The Chinese manufacturers have been quite busy producing device after device. The market is flooded with a variety of different smartphones and it may become quite hard to choose the right one if you are on the tight budget. Indeed, there may be a lot of devices, which cost around $100, but the majority of them cannot offer a pleasant overall user experience. Thus, we decided to gather the best budget Chinese smartphones under $200. For this amount of money, you may definitely pick up a great offering. We did a research for the best prices available so you can save as much as possible. We will edit the article if the prices go down. Your cooperation in the comments section is appreciated!

Meizu M1 Note

Meizu is one of those companies that struggles with a market share in China as it the competition is really stiff out there. Still, they try to stay in the game by producing some great budget devices. One of them is the Meizu M1 Note.

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First, we have to admit that it looks like the iPhone 5C and the marketing strategy “For the Youth” is clearly altered Apple’s slogan “For the Colourful”. Nevertheless, the device comes in the variety of colours and a glossy plastic body.

The key features include a 5.5 inch 1080p display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3, Mediatek MT6752 Octa-core 1.7 GHz Cortex-A53 chip, 2 GB of RAM, 16/32 GB of internal storage (however, non-expandable), Dual SIM (Micro-SIM, dual stand-by), 13 MP/5MP camera combo. In addition, it runs the Flyme 4.0 OS on top of Android 4.4.4 Kitkat. All of these goodies are powered by a beefy non-removable 3140 mAh battery.

All of the specs sound good, but the price makes it even better, which is under $200!

Buy Meizu M1 Note for $194.99 with free shipping from Pandawill!

Elephone P7000

Elephone P7000 is company’s “Annual Flagship” device, which will be released very soon. The reason we are writing about device, which is not yet on sale is that you can pre-order it for a very special price of $159.99!

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We are quite excited to get our hands-on this device since it offers a bunch of specs, which are hard to to beat for the price. It starts with a 5.5″ FHD (1080p) screen with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and sits in a nice body, which is surrounded by a quality metal frame. Inside the device you will find a MTK6752 64-bit chip, 3GB of RAM(eMMC+DDR3), 16GB of expandable storage, Dual SIM card slots with a dual standby feature, 13MP/5MP camera combo. All of this is powered by the a 3450 mAh removable battery. Oh, and yes, this device a fingerprint scanner on the back of the device. 

All of this and more you can get for only $159.99 special price, which sounds like a steal considering what you get for that. 

Pre-order Elephone P7000 for $159.99 from Gearbest!(Gold colour), black colour, white colour.

You can also buy Elephone P7000 from any other online retailer as currently they offer the same price. In order to get the special price, you have to participate in Elephone’s contest via www.elephone.hk. Here are the official rules determined by Elephone:

1.      After the success of snapping up on the activity page, you might get an ELE code.
2.      Go to shop for ELEPHONE P7000 at the price of $229.99 from the online shop which you have picked.
3.      After ordering, your must provide ELE code to customer service.
4.      Customer service will change the original price ($229.99)to $159.99.
5.      After the price is changed, please pay for your order.
6.      Pay success and waiting for shipments.
7.      ELE code is available for next 48 hours.
8.      If any online shop doesn’t carry out this rule, please contact us immediately.
9.      ELEPHONE Email address: elephone.summer@gmail.com

Also, you may get ELE code in our upcoming giweaway.

Elephone P6000

Although Elephone P6000 was released quite a while ago considering fast Chinese products cycles, it is still an option worth mentioning. This is actually even cheaper device, which falls under the category of sub $150 devices.

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The key highlights of the device include 5 inch 1280 × 720 screen, MTK6732 64-bit Quad Core chip, 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of expandable storage (up to 64 GB), 13MP/2MP camera combo. All of this is powered by 2700mAh removable battery and Android 5.0 Lolipop is running the show.

It sounds like a great package to buy if you consider the low price tag of just $116!

Buy Elephone P6000 for $116 from Everbuying!

Ulefone Be Pro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnvaPWfZJdI

Ulefone is a Chinese smartphone brand that was making smartphones for other companies for quite some time. However, they decided that they want to enter the smartphone business on their own.It seems that the entry has been quite a success so far, especially with its Ulefone Be Pro budget-friendly device, which has taken some design inspirations from the OnePlus One and has become very popular in its category.

The main specs of the device include 5.5 inch 720p resolution display, MTK6732 64-bit Quad Core CPU, which is clocked at 1.5GHz. Also, it is backed up with the Mali T760 GPU, 2 GB of Ram, 16 GB of expandable storage. Moreover, there is a 13MP and 8MP camera combo on back and on the front of the device respectively.

