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What is the CUBE Talk 5H?
The Talk 5H (A5300) is CUBE’s first smartphone product, which is made as a rival to the Xiaomi Hongmi phone and Lenovo A850. A phone tasked with getting CUBE into the smartphone industry, it features an array of competitive innards. It has a 5.5-inch IPS display at 1280*720 pixels, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 1.2GHz quad-core CPU and an impressively large 2,500mAh battery. Priced at RMB999 ($164), it really gives the nobody-is-able-to-buy Xiaomi Hongmi phone a run for its money!
Video Review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHiI7qamN9Q
Pros
1. Vivid and rich colors from the 720p IPS display.
2. Good for multimedia
3. Eye-dazzling MIUI, thousands of themes to choose from
4. Smooth performance from the MT6589 quad-core processor
5. Strong loudspeaker with clean sound.
6. Great battery life.
Cons
1. The cheap feel from the plastic shell
2. Incapable cameras
3. Only 4GB of internal storage
4. 200g weight does feel a little heavy for a phone
Key Features:
5.5-inch IPS Capacitive Panel, 1280*720
MIUI V5 (Android 4.2.1)
MT6589 quad-core Cortex-A7 [email protected], 28nm process, SGX544 GPU
1GB RAM
4GB ROM
FM Radio
Bluetooth V4.0
GPS
Wi-Fi 802.11n/b/g
WCDMA: 2100MHZ / GSM: 900MHZ + 1800MHZ
Front-facing 1.3MP camera and rear-facing 8.0MP camera with auto-focus support
High quality stereo speaker
Vibration
Light Sensor, G-sensor, Proximity Sensor
Dual SIM
2500mAh Li-Po battery
Design and Build
Continuing the trend of ever-growing screen sizes, the CUBE Talk 5H pairs a 5.5-inch 720P IPS display with a dramatically reduced bezel. This combination maximizes the amount of on-screen real estate while keeping the phone’s overall footprint small. Above the display are a 1.3MP front-facing camera for video calls and a proximity sensor along with the telephone receiver.
The CUBE logo can be found in the middle of the phone’s back, where there are also an 8MP rear-facing camera with LED flash. You will also find the stereo speaker in the lower left corner.
The 3.5mm headphone jack and the Micro USB port are the only connectors to be found along the edges of the Talk 5H, you could only get access to the SIM slots (One standard-sized, one micro) and Micro SD card slot when the battery cover is removed.
The placement of the physical keys (power/standby button & volume rocker) on a phone accommodating a large 5.5-inch screen is understandably a bit inconvenient. I had to shuffle the phone around in the palm to use them on many occasions, and a lot of the time I couldn't use my thumb to hit the whole of the screen without jiggling the phone up and down.
Like many of the cost-efficient smartphones, the CUBE Talk 5H is let down by a plastic body that feels flimsy in parts. The battery cover just never feels as solid as those installed on Samsung smartphones, I am almost having a heart attack each time I have to remove it. What’s more, the gloss finish on the plastic body is a magnet for fingerprints and grime, further causing the Talk 5H to look even cheaper.
At 9.5mm thick, the Talk 5H is far from the most svelte smartphone offering. It's a lot thicker than the Lenovo K900 (6.9mm), but it is on par with the 9.4mm thick Samsung Galaxy Note2 and 9.45mm thick Lenovo A850. And at 200g, the CUBE Talk 5H is also a little heavier than the Note2 (180g), A850 (184g) and K900 (165g). Despite this, the Talk 5H never feels bulky or uncomfortable in the hand, with a slight curvature to the phone’s rear giving it an ergonomic fit.
The thing that I love about the Talk 5H’s design is that it’s one of a kind, although you could find a bit of the OPPO Find5 and Sony phones in it, it is still a distinct design. I personally believe it is the best-looking smartphone under RMB1000 ($165).
Screen and Sound Quality
The 5.5-inch IPS display of the Talk 5H is bright and vibrant, offers very good viewing angles, and strong color saturation. Even when you put it next to the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, the Talk 5H is not blown out of the water. Actually, you would find sometimes the IPS panel works even better than the HD Super AMOLED screen. For instance, I would prefer to see the umbrella image on the Note2, but I love the sunflower image better on the 5H.
Unfortunately, the CUBE Talk 5H’s screen quality is not without the odd blemish. The display is a little on the reflective side, with outdoor conditions producing an unwanted amount of glare. But the price could easily help you forget about this slight issue.
The speaker of the Talk 5H is also very nice, producing high-volume sound for gaming and videos, my only issue is that even when you turn the volume all the way down to the lowest possible, the sound can still be a little loud for certain occasions.
Software
The CUBE Talk 5H is an Android phone with a custom-made MIUI interface on top. Building on Google’s Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean OS, the MIUI interface has all the features and functions you would want and expect from a high quality smartphone. It is not as overloaded as the Samsung's Touchwiz interface, but is more exciting with thousands of elegant and colorful themes.
Besides the elegance, the MIUI also makes the Android easier to use. Lots of the customized Xiaomi apps and widgets handily enhance the overall experience, and the rearrangement of the pull-down status bar and Android setting makes everybody aware of what needs to be done.
The wonderful Micloud service can be used for backing up all the important data of the phone.
Another advantage of the MIUI is its incomparable smoothness. Browsing through the homescreens happens incredibly fast, uninstalling an application only takes less than a second, sometimes it makes you feel as if you are on iOS instead of Android.
Performance
The MTK MT6589 quad-core chipset is probably the most popular choice for entry-level smartphones now. But the performance of the Talk 5H is by no means entry-level. Above are the benchmark scores of the device and the comparison with the notches of some other quad-core smartphones.
In its real world performance, the 1.2GHZ quad-core Cortex-A7 processor and the PowerVR SGX544 GPU easily generate enough power to run everything smoothly on the Talk 5H, including some of the most graphic-intense games such as the “Need for Speed: the Most Wanted” and “Virtua Tennis”.
Video content also benefits from the large screen and graphics partnership, with motion blur and image lag now a thing of the past. The only issue I have with the Talk 5H is its pitifully small built-in storage, I only have 1.6GB storage usable after the system files and ROM taking up most of the 4GB flash disk. Thankfully there is a Micro SD card slot on board, and everyone using this phone will have to need it!
Even loading those most image-heavy websites, hiccups and lags were rare.
Call Quality and Connectivity
The Talk 5H features 2G and 3G connectivity and performs admirably across both network types. Connections proved strong during call and online use, and I suffered no unexpected signal loss or dropped calls during my time with the phone. Call quality was sharp and clear and volume was easily managed using the volume rocker on the left edge.
Cameras
The cameras on the Talk 5H don’t live up to today’s smartphone standards. Although the MIUI does give the Talk 5H a lot of shooting options.
