AnTuTu has released its top 10 most value for money smartphones which topped the chart in the month of March 2017. The list is only a little different from that of February, with a few new entrants to the chart. The chart is made mostly of flagships that have been in the market for a while.

The top 3 spot is still inhabited by the same models from last month, that is the Lenovo ZUK Z2, The LeEco Le Max 2 and Le 2 in the same order. It is really no surprise that the Lenovo ZUK Z2 still tops the chart as it still offers flagship specs at a budget price tag. The ZUK Z2 (3GB + 32GB) which is equipped with Snapdragon 820 processor is currently priced at 1199 Yuan. This price tag makes it the cheapest flagship and arguably offers the best value for your money. The ZUK Z2 is closely followed by the LeEco Le Max 2 (4GB + 32GB) which is priced at 1399 Yuan. The third position is occupied by the LeEco Le 2 (3GB + 32GB) whose price has further dropped to 899 Yuan.

The LeEco Le S3 is a new entrant, pushing the Le Pro 3 out of the fourth spot to the fifth. The Le Pro 3 may have dropped to the fifth position because of the 100 Yuan increase in its price tag which now sits at 1899 Yuan. With a Snapdragon 821 processor + 4GB RAM, the price is still a bargain.

The rest of the list is made up of the Xiaomi Mi 5 at the sixth spot while the Snapdragon 821-powered Smartisan M1 is at number 7. LeEco and Coolpad’s collaborative work, Cool1 Dual occupies the number 8 position. At number 9 is the Smartisan M1L packing a Snapdragon 821 chip and finally, the Xiaomi Mi Note 4 completes the top 10 chart.

Read Also: Xiaomi Mi 6 Specs Confirmed on AnTuTu, Scores 170k

While the list might look like it is packed with smartphones that are unavailable outside of China, a good number of these cheap flagships can actually be purchased by intending buyers from different countries around the world. They can then be shipped to your location and sometimes the shipping is free of charge. One amazing online shop in China that stocks most of these veteran flagships is GIZTOP. You can give it a try and be rest assured of the safety of your order.

The post AnTuTu Most Value For Money Smartphones in March appeared first on Gizmochina.

Popular benchmarking site, Antutu has released a list of the top 10 smartphones according to the major regions. The list is formed from a statistics of phones benchmarked from that region and not from a sales standpoint. The data was recorded starting from the first day of the year up until the 31st of December, 2016.

China Mainland

The results from the Chinese Mainland see Xiaomi clinching the top two spots with the Mi 5 and Redmi Note 3. Third spot goes to the LeEco Le 2 and Samsung’s S7 Edge comes in at number 4. Other phones that make the list include the Huawei Mate 8, Meizu MX5, ZUK Z2 and Le Max 2.

Taiwan

Taiwan’s list is quite different as it has phones made by company’s from the small island nation. Asus’s Zenfone 2 is at the top of the list with 6.56% and is followed by the Redmi Note 3 with 5.03%. Third and fourth spots are occupied by the Galaxy Note 5 and the HTC 10. The Galaxy S7 Edge and Galaxy Note 4 are right behind them. ASUS and HTC still make it to the list with the Zenfone 3 and HTC One M8 and Sony comes in at number 9 and 10 with the Xperia Z5 Premium and Xperia Z3.

Hong Kong

The Antutu results for Hong Kong has Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge taking the lead and the Redmi Note 3 coming in second. LG’s V10 comes in third position and is followed by the Galaxy S7. Samsung’s popularity doesn’t end there as right after the Galaxy S7 is the Galaxy Note 5, the Galaxy Note 4, the Galaxy A9 (2016), and the Galaxy Note 3 closing the list.

United States

In the United States, Samsung shows it is still the boss by having six of its devices on the list. The Nexus 6P is also on the Antutu list, coming in at number 5 and followed by the Redmi Note 3 and Nexus 6. The appearance of the Redmi Note 3 on the list is quite a surprise since Xiaomi has not launched any of its phones in North America.

India

The Indian market has become a very important one for Chinese manufacturers as the competition in their home market gets tougher. One company that has invested greatly in the Indian market is Xiaomi and its investment has paid off greatly. The list is headed by the Redmi Note 3 and includes other devices like the Redmi Note 2, Mi4c, Mi5, Mi4, and Mi 4i. Asus Zenfone 2 and Samsung’s S7 Edge also make it to the list.

Global

Ending it is the Antutu global list which has the Redmi Note 3 heading it. Xiaomi also gets the second spot with the Mi5 and Samsung’s S7 Edge and S6 hold the third and fourth position. LeEco’s Le 2 and the Zenfone 2 also makes it to the list.

READ MORE: Latest Android Distribution Numbers: Froyo Dies, Lollipop Still Tops

The results show that even though the popularity of Chinese phones continues to increase and more people keep purchasing them for their affordable price, the major markets are still controlled by the big brands like Samsung who rake in a lot of money in these regions due to their high profit margins.

(source)

The post Antutu’s Top 10 Smartphones in Each Region appeared first on Gizmochina.

LeEco‘s flagship Le 2 has emerged as the best-selling thousand yuan smartphone in China for the period running from June to November 2017. According to Sino-Data statistical chart, the LeEco Le 2 sold more that 2.6 million units in the period under review to emerge as the most popular thousand yuan flagship and the topmost selling brand in the thousand yuan  category in China.

The latest data reviews smartphones sales in China from June to November and apart from the Le 2, another LeEco flagship, the Le 2 Pro also posted some stunning figures in its price category. The data also reveals that a total of 48.6 million units were sold in November alone, representing an 8.7% increase from the previous month’s figures.

Read More: LeEco Le Max 2 Price Cut Brings it Into The 1000 Yuan Flagship Category

Despite the popularity of online sales channels in China, the data shows a total of 12.9 million units were sold via online channels. On the other hand, offline sales still proves more popular with a record 35.6 million of the total sales coming via offline channels between June and November 2017, with most of the sales coming during the festive periods like double 11 shopping carnival and others.

source

The post LeEco Le 2 Emerges As Top Best Seller in China’s June to Nov Sales Figures appeared first on Gizmochina.