You can also check out our full written review of Ulefone Be Pro!

Buy Ulefone Be Pro for $149.99 from Gearbest

Ecoo E04 3 GB RAM Version

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Ecoo E04 Plus has been marketed to be the cheapest device with 3 GB of RAM on board. Besides having a huge memory for multitasking, the device specs some impressive specs for the price. That includes a 5.5 inch IPS display with 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution. The device also has a MediaTek MT6752 1.7GHz 64-bit octa-core chip, 16 GB of expandable storage, removable 3000mAh battery, a finger print sensor and more! All of these goodies are offered for a very attractive price, which does not exceed $200.

Buy Ecoo E04 3 GB RAM version for $182.99 from Everbuying!

Lenovo K3 Note

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Lenovo is one of the top selling brand in China and Lenovo K3 Note is one of the devices designed to keep the sales up. This is a device, which was made to directly compete with the Meizu M1 Note and other cheap devices with great specs.

We believe that Lenovo managed to deliver here as it has a 5.5 inch IPS screen with FHD (1920×1080) resolution, MTK6752 64bit Octa core chip, 2GB of RAM,  16GB of expandable storage, 13MP/5MP camera combo, 4G connectivity and more. Also, the device comes in both white and flashy yellow colours for those who want to stand out!

Buy Lenovo K3 Note for $159.99 from Gearbest (White Version) and $159.99 for a Yellow version.

Mlais M52

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Mlais may not be the manufacturer you you’ve been thinking of when it comes to choosing a right smartphone. However, it seems that the company does everything to make a splash in the smartphone business as their M52 model has some amazing specs for a low price.

The great things start with a 5.5 inch 720p display, MTK6752 64bit Octa core chip, 2GB of RAM,  16GB of expandable storage, 13MP/8MP cameras on the back and front respectively, 4G connectivity and more. The device comes in a variety of colours, which include white, black, red and blue.

Buy Mlais M52 for just $149.99 from Gearbest (white variant), red variant , blue variant ,  black variant. 

Mlais M7

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Here is another device from the Mlais. It is not on sale now, but you can already pre-order it online. The device comes in a good looking design with metal frame and the fingerprint sensor on the back.

The key specs include 5.5-inch IPS panel, octa-core MT6752 processor, 3GB of RAM, 13 mega-pixel camera on the back. 2600mAh removable battery with a Quick Charge support is running the show. And yes, you are also getting a fingerprint sensor on the back. It seems to be another great offering for those who look for a great budget device with great specs.

Buy Mlais M7 for $189.99 from Gearbest (white colour), black colour. 

Siswoo Cooper I7

Siswoo is not a manufacturer you are thinking of when it comes to Chinese smartphones, but this device is a solution for those, who want a compact device since the Cooper I7 spots a 5 inch display.

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Also, this device may be for those who like the Meizu design language as the Cooper I7 clearly borrows a lot from the MX4.

Besides the design, the device spots a pretty reasonable package. It has a 5 inch 720p display, MTK6752 64-bit Octa Core chip,  2GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable storage, 8MP/5MP camera combination, dual SIM card slots, 4G, 2100 mAh removable battery and more. The usual price was $200, which was definitely too much for the hardware. However, recent price cuts to $150 makes this device worth a consideration.

Buy Siswoo Cooper I7 for $149.99 from Coolicool

iOcean M6752 Rock

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iOcean managed to produce a quite interesting device both inside and out. It comes in black and white versions, which both imitate sandstone finish more or less.

The device spots a 5.5 inch FHD screen. Under the hood it has MT6752 Octa Core 64-bit chip, 3 GB of RAM, 16 GB of expandable storage, dual SIM card slots, removable 2300mAh battery, 14MP/5MP camera combo, 4G connectivity, fast charging and more.

Buy iOcean M6752 Rock for $196.99 from Geekbuying (white version), black version.

Jiayu S3 Advanced (3 GB version)

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Jiayu is quite popular name in the Chinese smartphones category. The company manages to produce some respectable devices for a low price. This time around the company made a safe bet with its S3 3GB model.

The device has a decent build quality, design and great specs. It starts with a 5.5 inch 1080p panel and under the hood you can find goodies like the MTK6752 Octa Core 64-bit chip, 3 GB of RAM, 16 GB of expandable storage, 3000 mAh removable battery, dual SIM card support, 4G, dual wifi support and more. All of this costs just under $200 margin, which sounds like a great deal.