Normal shootings
Panorama Mode
The 8MP F/2.8 rear-facing camera is probably one of the worst 8MP cellphone cameras I have ever seen. Sharp and clear photos can only happen while the ambient light is just right, but the colors of those snaps are still far less good-looking than those from the market-leading flagship phones. The LED flash does help with shooting in low light, but you should not put your expectations too high, either.
The front-facing camera is not even nice for video calls, and I would not recommend you to use it for selfies.
Battery Life
The Talk 5H packs a 2,500mAh Li-Po battery. Judged by smartphone standards, the Talk 5H delivers decent battery endurance. Two days of regular, 3G-powered use are a perfectly reasonable expectation from this device. After 3 hours of nonstop heavy use — involving some benchmarks, web browsing, several phone calls, and online video playback — I was left with 64 percent of battery power remaining.
In our standard TR battery tests, the 5H gives an 8 hours, 12 minutes run time in 720P video playback, it also streamed an online TV show for 7 hours and 49 minutes.
If you are willing to sacrifice some performance for longer use, you can turn on the “CPU Power Saving Mode” in the settings.
Even better, the phone’s power supply is removable, meaning a spare battery can be carried for emergencies or heavy business use.
The Verge
With the help from MTK, lots of the entry-level smartphones are now equipped with quad-core processors, and have relatively strong performance. I can easily list a dozen of those phones under the price of RMB1000 ($165) without even thinking.
The CUBE Talk 5H is a brilliant device. Unlike most of the entry-level smartphones which have the MTK quad-core SoC., but the stock or poorly customized interface, the CUBE Talk 5H runs the MIUI, which I personally consider to be the best customized Android OS. This greatly enhances the users’ experiences of this phone. There are some setbacks, as you can imagine from such a low-priced device, including poor cameras, but none of them denies how wonderful the 5H actually is.
I bought the Talk 5H as a birthday gift for my dad, but now feel reluctant to give it to him. The MIUI, the big HD screen, and the compact design are all too nice to give away, and I bet anyone ever uses this phone should feel the same way, too. At RMB999, it is arguably the best choice for smartphones below the price point of RMB1000.
Pretty brilliant device, hope people enjoy it.
I also liked the phone, but THL W100S looks better than it.
Lindsay02 said:
I also liked the phone, but THL W100S looks better than it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THL devices also have decent quality and are reasonably priced, but the one thing special about the 5H is the MIUI it runs, pretty brilliant!
Lindsay02 said:
I also liked the phone, but THL W100S looks better than it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thl has released a new phone, with octa-core processor, and pretty nice-looking, too, wanna buy one!
jupiter2012 said:
thl has released a new phone, with octa-core processor, and pretty nice-looking, too, wanna buy one!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You said THL T100 eight-core phone? I booked a THL T100 on the www thlmobilestore com website, Do not know when I can receive phone?
EvangelineX said:
You said THL T100 eight-core phone? I booked a THL T100 on the www thlmobilestore com website, Do not know when I can receive phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have u got it, how is it?
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In spite of all the scorn poured out on tablets with voice-calling support, they are the rage in China, with all tablet manufacturers trying to grab a slice of the market. The domestic voice-calling tablet segment is growing with a number of launches from both Chinese and international manufacturers such as Samsung, Lenovo, ASUS.
On the lower end of this market segment, one of the latest voice-calling tablets is the Acube Talk 7X (Quad Core). The Talk 7X (Quad Core) is the refreshed version of the original Talk 7 and Talk 7X, which were respectively released in October and December, 2013. Much like the original Fonepad, the new Talk 7X (Quad Core) comes with a MediaTek processor, supports voice-calling and in addition, it comes with upgraded specifications. But, can it do enough to unseat some very high profile competition? We take a look.
Key Features:
◇7 inch PLS display at WSVGA resolution (1024X600 pixels)
◇Weighs 320g, 191.2*106.5*9.9mm in size.
◇MediaTek MT8382 SoC., 1.2GHZ Qual-core Cortex-A7 processor, Mali-400MP2 GPU, 1GB RAM
◇Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
◇8GB of built-in-storage, expandable by TF card
◇VGA front-facing camera; 2.0MP rear-facing camera
◇Stereo speaker
◇GPS
◇Bluetooth V4.0
◇GSM/WCDMA, full phone functionalities.
◇FM Radio
◇USB on the go
◇MicroSD card slot
◇Standard 3.5mm audio jack
◇1080p video playback
◇3000mAh Li-Po rechargeable battery, 5-6 hours battery life
Design and Build
The Talk 7X’s front houses a 7-inch display surrounded by a black bezel. The front panel does not include any branding, which I would consider a good tradition by the Chinese maker. Thanks to the Jelly Bean's onscreen navigation keys, which mean the front of the device is devoid of physical buttons, leaving simply the black bezel with an earpiece, a VGA camera, a light sensor and a proximity sensor.
On the right side of the device are the rather excellent buttons, with the one piece volume rocker sited just below the power button. They have a very responsive feel and are easy to find with your fingertips. The buttons are colored white to match the finish of the rear side, blending in nicely.
Unusually, the Talk 7X has its micro-USB port located on the top of the device next to the standard 3.5mm headphone jack. While it's uncommon to find the USB port on the top of a tablet of this size, it is ergonomically sound as the Talk 7X is simple to use while charging.
The positioning of this port also helps reduce the costs of manufacturing the tablet, as the circuit board has the connection for the port at the top. Acube has avoided running a cable to the bottom of the tablet as it had to on the original Talk 7.
The 2MP rear camera is housed in the upper left corner of the white glossy plastic back, which gives the tablet a somewhat cheap feeling.
Actually, this upper part of the back is removable, underneath are the dual SIM slot and Micro SD card slot.
You could also find an aperture in the lower middle, along with some of the information Acube wants you to see.
Measuring at 191.2*106.5*9.9mm, it is smaller than most of the 7-inch voice calling tablet. The only smaller 7-incher with phone functionalities I can think of is the Huawei MediaPad X1, which, of course, is many times more expensive than the 7X.
Holding the Talk 7X with one hand between thumb and forefingers is a comfortable grip that can be maintained for some time, no doubt due to its relative lightness and weight balance.
Display and Sound
Unlike many other budget tablets, The Talk 7X hasn't skimped on the screen. It has the same PLS display used on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0, comfortably beating the TN displays featured by the Lenovo A1000 and Ainol AX2, which it is in direct competition against.
The 7-inch PLS display the Acube Talk 7X (Quad Core) sports has a resolution of 1024*600 (PPI=169), obviously not quite as good as the best in the business, but it's a step up on the previous Talk 7, which only has a TN display.
Being a PLS LCD screen, it has fantastic viewing angles, even better than most of the IPS panels widely used on Chinese tablets. It does suffer from a little more glare than I would like and the color balance seems a little favored towards a yellowish tint, but these are minor complaints.
