Cubot Max 3 Smartphone is now available at a heavily discounted price of $138.59 (including VAT) only from the Official Cubot Store at AliExpress. This deal ends tomorrow.

Cubot Max 3 Smartphone

Key Features:

• 6.95-inch ultra-large display
• 4GB RAM + 64GB ROM expandable up to 256GB
• Stock Android 11 OS
• 5000mAh high capacity battery
• Triple rear camera: 48MP + 5MP + 0.3MP
• 16MP AI Beauty Selfie Camera
• Multifunction NFC support
• GPS, GLONASS, Beidou
• Bluetooth v5.0
• Fingerprint scanner
• Dual Nano SIM
• Colors: Black and Green

You can now buy Cubot Max 3 Smartphone at a discounted price of $138.59 only at AliExpress. This deal is applicable on orders made from China, Italy, and Poland warehouses. This deal ends tomorrow. So place your order asap. 

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.

* Please Note: When you buy something using the links in our articles, we may earn a small commission at no cost to you.

The post Deal: Get Cubot Max 3 Smartphone for $138 at AliExpress appeared first on Gizmochina.

Cubot Note 7 smartphone which generally retails for $100 is now available at a highly discounted price of $60.99 only at AliExpress. 

Cubot Note 7

Key Features:

• 5.5” waterdrop IPS display
• MT6737 processor
• 2GB RAM + 16GB ROM, extendable up to 128GB
• Triple rear cameras: 13MP + 0.3MP + 0.3MP
• Front Camera: 8MP
• 1A LED flash
• 3100mAh detachable battery
• Face ID unlock
• Stock Android 10
• Colors: Black, Red, Blue, and Green

Generally retailing for $100, you can now buy Cubot Note 7 smartphone at a discounted price of $60.99 only at AliExpress. Please note that this is a limited-time offer. So place your order asap. 

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

* Please Note: When you buy something using the links in our articles, we may earn a small commission at no cost to you.

The post Deal: Buy Cubot Note 7 Smartphone for $61 (Retail Price $100) appeared first on Gizmochina.

Blackview has made quite a few budget phones over the year and the A9 Pro is one of their latest models. It has decent specs for the price of just about $90. Is it any good? Learn more in the full Blackview A9 Pro review.

VIDEO REVIEW

UNBOXING

Blackview A9 Pro ships with all the usual stuff and some extras include a screen protector, a pair of earphones and a soft TPU case.

DESIGN and DISPLAY

As far as design goes, I love that the phone is compact since it has only 5” 720p display, which may not be the sharpest out there but it is not bad for a cheap phone.

We have a quality metal trim that goes all around the device, tactile metal buttons and in general, the phone is well-built.

We have a notification LED light, which sits next to the 2MP selfie shooter.

The fingerprint scanner may not be the fastest out there but it gets the job done and it unlocks the phone straight from the standby mode. Also, the sensor has a touch panel. If you tap it, it takes you back, if you tap and hold it, you will go home. You can also switch to traditional on-screen navigation keys.

One of the key selling points of this phone is the dual-camera setup that consists of one 8MP shooter and another 0.3MP sensor.

The loudspeaker quality does not really impress like on most of the budget phones.

HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

The phone sports okay specs for the price. The device ships with a quad-core MTK6737 chip (1.3GHz), 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage.

The gaming performance is pretty good if you play the 3D games like Asphalt 8 on medium graphics. Still, you may see a few skipped frames but nothing major. The phone gets warm pretty quickly but it does not overheat.

USER INTERFACE

The Blackview A9 Pro comes with the Android 7.0 out of the box with the proprietary skin on top of it. The skin removes the app tray and redesigns the icons whether you like it or not. The are quite a few gesture and motion controls that work quite well but some of them are quite slow to respond. You can also use a one-hand operation mode that works quite well, use a floating dock and so on.  Most importantly, the user interface performance has been smooth and fluid, no complaints here.

BENCHMARKS

IMAGE QUALITY

The Blackview A9 Pro can take decent daylight images considering this is a cheap phone. Sure, the level of detail could be higher, the dynamic range adjustment could be more accurate but in general, you can take some decent-looking daylight images.

The dual-camera setup allows you to take some good-looking pictures with bokeh effect. Sure, this is not the flagship-grade quality but the results are quite impressive for such a cheap device.

The low-light camera performance does not impress like on most of the cheap phones.

