Back in the summer of 2015, we reviewed Umi Iron. It delivered in some aspects while it fell short in others. This time around we have the Umi Iron Pro, the upgraded model. Find out more if it is any good in our full review.

Thanks to Coolicool for sending Umi Iron Pro for a review.

Umi Iron Pro VIDEO REVIEW:

Umi Iron Pro Review: UNBOXING

The device comes in quite a typical box for UMI where all the contents are packed neatly. Inside of it you can find a USB type-C cable, power plug and some documentation.

Umi Iron Pro Review: SPECS

Umi Iron Pro Review: DESIGN

The design of the Umi Iron Pro is very similar to the one we’ve seen on the regular Umi Iron. The phone made of metal, it is well constructed and feels great in the hand.

The 5.5” display does not make this phone the most compact out there but it is not that huge either.

On the top we have 8MP shooter along with the front firing LED light and some other usual stuff.

On the bottom there is a very nice looking pulsing notification LED light, which can be highly customised and it has various colours. Also, there are on-screen navigation buttons.

The back is made of metal and it is identical to the Umi Iron except for the fingerprint scanner. The setup of it was a bit annoying and it took much more time in comparison to some other devices. The good point is that once the you register your fingerprint, the scanner works pretty well and you can also unlock your phone straight from the standby mode.

As far as optics, we are looking at 13MP camera with dual tone dual LED flash.

On the bottom there is a speaker grill.

The buttons are placed on the left side and I’m not a huge fan of it as I am used to pressing keys on the right side but this may be my personal preference. On the right side there is a dual nano SIM card slot and one slot also doubles as microSD storage expansion option.

On the top there is a headset jack and on the bottom you can find a USB Type-C port.

Overall, Umi Iron Pro is a well designed phone and it sports a great built quality. Also, it definitely looks premium considering the price of the device.

Umi Iron Pro Review: DISPLAY

As far as display, we are looking at 5.5” panel, which is quite bright, it has good colours and it is a great panel overall. However, the phone ships with some sort of anti-glare screen protector, which I definitely recommend removing as soon as you start using the phone as it distorts the view.

Umi Iron Pro Review: UI

1 of 8

When it comes to the UI, Umi Iron Pro runs on Android 5.1 out of the box with a light Umi’s skin on top of it.

The day-to-day performance is nice and smooth even after installing lots of apps.

1 of 3

The key features would be some customisation options of the LED light, which is really cool and I believe each manufacturer should include that.

Also, there are some gesture controls, which work pretty well but they are not the fastest I’ve seen.

1 of 1

Besides the fingerprint security option, Umi offers iris scanner feature, if you really care about it. It may be cool to play with it for a few times but in general, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me as it takes too much effort unlocking the phone and you simply look weird. Well, it’s just my opinion.

Umi Iron Pro Review: BENCHMARKS

1 of 9

Umi Iron Pro Review: HARDWARE and PERFORMANCE

Umi Iron Pro sports an octa-core MTK6753 1.3GHz 64bit CPU, 3GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. 

This combo of hardware looks pretty good on paper but disappoints when it comes to graphically intensive games. 

Playing Asphalt 8 on the highest visual setting is literally impossible. Once you change the graphics level to medium, it is possible to play it but there are still quite a few skipped frames and stutter. 

Overall, this phone is definitely not for hardcore gamers. 

Umi Iron Pro Review: MULTIMEDIA

Consuming multimedia is a pretty good experience. As usual, there are no issues watching Full-HD content and while the loudspeaker is not the best I’ve heard, the sound that is coming out of it is pretty good.

As far as sound via earphones, it is pretty good too. However, the thing I hate most is the fact that you hear some kind of weird beep sound once hit volume up or down… and it happens randomly.

Umi Iron Pro Review: CAMERA

As far as camera, we have a pretty much stock looking Mediatek app. What’s funny is the fact that you can select the image size up to 20MP while the sensor itself is just 13MP.

As far as the image quality, daylight pictures turn out to be pretty good. There is a reasonable amount of details, colour reproduction is mostly natural and dynamic range is okay.

1 of 14

However, as soon as the sensor does not get a lot of light, some more noise creeps in. Still, you may get some pretty good looking pictures. Also,  I was quite impressed by the quality of some macro shots.