Buy Jiayu S3 3 GB version for $199.19 from Antelife (black variant), white variant

So there you have it, the best Chinese smartphones you can buy for under $200 in our opinion. It seems that you can get quite a lot from many manufacturers for this amount of money instead of spending too much for a flagship made by Samsung or Apple. It is always up to you, but we think that these devices are designed for not only those who live on the tight budget, but also prefer spending extra money on something else!

If you believe that some of the devices are really worth mentioning in this article, please let us know in the comments section below. Also, we always try to provide you with the best prices on the market to purchase above mentioned devices. Still, if you find lower prices, please let us know!

The post The Best Chinese Smartphones Under $200 (May 2015) appeared first on Gizmochina.

Several online retailers have started offering the Ulefone Be Pro smartphone for a discounted price from today. The phone which usually retailed for more than $170 is now available for purchase for just $149.99. This makes it a great deal considering the specs and the overall looks of the device.

All the three variants, namely the Sandstone Black, Dark Blue and Silk White models are available for purchase at the $149.99 price tag. To recap on the specs, the phone features a quad-core 64-bit MT6732 processor with 2GB RAM and a 5.5-inch HD display. The phone supports FDD-LTE networks and will run on Android 5.0 Lollipop version after an OTA update. The camera is a bit of a disappointment, but other than that, the Be Pro is a solid device.

So, if you are looking for a good looking handset with decent specs, the Ulefone Be Pro turns out to be a good buy.

The post Ulefone Be Pro now priced at just $100 for a limited period appeared first on Gizmochina.

One of the biggest selling points of the Ulefone Be Pro was its promised Android 5.0 Lollipop update. Now, the company is staying true to its promise as it invites users for beta testing the Android 5.0 update on their Ulefone Be Pro smartphones.

We already know that the company has started testing Android 5.0 update for its Be Pro smartphone. However, for the first time, Ulefone is inviting its customers to participate in the beta testing program. Unlike the previous test where we saw only a handful of testers, this new beta program will take as many as 100 beta testers. 

Remember that this is just the beta version and there will be a final refined Android 5.0 update that will be made available for everyone pretty soon. So, only those who don’t mind a few bugs on their smartphones should go ahead and test out the new Android 5.0 ROM for the Be Pro. Others better wait for the official OTA from the company.

There are already many who have shown interest in the beta test program, so make sure that you sign up as soon as possible.

Here are the instructions as given on Ulefone’s official Facebook Page:

How to apply to become a beta tester for Android 5.0?

Recruit Number: 100
Time: 8th April—16th April
Requirement:
1.You need to have a Ulefone Be Pro, Show your Be Pro in pictures;
2.Tester can’t share the Beta ROM with other customers, once we find that behavior, we won’t provide the next Beta ROM any more;
3.This test Rom still exist some bugs, it will affect your normal operation, please be careful to apply this ROM.
4.If you find problems in usage, you are welcome to post them in this page.
5.Thanks for every people who participate in this event, Ulefone Be Pro has its value because of you.

The post Android 5.0 for Ulefone Be Pro enters Beta, Company Invites 100 testers! appeared first on Gizmochina.

Ulefone had claimed that they would release Android 5.0 at the end of February. However, the company reportedly faced some issues in development and it was not as smooth as expected. Hence, Ulefone had to delay the launch of the new Android Lollipop update.

At present, we have come across some videos which show that selected users are testing out the Android 5.0 update for Ulefone Be Pro. So, we could see the Lollipop update pretty soon.

Even Ulefone’s official mutual help group has confirmed this news. In fact, it is said that Ulefone is now busy fixing BUGS in the update.

So, those who are worried about the Android 5.0 Lollipop update on their Ulefone Be Pros, we guess you need to be a little more patient. The company has said that a beta version of the Android 5.0 update for the device will be released as soon as next week. So, the final launch should be close by.

Ulefone Be Pro was one of the popular Chinese handsets in the past few months. The device sports a design like the OnePlus One and even features great specs for its sub $170 price tag. In fact, one of the highlights of the Ulefone Be Pro was its Android 5.0 Lollipop. The Be Pro was one of the first Chinese handsets to promise Lollipop to users and it looks like they will get the update pretty soon.

We don’t think this is a big delay since there are many big manufacturers who have not yet released Android 5.0 updates for their flagship products. But its good to see that the Ulefone is ready to provide an update of how things are going at their end.

And after this official news, we feel that you could get the Android 5.0 update on your Ulefone Be Pro real soon.