Selfie pictures will definitely do the trick for social media needs but there could slightly more detail.

The 1080p video quality is above average. Selfie video quality is again, kind of mediocre but it is possible to use the camera for video chats or other stuff.

Download full resolution camera samples

CONNECTIVITY

When it comes to connectivity, the call quality is above average, the Wifi works fine and GPS is usable for navigation although it is not the most accurate out there.

BATTERY LIFE

The 3000mAh battery performs quite well. I was able to get almost 5 hours of screen-on time, which is a good result considering the fact that I used the phone quite intensively.

CONCLUSIONS

The Blackview A9 Pro is yet another cheap phone from China that aims to deliver a lot of value for the price and it succeeds in quite a few ways.

The phone is plain-looking but it is well-built and it uses a quality metal frame, the display is great for everyday use, the user interface performance is decent and the battery life is good.

Obviously, you should consider some caveats like a poor low-light camera performance, mediocre loudspeaker and the MTK6737 chip is not designed for hardcore gamers.

At the end of the day, the Blackview A9 Pro is still a decent offering for the price but as always, make sure to consider a few shortcomings like on any other budget phone.

The post Blackview A9 Pro Review – A Decent $90 Dual-Camera 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.

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 A8 Max is one of their latest budget offerings. The phone costs just $80, it has a great design and more. Learn more in our full review.

Blackview A8 Max Review: VIDEO REVIEW

Blackview A8 Max Review: UNBOXING

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

Blackview A8 Max Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

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

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

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

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

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

Blackview A8 Max Review: BENCHMARKS

Blackview A8 Max Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

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

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

Blackview A8 Max Review: USER INTERFACE

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

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

Blackview A8 Max Review: IMAGE QUALITY

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

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

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

Blackview A8 Max Review: CONNECTIVITY

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

Blackview A8 Max Review: BATTERY LIFE

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

Blackview A8 Max Review: CONCLUSIONS

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

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

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

Leagoo M5 Review: VIDEO REVIEW

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

Leagoo M5 Review: UNBOXING

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

Leagoo M5 Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Leagoo M5 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

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

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

Leagoo M5 Review: BENCHMARKS

Leagoo M5 Review: USER INTERFACE

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

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

Leagoo M5 Review: IMAGE QUALITY

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

Same can be said about the front facing camera.

Leagoo M5 Review: CONNECTIVITY

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

Leagoo M5 Review: BATTERY LIFE

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

Leagoo M5 Review: CONCLUSIONS

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

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

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.

iNew has a phone that costs $110, it has a 6” HD display and decent specs. Stay tuned to find out if this phone is any good in our full review.

iNew U9 Plus Review: VIDEO

iNew U9 Plus Review: UNBOXING

The phone comes with all the usual stuff and some extras include a pair of earphones, a screen protector and a hard plastic case.

iNew U9 Plus Review: SPECS

iNew U9 Plus Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

When it comes to the design, the U9 Plus is obviously a huge phone due to it’s 6” display.

Speaking of the display,  it has only 720p resolution but it is still quite sharp for a phone that costs just above $100.

As far as the overall build quality, the phone is well-made but I have to admit that the phone feels a bit plasticky and cheap since it uses only plastic in its construction.

We have a 5MP selfie shooter. Unfortunately, there is no LED notification light and the capacitive buttons are not backlit.

There is a 13MP camera coupled with a single LED flash. On the bottom, we have a loudspeaker, which is not very good but it is not bad for the price of the phone.

The backplate can be easily removed and underneath it you can find a replaceable 3000mAh battery, 2 SIM card slots and the microSD card slot.

The buttons sit on the right side and they are tactile. However, they are made of plastic and feel a bit cheap.

iNew U9 Plus Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

The phone has a quad-core MTK6735 with the max. clock speeds of 1.3GHz, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage.

The gaming performance is pretty good. I played Asphalt 8 on medium graphics and there were no lags. Also, the phone does not overheat.

iNew U9 Plus Review: BENCHMARKS

iNew U9 Plus Review: USER INTERFACE

The phone ships with the already outdated Android 5.1 and iNew’s skin on top of it. There is no app tray but there are quite a few fancy widgets and customization options.

Also, there are some gesture and motion controls but the phone is kind of slow to react to some of the gestures.

The user interface could have been nice but there are some pre-installed apps and even some apps that are designed for Chinese market.