1 of 10

When it comes to the low-light images, the camera software tends to brighten up the scene, which is okay but it leads to a ridiculous amount of noise. Well, most of the images will be usable for social media but others may even look like painted.

1 of 2

As far as selfie camera goes, you can only take a decent shot with plenty of lightning. Otherwise, you will get a blurry shot witch will also lack in details.

As far as video, the quality of footage is okay but it is not very  impressive. There is an average amount of details and the video looks quite shaky. See the video review for a video sample.

Umi Iron Pro Review: CONNECTIVITY

All the connectivity options work well. However, the in-call volume could be a tad louder.

Umi Iron Pro Review: BATTERY LIFE

1 of 2

The battery capacity varies from 3100mAh to 3300mAh, which is quite interesting. The phone will get you through the day as I was able to achieve almost 4 hours of screen-on time while using the device mainly for basic tasks.

Umi Iron Pro Review: CONCLUSIONS

Umi Iron Pro is another attempt by the company to win the consumers’ hearts. Did they succeed?

To some extent yes. The phone has a great metal design, good build quality and it feels great in the hand.

Also, Umi Iron Pro sports a pretty good display, the UI performance is mostly fast and fluid, the fingerprint scanner works well.

While the camera is not bad but it is far from perfect and the quality of images will mostly depend on the lighting conditions.

Also, if you are a hardcore gamer, Umi Iron Pro is definitely not for you unless you are okay with a laggy 3D gaming experience.

All in all, Umi Iron Pro is a decent device for the price $180 but you may also want to check out what the competition has to offer in this price range.

The post Umi Iron Pro Review – A Worthy Successor? appeared first on Gizmochina.

Umi has released quite a few phones in 2015 and Umi Iron Pro is probably the last we are unboxing this year. Find out more in our unboxing and first impressions article.

Thanks to Coolicool for sending Umi Iron Pro for a review.

Umi Iron Pro: UNBOXING

Umi Iron comes in a typical box for Umi. Everything’s packed neatly and the contents include a charging plug, USB Type-C cable and instruction manuals.

Umi Iron Pro: DESIGN

The phone has 5.5″ display and it makes the phone quite huge but it is easily manageable in one hand due to great ergonomics of the device.

On the front we have an 8MP shooter, LED flash and other usual stuff. On the bottom we have on-screen navigation keys. Also, there is a nice looking skyline-type pulsing notification LED light.

As the name implies, the phone is made almost entirely of metal (except for the top and bottom parts for antennas). I have to say that the choice of metal definitely makes the phone look and feel great in the hand.

As far as optics, we have a 13MP Sony IMX214 sensor, which is accompanied by dual tone dual LED flash. Right underneath it there is a fingerprint scanner. It was a bit cumbersome to setup but it works quite well in real life.

Umi Iron Pro: FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Overall, Umi Iron is well constructed device and I see an improvement over the older Umi Iron in terms of the precision in the build quality. For example, the top and bottom parts, which are made of plastic, are perfectly aligned with the metal backplate. The same goes for the sides and other parts of the phone. All in all, Umi Iron has an impressive build quality and great choice of materials especially if we think of the price point of this phone.

I have already spent a few days with the device, installed all the usual apps, played with the camera etc. So far, the performance has been good. However, I need to spend a bit more time with the phone (as usual) to tell you my final thoughts.

Stay tuned to Gizmochina for a full review.

The post Umi Iron Pro Unboxing and First Impressions appeared first on Gizmochina.

Ways To Configure And Use UMI Iron Smartphone’s U Health App

There are oodles of Android smartphones in the market nowadays and most of them look similar and have similar features too. If you think how to buy a device with distinctive feature, the UMI Iron is one contender vying for your attention. The handset, made by a Chinese company has good specs and build, but its standout feature is eye-scanning security. It also comes equipped with a handful of apps that can be beneficial for most users. One example is its U Health App. It can appeal to users who have the habit of checking their health regularly.

Nuances of the U Health app

Like some others top end Android devices, the UMI Iron comes loaded with a Health app. The U Health App is meant for checking heart rate of users and it also analyses stress levels in them. The app is pretty simple to use and beginners can handle it with ease.