The post Ulefone Be Pro users need to be patient says company, Android 5.0 is coming soon appeared first on Gizmochina.

In 2014 the Android market space was shaken by the arrival of the powerful, yet competitively priced OnePlus One. However, the invite system and the insufficient supply made many potential buyers give up hope of ever owning one.  The Ulefone Be Pro is a smartphone that takes many design points from the OnePlus One, but offers them to you at a much more affordable price point.

What is more, The Blackview is another Chinese manufacturer, which is not that widely known for its products outside of China as OnePlus is. Also, it does not have a significant market share in its homeland. However, there is one thing that both Ulefone Be Pro and Blackview Omega has in common – its design inspiration from other (yet different) companies.

In addition, these our recently reviewed devices fall into similar pricing categories. In this article we will try to make a comparison between two of them, so it may help in case you cannot decide which one to choose.

In case you prefer a more in depth analysis of each of the device, make sure you check out our full Ulefone Be Pro Review (updated version) and Blackview Omega Review. Both of the latter articles include full written and video reviews.

SPECS

As far as the specs of each device go, the Ulefone manages to excel in certain departments like having a bigger (5.5 over 5″ display), a faster 64-bit Mediatek chip inside, bigger capacity of the battery (2600 mAh over 2100 mAh), the ability to replace the battery, which is a huge plus for some of the users. What is more, it has the 4G connectivity option, which puts the Blackview Omega to shame in this category in this day and age.

On the other hand, some of us may prefer the smaller, but more compact 5″ screen size of Blackview Omega, which makes the whole device more manageable with one hand. Also, the back camera of this device has more pixels (18MP over 13MP). However, you have to consider that both devices use interpolation method of pixels. Ulefone Be Pro has only 8MP shooter, which is bumped up to 13MP (Ulefone has officially admitted it and apologised to their fans); and the Blackview Omega has a 13MP sensor with some software tricks that increase the pixel count to 18MP.

In the end, we never judge any devices by the mere specs, so we need to dive in to its features and real life performance. But before that we must take a look at how the device looks and feels.

DESIGN

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It is quite obvious that Ulefone decided that the Be Pro would be a great seller if it borrowed similar looks from the OnePlus One. It is similar in size and it is built of similar type materials. There is a silver plastic trim around the device with plastic buttons. The back of the white version of the device is somewhat “baby skin” material, which is smooth to the touch. Overall, the Ulefone Be Pro is well built, but lacks premium materials like metal or glass.

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The Blackview Omega is a more compact device since it has a smaller screen of 5 inches. What is more, it can easily win your heart over Ulefone’s choice of materials as it spots a quality metal frame with metal clad buttons. It does look like an iPhone 4/4s with it similar design, though.

On the front side of the device there is an 8mp shooter along with the earpiece on the top. On the bottom there are three capacitive keys, which also have a backlight. The manufacturer chose to put volume up/down keys along with the power button on the left side of the metal frame of the phone. It took a bit of time to get used to it for me, but it is a personal preference. On the bottom, there is a regular Micro USB charging port along with microphone and the plastic infusions for better signal reception.On the right side, there is a dual micro SIM card tray. One slot also doubles as the micro SD slot up to 64 GB of cards for storage expansion. On the top, there is a 3.5mm headphone jack.On the back of the smartphone, there is a 13mp camera sensor, which can shoot up to 18mp pictures due to software interpolations along with the single LED flash. Finally, there is a mono speaker on the bottom, which has an average sound quality.

Our personal preference as far as design goes to the Blackview Omega as it spots more premium materials and very well built.

DISPLAY

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The display on the Ulefone Be Pro is 5.5 inches diagonally and comes with a 1280 x 720 resolution and a pixel density of 267 ppi. While it is not the best resolution in its size range, the display is still very pleasant. The colours are vibrant and the viewing angles are quite good as well. The whites looked white while the blacks were black impressive for an IPS panel. Since we are talking about an IPS panel, the screen does get bright so you don’t have to worry too much about sunlight completely washing out your screen. We are also dealing here with an OGS display which helps keep the phone a bit slimmer. The auto brightness on the phone seemed to do its job quite well, however, I guess many people like me will constantly keep it on 80% all of the time.

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The Blackview Omega has the 5′ LCD panel, which has great colour reproduction, good contrast levels and decent viewing angles. Also, it can bright, but we’ve seen brighter panels on other devices. Still, it is bright enough to make it viewable outdoors.

All in all, both devices have great displays. We agree that Ulefone Be Pro has only 720p panel, but the difference is not that significant to the eye.