Scandal aside, LeEco has made some pretty great and affordable phones. One of them is the LeEco Le 2 which comes in two variants: a Helio X20 variant and a Snapdragon 652 variant; and is also one of the first phones in the world to ditch the audio jack.

Released back in April for ¥1099 (~$160), the Le 2 has a 5.5” FHD display, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a 16MP f/2.0 main camera, and an 8MP front facing shooter. There is a 3000mAh battery with Quick Charge 2.0 support, a fingerprint scanner, and an IR blaster.

The price of the Snapdragon variant of the Le 2 has been slashed down by ¥200 (~$29) and you can now pick it up for just ¥899 (~$130), which is not bad as long as you can live with its lack of an audio jack. Actually, you won’t find any phone with 3GB of RAM and a Snapdragon 652 chip for $130.

READ MORE: LeEco CEO Hints at Company’s Participation at CES 2017

While it does lack an audio jack, it comes with a USB Type-C audio adapter, so you can use any of your headphones with it and get a taste of its HiFi audio and Dolby Atmos audio enhancement.

The post The Snapdragon 652 LeEco Le 2 Gets a Price Cut, Now ¥899 ($130) appeared first on Gizmochina.

August has been a busy month in Chinese smartphone market, talking about new model launches. There have been new models like Redmi Pro (end of July) and Redmi Note 4 from Xiaomi, M3E from Meizu, Cool1 from LeEco and Coolpad marriage, Q5 series from 360. More will come before the end of this year including some flagship models. There is a big war between phone makers to catch a piece of this billion $’s cake.

As the second version of our “Smartphone Buyers Guide” today we will take a look for the models that cost between 100$-200$. There are so many choices when we include old models from last year too, I mean models with old chipsets that has been updated with new series. So they will be eliminated, otherwise this list won’t end As an example, I didn’t include Meizu M2 Note or Meizu Metal in this guide, even though both are still very good phones under 200$, because there is M3 Note out and you can buy it under 200$ too. There will be some exceptions, of course, if it’s a bargain.

Speaking of Meizu, let’s start with this makers phones under 200$.

MEIZU M3 Note

$145.89 for 2GB/16GB, $186.99 for 3GB/32GB version.

Display: 5.5 inch 1920 x 1080 ( FHD ) screen 403 PPi
CPU: Helio P10 Octa Core ARM Cortex-A53 1.8GHz x 4 + ARM Cortex-A53 1.0GHz x 4
GPU: ARM Mali T860 image processor
System: Android 5.1 ( Flyme 5.1 )
RAM + ROM: 2GB RAM + 16GB ROM / 3GB RAM + 32GB ROM. TF card up to 128GB
Camera: Rear camera 13 megapixel, Corning Gorilla 3 glass, f/2.2 aperture, 5-element lens, Continuous shooting, Panorama, PDAF auto-focus, Two-tone flash
Front camera 5 megapixel, f/2.0 aperture, 4-element lens, FotoNation 2.0, FaceAE
Bluetooth: 4.0
GPS: GPS/A-GPS/GLONASS
Sensors: Hall magnetic sensor, Gravity sensor, IR proximity sensor, Gyroscope, Ambient light sensor, Touch sensor, Digital compass
SIM Card: Dual SIM, Dual standby, Dual Micro SIM cards
Battery Capacity (mAh): 4100mAh
Network:
2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz
4G: FDD-LTE 1800/2100/2600MHz
Product size: 15.36 x 7.55 x 0.82 cm / 6.05 x 2.97 x 0.32 inches, 163gr

6000 Series Aluminum alloy, means you have a very solid phone in your hands. Meizu always been about “quality”and last year even its budget phones carried production quality to next step. M3 Note, powered by the octa-core 1.8GHz MediaTek Helio P10 chipset is capable of every daily needs of yours, plus more. 4100mAh battery power will be enough for heavy use whole day, for regular use 2 days. When it comes to fingerprint I’m a fan of front placement, simple idea, I want to unlock my phone to see my notifications when it’s on the desk with a simple touch, don’t want to bother to grab it and place my finger to the back of the phone. Meizu’s mTouch is one of the best in the market, combining 3 key functions in 1 and adding fingerprint sensor to it. As we know from the reviews, both cameras of M3 Note do the job for this price range, i mean they are good enough for most of users. Maybe not as good as Oppo R9 with the same chipset inside (Helio P10), but you get Meizu M3 Note for the half price.

Full review : http://www.gizmochina.com/2016/04/23/meizu-m3-note-review/

Meizu M3S

119.90 $ / 169.90 $ (2GB/16GB – 3GB/32GB)

Display: 5.0 inch 2.5D Arc 1280 x 720 HD Screen
CPU: MTK6750 1.5GHz 64bit Octa Core
System: Android 5.1
RAM + ROM: 2GB RAM + 16GB ROM / 3GB RAM + 32GB ROM. TF card up to 128GB.
Camera: 5.0MP f2.0 front camera + 13.0MP f2.2 back camera
Bluetooth: 4.0
GPS: GPS/A-GPS/GLONASS
Sensors: Gravity sensor, Proximity sensor, Gyroscope, Ambient light sensor, Electronic compass
SIM Card: Nano SIM
Battery Capacity (mAh): 3020mAh
Network:
2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz
4G: FDD-LTE 1800/2100/2600MHz
Product size: 14.20 x 7.00 x 0.80 cm / 5.59 x 2.76 x 0.31 inches , 142gr

5.5″ is too big for you ? Here is the little brother of M3 Note — Meizu M3S comes with 5″ HD screen, 2.5D curved glass on top of it. Again with metal body, same mTouch 2.1. A powerful CPU from the same class as Helio P10. Having said that, let’s explain this.

MTK6750 is the toned down version of the MTK6755. Features a similar setup as the MTK6755, including an 8-core 4×4 big.LITTLE configuration with Cortex-A53 CPUs. The difference is that the higher-clocked CPUs will only be set to a maximum of 1.5GHz as opposed to 2.0GHz with the MT6755 Helio P10. The typical setup of MT6750 will be 4@1.5GHz and 4@1.0GHz. GPU is the same, ARM Mali T860 MP2.