Some users will probably find it uncomfortable to be able to discern individual pixels on the display at a typical viewing distance, as most of smartphone displays we look at every day have already gone beyond the so-called retina standard. However, this 7-inch screen still has a much higher pixel density than most of the laptops and PC monitors, thus it should not be much of a problem for tight-budgeted users.
Interface and Software
The Talk 7X runs the Android 4.2.2 OS, along with a healthy amount of customizations on top of it, but nothing to break the head-to-toe Android feel.
The Google Play store works brilliantly on the Talk 7X, with easy access to all the popular apps and games you could want. However there remains a dearth of tablet apps, a space where Google has struggled to engage developers, especially when you compare it to the wealth of high-quality apps made for the iPad.
Seven-inch tablets suffer much less though, as many phone apps still work brilliantly at this smaller tablet screen size.
Benchmarks
The Talk 7X is powered by a quad-core 1.3GHz MediaTek MT6582 processor (Quad-core cortex-A7, Mali-400MP2) with 1GB RAM, which is a huge leap forward compared to its dual core predecessors.
General system performance is reliable and relatively speedy, the Antutu Benchmark test returned a decent 16010, matching the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 and besting the ASUS Transformer Prime.
The 5636 Quadrant test result was also surprisingly solid.
The notching in Geekbench2 test was sound, but not very promising.
In the more graphic-focused Nenamark2 and 3D Mark tests, the 7X also did very well.
The browser performance was also proven to be super-solid, the Vellamo test returned an astonishing 1903, putting this $80 device in the same league as the mighty Galaxy S4. And this promise is further proven by the notch in the CF-bench test.
Performance
The way the Acube Talk 7X performs in real world also transcends its budget offering and low price. It's obviously nowhere near the top of the league and sometimes does feel like a machine from the past, but it handily beats many of the pricier cellular tablets such as the Lenovo A3000 and Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0. The 1.3GHz quad-core processor churns through tasks at a fair pace and it's certainly not unpleasant to use.
The animations when swiping between home screens and loading apps show some jitter at times, but there are no real delays. Apps load fast enough, but the difference in performance between the Talk 7X and my LG Optimus G Pro (Snapdragon 600) is noticeable.
Most games play well once loaded as the graphics processing capability of the 7X is actually very good, and with the screen resolution a notch down from that full 1080P, there are no issues.
Playing 1080P videos on the desktop YouTube page is smooth, and the touchscreen remained responsive to any sort of operations.
Multi-tasking works as well as you would expect given the 1GB of RAM on board. Switching apps is fast and painless, but there is a low limit on the number of big apps that can remain in memory. This isn't a reason to run a task killer, since Android manages its memory very efficiently.
The only time this lack of RAM can be an issue is if you have many tabs open in a web browser. Switching to a browser tab that's not in memory will cause the page to reload. Ultimately though, the memory is sufficient for pleasant enough operation.
Connectivity
The Chinese manufacturer has been promoting the Talk 7X tablet as a complete device, which has both phone and tablet qualities. Thankfully, the voice-calling feature on the 7X lives up to the expectation. The call quality on the 7X was impressive and the tablet was able to latch on to cellular networks even in weak signal areas which came in handy at times. There's also Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, FM Radio and GPS on board. The Talk 7X comes in a single 8GB model, but the storage is expandable with Micro SD card of up to 32GB.
Camera
I am not a big fan of the idea of taking pictures with a tablet, to put it mildly, but if a manufacturer is going to include a camera it had better be decent. The Acube Talk 7X’s camera…. is not.
What we're talking about here is a 2MP camera with no flash assistance. Don't even think about grabbing those Instagram-friendly macro shots here. You'll be sorely disappointed, as the backgrounds tend to come out clear leaving the foreground a blurry mess.
That extends to general shots. Images end up washed out, noisy and lacking in vibrancy and color accuracy.
The front-facing camera can get the online video chatting done, but you would never use it for selfie.
Battery
Despite having a fairly small 3000mAh battery capacity, Acube has managed to endow the Talk 7X with decent endurance by using a fairly efficient chipset. In constant use, the tablet is easily capable of 5-6 hours' screen time, which is considered pretty good at the budget end of the market.
The system did very well in standby, idle drain is negligible even with wireless connected.
Thanks to its standard micro USB port, charging the tablet is easy: it accepts any standard cable and is fast to charge for a tablet (With its standard 5V-2A plug it only took about 2 hours to finish a full charge).
Verdict
There's obviously nothing outstandingly good about the Talk 7X, but neither is there anything outstandingly bad. This is a budget tablet that actually exceeds my expectations in many ways. It's keenly priced and very capable.
The good:
For a device in this market segment, the Talk 7X has a PLS LCD screen, with nice color saturation, contrast, brightness and viewing angle, although the 1024 x 600 resolution seems like it's from a bygone era before 720p became the entry-level resolution for phones.
Audio through the built-in speakers is loud and reasonably clear, making this a great tablet for watching videos and listening to music.
Dual-SIM support is pretty useful for people who need two different mobile phone numbers.
At RMB499 ($80), it is affordable both as a phone and a tablet, and its performance is much better than the price would suggest.
The bad:
The rear-facing camera is a pretty poor effort from Acube and there's no real value in including it at this price at all.
The glossy plastic shell gives the tablet a cheap kind of feel, and has low resistance to scratches.
A 7-inch budget tablet that also wants to be a phone sounds like a silly idea. But the Acube Talk 7X is, in use, entirely sensible. It is stonkingly good value if a low-cost portable tablet is what you’re after.
seems no one else has anything to share about this model.
Sent from my LG-F240L using xda app-developers app
jupiter2012 said:
seems no one else has anything to share about this model.
Sent from my LG-F240L using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
good news for some is that this model is now RMB399, which is around $65, quite a bargain.
where is it available for that price $65.00
Nice review- thank you!
who i the best tablet brand in china?(4 quaity).
Wow!!
Inviato dal mio GT-I9505 utilizzando Tapatalk
Xperia-Ray said:
Nice review- thank you!
who i the best tablet brand in china?(4 quaity).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks and to answer the question, Acube and Ainol probably have the best quality.
Sent from my LG-F240L using XDA Free mobile app
I got in touch with Cube's support staff and they told me that their factory are testing Android 4.4.2 and that it should be released in a couple of days.
I've ordered this tablet, for slightly less than $110 it seems like great value for money. Hopefully I won't be disappointed once I receive it.
I do think Cube could have skipped the rear camera and increased the battery capacity a little instead. (Though I suppose it makes sense to have a rear camera if you use it as your main phone/tablet/phablet, I will mostly use the tablet for movies and games)
acube
very nice review .
i also have this tablet for like a week now and i am very surprised to see that it manages almost every task with such ease.
the only thing in don't like about this tablet is the display unfortunately, ythe colors are not saturated, ther red is quite pinkish blue and green don't have too much power.
i am thinking of calibrating the colors but i don't seem to find an app to do this.
what do you guys think i should do?
thanks in advance
best regards,
gbb14 said:
very nice review .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you're used to the very oversaturated samsung colours.
