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You asked for them so here they are, Antutu X Benchmarks for the octacore iOcean G7 phablet!In the past a few smartphone manufacturers (Samsung we鈥檙e looking at you!) have used Antutu as a marketing tool, faking amazing benchmarks to look more impressive than they actually should be. Fortunately the time is up for these fraudsters as Antutu X does away with any tweaks and mods to enhance benchmarks leaving us with a genuine result.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramAfter I posted Antutu, Nenamark and Quadrant benchmarks of the octacore iOcean G7 yesterday, many readers asked if I could also test the phablet with Antutu X. The results are in the video below!iOcean G7 Antutu X BenchmarksAs you can see it appears Antutu have performed a few Antutu tweaks of their own! On a regular Antutu benchmark the G7 receives a whopping 26,986 points where as in Antutu X the score is a more pedestrian 22,224 points!From now on I will post both Antutu and Antutu X scores for each smartphone review we perform.Thank goodness for fast delivery! Our JiaYu S2 review phone has just arrived and we have wasted no time getting it in front of the camera for an unboxing and hands on!The JiaYu S2 has been in development by JiaYu since last summer. The device takes all of JiaYu’s knowledge of producing high-quality Mediatek phones and slim’s it all down to a narrow, thin, and extremely comforatble form. The S2 also benefits from the lessons JiaYu learned with the metal body of the G5 and boasts its own stainless steel construnction.JiaYu S2 Hands On Photo Gallery Our version of the JiaYu S2 is a pre-production sample, and as yet I am not sure if it is the 1GB or 2GB RAM model. What we do know is that the screen is a 5-inch 1920 x 1080 OGS unit, with wonderful viewing angles, the rear camera is a 13 mega-pixel shooter form Panasonic and Sony provide the front facing 8 mega-pixel lens.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramAs you will see in the hands on video below the 6mm body is made of both stainless steel and white plasitc. There is room for dual micro SIM’s and JiaYu have even made a stainless steel head phone jack plug with built in SIM removal tool! Nice touch!Video: JiaYu S2 Unboxing and hands onJiaYu S2 First ImpressionsFirst impressions are very very good. This is one very well made and thoughtfully put together smartphone, and a phone I will happily use as my daily drive until my Meizu returns (possibly even when I get the MX3 back!). The 6mm body is comfortable in the hand, but what is most impressive is the narrow width of the phone overall. With a 5-inch display the JiaYu S2 is only a few milimeters wider than my 4.3-inch Xiaomi Mi2!We have been testing the 6.44-inch iOcean G7 phablet for a few days now and are really getting on with it well. Here are a few videos to keep you going before the full review.International resellers will soon be offering the iOcean G7 for sale, and if you are a phablet fan it really is one to take in to considertation. Personally I am not a huge fan of very large phones, but I have really been enjoying the large screen iOcean G7, not to mention the envious glances I have been getting thanks to the full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution! That panel really is a beauty!To see the phabet in action I have put together a couple of videos. The first is a gaming test of the iOcean G7 the second a benchmarks video.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramiOcean G7 Gaming VideoThe octacore iOcean G7 runs a 1.7Ghz MT6592 processor, with 2GB RAM. Gaming is as smooth as we have come to expect it should be, but the 3D title sequence of ‘Real Drift’ gave the hardware some trouble. This is common with octacore Mediatek chips, but does not affect the game itself.iOcean G7 Benchmarks videoFor the full review I will also run 3D Mark and Vellamo on the iOcean G7, but for now the below video shows Antutu, Nenamark and Quadrant benchmarks.iOcean G7 BenchamarksAntutu: 26,986Quadrant: 15,201Nenamark: 47.3fpsThe JiaYu F1 will soon be launched in WCDMA guise for international customers to enjoy. We unbox and have our first hands on with the $50 smartphone ahead of launch.It’s easy to get excited about the latest greatest phones with high-resolution displays and powerful processors, but let’s not forget that those super phones only make up a small part of the market. Most phone users look at low to mid range devices, an area where it is being constantly proven that low-cost no longer means low-quality!The JiaYu F1 is a 299 Yuan Android smartphone from Chinese phone maker JiaYu. The device packs a 4-inch display, dual-core 1.3Ghz processor, 512MB RAM, 5 mega-pixel camera, dual sim support, 3G and a large 2400mAh battery! Even if the F1 goes on sale for more for international customers (which is looking likely) the JiaYu F1 is still going to be one bargain!Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramJiaYu F1 Specifications[komper pid=151 compareform=no]JiaYu F1 hands on videoJiaYu F1 First ImpressionsUnboxing and first hands on with the iOcean G7 octacore pahblet! The largest iOcean device to date!iOcean have a trio of octacore device in store for phone fans for the start of 2014. There is the updated iOcean X7S (unboxing coming soon), much anticipated iOcean X8, and this the largest of them all the iOcean G7.At 6.44-inch the iOcean G7 is a large device and dwarfs pretty much any other smartphone currently on the market today, but is not along in it鈥檚 monstrous size as it will compete with rival phablets the UMi Cross and iNew i6000+.Specifications for the iOcean G7 are what we have come to expect for early 2014. The display is a FHD 1920 x 1080 unit, a 13 mega-pixel main camera with F2.0 aperture, 1.7Ghz octacore processor, 2GB RAM and a large 3500mAh battery.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThe iOcean doesn鈥檛 come with NFC which is a surprise considering most other phones do, but in reality we have never actually used NFC enough for this to be a deal breaker.Octacore iOcean G7 specifications[komper pid=165 compareform=no]Unboxing: iOcean G7 octacore phabletiOcean G7 first impressionsThe iOcean G7 is a very large device with a huge amount of screen real estate. Phablets measuring 6.44-inch and above are gaining popularity, but they still remain a niche item. For those of you looking at an octacore phablet though the G7 does look the business.It has a well made body and on paper the specification is a sound one. We will keep you posted as we work on the iOcean G7 review with any updates which you might be interested in, in the meantime here are some more photos of the new iOcean phablet.iOcean G7 phablet photo gallery

The octacore GooPhone N3 review is here! We have had our hands on the GooPhone N3 phablet for a few weeks now preparing this review. Find out what we think of this dual sim phone with the body of a Samsung Galaxy Note 3.There are knock-offs and there are clonesWhen someone says knock-off to me I immediately picture a cheap, badly made copy of a big name product. Something like a plastic gold Rolex with the numbers printed on backwards and only works for as long as you are in the store. There was a time when some Chinese phones could have been described this way, but not anymore!The new breed of clones are almost replicas of the phones they try to emulate. I actually wanted to call the GooPhone N3 a replica in the title, but I don鈥檛 want to make it look like a condone the practice of copying the design of another brand. Clone will have to do.Octacore GooPhone N3 UnboxingOctacore GooPhone N3 Specifications[komper pid=152 compareform=no]Octacore GooPhone N3 Review – DesignThe simplest way to get to know the design of the GooPhone N3, without actually buying one, is to follow these simple steps. 1) Find your nearest Samsung phone store, 2) Visit said store, 3) Pick up the Galaxy Note, 4) Finished!Having to acutually pick up a real Note 3 speaks volumes for the design, feel, and quality of this 5.7-inch clone. We鈥檙e not talking a 1:1 exact copy though, the logo on the rear is a GooPhone one, there is no stylus and you can forget those expensive Samsung prices as the octacore GooPhone N3 costs just $239.99!Like the Note 3, the GooPhone N3 is available in black or white. Bezels on the GooPhone aren鈥檛 the narrowest, but the overall width is slim enough for those with medium to large size hands to easily grip and use the device one-handed.One handed operation is helped with a textured finish on the rear, which GooPhone have tired to make look like a leather panel complete with fake stitching all modeld in to the removable rear panel.While we鈥檙e on the rear we can see the silver GooPhone logo is the only wording on the phone. Above the logo is the 13 mega-pixel camera and LED flash which extend slightly from the body of the phone and are surrounded by a black panel with silver border.The front of the device is where we are greeted by that large 5.7-inch display (more on that later). A physical home button sits below with back-lit capacitive buttons on either side. Then at the very top is a 5 mega-pixel front facing camera to the right of the receiver.GooPhone have crafted a silver plastic border around the phone with grooves which run around. These add a bit of flair to the design and also aid in the grip department. Physical controls for power can be found on the right while a volume rocker is on your left.3.5mm headphone jack in the top and a micro USB in the base make up the exterior of the GooPhone N3.The black rear panel can be easily removed simply by unclipping it and pulling it away from the rest of the phone. Underneath is where the 3200mAh replaceable battery can be found, dual sim tray (one on top of the other) and space for Micro SD card.Some readers have already asked if the GooPhone N3 can be used with genuine Samsung batteries. The answer is I have never tried and would personally only use the battery designed for the phone in that phone. While I am answering questions the dual sim spaces are for a single Micro SIM and single regular SIM and the SD card slot can accept up to 32GB cards.The GooPhone N3 also ships with an optional flip cover which connect directly to the rear of the phone in place of the standard rear panel. Again it gets a fake leather look, this time in a flexible material and has a notification window in the front so you can keep an eye on messages and the time without needing to open the cover.The GooPhone N3 might be manufactured primarily of plastic, but the body is surprisingly well made and feels better than you would imagine in your hand. Also the fact that most of the device is plastic helps to keep the overall weight down.Octacore GooPhone N3 Review – DisplayJust 12 months ago it would not have been possible to buy a smartphone with a 5.7-inch 1920 x 1080 display for $239.99, let alone a phone with a octacore processor and 2GB RAM! Even now it is next to impossible to find a phone with this type of hardware without looking at what China has to offer.As the display is something you are going to be staring at for hours a day while commuting, taking a break, catching up on the news, or getting a bit of early work done, it is important that you choose a phone with a good one.The panel on the N3 is superb! The 5.7-inch size is perfect and is a great size, even to me as a smaller phone user I can easily get along with the phablet size display. The 1920 x 1080 resolution means that even on this large expanse of glass images are crystal clear and text is crisp to read.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramViewing angles are spot on and colours are bright and vibrant. It would be hard not to be impressed by this display on any phone even if it were on a much costlier device. If we were to have one complaint though it would be that the screen could be a touch brighter for daytime use, but overall viewing is a joy.Octacore GooPhone N3 Review – PerformanceWith a 1.7Ghz octacore MT6592 processor and 2GB RAM, you don鈥檛 need to see the Antutu scores to know that the GooPhone N3 has more than enough power to please all but the most power-hungry users!From operating the Android 4.2 OS, to taking and saving photos, streaming video over WIFI, browsing the internet and even 3D gaming, the GooPhone N3 takes everything in it鈥檚 stride without breaking a sweat.At its price the聽N3 is going to be attracting a lot of phone users who are more used to using much lower specification hardware, these customers are going to be blown away by the performance and the overall feel of the phone. Even those of us use to more advanced Snapdragon and Samsung Exynos set ups won鈥檛 be disappointed by the GooPhone N3鈥檚 performance.As with all of our phone reviews we ran a number of popular benchmarks on the GooPhone N3, the results of these tests can be seen in the screenshots below.GooPhone N3 benchmarksOctacore GooPhone N3 3D Mark benchmarks;Ice Storm: 5125Ice Strom Extreme: 3623Ice Storm Unlimited: 6644Octacore GooPhone N3 Antutu;Antutu: 聽27,185Nenamark;47.6fpsQuadrant;12,731Vellamo;HTML5: 1944Metal: 653Octacore GooPhone N3 Benchmarks VideoOctacore GooPhone N3 review – BatteryThe GooPhone has a lot to power with that large high-resolution display, 8-core processor and 2GB RAM, still the 3200mAh battery does an adequate job of keeping you up and running for most of the day.Obviously your mileage is going to vary depending on how you use the phone, but in our extensive tests we were able to get through a normal work day of emailing, photos and web browsing over 3G on a single charge. Gaming and video takes it鈥檚 toll on the battery and does mean a mid day top up will be in order for users who commute to work and use your phone as your entertainment on the journey there and back.Octacore GooPhone N3 review – Camera performanceThere was a time when reviewing a Chinese smartphone for its camera performance was a very hit and miss affair. Some聽performed very well, where as others were pretty terrible. These days though manufacturers have gotten their act together and many are using the same hardware as each other and using the same optimizations.The GooPhone N3 has a 13 mega-pixel camera with and aperture size of f2.4 this isn鈥檛 as good as some of the phones we have reviewed recently and means that low-light performance isn’t as good as we would have hoped, but for taking photos during the day and in good lighting conditions the images are more than acceptable.A 5 mega-pixel front camera is also included which is also great in good light and can take some nice selfies, however low-light performance isn鈥檛 what it could be due to the f2.8 aperture.Below are a few sample photos from the GooPhone N3, a link is provided after the gallery where you can download the full size images.GooPhone N3 sample photos Download full size GooPhone N3 photo samples here.Octacore GooPhone N3 Review – ConnectivityThe N3 has dual SIM card slots which can be used for either 2G GSM or 3G WCDMA networks in countries with the following bands GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz WCDMA: 850/2100MHz. This dual sim phone has no 4G LTE support, and as you can see will not work on 3G networks in North American countries.Call quality, reception and browsing over 3G are perfect with no issues, and I am happy to report that GPS on the phone worked right out of the box. The first lock took a few minutes but since then the GPS has be quite fast and reliable.聽There is also WIFI, Bluetooth but no NFC, lack of which is probably to keep the overall cost of the phone down.Octacore GooPhone N3 Review – ConclusionThe GooPhone N3 is a great package for anyone wanting a powerful octacore phone with a great display. The price is phenomenal and we would even rave about it if it cost slightly more.The N3 is for customers who appreciate the look of the real Samsung Galaxy Note 3 but enjoy the prices of Chinese phones, and also the ability of having an unlocked device so they can switch and choose carriers as they please. A large display, and fast processor makes the N3 great for work and gaming and the replaceable battery means you should be able to keep power on at all times.The GooPhone N3 isn鈥檛 for those who use their phones as a camera on a daily basis. While the octacore N3 can take some very nice photos in good light, the poor low light quality will eventually become annoying.Cubot is known as a maker of 鑱絚heap (but good quality) dual sim smartphone models. Their latest is the octacore Cubot X6, and we have an exclusive hands on!Before we begin I want to let you all know that this version of the dual sim octacore Cubot X6 is not a production model so don’t be surprised if there are a few bugs. Overall though with our short time wiht the phone it has been stable and overall very useable.Dual SIM Cubot X6 hands on video:[youtube=http://youtu.be/BOKAES029LU]Cubot X6 specifications[komper pid=160 compareform=no]Cubot X6 first impression – Octacore dual SIM smartphoneFirst impressions are great. Although the Cubot X6 is a low-cost phone the design is great and the quality of plastic is above what you would expect.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramAn octacore processor at this price is pretty incredbile but you might have some concerns about the performance. From our time with the phone though we can say the Cubot X6 performs as well as any other octacore phone currently on the market.The bright 5-inch display has a resolution of 1280 x 720, more than enough at this price. Viewing angles, image quality and brightness are non-issues. It’s quite remarkable Cubot have managed to produce a phone with this hardware at such a great price.If you asked me yesterday which sub 2000 Yuan phone you should buy the answer would have been a Xiaomi Mi2S, today though the Nubia Z5 mini might be my answer!There was always the chance that ZTE鈥檚 nubia brand would price the new Nubia Z5 mini at a very affordable price, and now as the launch party draws to an end we know that they have!The Z5 mini will go on sale in China for just 1888 Yuan ($307) which is slightly more than the currently Xiaomi Mi2S, but it also happens to be slightly larger, have a better rear camera and a more impressive Sharp screen technology plus SD card reader!Some highlights of the phone include a 13 mega-pixel Sony rear sensor, 5 mega-pixel front camera with 88 degree lens, quad-core Snadpragon processor, 2GB RAM, SD card readers, support for most major 3G networks and a range of accessories including what appears to be a mini phone like the one which can be used with the HTC Butterfly!Nubia Z5 Mini hands on photosGizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramZTE Nubia Z5 mini Vs Xiaomi Mi2s[komper pid=92,71 compareform=no]Which would you buy?

If you asked me yesterday which sub 2000 Yuan phone you should buy the answer would have been a Xiaomi Mi2S, today though the Nubia Z5 mini might be my answer!There was always the chance that ZTE鈥檚 nubia brand would price the new Nubia Z5 mini at a very affordable price, and now as the launch party draws to an end we know that they have!The Z5 mini will go on sale in China for just 1888 Yuan ($307) which is slightly more than the currently Xiaomi Mi2S, but it also happens to be slightly larger, have a better rear camera and a more impressive Sharp screen technology plus SD card reader!Some highlights of the phone include a 13 mega-pixel Sony rear sensor, 5 mega-pixel front camera with 88 degree lens, quad-core Snadpragon processor, 2GB RAM, SD card readers, support for most major 3G networks and a range of accessories including what appears to be a mini phone like the one which can be used with the HTC Butterfly!Nubia Z5 Mini hands on photosGizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramZTE Nubia Z5 mini Vs Xiaomi Mi2s[komper pid=92,71 compareform=no]Which would you buy?Remember a few months back when we ran the UMi X2 giveaway? Well the winner of the phone, Nikola, has put together an unboxing video.It took a lot longer than we had expected for Nikola to receive the UMi X2 (and it鈥檚 a shame there was no power in it when it did arrive), but we are happy it has finally arrived and we can鈥檛 wait to see the full review soon.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThe UMi X2 we sent to Nikola features a 5-inch 1080 display, 1.2Ghz quad-core MT6589 processor, 2GB RAM, 32GB memory, 13 mega-pixel rear camera and a 2500mAh battery.GizChina Giveaway Winner Umi X2 unboxingRemember a few months back when we ran the UMi X2 giveaway? Well the winner of the phone, Nikola, has put together an unboxing video.It took a lot longer than we had expected for Nikola to receive the UMi X2 (and it鈥檚 a shame there was no power in it when it did arrive), but we are happy it has finally arrived and we can鈥檛 wait to see the full review soon.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThe UMi X2 we sent to Nikola features a 5-inch 1080 display, 1.2Ghz quad-core MT6589 processor, 2GB RAM, 32GB memory, 13 mega-pixel rear camera and a 2500mAh battery.GizChina Giveaway Winner Umi X2 unboxingThe Zopo C3 is the 3rd Zopo phone to launch which offers a visually impressive 1080 display and powerful 1.5Ghz quad-core processor. Take a closer look at the C3 in out hands on photos!From the specifications of the Zopo C3 found on line at Zopomobileshop.com, you might find it a little confusing as to what the differences are between this latest model, the Zopo C2 and the Zopo ZP980.We鈥檒l each phone boasts a 5-inch 1080 display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080, they all have an updated 1.5Ghz quad-core MT6589T Turbo processor and are available with 1GB RAM, and they all have 5 mega-pixel front and 13 mega-pixel rear cameras! So are they any differences?Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramFrom what we can see the major specification difference between the C2 and C3 is that the Zopo C3 doesn鈥檛 have a Gorilla Glass display, other than that the only other difference is the more rounded (and slightly more comfortable) design of the new C3. zopo c3 hands on 1 zopo c3 hands on 2 zopo c3 hands on 4 zopo c3 hands on 5 Build quality of the this new model is as we have come to expect from Zopo phones. The fit and feel is all on par with similar phones, but unfortunately the chassis suffers from the same ease of bending as the C2 and ZP980. zopo c3 specifications zopo c3 hands on 6 zopo c3 hands on 9 zopo c3 hands on 10 The 1080 display is beautiful to behold and as good as the screens on the C2 and ZP980, and performance is comparible too as it is to be expected as each phone has the same hardware.We鈥檙e currently uploading an unboxing video of the Zopo C3 and will post that later, along with a full review in the next week or so.

We take our first look at the Sege (XYZ-X1) $160, quad-core, 4.5-inch HD Android smartphone in this unboxing video.For those of you looking to get the most bang for your buck, the Sege鑱?XYZ-X1) might well be the answer. We received our review unit just this morning and have uploaded the below unboxing video.Sege (XYZ-X1)The Sege (XYZ-X1)is manufactured for Menpoo by Shenzhen Saga Mobile in the South of China and like the JiaYu G4 features a quad-core MT6589 processor, 1GB RAM and 720p display.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThere are obviously some differences between the Sege (XYZ-X1) and the flagship G4, the screen size is a little smaller on the (XYZ-X1)鑱絘t 4.5-inch, the rear camera is an 8 mega-pixel unit, and most importantly the Sege (XYZ-X1)鑱絠s around $120 less than the JiaYu!Menpoo are offering the Sege (XYZ-X1) for $159.99 with free shipping in a number of colours including black, white, orange, red, pink and yellow.We are currently testing the Sege鑱絫o see if it is actually worth spending your hard-earned cash on, but in the meantime take a look at our unboxing video below. sege x1 quad-core android smartphone sege x1 4.5-inch sege x1 quad-core DSC_0111 Sege (XYZ -X1) unboxing VideoWe take our first look at the Sege (XYZ-X1) $160, quad-core, 4.5-inch HD Android smartphone in this unboxing video.For those of you looking to get the most bang for your buck, the Sege鑱?XYZ-X1) might well be the answer. We received our review unit just this morning and have uploaded the below unboxing video.Sege (XYZ-X1)The Sege (XYZ-X1)is manufactured for Menpoo by Shenzhen Saga Mobile in the South of China and like the JiaYu G4 features a quad-core MT6589 processor, 1GB RAM and 720p display.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThere are obviously some differences between the Sege (XYZ-X1) and the flagship G4, the screen size is a little smaller on the (XYZ-X1)鑱絘t 4.5-inch, the rear camera is an 8 mega-pixel unit, and most importantly the Sege (XYZ-X1)鑱絠s around $120 less than the JiaYu!Menpoo are offering the Sege (XYZ-X1) for $159.99 with free shipping in a number of colours including black, white, orange, red, pink and yellow.We are currently testing the Sege鑱絫o see if it is actually worth spending your hard-earned cash on, but in the meantime take a look at our unboxing video below. sege x1 quad-core android smartphone sege x1 4.5-inch sege x1 quad-core DSC_0111 Sege (XYZ -X1) unboxing Video

Here it finally is, our UMi X2 hands on video! Take detailed look at the design, its performance, gaming capabilities, brief comparison with the JiaYu G4 and more!We know you have been waiting for this UMi fans, and here it is the Gizchina hands on video with the quad-core UMi X2. As you all know by now the UMi X2 we have been sent to review is a 1GB RAM version with 16GB ROM and he older 1.2Ghx quad-core MT6589 processor, however performance is pretty impressive!As well as giving you all a good look around the UMi X2 mobil phone, we also go through some of the benchmarks, gaming performance and even offer a few comparisons against the JiaYu G4.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramWe hope you enjoy this hands on video, and you are all looking forward to the full UMi X2 review which we hope to publish next week!For more UMi X2 coverage take a look at these posts:– UMi X2 unboxing video.– UMi X2 vs JiaYu G4 camera shootout.Are you a UMi fan? Then check out the UMi Mobile International Facebook page!Watch the UMi X2 hands on Video!So we’ve had the JiaYu G4 for a few days now and feel it’s about time we posted a hands on video, so here it is!Before we continue and you watch the JiaYu G4 hands-on, please keep in mind that this video isn’t meant to represent a full phone review, rest assured we are working on the review now and aim to include as much as readers and commenters have already requested, but this isn’t it.You might also want to take a look at the following posts to once you have finished watching the JiaYu G4 hands on video:Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramJiaYu G4 Unboxing video.JiaYu G4 vs. UMi X2 camera shootout.So we’ve had the JiaYu G4 for a few days now and feel it’s about time we posted a hands on video, so here it is!Before we continue and you watch the JiaYu G4 hands-on, please keep in mind that this video isn’t meant to represent a full phone review, rest assured we are working on the review now and aim to include as much as readers and commenters have already requested, but this isn’t it.You might also want to take a look at the following posts to once you have finished watching the JiaYu G4 hands on video:Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramJiaYu G4 Unboxing video.JiaYu G4 vs. UMi X2 camera shootout.Another great day and another much-anticipated phone unboxing. Keep reading for out UMi X2 unboxing video.Yesterday we had the JiaYu G4 unboxing and today we have the UMi X2! UMi have been good enough to let us borrow a sample UMi X2 to review, and great timing too as we can do a full comparison with the JiaYu G4!Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThe video below is just a short unboxing (as my camera had no power and the phone was running low too) and we plan to conduct a full review with a more in-depth video later in the week.Like the new UMi Mobile International page on Facebook.Gizchina UMi X2 UnboxingUMi X2 hands on photos umi x2 gizchina 7 umi x2 gizchina 4 umi x2 gizchina 3 umi x2 gizchina 1