XIAOMI Redmi Note 3 Pro

183.99 $ for 3GB/32GB version

Display: 5.5-inch, 1920 x 1080 Pixel Screen with 403 PPI
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 64bit 1.8GHz Hexa-Core ( 2 x A72 + 4 x A53 )
GPU: Adreno 510
System: MIUI 8
RAM + ROM: 3GB RAM + 32GB ROM
Camera: 5.0MP with f/2.0 aperture front camera + 16.0MP with 78 degree wide-angle, f/2.0 aperture back camera
Sensor: Light sensor, G-sensor, Proximity sensor, Hall Sensor, gyroscope, E-compass and fingerprint sensor
SIM Card: Dual SIM dual standby. One is Micro SIM card slot, the other is Nano card slot, which can also be used as a TF card slot.
Note: Nano SIM card and TF card cannot be used together, because they share the same space of card slot.
Feature: GPS/ A-GPS / Glonass / Beidou
Bluetooth: 4.1
SIM Card: Dual SIM dual standby, dual Micro SIM cards
Battery Capacity (mAh): 4000
Network:
2G: GSM 900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz; CDMA 2000: BC0
4G: FDD-LTE 1800/2100/2600MHz
Product size: 15.00 x 7.60 x 0.87 cm / 5.91 x 2.99 x 0.34 inches, 168gr

Yes, Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 will be on the market soon, but Redmi Note 3 Pro with Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 Chipset will still be most users first choice in this price range. Especially for gamers, because of the Adreno 510 GPU of course. For 5.5″ inch screen size lovers, Xiaomi’s Redmi Note series has always been very popular because of its price/performance ratio. Note 3’s 4000mAh battery will help at least one day under heavy use, more with regular use. Phone has a metal back, but its not unibody, you can take out the back metal cover, still feels nice in hand with matte finish. Has a decent 16MP camera with PDAF supporting 0.1s ultra-fast focusing + two-tone flash light. Finger print sensor is on the back that unlocks your phone in 0.3s.  Redmi Note 4 will come with Helio X20 CPU as we all know, so Qualcomm fans probably won’t change their Redmi Note’s for a while.

Xiaomi Redmi 3S

127.69 $ 2GB/16GB, 146.89 $ 3GB/32GB

Display: 5.0 inch 1280 x 720 HD screen
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 Octa Core 1.4GHz / Adreno 505 GPU
System: Android 6.0
RAM + ROM: 2GB RAM + 16GB ROM / 3GB RAM + 32GB ROM
Max Storage Expansion: 128GB
Camera: Back camera 13.0MP + front camera 5.0MP
Bluetooth: 4.1
Feature: Fingerprint Scanner, GPS, A-GPS
SIM Card: Dual SIM dual standby, one is micro SIM card, the other is nano SIM card
Battery Capacity (mAh): 4100
Network:
2G: GSM 900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz CDMA 2000 BC0
4G: FDD-LTE 1800/2100/2600MHz
Product size: 13.90 x 6.90 x 0.80 cm / 5.47 x 2.72 x 0.31 inches, 144gr

5″ Redmi 3 series was updated with a new chipset recently, powered by a Snapdragon 430 CPU and the model name became Redmi 3s. Snapdragon 430 brings us Adreno 505 GPU with. These specs made Redmi 3s the most powerful 5″ phone in this price range, made it the little brother of Redmi Note 3 Pro. Redmi 3s has an even bigger battery with 4100mAh capacity and having only HD 5″ screen, this little brother will last longer. With that battery, the Redmi 3s weighs only 144 gm, which is good. 13MP/5MP front and rear cameras and fingerprint sensor sounds as the minimum standards in phone industry lately.

Redmi 4 is behind the corner : http://www.gizmochina.com/2016/09/03/xiaomi-redmi-4-appears-tenaa-fhd-3gb-ram-699-yuan-105-price/

Xiaomi Mi Max

182.99 $ for 2GB/16GB edition

Display: 6.44 inch, 1920 x 1080 Pixel 2.5D Arc Screen
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 64bit 1.8GHz Hexa core
GPU: Adreno 510
System: Android 6.0 ( MIUI 7 )
RAM + ROM: 2GB RAM + 16GB ROM
Camera: 5.0MP with f/2.0 aperture front camera + 16.0MP with f/2.0 aperture back camera
Sensor: Light sensor, G-sensor, Proximity sensor, Hall Sensor, gyroscope, E-compass, Infrared, Fingerprint sensor, Accelerometer, etc.
SIM Card: Dual SIM dual standby. One is Micro SIM card slot, the other is Nano card slot, which can also be used as a TF card slot.
Note: Nano SIM card and TF card cannot be used together because they share the same space of card slot.
Feature: GPS/ A-GPS / Glonass / Beidou
Bluetooth: 4.2
Battery Capacity (mAh): 4850
Network:
2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz
4G: FDD-LTE 1800/2100/2600MHz
Product size: 17.30 x 8.80 x 0.60 cm / 6.81 x 3.46 x 0.24 inches, 203gr

A BIG surprise in every aspect ! You want the biggest screen size in a smartphone ? And you also want the biggest battery with it ? 6.44 inch + 4850mAh battery for under 200$. Biggest brother of the family, comes with same CPU of Redmi Note 3 Pro, Snapdragon 650, but with less Ram, 2GB for this edition. 16GB for ROM option is not very important because Mi Max has a SD card slot. If you spend much of your time looking on a mobile phone’s screen during the day, especially for media, biggest screen powered with the biggest battery for just 183$, I think this phone is  a bargain for its specs.

Full review : http://www.gizmochina.com/2016/06/12/xiaomi-mi-max-review-lot-xiaomi/

LeEco Le 2

158.77 $ for 3GB/16GB, 184.89 $ for 3GB/32GB

Display: 5.5 inch 1920 x 1080 Screen
CPU: Helio X20 MTK6797 Deca-Core
System: Android 6.0
RAM + ROM: 3GB RAM + 16GB/32GB ROM
Cameras: Front 8.0MP + Rear 16.0MP AF with flash
Bluetooth: BT4.0
SIM Card: Dual SIM dual standby. ( Dual Nano SIM cards )
Battery Capacity (mAh): 3000
Network:
2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz
4G: FDD-LTE 1800/2100/2600MHz
Product size: 15.11 x 7.41 x 0.77 cm / 5.95 x 2.92 x 0.3 inches, 152gr

MediaTek Helio X20 (and X25 with more CPU speed) series started to power many phones. It’s a flagship-grade CPU for sure, not the fastest yes, but little under 100K Antutu score is still something. Heli0 x20 is a deca/10-core CPU to remind you. GPU is also powerful enough, a quad-core Mali T880. This combination is better than any on the market, except flagships like Snapdragon 820 and Exynos 8890 from Samsung, but hey, we are talking about under 200$ phones here, remember.