I bought this thing 3 weeks ago as an experiment to get my family onto skype.
Conclusion:
This is a supercheap-supertablet,
I compared it next to an Ipad-air(with a comic), and the colours almost match 100% (in my eyes)
viewing angles are excellent, and performance also (compared to price)
We also have a Galaxy Tab2 7", and this little cheap thing (that even can make calls!) outperforms it roughly.
Wow, after 4 years of membership.....finaly, my first post!
boerke said:
I think you're used to the very oversaturated samsung colours.
I bought this thing 3 weeks ago as an experiment to get my family onto skype.
Conclusion:
This is a supercheap-supertablet,
I compared it next to an Ipad-air(with a comic), and the colours almost match 100% (in my eyes)
viewing angles are excellent, and performance also (compared to price)
We also have a Galaxy Tab2 7", and this little cheap thing (that even can make calls!) outperforms it roughly.
Wow, after 4 years of membership.....finaly, my first post!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad u like it as much as i did.
来自我的 LG-F240L 上的 Tapatalk
Help me
Hello, please help. I have a problem with the tablet, the firmware damage and no place I managed to find one that works. Please help me by putting on a rom or something so you can use it, please it would really appreciate it.:crying::crying::crying::crying::crying::crying::crying::crying::crying::crying::crying:
Babydan said:
Hello, please help. I have a problem with the tablet, the firmware damage and no place I managed to find one that works. Please help me by putting on a rom or something so you can use it, please it would really appreciate it.:crying::crying::crying::crying::crying::crying::crying::crying::crying::crying::crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Had Same problem go to needrom.com down load ROM and brusch tools easy instructions
Will solve your problems.
Rick
Its a nice
I need as much info as possible. Iḿ running stock 4.4.2 and the model number is U51GT-C4BD and I really really would want to get it rooted. None of the common methods i tried work. I am a beginner to supesuser with ubuntu + cli. Could i possibly find a su binary and drop it under system? Also, the main reason is to remove bloath and some tweaking.... By the way its a great tablet for such a low price...
No reset button
jupiter2012 said:
seems no one else has anything to share about this model.
Sent from my LG-F240L using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Acube x7 is a great device but unfortunately when it jamms or bricks one can't reset device ,No reset button:crying:
gdcolin said:
Acube x7 is a great device but unfortunately when it jamms or bricks one can't reset device ,No reset button:crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
press nd hold the power button for more than 8 seconds.
来自我的 HTC D820t 上的 Tapatalk
jupiter2012 said:
press nd hold the power button for more than 8 seconds.
来自我的 HTC D820t 上的 Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Useless, i have two of those devices i tried to hold the power button for more than 8 seconds but nothing happened no power on
Not even when you put on charge! Dead devices
Ever saw two models of Cube Talk 7X U51GT W and Cube Talk 7X U51GT-C4 on cube-tablet.com, which model does the above you mentioned belong to? Any differences between these two models? I'm interested to buy Cube Talk 7X online, but before that i need to make a confirmation.
The home and return bar do not work in upright mode they work fine side ways and upside down
---------- Post added at 12:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:32 PM ----------
the return and home buttons are only blocked in upright position with the loadspeker at the top
The only good way for this problem seems be to flash with a convenable rom...
[REVIEW] Siswoo Cooper i7: octa-core, 64 bits, 4G, IPS HD 5", 2GB de RAM, 16GB ROM,
Recently the young Chinese company Siswoo announced their second Android model, taking advantage of the new 64 bits processors from MediaTek.
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As I have already told before, those Chinese manufacturers are each time copying (imitating less) and willing more to highlight something from their own. Today Siswoo is presenting the Cooper i7, and before going into the review, I cannot hide... it's a bullet!
Hardware
Those are the specifications of the last Siswoo smartphone:
And yes, you are right, 64 bits octa-core processor running at 1,7Ghz, GPU Mali T760, 2GB of RAM, 16 GB of internal storage (of which 12,82GB available for the user) and up to 64GB expandable via microSD, 4G-LTE connectivity ... appetizing, isn't it? Let's go with the review.
Packaging, design and ergonomics
The package is really simple and quite square, the one used by Elephone for the P3000s attired my attention, but this one goes back to the “standards”. Small and with the table of content and smartphone specifications.
[YOUTUBE]http://youtu.be/sF0Pcrfu1Fo
[/YOUTUBE]
Just taking it out of the box, two things surprised me: the design and the weight. It's really light, in a very first moment I even though it didn't have the battery, but yes, it was inside, and even so it stays on 130gr.
As we can see on the video, the device comes inside a small plastic bag and in the bottom inside the box, we will find the charger and earphones. It's very nice from Siswoo's side to include (already applied) the plastic cover for the screen.
Regarding the design, I must confess I didn't like it in a first sight, too simple and too... flat, with round edges.
BUT, once you use it, this feeling changes. And this design influences a lot. As said before, it's very light (although the different of size, exactly the same weight of iPhone 5) and with less than 9mm of thickness, you can carry it very comfortably on your pocket... and being a 5” device.
One remarkably thing on its design are the touch buttons. They are normally off, but when you use the phone or you have a notification, they light in an elegant and practical way. When not, the front part is completely black. On this front, we will also find the 5Mpx camera and the sensors for light and proximity.
Unlike other smartphones, all the physical buttons of the Cooper i7 are on the right side. In the beginning it might be confusing, since sometimes you want to press volume down and you lock the phone.
However, once you get used to that, it's very comfortable, specially because this terminal fits perfectly into one hand, and by having the buttons on the same side, you can manage it completely with just one hand.
The rest on the edges is free... except for the top part, where we find charger plug and jack 3.5 for the earphones.
Turn it. On the rear part, your eyes go directly to the 8Mpx camera with dual LED flash on the top, just below SISWOO logo and on the bottom the speaker and logo with “4G-LTE” like to remember us that we can connect to those networks.
Last on this part, I must say that the Cooper i7 does not slide at all. It's very agreable to touch and it fits perfectly on the hands, so VERY good ergonomics.
Screen
Cooper i7 mounts a HD IPS 5” screen, offering a resolution of 720x1280. It has very good quality, although I think they use dynamic contrast, because I don't feel as much range of tones as in other (first brand) phones. I mean, black is not as black.
The viewing angle is very good and I had no problems using it under bright sun, by having the brightness in automatic mode, it adjusts in seconds to any situation.
We will also find two interesting functions, "Gesture sensing" and "Smart Wake". The first one means that we will be able to navigate through pictures on the gallery and some other apps just by moving our hand over the phone (but without touching it). The second one, allows us to complete some actions by drawing pre-defined patterns on the screen when the phone is locked, like activate radio, camera, change song...