It’s been a very very long wait, but we have finally received our JiaYu G4 review unit! Keep reading for the first every JiaYu G4 unboxing videos and Gizchina hands on photos!What a great morning! We woke up to see the sun shining, a lovely blue sky, but most excitingly a brand new shiny JiaYu G4 waiting on our doorstep! We couldn’t wait to get the box open and get our hands on the much-anticipated quad-core phone and took the opportunity to record a JiaYu G4 unboxing video!Watch the Gizchina JiaYu G4 Unboxing video JiaYu G4 first hands on impressionsGizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramFirst impressions of the phone are very good! The overall design is very similar to the Xiaomi Mi2/M2s but the larger display makes surfing the web, viewing photos and operating the camera a much more comfortable experience.Although we haven’t installed any games or apps on the phone just yet, we can report that navigation is very responsive with zero lag, we wonder if the same can be said about the 1080 UMi X2?Build quality is excellent too, but we’ll report more on this and other aspects of the JiaYu G4 later in the week when we publish our in-depth review.Like the new JiaYu Mobile International page on Facebook.It’s been a very very long wait, but we have finally received our JiaYu G4 review unit! Keep reading for the first every JiaYu G4 unboxing videos and Gizchina hands on photos!What a great morning! We woke up to see the sun shining, a lovely blue sky, but most excitingly a brand new shiny JiaYu G4 waiting on our doorstep! We couldn’t wait to get the box open and get our hands on the much-anticipated quad-core phone and took the opportunity to record a JiaYu G4 unboxing video!Watch the Gizchina JiaYu G4 Unboxing video JiaYu G4 first hands on impressionsGizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramFirst impressions of the phone are very good! The overall design is very similar to the Xiaomi Mi2/M2s but the larger display makes surfing the web, viewing photos and operating the camera a much more comfortable experience.Although we haven’t installed any games or apps on the phone just yet, we can report that navigation is very responsive with zero lag, we wonder if the same can be said about the 1080 UMi X2?Build quality is excellent too, but we’ll report more on this and other aspects of the JiaYu G4 later in the week when we publish our in-depth review.Like the new JiaYu Mobile International page on Facebook.The Vivo Xplay has seriously blown me away! Not only is it the first Vivo phone with a sensible price, but it offers some seriously amazing features all packed in a sleek design.Vivo Xplay Promo VideoVivo Xplay HardwareHardware details for the Vivo Xplay have been known for a while, but let’s just go over them quickly one more time.Starting with at the front the display is a 5.7-inch OGS display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 offering full HD video resolution and playback. Above the screen there is a wide-angle 5 mega-pixel camera, and sitting below are the usual Android navigation buttons. In true 2013 form the screen bezels are ultra thin measuring just 2.3mm.Turning the Xplay over and you fill find the 13 mega-pixel Sony sensor with LED flash along with NFC, under which (and crammed in to the 7.99mm thick body) sits a generous 3400mAh battery.While were on the inside, the Xplay features a 1.7Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core SoC, 2GB RAM, Adreno 320 graphics, options for either 16GB or 32GB ROM and for you music lovers there an OPA2604 operational amplifier to boost the Cirrus Logics stereo sound.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramMore Vivo Xplay photos hereIf you are drooling at that list of hardware and you don’t live in China prepare to have your heart-broken as the Xplay only supports WCDMA 2100 or GSM 850/900/1800/1900.Vivo Xplay hands on demoVivo Xplay software and gesturesWhile there are few surprises in the hardware department the software on the Xplay is overflowing with cool features from a single-handed “Free Touch” mode to hand gestures.Image sourceFree Touch is what Vivo have named their feature for operating the Xplay single-handed, simply shaking the phone activates a small window which mirrors the main screen and allowing you to control the phone with just your thumb.Vivo have also thrown in some nice gesture controls which allow you to turn a page by waving in front of the phone, the ability to mute the phone by covering the front, and launching apps by hovering your finger over them.Vivo Xplay moving photos videoVivo Xplay release date and priceWith the launch of the UMi X2 Turbo many readers have been asking what are the differences between the MT6589鑱絘nd the newer MT6589T? Keep reading for those answers and more!The Chinese phone market is exploding thanks to Google’s Android OS and Mediatek’s range of high-power, low-cost processors. Mediatek are a Taiwanese chip manufacturer who have risen to fame and fortune be manufacturing SoC (System on a Chip) solutions aimed primarily at the Chinese phone market. The popularity if Mediatek is expanded past Asia now and companies and customers around the world look to Mediatek low-cost, high-performance processors.This year Mediatek launched their first quad-core SoC named the MT6589 (MTK6589). The MT6589, and its variants are Cortex A7 28nm chips capable of running at 1.2Ghz. The MT6589 also provides support for up to 13 mega-pixel cameras, 1080p video capture, and 1920 x 1080 FHD LCD displays, making it the perfect chip for this year’s flagship Chinese phones.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on Telegram3 models of MT6589Due to popularity Mediatek have launched 2 additional versions of the MT6589, an entry-level MT6589M and an updated MT6589T. Each chip is based on the standard MT6589 however features slightly different specifications. For example the MT6589M only supports 8 mega-pixel cameras, 720p video capture and QHD resolution displays, while the MT6589T (Turbo) runs at a faster 1.5Ghz with a faster 357Mhz GPU.

With the launch of the UMi X2 Turbo many readers have been asking what are the differences between the MT6589鑱絘nd the newer MT6589T? Keep reading for those answers and more!The Chinese phone market is exploding thanks to Google’s Android OS and Mediatek’s range of high-power, low-cost processors. Mediatek are a Taiwanese chip manufacturer who have risen to fame and fortune be manufacturing SoC (System on a Chip) solutions aimed primarily at the Chinese phone market. The popularity if Mediatek is expanded past Asia now and companies and customers around the world look to Mediatek low-cost, high-performance processors.This year Mediatek launched their first quad-core SoC named the MT6589 (MTK6589). The MT6589, and its variants are Cortex A7 28nm chips capable of running at 1.2Ghz. The MT6589 also provides support for up to 13 mega-pixel cameras, 1080p video capture, and 1920 x 1080 FHD LCD displays, making it the perfect chip for this year’s flagship Chinese phones.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on Telegram3 models of MT6589Due to popularity Mediatek have launched 2 additional versions of the MT6589, an entry-level MT6589M and an updated MT6589T. Each chip is based on the standard MT6589 however features slightly different specifications. For example the MT6589M only supports 8 mega-pixel cameras, 720p video capture and QHD resolution displays, while the MT6589T (Turbo) runs at a faster 1.5Ghz with a faster 357Mhz GPU.We’re sure you are well aware that keeping up with the latest Chinese phone releases is pretty difficult, and comparing phones even more so, so to make things easier Gizchina have put together a Chinese phone comparison tool!Are you a fan of Chinese phones? Are you stuck choosing between the latest, JiaYu, Xiaomi, Huawei, or Star models? Wouldn’t it be great if there was a Chinese phone comparison tool?Well now there is!Over the past week we have been keeping ourselves busy by preparing the all new Gizchina Chinese phone comparison tool, an easy system for you to simply compare up to 3 phones at once!Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramCurrently we have over 70 Chinese phone models listed, however we will be adding more phones daily and we are sure to reach the hundreds in just a few days!As always the information we provide is totally free of charge, and all we ask is that you LIKE the tool on Facebook to promote the system. Also, as this is a new system we are open to suggestions so please let us know what you think here or on the comments section where the comparison tool is located.

Another great video for all you potential JiaYu G4 owners. Below we have a 1080p video sample filmed on the G4 though it’s 13 mega-pixel Sony rear sensor.As we all know the rear camera on the new JiaYu is a 13 mega-pixel Sony sensor which is capable of 1080p video capture.鑱絀n this video we get to see 1080p capture first hand and it looks quite good, with good focus and no hunting for the subject. We would like to see some better contrast but as this is a pre production phone and the software hadn’t been fully optimised we can hope for an improvement when the phone finally ships.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramWatch the JiaYu G4 1080 video sample hereA small selection of sample photos taken with the JiaYu G4’s 13 mega-pixel rear camera with download link to full size images.With the first batch of just 2000 JiaYu G4 phones about to go on sale this Sunday JiaYu are releasing more detailed information to help potential customers with their purchase.The first is photographic evidence from the G4’s main, 13 mega-pixel camera to prove just how well it performs. The selection which (taken by an early beater tester) is only small but gives us a look at how the phone captures images in both day and night lighting conditions.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramBelow are the photos reduced for web viewing, full size, untouched images can be downloaded here.

Xiaomi launched the updated M2S and all new Xiaomi M2A on Tuesday, but real photos of the all new entry-level phone have been difficult to get hold of until today.Xiaomi are not your typical smartphone manufacturer. Everything they do is different from the high specs and low pricing, to their sales and marketing strategies, and now even their latest phone!Although the Xiaomi M2S is the companies more powerful flagship model, the lower price M2A is such a great phone we expect many Xiaomi fans opt for the cheaper phone! Even I’m considering to buy one!If we didn’t know any better we would assume the larger of the two phones shown here is the flagship Xiaomi model, but this is not the case! In fact the cheaper Xiaomi M2A has a larger 4.5-inch display where as the M2S has a 4.3-inch unit.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramAs the M2A started as a blank canvas the designers behind the phone have managed to include some other great features, features which the top-of-the-range phone doesn’t have! NFC is built in to the new phone allowing for easy transfer of data and electronic payment, WI-FI has been updated with a new 5Ghz chip, and Dirac HD Sound has been included to allow to easily connect to car audio systems!The M2A represents such great value that even owners of the current Mi2 might even consider buying one an upgrade, if they don’t mind just 1GB RAM and a dual-core CPU.Speaking of the CPU, the M2A uses an updated version the dual-core Qualcomm S4 Pro based on Krait 300 architecture, running at 1.7Ghz. This is by no means a slow phone!Xiaomi launched the updated M2S and all new Xiaomi M2A on Tuesday, but real photos of the all new entry-level phone have been difficult to get hold of until today.Xiaomi are not your typical smartphone manufacturer. Everything they do is different from the high specs and low pricing, to their sales and marketing strategies, and now even their latest phone!Although the Xiaomi M2S is the companies more powerful flagship model, the lower price M2A is such a great phone we expect many Xiaomi fans opt for the cheaper phone! Even I’m considering to buy one!If we didn’t know any better we would assume the larger of the two phones shown here is the flagship Xiaomi model, but this is not the case! In fact the cheaper Xiaomi M2A has a larger 4.5-inch display where as the M2S has a 4.3-inch unit.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramAs the M2A started as a blank canvas the designers behind the phone have managed to include some other great features, features which the top-of-the-range phone doesn’t have! NFC is built in to the new phone allowing for easy transfer of data and electronic payment, WI-FI has been updated with a new 5Ghz chip, and Dirac HD Sound has been included to allow to easily connect to car audio systems!The M2A represents such great value that even owners of the current Mi2 might even consider buying one an upgrade, if they don’t mind just 1GB RAM and a dual-core CPU.Speaking of the CPU, the M2A uses an updated version the dual-core Qualcomm S4 Pro based on Krait 300 architecture, running at 1.7Ghz. This is by no means a slow phone!Hero are one of the more established Android phone makers here in China, and their reach has managed to find its way to customers in market across the world. For 2013 Hero have embraced 5-inch, quad-core MT6589 phones and we got to test the Hero H7500+. Keep reading for the full review.Hero manufacture their phones in the same factory as Zopo and Ceaser, and it’s quite common for Zopo and Hero phones to launch with the same designs and specification. The Hero H7500+ for example is the same phone as the Zopo 810, but just how good is the Hero version?Design, feel and qualityThe Hero H7500+ is a 5-inch phone, but it doesn’t sport the narrow bezels found on other phones (5mm from screen to edge of phone), this together with the overall thickness of the phone would make it quite cumbersome for those with smaller hands to use. That’s not to say it works well in larger hands though.When held in my right hand the power/lock screen button can be pressed with the center of my thumb. Perfect! You might think, but with the power button in this position the volume rocker sits further down meaning I am forced to readjust my grip when trying to adjust the volume.Not a huge complaint on its own, but when you are holding a it one-handed the glossy plastic rear shell can make things a little hairy at times! Thankfully I didn’t manage to drop the Hero while testing, but I did have some near misses!Speaking of that glossy rear, I’m not a fan. I don’t like it on my personal phone (the Xiaomi Mi2) and I don’t like it on the Hero. The glossy rear means zero friction between table tops, car dashboards and when in your pocket. This results in a phone that won’t stay still while used as an in car GPS, one which will happily fly out of your pocket (if you have tighter, more fitted clothing) and makes it easy to be dragged off the table while plugged in to its charger.Zopo have sorted this with a rubberized finish on the ZP810, however Hero have resorted to providing a rubber case with the phone. This does work, but makes an already large phone simply huge!And this brings me on to another point. The H7500+ is not a thin phone (142 x 74 x 10mm according to my measurements) I don’t see why the designers have insisted on making the 8 mega-pixel rear camera sit proud of the body!? It would probably have fitted flush and would have improved the looks. I rather like the protruding camera on the HTC One X, but on the Hero it just seems unnecessary.With all this said though, the Hero does feel well made. The plastics don’t feel cheap, the steel band which encircles the phone fits well, there are no burrs or sharp edges. I’m happy with the overall quality (well except the screen but I’ll come on to that). DSC02986 DSC02987 DSC02990 DSC02991 hero h7500+ hands on review hero h7500+ hands on review hero h7500+ hands on review hero h7500+ hands on review Screen: bright but thick and then there is something else鈥?The Hero H7500+ isn’t the lightest phone in the world (181g) due to the large battery, overall size, but mainly due to the thick glass screen. Most manufactures of quad-core MT6589 phones have updated the displays OGS panels which helps keeps the weight and girth down. Hero haven’t, and turning the phone on its side you can see just how thick the glass is.As far as we can tell the display isn’t Gorilla Glass or AGS, so be careful with it! A good drop will likely spell the end of it.In use the screen is good. The 1280 x 720 resolution means you will be getting a 5-inch 720p display rather than a full HD unit, but in use I found it to be nice, bright and more than adequate for gaming and watching movies. I even passed the phone around some iPhone and 1080HD Android phone users and many commented on how good the screen was for a 720 unit.I can also confirm that the display on our test Hero H7500+ has been fully inspected and has passed a strict quality inspection! How? Well when using the phone in bright sunlight for this review I noticed a distinct ‘check’ appear on the screen in permanent marker!It seems the screen had been marked fit for use and then not correctly cleaned as the check is now clearly visible even when the display is locked!Performance: impressive turn of speed from the quad-core MT6589 processorPerformance is not an issue with the Hero H7500+. The 1.2Ghz quad-core MT6589 processor and 1GB RAM provide more than enough grunt and as they only have to drive a 720 display benchmarks are impressive too.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramRunning Antutu on the Hero H7500+ resulted in a score of 12,745 which is on par with phones such as the 1GB JiaYu G4.Quadrant also resulted in an impressive score as the Hero managed 3643.Benchmarks are one thing, but what about real world use? Well gaming is fantastic, I tested the graphically challenging Riptide GP on the Hero and it handled the fast frame rate and close racing action without a skip. The Hero also managed to keep from overheating while gaming, actually cooler than the Mi2 in some situations.UPDATE: As requested I have also ran Epic Citadel benchmark on the Hero which achieved 44.3FPS.Browsing the web is also fast, with even heavy webpages opening at an impressive speed.Camera: Very good 8 mega-pixel camera聽The rear camera on the Hero H7500+ is an 8 mega-pixel unit with a 2 mega-pixel unit performing self-portrait and video call duty on the front.I was pleasantly surprised with the performance of the 8 mega-pixel rear camera. Images taken on bright sunny days, dull rainy conditions and even in dimly lit coffee shops came out really well! Better than expected! Don’t go expecting the same level of quality you get from a more expensive Xiaomi Mi2 or better equipped Newman N2, but for the price you won’t be disappointed! hero h7500+ camera sample hero h7500+ camera sample hero h7500+ camera sample hero h7500+ camera sample hero h7500+ camera sample hero h7500+ camera sample hero h7500+ camera sample hero h7500+ camera sample IMG_20130312_123755 IMG_20130312_123745 IMG_20130312_123738 IMG_20130312_123731 IMG_20130312_123731 IMG_20130312_123738 IMG_20130312_123745 IMG_20130312_123755 The built-in camera featurea HDR and burst mode. Strangely I found HDR on the Hero made images darker and less impressive than they were when taken in the regular camera mode. The burst setting is fast, but needs some optimisation to be really workable, if this is something you want though you could always use the Fast Burst Camera app which I find performs a great job.I don’t tend to use the video capture option on any smartphone all that often, but when I do I prefer the autofocus to behave itself and stop hunting for focus. The Hero was very naughty in this respect and seemed to be constantly distracted with everything going on around it.You can download full size photo samples taken with the Hero H7500+ here.Other detailsI know that many of you have asked questions (and will likely ask further questions below) and I’ve tried to test most things which are possible for me to test here in China.GPSGPS works very well. It locks on quickly and is accurate. This is not like the old days of the MT6577, this GPS is usable. As for Glonass, I wasn’t able to connect to any Glonass satellites during our review, and that’s trying the phone on dull rainy and clear sunny days.BatteryThe battery on the Hero H7500+ is a 2800mAh unit, in fact it comes with 2 which was a very nice surprise. Using the phone with 3G, GPS and Wi-Fi on, as I always do resulted in a full day of use without the need for a top up. Gaming and video does reduce this though, so if you are more of a gamer than I am (I don’t have time 馃檨 ) then you will want to either carry the spare battery or the cable with you.Charging the battery for 0 – 100% took around 3 1/2 hours for a new battery.Network supportAccording to Hero the H7500+ GSM 850/900/1800/1900 & WCDMA 850/2100 MHz. I was only able to test the phone using my China Unicom 3G SIM and low and behold it works fine!ConclusionSo after a good long test of the Hero H7500+ would I recommend you buy it?If you are looking for a quad-core MT6589 phone with good camera and want the phone right this moment then I would say it’s probably your only option (unless you want to spend a little more and get one of the Zopo phones) ! I would also say it’s probably going to be the cheapest alternative (for those of you not in China and buying through a reseller) and is going to be pretty easy to get hold of.However, if I was in the market for a quad-core MT6589 phone right now, I would wait! There are more attractive, better spec’d and nicer designed phones on their way. Yes, they will cost more, and yes they will be a nightmare to get hold of but I would hold off getting the Hero unless I really wanted an MT6589 phone this very second.This is all relative though there are going to be scores of people who will absolutely love the Hero H7500+ and it is without doubt better than a lot of the phones on sale now, but knowing what’s just around the corner I couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger on a Hero H7500+ for myself.Hero are one of the more established Android phone makers here in China, and their reach has managed to find its way to customers in market across the world. For 2013 Hero have embraced 5-inch, quad-core MT6589 phones and we got to test the Hero H7500+. Keep reading for the full review.Hero manufacture their phones in the same factory as Zopo and Ceaser, and it’s quite common for Zopo and Hero phones to launch with the same designs and specification. The Hero H7500+ for example is the same phone as the Zopo 810, but just how good is the Hero version?Design, feel and qualityThe Hero H7500+ is a 5-inch phone, but it doesn’t sport the narrow bezels found on other phones (5mm from screen to edge of phone), this together with the overall thickness of the phone would make it quite cumbersome for those with smaller hands to use. That’s not to say it works well in larger hands though.When held in my right hand the power/lock screen button can be pressed with the center of my thumb. Perfect! You might think, but with the power button in this position the volume rocker sits further down meaning I am forced to readjust my grip when trying to adjust the volume.Not a huge complaint on its own, but when you are holding a it one-handed the glossy plastic rear shell can make things a little hairy at times! Thankfully I didn’t manage to drop the Hero while testing, but I did have some near misses!Speaking of that glossy rear, I’m not a fan. I don’t like it on my personal phone (the Xiaomi Mi2) and I don’t like it on the Hero. The glossy rear means zero friction between table tops, car dashboards and when in your pocket. This results in a phone that won’t stay still while used as an in car GPS, one which will happily fly out of your pocket (if you have tighter, more fitted clothing) and makes it easy to be dragged off the table while plugged in to its charger.Zopo have sorted this with a rubberized finish on the ZP810, however Hero have resorted to providing a rubber case with the phone. This does work, but makes an already large phone simply huge!And this brings me on to another point. The H7500+ is not a thin phone (142 x 74 x 10mm according to my measurements) I don’t see why the designers have insisted on making the 8 mega-pixel rear camera sit proud of the body!? It would probably have fitted flush and would have improved the looks. I rather like the protruding camera on the HTC One X, but on the Hero it just seems unnecessary.With all this said though, the Hero does feel well made. The plastics don’t feel cheap, the steel band which encircles the phone fits well, there are no burrs or sharp edges. I’m happy with the overall quality (well except the screen but I’ll come on to that). DSC02986 DSC02987 DSC02990 DSC02991 hero h7500+ hands on review hero h7500+ hands on review hero h7500+ hands on review hero h7500+ hands on review Screen: bright but thick and then there is something else鈥?The Hero H7500+ isn’t the lightest phone in the world (181g) due to the large battery, overall size, but mainly due to the thick glass screen. Most manufactures of quad-core MT6589 phones have updated the displays OGS panels which helps keeps the weight and girth down. Hero haven’t, and turning the phone on its side you can see just how thick the glass is.As far as we can tell the display isn’t Gorilla Glass or AGS, so be careful with it! A good drop will likely spell the end of it.In use the screen is good. The 1280 x 720 resolution means you will be getting a 5-inch 720p display rather than a full HD unit, but in use I found it to be nice, bright and more than adequate for gaming and watching movies. I even passed the phone around some iPhone and 1080HD Android phone users and many commented on how good the screen was for a 720 unit.I can also confirm that the display on our test Hero H7500+ has been fully inspected and has passed a strict quality inspection! How? Well when using the phone in bright sunlight for this review I noticed a distinct ‘check’ appear on the screen in permanent marker!It seems the screen had been marked fit for use and then not correctly cleaned as the check is now clearly visible even when the display is locked!Performance: impressive turn of speed from the quad-core MT6589 processorPerformance is not an issue with the Hero H7500+. The 1.2Ghz quad-core MT6589 processor and 1GB RAM provide more than enough grunt and as they only have to drive a 720 display benchmarks are impressive too.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramRunning Antutu on the Hero H7500+ resulted in a score of 12,745 which is on par with phones such as the 1GB JiaYu G4.Quadrant also resulted in an impressive score as the Hero managed 3643.Benchmarks are one thing, but what about real world use? Well gaming is fantastic, I tested the graphically challenging Riptide GP on the Hero and it handled the fast frame rate and close racing action without a skip. The Hero also managed to keep from overheating while gaming, actually cooler than the Mi2 in some situations.UPDATE: As requested I have also ran Epic Citadel benchmark on the Hero which achieved 44.3FPS.Browsing the web is also fast, with even heavy webpages opening at an impressive speed.Camera: Very good 8 mega-pixel camera聽The rear camera on the Hero H7500+ is an 8 mega-pixel unit with a 2 mega-pixel unit performing self-portrait and video call duty on the front.I was pleasantly surprised with the performance of the 8 mega-pixel rear camera. Images taken on bright sunny days, dull rainy conditions and even in dimly lit coffee shops came out really well! Better than expected! Don’t go expecting the same level of quality you get from a more expensive Xiaomi Mi2 or better equipped Newman N2, but for the price you won’t be disappointed! hero h7500+ camera sample hero h7500+ camera sample hero h7500+ camera sample hero h7500+ camera sample hero h7500+ camera sample hero h7500+ camera sample hero h7500+ camera sample hero h7500+ camera sample IMG_20130312_123755 IMG_20130312_123745 IMG_20130312_123738 IMG_20130312_123731 IMG_20130312_123731 IMG_20130312_123738 IMG_20130312_123745 IMG_20130312_123755 The built-in camera featurea HDR and burst mode. Strangely I found HDR on the Hero made images darker and less impressive than they were when taken in the regular camera mode. The burst setting is fast, but needs some optimisation to be really workable, if this is something you want though you could always use the Fast Burst Camera app which I find performs a great job.I don’t tend to use the video capture option on any smartphone all that often, but when I do I prefer the autofocus to behave itself and stop hunting for focus. The Hero was very naughty in this respect and seemed to be constantly distracted with everything going on around it.You can download full size photo samples taken with the Hero H7500+ here.Other detailsI know that many of you have asked questions (and will likely ask further questions below) and I’ve tried to test most things which are possible for me to test here in China.GPSGPS works very well. It locks on quickly and is accurate. This is not like the old days of the MT6577, this GPS is usable. As for Glonass, I wasn’t able to connect to any Glonass satellites during our review, and that’s trying the phone on dull rainy and clear sunny days.BatteryThe battery on the Hero H7500+ is a 2800mAh unit, in fact it comes with 2 which was a very nice surprise. Using the phone with 3G, GPS and Wi-Fi on, as I always do resulted in a full day of use without the need for a top up. Gaming and video does reduce this though, so if you are more of a gamer than I am (I don’t have time 馃檨 ) then you will want to either carry the spare battery or the cable with you.Charging the battery for 0 – 100% took around 3 1/2 hours for a new battery.Network supportAccording to Hero the H7500+ GSM 850/900/1800/1900 & WCDMA 850/2100 MHz. I was only able to test the phone using my China Unicom 3G SIM and low and behold it works fine!ConclusionSo after a good long test of the Hero H7500+ would I recommend you buy it?If you are looking for a quad-core MT6589 phone with good camera and want the phone right this moment then I would say it’s probably your only option (unless you want to spend a little more and get one of the Zopo phones) ! I would also say it’s probably going to be the cheapest alternative (for those of you not in China and buying through a reseller) and is going to be pretty easy to get hold of.However, if I was in the market for a quad-core MT6589 phone right now, I would wait! There are more attractive, better spec’d and nicer designed phones on their way. Yes, they will cost more, and yes they will be a nightmare to get hold of but I would hold off getting the Hero unless I really wanted an MT6589 phone this very second.This is all relative though there are going to be scores of people who will absolutely love the Hero H7500+ and it is without doubt better than a lot of the phones on sale now, but knowing what’s just around the corner I couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger on a Hero H7500+ for myself.The JiaYu G4 is currently the most anticipated quad-core MT6589 phone of any manufacture today (check the poll here), and with it’s great styling, high performance and low-cost it’s easy to see why. So what else do we know about the JiaYu G4?What processor will the JiaYu G4 have?The JiaYu G4 will be JiaYu’s flagship MTK (Mediatek) phone for 2013, and as such it uses the top of the range quad-core Mediatek MT6589 processor running at 1.2 Ghz! We know from leaked benchmarks from the G4 and similar phones that this chip, together with at least 1GB RAM is capable of Antutu benchmarks close to 13,000!For more information about the Mediatek MT6589 quad-core processor, have a read of our full resource here.How much RAM will the JiaYu G4 have?Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThe JiaYu G4 will come in two options. A entry-level “Youth” model which will cost 999 Yuan ($160) and a top of the range ‘Premium’ model which will cost slightly more. The cheaper ‘Youth’ model will have 1GB RAM while the top-of-the range ‘Premium’ G4 will have 2GB RAM.What screen does the JiaYu G4 have?Unlike most manufacturers JiaYu have decided that the G4 won’t get a 5-inch full HD display, and have instead designed the G4 with a 4.7-inch 1280 x 720 panel. This screen offers 720HD which for the size should look stunning and thanks to IPS technology, viewing angles will be superb. The screen is of course a multi-touch unit, has a PPI (pixel per inch) of 312 and boasts OGS (One Glass Solution) technology.Another great Chinese Android phone has landed on my desk. The 5.7-inch Zopo ZP950+ is Zopo’s large screen MT6589 phone and we have one on review now!It’s going to be a busy week for us next week as we will be putting the Hero H7500+ through its paces alongside the Zopo ZP950+ phablet (and if we’re lucky the Zopo 810+ too!).The ZP950+ is a 5.7-inch HD phablet from Zopo, one of the larger and better known local phone manufacturers. The phones offers a similar design to the ZP900 we reviewed last year, but with the addition of a larger display, more efficient quad-core MT6589 processor and improved 8 mega-pixel rear sensor.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramAccording to the official specification sheet, the Zopo ZP950+ Phablet packs 1GB RAM, 4GB ROM, an SD card reader with support for 64GB cards, 2 mega-pixel front camera, network support for GSM 850/900/1800/1900Mhz) WCDMA (850/2100Mhz) and runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.As with all Zopo phones, first impressions are good. The quality is superb and the overall feel is airing more on the premium side when compared to the chunky Hero. We haven’t had chance to run any benchmarks just yet and we can’t wait to fire it up and get the review underway.