Ways to use the U Health app

At first, you need to open the U Health app by tapping on it. The app shows two options- stress rate and heart. By tapping on the app’s heart rate button you can learn your heart rate. A pop-up will appear with text “Place your finger on the sensor. The measurement will start automatically”. The message also contains a note saying the app should be used solely for wellness and fitness. It is not made for diagnosing any ailment.  Next, you need to press the OK button on screen. Then you should keep a finger on the sensor located at the front camera’s left side.

In case you put the finger improperly on the sensor the app will pop up an alert. It may also show up if you put the finger for a very short time and the sensor fails to scan well. The alert reads, “Make sure your fingertip is at the center of the sensor. Do not move and Do not press too hard.”. You will have to press on ok and again put your finger on the sensor. As the sensor completes scanning your finger it will display a message on screen showing heart rate.

Measuring stress rate with U Health app

After learning your heart rate by using the U health app, you may very well use it to find how stressed you are at the moment!

The Stress button is placed at the bottom right section of the screen in the app. Tap on the button and then press ok. Again, you will have to place a finger on the sensor beside the device’s front camera. This will initiate the measurement process and keep your finger on the sensor. As it is completed, the result will get displayed on the device screen.

The app displays stress rate in colours indicating normal or high level. Three colours – yellow, green and red are used to indicate this. However, keep in mind that stress rate displayed by the app is an approximate representation and so you should not get too worried but it.

The post Ways To Configure And Use UMI Iron Smartphone’s U Health App appeared first on Gizmochina.

DISCLAIMER

Firstly, I have reviewed this device with an old software, which had quite a lot of bugs in it. That happened due to the fact that OTA updates did not work at that time as I always check for the latest software updates before reviewing a device. In fact, I received one OTA update once I took the device out of the box but then OTA feature went down for some time due to the device pre-release nature.

Ok, enough is enough. I have just updated the ROM to the 1.4 version (release date – 2015.08.04). It is said to fix all the bugs I’ve found in the older version of the review. Let’s not waste any time and get right into it as I will re-test every feature of the device and see if Umi can keep up the promise.

PLEASE READ THE WHOLE REVIEW AS THE LATEST SOFTWARE (v. 1.4) UPDATE FIXED A LOT OF ISSUES AND BROUGHT MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS!

Change log (ORIGINAL UNEDITED LOG TEXT WRITTEN BY UMI):

1. Camera optimized
2. Heart rate/stress test/UV test optimized
3. Notificationlight optimized
4. Eyeprint ID license activated
5. Hifi headphone audio optimized
6. 3 keys (return/home/manu)is customziable, change location base on your habit; as well as move them to the hardware part via setting if you don’t fancy the software keys
7. UI optimized the best oringal from google andriod UI, you can compare with othe Mediatek 5.1 UI, they are different and ugly
8. Super ROOT, very stable and good on ROOTJOY to manage your phone!
9. Quick manu now support to be pull down in anywhere (for now you can only pull it down the quick manu from the very top of the phone, but our new update support to pull it down even it’s in the middle of the screen)
10. One key end all apps (on Quick manu called “end all”)
11. Guest using mode optimized

Introduction

You may have heard of Umi – a small Chinese manufacturer that has not been in the industry for many years, but has been known for their good understanding of how to design phones.

Firstly, the company attracted a lot of attention with its Zero model, which sported premium materials and decent specs at an affordable price. Since then it has become clear that Umi’s strategy is to try and stay in the competition by producing nicely designed handsets and thus lure some consumers.

Their newest model Iron is no exception. Let’s take a look what we’ve got.

We wanted to say thanks to Pandawill.com for sending Umi Iron for a review!

Umi Iron Review: VIDEO

Umi Iron Review: SPECS

Umi Iron Review: UNBOXING

The packaging is a bit different than the majority of boxes as you have to pull one side to open it up, to reveal all the items packed neatly.

The accessories that are in the box include the instruction manuals, USB plug along with the USB cable. Last but not least the company added USB OTG cable. Well, any extra accessories are a great thing.

Overall, the contents look to be of good quality (but not the best).