The gesture recognition is working but, at this point is not as perfectioned as in other models like new Samsung Galaxy, with the Cooper i7 you must pass your hand closer to the screen and slower.
The Smart Wake function is really interesting, I liked it a lot. I continually use it for many applications... and with just one movement!
Software, multimedia and games
This terminal comes with Android 4.4.4 Kitkat, although Siswoo has annouced we will receive the update to Lollipop during March.
They didn't apply any customization layer on top of Android (maybe it also influences the high speed this phone goes), in addition it is rooted by default and includes all the usual and popular applications out of the box (Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, Skype, Adobe Reader, Documents to Go and the interesting WeCal) so we can start fully using it just after the first booting.
Browsing the web either with WiFi or with 3G/4G connection, it's very fast and fluid, no lags, specially the background applications (like social network notifications)
In the multimedia area is where I really enjoyed myself. Since there were not pre-installed game, I went direct to Fifa 15:UT and another action game called Contract Killer... ¡bingo!
The initial test became some weekend hours playing online tournaments (specially Fifa, I really love it). The fact of being so light and so comfortable on the hands, make this smartphone the perfect portable gaming console, and as I said before, being so fast makes the games start very quickly and loading times are very short. While playing there are no lags, nor freezes and being moving images, contrasts and colors are perceived perfectly.
I have the same feeling when playing videos, the powerful CPU and accompanied with one of latest presented GPUs make the work without any trouble. FullHD, subtitles... even working through the network I had no problem with any type. Regarding the volume, it's OK and the rear speaker has enough relief (inward) so that the sound is not muffled by supporting the phone on any surface.
Coming to the extras, GPS and compass worked very well and once again, without having to wait.
So, in general, the multimedia experience has been very satisfactory.
Camera
The Cooper i7 brings (as usual) two cameras, the front one with 5Mpx and the main one at the rear with 8Mpx, both with interesting characteristics like voice shooting control, the beauty effect (perfect for selfie lovers) or the noise reduction.
However it suffers from the great evil of Chinese phones: lots megapixel unable to perform well in low light conditions.
It was clear that the "buts" would arrive sooner or later.
I have tried the camera inside and outside. Taking pictures outside and with full sun light, the results are very satisfactory for pictures and also recording video.
But when the light is lower, other "first brand" phones like iPhone (who also mounts an 8Mpx main camera) are capable of great pictures...and with this one we will simply prefer not to zoom too much on the pictures.
I would even say that I even like more the results of the front camera (with its 5Mpx and without flash) rather than the main one, so selfie addicts...good for you! Both cameras work perfectly with Skype, just pay attention you don't cover the microphone when holding the phone.
Autonomy
As seen on the specifications, the (removable) battery has a capacity of 2100 mAh, something I found quite tight compared to the more than 3000 mAh we see often on new terminals... but very good compared for example with the 1440mAh on the iPhone 5... and more than enough for one day. I already said I spent several hours playing online.
It's equiped with fast charging technology, nevertheless I would preferred to see the latest ultra-fast charging technology (around 80% in 15min or so).
Conclusions
In the first lines of this review I already stated than although most of Chinese phones have some common points, it is each time more usual to see brands willing to highlight their "personal touch".
In my opinion, Siswoo has been able of achieving a very interesting result in which is only their second model on the market. Not only on the design but specially on the usability, the user experience is very agreable.
We cannot dismiss from our minds that it's not only the aforementioned excellent potential, the Cooper i7 also brings us dual SIM and 4G-LTE connectivity for around 180€ (as per its price on Etotalk including VIP shipping DHL only took 2 days to arrive to my house).
mdabar said:
Recently the young Chinese company Siswoo announced their second Android model, taking advantage of the new 64 bits processors from MediaTek.
As I have already told before, those Chinese manufacturers are each time copying (imitating less) and willing more to highlight something from their own. Today Siswoo is presenting the Cooper i7, and before going into the review, I cannot hide... it's a bullet!
Hardware
Those are the specifications of the last Siswoo smartphone:
[IMG="Specifications"]
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-omHjEmmzagg/VPGBRIFQFlI/AAAAAAAABuY/8la0GNjKY-I/s1600/SiswooCooperI7-specs.jpg[/IMG]
And yes, you are right, 64 bits octa-core processor running at 1,7Ghz, GPU Mali T760, 2GB of RAM, 16 GB of internal storage (of which 12,82GB available for the user) and up to 64GB expandable via microSD, 4G-LTE connectivity ... appetizing, isn't it? Let's go with the review.
Packaging, design and ergonomics
The package is really simple and quite square, the one used by Elephone for the P3000s attired my attention, but this one goes back to the “standards”. Small and with the table of content and smartphone specifications.
[YOUTUBE]http://youtu.be/sF0Pcrfu1Fo
[/YOUTUBE]
Just taking it out of the box, two things surprised me: the design and the weight. It's really light, in a very first moment I even though it didn't have the battery, but yes, it was inside, and even so it stays on 130gr.
As we can see on the video, the device comes inside a small plastic bag and in the bottom inside the box, we will find the charger and earphones. It's very nice from Siswoo's side to include (already applied) the plastic cover for the screen.
Regarding the design, I must confess I didn't like it in a first sight, too simple and too... flat, with round edges.
BUT, once you use it, this feeling changes. And this design influences a lot. As said before, it's very light (although the different of size, exactly the same weight of iPhone 5) and with less than 9mm of thickness, you can carry it very comfortably on your pocket... and being a 5” device.
One remarkably thing on its design are the touch buttons. They are normally off, but when you use the phone or you have a notification, they light in an elegant and practical way. When not, the front part is completely black. On this front, we will also find the 5Mpx camera and the sensors for light and proximity.
Unlike other smartphones, all the physical buttons of the Cooper i7 are on the right side. In the beginning it might be confusing, since sometimes you want to press volume down and you lock the phone.
However, once you get used to that, it's very comfortable, specially because this terminal fits perfectly into one hand, and by having the buttons on the same side, you can manage it completely with just one hand.
The rest on the edges is free... except for the top part, where we find charger plug and jack 3.5 for the earphones.
Turn it. On the rear part, your eyes go directly to the 8Mpx camera with dual LED flash on the top, just below SISWOO logo and on the bottom the speaker and logo with “4G-LTE” like to remember us that we can connect to those networks.
Last on this part, I must say that the Cooper i7 does not slide at all. It's very agreable to touch and it fits perfectly on the hands, so VERY good ergonomics.
Screen
Cooper i7 mounts a HD IPS 5” screen, offering a resolution of 720x1280. It has very good quality, although I think they use dynamic contrast, because I don't feel as much range of tones as in other (first brand) phones. I mean, black is not as black.
The viewing angle is very good and I had no problems using it under bright sun, by having the brightness in automatic mode, it adjusts in seconds to any situation.
