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

Thanks to Banggood for sending Pepsi P1s for a review.

Pepsi P1s Review: VIDEO REVIEW

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

Pepsi P1s Review: UNBOXING

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

Pepsi P1s Review: SPECS

Pepsi P1s Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

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

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

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

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

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

Pepsi P1s Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

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

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

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

Pepsi P1s Review: BENCHMARKS

Pepsi P1s Review: USER INTERFACE

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

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

Pepsi P1s Review: IMAGE QUALITY

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

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

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

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

Pepsi P1s Review: CONNECTIVITY

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

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

Pepsi P1s Review: BATTERY LIFE

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

Unfortunately, the phone does not support fast charging feature.

Pepsi P1s Review: CONCLUSIONS

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meizu has produced quite a few smartphones this year and the M3 is one of the most affordable ones. Learn more in our full review.

Thanks to Gearbest for sending Meizu M3 for a review.

Meizu M3 Review: VIDEO REVIEW

[embedyt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_IR8Ck6QYY[/embedyt]

Meizu M3 Review: UNBOXING

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

Meizu M3 Review: SPECS

Meizu M3 Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

Meizu M3 is a very compact phone due to its 5” display and it looks like a shrunk down Meizu M2 Note.

Speaking of the display, it sports just a 720p resolution but it still quite sharp and good display for a budget phone like this. The only complaint would be that it could be slightly brighter for outdoor use.

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

On the bottom, there is just a physical home button and you can either physically press to take you home or just tap it and it acts as a back button. Unfortunately, the phone lacks a fingerprint scanner.

Although the device uses glossy plastic in its construction, the phone is well-built and it feels solid. In fact, it is really comfortable to hold it in the hand due to rounded corners on the back. We have a 13MP camera with f/2.2 aperture on the back coupled with a dual-tone dual LED flash.

The loudspeaker sits on the bottom and the sound quality is actually pretty good for the phone this cheap.

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

We have a hybrid SIM card slot, which can take either 2 SIM cards or a combo of 1 SIM and the microSD card.

Overall, the Meizu M3 is a well-constructed phone and it feels great in the hand.

Meizu M3 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

Meizu M3 has some pretty decent specs for the price. My review unit sports an octa-core Mediatek 6750 chip with the clock speeds of 1.5GHz, 2 GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage.

The day-to-day performance of the UI is fast but the gaming performance is kind of a letdown. The phone lags quite a bit when playing Asphalt 8 even at the lowest graphics.

Meizu M3 Review: BENCHMARKS

Meizu M3 Review: USER INTERFACE

My Meizu M3 unit has FlyMe OS 5.1, which is built on top of Android 5.1. My review unit has a fully de-bloated ROM with multi-languages and Google Play services pre-installed.

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

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

Overall, the FlymeOS runs fast and fluid, I didn’t have a single hiccup on a daily basis.

Meizu M3 Review: IMAGE QUALITY

The 13MP camera is far from perfect but it can produce one of the better-looking images in a sub-$120 phone.

Most of the daylight shots will look good but one of the shortcomings is a poor dynamic range adjustment. Luckily, the HDR mode does a pretty good job solving this issue.

The low-light camera performance is okay for the phone this cheap but keep in mind that cheap phones usually don’t take great night shots.

The 1080p video looks pretty good and the footage is one of the best in class. See a video review for a video sample.

A 5MP selfie shooter can take some nice photos that will definitely do the trick for social media.

Meizu M3 Review: CONNECTIVITY

As for connectivity, you should not expect any issues with neither of the options that include wifi, Bluetooth, GPS or call quality.

Meizu M3 Review: BATTERY LIFE

The phone has an embedded 2870mAh battery that performs well. I could constantly get over 5 hours of SOT on a mixed use, which is a good result.

Meizu M3 Review: CONCLUSIONS

Meizu M3 is one of the better phones in this price range.

Sure, some may say that it lacks some common features like a fingerprint scanner and fast charging but the phone has a good display and great build quality.

Also, the device is fast on a daily basis, it has a good battery and one of the better cameras in its price range.

However, you have to keep in mind that the phone will struggle handling the 3D games and it lacks premium materials like metal in its build.

Overall, Meizu M3 is a great phone for the price of just $116 despite a few shortcomings.

The post Meizu M3 Review – A Great Cheap Smartphone! 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 haven’t reviewed any phones made by Vernee and it will be interesting to see what kind of devices this company has to offer. Today we have a Vernee Thor in our review labs. The phone costs around $120 and it has some decent specs. Learn more in our full review.

Thanks to Oppomart for sending Vernee Thor for a review.

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

Vernee Thor Review: VIDEO

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

Vernee Thor Review: UNBOXING

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

Vernee Thor Review: DESIGN

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

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

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

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

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

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

The buttons feel nice and they are tactile.

Vernee Thor Review: SPECS, PERFORMANCE, BENCHMARKS

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

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

Vernee Thor Review: UI

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

Vernee Thor Review: CAMERA

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

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

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

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

Download full resolution camera samples

Vernee Thor Review: CONNECTIVITY

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

Vernee Thor Review: BATTERY LIFE

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

Vernee Thor Review: CONCLUSIONS

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.