I have also received a decent quality leather flip cover case. Not sure if it is a real leather but it definitely feels like. Also, it feels well made and fits nicely on the device. It does not come with the standard packaging but you can buy original flip leather case for $14.99.

Last but not least I received a tempered glass screen protector. To be honest, I haven’t installed it yet and I cannot tell you if it is made out of high quality glass or not. Still, it is not included in the standard packaging but you can buy the original tempered glass screen protector for $14.99 separately.

Umi Iron: DESIGN and DISPLAY

The device comes with a 5.5″ display, which is very bright, sharp and vivid. Also, it has great viewing angles and natural looking colours. Overall, it is a superb panel for a budget device and you will notice that immediately once you turn on the device.

On the top side there is a proximity sensor, 8MP camera sensor, earpiece and front firing LED flash for night selfies.

On the bottom you can find capacitive buttons, which can be customised thanks to the latest update (v. 1.4). In addition, Umi says that these navigation keys “will be brought to the hardware part” with the upcoming v. 1.5 update meaning that a user will have a chance either to use software on-screen buttons or capacitive buttons below the screen.

In addition, on the bottom side there is a really nice looking notification LED light, which has a great looking pulsing effect. It flashes green for notifications and red for charging/low battery by default but it can be changed!

The LED has plenty of customisation options, which is a really neat feature if you want you can assign different colours for particular things,  you have a lot of colours to choose from.  I have to tell that the notification LED really makes the device stand out, as the LED is bright and looks great with it’s pulsing effect.

Here is why we call this model Iron as the back plate is made out of metal. It definitely feels like a high quality material and adds a bit of a premium look and feel. Also, it feels great in the hand (I may be subjective as I just love metal phones).

However, the top and bottom parts are made out of plastic as this is the solution Umi chose to implement to get a normal antenna reception.

On the top side there is a 13MP Sony IMX214 shooter along with dual tone dual LED flash and a noise cancelling mic. It is worth mentioning that the camera lens are surrounded by a quality stainless steel ring.

On the bottom side there is an UMI logo along with the loudspeaker.

The metal shell continues around to the sides of the device and is secured to the rest of the body with visible screws, which also provides a nice looking industrial design.

In addition, you can find a dual nano SIM card/microSD card (up to 64GB) slot , which you have to open up with a pin.

On the left side you can find a  power on/off switch along with a volume rocker made of metal.

On the top side there is just a headset jack.

Finally, on the bottom you can find a micro USB charging port along with the main microphone.

Umi Iron Review: UI

Umi Iron runs Android 5.1 with a light Umi skin on top of it out of the box. The experience of using this device for a few weeks has so far been good. I didn’t have any lags or hiccups if I was doing non-demanding stuff, e.g. browsing the web, Facebook, Youtube etc.

1 of 6

In addition, all the apps are opening up and closing fast, transitions are smooth and I have no major complaints. After the latest software update the user available storage was increased a bit. Also, Umi updated the quick access notification and right now it can be pulled down from any part of the screen (not only the top). Finally, the quick access menu was updated with “end all tasks” button.

1 of 9

Umi marketed this model “as the world’s first” to have Iris scanner. I had to re-test this feature with the latest software as it did not work on the earlier software builds. In short, it works but it is far from perfect.

The setup is a bit similar to the fingerprint security one as you have to scan your eyes several times, so the device remembers your “retina ID”. Also, you should choose an alternative unlock method in case Iris scanner cannot recognise your eyes.

The main question here is how this method of security works. Well, you have to be in good lighting conditions meaning that the camera may struggle scanning your eyes indoors. Also, the struggles may continue if you scan your eyes in bright sunny day as you naturally squint. If you are not in the ideal position for the front facing camera, the Iris scanner feature may become annoying.

All in all, I can confirm that Eyeprint ID is a feature that actually works and it may be cool to show it to your friends once or twice. However, if you really need this feature, it is up to you to decide. Still, this feature is what makes Umi Iron stand out from other devices in this price range.

Overall, I am pretty happy with the overall UI performance as it is working fast and snappy almost all the time. It is almost a stock Android experience and a lot of users should be happy with it.

Umi Iron Review: BENCHMARKS

1 of 8

The benchmarks’ results improved a little after the 1.4 software update. Overall, Umi Iron is a decent performer in the benchmark tests.