PERFORMANCE

Ulefone Be Pro

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The UI is very light and it runs Android 4.4 Kitkat. The Lolipop update should be released very soon.  It is almost stock Android version and runs very smooth and fast, without any hiccups so far. The great thing is that I received a few software updates within one week (no Lolipop yet, though), but it sounds very promising as Ulefone seems to care about software upgrades and improvements.

The performance of the Ulefone Be Pro is really solid. The phone is being powered by MTK6732 SoC which has 4 A53 cores clocked at 1.5 GHz and backed by 2GB of RAM. Combine that with an almost stock build of Android and you get a smooth and fast experience. Graphically intensive games seem to work really well thanks to the powerful Mali T760, also having an only 720p display means there aren’t that many pixels to push around. I had no problems playing Asphalt 8 or any game other game I threw at it. Browsing the web seemed smooth and the web pages loaded fast. The GPS performance is very good and it locks on relatively fast and it seems to hold the signal as well.

Blackview Omega

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The device spots an MTK6592 Octa Core 1.7GHz chip inside along with the 2GB RAM and 16GB of storage. The graphics are handled by Mali-450MP GPU.

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YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE PICTURES IN ITS ORIGINAL FULL-RES SIZE HERE.

As far as the picture quality, it is a bit interesting, because once you take the picture and look at it on the smartphone, it looks that the quality is just about average. However, once you look at the same pictures on the computer screen, their quality is actually very good. First, I didn’t expect much from the camera, but the pictures have plenty of detail, they look sharp and the colour reproduction is very natural.

I have to say that for the device that costs just under $170, the daylight picture quality is indeed very good.

Once you take pictures inside the house, where the camera sensor can’t get so much light, the shutter speed is slower and you have to hold the smartphone steady, so that don’t get any blurriness in the picture. If you are able to do that, you may take some really good looking photos. Taking pictures in the artificial lightning can sometimes be a hit or miss as far as color reproduction goes. The camera tends to capture brighter images. Still, the quality is not bad.

The front facer is perfect for all of you selfie lovers since with the 8MP sensor it will capture probably as much detail as you want and perhaps even more. The camera app does come with a few additional features that aren’t found on a stock Android phone.

Blackview Omega

Camera app has some basic functions you would find on many Android devices. The app is fairly simple and you can adjust some general settings. Taking pictures and shooting videos is fast during the daylight, but it naturally becomes noticeably slower, when doing the same thing in low-light scenarios.

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As far as picture quality, the daylight pictures have plenty of detail as they are 18mp in size due to some software tricks the device does out of the 13mp f/2.2 aperture sensor. The colour reproduction seems quite accurate, but it is more on the colder side. The best way to take pictures is to tap to focus. Otherwise, the white balance and colours may not be the way you want. Once you take the device to the low light, you see that the camera starts struggling. It takes much more time to focus and you have to make sure you hold your hands steady not to get blurry pictures. Also, the pictures to have a lot of noise and the colour reproduction is a hit or miss. Again, once you take pictures inside the house, but there is more light, the picture quality becomes quite good.

As far as front facing shooter for selfies, it has 8MP (interpolated from 5MP sensor). The picture quality is actually good. What I’ve noticed is that it takes a lot of time for the shutter in the low light.

You can download Blackview Omega camera samples here.

VERDICT: both smartphones have decent cameras for the budget smartphones. We have to say that the Blackview Omega produces better results, though. We can definitely see more detail out of the 13MP sensor, which is interpolated to 18MP. Also, the colour reproduction seems to be a tad better, but there is no significant difference here. Both devices struggle in the low light, but Blackview manages to produce a bit better images in our opinion. Talking about the picture quality is always a question of debate, so you be the judge in the comment section below.

BATTERY LIFE

Ulefone Be Pro

As far as the battery life goes, the capacity of just 2600 mah doesn’t sound impressive on paper, but I was surprised by how good the Ulefone Be Pro performs in real life. During my testing time I did a bit of gaming, watched some youtube and hd videos stored on the phone, surfed the web and did all other stuff. My conclusion is that it can get you though the day quite easily in a normal use.

Blackview Omega

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As far as battery life goes, the 2100mAh unit doesn’t sound great on paper, but it can easily get through the day if you won’t keep playing games or watch HD videos all the time, which drain the battery fast.

The manufacturer has also thought about the battery life by including a power saving management tool. It has a similar interface to what we’ve seen on Sony devices. It may become handy once you are away from the power source for a while.

