the stock Android experience but Oukitel added some flavour of their own by removing the app tray and designing the icons to make it look a bit more colourful. Also, the recent apps tray shows you just the icons of the recent apps and you can either swipe them up to close it or swipe down to lock.

The Oukitel U2 comes with plenty of gesture and motion controls, which some of them are definitely gimmicky but others are pretty useful like double tap the home button to lock or unlock the screen, draw some letters to open certain apps and so on. A great thing is that these gestures work pretty good.

Other than that, the base of stock Android assures that you will get smooth and fast performance when doing daily tasks and the phone works well even with lots of apps running in the background.

Oukitel U2 Review: PERFORMANCE

The phone comes with the Quad-Core MT6735M, which is clocked at 1GHz. The chip is coupled with 1GB of RAM, Mali-T720 GPU and 8GB of expandable storage.

The result of it? I expected a lot more since the Oukitel U2 simply can’t handle the graphically intensive games. The performance is terrible since there are a lot of lag, stutter and skipped frames. 

Overall, this phone is not for heavy gamers but the games that do not have the best graphics work much better. 

Oukitel U2 Review: MULTIMEDIA

There are no issues watching full-HD movies. Well, it is just that the phone doesn’t have a full-HD screen.

On the other hand, the loudspeaker is pretty good for such a cheap device.

When it comes to listening to music via earphones the volume output is good but naturally, the sound quality is not on par with the more expensive phones. Still, you can enjoy the music at a decent quality for such a cheap phone.

Oukitel U2 Review: CAMERA

As it has become usual to cheap phones, Oukitel U2 has a stock Mediatek camera app with a few shooting modes and settings to play with. The shutter speed is pretty slow.

Oukitel U2 Review: IMAGE QUALITY

You cannot expect any stellar results from a cheap phone, which has an 8MP camera on the back. Basically, the images taken with the rear snapper could be useful only for social media as they usually lack in details, the contrast, exposure and dynamic range are usually off. Still, the colour reproduction can be accurate at some shots.

You would not want to take many low-light shots as sometimes it is hard to see the scene you took the picture of.

Oukitel U2 Review: VIDEO QUALITY

As far as the video quality, the footage lacks in every aspect and it simply does not look good overall. See the video review for a video sample.

Oukitel U2 Review: CONNECTIVITY

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The call quality is surprisingly decent for a cheap phone and the signal reception is better than average. The 4G connectivity may not be the fastest but it is working.

GPS lock speeds are pretty fast, Wifi and Bluetooth are working fine and I am quite impressed that the Oukitel U2 doesn’t have major connectivity issues like some other cheap phones.

Oukitel U2 Review: BATTERY LIFE

In theory, 2050mAh battery should perform good given the fact that the phone does not have a powerful chip and it does not need to push too many pixels.

In reality, the Oukitel U2 will last you a full day if you are not a heavy user and it has a decent over 4 hours screen-on time.

Oukitel U2 Review: CONCLUSIONS

So here it is, the $90 Oukitel U2. If you are on a tight budget and looking for a phone that has a great design and build quality, does all the basic tasks well, has a great user interface performance, decent call quality and battery life, this phone may be for you.

However, the Oukitel U2 would not be your next device if you love taking a lot of pictures and love playing the latest 3D games.

Still, despite these shortcomings, which could be a deal breaker for some, the Oukitel U2 is a really decent offering in the price range of under $100 unlocked.

We wanted to say thanks to Comebuy.com for sending Oukitel U2 for a review.

Buy Oukitel U2 from Comebuy for $93.18

The post Oukitel U2 Review – Decent Super Cheap Smartphones Are Now Possible? appeared first on Gizmochina.