Umi Iron Review: PERFORMANCE

The most graphically tasks like gaming are okay but could be better. The graphics look quite good but there is occasional stutter and skipped frames during gaming sessions. You can still enjoy gaming but for more serious gamers out there, it may be annoying at some times. Anyway, the performance is comparable to other devices in this price category.

On the other hand, the device gets warm as usual but not hot at all even after 30 mins of gaming, which is quite an impressive achievement in terms of thermal management considering the fact that the device has a metal back plate.

Umi Iron Review: MULTIMEDIA

You can enjoy multimedia like 1080p video, Internet browsing, scrolling through gallery and even listening to FM radio (a feature that slowly disappears in today’s device) on this device without any issues.

The music playback is kind of the star of the show on Umi Iron. The company is really proud to implement a DIRECTPATH HiFi Audio chip on a budget device. Well, it indeed sounds awesome. Umi even included a dedicated audio app to adjust the a lot of settings of music.

But what about the sound quality via earphones?

The sound is definitely great, you can hear some richer tones with a lot of depth, especially when you know how to play with the equaliser.

However, once you crank up the volume (the volume output is very loud)….. the device freezes and turns off after like 5 seconds. I’ve tested it like 5 times in a row, same result. In addition, I tried turning on/off equaliser enhancement (it is a separate app from the stock Android music player app), same result again..  It happens once you crank up the volume more than a half. A good thing is that I could barely keep the earphones in my ears as the music was so loud.

Umi has already addressed this issue but the latest 1.4 software update still has not fixed that. Well, it the device does not freeze all the time like before but it still happens often when you crank up the volume to the highest levels. It has never happened to any other devices I have reviewed. A good thing that Umi is working on it and they promised to fix it as soon as possible.

The speaker quality is quite good. I played with a lot of equaliser settings to get a better sound. All in all, it is a decent speaker but not the best. E.g. The Lenovo K3 Note has a better one.

Umi Iron Review: CAMERA

1 of 5

Umi Iron has a stock MTK camera app that has some basic features and shooting modes and it works fine most of the times. The device has a 13MP rear shooter but it seems that Umi has interpolated it to 20MP. In addition, if you want to have a wide screen (16:9 ratio) pictures, the resolution goes to 15MP.

Same is with the front facing snapper. It has a 5MP sensor but Umi interpolated it to 8MP.

Umi Iron Review: IMAGE QUALITY

The 13MP camera on the back is can take some good looking images outdoors. The images have a good amount of details and are quite sharp. The pictures seem to be a bit sharper due to software tricks, which lead to upscaling images to 20MP.  Also, the colour reproduction is good. However, usually the corners of the images are out of focus and look a bit blurry. Also, the dynamic range is usually off. Still, the daylight images are good for a budget device.

The pictures taken indoors are actually pretty good. With plenty of lighting you can get some great looking images. When the scene is not lit up that well, the level of details become lower but are still acceptable for a budget device.

LOW-LIGHT CAMERA SAMPLES BEFORE SOFTWARE UPDATE:

LOW-LIGHT CAMERA SAMPLES AFTER SOFTWARE UPDATE:

Night shots are just average. On the other hand, they have improved after the latest software update. Nothing major but you can notice it.  Also, there is a visible purple tint in some of the pictures. Finally, noise levels go up and the level of details goes down. Just please do not get me wrong here, Umi Iron is not a disaster in low-light scenarios. It is simply the same as the majority of the devices in this price range.

The dual tone dual LED flash is pretty powerful and definitely helps out. It helps illuminating the scene well. After the latest software update I can say that it is a definitely good implementation of LED light on a budget device.

Download night camera samples

A 5MP Selfie camera (interpolated to 8MP) is good outdoors and decent indoors. In addition, you are getting a front facing LED flash, which is better than the one found on Ulefone Be Touch or Zeaplus M7 I’ve tested but much worse than the former flagship class vivo Xshot. Still, it is a pretty neat feature and it may help you taking a few selfies in a night club.

Overall, Umi Iron actually has a good camera for daylight images outdoors as images have lots of details, colours look natural and pictures look sharp overall. However, the dynamic range is usually off but this is common to all devices in this price range.