Another great Chinese Android phone has landed on my desk. The 5.7-inch Zopo ZP950+ is Zopo’s large screen MT6589 phone and we have one on review now!It’s going to be a busy week for us next week as we will be putting the Hero H7500+ through its paces alongside the Zopo ZP950+ phablet (and if we’re lucky the Zopo 810+ too!).The ZP950+ is a 5.7-inch HD phablet from Zopo, one of the larger and better known local phone manufacturers. The phones offers a similar design to the ZP900 we reviewed last year, but with the addition of a larger display, more efficient quad-core MT6589 processor and improved 8 mega-pixel rear sensor.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramAccording to the official specification sheet, the Zopo ZP950+ Phablet packs 1GB RAM, 4GB ROM, an SD card reader with support for 64GB cards, 2 mega-pixel front camera, network support for GSM 850/900/1800/1900Mhz) WCDMA (850/2100Mhz) and runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.As with all Zopo phones, first impressions are good. The quality is superb and the overall feel is airing more on the premium side when compared to the chunky Hero. We haven’t had chance to run any benchmarks just yet and we can’t wait to fire it up and get the review underway.iOcean are getting ready to start pre-sales for the iOcean X7, Neo are and UMi are expected to release their quad-core phones this month and the JiaYu G4 is just around the corner, so which quad-core MTK Chinese phone will you buy?iOcean X7, JiaYu G4, UMI X2 and Neo N003, these are just some of the phones we have been waiting for and release dates are just a matter of weeks away for each phone. With this in mind, we go to think which of these great MTK phones would you鑱絙uy?UMi X2The UMi X2 is priced at 1499 Yuan which is higher than the figures other manufacturers have been giving us, however the UMi X2 is an all singing all dancing flagship phone with all the features we have been itching鑱絫o get our hands-on! JiaYu, Neo and iOcean all have phones with similar specs, but they have been keeping quiet on cost, and have only released pricing details for their entry-level ‘Youth’ models.Why you should buy the UMi X2?The UMi X2 has everything on offer and the price is very respectable too! A full-hd 1080 display measuring 5-inch, 2GB RAM, a quad-core MT6589 processor and 13 mega-pixel camera are the ingredients for a killer phone.Why you shouldn’t buy the UMi X2?It’s more expensive than the other phones here, and we expected Neo, JiaYu and iOcean’s premium models to fall in at lower prices than the X2. Of all the phones here it’s the least attractive (at least we think so) and with the number of people complaining of cracked UMi X1 displays, we worry just how well put together the X2 is going to be. umi x2 network details Umi X2 rear umi x2 hero Umi X2 front umi x2 photo 15 Umi x2 and x1 iOcean X7If everything goes according to plan, the iOcean X7 Youth will be available for pre-order from tomorrow (6th March) and at 999 Yuan ($160) it’s a feature packed bargain phone!Why you should buy the iOcean X7Both versions of the iOcean X7 feature a stylish Oppo Find 5 inspired body, 5-inch 1920 x 1080 full HD display, 1.2Ghz MTK6589 quad-core processor and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. The Youth version packs just 1GB RAM, an 8 mega-pixel rear camera and 2000mAh battery while the Premium model has 2GB RAM, 13 mega-pixel rear camera and 3000mAh battery.Why you should buy the iOcean X7?In our opinion the X7 is the best looking phone of the bunch, especially in white, but black looks stunning too. At 999 Yuan ($160) the Youth model should be enough phone for most people, and we the premium version should only cost a little extra.Why you shouldn’t buy the iOcean X7?We still don’t known how much the top of the range version of the X7 will cost, and the Youth model with 2000mAh battery, may not be able to last a full day on a single charge with that full HD display. iOcean is also one of the smaller lesser known brands even here in China, so quality and support could be an issue.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on Telegram iocean x7 pre order iOcean x7 screen iocean x7 youth iOcean X7 battery iocean x7 youth iOcean X7 front iocean x7 leaked photo hero iOcean X7 1080HD Neo N003Neo have been quiet and keeping their cards much closer to their chest. We haven’t seen many leaked images of the N003, and hardware details have only just started to come to light.Why you should buy the Neo N003?Looking at what you get for the price, the Neo N003 is the cheapest phone here. It offers a 5-inch display, quad-core processor and 13 mega-pixel rear censor. The only differences between the youth model and premium version are the RAM and built-in storage. Both phones get a 3000mAh battery which should drive the 720HD display a great deal longer than the 1080HD panels on other phones.Why you shouldn’t buy the Neo N003?From a hardware perspective the only downgrade we can see is the 720HD display. We can’t comment on design as we still don’t know what the phone will look like, and quality issues seem to be null as current Neo phones seems to be well made bits of kit! neo n003 leaked photo Neo N003 leaked photo neo n003 hero Neo N003 leaked render neo n003 rendering 2 Neo N003 leaked render JiaYu G4Not everyone is excited in the prospect of carrying around a 5-inch display, and not everyone feels 1080HD is appropriate for a mobile phone, this is where the JiaYu G4 comes in.Why you should buy the JiaYu G4?Great design, good specification, the option to upgrade the battery on the youth model to the 3000mAh unit from the premium, possibly the best battery life of all the phones here, great community and support, plus an English language site!As for hardware the youth version of the G4 will get 1GB RAM, 8GB of built-in memory and 1850mAh battery, while the premium will have 2GB RAM, 32GB of memory and 3000mAh battery. Both phones have the same 4.7-inch 720HD display, 13 mega-pixel camera and Xiaomi Mi2 styling. jiayu g4 leaked photos JiaYu G4 screen Jiayu G4 vs Jiayu g3 JiaYu G4 and G3 Jiayu G4 vs Jiayu g3 JiaYu G4 and G3 display  Neo N003 Vs iOcean X7 Vs UMi X2 Vs JiaYu G4[table id=32 /]Which phone are you going to buy?With such great specs and low pricing, it’s hard to know which phone to buy, but I have to say that we have moved away from lusting after the UMi X2, and are now beginning to eye up the Neo N003 and iOcean X7. Both phones are cheaper and have similar specs and if 1080HD isn’t a priority then the Neo N003 could be the best choice for you.The G4 is still up there too, and will likely offer better battery life than the other phones due to the low-resolution and smaller screen, plus pricing is good too!

The affordable and highly popular Micromax Canvas HD has a new rival in town, the Chinese UMi X2, but which of these low-cost 5-inch, quad-core phones are the best value for money? Find out after below!UMi X2The UMi X2 has been covered so many times here on Gizchina we know the hardware off-by-heart, and with such a memorable package on offer we’re sure many of you have committed the X2’s specs to memory too!UMi have quite a reputation for launching high spec, low-cost phones which undercut their competitors. Last year during JiaYu’s terrible G3 launch, UMi stepped in and swept up many potential G3 owners with the dual-core, 4.5-inch UMi X1, and now they are in the market again with the UMi X2!Starting with the front, the UMi X2 boasts a full HD display, not a 720HD display but a full 1920 x 1080 panel! That alone for the $240-$260 asking price would be a great bargain, but the excellent features don’t stop there. There’s also a quad-core MediaTek MT6589 processor, 2GB RAM, and a 13 mega-pixel rear camera making for one fully loaded phone!The design looks great too, with a similar shape to the popular Samsung Galaxy S3, quite a narrow body along with thin screen bezel! All premium features but without the premium price tag!Micromax Canvas HDMicromax launched the Canvas HD earlier this year, and have been enjoying a huge amount of press attention and success with their low-cost quad-core, 5-inch phablet. However, is the Canvas HD really a match for the UMi X2?Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramStarting with the front again, the Micromax Canvas HD also sports a 5-inch HD display, however this time it’s a 720HD unit. For many of you this is hardly a make or brake feature, 鑱絠n fact the 720 screen will be easier on the battery! However, which so little difference in price between the 2 phones is it really worth going for the lower res screen? We think not.Unfortunately for Micromax the downgrades don’t stop there! Where as the UMi X2 has 2GB RAM, the Cavas HD only get’s 1GB, the rear camera is 8 mega-pixel and the overall body shape and design looks much thicker and bulkier than the UMi phone.UMi X2 vs Micromax Canvas HD[table id=29 /]So which is better? UMi X2 or Micromax Canvas HD?Just looking at the specs the UMi X2 wipes the floor with the Micromax Canvas HD! The UMi X2 offers a better display, double the RAM, a more advanced rear camera and larger battery all for just an extra $1 in price!The Micromax Canvas HD is currently available for $259 while the UMi X2 will launch on March 15 for $260 in India and $240 in China.There is no doubt in our minds that the UMi X2 is going to be one of the best quad-core, 5-inch 1080 phones for 2013 when it goes on sale, but it’s not going to be the only one and it certainly isn’t the cheapest! Which is best for you? The UMi X2 or the Sheng X7?UMi X2We’ve said this time and time again, on paper the UMi X2 is basically a more affordable version of the awesome Oppo Find 5! Everything which makes the Find 5 such an amazing phone is present in the X2, but at just a fraction of the price!5-inch 1080 HD display, quad-core CPU, 13 mega-pixel rear camera! The X2 has it all, and up until today was heading to become the undisputed Chinese phone champion of 2013, but then the Sheng X7 arrived!Sheng X7Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThe Sheng X7 has been on Gizchina a few times over the past few months, but only after seeing real photos of the prototype are we starting to become excited about this awesome phone, but can it really compete with the Umi X2?In a word, Yes, the Sheng X7 offers everything the UMi X2 does, but manages to do so at a lower retail price! 5-inch 1080 display, quad-core MT6589 CPU and a 13 mega-pixel rear camera all wrapped up in a stylish body!UMi X2 vs Sheng X7[table id=25 /]So which would you buy?This is a difficult call! Both phones are practically identical in the hardware departments with the only notable difference being battery size. With that said though, does the larger battery of the X2 really call for a 500 Yuan ($80) price hike?

We are currently working on another in-depth Gizchina review, and this time we have something rather special! The GooPhone i5!The fully GooPhone i5 review will be ready to read in just a few days, but I have just had to post these photos of the phone just so you guys can see how authentic this iPhone 5 clone really looks!If someone handed this to you would NOT know it was a fake iPhone 5! That is how good it is! From our initial impressions we can see that the i5 is well made, lightweight and every bit as attractive as the real Apple phone, but at a fraction of the price!Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramGooPhone haven’t only just spent a great deal of time creating an authentic exterior, but have also produced an iOS 6 skinned Android operating system which is good enough to fool many, less tech savvy, iPhone users!The Newman N2 is Newman’s latest, quad-core flagship phone. While availability is still quite scarce, we have been lucky enough to get our hands on one for a full in-depth review.UPDATE: I have updated some details since first posting this review. I have updated the firmware to version Newman_N2_00.22, which has boosted Antutu benchmarks and also fixed the problem with focus when capturing video (see below).Newman have been manufacturing consumer electronics for years, and are well regarded as one of the leading manufacturers of MP3 and MP4 players, as well as portable data storage devices here in China.Last year they decided to take the plunge and make their first Android phone, the Newman N1, which sold like hotcakes. The N1 was followed by the entry-level Newman NX, and now for 2013 a new flagship phone has launched, the Newman N2. newman n2 and htc one x Newman N2 and HTC One X comparison. DSC02680 newman n2 in hand rear Comfortable rubberised rear. Newman N2 screen Newman N2 Specification Table[table id=9 /]Newman N2 introductionI have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Newman N2, as this latest flagship phone looked absolutely stunning on paper. With a quad-core Samsung Exynos 4412 processor and 1GB RAM, we should see blisteringly quick performance.The large 4.7-inch 720HD display sounds visually stunning, and speaking of visuals, a 13 mega-pixel rear camera is bound to excite the inner photographer in all of us.But, how does the N2 stack up as a complete unit?Newman N2 UnboxingDesign and general feelThe design of the Newman N2 isn’t as stylish as the original N1, but the generic rectangle, and neatly beveled edges are a welcome sight after seeing all the Samsung inspired designs on the market.The phone doesn’t get the super narrow screen borders we are starting to see on other phones, but the smaller 4.7-inch screen means the N2 still manages to feel comfortable and is easy to grip.I’m not a fan of glossy back panels on phones. They don’t fill me with confidence when trying to text one handed and they attract fingerprints and marks much easier than other finishes, thankfully the N2 doesn’t suffer from this as the rear is coated in a grippy rubberised finish.At 10.5mm the N2 isn’t the thinnest phone on the market, but it still manages to feel comfortable, and seems thinner, thanks to the curved edges which taper at a pleasing angle. The extra girth also allows for a good size 2500mAh battery.Front, rear and sides – functional not flashyI generally like N2’s subtle, understated looks, which give the phone a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” persona. After a quick glance, most people (potential theives included) wouldn’t realise that the N2 is practically a Samsung Galaxy S3 with a more affordable price tag!The front side has 4 capcative buttons to navigate through the Android 4.0 ICS OS, with a 4.7-inch IPS 1280 x 720 display sitting directly above. The capacitive ‘chin’ buttons and larger bezel of the screen might not give the air of a 2013 flagship device, but they work as well as on-screen controls and thinner edges (plus we will likely see these updates on the Newman N3 or N4). newman n2 battery 2500mAh battery. Newman N2 sd card SD card expansion. Newman N2 sim Single micro sim. newman n2 rear panel N2 with rear panel removed. On the left side we have a micro USB for charging and transferring files, and at the top we have a small recess where we can prise the rear panel off to access the SIM, SD card slot and battery.The N2 has 3 physical buttons, a power/lockscreen button, volume rocker and a shutter button, all of which are located on the right hand side and can be easily used single handed.Nothing is found along the bottom edge of the phone, but the microphone can be seen just where the glass of the display and beveled plastic edge meet.Headphones (not included) are plugged in via the 3.5mm headphone jack on the top of the phone.From the back we can see a subtle Newman logo, small speaker and the 13 mega-pixel camera and LED flash. Again the design is functional rather than flashy, and while other manufactures might be tempted to label that 13 mega-pixel sensor, Newman have left it blank.Weight and sizeThe N2 weighs in at 5.35oz (152g) which is about average for a phone with a 4.7-inch display and is similar in weight to a Motorola RAZR HD. Some of you are going to want the phone to be lighter and closer to the Nexus 4’s 4.9oz (139g), but I’m more than happy with the weight as it affords the Newman a larger battery and SD card slot.I’m also happy with the overall size, although I do believe Newman could shave a good amount off the phone if they had a narrower bezel and built in battery, but again we will have to wait for a next generation model for that. newman n2 in hand rear Comfortable rubberised rear. newman n2 and htc one x Newman N2 and HTC One X comparison. Newman n2 in hand N2 Boot up. Newman n2 power button Easy to reach power button. DisplayAfter unpacking the N2, inserting the battery and powering the phone on my first words were “Wow, this screen is good!”. If offers bright colours, and give images a natural and not over saturated look.I did notice, however that although the screen is an IPS model viewing from certain angles wasn’t quite as good as I would have hoped for. I believe is down to the maximum brightness of the phone not being as high as I would have liked, and hope Newman can rectify this with future firmware updates.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThe overall low brightness of the screen also affects viewing the phone outdoors. The day’s which we tested it outside weren’t bright summer days, yet we still struggled at times when the sunlight did hit it.EntertainmentGaming: Gaming on the Newman N2 is fantastic, which comes as no surprise due to that 1.4Ghz quad-core Samsung Exynos CPU and 1GB RAM. I tested a few games including Riptide GP, Angry Birds and Jetpack Joyride, none of which caused the Newman N2 any headaches.Video: Video is handled just as well, and the Newman N2 happily can play 1080 HD video all day long without a hicough.Speakers: The speaker quality on the N2 is solid if not mind blowing. If anything it is a little on the quiet side for a Chinese phone, which generally tend to be pretty loud. Obviously you’re not going to find super bass from a built in speaker on a phone priced as competitively as the N2, but for gaming or sharing the odd movie with friends it performs an adequate job.CameraStill photography IMG_20130117_132156 IMG_20130117_132111 IMG_20130117_132051 IMG_20130117_123419 IMG_20130117_123507 IMG_20130117_123538 IMG_20130117_123612 IMG_20130117_123619 One of the major selling points of the N2 is it’s rear 13 mega-pixel camera and I can confirm it takes some really beautiful photos. Take a look at the samples below to see for yourself, and if you want full size untouched Newman N2 photos then download the file here. IMG_20130117_154953 IMG_20130117_155153 IMG_20130117_155240 IMG_20130117_155647 IMG_20130117_160216 IMG_20130117_160555 IMG_20130117_161008 IMG_20130117_161203 Although the auto focus on the N2 is a little slow at times, the quality of the images it manages to capture really knocked my socks off! A phone of this price just isn’t meant to be able to produce stunning still images like this, but the N2 kept grabbing great photos time and time again!Night PhotosI tend not use a flash when taking photos, but the LED on the Newman proved to generate enough light to enhance photos, rather than make them look washed out. Just watch where you place your finger, as I sometimes found the flash to reflect of my skin and add glare to photos. newman n2 night photo newman n2 night photo newman n2 night photo newman n2 night photo newman n2 night photo newman n2 night photo newman n2 night photo IMG_20130117_191446 If I have to complain about one thing though, it’s the burst mode for capturing a number of images in succesion. As it is now, the phone won’t start taking photos for a full 2 seconds after pressing the shutter when on burst mode, and when it starts you don’t know how long it is going to keep shooting for. It’s completely unusable and I hope it get’s sorted with the Jelly Bean 4.1 update.Video captureThe N2 is capable of capturing 1080 HD video which, had I been able to get filming correctly, would happily use as a back up, spur of the moment video camera. However, when shooting video the automatic focus struggles to keep still and constantly refocuses. No matter which setting I had the camera on I just couldn’t produce one piece of usable film!Newman please fix this, as it really detracts from what a great stills camera the N2 has to offer!  UPDATE: After updating to 00.22 (which I did with a simple over the air update) the problem with focus has completely gone away! Video capture is now very smooth and much improved over the previous firmware! It’s great to see Newman are addressing issues with firmware updates! Great job!I’ll will try to upload some sample footage later today.Newman N2 1080 video sample.PerformancePerformance was never going to be an issue with the N2. Pages loaded quickly when browsing the web, the games I tried barely made the hardware sweat and the overall responsiveness of the phone felt snappy and instant. UPDATE: I followed advice commenters had and updated the firmware to version鑱絅ewman_N2_00.22, the N2 now performs even better!Antutu: I ran Antutu on the phone to get an idea of how it compares to similar devices, and it came away with a benchmark of 13792. After updated Antutu score increased drastically and the N2 now scores a very impressive 16313!Nenamark2: Nenamark results were good too with the Newman N2 managing 54.9 FPS.NOTE: If you would like me to run any other benchmarks please let me know and I’ll add the results here.Battery LifeTo give you a true indication of how long the battery lasted in the Newman N2, I’ll first explain my (bad) phone habits. I leave 3G, Wi-Fi and GPS on all the time. Reasons being that I want email’s pushed to me as I get them, and I take a lot of photos and want the location to be stored without having to change settings.For test purposes I also browsed the web quite a bit, streamed video from Youku and played a few levels of Riptide GP during my lunch. From my experience with the Newman N2, I found the phone to be able to last me through quite an intensive work day, with enough juice to get me home before needing a top up.I’ll continue to test the battery life this week with different services turned on and off, and using the phone for different purposes from day to day to get a better idea of how it performs and add an update with my findings.ConclustionThe Newman N2 had me excited before I tried it and now after some time with it I’m even more excited!It’s a good looking, great size phone with a large responsive screen. Performance is outstanding, fast graphically intense games are handled with ease, the N2 just begs for more!And that rear camera! Wow! (if you are taking stills that is) for a phone of this price to come with a 13 mega-pixel rear camera is one thing, but for it to perform as well as this does is just an amazing bonus! In fact quality isn’t far off my dedicated Sony point and shoot which cost 1000 Yuan more and doesn’t offer the same quality screen, and smartphone features!There are a few niggles I hope Newman will fix such as the problem with the burst shutter function, and the constant refocusing when capturing video, but hopefully this and screen brightness will be addressed when Android 4.1 Jelly Bean rolls out.For the price, 1499 Yuan (in China) $299.99 internationally, it is one of the best Chinese phones we have ever tested, and if gaming, video and browsing the web and spur of the moment photography are your main priorities I see no reason why you shouldn’t consider picking one up, I certainly am!