Le 2 comes in a metal unibody, very well crafted. The screen is 5.5″ in-cell full HD IPS panel. The phone has no 3.5mm headphone jack, first in the market, you get audio from Type-C port in Hi-Fi format. Don’t worry, there is adaptor included in the box, if you still want to use your beloved headphones.

Back Camera is 16MP, supporting 4K video shooting mode, front is 8MP, both sensors are from OmniVision. They give you surprisingly good results for this price range. Only downside may be, for some, battery capacity is 3000mAh. So if you want the most powerful phone in this price range and flagship grade build quality, LeEco Le 2 is your choice.

PS: I need to say something about the colors. I’m enough of these gold, rose gold, grey or white, missed all black phones like in the old days. Matte black would be amazing on Le 2 and I think, most of you will agree. Hopefully, new models will have this options : http://www.gizmochina.com/2016/08/19/black-leeco-le-2s-back-cover-looped-antenna/

Full review : http://www.gizmochina.com/2016/05/10/leeco-le-2-review/

LeEco x600

117 $ 3GB/16GB

Display: 5.5 inch 1920 x 1080 FHD screen
CPU: Helio X10 Octa core 2.0GHz
System: Android 5.0
RAM + ROM: 3GB RAM + 16GB ROM
Cameras: 5.0MP front camera + 13.0MP rear camera with AF face beauty and true flash light
Bluetooth: BT4.0
Sensor: Light sensor , G-sensor , P-sensor, Hall Sensor,Proximity sensor
Navigation: GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
SIM Card: Dual SIM dual standby. ( Dual micro SIM cards )
Battery Capacity (mAh): 3000
Network:
2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz
4G: LTE 1800/2100/2600MHz
Product size: 14.70 x 7.40 x 0.95 cm / 5.79 x 2.91 x 0.37 inches, 170gr

The whole success story of LeEco (LeTV) began with this model X600. Dont need finger print ? Is 16GB enough for you (for me its still enough) ? Then just grab this hero for about 117-118$ on some online stores, this will be a real bargain for you. Coming with octa-core 2.0 GHz Helio X10 chipset and 3GB of Ram has a very good configuration for this price. Screen is from Sharp, very vivid, design is very attractive even, for my taste its better looking then X500 or X620, has a style for sure. Sound output is one of the best and 3.5mm headphone jack is present. Helio X10 is last years first example of MediaTek’s Helio series and if we should compare it this years P10, X10 is still better when it comes to performance, except energy efficiency of course:

• Helio P10: Single-core – 882, Multi-core – 3371
• Helio X10: Single-core – 905, Multi-core – 5154

ASUS X550

147.69 $ 3GB/16GB

Display: 5.5 inch 1920 x 1080 FHD Screen
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 64bit Octa Core 1.5GHz
GPU: Adreno-405
System: Android 5.1
RAM + ROM: 3GB RAM + 16GB ROM
Camera: Back camera 13.0MP with flashlight + front camera 8.0MP
Bluetooth: 4.0
Improve Touch:
To protect your privacy, avoid of personal information let out. Promise you an undistracted and safe daily life.
GPS: Yes
Sensor: Accelerometer, Proximity sensor, Light sensor, Geomagnetic sensor, Gyroscope, Hall sensor
SIM Card: Dual SIM dual standby. Dual Micro SIM
Battery Capacity (mAh): 3030
Network:
2G: GSM 900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz
4G: FDD-LTE 1800/2100/2600MHz
Product size: 15.18 x 7.55 x 0.83 cm / 5.98 x 2.97 x 0.33 inches, 156gr

An interesting model from IT giant Asus. Does not have a finger print sensor but has a whole screen to scan your hand-print ! “Equipped with high-tech touch chip owned high capacity of information operation” says Asus. “A totally new way to protect your information”. X500 has a very attractive design and good screen to body ratio with aerial aluminum alloy. Very good cameras indeed for this price, 13MP rear and 8MP f/2.0 aperture front. Promises good low light performance. CPU is last year’s first edition octa-core from Qualcomm, Snapdragon 615, don’t expect much raw performance but it is energy efficient for sure. 3GB Ram is more than enough, you can put a SD card in it so 16GB of Rom is not a big issue. Phone is not unibody so you can change the 3030mAh battery with your second one, many still prefer this solution. 5.5″ full HD screen with 3rd gen Gorilla protection.

Lenovo Vibe P1

148.89 $ 2GB/16GB

Display: 5.5-inch, FHD(1920×1080 pixels) Screen, the 3rd Gorilla Glass Screen
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 615(MSM8939) 64bit Octa Core (Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 and quad-core 1.0 GHz Cortex-A53)
GPU: Adreno 405
System: Android 5.1(Vibe UI 2.68)
RAM + ROM: 2GB RAM + 16GB ROM
Camera: 5.0MP front camera + 13.0MP PDAF back camera with dual color flashlight and auto focus
Sensor: Accelerometer sensor, G-sensor, Proximity sensor, Electronic Compass
Bluetooth: 4.1
GPS: GPS/AGPS
SIM Card: Dual SIM dual standby, Dual Nano SIM
Battery Capacity (mAh): 5000
Network:
2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 800/850/1900MHz
4G: FDD-LTE 1800/2100MHz
Product size: 15.30 x 7.50 x 0.90 cm / 6.02 x 2.95 x 0.35 inches, 189gr

Biggest battery capacity in our list with 5000mAh, yes even bigger than Mi Max. Here is a complete package from Lenovo for daily (long) use. Front placed finger print sensor, 5.5″ full HD good screen with Gorilla Glass 3, 13MP PDAF rear camera with dual color flashlight, 128GB SD card expansion, and metal back build. The black color looks not bad either.