Most importantly, the animations and transitions once you simply scroll through the different menus are slow. Thus, the whole user experience is not as good as I expected. This is something iNew should take a look at to fix this issue with the future software updates.

iNew U9 Plus Review: IMAGE QUALITY

The 13MP camera does not impress. Even the daylight images lack detail and sharpness. Also, the dynamic range adjustment is poor in most of the shots. Finally, the color reproduction is not always consistent.

The low-light shots do not impress either as there is a low amount of detail and quite a bit of noise.

The video quality is okay for the phone this cheap but don’t expect any great results.

A 5MP front-facing camera is not good either as most of the shots have a soft focus.

iNew U9 Plus Review: CONNECTIVITY

I didn’t have any connectivity issues. Even the GPS was very fast to find the position and pretty accurate to use.

iNew U9 Plus Review: BATTERY LIFE

The 3000mAh battery does not look impressive on paper but it performs pretty well considering its low capacity and a large display.

I could get around 5 hours of screen-on time on time but your results may vary, depending on the usage.

iNew U9 Plus Review: CONCLUSIONS

The iNew U9 Plus is a phone that aims to bring a huge 6” display and decent specs for a low price.

It succeeds in a couple of ways. It has a pretty sharp display that is great for multimedia consumption or gaming. Speaking of the 3D games, the phone handles them pretty well if don’t set the graphics on the maximum settings.

Also, the phone has a pretty good battery life considering its low capacity.

On the other hand, the phone has a decent build quality but it looks kind of cheap due to the fact that it uses plastic in its construction.

Also, I was disappointed that the transitions and animations in the user interface are slow, both cameras do not impress, there is no LED notification light and the capacitive buttons are not backlit.

In conclusion, the iNew U9 Plus could have been a nice phone but it has some shortcomings that you have to consider before buying it. Some of the cons hopefully will be fixed with the future software updates but at the moment, you would have to live with them.

The post iNew U9 Plus Review – A $100 Phablet 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.

There are plenty of smartphones out there but usually they cost a lot. I came across Oukitel C3. It is a $50 phone that has and HD display, Android 6.0 and decent design. Learn more in our full review.

 Oukitel C3 VIDEO REVIEW:

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

Oukitel C3 Review: UNBOXING

The phone ships with all the usual stuff and you should not expect any extras to come with the device.

Oukitel C3 Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

When it comes to the design, there is nothing spectacular going on here. We don’t have any premium materials like metal but the phone is well built and it is comfortable to hold it.

The 5” 720p display is not the best I’ve seen but it is really good for the phone this cheap. My advice would be to remove that cheap pre-installed screen protector, which distorts the view.

We have a just a 2MP selfie shooter and non-backlit capacitive keys. You have to know that there is no notification LED light and the buttons feel a bit cheap.

The backplate, which has a vinyl-like finish is  very nice to the touch and it does not attract fingerprints so easily. Also, it can be easily removed. Underneath it, you can find 2 SIM card slots and the microSD card slot.

As far as optics, we have an 8MP camera and a single LED flash.

The loudspeaker sits on the back. You can’t expect high-end sound quality out of it, but I would say this is best speaker on a $50 phone I’ve tested.

Overall, Oukitel C3 does not look or feel expensive or anything but it is well-made, looks decent and it does not seem to break anytime soon.

Oukitel C3 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

For $50, you are getting a quad-core MTK6580A CPU with the clock speeds of up 1.3GHz, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of expandable storage.

While this spec-sheet will definitely not blow your socks off, you can still enjoy some 3D games.

Asphalt 8 runs fine on medium graphics with just a few skipped frames but no lag.

Oukitel C3 Review: USER INTERFACE

The phone ships with Android 6.0 out of the box and we have some redesigned icons and added features by Oukitel.

For example, there are plenty of gesture and motion controls. As usual, I use only a couple of them and they work fine.

Most importantly, the phone runs fast and fluid most of the time. Well, I had a little bit of stutter a couple of times but nothing major.

Oukitel C3 Review: IMAGE QUALITY

You can’t expect any stellar results from the camera on the phone this cheap. In short, the image quality is not impressive but some of the shots may be usable for social media. Same can be said about a selfie shooter.

Oukitel C3 Review: CONNECTIVITY

As for connectivity, the GPS is not the most accurate I’ve tested but it is still usable. Also, the wifi works fine and the call quality is decent.