It’s only just the start of the year, but 5.7-inch Chinese phablets are already going on sale. Here are 7 of the best currently available and upcoming phablets from China. Zopo ZP950 Phablet (Leader Max)The Zopo ZP950 was one of the first 5.7-inch phones to be launched and has proven to be a popular device with Chinese buyers, so much so that our review model has been put on hold due to shortages!Zopo ZP950 SpecificationThe ZP950 has a 5.7-inch 720p display, dual-core MT6577 processor, 1GB RAM and an updated 8 mega-pixel rear camera.From a design point of view the ZP950 looks very much like the popular ZP900, but with a larger screen, but we have been assured by Zopo that the rear camera is a huge update over the smaller phone too.Zopo ZP950 PriceThe big screen Zopo is on sale for $280, and remember the International name is Zopo ZP950 Phablet while the Chinese name is Leader Max. Mogu PhabletMogu announced a few days ago that they will launch a range of phablet phones with screen sizes varying from 5-inch all the way up to 6.1-inch!Mogu SpecificationsEach Mogu phone will carry a similar specification with the only major differences being the size and resolution of the screen used.Mogu have had time to learn from the competition and watch the where the market is going, and as such we can see some clear improvements over the Zopo. For starters the processor will be the more powerful quad-core MT6589 variant, there will also be Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and flagship models will receive NFC and a 13 mega-pixel rear camera.Mogu PriceNo details on the pricing, but judging be their previous phone we can expect a very competitive price. CarPad V8CarPad are one of the originators of big screen Chinese phones, but the the V8 marks the first phone to offer a half decent resolution and specification.Carpad V8 SpecificaionThe specification for the CarPad is very similar to the Zopo, which means a 5.7-inch 720p display, 8 mega-pixel rear camera, dual-core MT6577 processor, 1GB RAM and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.The V8 also has a 2800mAh battery and 4GB of built-in memory along with an SD card reader and dual-sim support.CarPad V8 priceThe V8 is on sale for a very competitive 1320 Yuan ($212) asking price, and can likely be ordered from online resellers. Hiwave H14 HD PhabletAnother low-cost offering, with at the familiar Samsung Galaxy Note 2 styling.Hiwave H14 SpecificationThere really isn’t much here that hasn’t been said above. Dual-core MT6577 processor, 1GB RAM, 4GB memory, 8 mega-pixel rear camera, and a 5.7-inch 1280 x 720 display.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThere are a few highlights though such as Android 4.1Jelly Bean and a larger 3200mAh battery!Hiwave H14 PricePricing is slightly more than the CarPad, but for that extra battery capacity it is well worth it. The HiWave H14 can be hours for 1399 Yuan ($224). Gaoxinqi Tegra 3 PhabletThe Gaoxinqi is a welcome surprise in the Android phablet arena, as it has bucked the MTK processor trend in favour of a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 chip!Gaoxinqi SpecificationAs already mentioned a quad-core Nvidia Tegra鑱? chip is at the core of this 5.7-inch phone running at 1.5Ghz, with 1GB RAM. 4GB of built in memory can be expanded with an SD card which sits beneath a large 3000mAh battery!If all this doesn’t sound just great, then add in Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and a 3000mAh battery and this is one sweet looking HD phone!Gaoxinqi PriceNo official word, but if they are going to price this phone realistically then we can expect a price of between 1999-2500 Yuan ($320-$401). Yangtze N7300The N7300 is new to us here at Gizchina, but it offers a solid specification at a very affordable price.Yangtze N7300 SpecificationThe N7300 looks a lot like the CarPad, Zopo and THL (below) and it will come as no surprise that the specification is similar too. A 5.7-inch 1280 x 720 display, dual-core MT6577 CPU, 8 mega-pixel rear camera and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean are all present, the the battery is a larger 3500mAh unit!Yangtze N7300 PriceDespite having a similar specification to more costlier phone, and a larger battery, the N7300 manages to cost less at only 1150 Yuan ($184). THL W7The THL W7 has been receiving rave reviews in China, and it’s no surprise as this 5.7-inch device is identical to the Zopo ZP950!THL W7 SpecificationThe THL W7 get’s a similar spec as the Zopo ZP950 but with an updated 3 mega-pixel front camera, slightly faster 1.2 Ghz dual-core MT6577T processor and (strangely) smaller 2300 mAh battery.THL W7 pricePricing for the W7 is 1699 Yuan ($273) which is slightly cheaper than the Zopo. Owen V9The Owen V9 offers a similar spec as the THL and Zopo but with a slightly different exterior.Owen V9 SpecificationThe Owen in another MTK phone so much of the same as we have already seen, however the body is made of magnesium alloy rather than plastic meaning the V9 should be more durable and might take a knock or too.Owen V9 PriceThe Oppo Find 5 made a great first impression when launched last month, and the praise continues now that reviewers are getting their hands on time, unfortunately it’s not all good!The Verge, have managed to track down an Oppo Find 5 at CES (our sources are telling us that the Find 5 at CES is an engineering model and not a production unit) and get some hands on time with the 5-inch, 1080 phone, which they describe as having “impeccable [build quality]” with a sleek design not dissimilar from Sony’s Xperia Ion.Despite the great build though, testers were not very impressed with the viewing angles of the 5-inch 1080 display, and found colours less vivid than similar devices from rivals HTC.But the biggest criticism of the Find 5 is the Oppo skinned Android 4.1 Jelly Bean UI. One reporter commented:Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on Telegram“It runs Android 4.1 with an extremely ugly skin”Testers also found the system difficult to navigate due to poor labelling and lack of navigation icons on the on-screen navigation bar.As the phone they tested was an engineering prototype the UI problems could be solved, and the lack of labels might have been due to testing an early build of an English ROM, but what concerns us are the comments about the display. Just how poor are the viewing angles, and will this be fixed for production unit?There are literally hundreds of great Android phones on the market today, and with more launching daily it can become difficult when trying to choose one. Today, I’m going to take a look at 3 popular models to help find the best for your needs.The three phones I’ve decided to focus on for this write up are the THL W7, Newman N2 and the Huawei Honor 2. Each phone has it’s own unique characteristics and each comes at a different price point, but which is best for you?THL W7 $292.99The THL W7 is one of the new breed of large screen phablet phones, and we mean large! This device offers users a huge 5.7-inch screen with 720HD resolution making it perfect for viewing documents, watching movies and share photos with friends.Another standout feature for the W7 is the dual-core MT6577 processor which enables the phone to have dual-sim support.With dual-sim support and the large screen, the THL would be perfect for those who like to mix business with pleasure and allowing you to carry just one phone but have quick access to your personal and business phone contact.As with similar MT6577 phones, the THL W7 has an 8-mega-pixel rear camera, 4GB of memory, SD card readers and an impressive 3.2 mega-pixel front camera.Who do we recommend the THL W7 for?The THL W7 would be perfect for business people, or those with an active social life and like to be on the go.The THL W7 can be bought here. Newman N2 $348.99 (Freelander i20)If the large screen of the THL W7 is too much for you, and you prefer a little more horsepower in your phone, you might want to take a look at the Newman N2.The N2 is the successor the N1 and as such features some important upgrades including a quad-core Samsung Exynos 4412 CPU, 13 mega-pixel rear camera and 4,7-inch 1280 x 720 display.More Newman N2 details here.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on Telegram While the screen is smaller than the one found on the THL, the resolution is the same, meaning movies, photos and documents will look just as good, plus the 4.7-inch display should be big enough to do some on the go editing.But its the extra power the Newman has to offer plus the updated 13 mega-pixel camera which make the N2 such an interesting phone.Who do we recommend the Newman N2 for?Gamers and those of you who love to take photos while on the go. The powerful Samsung CPU can handle even the most graphic intensive games, while the excellent rear camera mean you will never miss a photo opportunity.The Newman N2 can be bought here. Huawei Honor 2 $404.99You might think the Huawei Honor 2 is a bit dated now that the new Ascend D2 has been announced, but not everyone requires a 5-inch display and some users actually prefer the 4.5-inch size of the Honor 2.The Huawei Honor 2 is the only phone here from an internationally recognised company, and with that you do get some peace of mind, you also are more likely to get frequent updates for the Huawei too which actually ships with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.More Huawei Honor 2 details here. Like the Newman N2, the Huawei Honor 2 comes with a quad-core CPU, but this time a CPU developed by Huawei themselves, meaning they have been able to make the phone and CPU work efficiently together with Jelly Bean.As for the specs you get a 1280 x 720 display, single sim standby, 8 mega-pixel rear camera 2GB RAM and 8GB or built-in memory.Who do we recommend the Huawei Honor 2 for?With the addition of more RAM we again suggest the Huawei to anyone big in to gaming, but with the self developed hardware and big name brand we also recommend the Huawei to those happy to spend a little extra for peace of mind.The Huawei Honor 2 can be bought here.What are your recommendations?Another day another video review from Gizchina! This time we take a few minutes to look at the Dual-core Zopo ZP300+ Field Android smart phone!Like the rest of the Zopo range the Zopo ZP300+ Field represents a new and improved version of the phone which boasts a faster, more powerful dual-core MediaTek MT6577 CPU. Other than the chip update the rest of the specification of the ZP300+ remains the same as the previous single-core model.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on Telegram Zopo ZP300+ Field Specification:CPU: dual-core MT6577 1GhzMemory: 1GB RAM, $GB ROM and space for an SD card.Screen: 4.5 inch 1280 x 720 with 326ppiBattery: 1800 mAhCamera: rear 8 mega-pixel with auto-focus, front 1.3 mega-pixel.Supported Frequency: GSM (850/900/1800/1900Mhz) WCDMA (850/2100Mhz)Wi-fi: 802.11b/b/n Zopo ZP300+ Field hands on video review  Where to buy the Zopo ZP300+ Field?

Oukitel’s first real phone to have caught our attention happens to be the Oukitel U8. The phone is powered by the MediaTek MT6735 quad-core鑱?4-bit SoC and is pretty affordable.The highlights of the phone include a metal build and the tap-to-unlock fingerprint scanner. The difference between the fingerprint scanner on the U8 compared to something like the Ulefone Be Touch is that on the U8 you simply tap on the fingerprint scanner (you don’t have to press since its not a button), while on phones like the Be Touch and Mlais M7, you first have to wake the phone and then scan your fingertip.Let me also remind you of the specification of the Oukitel U8 with a quick recap:5.5-inch 1280 x 720p displayMediaTek MT6735 64-bit quad-core processor2GB RAM16GB ROM13 mega-pixel rear camera5 mega-pixel front camera2850mAh non-removable batteryDual SIMAndroid 5.1 LollipopAnother thing that strikes you about the U8 is the fact that it runs Android 5.1 Lollipop out of the box. So far, there haven’t been any major bugs that I’ve come across, so it looks like Oukitel have done a good job there.The one thing that you’re sure to notice鑱絘bout the U8 is its heavy weight. The phone is probably the heaviest smartphone I’ve used, and it has managed to slip from my hands a couple of times already. I’m not sure if the weight is organic or Oukitel have added extra metal bits to increase the weight. After all, Beats Headphones do that too.The edges of the phone are full metal with the usual plastic strips in between for reception. Impressive is the fact that the micro USB slot is reinforced with the plastic; doesn’t just make it more durable, but it also gives a dash of extra style to the Oukitel U8.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramGeneral UI wise, the phone is surprisingly fast for an SoC that will soon be entry-level. 2GB of RAM means that you can multitask without a lot of problem on the device. The camera is fast to boot, but can take time to save pictures and such. But the general quality of the photos is pretty decent, up there with other phones in the price range. Also, the U8 has true dual flash, but no dual tone flash.Battery has been fairly impressive through the two days so far, enough for it to not look like a fake spec. I say that because a lot of Chinese OEMs have been doing that in the recent past.The fingerprint scanner works well, but not as well as the Be Touch’s scanner. I’d say it is about 10% down in accuracy when compared to the Be Touch, which really has a lovely fingerprint scanner. The tap-to-wake feature is very cool though, and I found myself using it all the time. That’s why the U8 is also known as the ‘Universe Tap’.Oukitel’s first real phone to have caught our attention happens to be the Oukitel U8. The phone is powered by the MediaTek MT6735 quad-core鑱?4-bit SoC and is pretty affordable.The highlights of the phone include a metal build and the tap-to-unlock fingerprint scanner. The difference between the fingerprint scanner on the U8 compared to something like the Ulefone Be Touch is that on the U8 you simply tap on the fingerprint scanner (you don’t have to press since its not a button), while on phones like the Be Touch and Mlais M7, you first have to wake the phone and then scan your fingertip.Let me also remind you of the specification of the Oukitel U8 with a quick recap:5.5-inch 1280 x 720p displayMediaTek MT6735 64-bit quad-core processor2GB RAM16GB ROM13 mega-pixel rear camera5 mega-pixel front camera2850mAh non-removable batteryDual SIMAndroid 5.1 LollipopAnother thing that strikes you about the U8 is the fact that it runs Android 5.1 Lollipop out of the box. So far, there haven’t been any major bugs that I’ve come across, so it looks like Oukitel have done a good job there.The one thing that you’re sure to notice鑱絘bout the U8 is its heavy weight. The phone is probably the heaviest smartphone I’ve used, and it has managed to slip from my hands a couple of times already. I’m not sure if the weight is organic or Oukitel have added extra metal bits to increase the weight. After all, Beats Headphones do that too.The edges of the phone are full metal with the usual plastic strips in between for reception. Impressive is the fact that the micro USB slot is reinforced with the plastic; doesn’t just make it more durable, but it also gives a dash of extra style to the Oukitel U8.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramGeneral UI wise, the phone is surprisingly fast for an SoC that will soon be entry-level. 2GB of RAM means that you can multitask without a lot of problem on the device. The camera is fast to boot, but can take time to save pictures and such. But the general quality of the photos is pretty decent, up there with other phones in the price range. Also, the U8 has true dual flash, but no dual tone flash.Battery has been fairly impressive through the two days so far, enough for it to not look like a fake spec. I say that because a lot of Chinese OEMs have been doing that in the recent past.The fingerprint scanner works well, but not as well as the Be Touch’s scanner. I’d say it is about 10% down in accuracy when compared to the Be Touch, which really has a lovely fingerprint scanner. The tap-to-wake feature is very cool though, and I found myself using it all the time. That’s why the U8 is also known as the ‘Universe Tap’.

We don鈥檛 usually do a lot of tablet reviews on GizChina, but there are some devices that simply catch your attention. The Chuwi Vi10 happens to be one of them. The tablet doesn鈥檛 cost a lot of money (sells for a mere $140), and does a lot of things. Not only does the Vi10 run Android (v4.4 KitKat), but it also does Windows 8.1 — full desktop Windows!Let鈥檚 delve into the details in the Chuwi Vi10 review.Chuwi Vi10 Review: Design and BuildChuwi seem to have set their minds straight when making the Vi10. They perhaps decided that they won鈥檛 do a lot of things with the Vi10, but whatever they do, they鈥檇 do right. Which is why, the Vi10 isn鈥檛 a mind-blowing tablet at the outset, but instead it impresses you on the long run.The device isn鈥檛 the prettiest around, and is sure as hell not meant to be flaunted. There are other things that the Vi10 does better. It is for the most part a generic slab with not a lot of thought gone into the design, with thick-ish bezels and a rather large size thanks to the 10.6-inch screen. The tablet is also pretty heavy at over 500g; that combined with the size means that you鈥檒l probably need to keep it in a bag to be able to carry it around. OK, the design isn鈥檛 mind blowing by quite a distance. Lets get to the build next. This is where the tablet starts impressing you. There鈥檚 glass on either side of the tablet, which seems pretty sturdy but is a fingerprint magnet. By default, the Vi10 will come with protectors installed on the front and back.The chassis of the tablet seems to be made out of plastic, but the kind of plastic that feels sturdy and inspires confidence. There鈥檚 however metal strips running around the top and bottom edges (the two longest edges on the tablet) that blend into the other two sides, thus covering all four corners with metal. Simple and effective! Also sort of elegant.Besides that, there isn鈥檛 much to speak about the Vi10. It feels like it鈥檚 built like a tank with a very impressive build quality (I鈥檓 blown away, honestly).The front has a Windows logo which also acts as the Start button in Windows mode, and home button in Android mode. The 2 mega-pixel front facing camera sits on the top bezel (when the tablet is held in landscape).The rear of the Vi10 will tell you that it鈥檚 made by Chuwi (in English and Chinese), along with some other stuff — including the Intel logo on the bottom, all in shiny silver. Oh, and, there鈥檚 also the 2 mega-pixel rear camera right above the Chuwi logo.There鈥檚 nothing on the right edge of the tablet besides the oblivious speaker grill.The left edge is the business edge on the Vi10. From top to bottom, here鈥檚 what you find on this side of the tablet: a 3.5mm headphone jack, micro HDMI output port, full USB port #1, charging micro USB port, full USB port #2, microSD slot, and the other side of the speaker grill.Last but not least, there鈥檚 the docking port on the bottom edge for you to connect the Vi10 to its keyboard case, which in my book is a must buy if you鈥檙e going with this device.Chuwi Vi10 Review: DisplayUnfortunately, the display on the Vi10 isn鈥檛 as impressive as the build quality of the device. This pretty much rules out the device for folks looking for a multimedia companion; others, like me, who鈥檇 be more interested in a Windows device for productivity should still be interested. For some reason, the display doesn鈥檛 seem as bright and crisp on Android as is does when running Windows. It is, by the way, a 10.6-inch 1366 x 768 pixel display, so it isn鈥檛 the highest resolution display. My eyes are probably tuned to using much higher-res displays on Android devices, which is perhaps why it feels as though the Vi10鈥檚 10.6-inch panel lacks lustre while running the open source OS. Or maybe Chuwi ships the Vi10 set to a lower DPI on Android.Although viewing angles don鈥檛 matter as much on tablets, it鈥檚 nice to know that they鈥檙e pretty good on the Vi10.Chuwi Vi10 Review: CameraGizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramIt’ll probably be a good idea if you don’t bother about the 2 mega-pixel cameras on the Vi10. They’re good for Skype though, but the angle is a little off. Take a look at these images for reference. Chuwi Vi10 Review: PerformanceThe Chuwi Vi10 comes with the quad-core Intel Atom Z3736F processor with 2GB of RAM. To sum up the performance of the device — I鈥檓 blown away. I鈥檝e used Z3735F devices in the past (the Vi10 runs the Z3736F, which isn鈥檛 very different), but for some reason, the Vi10 really impresses in this regard.Mini PCs which have better cooling should generally perform much better than tablets such as this one, since everything is cramped into a very small package. However, that is not the case. If you purchase the Vi10, it should be for the Windows OS; there are other better tablets available in its price range that run Android. Android, I believe, is just another option that the makers are giving with the Vi10. Probably following the 鈥榖ecause we can鈥 strategy here.I鈥檝e used Chrome (on Windows) with up to two windows open with around 5 tabs each, and the Vi10 hasn鈥檛 failed me yet. The sound output too is beyond satisfactory. You could maybe enjoy a movie while you鈥檙e on a long flight or something, and the Vi10 certainly won鈥檛 disappoint.Switching between OSes: Simply fire the OS switcher app.Chuwi Vi10 Review: StorageThe tablet has a total of 32GB of storage, which isn’t great for neither a productivity device or a multimedia tablet. Out of the 32GB, you get less than 11GB free on Windows, and about 4.5GB on Android. There are ways and methods to change the balance, but you’re on your own with that.Chuwi Vi10 Review: BatteryThe tablet comes with an 8000mAh non-removable battery. According to Chuwi, this cell is enough for up to 6 hours of usage, and I can confirm they haven鈥檛 been lying about that.I was consistently able to get over 5 hours of usage, mainly with the Windows OS with a little Android every now and then. Usage was mainly Chrome, but with some additional MS Office and Skype thrown in.Chuwi Vi10 Review: Keyboard CaseLike mentioned before, if you are planning to purchase the $140 Vi10 (which you truly should if you aren鈥檛 looking for a full blown multimedia companion), set aside another $24 for the Vi10 keyboard case which comes from the company. The keyboard case doesn鈥檛 require any additional setting up (no Bluetooth, etc.), and instead works with the proprietary (if I鈥檓 not wrong) keyboard port on the bottom of the tablet. This means that there鈥檚 no additional wiring that you鈥檒l be carrying around, and also that you don鈥檛 have to worry about keeping the keyboard charged; it draws power right from the tablet鈥檚 battery.Also, there are two additional slots that work magnetically in the tablet鈥檚 body that ensure the device is properly locked when docked on the keyboard case. The keyboard case also comes with a touchpad with multitouch so you can perform your usual Windows 8.1 and Android gestures. The touchpad is clickable, so right and left clicks can be performed right from the case.One downside with cases such as these is that you can鈥檛 use them on your lap — the rear of the case needs something flat and sturdy, like a table.Chuwi Vi10 Review: VerdictThe Chuwi Vi10 is a very impressive tablet which deserves to be more popular than it actually is. A brilliant build, solid performance and availability of a compatible keyboard case make the device a productivity freak鈥檚 dream. At a total cost of under聽$170 ($140 for tablet, $24 for case), you get a full blown Windows 8.1 + Android 4.4 tablet, and at the risk of sounding like an ad, I鈥檒l say that I don鈥檛 think you should miss this one!Feel free to comment below with any questions that you might have and we鈥檒l try our best to answer each one of them. Also, if you already own one of these, do check out our guide on how to enable hibernation on聽the Chuwi Vi10.Xiaomi says that their Mi 4i is a 鈥榝lagship level phone鈥? In fact, the Mi 4i launch was one of the grandest as far as Xiaomi are concerned, and it was the first device from the company to have been launched outside its home country of China.The phone has a brilliant form factor, and is made out of materials that haven鈥檛 been used on $200 phones before. Does this mean the phone is the best in its range? Lets find out.Xiaomi Mi 4i Review: DesignThe Mi 4i is, according to me, the best designed Xiaomi phone yet. Of course, if you鈥檙e a phablet guy you鈥檇 disagree; but if you prefer one handed smartphone usage, the Mi 4i is like a dream come true. It hardly feels like a 5-inch phone, and with the comfortable and grippy back, the phone fits your hand like a charm. In more ways than one, the Mi 4i will remind you of the iPhone 5C. It鈥檚 made out of polycarbonate, and is second to the Mi 4 just like the 5C is to the 5S. But of course, the Mi 4i is MUCH cheaper and it runs Android (albeit with a skin that reminds you of the iPhone anyway).The Mi 4i is lighter and thinner than the metal clad Mi 4, and you鈥檒l realize that within a few seconds with the phone.As usual for most phones, the entire front is covered in glass. Xiaomi don鈥檛 specify this to be Gorilla Glass, but maintain that it is made in close co-operation with Corning (makers of Gorilla Glass). I鈥檓 assuming this is the same Corning Concore glass that the Mi 4 uses. Nonetheless, the glass doesn鈥檛 seem as scratch proof as the Mi 4; I鈥檝e already managed to find a little scratch on the screen.Besides that, the front of the phone is really elegant, yet simplistic. I鈥檝e been using the white version of the phone, so the 鈥榩anda effect鈥 of a black front and white rear looks really attractive. There鈥檚 not a lot of black though, it鈥檚 only on the top and bottom of the screen — and the size bezels of course.The earpiece grill is rather tiny, which goes well with the design in my books. Compared to the Mi 4, the Mi 4i certainly looks and feels much better, there鈥檚 no two ways about it. Xiaomi did sort of get it wrong with the Mi 4 on the design, some would feel.Coming back to the Mi 4i, the rear of the phone is a scaled-down rear of the Mi Note. The camera positioning has changed from the Mi 4鈥檚 center, and is now on the top left — which again, looks better in my opinion. Also noticeable are the dual LEDs, both of which throw different tones of white light.The rear also makes home for the speaker grill, right below the Mi logo. Xiaomi Mi 4i Review: ScreenIt鈥檚 pure coincidence that you鈥檙e reading about the screen of the Mi 4i right after its design and build, for these are the two best things about the phone. The screen is perhaps the best I鈥檝e seen on a 5-inch phone; the OPPO Find 5 comes to mind among other phones with screen almost as good as the Mi 4i鈥檚.It鈥檚 a 5-inch 1920 x 1080p panel if you aren鈥檛 aware, same as the Mi 4, yet better. The color reproduction on the Mi 4i is a little more saturated than the Mi 4, but not enough to make it oversaturated. Xiaomi have found the recipe to making a brilliant display with the Mi 4i. Also, quality control seems to be right up there; there鈥檚 no bright spots, light bleeding or dead pixels on the screen.In general, the screen is a complete treat on the Mi 4i, and is something which will invariably leave you surprised, at least at the first look.Xiaomi Mi 4i Review: PerformanceThe last one year or so has been about this new category of phones that you know as the mid-range flagships. The Mi 4i is perhaps the best specimen from that category, with a flagship-level design and form, and mid-range processing.As you may have guessed from my previous statement, the performance of the Mi 4i isn鈥檛 really flagship-level. In fact, I found the Snapdragon 615 (second-gen) to have a performance that tends more towards poor than average. On paper, the Snapdragon 615 might look like a competitor to the MT6752 or the MT6732, but it鈥檚 a completely different story in the real world.But then again, the Yu Yureka uses the same chipset (in fact, the older generation thereof) and yet manages to impress with the performance. Does this mean that the resource-heavy MIUI ROM is taking a toll on performance? Yes. MIUI is full of animations and other intuitive features that make it very usable, but at the cost of performance.So if you only use your phone for things like taking pictures, surfing the web and say some IM, the Mi 4i would probably suffice for you. However, if you remotely use multiple apps at once, I鈥檇 strongly recommend you to look elsewhere, unless you鈥檙e open to flashing custom ROMs on the device.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramAs you might already have read, the phone does heat up quite a bit too. Xiaomi keeps pushing updates every now and then, which claim to 鈥榝ix overheating issues鈥? but not a lot of progress has been made on that front. Clearly, the Mi 4i isn鈥檛 one for the power user.Here鈥檚 some benchmark scores that the Mi 4i manages.AnTuTu: 37,350Quadrant Standard: 24,234Geekbench 3 Single Core: 700Geekbench 3 Multi Core: 2,692Xiaomi Mi 4i Review: CameraThe Mi 4i inherits the camera tech from the Mi Note, so it is supposed to be pretty good. You will be happy to know that it is quite a good camera; I haven鈥檛 used the Mi Note enough to tell if the Mi 4i has a camera as good, but it鈥檚 a mighty fine camera phone in itself.Just to run through the specifications of the camera – the rear is a 13 mega-pixel Sony/Samsung camera with a 5 element lens, an f/2.0 aperture and dual tone flash. Sure, we鈥檝e had phones with f/1.8 and even larger apertures, but somehow the Mi 4i still manages to perform pretty well even in low lights. On the front, the phone has a 5 mega-pixel f/1.8 shooter with an 80-degree wide angle.Almost any decent phone will give you good results in daylight, but what sets a good camera apart from an average one is the low light performance. As you see from the samples below, the Mi 4i does a great job in the night and other low-light scenarios too. Xiaomi Mi 4i Review: BatteryIf you aren鈥檛 aware yet, you might be surprised to know that the Mi 4i comes with the largest smartphone battery Xiaomi have ever shipped. This means that the Mi 4i has a bigger battery than the Mi Note AND the Mi Note Pro, which is pretty weird. And impressive, for the Mi 4i.It鈥檚 a 3120mAh non-removable cell which performs really well. Somehow you don鈥檛 get OnePlus One-levels of battery performance, but what the Mi 4i does with the 3120mAh cell is something you wouldn鈥檛 really mind, and perhaps like if you鈥檙e one who knows what to expect from a $200 phone.With non-hardware intensive usage, you鈥檒l get close to 6 hours of screen on time with every charge, which is pretty impressive for a phone that doesn鈥檛 cost a bomb. I鈥檓 also pretty sure that if Xiaomi manage to fix the heating problems (up to an extent), the battery life would get even better, as Le Chatelier’s principle states.In general, the Mi 4i will last you a day pretty much regardless of how you use your phone. In my case (virtually no gaming), I got close to a day and a half on a single charge on most days.Xiaomi Mi 4i Review: ReceptionCell radio, WiFi and GPS reception isn鈥檛 usually a problem with companies like Xiaomi. In fact, from the Xiaomi phones I鈥檝e used, I鈥檝e come to realize that the company uses some of the best antennas on its phones, and the Mi 4i is no exception. WiFi performance is pretty strong despite having a lot of WiFi interference. GPS and cell radio reception too, are satisfactory. GPS did take a while to get its first fix, but since then performance has been much better.Xiaomi Mi 4i Review: ROMThis is where I believe the problems of the Mi 4i lie. A brilliant phone otherwise, the device is let down by stutters every now and then along with apps being force closed. 2GB of RAM should usually be enough for usual daily activities, but that doesn鈥檛 really seem to be the case with the Mi 4i.Besides the stutters and FC鈥檚, the MIUI 6 ROM (based on Android 5.0.2 Lollipop) is a visual treat as usual. Of course there is the iOS inspiration, but MIUI is a ROM born out of the need to incorporate more features, while on the other hand, makers (especially Chinese) have been dishing out new ROMs just for the sake of it.Xiaomi do provide regular OTAs, but it looks like some of them are pushed in a hurry. For example, the OTA update to MIUI 6.5.5.0 literally rendered the front camera unusable for those who did install the update.For example, take a look at the picture below, taken on the front camera of the Mi 4i (it wasn’t particularly a low-light聽situation).聽The issue is quite a massive one, and its surprising the testers didn’t report this to Xiaomi before the update went live.聽More info on the issue can be found on the MIUI forums.This isn鈥檛 something you expect from a company like Xiaomi.Xiaomi Mi 4i Review: ConclusionThe Mi 4i scores heavily on build, display and camera, but is unfortunately let down on performance. At the first look, the phone is bound to impress you with all its glitz, but as you start using the phone and install your usual suite of apps, the disappointment slowly creeps in. It wouldn鈥檛 be unfair to say that the US$110 Elephone P6000 with the MT6732 feels a lot smoother in performance than the Mi 4i.For the first few hours with the phone, I truly believed I was looking at my next 鈥榙aily driver鈥橕 but as it turns out, there鈥檚 going to be more waiting to do.Xiaomi still have the opportunity to make it up with frequent and effective software updates, which they seem to be doing. Nonetheless, if you are looking for a 5-inch phone in the market and want a Xiaomi, the Mi 4 with the reduced prices, in my book, is a much better bet despite a lower quality screen and perhaps a camera that doesn鈥檛 quite match the Mi 4i鈥檚.