We will also find two interesting functions, "Gesture sensing" and "Smart Wake". The first one means that we will be able to navigate through pictures on the gallery and some other apps just by moving our hand over the phone (but without touching it). The second one, allows us to complete some actions by drawing pre-defined patterns on the screen when the phone is locked, like activate radio, camera, change song...
The gesture recognition is working but, at this point is not as perfectioned as in other models like new Samsung Galaxy, with the Cooper i7 you must pass your hand closer to the screen and slower.
The Smart Wake function is really interesting, I liked it a lot. I continually use it for many applications... and with just one movement!
Software, multimedia and games
This terminal comes with Android 4.4.4 Kitkat, although Siswoo has annouced we will receive the update to Lollipop during March.
They didn't apply any customization layer on top of Android (maybe it also influences the high speed this phone goes), in addition it is rooted by default and includes all the usual and popular applications out of the box (Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, Skype, Adobe Reader, Documents to Go and the interesting WeCal) so we can start fully using it just after the first booting.
Browsing the web either with WiFi or with 3G/4G connection, it's very fast and fluid, no lags, specially the background applications (like social network notifications)
In the multimedia area is where I really enjoyed myself. Since there were not pre-installed game, I went direct to Fifa 15:UT and another action game called Contract Killer... ¡bingo!
The initial test became some weekend hours playing online tournaments (specially Fifa, I really love it). The fact of being so light and so comfortable on the hands, make this smartphone the perfect portable gaming console, and as I said before, being so fast makes the games start very quickly and loading times are very short. While playing there are no lags, nor freezes and being moving images, contrasts and colors are perceived perfectly.
I have the same feeling when playing videos, the powerful CPU and accompanied with one of latest presented GPUs make the work without any trouble. FullHD, subtitles... even working through the network I had no problem with any type. Regarding the volume, it's OK and the rear speaker has enough relief (inward) so that the sound is not muffled by supporting the phone on any surface.
Coming to the extras, GPS and compass worked very well and once again, without having to wait.
So, in general, the multimedia experience has been very satisfactory.
Camera
The Cooper i7 brings (as usual) two cameras, the front one with 5Mpx and the main one at the rear with 8Mpx, both with interesting characteristics like voice shooting control, the beauty effect (perfect for selfie lovers) or the noise reduction.
However it suffers from the great evil of Chinese phones: lots megapixel unable to perform well in low light conditions.
It was clear that the "buts" would arrive sooner or later.
I have tried the camera inside and outside. Taking pictures outside and with full sun light, the results are very satisfactory for pictures and also recording video.
But when the light is lower, other "first brand" phones like iPhone (who also mounts an 8Mpx main camera) are capable of great pictures...and with this one we will simply prefer not to zoom too much on the pictures.
I would even say that I even like more the results of the front camera (with its 5Mpx and without flash) rather than the main one, so selfie addicts...good for you! Both cameras work perfectly with Skype, just pay attention you don't cover the microphone when holding the phone.
Autonomy
As seen on the specifications, the (removable) battery has a capacity of 2100 mAh, something I found quite tight compared to the more than 3000 mAh we see often on new terminals... but very good compared for example with the 1440mAh on the iPhone 5... and more than enough for one day. I already said I spent several hours playing online.
It's equiped with fast charging technology, nevertheless I would preferred to see the latest ultra-fast charging technology (around 80% in 15min or so).
Conclusions
In the first lines of this review I already stated than although most of Chinese phones have some common points, it is each time more usual to see brands willing to highlight their "personal touch".
In my opinion, Siswoo has been able of achieving a very interesting result in which is only their second model on the market. Not only on the design but specially on the usability, the user experience is very agreable.
We cannot dismiss from our minds that it's not only the aforementioned excellent potential, the Cooper i7 also brings us dual SIM and 4G-LTE connectivity for around 180€ (as per its price on Etotalk including VIP shipping DHL only took 2 days to arrive to my house).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good, very good to review, but I wonder what is the most interesting device, and what it may have longer duration in time ... this I 7, or R8 ...
now my thanks for the review ...
Hi bodyjoao, from my point of view they are very different devices.
Think that Siswoo is a really new (young) company and up to now they have just launched 2 smartphones, being the first one the R8 Monster. In my opinion they did like that to show everybody what they were able to do, so top of hardware specifications.
Then they presented the Cooper i7 to show that they want to do also more affordable products, but without going to low end range. My impressions have been very good testing the i7, I insist that the weak point for chinese phones is always the camera, but leaving that on a side... I'm really enhoying the i7, it's very very fast on everything... and delicious to play with very light and thin hehe
The R8 Monster costs around 100$ more and... still I'm not sure the camera will be much better.
We have very good news coming from other brands like Xiaomi, were people insist that their cameras are quite good, so I'm confident that chinese companies have already understand that people demand quality and they are giving it little by little... better finishing, better, screens, better storage... It's not always the amount that counts, but the quality
mdabar said:
Hi bodyjoao, from my point of view they are very different devices.
Think that Siswoo is a really new (young) company and up to now they have just launched 2 smartphones, being the first one the R8 Monster. In my opinion they did like that to show everybody what they were able to do, so top of hardware specifications.
Then they presented the Cooper i7 to show that they want to do also more affordable products, but without going to low end range. My impressions have been very good testing the i7, I insist that the weak point for chinese phones is always the camera, but leaving that on a side... I'm really enhoying the i7, it's very very fast on everything... and delicious to play with very light and thin hehe
The R8 Monster costs around 100$ more and... still I'm not sure the camera will be much better.
We have very good news coming from other brands like Xiaomi, were people insist that their cameras are quite good, so I'm confident that chinese companies have already understand that people demand quality and they are giving it little by little... better finishing, better, screens, better storage... It's not always the amount that counts, but the quality
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am under This phone or the jiayu s3 , But the site don't have now the jiayu s3 for now, and I like this look...I wait for one or tree days and then I decid....
Sent from my HUAWEI G750-T20 using XDA Free mobile app
bodyjoao said:
I am under This phone or the jiayu s3 , But the site don't have now the jiayu s3 for now, and I like this look...I wait for one or tree days and then I decid....
Sent from my HUAWEI G750-T20 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Jiayu is very good one too, I found available on the same store I took the Siswoo -> http://www.etotalk.com/jiayu-s3_p7545.html
And as usual customer they gave me these coupons... first in first served
5 USD Available 77571b3b8a 2015-04-02
5 USD Available 7ef04c0bff 2015-04-02
5 USD Available fc8cabfe8e 2015-04-02
5 USD Available 9c7b4d8e1d 2015-04-02
5 USD Available 857faaa218 2015-04-02
5 USD Available bf36c5bfe8 2015-04-02
I prefer them because of the DHL VIP shipping ... take a look and decide, you will tell later which one you take!