VERDICT: The Ulefone Be Pro seemed to be performing better in our tests (which are more or less just approximate). It could stay up longer while the screen was on and thus it is a winner in our opinion. What is more, the Ulefone Be Pro can give you around 1.5 days of average use, while Blackview Omega needs to be recharged every evening after the same type of usage. In the end, both devices achieve today’s “measurement” of the ability to get you though the full day of use.

Check out more Blackview phones

CONCLUSIONS

Our comparison showed that both devices are good choices for the price tag they carry. Each of them can excel in different departments, so you have to keep in mind your personal preference before choosing one.

As far as design goes, we gives kudos to the Blackview Omega as it spots a premium metal frame accompanied with a front and back glass sandwich construction. The device feels very sturdy and well made. It does look like the iPhone 4/4s quite a lot, though. For some users it’s a plus, for other – a minus.

The Ulefone Be Pro uses less premium materials as it is made out of plastic. The silver frame is made to look like metal, but it is definitely plastic. We don’t say that it looks or feels bad, because the device feels sturdy and well made as well. However, it just doesn’t feel that premium as Blackview Omega mainly due to the choice of materials. And yes, Ulefone Be Pro is OnePlus One look-a-like with minor design differences.

 

Check out Ulefone Smartphones

As far as the performance goes, the 64-bit chip inside the Ulefone Be Pro seems to be performing faster. It gave as the feeling that scrolling through menus and doing other every day stuff is just more smooth. Also, games loaded faster and the performance was slightly better. We don’t see a deal breaking disadvantage is Blackview’s offering though. The performance was without lags or any issues, but it just seemed that the Be Pro was a bit better.

The camera department is not that easy to judge as both devices are able to produce decent looking photos for budget devices category. However, the Blackview Omega can capture more detail as it uses a sensor with more pixels. Also, the colour reproduction seemed to be a bit better, but not that significantly. Still, we would choose the Omega to take pictures on the trip.

As far as battery life goes, both devices are quite good. However, the Be Pro can give you a bit more of the screen on time.

In the end, it is not that easy to judge which device is better in general as each of the smartphone excels in different categories. Finally, it may be a personal preference as both Ulefone Be Pro and the Blackview Omega are great device for its price range.

Buy Ulefone Be Pro at $149.99 

Buy Blackview Omega for just $172.99

Let us know what do you think in the social poll or in the comments section below.

[socialpoll id=”2259128″]

The post Ulefone Be Pro vs. Blackview Omega appeared first on Gizmochina.

Back in December, Ulefone Be Pro smartphone made headlines because of its high-end specs and the latest Android 5.0 update which was promised by the manufacturer. As a result, many people bought this new device. In fact, the company reported last month that it sold over 10,000 units of the device in the past few weeks alone. While everyone marketed the device as Android 5.0 Lollipop smartphone, the phone actually shipped with the old Android 4.4 KitKat version.

However, a recent video uploaded online has revealed that the Ulefone Be Pro Android 5.0 update is almost completed. The timing is in line with what the company promised. It earlier said that the phone will get the update in February /  March of 2015. So, its not surprising that the Android 5.0 update is almost ready.

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Ulefone official released a video of preview of Ulefone Be Pro equipped with Android 5.0. Ulefone take the leading position, become the first one to adapt to Android 5.0 among Chinese domestic brand manufacturer. In the past weeks, lots of manufacturers highly promote that their models adapt to Android 5.0, but there are not any actual photos or video released till now.

But Ulefone official state that this version Android 5.0 still exists several bugs, parts of functions still need to be tested. As per current progress, Android 5.0 is really coming soon. While users will be excited to hear the news, we expect the update to roll out only after a few days, since the existing bugs need to be fixed. Its always better to get an (almost) perfect update rather than a buggy one which will adversely affect the performance of the device.

After this news we are sure that the lollipop update will induce even more buyers to purchase this popular device.

You can check out the best prices at different retailers for ULEFONE BE PRO from the link below.

The post Ulefone Be Pro Android 5.0 update coming very soon appeared first on Gizmochina.

In 2014 the Android market space was shaken by the arrival of the powerful, yet competitively priced OnePlus One. However the invite system and the insufficient supply made many potential buyers give up hope of ever owning one. Here comes the Ulefone Be Pro review, a smartphone that takes many design points from the OnePlus One, but offers them to you at a much more affordable price point.

You can also check out our full video review of Ulefone Be Pro:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnvaPWfZJdI

UNBOXING

I’ve been using this device for more than a week right now, but I repacked it just to show you guys all the contents that come in the box. First, the packaging is fairly simple it has a Ulefone branding on it and some basic specs on the other side of the box.