Xiaomi says that their Mi 4i is a 鈥榝lagship level phone鈥? In fact, the Mi 4i launch was one of the grandest as far as Xiaomi are concerned, and it was the first device from the company to have been launched outside its home country of China.The phone has a brilliant form factor, and is made out of materials that haven鈥檛 been used on $200 phones before. Does this mean the phone is the best in its range? Lets find out.Xiaomi Mi 4i Review: DesignThe Mi 4i is, according to me, the best designed Xiaomi phone yet. Of course, if you鈥檙e a phablet guy you鈥檇 disagree; but if you prefer one handed smartphone usage, the Mi 4i is like a dream come true. It hardly feels like a 5-inch phone, and with the comfortable and grippy back, the phone fits your hand like a charm. In more ways than one, the Mi 4i will remind you of the iPhone 5C. It鈥檚 made out of polycarbonate, and is second to the Mi 4 just like the 5C is to the 5S. But of course, the Mi 4i is MUCH cheaper and it runs Android (albeit with a skin that reminds you of the iPhone anyway).The Mi 4i is lighter and thinner than the metal clad Mi 4, and you鈥檒l realize that within a few seconds with the phone.As usual for most phones, the entire front is covered in glass. Xiaomi don鈥檛 specify this to be Gorilla Glass, but maintain that it is made in close co-operation with Corning (makers of Gorilla Glass). I鈥檓 assuming this is the same Corning Concore glass that the Mi 4 uses. Nonetheless, the glass doesn鈥檛 seem as scratch proof as the Mi 4; I鈥檝e already managed to find a little scratch on the screen.Besides that, the front of the phone is really elegant, yet simplistic. I鈥檝e been using the white version of the phone, so the 鈥榩anda effect鈥 of a black front and white rear looks really attractive. There鈥檚 not a lot of black though, it鈥檚 only on the top and bottom of the screen — and the size bezels of course.The earpiece grill is rather tiny, which goes well with the design in my books. Compared to the Mi 4, the Mi 4i certainly looks and feels much better, there鈥檚 no two ways about it. Xiaomi did sort of get it wrong with the Mi 4 on the design, some would feel.Coming back to the Mi 4i, the rear of the phone is a scaled-down rear of the Mi Note. The camera positioning has changed from the Mi 4鈥檚 center, and is now on the top left — which again, looks better in my opinion. Also noticeable are the dual LEDs, both of which throw different tones of white light.The rear also makes home for the speaker grill, right below the Mi logo. Xiaomi Mi 4i Review: ScreenIt鈥檚 pure coincidence that you鈥檙e reading about the screen of the Mi 4i right after its design and build, for these are the two best things about the phone. The screen is perhaps the best I鈥檝e seen on a 5-inch phone; the OPPO Find 5 comes to mind among other phones with screen almost as good as the Mi 4i鈥檚.It鈥檚 a 5-inch 1920 x 1080p panel if you aren鈥檛 aware, same as the Mi 4, yet better. The color reproduction on the Mi 4i is a little more saturated than the Mi 4, but not enough to make it oversaturated. Xiaomi have found the recipe to making a brilliant display with the Mi 4i. Also, quality control seems to be right up there; there鈥檚 no bright spots, light bleeding or dead pixels on the screen.In general, the screen is a complete treat on the Mi 4i, and is something which will invariably leave you surprised, at least at the first look.Xiaomi Mi 4i Review: PerformanceThe last one year or so has been about this new category of phones that you know as the mid-range flagships. The Mi 4i is perhaps the best specimen from that category, with a flagship-level design and form, and mid-range processing.As you may have guessed from my previous statement, the performance of the Mi 4i isn鈥檛 really flagship-level. In fact, I found the Snapdragon 615 (second-gen) to have a performance that tends more towards poor than average. On paper, the Snapdragon 615 might look like a competitor to the MT6752 or the MT6732, but it鈥檚 a completely different story in the real world.But then again, the Yu Yureka uses the same chipset (in fact, the older generation thereof) and yet manages to impress with the performance. Does this mean that the resource-heavy MIUI ROM is taking a toll on performance? Yes. MIUI is full of animations and other intuitive features that make it very usable, but at the cost of performance.So if you only use your phone for things like taking pictures, surfing the web and say some IM, the Mi 4i would probably suffice for you. However, if you remotely use multiple apps at once, I鈥檇 strongly recommend you to look elsewhere, unless you鈥檙e open to flashing custom ROMs on the device.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramAs you might already have read, the phone does heat up quite a bit too. Xiaomi keeps pushing updates every now and then, which claim to 鈥榝ix overheating issues鈥? but not a lot of progress has been made on that front. Clearly, the Mi 4i isn鈥檛 one for the power user.Here鈥檚 some benchmark scores that the Mi 4i manages.AnTuTu: 37,350Quadrant Standard: 24,234Geekbench 3 Single Core: 700Geekbench 3 Multi Core: 2,692Xiaomi Mi 4i Review: CameraThe Mi 4i inherits the camera tech from the Mi Note, so it is supposed to be pretty good. You will be happy to know that it is quite a good camera; I haven鈥檛 used the Mi Note enough to tell if the Mi 4i has a camera as good, but it鈥檚 a mighty fine camera phone in itself.Just to run through the specifications of the camera – the rear is a 13 mega-pixel Sony/Samsung camera with a 5 element lens, an f/2.0 aperture and dual tone flash. Sure, we鈥檝e had phones with f/1.8 and even larger apertures, but somehow the Mi 4i still manages to perform pretty well even in low lights. On the front, the phone has a 5 mega-pixel f/1.8 shooter with an 80-degree wide angle.Almost any decent phone will give you good results in daylight, but what sets a good camera apart from an average one is the low light performance. As you see from the samples below, the Mi 4i does a great job in the night and other low-light scenarios too. Xiaomi Mi 4i Review: BatteryIf you aren鈥檛 aware yet, you might be surprised to know that the Mi 4i comes with the largest smartphone battery Xiaomi have ever shipped. This means that the Mi 4i has a bigger battery than the Mi Note AND the Mi Note Pro, which is pretty weird. And impressive, for the Mi 4i.It鈥檚 a 3120mAh non-removable cell which performs really well. Somehow you don鈥檛 get OnePlus One-levels of battery performance, but what the Mi 4i does with the 3120mAh cell is something you wouldn鈥檛 really mind, and perhaps like if you鈥檙e one who knows what to expect from a $200 phone.With non-hardware intensive usage, you鈥檒l get close to 6 hours of screen on time with every charge, which is pretty impressive for a phone that doesn鈥檛 cost a bomb. I鈥檓 also pretty sure that if Xiaomi manage to fix the heating problems (up to an extent), the battery life would get even better, as Le Chatelier’s principle states.In general, the Mi 4i will last you a day pretty much regardless of how you use your phone. In my case (virtually no gaming), I got close to a day and a half on a single charge on most days.Xiaomi Mi 4i Review: ReceptionCell radio, WiFi and GPS reception isn鈥檛 usually a problem with companies like Xiaomi. In fact, from the Xiaomi phones I鈥檝e used, I鈥檝e come to realize that the company uses some of the best antennas on its phones, and the Mi 4i is no exception. WiFi performance is pretty strong despite having a lot of WiFi interference. GPS and cell radio reception too, are satisfactory. GPS did take a while to get its first fix, but since then performance has been much better.Xiaomi Mi 4i Review: ROMThis is where I believe the problems of the Mi 4i lie. A brilliant phone otherwise, the device is let down by stutters every now and then along with apps being force closed. 2GB of RAM should usually be enough for usual daily activities, but that doesn鈥檛 really seem to be the case with the Mi 4i.Besides the stutters and FC鈥檚, the MIUI 6 ROM (based on Android 5.0.2 Lollipop) is a visual treat as usual. Of course there is the iOS inspiration, but MIUI is a ROM born out of the need to incorporate more features, while on the other hand, makers (especially Chinese) have been dishing out new ROMs just for the sake of it.Xiaomi do provide regular OTAs, but it looks like some of them are pushed in a hurry. For example, the OTA update to MIUI 6.5.5.0 literally rendered the front camera unusable for those who did install the update.For example, take a look at the picture below, taken on the front camera of the Mi 4i (it wasn’t particularly a low-light聽situation).聽The issue is quite a massive one, and its surprising the testers didn’t report this to Xiaomi before the update went live.聽More info on the issue can be found on the MIUI forums.This isn鈥檛 something you expect from a company like Xiaomi.Xiaomi Mi 4i Review: ConclusionThe Mi 4i scores heavily on build, display and camera, but is unfortunately let down on performance. At the first look, the phone is bound to impress you with all its glitz, but as you start using the phone and install your usual suite of apps, the disappointment slowly creeps in. It wouldn鈥檛 be unfair to say that the US$110 Elephone P6000 with the MT6732 feels a lot smoother in performance than the Mi 4i.For the first few hours with the phone, I truly believed I was looking at my next 鈥榙aily driver鈥橕 but as it turns out, there鈥檚 going to be more waiting to do.Xiaomi still have the opportunity to make it up with frequent and effective software updates, which they seem to be doing. Nonetheless, if you are looking for a 5-inch phone in the market and want a Xiaomi, the Mi 4 with the reduced prices, in my book, is a much better bet despite a lower quality screen and perhaps a camera that doesn鈥檛 quite match the Mi 4i鈥檚.Away from the madness that鈥檚 happening around a few phones such as the Elephone P7000, Oukitel U8 and more, China鈥檚 Mstar announced a phone rather worthy of attention – the Mstar S700.Unlike the phones that have been trending lately (some of which are yet to go on sale, and another some which are yet to be produced), the S700 is a phone that is made to do things, and not a lot else. It costs well under $200 and features almost the same hardware as some other more expensive phones. Is it the one you should buy this year? Lets find out in the Mstar S700 review!Mstar S700 Review: Specifications5.5-inch 1280 x 720p display1.7GHz octa-core 64-bit MT6752 processor2GB RAM16GB ROM, expandableAndroid 5.0 Lollipop13 mega-pixel rear camera5 mega-pixel front camera3000mAh batteryFingerprint sensorFDD-LTE: 800MHz, 1800MHz, 2100MHz, 2600MHz;聽3G: WCDMA 850MHz, WCDMA 900MHz, WCDMA 1900MHz, WCDMA 2100MHz;聽2G: GSM 850MHz, GSM 900MHz, GSM 1800MHz, GSM 1900MHzMstar S700 Review: DesignLet鈥檚 start off with design. Chinese phones look better than ever, and are built more meticulously than even before. The Mstar S700 features a very straightforward, easy design that is somewhat reminiscent of older-gen generic Chinese phones. It isn鈥檛 the best looking phone in its price range, but as you shall read in other parts of this review, that isn鈥檛 what it was made to do anyway.The phone is essentially a rectangular brick with a metal frame around it. In fact if you look closely, you鈥檒l find that the Mstar S700 shares a lot of its design features Mlais M7.The front is entirely made out of a slab of glass, which covers, the screen, the front camera, the usual suite of sensors and the capacitive buttons. The buttons are: (left to right) menu, home and back. Unfortunately, despite being a Lollipop phone, the S700 doesn鈥檛 have a recent apps button but a menu key. I鈥檓 sure that can be fixed via software, but a recent apps button would鈥檝e added value for the user.Also, the capacitive buttons aren鈥檛 back lit, which is a bit of a shame. They are, however, marked which glossy silver so you can find them in daylight. You鈥檙e on your own, however, in the dark.The earpiece on the top is in line with the glass, which is something I鈥檓 personally a big fan of. When that isn鈥檛 the case, it is very easy to fill the earpiece duct with dust that is impossible to remove. Chamfered metal edges give the phone personality, and also make the S700 extremely comfortable to hold. The non-chamfered parts of the edges are coated in matte grey, which again makes the phone look a lot better.The rear cover feels soft to the touch and provides nice grip, and I鈥檝e never really had the trouble of the phone slipping off of my hands鈥 which happens a lot with devices like the Gionee Elife S7.On the rear, you also find the Elephone P7000 fingerprint sensor below the camera. The camera lens does protrude a bit, but I don鈥檛 think at a level you should worry about.In a nutshell, the Mstar S700 does have a neat and effective design without anything overdone as such. Mstar S700 Review: ScreenThis is probably the part where the final score of the Mstar S700 will take a hit. The screen is a 5.5-inch 720p panel, which isn鈥檛 up to par with other phones in its range. The screen has a permanent blue tint to it, something which will bother you for the initial part of your usage of the S700. Eventually you will grow used to it, but if you happen to compare it with other phones, you will wish for a better panel.There鈥檚 also no MiraVision settings as well since this is a Lollipop ROM, so customization options are very limited (hopefully only for now). The overall difference between the lowest and highest level of brightness too isn鈥檛 as much as you鈥檇 like; I鈥檓 hoping all of this is fixed by software updates.Other than those issues, the display is quite OK with the viewing angles and such. If only it didn鈥檛 have the blue tint!Mstar S700 Review: Hardware and PerformanceGizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramLets get to the meat of the matter. If you do purchase this phone, it will be for this section. And I鈥檓 happy to say that the phone does impress; it is powered by the MediaTek MT6752 octa-core 64-bit SoC and has 2GB of RAM. As mentioned before, it comes with Android Lollipop out of the box, which is again something impressive, but not uncommon. It appears as though there are some optimizations from KitKat that are yet to be taken to Lollipop for MT6752 phones. I say so because the Ecoo E04 that we reviewed some weeks back ran KitKat, and it was easily the best phone in its range (before the Lollipop update, I鈥檓 yet to follow up on that).Performance in general is fairly impressive; if you haven鈥檛 purchased a phone in a year or so, you will easily be blown away with what this $170 phone can do. It is a fast and snappy phone, and thanks to the vanilla Android ROM that it ships with, there鈥檚 no bloatware to slow it down.One anomaly that I did face was when the battery level fell below 15% or so. The phone starts to become slow and stuttery; it is something I also faced with the Ulefone Be Touch, so it is perhaps something which is the result of the MT6752 and Android Lollipop paired together. Possibly.Something you should also note is that the S700 does heat up a little around the camera region when used extensively. Among the Ecoo E04, Gionee Elife S7 and this (MT6752 phones), this is perhaps the one that heats up the most. Again, it isn鈥檛 Snapdragon 615-level heating, but it鈥檚 there; something you should be aware of.Mstar S700 Review: Fingerprint SensorI found the fingerprint sensor to be a hit-or-a-miss sort of a thing. When it does recognize (the existence of a finger), it is fairly accurate, perhaps a % less than the Ulefone Be Touch; but there are times when the rear sensor simply doesn鈥檛 acknowledge the presence of your finger, and that鈥檚 when it becomes frustrating. Of course, you can unlock the phone with the alternate password, but that isn鈥檛 as much fun鈥 and inconvenient.Mstar S700 Review: Battery According to the specifications of this phone, the device ships with a 3000mAh battery鈥 and I call the bull on that. It is probably something between 2200-2500mAh tops, as the battery life of this phone reflects too.With my normal usage pattern (no gaming, lots of browsing, lot of IM, some email, feed reader, etc.), the phone lives from morning to evening with around 3 hours of screen on time. A 3000mAh battery on a 5.5-inch phone will return somewhere close to 4 hours with that type of usage, which the S700 clearly doesn鈥檛.Mstar S700 Review: CameraThe S700 has a 13 mega-pixel camera, which as you would鈥檝e guessed does seem like an extrapolated number. Nonetheless, it is the picture quality that matters, and the phone takes some decent pictures.Focus speed isn鈥檛 bad at all, and so is the shutter. It comes with the usual features, including face beauty, panorama, live photo, and more. The camera does decent HDR pictures, but it does take quite a while to process and 鈥榮titch鈥 the images.Take a look at some images taken on the S700. Mstar S700 Review: Connectivity and OtherThe phone performs fairly well when it comes to radio. This isn鈥檛 just limited to cellular connectivity, but it also includes WiFi and GPS鈥 to put things into perspective, it does the aforementioned better than the Ulefone Be Touch.Audio from the earpiece is fairly clear, but you have to be careful about not blocking the speaker with your ear if you want to hear what your friend is saying.One major problem with the phone is that it comes with partitioned memory, which leaves you with very limited space to install apps. You will most certainly come across the 鈥榥ot enough memory鈥 error. There are workarounds, but again, you鈥檙e on your own with that.Mstar S700 Review: ConclusionDespite the obvious flaws (battery and screen being two of them), the Mstar S700 is a decent phone, especially considering the performance it has on offer. The fingerprint sensor is perhaps the phones selling point, but the device could do with a price cut. At the price at which it sells for ($170 at the time of writing this review), the JiaYu S3 seems like a close competitor, especially given the software support the S3 has.Mstar and its fellow retailers might want to give the phone a price cut to somewhere around the $150 mark to make the phone a beautiful package for the money. Until then, it鈥檒l be fingerprint sensor vs. JiaYu S3 (or even the Ecoo E04 for that matter, which has an extra gig of RAM for around $10 extra).

