We have all heard that Letv has made a lot of hype about its bezel less smartphones, which not only have a great design, premium materials but also some amazing specs. All that comes with an amazing price tag as well!

In case you missed it, we have already reviewed the Letv One S1 and despite a few shortcomings, which will most likely be fixed via software updates, it turns out to be one of the best deals for your money.

All you need to know in the Letv Le 1 (One/S1/X600) video review:

The specs sheet is indeed very good for a price and I have personally tested this device out, and can assure that performs very well in real life scenarios.

The powerful chip along with 3GB of RAM is a combination you can trust when it comes even to the most demanding tasks like 3D gaming or 4K footage playback or recording.

However, there are some issues in the video recording department, but as I’ve said earlier, there are some high chances that it will be fixed with a software update soon. I may produce a follow-up video on that.

The post Flash Deal: Get the Amazing Bezel Less Letv One S1 for $274.39 appeared first on Gizmochina.

LeTV has brought a lot of media attention with their entry into the smartphone market. The company announced not only its entry to the hectic smart devices game, but it also has some huge international expansion plans, which starts in the U.S. LeTV is widely known for its Netflix-like services in its homeland of China, but the most important thing for us tech fans is the new hardware. We have already heard the words that describe LeTV Superphones: bezel less, USB type-C, bleeding edge specs, all-new UI, bill of materials, very low cost for flagship-grade performance and so on. But are the new devices really worth all the hype? Let’s find out in our full review of the LeTV One (S1) Le Superphone.

LeTV Le 1 One S1 X600 Review: VIDEO

Check out a comprehensive video review! 

LeTV Le 1 One S1 X600 Review: SPECIFICATIONS

LeTV Le 1 One S1 X600 Review: UNBOXING

Let me start by taking a very quick look at the presentation of the smartphone. The box is quite simple and as usual, I don’t go too much into details about it. Nevertheless, it has a nice looking minimal design and some specs printed on the bottom side. Leaving the device aside for a moment, you can find a really premium looking presentation. Everything is packed very nicely and it is a pleasure to unbox all the stuff.

The first thing you are going to see in the box is Le Superphone itself.

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The contents that come in the packaging include the USB charging cable, which is not only nicely folded in a convenient little travel box, but it is the first USB Type-C cable on the smartphone in the world. I will get back to this topic a bit later, so stay tuned.

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The good thing is that it is an Android OS after all and you can always install a custom launcher. I’ve tested Nova and Google Now launchers and it works absolutely fine.

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As usual to the Chinese smartphones, you have tons of customisation options. It all starts with a variety of wallpapers, which come out pre-installed out of the box. Also, there are a lot of themes to chose from both already installed and online.

Although the English translations seem to look fine in general, but there is still some Chinglish left, e.g. Informed management translation sounds weird and you can’t really understand what it is at the first glance.

Speaking of languages, the device comes only with English and some Chinese language options.

As far as the storage goes, the 16GB model is definitely not enough as there are just over 11GB user available storage. I would suggest to go for at least 32GB model.

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The LeUI has clearly taken some inspiration from Apple as scrolling up in the home screen brings a quick search function. Anyway, it is a great feature and works like a charm. Swiping from the top of the screen does not open the quick settings menu, but rather shows you the most important notifications. If you want to access both the recent apps and quick settings menu, you have to press the multitasking key. It it quite unusual way to access it, but you can get used to it quite fast. There are plenty of toggles to choose from and if you don’t like them all, the menu can be customised the way you want.

LeTV Le 1 One S1 X600 Review: PERFORMANCE

As far as the sheer power goes, the LeTV One has a powerful octa-core Mediatek Helio X10 64-bit processor, which is clocked at 2.2GHz and it is supplemented with 3GB of RAM. That’s a lot of power for a low price tag.

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As far as the music player app, it is pretty simple, easy to use and responsive. There are no settings to play around, but you can turn on some Dolby Audio effects to get a little enhanced sound. I can say that these effects really make the sound richer (of course, it may be just some equaliser settings that the app enhances).

The stereo speakers have a great volume output and have maybe not the best, but pretty good sound quality. However, the speaker can get muffled with your finger very easily.

Check out the video review to hear the sound test. 

The 1080p video footage looks stunning on a 5.5” display and the device handles high resolution video without any issues. In addition, the pre-installed video player app is very responsive and easy to use.

To have a great Internet browsing experience I suggest you downloading Google Chrome browser since the pre-installed one has too many Chinese aspects in it. The browsing experience using Chrome browser is just flawless as everything is running smoothly.

LeTV Le 1 One S1 X600 Review: CONNECTIVITY

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The call quality is perfect as the voices coming out the earpiece are clear and loud. Also, the people I spoke to could hear me very clearly. In addition, the 4G connectivity worked absolutely fine and the device had full signal bars most of the time.

Other connectivity options like bluetooth, GPS, dual-band Wifi worked just fine, so I have no complaints in this department.

LeTV Le 1 One S1 X600 Review: CAMERA

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As far as the image quality goes, the daylight pictures look sharp, have plenty of resolved detail and colours look natural. In addition, exposure and dynamic range seem to be fine most of the time. What I’ve noticed is that once you use the tap-to-focus technique, the dynamic range or saturation levels become pretty bad, so my advice is just simply trust the auto-focus feature.

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Once you take the device inside where there is plenty of light, you can produce some sharp looking close-up pictures.

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The low-light shots are not as good as daylight, but you can still capture some nice looking images. However, the low-light camera performance is not as good as I expected and it is a bit worse than my vivo Xshot (see the picture comparison vs. vivo Xshot in the video review).

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The shots taken in complete darkness using the dual tone dual LED flash are disappointing. The LED flash is very powerful, but it is not optimised at all. Some of the shots are even completely useless. Hopefully, this is a just a software bug that can be fixed by reducing the LED light output or something.