The indoors images are also look decent but the night pictures do not impress.

All in all, I am happy with this camera and I am also glad that Umi made a significant improvement in the camera department with the latest software update.

Download Full-res camera samples

Umi Iron Review: VIDEO QUALITY

The 1080p video quality is quite good. I like the level of details, colours look natural, auto-exposure is not jumping like crazy and overall the footage looks good.

Umi Iron Review: CONNECTIVITY

The call quality is good (not on par with flagships though) and signal reception is decent. As far as Wifi, it has a good range and works without interruptions. However, the GPS lock speed is very slow. A very first cold start outdoors took like 2 minutes, which is terrible. Hopefully, this is something that Umi addresses in the future. Once you get a fix, navigation is pretty accurate though.

Umi Iron Review: BATTERY LIFE

A Geekbench 3 test score is very impressive for a budget device as Umi Iron got 6 hours 38 mins screen-on time (dim screen off, auto-brightness on, Wifi with some apps syncing on).

Real life test is not that great but still good. This diagram shows a very intensive use of the smartphone (Internet, Youtube, 3 different benchmarks, gaming, taking pictures, shooting video etc.).

Overall, the device will get you through the day even if you are a heavy user but not a die hard gamer or addicted Youtuber. If you are an average user, you may even get 2 full days of use.

Umi Iron Review: CONCLUSIONS

So here it is, Umi Iron, a metal phone for a budget. I would say that the design and build quality are one of the key aspects of this device. A metal back cover and the sides definitely add some premium look and feel and those little screws add a bit of an industrial design impression. Also, a customisable LED is a welcome feature to any device and it seems that Umi has implemented it well on this phone.

Almost stock looking Android 5.1 based UI is great and I have no major complaints doing a lot of daily tasks. One of the selling points of this device is iris scanner and it works. Well, it is not ideal as you need to scan your eyes in good lighting conditions but I am pretty sure that you will get some attention from your friends once they see this feature.

In addition, the phone has an decent camera for outdoors shoots and it is quite good indoors. The night images are not the the best but not the worst either.

There are some issues to address like the music playback at the highest volumes using headphones but Umi knows that and they assert that they’ve been working on a fix.

Finally, you are getting a good looking device, which has a great, sharp and very bright display, good battery and premium build for under $180. I believe that Umi will fix the rest of the software bugs very soon as the latest software update (V. 1.4) brought a lot of improvements and bug fixes already. I have to say that Umi has some dedication to what they’re doing as they are listening to the community (including me) and trying to fix all the issues. That means you are NOT dealing with a knock-off Chinese company, which simply wants to sell the device and provide zero after sale support. Finally, the Umi Iron is a decent offering at it is worth looking at if you are looking for a device which costs below $180.

We wanted to say thanks to Pandawill.com for sending Umi Iron for a review!

The post Umi Iron Review (UPDATED and VIDEO REVIEW ADDED) appeared first on Gizmochina.

You may have heard of Umi – a small Chinese manufacturer that has not been in the industry for years but it has been known for good understanding how to design the phones. Firstly, the company attracted a lot of attention with its Zero model, which spotted some premium materials and decent specs at affordable price. Since that it has become clear that Umi will try to stay in the competition with a nicely designed handsets and thus lure some consumers. Their newest model Iron is no exception. Let’s take a look what we’ve got.

UNBOXING

The packaging is a bit different than the majority of boxes as you have to pull one side to open it up. Then you will see all the items packed neatly.

The accessories that are in the box include the instruction manuals, USB plug along with the USB cable. Last but not least the company added USB OTG cable. Well, any extra accessory is a great thing.

Overall, the contents look to be of good quality (but not the best).

Not sure if it is included in every package but I have also received a decent quality leather flip cover case. Not sure if it is a real leather but it definitely feels like.

Last but not least I received a tempered glass screen protector. I will inform you if each smartphone comes with a free extra leather flip cover case and this glass protector or it was just me in the full review.

Umi Iron: DESIGN and DISPLAY

The device comes with a 5.5″ display, which is very bright, sharp and vivid. Also, it has great viewing angles and natural looking colours. Overall, it is a superb panel for a budget device and you will notice it immediately once you turn on the device.