I've been using mine since a couple of weeks, but the home button backlight somehow stays on all the time. Any idea why? Cheers, great review!
yash3339 said:
I've been using mine since a couple of weeks, but the home button backlight somehow stays on all the time. Any idea why? Cheers, great review!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have not had this issue... and since yesterday I'm thinking on it and surfing my Cooper i7 up and down to find anything :-/
The only I can think on is, go to Settings -> Display -> BreathLight and try to unable all of them, reboot the phone and then activate them again.
Normally it should light only to notify something.
Goos luck and tell us if it works!
cooper 17
hello
i also plan to buy it, but i fear about the small battery..
could you tell us more about that matter ?
thks
jdcesari said:
hello
i also plan to buy it, but i fear about the small battery..
could you tell us more about that matter ?
thks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
More than 1 day with my normal use,... I mean a lot of wifi: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Opera, weather and Youtube for the baby
I've also been using radio and trying 2 different GPS applications (Navmii and Navigate 66) for which I have not only tried the apps but also downloaded the maps for a couple of countries (so more than 1GB downloaded over wifi for those apps)
And planning the trip I have moved cartoons for the baby from my NAS to the smartphone using the wifi, so another 1GB moved there and the battery resisted
It's true it went faster when playing Fifa, because it was online and playing, but with normal use it's much longer.
So it's true that the battery is not as long as for other devices, but you see that also on its thickness, it's really comfortable to bring it on the pocket.
5" HD 720p is poor
it's a great screen with 5" FHD
MTK6752 support screen solution 1080P
thks a lot
you are perfect
Hahaha thanks! but just trying to help and share my experience through reviews
If you liked it, I would appreciate you clic on the "Thanks!" button
Have a nice one!!
Weak wifi on Cooper i7?
Hello,
I just received my siswoo cooper i7 yesterday. I'm also lucky with until now except for one issue: the Wifi is very weak. It has an ok connection next to the router (54 Mbps), but if I move away 4-5 meters (staying in the same room even), it drops the connection or goes down to 12/ 5 / 2 Mbps. I also tried at my office, it wouldn't work if not directly at the router. All my other devices (Moto MB 526, XT320, iPad Air) have good connection even 2 rooms further away and work like a charm.
Anyone else having similar issues? Any good ideas to solve this?
IF SISWOO IS READING -> PLEASE DONT BLOCK ROOT !
ROOTED WITH iROOT SUCCESS
Back and other Button LED = (su) echo 255 > /sys/class/leds/button-backlight/brightness // 0 to turn off
Breathlight (HomeLED) = echo (CODE) > /sys/devices/virtual/breathlightdrv/breathlight/open // 0 to turn off
CODE -> defines blinking rate - havent figured out the system but any numbers between 12 to 20.
Will add if found out more...
What about the storage? Is it unified or partitioned?
I'm still worried about the battery. Otherwise it looks great.
chat1978 said:
What about the storage? Is it unified or partitioned?
I'm still worried about the battery. Otherwise it looks great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you mean with unified that all the available storage is on the same partition then it's a yes, available storage appears all together as internal SD Card and it all can be used to install apps.
The battery life depends on the usage. I consider it will last a full day with moderate usage (2 - 3 hours SOT, some gaming, some calling, some music listening), but no more that that.
alresave said:
If you mean with unified that all the available storage is on the same partition then it's a yes, available storage appears all together as internal SD Card and it all can be used to install apps.
The battery life depends on the usage. I consider it will last a full day with moderate usage (2 - 3 hours SOT, some gaming, some calling, some music listening), but no more that that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes about the storage. Thanks.
On my daily life, I don't have high expectations from the battery.
But last year, while on route to an island, I drained the battery of THL W200 within a couple of hours just by looking at the ship's location and doing some reading.
Very disappointing. I have a portable battery back but still, I would like something bigger for vacation time!
Full Review Video
Pictures from http://s7yler.blogspot.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLB3C60yvcc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYR-Y3umZaM
Hi, this is a copy of the review I just published on my web site after having tested both the THL 2015 and the latest Elephone P3000S.
Any picture mentioned in the text can be found in my original review since I cannot yet post external links here.
I hope it will help...
The newest release of Elephone P3000S has potential to be another THL-killer.
The earlier P3000S phones were no thread compared to the THL 2015, but for the new version, Elephone refreshed the specification to either equal or exceed its rival, at least on paper:
Look and feel:
The big logo, the red circle surrounding the camera unit, the shiny 4G stamp on the front, ...nothing contributes to make the P3000S a beauty (this is subjective of course). No nice finishing touch and the weird decision to locate the volume button on the left side which the flap will cover. The flip cover itself feels cheap and tends to snap out too easily. While I prefer its transparent window over the round hole in the THL cover, it does make the touch screen less reactive for answering a call.
At the opposite of the THL, the 3 soft buttons don't have back light but the notification LED has a color selector for each type of event. The app history (when you keep the Home button pressed) includes an app killer to quickly clean up the memory. A nice addition that THL used to have in some models but not the THL 2015.
Analog and digital clock can be selected from the S View Cover settings.
Sliding to the right reveals a music player.
What they have in common:
Processor: MT6752 Octacore 64bit, 1.7GHz . The phone is equally snappy and stable.
Dimensions: almost the same, with the Elephone being a bit bulkier and somewhat heavier by 10gr.
Thickness 44mm
Height 149.8mm
Width 77.1mm
Diag. (screen) 126mm
Weight 157gr
Finger print reader: The smaller finger print reader works fine. The secondary unlock method is alway a password. It would have been nice to revert to a pattern like the THL allows. The finger scanner can also be used to restrict access to chosen apps or to scroll up and down within any application. In the security department, the device encryption is available as well as a mobile anti-theft function
Screen gestures: while THL did not advertise it, it also has the same feature. It is located under the Accessibility menu. Using this function on either phone contributes in draining the battery faster.
GPS/Glonass: The compass tends to act a bit crazy (even after calibration) but this didn't seem to affect the GPS performance which is fast and accurate just like the THL.
Wi-Fi/USB/OTG: no bad surprise here, they perform as expected and the Wi-Fi reception is comparable to the THL.
Sound: Speakers and microphone provide a good audio quality. The speaker is loud enough once the BesLoudness option (volume booster for speaker) is enabled in the Audio Profiles menu.
Cameras:
The Elephone's main camera is a Sony Exmor and offers 13 mpx so the expectation is once again to retrieve something similar as in the THL 2015.
In broad daylight pictures are comparable to the THL.
It's a different story indoor where the P3000s struggles to focus and fails to deliver the same sharpness. It looks like the Sony sensor hasn't been combined with the lens it deserves. The resulting pictures are prone to glare and flare. The good news is that we're still light years ahead from an Omnivision camera!
The selfie side is 5 mpx. The face-unlock would often fail in poor lighting condition and has a too narrow field of view which is probably down to the firmware settings because, for the rest, this camera performs like the THL 2015.