LeTV Le 1 One S1 X600 Review: FRONT FACING CAMERA

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The 5MP selfie camera does a great job, as it has enough details and overall it will satisfy you with your social media needs. Just keep in mind that the beauty mode is set as default, but if you like putting on some make up, it can be fun playing around with it.

LeTV Le 1 One S1 X600 Review: VIDEO QUALITY

Please check out the video review to see the video samples.

The 1080p video recording is just above average. The footage has natural looking colours, does an okay job with auto-exposure, but it could be definitely sharper and smoother. However, I believe that it will be definitely improved with a software update. For example, the video used in the video review was shoot in the unusual for the high-end smartphones .3gp video format. However, one minor software update changed the format to the .mp4. That means that LeTV has already addressed the issue and we may see some major improvements here since we know what Sony IMX214 sensor is capable of.

The footage is actually not that bad, but I may produce a follow-up video once these software bugs are fixed.

The camcorder woes continue with the 4K video capture. Well, there is good and bad news here. The good thing is that the 4K footage looks very sharp, has plenty of details and it is definitely a high quality material overall.

The bad news is that the footage can be only played on the smartphone. I’ve transferred it to my Mac, tried 3 different players, but the video just got stuck or did not even play. Again, this is a huge software bug and it is impossible that LeTV leaves that as it is.

The slow-motion video can be shot at 720P resolution and I the footage turns out to be pretty good. There is a reasonable amount of detail and I like what I’m seeing overall.

LeTV Le 1 One S1 X600 Review: CONCLUSIONS

So there you have, the LeTV One Le Superphone. The device has a good looking design and outstanding built quality. All of this beauty looks and feels great in the hand and it is comfortable to handle it even with one hand despite its large 5.5” screen.

Speaking of display, it is not completely bezel less as there are clearly visible borders on each side, but the edge-to-edge glass does make a great impression. In addition, the screen is sharp, vivid and has great viewing angles.

The UI is very fast, fluid and has a great design, but still has some weird English translations. Also, you can’t remove the LeTV home button. Still, since it’s Android, you can customise the device the way you want and even install the Google Play services manually without a sweat.

Moreover, The lack of the MicroSD card slot suggests that you would rather buy at least 32GB model if you are a heavy user.

The powerful chip along with 3GB of RAM is a combination you can trust when it comes even to the most demanding tasks like 3D gaming or 4K footage playback or recording.

However, there are some issues in the video recording department, but as I’ve said earlier, there are some high chances that it will be fixed with a software update soon. I may produce a follow-up video on that.

On the other hand, the daylight still camera images look very good and indoor shots are great too. However, the LED flash is simply too bright and hopefully it can be fixed via software update as well.

In addition, you can be sure that the battery will keep the lights on for a good amount of time and you would not have any connectivity issues.

Finally, LeTV One Le Superphone is without a doubt a great device. Despite a few shortcomings, which I strongly believe can be fixed via software updates very soon, it shapes up to be one of the best offerings on the market for the price of under $300 unlocked.

Buy Letv One S1 for $294.99!

The post LeTV Le 1 One S1 X600 Review: Bezel Less Le Superphone appeared first on Gizmochina.

Letv has been on the news for a while and finally, their event has started and the company is ready to announce their new devices and thus enter the hectic smartphone game. In case you are not aware of the company, it is well known in its homeland. It offers variety of services and to list one of the most recognizable is video/music streaming services, which are similar to what Youtube in the west offers (Google services are forbidden in mainland China).

Today the company just announced three new devices: Letv One, Letv One Pro and Letv One Max. Here is the all the information you need to know about the announced Letv One smartphone!

Pictures from the launch event in China (another event was held in Silicon Valley, CA, USA simultaneously):

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KEY FEATURES

The Letv One is the lowest end device by the manufacturer, but it spots some pretty good flagship specs!

Letv’s One “super phone” is the first to carry MediaTek Helio X10 chips, which is a 64-bit true eight-core processor with ultra-high frequency (2.0/2.2 GHz). Also, it has 3GB of RAM and IMG PowerVR 6200 GPU inside. What is more, it is a Unicom mobile dual sim dual standby dual 4G device. To support these great specs and the abilities of the new chip, Letv brags about the 50k+ Antutu benchmark score!

The new device will spot a Sharp 5.5 inch full-HD display. It will be covered by the third generation Corning Gorilla Glass. Also, it will have a 85% NTSC color gamut, which is said to be far beyond iPhone 6.

Letv One “super phone” is equipped with Sony IMX214 back-illuminated sensor, which has 13 mp and supports OIS (optical image stabilization) technology. Also, there is a 5mp front facing camera made by Samsung, which is said to have beauty real-time preview mode to deliver stunning results.

The Letv One “super phone” is the world’s first borderless smartphone, which spots a full suspension glass design (although the bezels are still visible). Also, it has an excellent texture and feel of the metal frame and back of the phone. Moreover, the battery has a stacked design technology and has the capacity up to 3000 mAh. In addition to this, the device has  the latest generation of SMART PA speaker system. Also, the new device is the world’s first smartphone to carry Type C charging/syncing port.

SPECS SUMMARY

PRICING AND AVAILABILITY

The One model will cost just 1499 Yuan ($240) (16GB), 1599 Yuan ($247) (32GB), 1799 Yuan ($270) (64GB).

It will be available in China starting at May 5th (there will be a booking system as at first the device will come in limited quantities).

The international availability is not yet disclosed, but we presume that the devices will be available at least in the U.S. as the Letv did a lot of marketing directed at Apple (e.g. comparing Cupertino based company to the Nazi, which sets dictatorship prices of their devices.

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