Huawei Honor 5C

189 $ 2GB/16GB

Display: 5.2 inch, FHD(1920×1080 pixels)
CPU: Hisilicon Kirin 650 64-bit octa-core
GPU: Mali T830
System: EMUI 3.1 base on Android 6.0
RAM + ROM: 2GB RAM + 16GB, support external microSD to 128GB
Camera: 13 Megapixel BSI camera, F2.0, support HDR Movie, 8-Megapixel, f/2.0 front camera
Sensor: Accelerometer sensor, G-sensor, Proximity sensor, Electronic Compass
Bluetooth: 4.1
GPS: GPS/AGPS
SIM Card: Dual SIM dual standby, Dual Nano SIM
Battery Capacity (mAh): 3000
Network: GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz , WCDMA: Bands: B1/B8, LTE FDD: Bands: B1/B3
Product size: 147.1mm × 73.8mm × 8.3mm, 156gr

The Kirin 650, 16nm FinFET manufacturing process (less chip size = less heat), new midrange class octa-core CPU from Huawei’s own kitchen. Clocked at 2.0GHz and holding Mali-T830 MP2 GPU in it, promises many things on paper.  The iPhone 5SE killer (who cares?) Honor 5C uses this architecture.

I’m not a fan of Huawei phones, because they always cost more against what they give back to customers in the name of performance.

Honor 5C comes with 5.2″ FHD screen, may be the optimum size for many smartphone users. Does not have any protection glass. Cameras are ok on paper, build quality is: metal back on plastic body. Finger print is on the back. Onscreen keys, reduces screen size to 5″ at home screen. You get a decent performance for this price that’s for sure, the rest is kind of a taste.

Kirin 650 loses to Helio X10

360 N4

189 $ 4GB/32GB

Display: 5.5 inch 1920 x 1080 Screen
CPU: Helio X20 MTK6797 Deca-Core
System: Android 6.0
RAM + ROM: 4GB RAM + 32GB ROM, support external micro SD
Cameras: Front 5.0MP + Rear 13-megapixel, f2.0, PDAF
Bluetooth: BT4.0
SIM Card: Dual SIM dual standby. ( Dual Nano SIM cards )
Battery Capacity (mAh): 3080
Network:
2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz
4G: FDD-LTE 1800/2100/2600MHz
Product size: 149mm x 75.7mm x 8.3mm, 140gr

Editor’s Choice (if you can find one to buy).  MediaTek X20 is a very good chipset, like I stated before. Supporting it with 4GB of Ram is very future based (talking about Android versions). Plus  IP67 dustproof and waterproof and a very good design (149mm for a 5.5″ is awesome), having hardware keys (big fan of this red round home key and two little tiny dots, ok the idea belongs to Nubia we all know) and not loosing from screen size in that matter is very ergonomic. 32GB Rom supported with an SD card slot. Good cameras both rear and front, 13MP rear Sony IMX258 sensor, f/2.0 aperture, PDAF, 5MP front, f/2.0 aperture. And all these specs for under 189 $ (official price is even under 150$), believe me most of us don’t need more than this in a smartphone. Downside being, you can’t find 360 N4 easily to buy, and there is upgraded version announced that has 5000mAh battery inside. If 360 manages to produce those phones in enough numbers to feed the smartphone market, can be the next succeess story from China. Their next line is worth to look if you haven’t yet : 360 Q5 & Q5 Plus.

Elephone S3

149.99 $

Display: 5.2 inch Bezel-less 2.5D Arc FHD Incell Screen
CPU: MTK6753 64bit Octa Core 1.3GHz
System: Android 6.0
RAM + ROM: 3GB RAM + 16GB ROM. TF card up to 128GB.
Camera: 5.0MP OV5670 f2.4 front camera + 13.0MP Sony IMX135 f2.2 back camera
Bluetooth: 4.0
SIM Card: Dual SIM dual standby (Micro SIM + Nano SIM)
Battery Capacity (mAh): 2100
Network:
2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 900/1900/2100MHz
4G: FDD-LTE 800/1800/2100/2600MHz
Product size: 14.20 x 7.05 x 0.83 cm / 5.59 x 2.78 x 0.33 inches, 145gr

I decided not to include any MediaTek MTK6753 based phone in this article (MTK6592 was the king of this class), because for a little higher budget you can get a Helio P10 or X10 even. Elephone S3 is an exception because of its bezel-less design. This phone just don’t have any bezels both sides like Nubia Z11 and has a full metal frame. It has 3GB of Ram, 16GB of Rom supported with an SD card slot. A fingerprint sensor on the back and 13MP+5MP camera configuration with not bad sensors at all. 5.2″ screen size is pocket-friendly. I think Elephone S3 is worth 150$, this is a very good looking and solid phone for sure. Not everybody knows about Antutu benchmark, there are still plenty of users who use these machines as mobile phones only, and I am one of them

Full review : http://www.gizmochina.com/2016/07/01/elephone-s3-review/

For buyers just around the limit of 100$, please check our “phone buying guide under 100$” too. Pepsi P1S still is the best value for money with its 96.99$ price, having MTK6592 64-bit Octa-Core (sorry, it’s a 32-bit CPU)  1.7GHz CPU and a fingerprint scanner in a metal body of 5.5″ size.

The post Smartphone Buyers Guide: Best Value For Money SmartPhones 100$-200$ appeared first on Gizmochina.

September 7 is going to be a big day for many manufacturers. Sony is going to launch the Play Station 4 Neo on that day (expect another string of Xbox Vs PlayStation arguments online), which is the same day for Apple’s fall conference. Today we also have news that LeEco is planning to release an upgraded version of the LeEco Le 2 called the Le 2S. If you recall, they did something similar with the LeEco Le 1s and Le 1s Eco which are nearly identical save for the clock speeds which is higher in the Le 1s Eco.

The Le 2S is said to launch with a Qualcomm snapdragon processor (there’s no confirmation yet if it will be the newer 821). Hope you still remember, the original version of the Le 2 has 2 versions: a Helio X20 model and a Snapdragon 652 version released in India.