On the top side there is a proximity sensor, 8MP camera sensor, earpiece and front firing LED flash for night selfies.

On the bottom side there is really nice looking notification LED light, which has a great looking pulsing effect. It flashes green for notifications and red for charging/low battery. However, the colours of the LED are not customisable.

Here is why we call this model Iron as the back plate is made out of metal. It definitely feels like a high quality material and adds a bit of a premium look and feel. Also, it is very great in the hand (I may be subjective as I just love metal phones).

However, the top and bottom parts are made out of plastic as this is the solution Umi chose to implement to get a normal antenna reception.

On the top side there is a 13MP Sony IMX214 shooter along with dual tone dual LED flash and a noise cancelling mic. It is worth mentioning that the camera lens are surrounded by a quality stainless steel ring.

On the bottom side there is an UMI logo along with the loudspeaker.

The metal shell continues to the sides of the device and it is tightened up with screws, which also provide a nice looking industrial design.

In addition, you can find a nano SIM card/microSD card (up to 64GB) slot , which you have to open up with a pin.

On the left side you can find a metal made power on/off switch along with a volume rocker.

On the top side there is just a headset jack.

Finally, on the bottom you can find a micro USB charging port along with the main microphone.

Umi Iron: INITIAL IMPRESSIONS

Umi Iron has actually made a great first impression. The first things you are going to notice once you take the device out of the box is that it is not your usual budget smartphone as it is made almost entirely out of metal as the name Iron implies.

Although the device has a 5.5″ display, the smartphone sits very comfortably in the hand due to rounded edges and decent ergonomics.

Other impressions include that it has a great, bright and vibrant display and the UI is running very smoothly.

Stay tuned for the full written and video reviews to Gizmochina. Also, some very hot new devices are coming to the review labs!

The post Umi Iron Unboxing and First Impressions appeared first on Gizmochina.

Remember a couple of weeks back we reported that UMI was taking things to a whole new level with Eye Recognition tech on its UMI Iron flagship smartphone. At that time, everyone including us had a lot of questions about this relatively new tech. But today, we have got some clarity about how the Eye scanner works. So, read on to know how exactly the UMI Iron feature works in real life.

UMI Iron’s Eye Recognition technology is actually made by a US company called as Eye Verify. This tech relies on the vein patterns inside the user’s eye to unlock the device. Given that everyone’s vein patterns are unique, it makes it extremely hard for a hacker to crack the security. In fact, eye recognition tech is way more secure than the current fingerprint recognition tech employed by companies like Apple and Samsung. This could be one of the reasons why UMI decided to try out its luck with Eye Verify.

The company has told us that the data i.e. the pattern stored inside the phone will be encrypted. This means even if a hacker somehow gets the pattern file on the phone, he can’t just use it to unlock the device.

Also, the EyePrint ID software utilizes the existing front camera on the phone. So, you don’t have to install any additional hardware for the eye recognition to work. The front camera is all that’s required by the software to scan your eye. 

Now coming to one of the most important question asked by users: Will It Work At Night?

Well, if it didn’t, then it doesn’t make any sense to use such a tech on the phone. So, naturally, the tech works even when there’s no external light. According to the company, when the lighting conditions are so bad that the front camera cannot recognize your prints, the ambient light sensor (the same sensor that adjusts your screen brightness level) will increase the brightness of your display till your eyes can be seen by the camera. 

Also, if you wear contact lenses, even colored ones, UMI has assured that it won’t affect your eye scanning process. You would be able to unlock your phone without any hassle. Also, UMI’s eye recognition tech only works with living tissues, so the company has assured that no one will harm you to access your phone (in the worse case scenario).

Overall, UMI seems to have incorporated a valuable tech on the upcoming UMI Iron flagship. We hope that in practical usage, the eye scanner works as smoothly as they claim. We have already got our hands on the engineering sample of the UMI Iron a few weeks back (without the Eye Scanner Tech), and we hope to review the final product pretty soon.

Meanwhile, you can check out a few images which describes how to setup the Eye Scanner on the Iron. It reportedly takes a few minutes to fully scan your eyes, but then works pretty smoothly.