Oukitel C3 Review: BATTERY LIFE

The phone sports a 2000mAh battery and it performs on the average. 3 hours of screen-on time was the most I could get out of this phone on a moderate use.

Oukitel C3 Review: CONCLUSIONS

So, there you have it, a $50 phone, Oukitel C3. This phone is designed for those who live on a very tight budget or for those, who just want a super cheap phone.

Sure, you can’t expect anything spectacular out of this phone. Well, cheap is cheap but Oukitel C3 is one of best $50 phones on the market. It has a decent design and display, a pretty good overall performance and some extra features in the user interface.

Obviously, both cameras do not impress and the battery life could be better.

At the end of the day, Oukitel C3 is not going to be your next flagship killer but it is well-worth a $50 price tag, despite a few shortcomings.

The post Oukitel C3 Review – $50 Smartphones Never Looked So Good 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.

Blackview has produced quite a few budget phones and the A8 model is probably the best we’ve tested so far. It costs just $50 and it is a good device for the price. Learn more in the full review.

Blackview A8 Review: VIDEO

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzVgb0o9lFg[/embedyt]

Blackview A8 Review: UNBOXING

It was a pleasant surprise when we saw that Blackview included some nice extras like a flip-style case and a pair of earphones with this $50 phone.

Blackview A8 Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

It is pretty cool that this cheap phone has a metal frame that goes all around the device, the buttons are tactile and the overall build quality is great.

The loudspeaker is not going to impress you much but it is actually not bad at all for a cheap phone and it easily rival some $100 devices.

The backplate can be removed and underneath it you can find a replaceable 2000mAh battery, 2 SIM card slots and the microSD card slot. Keep in mind that the phone does not support 4G network but the 3G signal reception is good and I didn’t have call quality issues.

The phone feels nice in the hand too. The only shortcomings would be non-backlit capacitive buttons and the lack of the notification LED light. Instead, you are getting a front firing LED flash for night selfies.

The phone has a 5” 720p display and it is probably the best we’ve seen on the $50 phone. It is sharp and vivid and you can’t ask more from a phone this cheap.

Blackview A8 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

The Blackview A8 is not going to be your next powerhouse device but the specs are pretty good for the price. It sports a quad-core 1.3GHz MTK6580 chip, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of expandable storage.

This phone is definitely not for gamers but it is still possible to play games like Asphalt 8 on the lowest graphics settings.

Blackview A8 Review: BENCHMARKS

Blackview A8 Review: USER INTERFACE

The phone runs on Android 5.1 with Blackview’s skin on top of it, which removes an app tray but adds some features and customization options.

There are some themes, skins and some nice looking widgets to play with. Also, you can find some gesture controls, which work very slowly.

The UI performance is good but not perfect. You can expect some minor hiccups or skipped frames in animations. On the other hand, I didn’t have any major lags.

Blackview A8 Review: CAMERA

The image quality is not really impressive but this is what you have to expect from a $50 phone. Still, you can get some okay looking daylight images that could be used for social media. However, don’t expect great results in low-light.

Blackview A8 Review: BATTERY LIFE

The 2000mAh battery will give you just around 3 hours of screen-on time on a mixed use, which is not very impressive.

Blackview A8 Review: CONCLUSIONS

Blackview A8 is a phone that has a great build quality and even metal frame in its construction and it costs just $50.

Also, it has decent HD display, the UI has some extra features and the phone is easily manageable in one hand.

However, you should expect some minor hiccups in the UI and the battery life could be better.

Still, the phone is a great offering for $50. In fact, it is one of the best we’ve tested in this price range of phones and it can be highly recommended for those who are on a very tight budget.

The post Blackview A8 Review – $50 Smartphone Never Looked So Good 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.

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:

1 of 23

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.

1 of 6

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

1 of 7

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

1 of 2

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.

Subscribe to TechLineHD

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.

1 of 6

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?

1 of 17

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.

1 of 2

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

1 of 3

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.

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

Cubot S600 VIDEO REVIEW:

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

Cubot S600 Review: UNBOXING

Cubot S600 Review: SPECS

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

Cubot S600 Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

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

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

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

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

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

On the bottom there is just a speaker grill.

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

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

Cubot S600 Review: UI

1 of 10

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

1 of 3

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

1 of 7

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

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

Cubot S600 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

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

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

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

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

Cubot S600 Review: MULTIMEDIA

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

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

Cubot S600 Review: CAMERA

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

1 of 11

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

1 of 6

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

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

1 of 2

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

Download full resolution camera samples

Cubot S600 Review: CONNECTIVITY

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

Cubot S600 Review: BATTERY LIFE

1 of 3

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

Cubot S600 Review: CONCLUSIONS

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

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

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

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

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

Buy Cubot S600

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

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.