If you don鈥檛 have enough money for the real Samsung S6, and you are happy to live with a clone the $110 Landvo S6 could be the answer or could it?At $110 the Landvo S6 is certainly a cheap phone, but does this clone warrant further inspection. Keep reading our mini review for more details.Landvo S6 Review: DesignThere鈥檚 simply is no beating around the bush with this one, the Landvo S6 is a clone of the flat screen Samsung S6. It really is the a 1:1 replica of the look of the S6. The camera location is the same, the rounded edges are the same and it even boast an alloy chassis.At $110, clone or not, an alloy chassis on a phone costing this little is a huge bonus, and it actually looks rather well machined and finished. It certainly doesn鈥檛 look like the knock offs of yesteryear that鈥檚 for sure. I suppose 111 minutes of polishing really does make a difference. The front of the device has a 5.1 HD display, with a claimed 5 mega-pixel front camera above it and LED notification light. There is also a rounded physical home button like the Samsung S6. It鈥檚 just a physical home button though, there is no fingerprint scanner.Volume buttons are located on the left side of the alloy chassis with dual nano SIM card trays and power button on the right. An IR remote in the head of the frame is a neat feature at this point. A 3.5mm headphone jack , USB and single speaker are all located in the base.Turn the Landvo S6 over and we have the same protruding camera design as the Samsung S6. To the right of that is a single LED flash and heart rate monitor. The rear of the phone looks like glass but is actually just plastic and on our model the corners do not sit flush. You can easily get your finger nail under there to prise the rear up and see the double-sided tape holding the rear on. This doesn鈥檛 really bode well for the overall longevity of the device.Also, our review phone rattles! There is something loose in their鈥?/p>Landvo S6 Review: ScreenThe display on the S6 is a 5.1-inch 1280 x 720 display, or a HD panel in other words. Like the alloy chassis, the HD panel really is a neat feature for Landvo to offer at this low price. Touch response is good, and colours are nice and bright.The max brightness of the screen isn鈥檛 the highest we have seen. I assume Landvo have limited this on purpose to get the best battery life possible.Landvo S6 Review: HardwareSo with an alloy chassis, HD display and heart rate monitor, how much is left in the $110 budget for the rest of the hardware in the Landvo S6? Well if we were to believe the specifications that Landvo publish then it would seem that they have managed to add a few additional high end features to their phone. According to the published specifications the main camera on the S6 is a 16 mega-pixel and the front a 5 mega-pixel.Fortunately we know enough about the cost of phones, and the compatibility of the rest of the hardware to quickly figure out this isn鈥檛 quite true. Sure the rear camera can take interpolated images at 16MP, but the sensor is actually an 8 mega-pixel. We know this as we have seen the real specs, but it would be simple to figure out it鈥檚 not a 16MP unit as the SoC in the phone cannot support such high-resolution cameras.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThe SoC in the Landvo S6 is last years quad-core MT6582 chipset. This processor is a 32bit chip running at 1.3Ghz, and while it鈥檚 a good performer it is a little off the mark for 2015 due to the lack of LTE support.RAM is just 1GB, which would normally be fine on such an affordable phone, but the Landvo S6 has so much crammed in to the faux Touchwhizz ROM, it really needs more RAM to be smooth. A stock ROM option could really help.Mentioned above is the fact there is a heart rate monitor built in to the rear of the phone. Try as I might I simply cannot get the thing to work. It sees that I have touched the sensor, but fails to give me an accurate reading. It either tells me my heart isn’t beating, or it is beating so fast I should be on the way to the hospital.The last piece of hardware is the 2550mAh battery. Now that really is a nice size battery for a slim alloy phone with low power processor, just 1GB RAM and and no LTE, but its not true. The actual battery size of the phone is closer to 1600mAh good for about a day of normal use.Landvo S6 Review: ROMAndroid 4.4.2 comes as standard on the Landvo S6 not Lollipop, and really that doesn鈥檛 matter as the interface has been so completely changed and customised. Landvo have created a complete copy of Samsung鈥檚 own Touchwhizz ROM which is both impressive and confusing.What is impressive is the sheer amount of features the ROM has. It really does look like Landvo simply uploaded a genuine Samsung ROM to their phone. It鈥檚 confusing because why would anyone want Touchwhizz? It is by far one of the most terrible looking ROMs on the planet and it is so full of bloat and junk it is unbelievable. Remember this phone has just 1GB RAM and last years quad-core chip, it simply cannot handle everything that the ROM is asking of it. Even the lock screen is laggy and slow! Scrolling in the menus is slow, and even worse when visiting sites.A stock Android Kitkat installation would have been a much better way to go.Landvo S6 Review: CameraThe camera app in the Landvo S6 has features for panorama, auto, beauty mode and 鈥渟hot & more鈥 . Like anything on the phone switching between these modes takes a good second to register.The focus speed is just as we expect from a low-cost phone, and the lens allows for some really very close up photos. Taking photos is pretty fast too, but the shutter sounds coupled with the poor external speaker quality is just terrible. If I had to describe the sound it is what I imagine an 8bit cat would sound like if it were recorded sneezing on a NES.Photos sample taken with the phone are below. Take a look and let us know what you think. Landvo S6 Review: ConclusionI don鈥檛 quite understand what Landvo are trying to do here. They have made a $110 phone with some nice details like the alloy frame and HD display, but then based it on a design of a premium phone and its features, plus been a little dishonest in their specifications and marketing.Its clear from the frame that Landvo have the capabilities to build a decent alloy phone, and the fact that they have HD panels at this cost means they have a supply chain. Why not then just build their own device using their own design and build their own brand reputation?If you don鈥檛 have enough money for the real Samsung S6, and you are happy to live with a clone the $110 Landvo S6 could be the answer or could it?At $110 the Landvo S6 is certainly a cheap phone, but does this clone warrant further inspection. Keep reading our mini review for more details.Landvo S6 Review: DesignThere鈥檚 simply is no beating around the bush with this one, the Landvo S6 is a clone of the flat screen Samsung S6. It really is the a 1:1 replica of the look of the S6. The camera location is the same, the rounded edges are the same and it even boast an alloy chassis.At $110, clone or not, an alloy chassis on a phone costing this little is a huge bonus, and it actually looks rather well machined and finished. It certainly doesn鈥檛 look like the knock offs of yesteryear that鈥檚 for sure. I suppose 111 minutes of polishing really does make a difference. The front of the device has a 5.1 HD display, with a claimed 5 mega-pixel front camera above it and LED notification light. There is also a rounded physical home button like the Samsung S6. It鈥檚 just a physical home button though, there is no fingerprint scanner.Volume buttons are located on the left side of the alloy chassis with dual nano SIM card trays and power button on the right. An IR remote in the head of the frame is a neat feature at this point. A 3.5mm headphone jack , USB and single speaker are all located in the base.Turn the Landvo S6 over and we have the same protruding camera design as the Samsung S6. To the right of that is a single LED flash and heart rate monitor. The rear of the phone looks like glass but is actually just plastic and on our model the corners do not sit flush. You can easily get your finger nail under there to prise the rear up and see the double-sided tape holding the rear on. This doesn鈥檛 really bode well for the overall longevity of the device.Also, our review phone rattles! There is something loose in their鈥?/p>Landvo S6 Review: ScreenThe display on the S6 is a 5.1-inch 1280 x 720 display, or a HD panel in other words. Like the alloy chassis, the HD panel really is a neat feature for Landvo to offer at this low price. Touch response is good, and colours are nice and bright.The max brightness of the screen isn鈥檛 the highest we have seen. I assume Landvo have limited this on purpose to get the best battery life possible.Landvo S6 Review: HardwareSo with an alloy chassis, HD display and heart rate monitor, how much is left in the $110 budget for the rest of the hardware in the Landvo S6? Well if we were to believe the specifications that Landvo publish then it would seem that they have managed to add a few additional high end features to their phone. According to the published specifications the main camera on the S6 is a 16 mega-pixel and the front a 5 mega-pixel.Fortunately we know enough about the cost of phones, and the compatibility of the rest of the hardware to quickly figure out this isn鈥檛 quite true. Sure the rear camera can take interpolated images at 16MP, but the sensor is actually an 8 mega-pixel. We know this as we have seen the real specs, but it would be simple to figure out it鈥檚 not a 16MP unit as the SoC in the phone cannot support such high-resolution cameras.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThe SoC in the Landvo S6 is last years quad-core MT6582 chipset. This processor is a 32bit chip running at 1.3Ghz, and while it鈥檚 a good performer it is a little off the mark for 2015 due to the lack of LTE support.RAM is just 1GB, which would normally be fine on such an affordable phone, but the Landvo S6 has so much crammed in to the faux Touchwhizz ROM, it really needs more RAM to be smooth. A stock ROM option could really help.Mentioned above is the fact there is a heart rate monitor built in to the rear of the phone. Try as I might I simply cannot get the thing to work. It sees that I have touched the sensor, but fails to give me an accurate reading. It either tells me my heart isn’t beating, or it is beating so fast I should be on the way to the hospital.The last piece of hardware is the 2550mAh battery. Now that really is a nice size battery for a slim alloy phone with low power processor, just 1GB RAM and and no LTE, but its not true. The actual battery size of the phone is closer to 1600mAh good for about a day of normal use.Landvo S6 Review: ROMAndroid 4.4.2 comes as standard on the Landvo S6 not Lollipop, and really that doesn鈥檛 matter as the interface has been so completely changed and customised. Landvo have created a complete copy of Samsung鈥檚 own Touchwhizz ROM which is both impressive and confusing.What is impressive is the sheer amount of features the ROM has. It really does look like Landvo simply uploaded a genuine Samsung ROM to their phone. It鈥檚 confusing because why would anyone want Touchwhizz? It is by far one of the most terrible looking ROMs on the planet and it is so full of bloat and junk it is unbelievable. Remember this phone has just 1GB RAM and last years quad-core chip, it simply cannot handle everything that the ROM is asking of it. Even the lock screen is laggy and slow! Scrolling in the menus is slow, and even worse when visiting sites.A stock Android Kitkat installation would have been a much better way to go.Landvo S6 Review: CameraThe camera app in the Landvo S6 has features for panorama, auto, beauty mode and 鈥渟hot & more鈥 . Like anything on the phone switching between these modes takes a good second to register.The focus speed is just as we expect from a low-cost phone, and the lens allows for some really very close up photos. Taking photos is pretty fast too, but the shutter sounds coupled with the poor external speaker quality is just terrible. If I had to describe the sound it is what I imagine an 8bit cat would sound like if it were recorded sneezing on a NES.Photos sample taken with the phone are below. Take a look and let us know what you think. Landvo S6 Review: ConclusionI don鈥檛 quite understand what Landvo are trying to do here. They have made a $110 phone with some nice details like the alloy frame and HD display, but then based it on a design of a premium phone and its features, plus been a little dishonest in their specifications and marketing.Its clear from the frame that Landvo have the capabilities to build a decent alloy phone, and the fact that they have HD panels at this cost means they have a supply chain. Why not then just build their own device using their own design and build their own brand reputation?ViewSonic is a name that you would usually associate with LCD monitors, perhaps from the past. If you weren鈥檛 aware, the company also does smartphone, and the V500 happens to be one of them.The V500 is very much an entry-level to mid-range device. That is exactly the category that has seen a boom in the recent months; no one鈥檚 really spending US$500-600 to get a flagship phone anymore, or so it appears.The ViewSonic V500 comes with a 5.5-inch full HD display, and is powered by the Snapdragon 400 SoC. How good is the phone? Let鈥檚 find that out in the ViewSonic V500 review!ViewSonic V500 Review: DesignThere鈥檚 hardly anything to say about the design of this phone, for it鈥檚 a phone with a very generic bar-ish design. It does come with a couple of rear covers that try to add to the style quotient, however.The front of the phone is covered in glass (no mention of Gorilla Glass here), with the most space obviously being taken by the 5.5-inch 1080p panel. The setting is usual, nothing out of the ordinary; an earpiece on top (next to the usual suite of sensors), a 2 mega-pixel front camera and below the screen, the three capacitive buttons. Since this is a KitKat phone, the leftmost capacitive button is for accessing the menu rather than recent apps.Despite lacking Gorilla Glass, the screen coating on the V500 seems robust enough to be used without a screen protector. Through the weeks of usage I鈥檓 yet to encounter a scratch on the screen, so I assume it is perfectly safe to use it without a screen protector.The most impressive bit about the V500 is the metal lip around the screen. Phones that sell for around US$100 hardly feature any metal, and the ones that do hardly are generous with usage. The case here is different, and the V500 is made with a nice chunky yet stylish metal edge, with a glossy coating.The edges of the phone besides the metal are made up of an impressive rubbery-plastic combo material, which give you a nice grip when the phone is held in the hands. The rear, as mentioned, comes in two options — one with the same rubbery coating, and the other with a faux leather texture. I found the latter to be plain hideous.Taking off the rear is simple, you only need something to pry at it with. When you do that, the 2500mAh battery slot, 2x SIM slots and a microSD card slot are exposed. Nothing too fancy in here, and the speaker too is a simple single driver at the center below the battery slot. The camera with its single LED flash is found on the top left of the chassis. The camera does poke out of the body ever so slightly, but nothing to worry about.ViewSonic V500 Review: Screen Welcome to the section where you鈥檒l read about the best part of the ViewSonic V500. Yes, the display on the phone is a treat… and that shouldn鈥檛 be a surprise for ViewSonic has been in the display business for a long while. Although the V500 doesn鈥檛 really have the same sized panel as the monitors that the company makes, it does however have the same display quality.The screen is a 5.5-inch 1080p unit. Colors are really natural on the panel, far away from the supersaturated ones of a Super AMOLED screen. The resolution on offer — 1080p — is quite impressive too when you consider that the phone sells for US$110.Viewing angles are up to par and it鈥檚 in all a very nice display. Brightness is satisfactory, but the reflective front glass of the phone means that it can sometimes be a problem when used outdoors.The bezels are surprisingly narrow also, perhaps only a little thicker than the bezel-less Le 1 (of course it isn鈥檛 bezel-less). Like mentioned, the screen is easily the most impressive bit on the V500.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramViewSonic V500 Review: PerformanceIn the age of 64-bit octa-core chips, the Snapdragon 400 certainly sounds lacklustre. Unfortunately, that shows in real life usage also. First, it is disappointing that the phone ships only with Android KitKat and not Lollipop. MediaTek phones which often find themselves criticized for not having Android updates come with Lollipop, so there鈥檚 no excuse for having a KitKat system on the V500. I鈥檓 not sure how popular the V500 is going to be, so there鈥檚 no promise of a killer community support for this one also.The system is still OK-ish for 2D and general UI, but it is really poor for 3D where the effects of an old SoC become more apparent.Here鈥檚 how the phone performs at benchmarks:AnTuTu: 17032Quadrant Standard: 7983Vellamo Browser: 857Vellamo Metal: 738Vellamo Multicore: 912 ViewSonic V500 Review: CameraSmartphone cameras have come a long way, and it isn鈥檛 the flagships, but the entry-level to mid-range phones like the V500 that are representative of this fact. The V500 has a 13 mega-pixel camera that could do with better dynamic ranging, but for what it costs, the phone does a great job.HDR mode deserves a special mention. HDR has saved quite a few otherwise-sub-standard camera phones, but on the V500 it adds to the overall appeal. That said, you must know that the camera app isn鈥檛 the fastest, and HDR especially can be really slow.Take a look at some samples. ViewSonic V500 Review:聽RadioAnother department where the V500 shines. 4G LTE connectivity is one of the phone鈥檚 USPs, and along with that, the V500 does very good cellular connectivity (ex-4G) and has a brilliant WiFi performance. GPS too is up to par, and in fact better than some other phones in the sub-US$150 range we have tested.ViewSonic V500 Review: BatteryThe V500 is a very average phone all round, and the battery part is no different. The 2500mAh battery of the device is enough for around 4-4.5 hours of screen on time. This is a figure that I鈥檝e established with my general usage which includes email, Facebook, WhatsApp, and a lot of Chrome besides some other productivity apps and virtually no gaming. Gaming will reduce the battery life by quite a bit, and the V500 anyway doesn鈥檛 have enough grunt in it to provide for your games. I would鈥檝e liked to see a better battery performance from the V500, but it is possible to make do with what鈥檚 on offer.ViewSonic V500 Review: AudioThe V500 comes with a decent earpiece but the loudspeaker is below par. Audio quality from the earpiece is pretty satisfactory, but it does lack volume. The loudspeaker though, lacks a LOT of volume. It would be fair to say that the loudspeaker is simply of no use — you would use it only in a noisy environment and given the audio output it produces, it won鈥檛 really be of much help, only embarrassment.ViewSonic V500 Review: 聽ConclusionOne word to describe the V500 would be — 鈥榝air鈥? That because the phone does nothing special, but yet somehow manages to be worthy of the asking price. There are, however, better phones in the range — one that comes to mind is the Elephone P6000 which is a brilliant phone for the money. However, if you are among those that worry about brand names, then the V500 could probably make for a decent choice.ViewSonic is a name that you would usually associate with LCD monitors, perhaps from the past. If you weren鈥檛 aware, the company also does smartphone, and the V500 happens to be one of them.The V500 is very much an entry-level to mid-range device. That is exactly the category that has seen a boom in the recent months; no one鈥檚 really spending US$500-600 to get a flagship phone anymore, or so it appears.The ViewSonic V500 comes with a 5.5-inch full HD display, and is powered by the Snapdragon 400 SoC. How good is the phone? Let鈥檚 find that out in the ViewSonic V500 review!ViewSonic V500 Review: DesignThere鈥檚 hardly anything to say about the design of this phone, for it鈥檚 a phone with a very generic bar-ish design. It does come with a couple of rear covers that try to add to the style quotient, however.The front of the phone is covered in glass (no mention of Gorilla Glass here), with the most space obviously being taken by the 5.5-inch 1080p panel. The setting is usual, nothing out of the ordinary; an earpiece on top (next to the usual suite of sensors), a 2 mega-pixel front camera and below the screen, the three capacitive buttons. Since this is a KitKat phone, the leftmost capacitive button is for accessing the menu rather than recent apps.Despite lacking Gorilla Glass, the screen coating on the V500 seems robust enough to be used without a screen protector. Through the weeks of usage I鈥檓 yet to encounter a scratch on the screen, so I assume it is perfectly safe to use it without a screen protector.The most impressive bit about the V500 is the metal lip around the screen. Phones that sell for around US$100 hardly feature any metal, and the ones that do hardly are generous with usage. The case here is different, and the V500 is made with a nice chunky yet stylish metal edge, with a glossy coating.The edges of the phone besides the metal are made up of an impressive rubbery-plastic combo material, which give you a nice grip when the phone is held in the hands. The rear, as mentioned, comes in two options — one with the same rubbery coating, and the other with a faux leather texture. I found the latter to be plain hideous.Taking off the rear is simple, you only need something to pry at it with. When you do that, the 2500mAh battery slot, 2x SIM slots and a microSD card slot are exposed. Nothing too fancy in here, and the speaker too is a simple single driver at the center below the battery slot. The camera with its single LED flash is found on the top left of the chassis. The camera does poke out of the body ever so slightly, but nothing to worry about.ViewSonic V500 Review: Screen Welcome to the section where you鈥檒l read about the best part of the ViewSonic V500. Yes, the display on the phone is a treat… and that shouldn鈥檛 be a surprise for ViewSonic has been in the display business for a long while. Although the V500 doesn鈥檛 really have the same sized panel as the monitors that the company makes, it does however have the same display quality.The screen is a 5.5-inch 1080p unit. Colors are really natural on the panel, far away from the supersaturated ones of a Super AMOLED screen. The resolution on offer — 1080p — is quite impressive too when you consider that the phone sells for US$110.Viewing angles are up to par and it鈥檚 in all a very nice display. Brightness is satisfactory, but the reflective front glass of the phone means that it can sometimes be a problem when used outdoors.The bezels are surprisingly narrow also, perhaps only a little thicker than the bezel-less Le 1 (of course it isn鈥檛 bezel-less). Like mentioned, the screen is easily the most impressive bit on the V500.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramViewSonic V500 Review: PerformanceIn the age of 64-bit octa-core chips, the Snapdragon 400 certainly sounds lacklustre. Unfortunately, that shows in real life usage also. First, it is disappointing that the phone ships only with Android KitKat and not Lollipop. MediaTek phones which often find themselves criticized for not having Android updates come with Lollipop, so there鈥檚 no excuse for having a KitKat system on the V500. I鈥檓 not sure how popular the V500 is going to be, so there鈥檚 no promise of a killer community support for this one also.The system is still OK-ish for 2D and general UI, but it is really poor for 3D where the effects of an old SoC become more apparent.Here鈥檚 how the phone performs at benchmarks:AnTuTu: 17032Quadrant Standard: 7983Vellamo Browser: 857Vellamo Metal: 738Vellamo Multicore: 912 ViewSonic V500 Review: CameraSmartphone cameras have come a long way, and it isn鈥檛 the flagships, but the entry-level to mid-range phones like the V500 that are representative of this fact. The V500 has a 13 mega-pixel camera that could do with better dynamic ranging, but for what it costs, the phone does a great job.HDR mode deserves a special mention. HDR has saved quite a few otherwise-sub-standard camera phones, but on the V500 it adds to the overall appeal. That said, you must know that the camera app isn鈥檛 the fastest, and HDR especially can be really slow.Take a look at some samples. ViewSonic V500 Review:聽RadioAnother department where the V500 shines. 4G LTE connectivity is one of the phone鈥檚 USPs, and along with that, the V500 does very good cellular connectivity (ex-4G) and has a brilliant WiFi performance. GPS too is up to par, and in fact better than some other phones in the sub-US$150 range we have tested.ViewSonic V500 Review: BatteryThe V500 is a very average phone all round, and the battery part is no different. The 2500mAh battery of the device is enough for around 4-4.5 hours of screen on time. This is a figure that I鈥檝e established with my general usage which includes email, Facebook, WhatsApp, and a lot of Chrome besides some other productivity apps and virtually no gaming. Gaming will reduce the battery life by quite a bit, and the V500 anyway doesn鈥檛 have enough grunt in it to provide for your games. I would鈥檝e liked to see a better battery performance from the V500, but it is possible to make do with what鈥檚 on offer.ViewSonic V500 Review: AudioThe V500 comes with a decent earpiece but the loudspeaker is below par. Audio quality from the earpiece is pretty satisfactory, but it does lack volume. The loudspeaker though, lacks a LOT of volume. It would be fair to say that the loudspeaker is simply of no use — you would use it only in a noisy environment and given the audio output it produces, it won鈥檛 really be of much help, only embarrassment.ViewSonic V500 Review: 聽ConclusionOne word to describe the V500 would be — 鈥榝air鈥? That because the phone does nothing special, but yet somehow manages to be worthy of the asking price. There are, however, better phones in the range — one that comes to mind is the Elephone P6000 which is a brilliant phone for the money. However, if you are among those that worry about brand names, then the V500 could probably make for a decent choice.