READ MORE: Dual Camera LeECo Cool 1 Will launch August 16

The Le 2s is further said to come with 6GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, with dual camera and single camera versions.

We’ve also learnt that an image of what was said to be the front of the Cool1 which surfaced recently is actually the Le 2S. The image above is said to be the Le 2S but we can’t be sure until we get more details about the device.

Meanwhile, LeEco and Coolpad branded smartphone, the Cool1 will most likely launch on August 16. The specs are said to be pretty good (dual cameras confirmed), and you can read more about the Cool1 from here.

The post LeEco Le 2s Said to Launch on September 9 appeared first on Gizmochina.

LeEco, formerly known as LeTV announced the LeEco Le 2 smartphone in China back in April and the device has been on sale since then. The device, which is also available in India and elsewhere at the moment, has received mixed reviews from users. Since the release, a few users have criticized the beautiful LeEco Le 2 for having a screen that cracks easily even just after a simple drop.

Subsequently, LeEco went back to the drawing board to chart up a solution to the fragile display problem. The Chinese  company then came out to announce that the display of the Le 2 has been reinforced in order to avoid such issues.

Not everyone swallowed that news, cheering as it may be, hook line and sinker. Popular Youtube tech channel Technical Guruji decided to subject the device to a drop and bend test to see if the claim by LeEco is true.

The videos of the drop test as well as the bend test were both uploaded to Technical Guruji’s YouTube channel.

The first video features a series of drop test performed on the LeEco Le 2. The phone actually survived all of those drop tests with excellent results. After the tests, the display was still intact, functioning well, suggesting LeEco is right about reinforcing the Le 2 display.

https://youtu.be/lNXx8tZcmaI

The second video shows the Le 2’s bend test. After applying pressure from both sides of the phone, the phone managed to survive. The display did pop up for a second after extreme pressure was applied, but it continued functioning later on. The LeEco Le 2’s metal body sure seems sturdy, and definitely helps make this device more durable, that’s for sure.

As a reminder, the LeEco Le 2 is an affordable, mid-range smartphone which sports a 5.5-inch full HD display, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. The device is powered by the Snapdragon 652 64-bit octa-core processor, and a non-removable 3,000mAh battery is also a part of this package. The phone also features a 16-megapixel rear snapper with LED flash, and an 8-megapixel shooter up front. The sleek device boots Android 6.0 Marshmallow out-of-the-box and on top of it, with LeEco’s EUI 5.6 user interface hovering above it. The LeEco Le 2 carries a price tag of Rs. 11999 in India ( US$266.64).

via

The post LeEco Le 2 excel in Drop & Bend tests (video) appeared first on Gizmochina.

LeEco is progressing pretty quickly as a smartphone maker. After launching the Le 1 phones, which were the first smartphones from the company, it has now transformed into an important player in the crowded phone market. All thanks to its aggressive pricing strategy. So, whenever LeEco announces a new smartphone launch conference, we all get excited.

Now, LeEco has released a new teaser for the launch of a smartphone on June 29 in Shanghai. Given that the Mobile World Congress – Shanghai commences on June 29, LeEco could be planning to announce this new smartphone and showcase it at the event.

Coming to the most important point here — which phone is the company planning to release on June 29? LeEco hasn’t revealed any details about the phone’s specifications, but we have some guesses.

We have been seeing rumors about a top-end flagship from LeEco, which is even more powerful than the Le Max 2 unveiled back in April. While the previous leaks have shown that the upcoming flagship was going to feature a very similar design as the Le Max 2, it will be coming in two new colors, blue and red. As for the specs, they are nothing less than extraordinary!

Rumors state that the new LeEco flagship will come with the Snapdragon 821 chipset under the hood with a whopping 8GB of RAM and a 25MP rear-facing camera. In case you are wondering, the Snapdragon 821 chipset is not expected to upgrade much in terms of configuration, but the clock speed is expected to be bumped up from 2.15GHz to 2.5GHz. Considering LeEco’s aggressive pricing, it shouldn’t retail for more than 2999 Yuan ($455), which if true, would be just amazing.

However, it seems a bit too early to meet a flagship such as the one mentioned above. SD821 hasn’t been announced yet and still 6GB RAM hasn’t become mainstream among all flagship phones. So, 8GB RAM phone in June seems a bit too early. There have been reports about LeEco releasing this beast sometime in August, which seems more plausible.

So, what can we expect at the launch event on June 29? Well, there are reports that LeEco will announce a special edition of the Le 2 model that was released back in April, most likely called Le 2 Eco edition. From the name, it looks like the phone will come with the company’s services inbuilt.

Anyway, we can expect more information about this launch in the next few days. So, stay tuned!

The post LeEco To Announce New Smartphone On June 29, Could We Meet the SD821 Flagship? appeared first on Gizmochina.

LeEco unveiled three new smartphones in April, namely Le 2, Le 2 Pro and Le Max 2. All three phones offered best bang for your buck, which meant that everyone is patiently waiting for the phones to be available in the international markets. Now, LeEco (formerly known as LeTV) has started sending out media invites for an event on June 8 and it is safe to assume that it should be for the India launch of the three new smartphones from the company. While the invite doesn’t say anything about the launch of these three models, the timing is ideal for the new phones to be launched in the market.

LeEco phones are extremely popular in China as well as India, selling out within minutes. In the first sale of the three phones, over a million units were sold out within a matter of two hours in China. That’s pretty impressive! Now, it looks like the company is all set to unveil these three power phones in India and expect a pretty good response for them in the country.

RELATED: Le Max 2 vs ZUK Z2 Pro vs Xiaomi Mi 5

To recap, all these three phones ditch the traditional 3.5mm headphone jack and instead uses a CDLA standard that works with the phone’s USB Type-C slot. Why this change you ask? Well, LeEco believes USB Type-C powered headphones are the future, and it wants to be the first one to make the jump. And guess what, iPhone 7 is rumored to ditch the standard slot as well!

Specs wise, the Le Max 2 stands on top of the lineup, featuring the mighty Snapdragon 820 quad-core chip with 4GB / 6GB RAM options and 32GB / 64GB storage variants. There will be a 5.7-inch QHD display on board with a 21MP rear camera and 8MP front shooter. You can read more about the specs of the three devices from our launch coverage.