It seems that it hasn’t been long since Xiaomi released the Redmi Note 2 and a lot of us thought that it will lead the Redmi lineup for quite some time. This is what we are used to and this is what the company usually follows. However, Xiaomi decided to pleasantly surprise us by releasing the 3rd generation “budget Note” – the Redmi Note 3. Find out more in our unboxing and first impressions article.

Thanks to Giztop for sending Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 for a review. 

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3: Unboxing

We see a slight change in terms of packaging. We have already got used to seeing the recycled paper boxes that come with Xiaomi phones but this time around the company made a better looking presentation.

The contents that come with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 include the charging brick, USB cable, documentation and a SIM ejector pin.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3: Design

It wouldn’t be a Note series if we had a small display. Well, it is not big either as 5.5″ panels have already become a standard. Still, you have to keep in mind that the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is not the most compact phone.

I would say that the Redmi Note 3 has the most drastic design change in the series. It sports a great build quality and it uses all-metal unibody design, which I personally like. That means that gone are the days of a user-replacable battery and even the microSD card slot. It may be a deal breaker for some, especially for the power users.

On the bright side, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is the first Xiaomi’s phone ever to sport a fingerprint scanner, which is easy to setup, fast, accurate and works from a standby mode.

On the front we have a 5MP selfie snapper and a customisable LED light. On the bottom, there is a usual set of capacitive buttons, which also have a nice backlight.

The buttons, which are located on the right feel nice and they are made of metal too. On the left we have a dual micro SIM card slot.

Besides the usual ports, it is really cool that Xiaomi adds the IR blaster in their budget phones lineup.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3: First Impressions

Overall, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 looks and feels like a premium handset. It is well constructed, it uses mainly metal in its body and no one would ever tell you this is a cheap phone. I have to say that I love the evolution of cheap devices and the current trend – premium look and feel for a low price.

As far as UI, we have the MIUI 7 out of the box, which is built on top of Android 5.0. Hopefully, there will be an update to the 5.1 version very soon. So far the interface is nice and fast (we have a Chinese version for a review). However, the later tests will give a better conclusion.

So far the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 has worked absolutely fine but I have to test every bit of it before writing (and making a video) a full review. Stay tuned to Gizmochina.

Buy Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 from Giztop

The post Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 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.

1 of 1

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.

1 of 8

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.

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.

1 of 15

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

1 of 6

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.

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

1 of 3

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:

1 of 29

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

1 of 2

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.

Elephone has been busy releasing new devices like P7000 or P8000, but I’ve been using a bit older device as a daily driver for the past week or so. It is the Elephone G7 (full name is Precious G7). I know it is not the newest kid on the block but I thought why not make a  video review of it… because that’s what I do nowadays.

It turns out that the Elephone G7, which costs just below $120, is pretty capable device and it also spots a great design with decent built quality. I’m not saying there are no better option out there, but I didn’t have any major issues with it. Honestly, it behaves like a device that costs around $200. Check out either video or written review to find out all the pros and cons!

We wanted to thank Pandawill.com for providing us with review unit. You can check out the product page of the Elephone G7 here.

Elephone G7 Review: VIDEO

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW IN THE VIDEO REVIEW!

Elephone G7 Review: SPECIFICATIONS

Elephone G7 Review: UNBOXING

A FAIRLY STANDARD PACKAGING WITH A USUAL SET OF ACCESSORIES

The device comes in a nice box and you have to pull the tab to open it up.

The packaging contents include the stuff you would it expect to come with most of the smartphones. That includes the charging brick  along with USB cable, instruction manuals and screen protector. Overall, the presentation is great for the price of this device.

Elephone G7 Review: DESIGN

a sleek looking device with a slim body and great built quality

The Elephone G7 is a well-designed smartphone. The very first impressions once you take the device out of the box are that the built quality is great and you simply can’t expect more from a budget device. It has a 5.5″ display, so it is not that small but the bezels are not that huge and it can be managed with one hand with a bit of

On the top side you can find an 8MP shooter, proximity sensor and an earpiece.

On the bottom there are 3 capacitive keys, which also have a nice bright backlight, which is even visible outdoors.