1 of 6

So what do you think about UMI’s Eye Scanner feature?

The post UMI Iron’s Eye Recognition Tech Explained: Everything You Need To Know! appeared first on Gizmochina.

Remember a few days back we reported that UMi Iron had a hypertech which was better than fingerprint ID. Now, the company has officially confirmed that the hypertech that they were talking about is actually Eye Recognition. This doesn’t come as a surprise given that we had expected to be this tech given its better accuracy and extremely low probability of hacking.

The company is working closely with Eye Verify, the biometric security startup from Kansas to incorporate eye recognition into its flagship. Eye Verify specializes in integrating this tech into smartphones, so its one of the best company at the moment to help UMi with this task.

So, UMi Iron will integrate Eye Verify’s flagship product called as the Eye Print ID. This tech recognizes the pattern of the veins in the user’s eye to unlock the smartphone. Its much secure than fingerprint ID but we are not sure whether its faster. The company has reportedly worked closely with a number of EyeVerify experts in this regard.

With Eye Recognition on board, UMi Iron turns out to be one of the best mid-range flagship smartphone in the market right now. It comes with the octa-core MT6753 chip with 3GB RAM and 13MP rear facing camera. The full tech specs are given below.

So, what do you think about the UMi Iron? Are you impressed with Eye Recognition? You can also check out our hands on with an engineering sample of the Iron from here.

UMI IRON FULL SPECS:

The post UMi Iron Will Feature Eye Recognition, Confirms Company appeared first on Gizmochina.

We have been hearing a lot about UMI Iron which is going to be the company’s new flagship smartphone for the year. Most of the specs as well as features of the device are already known to us, but a source close to the company has revealed to us that the final product will feature a new tech that’s even better than Fingerprint ID.

Just yesterday, we got our hands on the engineering sample of the UMI Iron, but it looks like the final product will have additional features as well. Our source reveals that the phone will feature a hypertech which will be much more secure than the fingerprint ID seen on other phones. While we still don’t know the exact nature of this tech, the company will reportedly reveal more details next week itself.

We know that Iris recognition is much more secure than fingerprint ID, so this tech could end up on the phone. If this is the case, then it will definitely make Iron a unique smartphone in this crowded mid-range market. However. it still won’t be the first company to experiment with Iris recognition as we have seen a couple of manufacturers try out this tech on their flagships.

The engineering sample looked quite well built and fluid, and we hope the final product is even better. You can check out our hands on with the phone from here.  

Stay tuned for more details.

The post Exclusive: UMI Iron to Feature A Biometric Tech That’s Better Than Fingerprint ID appeared first on Gizmochina.

We have been hearing a lot about UMI’s latest flagship, the UMI Iron, thanks to the company’s carefully crafted teasers. Till now, we had some details about the specs of the handset as well as the design, but now, we have got the first set of hands on pictures of the device.

The overall design is more or less the same as the one shown in the previous leaks. The phone features an all metal body measuring just 7.9mm in thickness. The body looks well crafted and solid, with both the power and the volume button lying on the left hand side. The right side is totally clean. As for the top, you will find a headphone jack while at the bottom, you have the USB port.

The design looks quite good. But if you looks carefully, it seems to be inspired from HTC’s One M9, which is actually a good thing considering that the phone has received positive reviews for its design.

Up front, above the display, you can see the camera as well as sensors on top. The area below the display is clean, thanks to the on screen buttons. On the display, you can clearly see the thick bezels on all the four sides. But that’s not really a complaint, as the overall package looks quite good.

The back features a two tone design, with the camera and the dual LED flash lying right on top. At the center, you can see the UMI logo while down below, there’s the speakers.

1 of 8

As for the specs, the phone will feature MT6753 octa-core 64-bit chip with 3GB RAM and 16GB of storage. There will be a 5.5-inch display with full HD 1080p resolution. At the back, there will be a 13MP Sony IMX214 camera sensor along with an 8MP shooter. Other features include 4G LTE connectivity, 3350mAh battery and Android 5.1 Lollipop version.

UMI IRON FULL SPECS:

The post Exclusive: Hands On With The UMI Iron Flagship [Video] appeared first on Gizmochina.