“All the gear and no idea” is a term we use for someone who has the best of everything but isn’t sure how to use it. That sort of sums up our impression of the Elephone P7000. Find out more in our full review.The Elephone P7000 was/is a phone that was reported on a lot, and looking at the specifications it is easy to say why. The phone has everything you could possibly wan’t from a Chinese phone. 3GB RAM, IMX214 camera (claimed), 5.5-inch 1080 display, large battery, LTE, MT6752 processor and Android Lollipop. Really you can’t want for more, well you couldn’t have asked for more when the P7000 was originally announced (back in December) since then there have been a lot of changes in phone design and there are new Mediatek chipsets to choose.Elephone P7000: Unboxing and first impressionsElephone P7000 Review: DesignJust looking at the design of the Elephone P7000, it is clear where the majority of the budget went in this phone. The P7000 is a very good reminder that we simply cannot have everything at such a low price (yet). In this case the phone has all the hardware right, but the design couldn’t be further off the mark. Imagine if FSO (Google them they were/are a car maker) had decided to build a car with Ferrari engine. Sure it would be fast but it would look like sh$t and handle like a soggy biscuit.The first thing you will notice is the bezels around the display. Elephone have tried to hide them by making them black (the same as the screen when off) and just showing a narrow white bezel on either side. It’s not a narrow black border either but a huge black void all around the screen. It looks ugly and make the 5.5-inch phone significantly large than other 5.5-inch phones, in fact the 5.7-inch Xiaomi Mi Note is only very slightly larger than the Elephone. This is a huge deal. If you were someone who looked at 5.7-inch or 6-inch phones and thought there were too big, well you are going to feel the same about the 5.5-inch Elephone. On the other hand the 5.5-inch LeTV and even the Mlias M7 are much more compact and easy to handle.I like cars so I am going to liken the Elephone P7000 to car design once again. How often have you seen a concept car and thought ‘wow’ only for the production model to look bloated and ‘meh’? (if you can’t think of one take a look at the Chinese MG3). The Elephone P7000 is the same. Renders of the phone looked good, and the final device is obviously based on those renders, but it’s gotten fatter and and longer in the process. It’s not good.So it isn’t a great looking phone, but neither is the Asus Zenfone 2 really isn’t? And I really like that phone. perhaps the P7000 is a gem in other areas?Elephone P7000 Review: BuildHow often do you feel the urge to bend your phone? That’s right you don’t but there are times that your phone is put under similar stress. For example if you put a large phone in your back pocket as it won’t fit in your side pockets (remember the P7000 is bigger than most 5.5-inch devices). What would happen then if you sat down?To test how the phone would survive under these stresses I gave it a go and low and behold the Elephone P7000 bent and has stayed bent. I’m not the only reviewer to test this out as you can see here.鑱絆ut of fariness I also performed the same with the Elephone P7000’s nearest rivals aka the Ulefone Be Touch and Mlais M7, and neither deformed. In fact the Ulefone has鑱給ne hell of a sturdy chassis!Elephone P7000 Review: Performance and SystemWe have established that Elephone have blown the budget on the hardware side of the Elephone P7000 so just how well does it perform? Well if you take a look at the benchmarks you will see that the performance is pretty good. For a phone with 3GB RAM and an octacore Mediatek MT6752 chipset the benchmarks are about right, but benchmarks don’t really mean anything in real world terms.In actual usage the Elephone P7000 suffers from not having the greatest ROM in the world. The poor optimisation of Android 5.0 Lollipop on the device means the system doesn’t feel as smooth as it should and suffers from bugs. The good news is that Elephone are bring OTA updates to the phone and with each one the P7000 gets smoother and more stable. Just how long it will take for Elephone to get it all sorted and running to a point we are making the most of the hardware is another question.鑱紸lso keep in mind that MiraVision is missing from the ROM. Not a feature I personally use but something to keep in my for those who do make use of it.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramOne option that Elephone P7000 owners can try for better performance is the Vibe UI ROM available from the Elephone Forum. I haven’t tried it myself but Chris over at Gizchina.de claims that the performance is much improved and the system offers a better camera app too. The only issue is that there is no fingerprint scanner support.Elephone P7000 benchmarks Benchmarks from my Elephone P7000鑱絘re:Antutu: 43,914Geekbench Single-core score: 798Geekbench Multi-core score: 3948Quadrant: 20,733Ice Storm Extreme: 6306GFX Manhattan: 372.9GFX Manhattan Offscreen: 372.9GFX T-Rex: 752.9GFX T-Rex Offscreen: 736.2Nenamark 2: 55.0 fpsVellamo Metal: 1373Vellamo Multicore: 1834Vellamo Browser: 3091Elephone P7000 Review: ScreenSo the good bits. The screen on the Elephone P7000 is a good one. If you don’t get distracted by the huge black bezels then you can enjoy a 1920 x 1080 FHD display. It’s not the brightest screen in the world, Elephone seem to have limited the brightness to improve battery life, but we hope this will be addressed with updates. When opening up the P7000 packaging ensure you turn off the battery saving mode (some are shipping like this) as this will prevent the screen from going to full brightness.Viewing angles are good and touch response is as fast as the sluggish ROM will allow. Other reviewers have mentioned white spots on the screen. Our review phone has one, and鑱絀 believe they only appear after bending the phone and get worse the more it is bent.Elephone P7000 Review: CameraLet’s get things in to perspective. The Elephone P7000 is a $200 phone (RRP) and for the money it offers a Sony IMX214 13 mega-pixel main camera and 5 mega-pixel front camera. Although it is a IMX214 the photographic performance of the Elephone P7000 isn’t on par with the Le 1 or the Xiaomi Mi Note, but compared to other $200 phones the results are pretty good and a nice leap forward for Elephone.What is odd about the camera on the p7000 is that under certain lighting conditions there is a red tint to photos. This has been present since the phone arrived and persisted through the various updates. I belive it is due to the optics and probably will remain with the phone. A huge shame as the camera can produce some nice photos, just not all the time!Elephone P7000 Photo samples Slight Red Tint Elephone P7000 Photo samples normal Elephone P7000 Photo samples low-light Elephone P7000 Review: ConnectivityYou might be surprised to learn that there really isn’t much to complain about in this area. 3G and 4G worked well through out鑱絫he review from the first day and through various updates. Call quality is good and updates have improved clarity. WIFI strength is also above average and GPS is good too, better in the latest updates.Elephone P7000 Review: BatteryElephone say that the battery in the Elephone P7000 is a 3450mAh battery. That’s a good size and should give enough juice to the FHD display and octacore processor to get you through the day without issue.With the poor ROM optimisation though we aren’t getting the most from the battery yet, but as OTA updates have been coming out frequently we can hope that the ROM will be optimised correclty and we will eventually get more than 6 hours (or there abouts) of screen on time. Like all phones though your milage will vary depending on how you use your device.Elephone P7000 Review: AudioAudio on the P7000 is loud and clear, but I wouldn’t say the sound through the external speakers in enjoyable. It’s a little tinny and struggles at higher volumes. You could easily fill small room with music from the phone, but it is highly unlikely you will enjoy what you hear. Coming from phones like the Le 1 and Xiaomi Mi Note the audio is well off the mark, even the Ulefone Be Touch has better audio.Elephone P7000 Review: ConclusionIs the Elephone P7000 a bad phone? Well it isn’t the best looking phone, or the most solid phone or the best optimised phone that’s for sure. What the phone does offer is a large battery and impressive hardware for the money. I would also like to add the camera to the P700’s pros as it can take some very nice photos, but that intermitent red tint is extremely annoying!Was the P7000 worth the hype? If it had launched 6 weeks earlier then the P7000 would have been the first and only phone of this calibre which you could buy, but with such a delay Ulefone, Mlais, Zeaplus, and other phone makers all have their own equivalents and some of them are better all round packages than the P7000.“All the gear and no idea” is a term we use for someone who has the best of everything but isn’t sure how to use it. That sort of sums up our impression of the Elephone P7000. Find out more in our full review.The Elephone P7000 was/is a phone that was reported on a lot, and looking at the specifications it is easy to say why. The phone has everything you could possibly wan’t from a Chinese phone. 3GB RAM, IMX214 camera (claimed), 5.5-inch 1080 display, large battery, LTE, MT6752 processor and Android Lollipop. Really you can’t want for more, well you couldn’t have asked for more when the P7000 was originally announced (back in December) since then there have been a lot of changes in phone design and there are new Mediatek chipsets to choose.Elephone P7000: Unboxing and first impressionsElephone P7000 Review: DesignJust looking at the design of the Elephone P7000, it is clear where the majority of the budget went in this phone. The P7000 is a very good reminder that we simply cannot have everything at such a low price (yet). In this case the phone has all the hardware right, but the design couldn’t be further off the mark. Imagine if FSO (Google them they were/are a car maker) had decided to build a car with Ferrari engine. Sure it would be fast but it would look like sh$t and handle like a soggy biscuit.The first thing you will notice is the bezels around the display. Elephone have tried to hide them by making them black (the same as the screen when off) and just showing a narrow white bezel on either side. It’s not a narrow black border either but a huge black void all around the screen. It looks ugly and make the 5.5-inch phone significantly large than other 5.5-inch phones, in fact the 5.7-inch Xiaomi Mi Note is only very slightly larger than the Elephone. This is a huge deal. If you were someone who looked at 5.7-inch or 6-inch phones and thought there were too big, well you are going to feel the same about the 5.5-inch Elephone. On the other hand the 5.5-inch LeTV and even the Mlias M7 are much more compact and easy to handle.I like cars so I am going to liken the Elephone P7000 to car design once again. How often have you seen a concept car and thought ‘wow’ only for the production model to look bloated and ‘meh’? (if you can’t think of one take a look at the Chinese MG3). The Elephone P7000 is the same. Renders of the phone looked good, and the final device is obviously based on those renders, but it’s gotten fatter and and longer in the process. It’s not good.So it isn’t a great looking phone, but neither is the Asus Zenfone 2 really isn’t? And I really like that phone. perhaps the P7000 is a gem in other areas?Elephone P7000 Review: BuildHow often do you feel the urge to bend your phone? That’s right you don’t but there are times that your phone is put under similar stress. For example if you put a large phone in your back pocket as it won’t fit in your side pockets (remember the P7000 is bigger than most 5.5-inch devices). What would happen then if you sat down?To test how the phone would survive under these stresses I gave it a go and low and behold the Elephone P7000 bent and has stayed bent. I’m not the only reviewer to test this out as you can see here.鑱絆ut of fariness I also performed the same with the Elephone P7000’s nearest rivals aka the Ulefone Be Touch and Mlais M7, and neither deformed. In fact the Ulefone has鑱給ne hell of a sturdy chassis!Elephone P7000 Review: Performance and SystemWe have established that Elephone have blown the budget on the hardware side of the Elephone P7000 so just how well does it perform? Well if you take a look at the benchmarks you will see that the performance is pretty good. For a phone with 3GB RAM and an octacore Mediatek MT6752 chipset the benchmarks are about right, but benchmarks don’t really mean anything in real world terms.In actual usage the Elephone P7000 suffers from not having the greatest ROM in the world. The poor optimisation of Android 5.0 Lollipop on the device means the system doesn’t feel as smooth as it should and suffers from bugs. The good news is that Elephone are bring OTA updates to the phone and with each one the P7000 gets smoother and more stable. Just how long it will take for Elephone to get it all sorted and running to a point we are making the most of the hardware is another question.鑱紸lso keep in mind that MiraVision is missing from the ROM. Not a feature I personally use but something to keep in my for those who do make use of it.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramOne option that Elephone P7000 owners can try for better performance is the Vibe UI ROM available from the Elephone Forum. I haven’t tried it myself but Chris over at Gizchina.de claims that the performance is much improved and the system offers a better camera app too. The only issue is that there is no fingerprint scanner support.Elephone P7000 benchmarks Benchmarks from my Elephone P7000鑱絘re:Antutu: 43,914Geekbench Single-core score: 798Geekbench Multi-core score: 3948Quadrant: 20,733Ice Storm Extreme: 6306GFX Manhattan: 372.9GFX Manhattan Offscreen: 372.9GFX T-Rex: 752.9GFX T-Rex Offscreen: 736.2Nenamark 2: 55.0 fpsVellamo Metal: 1373Vellamo Multicore: 1834Vellamo Browser: 3091Elephone P7000 Review: ScreenSo the good bits. The screen on the Elephone P7000 is a good one. If you don’t get distracted by the huge black bezels then you can enjoy a 1920 x 1080 FHD display. It’s not the brightest screen in the world, Elephone seem to have limited the brightness to improve battery life, but we hope this will be addressed with updates. When opening up the P7000 packaging ensure you turn off the battery saving mode (some are shipping like this) as this will prevent the screen from going to full brightness.Viewing angles are good and touch response is as fast as the sluggish ROM will allow. Other reviewers have mentioned white spots on the screen. Our review phone has one, and鑱絀 believe they only appear after bending the phone and get worse the more it is bent.Elephone P7000 Review: CameraLet’s get things in to perspective. The Elephone P7000 is a $200 phone (RRP) and for the money it offers a Sony IMX214 13 mega-pixel main camera and 5 mega-pixel front camera. Although it is a IMX214 the photographic performance of the Elephone P7000 isn’t on par with the Le 1 or the Xiaomi Mi Note, but compared to other $200 phones the results are pretty good and a nice leap forward for Elephone.What is odd about the camera on the p7000 is that under certain lighting conditions there is a red tint to photos. This has been present since the phone arrived and persisted through the various updates. I belive it is due to the optics and probably will remain with the phone. A huge shame as the camera can produce some nice photos, just not all the time!Elephone P7000 Photo samples Slight Red Tint Elephone P7000 Photo samples normal Elephone P7000 Photo samples low-light Elephone P7000 Review: ConnectivityYou might be surprised to learn that there really isn’t much to complain about in this area. 3G and 4G worked well through out鑱絫he review from the first day and through various updates. Call quality is good and updates have improved clarity. WIFI strength is also above average and GPS is good too, better in the latest updates.Elephone P7000 Review: BatteryElephone say that the battery in the Elephone P7000 is a 3450mAh battery. That’s a good size and should give enough juice to the FHD display and octacore processor to get you through the day without issue.With the poor ROM optimisation though we aren’t getting the most from the battery yet, but as OTA updates have been coming out frequently we can hope that the ROM will be optimised correclty and we will eventually get more than 6 hours (or there abouts) of screen on time. Like all phones though your milage will vary depending on how you use your device.Elephone P7000 Review: AudioAudio on the P7000 is loud and clear, but I wouldn’t say the sound through the external speakers in enjoyable. It’s a little tinny and struggles at higher volumes. You could easily fill small room with music from the phone, but it is highly unlikely you will enjoy what you hear. Coming from phones like the Le 1 and Xiaomi Mi Note the audio is well off the mark, even the Ulefone Be Touch has better audio.Elephone P7000 Review: ConclusionIs the Elephone P7000 a bad phone? Well it isn’t the best looking phone, or the most solid phone or the best optimised phone that’s for sure. What the phone does offer is a large battery and impressive hardware for the money. I would also like to add the camera to the P700’s pros as it can take some very nice photos, but that intermitent red tint is extremely annoying!Was the P7000 worth the hype? If it had launched 6 weeks earlier then the P7000 would have been the first and only phone of this calibre which you could buy, but with such a delay Ulefone, Mlais, Zeaplus, and other phone makers all have their own equivalents and some of them are better all round packages than the P7000.

No.1 has been around for a while now, and is best known for its cloned phones. Not only have No.1 made lookalikes of Apple and Samsung phones, but they鈥檝e also cloned the likes of Xiaomi. Today we鈥檒l be talking about the No.1 S6i, which if you haven鈥檛 already guessed, is a Samsung Galaxy S6 clone.Of course, this one costs a hell lot lesser than the original thing. But that doesn鈥檛 stop No.1 from trying to emulate the Galaxy S6 in almost all segments. How far does it go with that? Let us find out!No.1 S6i Review: Specifications5.1-inch 1280 x 720p IPS display1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6582 processor1GB RAM16GB ROM13 mega-pixel rear camera5 mega-pixel front cameraAndroid 5.0 LollipopSingle SIM, GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz, WCDMA 850/2100No.1 S6i Review: Build and DesignThere鈥檚 not a lot to speak about the design, because you鈥檙e already clear in the mind as to how the S6i will look in the hands. The build quality is something worth talking about, however. No.1 have almost always been a clone maker, but have made a mark for themselves by including some proper, usable material in their devices. The No.1 M4 was a phone which was almost as well built as the original Mi 4, and the S6i does equally well. The phone is made with metal and glass all around it, and I鈥檓 sure no one you hand the phone to will be able to tell that it鈥檚 only a $119 phone!The build quality in general is extremely impressive, and without doubt is the best part about the phone. There is, sometimes, an obvious lack of precision in the workmanship, but at a little over a hundred dollars, you can probably let that go.The phone fits very well in the hand, and can be used in one hand no problem. The edges are all covered in chamfered metal, with the front and rear covered in glass. Unfortunately, there doesn鈥檛 seem to be any anti-fingerprint oleophobic coating on the glass which makes the phone a dirt and fingerprint magnet.An IR blaster and a secondary mic sit on the top edge, while a micro USB port, 3.5mm headphone jack and a speaker grill sit on the bottom edge. Volume buttons can be found on the left, while the power button makes home on the right side with the SIM card tray (which, by the way, takes only nano SIM cards).The 13 mega-pixel camera of the S6i sits on the rear, protruding in pride. Next to it you find the the single LED flash and heartbeat sensor. You鈥檙e free to get worried about the amount of protrusion of the camera, but the S6i will always have the excuse of being a Galaxy S6 clone.All of the buttons on the edges feel really good and have a nice, tactile feedback to them. The home button however does lack the comforting feel, for there is a bit of a play in the unit I tested.No.1 S6i Review: DisplayGizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramYou鈥檒l like the S6i display until you pit it against the original thing. Only the display from the original Galaxy S6 would probably be expensive than this entire phone plus worldwide shipping鈥 so you need to know what to expect. I personally like the S6i鈥檚 display more than the one on the Ulefone Be Touch, which should tell you a little about the quality. Of course, it isn鈥檛 mind blowing or anything, but you probably won鈥檛 have any qualms using it.The most impressive bit about the display are the viewing angles, and the fact that the colours are very true, i.e., neither are they washed out, nor over-saturated. No.1 S6i Review: PerformanceThe phone only comes with the good ol鈥 MediaTek MT6582 quad-core processor, which I assume all of you have used at one point or another. This chip from Taiwan鈥檚 MediaTek has graced millions of smartphone motherboards, and the S6i is just another one of them.The general UI responsiveness is in fact pretty good. This is the first MediaTek MT6582 phone I鈥檝e used that runs Android 5.0 Lollipop, and I think the MT6582 does pretty well at handling the OS. Speaking of the OS, the S6i appears to be running what looks like a 1:1 clone of Samsung鈥檚 TouchWiz, sometimes also the bugs and stutters that come along with it.In a nutshell, the S6i is a decently powered phone for general productivity; if you plan to buy a phone for gaming and the likes, you probably want to look elsewhere. Also, it has just 1GB of RAM which is more than just a bit of a bottleneck performance wise.No.1 S6i Review: Battery According to the manufacturer, the phone ships with a 2,800mAh battery. While I鈥檓 not sure about the accuracy of that claim, what is certain is that the battery is non-removable. While I haven鈥檛 opened up the phone to check the actual capacity, experience says that it is something around a 2000-2200mAh cell sitting inside the pretty shell.Nonetheless, what should matter to you is how long that works for regardless of the capacity. The phone will, on most days, last about 8-10 hours with average usage, and with heavy usage, you can expect the juice to dry up much sooner. The phone could do with a better battery life in my opinion.No.1 S6i Review: CameraThe S6i has a 13 mega-pixel camera, which is among the most impressive sensors you鈥檒l see in its range. The camera is fast and snappy when it comes to taking pictures, but it does have a bit of a lag while rendering the image on the viewfinder.Focus is touchy. It will take you more than just one attempt most times with tap to focus to get a sharp image with the focus on the main subject. But when you do achieve that, the result is pretty much well worth the pain on most occasions. The camera also performs pretty well indoors and in artificial light, which is pretty impressive for a clone. With flash No flash No.1 S6i Review: ConclusionThe No.1 S6i is a phone that鈥檚 built to impress. It鈥檒l certainly surprise you right off the bat, and probably won鈥檛 disappoint you with the way it performs. The lack of an additional GB of RAM certainly hurts, and there鈥檚 no fixing that. On the other hand, for storage, I鈥檝e heard that there is a microSD card slot that can be accessed if you somehow manage to take the rear off (not recommended).The phone is a clone and demands to be pitted against other clones, which are few and far between lately. In the end, you鈥檒l be paying a premium for the build quality more than anything else on the No.1 S6i.No.1 has been around for a while now, and is best known for its cloned phones. Not only have No.1 made lookalikes of Apple and Samsung phones, but they鈥檝e also cloned the likes of Xiaomi. Today we鈥檒l be talking about the No.1 S6i, which if you haven鈥檛 already guessed, is a Samsung Galaxy S6 clone.Of course, this one costs a hell lot lesser than the original thing. But that doesn鈥檛 stop No.1 from trying to emulate the Galaxy S6 in almost all segments. How far does it go with that? Let us find out!No.1 S6i Review: Specifications5.1-inch 1280 x 720p IPS display1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6582 processor1GB RAM16GB ROM13 mega-pixel rear camera5 mega-pixel front cameraAndroid 5.0 LollipopSingle SIM, GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz, WCDMA 850/2100No.1 S6i Review: Build and DesignThere鈥檚 not a lot to speak about the design, because you鈥檙e already clear in the mind as to how the S6i will look in the hands. The build quality is something worth talking about, however. No.1 have almost always been a clone maker, but have made a mark for themselves by including some proper, usable material in their devices. The No.1 M4 was a phone which was almost as well built as the original Mi 4, and the S6i does equally well. The phone is made with metal and glass all around it, and I鈥檓 sure no one you hand the phone to will be able to tell that it鈥檚 only a $119 phone!The build quality in general is extremely impressive, and without doubt is the best part about the phone. There is, sometimes, an obvious lack of precision in the workmanship, but at a little over a hundred dollars, you can probably let that go.The phone fits very well in the hand, and can be used in one hand no problem. The edges are all covered in chamfered metal, with the front and rear covered in glass. Unfortunately, there doesn鈥檛 seem to be any anti-fingerprint oleophobic coating on the glass which makes the phone a dirt and fingerprint magnet.An IR blaster and a secondary mic sit on the top edge, while a micro USB port, 3.5mm headphone jack and a speaker grill sit on the bottom edge. Volume buttons can be found on the left, while the power button makes home on the right side with the SIM card tray (which, by the way, takes only nano SIM cards).The 13 mega-pixel camera of the S6i sits on the rear, protruding in pride. Next to it you find the the single LED flash and heartbeat sensor. You鈥檙e free to get worried about the amount of protrusion of the camera, but the S6i will always have the excuse of being a Galaxy S6 clone.All of the buttons on the edges feel really good and have a nice, tactile feedback to them. The home button however does lack the comforting feel, for there is a bit of a play in the unit I tested.No.1 S6i Review: DisplayGizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramYou鈥檒l like the S6i display until you pit it against the original thing. Only the display from the original Galaxy S6 would probably be expensive than this entire phone plus worldwide shipping鈥 so you need to know what to expect. I personally like the S6i鈥檚 display more than the one on the Ulefone Be Touch, which should tell you a little about the quality. Of course, it isn鈥檛 mind blowing or anything, but you probably won鈥檛 have any qualms using it.The most impressive bit about the display are the viewing angles, and the fact that the colours are very true, i.e., neither are they washed out, nor over-saturated. No.1 S6i Review: PerformanceThe phone only comes with the good ol鈥 MediaTek MT6582 quad-core processor, which I assume all of you have used at one point or another. This chip from Taiwan鈥檚 MediaTek has graced millions of smartphone motherboards, and the S6i is just another one of them.The general UI responsiveness is in fact pretty good. This is the first MediaTek MT6582 phone I鈥檝e used that runs Android 5.0 Lollipop, and I think the MT6582 does pretty well at handling the OS. Speaking of the OS, the S6i appears to be running what looks like a 1:1 clone of Samsung鈥檚 TouchWiz, sometimes also the bugs and stutters that come along with it.In a nutshell, the S6i is a decently powered phone for general productivity; if you plan to buy a phone for gaming and the likes, you probably want to look elsewhere. Also, it has just 1GB of RAM which is more than just a bit of a bottleneck performance wise.No.1 S6i Review: Battery According to the manufacturer, the phone ships with a 2,800mAh battery. While I鈥檓 not sure about the accuracy of that claim, what is certain is that the battery is non-removable. While I haven鈥檛 opened up the phone to check the actual capacity, experience says that it is something around a 2000-2200mAh cell sitting inside the pretty shell.Nonetheless, what should matter to you is how long that works for regardless of the capacity. The phone will, on most days, last about 8-10 hours with average usage, and with heavy usage, you can expect the juice to dry up much sooner. The phone could do with a better battery life in my opinion.No.1 S6i Review: CameraThe S6i has a 13 mega-pixel camera, which is among the most impressive sensors you鈥檒l see in its range. The camera is fast and snappy when it comes to taking pictures, but it does have a bit of a lag while rendering the image on the viewfinder.Focus is touchy. It will take you more than just one attempt most times with tap to focus to get a sharp image with the focus on the main subject. But when you do achieve that, the result is pretty much well worth the pain on most occasions. The camera also performs pretty well indoors and in artificial light, which is pretty impressive for a clone. With flash No flash No.1 S6i Review: ConclusionThe No.1 S6i is a phone that鈥檚 built to impress. It鈥檒l certainly surprise you right off the bat, and probably won鈥檛 disappoint you with the way it performs. The lack of an additional GB of RAM certainly hurts, and there鈥檚 no fixing that. On the other hand, for storage, I鈥檝e heard that there is a microSD card slot that can be accessed if you somehow manage to take the rear off (not recommended).The phone is a clone and demands to be pitted against other clones, which are few and far between lately. In the end, you鈥檒l be paying a premium for the build quality more than anything else on the No.1 S6i.