We are not quite sure whether we’ll see all the three smartphones and their versions launched in India, but let’s wait for more details.

The post LeEco To Unveil Le 2 & Le Max 2 Smartphones In India On June 8 appeared first on Gizmochina.

After its entry into the smartphone market last year, LeEco has left no stone unturned to market and promote its smartphones. In fact, the company has quickly built a huge fan following in China and this year in India as well. Its products offer tremendous value for money, which is why we have seen a lot of LeEco phones being sold internationally. While there are a few websites like OPPOStyle who ship OPPO smartphones worldwide, now, a new e-tailer has come up online, called Letvmart to sell LeEco smartphones internationally. Given that LeEco operates officially only in China and India, such retailers come in handy if you want your phone to be shipped worldwide, especially in Europe.

We had a talk with the guys over at Letvmart and they seem to have an understanding with the company to sell LeEco smartphones online. The reseller reveals that they want to make Letvmart the one-stop destination for international LeEco customers. Since LeEco operates officially in India and China, this particular retailer won’t be selling phones in these two regions. Instead, the main focus is to cater to the market in Europe and other regions.

This seems like a legit unofficial retailer for LeEco phones and if you are interested, do check out their website from here. For now, it looks like the pricing is in line with other online resellers for Chinese smartphones.

The post Now You Can Purchase LeEco Smartphones Internationally From Letvmart.com appeared first on Gizmochina.

LeEco (formerly known as Letv) may be still considered as a newcomer to the smartphone game but they have released quite a few high-quality smartphones in a short amount of time. LeEco Le 2 is one of their latest offerings  and it indeed looks like a nice phone for a reasonable price. Learn more in our full review.

Thanks to Oppomart for sending LeEco Le 2 for a review.

LeEco Le 2 Review: VIDEO

LeEco Le 2 Review: UNBOXING

The phone ships with some paperwork, USB C cable, SIM ejector pin, a fast charger and last but not least USB type C to 3.5mm headset jack adapter since the LeEco Le 2 does not have a classic 3.5mm headset jack.

LeEco Le 2 Review: SPECS

LeEco Le 2 Review: DESIGN and DISPLAY

The first impressions once we took the phone out of the box – it is just gorgeous. The phone has an excellent all-metal build quality, nice and tactile buttons and rose gold color looks awesome.

One of the most interesting aspects of this phone is that it does not have a headset jack. Instead, LeEco assures that this phone is capable of providing even a better audio experience via the USB C port. I have to tell you that the sound quality via the earphones is very good and the volume output is loud.

We have a 5.5″ 1080p display, which is nice, sharp and visible outdoors, nicely backlit capacitive buttons, notification LED and 8MP camera on the front. Design-wise, Le 2 is very similar to the Le 1s, which is also a great looking phone.

The metal material of the phone is very nice to the touch.  We have a 16MP camera, dual tone dual-LED flash for picture taking. The fingerprint scanner works straight from the standby mode, it is fast and accurate.

The IR blaster is here to control devices like TVs. The sound quality from the loudspeaker is pretty good and it can get pretty loud. However, the sound could have slightly more depth.

LeEco Le 2 Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

LeEco Le 2 sports some great internal hardware components. It uses a Mediatek Helio X20 clocked at 2.3GHz, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, which is not expandable.

The gaming performance is good but not perfect. If you play high-demanding games like Asphalt 8 on medium graphics, there will be no skipped frames or lag and the gaming experience is very good.

However, once you set graphics to maximum, you should expect some occasional stutter from time to time. Still, the phone is a pretty good performer considering it’s price and the phone will get only better with future software updates.

Also, the phone gets a little warm pretty quickly but it does not overheat to uncomfortable levels, so you do not need to worry about that.

LeEco Le 2 Review: BENCHMARKS

For some unknown reasons, Antutu 3d bench app could not be installed. We will update this section with Antutu scores soon.

LeEco Le 2 Review: USER INTERFACE

When it comes to the user interface, we have the eUI 5.6, which is built on top of Android 6.0. If you are familiar with the eUI, it hasn’t really changed much. All apps sit on the home screens and we have LeTV services’ quick access button at the center. However, all the content is in Chinese on our Chinese review unit.

What I love about the eUI is that you can quickly access settings toggles, adjust brightness, open or close your recent apps and so on, and you can do that all in one place by simply clicking a left capacitive button.

As usual, we have some customization options, quite a few settings and tweaks to play with.

A few software bugs include duplicated icons for some apps and camera crashing issue once you go into settings menu (only in picture taking mode). I’m pretty sure these issues will be fixed very soon with the upcoming software update.

Another issues include quite a few missed Chinese-English translations. LeEco simply did not really bother translating some menu sections.

Most importantly, the UI is running fast, fluid and I didn’t have a single hiccup no matter how many apps were open in the background.

LeEco Le 2 Review: CAMERA

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1z19xsYjUU[/embedyt]

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

The 16MP camera can take some great daylight images, which have plenty of detail, natural looking colors and sharpness.

The quality decreases with a lower amount of lighting but the pictures still look pretty good.

The low-light camera performance is mediocre as on all phones in this price range. You may get some okay looking images but they will still have a lot of noise and low amount of detail.

The phone can shoot videos at 4k resolution. However, I could not play 4k videos on my Macbook. This is exactly the same issue I had on the Le 1 (tried 5 different players, downloaded various codec packs etc.) but I will leave download links to the original files below the video.

As for 1080p video, it is not bad but the main issues are that it is a bit shaky and there is no continuous auto-focus feature.

An 8MP selfie shooter is pretty good for some self-portraits.

Download camera samples (Part 1)

Download camera samples (Part 2)

LeEco Le 2 Review: CONNECTIVITY

You can be rest assured that there will no connectivity issues (including GPS) on this device. The only shortcoming is that the 5GHz wifi range could be better (compared it with the Samsung Galaxy s7 edge).

LeEco Le 2 Review: BATTERY LIFE

LeEco decided to stick with the 3000mAh battery and I was able to fully charge it in 1h 20 mins with a supplied charger.