In addition, the home key serves as a notification and it also has a great looking pulsing effect (see the video review to see the pulsing effect). 

The backplate is made out of matt plastic, which, however, attracts some fingerprints and smudges. Still, it’s not that bad as glossy surfaces.

The good thing is that you can easily remove the back cover, where you can find a removable 2650mAh battery.

Also, there are two SIM card slots (one full SIM size, another micro SIM size), one being capable of both 2G and 3G networks while another can only support 2G network. However, there is no 4G connectivity on board. The good thing is that there is microSD card slot for storage expansion up to 64GB.

The company chose a left corner to implement a 13MP camera with single tone dual LED flash. It is not the best placement for the camera sensor as it can be easily covered with your fingers. However, it seems that manufacturers still love choosing this place.

The Elephone G7 is surrounded by a metal frame, which gives a bit of a premium look and feel.

In addition, it seems that the buttons are made out of metal as well. Also, they are very clicky have a great tactile response. The left side is where you can find a volume rocker.

The right side seems right for the implementation of the power on/off switch, which is easy to reach with your thumb.

On the top side there is a micro USB charging port along with the headset jack.

On the bottom you can find a microphone along with two speaker grills. Please check out the video review to hear sound test. 

Elephone claims that this phone measures at 5.5mm thick. However, it looks like it was just a trick to get your attention. It is more likely that a metal frame is very thin, but the backplate adds a bit more thickness.

Still, the device is indeed very slim and it looks and feels well made. Also, it does not feel cheap at all as the build quality may be even better than some devices that cost way over $300.

Elephone G7 Review: DISPLAY

a 720p 5.5″ display is not the best out there but great for the budget device

The Elephone G7 is not a small device as it comes with a 5.5” 720P display. The panel itself is not the sharpest but sharp enough and you won’t be able to see any pixels with a naked eye. Also, the colours look natural and the viewing angles are great. However, I would love to see a bit better sunlight visibility. Still, it’s not a bad panel overall.

Elephone G7 Review: UI

THE DEVICE COMES WITH OUTDATED ANDROID 4.4.2 OS. NEVERTHELESS, EVERYTHING IS RUNNING SMOOTHLY AND THE OVERALL UI EXPERIENCE IS GOOD.

The Elephone G7 comes with a bit outdated Android 4.4.2 Kitkat OS. Although it is not the newest version of Android with a light Elephone’s skin on top of it, everything is running smoothly and I didn’t have any lags in daily use.

The UI itself is pretty simple affair as it comes with a usual set of features you would expect to come with most of the smartphones. One of the features, which has already become a standard is the gesture controls and they work pretty good.

In addition, all the apps are opening up fast and they are very responsive.

You are not getting the latest and greatest OS from Google here, but the good thing is that you would not have any lags and responsiveness is the word that is the best to describe the overall UI experience.

Elephone G7 Review: PERFORMANCE

uninspiring specs sheet and benchmark results but great real life performance

The device has an octa-core MTK6592M, 1.4GHz (32-bit) chip, Mali-450 MP4 GPU, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of expandable storage.

The Antutu benchmark score is 28765, which is uninspiring.

Well, it is not a powerhouse at all and the with the specs sheet like this and the synthetic benchmark results, the Elephone G7 falls into the low-end category of devices.

On the other hand, graphically intensive games work absolutely fine. Well, there are definitely some skipped frames, but it doesn’t really bother you and the overall experience is great. In addition, the device doesn’t heat up to uncomfortable levels even after more than 10 minutes of intensive tasks.

Elephone G7 Review: MULTIMEDIA

overal multimedia consumption experience is great but you may want to download a third party video and music player apps to have more functionality

The great performance is also confirmed by a smooth Full-HD video playback. A 5.5” display is fun to watch video on, but the pre-installed stock video player doesn’t have much functionality, so I suggest you downloading a third-party one.

The stock Android gallery app experience is great as scrolling through or zooming in the pictures is almost seamless.

The device comes with a stock Android music player app. I was actually surprised that the loudspeaker quality is not bad at all for a budget device. Well, the sound does not have much depth like some high-end devices, but the speaker is very loud and the sound doesn’t get muffled once you cover the speaker up (Please check out the video review to hear a sound test).

1 of 1

The browsing experience is also good. The webpages are loading fast and scrolling is without any lags.