Another item that comes in the nice separate box is a regular micro USB charging cable.

Also, there is a pair of headphones included. They don’t seem to be made out of the highest quality materials, but still, it is a nice touch by the manufacturer to include it. The headphones are made out of plastic with some chrome elements. Also, it has a dedicated mic with the functional key.

THE DESIGN 

While it’s true that the Ulefone Be Pro borrows its design quite heavily from the OnePlus One that still doesn’t change the fact it’s still a good-looking phone. The dimensions of the phone are 156.5 x 77.8 x 10.2 mm which should point out this isn’t a small device by any means.  The in-hand feeling is quite good since the sides of the phone aren’t completely rounded so the chance of you accidently dropping the phone is quite small. It should also be noted that back cover of is removable and you can choose between three different color options (white, dark blue and sandstone black).

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The back shell of the device has a very smooth matt surface, which doesn’t attract fingerprints. Also, there is a 13MP snapper along with the single LED flash on the top. What is more, there is a Ulefone logo in the middle and the speaker grill on the bottom. The speaker has an average quality, but is very loud. You can watch our video review to hear the audio sample of it.

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The Ulefone Be Pro has a plastic frame, which is painted in metallic colour. On the right side there is a power key, which, in my opinion, could be placed a bit lower to be able to reach it easier. Also, there is a little spot, where you would need to start opening the back cover. 

The top side spots a 3.5 mm headphone jack along with the Micro USB charging port. I don’t think that putting the charging port on the top is the best solution, but it’s not a deal breaker.

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On the left side you can find the volume up and down keys. In general, the buttons feel a bit plasticky, but they are responsive and easy to press.

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THE DISPLAY

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The display on the Ulefone Be Pro is 5.5 inches diagonally and comes with a 1280 x 720 resolution and a pixel density of 267 ppi. While it is not the best resolution in its size range, the display is still very pleasant. The colours are vibrant and the viewing angles are quite good as well. The whites looked white while the blacks were black impressive for an IPS panel. Since we are talking about an IPS panel, the screen does get bright so you don’t have to worry too much about sunlight completely washing out your screen. We are also dealing here with an OGS display which helps keep the phone a bit slimmer. The auto brightness on the phone seemed to do its job quite well, however, I guess many people like me will constantly keep it on 80% all of the time.

SPECS SHEET 

PERFORMANCE

The UI is very light and it runs Android 4.4 Kitkat. The Lolipop update should be released very soon.  It is almost stock Android version and runs very smooth and fast, without any hiccups so far. The great thing is that I received a few software updates within one week (no Lolipop yet, though), but it sounds very promising as Ulefone seems to care about software upgrades and improvements.

The performance of the Ulefone Be Pro is really solid. The phone is being powered by MTK6732 SoC which has 4 A53 cores clocked at 1.5 GHz and backed by 2GB of RAM. Combine that with an almost stock build of Android and you get a smooth and fast experience. Graphically intensive games seem to work really well thanks to the powerful Mali T760, also having an only 720p display means there aren’t that many pixels to push around. I had no problems playing Asphalt 8 or any game other game I threw at it. Browsing the web seemed smooth and the web pages loaded fast. The GPS performance is very good and it locks on relatively fast and it seems to hold the signal as well.

Here are some Benchmark scores for your reference. Usually, I’m not that kind of guy that cares about synthetic benchmarks, but still, for the those of you who care, here are the results of Antutu test. The Ulefone managed to get a very good result, which is just under LG G3. Very impressive for a budget mediatek device.

• Antutu: 32,400
• Antutu X: 31,103
• Geekbench single-core test: 742
• Geekbench multi-core test: 2155
• GFXBench Manhattan test: 508 (8.1fps)
• GFXBench Manhattan off screen test: 252.4 (4.2fps)
• GFXBench T-Rex test: 1040 (18fps)
• GFXBench T-Rex off screen test: 620 (12fps)

CAMERA

The phone comes equipped with a 13MP back camera made by OV and an impressive 8MP front camera. It captures photos relatively fast, but I’ve seen faster on the high-end devices. Besides the the standard picture taking mode, there is a PIP or picture in picture mode, which enables you to take pictures using back and front camera simultaneously.

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As far as the picture quality, it is a bit interesting, because once you take the picture and look at it on the smartphone, it looks that the quality is just about average. However, once you look at the same pictures on the computer screen, their quality is actually very good. First, I didn’t expect much from the camera, but the pictures have plenty of detail, they look sharp and the colour reproduction is very natural.