As for day-to-day use, I could get around 4.5 hours of screen on time on a light use and around 4 hours on a heavy use of the phone. Not the best result but pretty good for the size of the battery.

LeEco Le 2 Review: CONCLUSIONS

So, here it is, the LeEco Le 2. The phone looks and feels premium due to its all-metal build and it feels great in the hand.

Also, we have a nice, sharp and bright display, very fast user interface with quite a few customization options, good cameras, accurate fingerprint sensor and fast charging feature out of the box.

For some users, the lack of the headset jack is a shortcoming but if you usually use a pair of Bluetooth earphones like me, you don’t really care about it.

Although we like the UI, it has quite a lot of missed translations, which is inexcusable for the company, which aims to become a big player in the international market.

Also, the lack of the microSD card slot may not be a deal breaker but a lot of users really appreciate this cheap storage expansion option.

Other than that, LeEco is a great and high-quality phone. You can get it for around $200 via the third-party resellers and it is definitely one of the better options for the price at the moment.

The post LeEco Le 2 Review – Beautiful and Fast appeared first on Gizmochina.

LeEco (formerly known as Letv) may be still considered as a newcomer to the smartphone game but they have released quite a few high-quality smartphones in a short amount of time. LeEco Le 2 is one of the latest offerings by the company and it indeed looks like a nice phone for a reasonable price. Learn more in our unboxing and first impressions article.

Thanks to Oppomart for sending LeEco Le 2 for a review. 

LeEco Le 2: UNBOXING

The phone ships with some paperwork, USB type C cable, SIM ejector pin, a fast charger and last but not least USB type C to 3.5mm headset jack adapter since the LeEco Le 2 does not have a classic headset jack.

LeEco Le 2: SPECS

LeEco Le 2: DESIGN and FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The first impressions once we took the phone out of the box – it is just gorgeous. An excellent all-metal build quality, nice and tactile buttons and the rose gold colour looks awesome.

One of the most interesting aspects of this phone is that it does not have a headset jack. Instead, LeEco assures that this phone is capable of providing even a better audio experience via the USB type C. We will test it out in our full review.

We have the same 5.5″ 1080p display, which is nice and sharp, nicely backlit capacitive buttons, notification LED and 5MP camera on the front. Design-wise, Le 2 very similar to the Le 1s, which is also a great looking phone.

The metal surface is very nice to the touch. We have a 16MP camera, dual tone dual-LED flash and a fingerprint scanner on the back.

LeEco Le 2 in pictures:

LeEco Le 2 shapes up to be a great phone. It has a powerful processor, premium look and feel, and it is working fast and fluid as all LeEco smartphones. As usual, stay tuned to Gizmochina for our full review.

The post LeEco Le 2 Unboxing and First Impressions appeared first on Gizmochina.

Although Le Max Pro was the first smartphone with Snapdragon 820 chipset on board, users haven’t been able to get hold of the device even after nearly two months of its release. This naturally turned our attention to something that we can expect to see soon, the Le 2. The company officials have confirmed that the phone exists and will debut soon in the market.

Now, new renders of the Le 2 have emerged and for the first time we can see the rebranded LeEco logo on the back of the device. From the images, we can see that the Le 2 will feature a similar design as its predecessors. However, when it comes to the materials used for the body, it looks like the company is going to go with a double sided glass design. So, it looks like for the first time, LeEco is going to use glass instead of metal on its smartphones.

This is even more evident from the back of the handset. We can see that the phone features a single piece of glass at the back with a cut out for the fingerprint sensor. Another interesting aspect of the phone is the new LeEco logo at the back. So, this could be the real deal.

Remember a few days back, we had seen similar renders with the old logo. This could be a newer version of the Le 2’s design, considering the updated logo.

As for the specs, it is said that the Le 2 will come in two versions, one with Snapdragon 820 on board and the other with Helio X20 deca-core chip. You can expect a 5.7-inch 2K display up front with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage under the hood. The camera could be similar to the Le Max Pro, with a 21MP shooter at the back and a 4MP ultrapixel sensor up front. Other possible features of the device include Quick Charging, Fingerprint Sensor at the back etc.

Considering that LeEco sold the first batch of Le Max Pro smartphones at just 1999 Yuan, the Le 2 could retail for even cheaper. With the company opting for a negative profit strategy, wherein it sells its smartphones for less than cost price, we hope that LeEco Le 2 is priced aggressively at launch. Somewhere around 1799 Yuan, which comes to $276 would be perfect.

So, what do you think about these leaked images of the Le 2? Prefer the metal body or the double sided glass design?

The post Leaked Le 2 Images Reveal Double Sided Glass Design & New Logo appeared first on Gizmochina.

LeTV which was recently rebranded as LeEco is going to be quite busy this year. The company announced the world’s first Snapdragon 820 powered smartphone, namely the Le Max Pro. Now, it looks like LeEco is all set to announce another powerful device in the market, which goes by the name Le 2. From the naming scheme, this will probably be the successor to the Le One series that was announced in April last year.

A set of renders of the Le 2 smartphone have been leaked and they look quite good. LeEco has been praised for its super value for money smartphones with good design and it seems that the Le 2 continues with that tradition. According to the renders, the phone will feature a simple yet elegant body, with 2.5D glass up front on a curved metal body. As you can see in one of the images, the phone seems to be quite thin as well. At the back, there’s a flat camera sensor that blends well with the overall design along with dual tone dual LED flash. The bezels on the sides of the display look super slim as well with various functions available at on the side.

As for the release, according to sources, the phone could meet us sometime late February. Specs wise, the Le 2 is said to come with the 10-core Helio X20 chipset based on Cortex A72 and Cortex A53 cores. The screen size is said to be of 5.5-inch with 2.5D glass on top. There could be a lot of high-end features such as fingerprint sensor under the screen, iris recognition, and long lasting battery life.

The design looks super cool and the specs listed are also pretty high-end. However, we have to remember that LeEco hasn’t revealed anything about its new Le 2 smartphone yet. So, do take this news with a pinch of salt.

Meanwhile, let us know whether you like the design shown in the pictures above.

The post Super Cool LeEco Le 2 Flagship Renders Emerge, Late February Release? appeared first on Gizmochina.