Elephone G7 Review: CAMERA

The Elephone G7 comes with a stock Android camera app that we have already seen on many devices. There are a few settings and shooting modes to play with. As far as the shutter speed goes, it is not the fastest, but fast enough not to miss a moment you want to capture.

Elephone G7 Review: IMAGE QUALITY

a decent camera for the price of the device

The 13MP camera is quite good for a budget device. You can capture some decent looking daylight images. Most of them have plenty of detail, the colours look natural, but the dynamic range and exposure can be a hit or miss. In addition, you have to hold the camera steady to avoid blurriness.

Once you take the smartphone indoors, you can actually take some nice pictures, but, naturally, the shutter speed slows down.

The low-light shots have much more noise, but are still usable. Also, the nigh shots are possible with the dual LED flash, but it is quite weak and does not illuminate the scene that well.

DOWNLOAD FULL RESOLUTION CAMERA (INCLUDING VIDEO) SAMPLES

Elephone G7 Review: FRONT FACING CAMERA IMAGE QUALITY

An 8MP selfie camera is quite decent outdoors as it takes pictures with a fair amount of details for social media uploads.

Elephone G7 Review: VIDEO QUALITY

the video quality is below average as it lacks in many aspects

PLEASE CHECK OUT THE VIDEO REVIEW TO SEE THE VIDEO SAMPLE.

The device is capable of shooting Full-HD videos, but the quality is below average. The footage looks dull as the sensor does not capture a lot of details and the colours look washed out. In addition, there is no continuous auto-focus on board.

Overall, the camera will not surprise you, but you can’t expect more from a budget device and it even performs at the same level as some sub-$200 smartphones out there.

Elephone G7 Review: CONNECTIVITY

all connectivity options work well but the wifi range could be better

I don’t have many complaints about Elephone G7’s connectivity options, which could be a deal breaker. The call quality is not the best, but it is fair enough and the 3G signal reception is great. Also, the GPS lock speed is not the fastest I’ve seen, but once you get a position lock, navigating through streets is good. However, the WIFI range could be a bit better as I couldn’t get full bars even being in the same room where the router is.

Elephone G7 Review: BATTERY LIFE

battery life is far from the best but better in reality than it looks on paper

The 2650mAh battery sounds uninspiring on paper. Surprisingly, it is not that bad in real life. It will get you through the day if you are an average user, meaning that you wouldn’t stare at your phone’s screen all the time. Speaking of screen on time, I could get almost 5 hours, which involved a lot of Youtube, some gaming, Internet browsing and Full-HD video playback. It is far from the best, but it is very good considering the low battery capacity, a huge screen and the price of the device.

Elephone G7 Review: CONCLUSIONS

Elephone G7 may not be newest device on market, but it still offers most of the features you would expect from a smartphone and they work quite well.

The design is sleek as the device is very thin and the overall built quality is great.

It is obvious that the smartphone doesn’t carry a killer specs sheet, but you don’t need to pay a huge price tag for this device either. A bit outdated Mediatek chip along with 1GB of RAM may sound disappointing, but the real life tests suggest that it should be good enough for the majority of users, who do not require that bleeding edge specifications.

In addition, for the price of $120 you are getting a camera that is capable of shooting some decent daylight images.

Moreover, the battery life may not be the best, but it will be enough to last you a full day if you are not a heavy user.

All in all, the Elephone G7 has some minor flaws but they are far from the deal breaker. Honestly, considering the whole package this device offers, it would be just unfair to expect more for the price.

We wanted to say thank you again for Pandawill.com for sending Elephone G7 for a review. A good thing about this seller is that it offers and amazing import taxes/VAT insurance service at a little extra cost!

The post Elephone G7 Review – A Good Cheap Smartphone appeared first on Gizmochina.

Elephone has been busy releasing new devices like P7000 or P8000, but I’ve been using a bit older device as a daily driver for the past week or so. It is the Elephone G7 (full name is Precious G7). I know it is not the newest kid on the block but I thought why not make a  video review of it… because that’s what I do nowadays.

It turns out that the Elephone G7, which costs just below $120, is pretty capable device and it also spots a great design with decent built quality.

I’m not saying there are no better option out there, but I didn’t have any major issues with it. Honestly, it behaves like a device that costs around $200.

The full written review is in the works, so please check out my Elephone G7 video review that I have put a lot of work in it:

The post Check Out Awesome Elephone G7 Video Review! appeared first on Gizmochina.