The Ulefone Be Touch happens to be one of the most popular Chinese phones at the moment, right alongside the Elephone P7000 (which is playing a bit of hide-and-seek). The Be Touch is Ulefone鈥檚 most powerful phone ever, and it also happens to have a design which is quite pleasing to the eye, despite being heavily inspired by another phone, the one and only — iPhone 6.Leaks and rumours prior to the launch of this phone referred to it as the Ulefone Dare N1, but for whatever reasons it is now known as the Be Touch. It is perhaps to make the phone sound like it is one from the rejuvenated Ulefone, a company which launched a bunch of phones this year including the Be One, Be Pure and the Be Pro.Coming back to the Be Touch, it is a phone made with some really high quality material, along with a fingerprint sensor which works 鈥榩ress鈥 style (as opposed to swipe). The high-quality chassis, the curved front glass and the overall 鈥榝eel鈥 of the Be Touch give you a sense of holding a very well made piece of kit when the phone is in your hand. Before we say too much in this intro, let us get to the meat of the matter鈥 in the Ulefone Be Touch review!Ulefone Be Touch Review: Design and BuildDesign of the Be Touch is a bit of a mashup, with, as mentioned earlier, a lot of the iPhone 6. The other phone that the Be Touch will remind you of is the Meizu MX4; this one鈥檚 found more impostors than Meizu bosses would鈥檝e ever imagined (Siswoo Cooper i7 was one, too). That said, we ought to add that the Be Touch, build quality wise, is easily among the better Chinese 鈥榚xport brand鈥 phones that have landed in our hands in the past few months鈥 or even couple years.This is probably because Ulefone have been around for quite a while now, and are starting to get a hang of things — they even carry OnePlus-esque social media campaigns.The front is covered entirely in 2.5D curved Gorilla Glass. This is one of the favourite aspects of the phone for us. Up until now it used to be pretty easy to tell between a Chinese phone and phone from a big mainstream company, but with OEMs like Ulefone including things like 2.5D curved glass, machine-drilled speaker holes, etc., it is virtually impossible now.You鈥檒l find a 5 mega-pixel front camera right on the top left, accompanied by front LED flash (yeah, thanks, selfie addicts). Next to it sits the earpiece, and then the usual suite of sensors (light, proximity).There鈥檚 a black stripe of bezel right below the 5.5-inch screen. We call this a heartbreak more than anything else, because if not for that, the Be Touch would鈥檝e perhaps been THE phone (as far as looks are concerned, at least) for a lot of people. Speaking of bezels, the very impressive Ecoo E04 Aurora had something similar; we really hope companies find a way to deal with this in the coming months. Especially on 5.5-inch phones, where there鈥檚 more space to play around with things.Coming back to the device, below the screen, the menu, (fingerprint scanner enabled) home, and back keys sit in respective order. It must be said that the home button is really nice to touch and feels extremely high quality. It wouldn鈥檛 be wrong if we said we were surprised by how well it felt!To top off the iPhone impostor look, the Be Touch has its own metallic ring around the home button.A robust-looking metal frame sits around the edges of the phone, with precise cut-outs for jacks and ports, along with 6 machine-drilled holes at the bottom edge for the speaker. Between this metal frame and the front glass, there鈥檚 a barely noticeable plastic lip which is raised ever so slightly to ensure drops and falls don鈥檛 impact the glass directly.Power and volume keys can be found on the left edge. Again, these are put together in a very, very impressive fashion — clicks are registered in a very organized manner with great feedback. However, one issue we have with the power button is its positioning — it is put way too high for a 5.5-inch phone. Swapping the power and volume keys would make for a very sweet position for the power button, right where your left thumb would sit (if it HAS to be on the left). With the current arrangement, you鈥檒l either have to switch positions after unlocking the phone, or use the home button each time — the latter would make for a majority, we believe, especially if you鈥檙e going to use the fingerprint unlock feature (which you TOTALLY should — more on this later).The rear cover is flexible and looks to be made out of good quality plastic. It can be a little cumbersome to pry it out, but then that鈥檚 something we like, after all you don鈥檛 want it to come off or anything after every drop.Inside, there鈥檚 space for a 2550mAh battery and a couple SIMs along with a microSD card.The rear is also where you will find the 13 mega-pixel IMX214 camera (according to specs) and single LED flash. The flash cut-out is made to look like there鈥檚 dual LED flash, whereas there鈥檚 just one LED module in fact.The camera sensor is surrounded by a nice metallic ring, something which yet again adds to the build aspect of this phone. Another reminder of how well Ulefone have put together this handset!In a nutshell, we鈥檒l admit that the Be Touch is among the better made phones this year so far. It鈥檒l be interesting to see how the P7000 holds up against this one!Ulefone Be Touch Review: Components and performanceWhen you purchase the Be Touch you get a phone that is powered by the all impressive MediaTek MT6752 64-bit octa-core processor, 3GB of RAM and has a 5.5-inch screen. Unfortunately, the screen is only a 1280 x 720p unit. We鈥檇 have loved it to be a 1080p panel, the very least for the sake of this argument.Other than that, the Be Touch has 16GB of on-board storage, a 13 mega-pixel main camera (Sony IMX214) and a 5 mega-pixel front camera with LED flash. The battery is a 2550mAh cell, which does sound a little inadequate for the screen size but the fact that it is only a 720p panel helps here. Also something to be kept in mind is that the phone ships with stock Android, v5.0 Lollipop. The 5.5-inch 720p screen won鈥檛 blow you away with its color and sharpness. Instead, you鈥檒l be a little surprised by the fact that it is in fact a little pale in front of the competition. Also, one of our favourite features that come along with the MT6752 — MiraVision — seems to be missing from the Lollipop ROM. In the past, a lot of MT6752 and MT6732 phones have benefited from MiraVision鈥檚 suite of features, especially dynamic contrast. Here鈥檚 hoping that an update soon bring MiraVision to the Lollipop ROM of the Be Touch!The screen also isn鈥檛 the best with viewing angles; colours do 鈥榳ash out鈥 every now and then when you rotate the phone in front of your eyes. In more ways than one, the screen is the Achilles heel of the Be Touch.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThe 13 mega-pixel camera, which according to the makers is a Sony IMX214 sensor, doesn鈥檛 seem to have been implemented too well. The pictures have a slight bit of a dark tint to them, and the dynamic contrast doesn鈥檛 seem to be the best. That is, with a bright and dark element in the single frame, the Be Touch doesn鈥檛 do exceedingly well. One counter to that would be HDR mode, but even that doesn鈥檛 help too much.Even yet, the phone does sometimes produce some quality images. For one, take a look at his picture taken in a relatively dark environment.In daylight however, the Be Touch seems to take decent photos. Also worth noting is the fact that the front 5 mega-pixel camera has LED flash, and is actually quite a decent camera in itself. What is worth mentioning however is the fact that the front flash is very weak and doesn鈥檛 really enhance the frame much, unless of course you鈥檙e trying to take a selfie in a pitch black environment.Taken on the front camera Reception on the Be Touch (GPS, call, WiFi) is fairly decent. GPS is actually pretty impressive; most MediaTek phones in the past have struggled to get a decent lock, but the Be Touch doesn鈥檛 just do that outdoors but indoors as well. GPS: Indoors GPS: Outdoors Call quality is very good. Volume could go a step higher though, but that鈥檚 something very subjective. One thing to note here is that the phone does get a little warm around the camera region (where the metallic ring acts as a heat sink, supposedly) for comfort.WiFi however is a bit of a different story. Performance in this department isn鈥檛 as good as the rest of the phone; quite worse, in fact. Compared to phones like the Gionee Elife S7, Xiaomi Mi 4 or even the Mi 4i, the Be Touch is always second and by quite a margin.Fingerprint sensor works very wellIt hasn鈥檛 been a long while since Chinese phones started shipping with fingerprint sensors, but the rate at which these sensors have improved is unbelievable. The Elephone P5000 was among the first ones to have a fingerprint sensor, and we鈥檙e now into the third generation of these — and to sum it up in one word, the fingerprint sensor on the Be Touch is brilliant.We even tried unlocking the phone with an inverted thumb, and it still worked — at the same speed. It just goes to show that the feature has been implemented really well and isn鈥檛 just a gimmick anymore. Rather, something that not only provides better security, but also better convenience!Battery life is about decent on the phone. It can be a better. After 4-5 charging/discharging cycles it did get better, but there’s still some room for improvement. After lot of browsing, around 1 and a half hours of calling, and some IMing, here’s how the battery life chart stood on the phone. Sound output on the Be Touch is one of the features of the phone which could get better. Very honestly, we鈥檝e encountered varying sound performance from the Be Touch; the speaker sometimes sounds loud enough but other times, it simply doesn鈥檛 cut it. What stays constant however is the fact that there鈥檚 virtually no bass in the sound output.Ulefone Be Touch Review: ROMAs mentioned above, the phone comes with a ROM that is completely stock. Unfortunately though, it doesn鈥檛 seem 100% optimized. Not just that Be Touch, non completely optimized Lollipop ROMs are, at the moment, hampering the performance of a lot of Chinese phones. What鈥檚 good is that this seems to be throttling only the UI performance, whereas performance from other 3rd party apps and games seems to be just fine. The ROM also offers some off-screen gestures which have now become a norm. Many a time these off screen gestures can be a problem (if you keep your phone in your pockets), which is why the usage hasn鈥檛 been as widespread as the makers would鈥檝e liked. Double tap to wake however is a brilliant feature which we鈥檙e sure most of you would already be using. The Be Touch doesn鈥檛 require that though, because there is a hardware button that can actually be 鈥榩ressed鈥 (as opposed to capacitive buttons). Nonetheless, double tap to wake is a good option if you aren鈥檛 using a fingerprint as your password.Here鈥檚 how the Be Touch performs on benchmarks. You can find more info about the phone鈥檚 benchmarking capabilities here.Antutu: 43,412Ice Storm Extreme: 6,745Nenamark 2: 72.0fpsGeekbench Single-core: 800Geekbench multi-core: 3455Vellamo Metal: 1291Vellamo Multicore: 1884Vellamo Browser: 3401GFX Manhattan: 715.1GFX Manhattan offscreen: 370.5GFX T-Rex: 1,142GFX T-Rex Offscreen: 702.9Quadrant: 16,411Ulefone Be Touch Review: OtherIn many ways, the Be Touch is a great phone. However, a few aspects do let it down鈥 for one, there鈥檚 no notification LED on the phone. This is pretty surprising for a 2015 phone; people have gotten used to notification LEDs. We believe every manufacturer, small or big, should have those on their phones.Another something that isn鈥檛 as back as the lack of a notification LED, but could鈥檝e been better: backlit buttons. While you will ultimately get used to the positioning of these buttons, having a little backlight beneath wouldn鈥檛 really hurt the company and would also save you the learning curve of hitting the buttons without knowing where they are.The touchscreen sensor can sometimes feel a little slow to respond. It can be frustrating, and we’re once again hoping it is a ROM issue which is fixed with an update.Charging the Be Touch takes a little longer than you would鈥檝e hoped for. Although this is in no way a gripe, but just something a potential buyer would want to know about. It takes just about 3 hours to charge the battery using the stock charger.Ulefone Be Touch Review: VerdictAs is very clear from what you鈥檝e read, we鈥檙e surprised (and positively) with the build quality that the Be Touch has on offer. Performance too is quite up to the mark, but the ROM needs a lot of polishing to extract whatever the MediaTek MT6752 has on offer. It does seem sometimes like the ROM is a beta release than a full public release.The phone has only started shipping now, so expect a lot of improvements on the ROM front. Ulefone have proven themselves with a good amount of firmware updates to their phones, and we hope to see similar treatment being given to the Be Touch also.At this point in time, it wouldn鈥檛 be cent percent accurate to call the Be Touch a flagship for 2015. But it does come close.We鈥檒l be bringing more Be Touch news to you as and when we gain access to newer and better firmware for the phone. In the meantime, let us know what you would choose between this and the elusive Elephone P7000.The Ulefone Be Touch happens to be one of the most popular Chinese phones at the moment, right alongside the Elephone P7000 (which is playing a bit of hide-and-seek). The Be Touch is Ulefone鈥檚 most powerful phone ever, and it also happens to have a design which is quite pleasing to the eye, despite being heavily inspired by another phone, the one and only — iPhone 6.Leaks and rumours prior to the launch of this phone referred to it as the Ulefone Dare N1, but for whatever reasons it is now known as the Be Touch. It is perhaps to make the phone sound like it is one from the rejuvenated Ulefone, a company which launched a bunch of phones this year including the Be One, Be Pure and the Be Pro.Coming back to the Be Touch, it is a phone made with some really high quality material, along with a fingerprint sensor which works 鈥榩ress鈥 style (as opposed to swipe). The high-quality chassis, the curved front glass and the overall 鈥榝eel鈥 of the Be Touch give you a sense of holding a very well made piece of kit when the phone is in your hand. Before we say too much in this intro, let us get to the meat of the matter鈥 in the Ulefone Be Touch review!Ulefone Be Touch Review: Design and BuildDesign of the Be Touch is a bit of a mashup, with, as mentioned earlier, a lot of the iPhone 6. The other phone that the Be Touch will remind you of is the Meizu MX4; this one鈥檚 found more impostors than Meizu bosses would鈥檝e ever imagined (Siswoo Cooper i7 was one, too). That said, we ought to add that the Be Touch, build quality wise, is easily among the better Chinese 鈥榚xport brand鈥 phones that have landed in our hands in the past few months鈥 or even couple years.This is probably because Ulefone have been around for quite a while now, and are starting to get a hang of things — they even carry OnePlus-esque social media campaigns.The front is covered entirely in 2.5D curved Gorilla Glass. This is one of the favourite aspects of the phone for us. Up until now it used to be pretty easy to tell between a Chinese phone and phone from a big mainstream company, but with OEMs like Ulefone including things like 2.5D curved glass, machine-drilled speaker holes, etc., it is virtually impossible now.You鈥檒l find a 5 mega-pixel front camera right on the top left, accompanied by front LED flash (yeah, thanks, selfie addicts). Next to it sits the earpiece, and then the usual suite of sensors (light, proximity).There鈥檚 a black stripe of bezel right below the 5.5-inch screen. We call this a heartbreak more than anything else, because if not for that, the Be Touch would鈥檝e perhaps been THE phone (as far as looks are concerned, at least) for a lot of people. Speaking of bezels, the very impressive Ecoo E04 Aurora had something similar; we really hope companies find a way to deal with this in the coming months. Especially on 5.5-inch phones, where there鈥檚 more space to play around with things.Coming back to the device, below the screen, the menu, (fingerprint scanner enabled) home, and back keys sit in respective order. It must be said that the home button is really nice to touch and feels extremely high quality. It wouldn鈥檛 be wrong if we said we were surprised by how well it felt!To top off the iPhone impostor look, the Be Touch has its own metallic ring around the home button.A robust-looking metal frame sits around the edges of the phone, with precise cut-outs for jacks and ports, along with 6 machine-drilled holes at the bottom edge for the speaker. Between this metal frame and the front glass, there鈥檚 a barely noticeable plastic lip which is raised ever so slightly to ensure drops and falls don鈥檛 impact the glass directly.Power and volume keys can be found on the left edge. Again, these are put together in a very, very impressive fashion — clicks are registered in a very organized manner with great feedback. However, one issue we have with the power button is its positioning — it is put way too high for a 5.5-inch phone. Swapping the power and volume keys would make for a very sweet position for the power button, right where your left thumb would sit (if it HAS to be on the left). With the current arrangement, you鈥檒l either have to switch positions after unlocking the phone, or use the home button each time — the latter would make for a majority, we believe, especially if you鈥檙e going to use the fingerprint unlock feature (which you TOTALLY should — more on this later).The rear cover is flexible and looks to be made out of good quality plastic. It can be a little cumbersome to pry it out, but then that鈥檚 something we like, after all you don鈥檛 want it to come off or anything after every drop.Inside, there鈥檚 space for a 2550mAh battery and a couple SIMs along with a microSD card.The rear is also where you will find the 13 mega-pixel IMX214 camera (according to specs) and single LED flash. The flash cut-out is made to look like there鈥檚 dual LED flash, whereas there鈥檚 just one LED module in fact.The camera sensor is surrounded by a nice metallic ring, something which yet again adds to the build aspect of this phone. Another reminder of how well Ulefone have put together this handset!In a nutshell, we鈥檒l admit that the Be Touch is among the better made phones this year so far. It鈥檒l be interesting to see how the P7000 holds up against this one!Ulefone Be Touch Review: Components and performanceWhen you purchase the Be Touch you get a phone that is powered by the all impressive MediaTek MT6752 64-bit octa-core processor, 3GB of RAM and has a 5.5-inch screen. Unfortunately, the screen is only a 1280 x 720p unit. We鈥檇 have loved it to be a 1080p panel, the very least for the sake of this argument.Other than that, the Be Touch has 16GB of on-board storage, a 13 mega-pixel main camera (Sony IMX214) and a 5 mega-pixel front camera with LED flash. The battery is a 2550mAh cell, which does sound a little inadequate for the screen size but the fact that it is only a 720p panel helps here. Also something to be kept in mind is that the phone ships with stock Android, v5.0 Lollipop. The 5.5-inch 720p screen won鈥檛 blow you away with its color and sharpness. Instead, you鈥檒l be a little surprised by the fact that it is in fact a little pale in front of the competition. Also, one of our favourite features that come along with the MT6752 — MiraVision — seems to be missing from the Lollipop ROM. In the past, a lot of MT6752 and MT6732 phones have benefited from MiraVision鈥檚 suite of features, especially dynamic contrast. Here鈥檚 hoping that an update soon bring MiraVision to the Lollipop ROM of the Be Touch!The screen also isn鈥檛 the best with viewing angles; colours do 鈥榳ash out鈥 every now and then when you rotate the phone in front of your eyes. In more ways than one, the screen is the Achilles heel of the Be Touch.Gizchina News of the week Join GizChina on TelegramThe 13 mega-pixel camera, which according to the makers is a Sony IMX214 sensor, doesn鈥檛 seem to have been implemented too well. The pictures have a slight bit of a dark tint to them, and the dynamic contrast doesn鈥檛 seem to be the best. That is, with a bright and dark element in the single frame, the Be Touch doesn鈥檛 do exceedingly well. One counter to that would be HDR mode, but even that doesn鈥檛 help too much.Even yet, the phone does sometimes produce some quality images. For one, take a look at his picture taken in a relatively dark environment.In daylight however, the Be Touch seems to take decent photos. Also worth noting is the fact that the front 5 mega-pixel camera has LED flash, and is actually quite a decent camera in itself. What is worth mentioning however is the fact that the front flash is very weak and doesn鈥檛 really enhance the frame much, unless of course you鈥檙e trying to take a selfie in a pitch black environment.Taken on the front camera Reception on the Be Touch (GPS, call, WiFi) is fairly decent. GPS is actually pretty impressive; most MediaTek phones in the past have struggled to get a decent lock, but the Be Touch doesn鈥檛 just do that outdoors but indoors as well. GPS: Indoors GPS: Outdoors Call quality is very good. Volume could go a step higher though, but that鈥檚 something very subjective. One thing to note here is that the phone does get a little warm around the camera region (where the metallic ring acts as a heat sink, supposedly) for comfort.WiFi however is a bit of a different story. Performance in this department isn鈥檛 as good as the rest of the phone; quite worse, in fact. Compared to phones like the Gionee Elife S7, Xiaomi Mi 4 or even the Mi 4i, the Be Touch is always second and by quite a margin.Fingerprint sensor works very wellIt hasn鈥檛 been a long while since Chinese phones started shipping with fingerprint sensors, but the rate at which these sensors have improved is unbelievable. The Elephone P5000 was among the first ones to have a fingerprint sensor, and we鈥檙e now into the third generation of these — and to sum it up in one word, the fingerprint sensor on the Be Touch is brilliant.We even tried unlocking the phone with an inverted thumb, and it still worked — at the same speed. It just goes to show that the feature has been implemented really well and isn鈥檛 just a gimmick anymore. Rather, something that not only provides better security, but also better convenience!Battery life is about decent on the phone. It can be a better. After 4-5 charging/discharging cycles it did get better, but there’s still some room for improvement. After lot of browsing, around 1 and a half hours of calling, and some IMing, here’s how the battery life chart stood on the phone. Sound output on the Be Touch is one of the features of the phone which could get better. Very honestly, we鈥檝e encountered varying sound performance from the Be Touch; the speaker sometimes sounds loud enough but other times, it simply doesn鈥檛 cut it. What stays constant however is the fact that there鈥檚 virtually no bass in the sound output.Ulefone Be Touch Review: ROMAs mentioned above, the phone comes with a ROM that is completely stock. Unfortunately though, it doesn鈥檛 seem 100% optimized. Not just that Be Touch, non completely optimized Lollipop ROMs are, at the moment, hampering the performance of a lot of Chinese phones. What鈥檚 good is that this seems to be throttling only the UI performance, whereas performance from other 3rd party apps and games seems to be just fine. The ROM also offers some off-screen gestures which have now become a norm. Many a time these off screen gestures can be a problem (if you keep your phone in your pockets), which is why the usage hasn鈥檛 been as widespread as the makers would鈥檝e liked. Double tap to wake however is a brilliant feature which we鈥檙e sure most of you would already be using. The Be Touch doesn鈥檛 require that though, because there is a hardware button that can actually be 鈥榩ressed鈥 (as opposed to capacitive buttons). Nonetheless, double tap to wake is a good option if you aren鈥檛 using a fingerprint as your password.Here鈥檚 how the Be Touch performs on benchmarks. You can find more info about the phone鈥檚 benchmarking capabilities here.Antutu: 43,412Ice Storm Extreme: 6,745Nenamark 2: 72.0fpsGeekbench Single-core: 800Geekbench multi-core: 3455Vellamo Metal: 1291Vellamo Multicore: 1884Vellamo Browser: 3401GFX Manhattan: 715.1GFX Manhattan offscreen: 370.5GFX T-Rex: 1,142GFX T-Rex Offscreen: 702.9Quadrant: 16,411Ulefone Be Touch Review: OtherIn many ways, the Be Touch is a great phone. However, a few aspects do let it down鈥 for one, there鈥檚 no notification LED on the phone. This is pretty surprising for a 2015 phone; people have gotten used to notification LEDs. We believe every manufacturer, small or big, should have those on their phones.Another something that isn鈥檛 as back as the lack of a notification LED, but could鈥檝e been better: backlit buttons. While you will ultimately get used to the positioning of these buttons, having a little backlight beneath wouldn鈥檛 really hurt the company and would also save you the learning curve of hitting the buttons without knowing where they are.The touchscreen sensor can sometimes feel a little slow to respond. It can be frustrating, and we’re once again hoping it is a ROM issue which is fixed with an update.Charging the Be Touch takes a little longer than you would鈥檝e hoped for. Although this is in no way a gripe, but just something a potential buyer would want to know about. It takes just about 3 hours to charge the battery using the stock charger.Ulefone Be Touch Review: VerdictAs is very clear from what you鈥檝e read, we鈥檙e surprised (and positively) with the build quality that the Be Touch has on offer. Performance too is quite up to the mark, but the ROM needs a lot of polishing to extract whatever the MediaTek MT6752 has on offer. It does seem sometimes like the ROM is a beta release than a full public release.The phone has only started shipping now, so expect a lot of improvements on the ROM front. Ulefone have proven themselves with a good amount of firmware updates to their phones, and we hope to see similar treatment being given to the Be Touch also.At this point in time, it wouldn鈥檛 be cent percent accurate to call the Be Touch a flagship for 2015. But it does come close.We鈥檒l be bringing more Be Touch news to you as and when we gain access to newer and better firmware for the phone. In the meantime, let us know what you would choose between this and the elusive Elephone P7000.