The front facer is perfect for all of you selfie lovers since with the 8MP sensor it will capture probably as much detail as you want and perhaps even more. The camera app does come with a few additional features that aren’t found on a stock Android phone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-OtSxC2VtQ&feature=youtu.be

The 1080p video recording is quite good. It captures the average level of detail, white balance is good and the color reproduction is natural. The quality of video recording is not on par with the best flagships, but acceptable for a budget 4G device.

SOFTWARE

Once you boot up the Ulefone Be Pro you quickly realize that they went with an almost completely stock Android experience. This keeps the UI running fast and smooth. And instead of adding unnecessary bloat, the company decided to add some software bonuses to the experience. One of my favorites is the ability to customize the LED notification light. You can decide what kind of light blinks for what kind of notification. While this can be done with apps, it’s nice to see it built in. Other enhancements are seen in the camera app with features like beauty mode. All in all, the software is really good and gets the job done. And because it’s so stock like Ulefone has already said that they will be updating the phone to Android 5.0 Lolipop quite soon.

BATTERY

As far as the battery life goes, the capacity of just 2600 mah doesn’t sound impressive on paper, but I was surprised by how good the Ulefone Be Pro performs in real life. During my testing time I did a bit of gaming, watched some youtube and hd videos stored on the phone, surfed the web and did all other stuff. My conclusion is that it can get you though the day quite easily in a normal use.

THE VERDICT

The post Ulefone Be Pro Review [UPDATED] appeared first on Gizmochina.

Usually when you go out to buy a new handset in the market, there are a certain list of features that you expect your new phone to come with. Unfortunately, if you are not having a big budget, most of the times, you will have to cut back on some of these wanted features.

However, now you don’t have to! The Ulefone Be Pro smartphone probably checks out all of the features in your list. It comes with the latest Mediatek MT6732 64-bit quad-core processor, which is twice as fast the old MT6582. Even today, many phones come with this old MT6582 processor, but Ulefone has made sure that you have an edge over these other budget mid-range phones with its new Be Pro. Moreover, the graphic performance on this phone will be good thanks to the 16-core Mali-T760 GPU.

For memory, you have a decent 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage which can be further expanded up to 64GB using a MicroSD card slot. Coming to the display, the phone features a 5.5-inch 720p OGS display which is now a standard among mid-range phones. At the back, there is a 13MP sensor with LED flash while up front, you have an 8MP shooter. While the camera isn’t the best in the market, it still should be good enough for clicking decent pictures. To power all these features, you have a 2600 mAh battery onboard.

The Ulephone Be Pro comes with Dual SIM dual Standby SIM card slots and  supports 4G LTE networks. The supported bands are as follows: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz FDD-LTE 800/1800/2100/2600MHz.

Coming to the best part, the phone will get the Android 5.0 Lollipop update next month. Yes, the company has promised an upgrade from the Android 4.4 KitKat to Lollipop in February. Many of the top end phones from Sony, Samsung and LG have not yet received the update, hence, this is one of the highlights of the phone. The Ube Pro supports many languages which include Italian, English, Dutch, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, and German. You just have to mention the required language while purchasing the device to GearBest.

Now, coming to the interesting part, you get all these features for a price, that’s normally reserved for budget phones. Yes, you can purchase this device as little as $151.99 + FREE SANDSTONE BLACK COVER! (only till Jan 20) , which we feel is a great price for a phone with LTE, Android 5.0 Lollipop, 64-bit processor and a large 5.5-inch display!

Usually, the same phone retails somewhere around $170+, but we have received a special coupon which will instantly reduce its price in your shopping cart. So, you essentially save around $20!

Check out the images below.

Now see what happens after we apply the coupon…

As you can see, you can purchase the device for just $151.99 from GearBest using the coupon from discountion.com. We don’t know when this coupon will expire but make sure you take advantage of it as soon as possible.

Also, GearBest is offering free SANDSTONE BLACK Covers for the device, for all buyers who purchase the device before January 20. The cover makes a whole lot of difference in the phone’s appearance and we would suggest, get the device before the date to receive the free cover! The picture of the Ulefone Be Pro with the cover is shown below!

We’ll be bringing more such coupons and deals in the coming days. So, stay tuned to the website. Meanwhile, connect with us via our Facebook and Twitter pages for the latest updates and deals!

The post Cheapest way to buy the Ulefone Be Pro 5.5-inch Android 5.0 LTE phone appeared first on Gizmochina.