The differences:
RAM: 3GB (THL: 2GB): 1 extra GB with a fast processor potentially helps unleashing the phone performance. In reality it is not easy to measure but the heaviest games will certainly not complain.
More Battery: 3150 mAh (THL: 2700 mAh): This gives a correct autonomy for a day of mixed use but not that much compared to the THL really.
Rooted from factory: There's no bloatware within the Android 4.4.4 installed and the phone comes rooted with SuperSU already installed. Great!
Display: 5", 1080 x 1920 px, 440 ppi with DragonTail glass (scratch resistant) and 5 points touch screen which is appropriate for that screen size.
The important difference is in the display quality. No need to use a backlight bleed test app to see the difference. On the left in the picture below: the Elephone and the THL 2015 on the right.
It is crucial to run the Als_ps calibration (proximity sensor) in order to keep the auto-brightness from making it even worse.
The MiraVision options can help but also can make things worse if you push the contrast or select the Vivid mode. In any cases it would never match the THL which has excellent contrast and stunning colors naturally.
NFC?
This is where I understood the real meaning of Elephone's motto: Keep expecting and be surprised
It's a simple trick which works as follow:
Keep expecting...the NFC function...
Be surprised... there's no NFC for the lucky first 100,000 customers!
A discrete notification appeared on their web site once most people had confirmed their pre-order:
P3000S
Published: 2015-04-13 Views: 1379
Dear customers:
Don't you think you're paying too much for 3GB RAM smartphones? Take a look at P3000S 3GB version. It's as powerful as those 3GB RAM flagships on the market. It's powered by 64bit MTK6752 Octa core processor and the most advanced GPU of Mali-T760.
The phone packs other high performance hardware such as 13MP Sony camera and JDI FHD display. It also supports fingerprint ID, FOTA update.
The phone ought to support NFC, but considering that NFC don't have popularity in most of the countries and lower the cost by 5 dollars. We have taken NFC out for the first batch of P3000s. 100.000 pieces of P3000S were sent out in April don't support NFC function. However, if you think you probably need NFC function, we have the next batch of P3000S which packs NFC for you.
[Sarcastic mode ON]...so, yes, no big deal, you probably didn't want NFC anyway, and if you did, just buy it once more... [Sarcastic mode OFF]
The same trick was used for the previous Quad-Core release of the P3000S in 2015.
Keep expecting...a Sony camera
Be Surprised...As you know, Elephone P3000s should pack Sony camera sensor. However, we'd like to inform you that some of P3000s use OmniVision sensor instead.
Other thoughts:
On the performance side, the Elephone P3000S-6752 is on par with the THL 2015, as expected since they're both built on the MTK6752.
Generally the Elephone tends to produce less heat than the THL.
Engineering mode: *#*#3646633#*#*
Test mode: *#*#33#*#*
Conclusion:
The P3000s-6752 is a lower cost version of the THL 2015 but fails to qualify as a THL-killer due to its lower quality in most departments: design, ergonomic, compass, display, but also the camera, ...
It does however perform perfectly and delivers the great performance of the solid MTK 6752. So this is absolutely not a bad phone as such, and currently for 161€/175$ (vs 220€/240$ for the THL) @ Gearbest.com, it is certainly good bang for the bucks.
My real concern is about Elephone themselves:
Elephone is playing a dangerous game with its announcement effects and false promises.
For the second time in a year, they fooled their customers, and not just a few, by changing the advertised specification, in particular during some pre-sale deal!
As a result, it is difficult to trust that brand and buy with confidence. So the lesson learned here with Elephone is: don't be the first to buy! Don't rush for their latest P7000 yet, wait to see if they won't remove the touch screen or the microphone this time...who knows!?
At time of writing (15/05/2015), there are still many P3000S from batch #1 on sale, so if you need the NFC function, ask the seller to confirm before buying!
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The good:
Elegant design and great build quality
Gorgeous display
Superb front-facing cameras
Hi-Fi sound
The bad:
Expensive
The rear-facing camera lacks OIS
The Snapdragon 625 processor isn’t future-proof
No NFC
While other smartphones are battling it out on the benchmark front, vivo, a Chinese smartphone brand which ranks at No.5 in the world in terms of shipment, takes a very different approach in marketing their products. The vivo X9 is one of the newest additions to their “camera & Music” smartphone line. Rocking dual front-facing cameras, the X9 is anticipated to attract consumers with ultimate enthusiasm for selfies.
Key features of the vivo X9
• 5.5″ Super AMOLED of 1920*1080px resolution
• 20MP & 8MP dual front-facing cameras with moonlight LED, F2.0 aperture
• 16MP autofocus camera with LED flash, F2.0 aperture
• 4K video recording (both front and rear cameras)
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 (octa-core 2.0 GHz Cortex-A53, Adreno 506 GPU)
• 4GB of RAM, 64GB internal storage
• Funtouch 0S 3.0 (on top of Android OS v6.01)
• AK4376 DAC
• Dual SIM, dual standby
• 2G Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
• 3G Network: HSDPA
• 4G Network: LTE, TD-LTE
• Wi-Fi 802.11, Wi-Fi Direct, dual-band, Wi-Fi hotspot
• Bluetooth v4.1
• USB host (dongle required)
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• 3,050mAh irremovable Li-Po battery
Retail package and Accessories
The vivo X9 comes with very elegant packaging and lots of accessories. Inside the box you will find a phone, a charger, a cable for charging and data transmission, two protective cases and two screen protectors.
Design and build
At a glance, the X9 looks like just another extremely refined smartphone from vivo: a large display is dominating the front, and there is relatively small bezel around.
The only major difference you will instantly notice is that there are dual front-facing cameras now, both located on the left side of the ear piece. On the right side, you will find a light sensor and a moonlight LED flash.
There are some less obvious differences which makes the X9 more aesthetically pleasing than its predecessors: the width of the bezel on the left and right side is only 1.59mm each, compared to the 1.82mm of the vivo X7. The black frame around the display has also been reduced. The corners are more rounded, as well.
There is an oval Home button below the display, with a built-in fingerprint reader embedded in it. This key is both capacitive and physical, and offers decent key travel when pressing on it. The oval home button on my Samsung S7 Edge often failed to read my fingerprints due to its narrow reading area, fortunately I haven’t experienced the same problem with the vivo X9, thanks to the relatively larger reading area.
The bottom side plays host to a Micro USB port, stereo speaker gates and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It is quite disappointing that vivo decided to choose a Micro USB port instead of a more advanced USB Type-C port for its latest phone. As the latter becomes increasingly popular, it is for certain that Micro USB will be abandoned in the near future.
The power button and volume rocker are hosted on the right side, both of them are very easy to locate and offer tactile feedback to the users.
On the left side is a SIM Tray slot, you can use the stock tool to take the SIM tray out.
As you can tell from the picture above, the X9 supports using dual nano-SIM card in one phone.
The uniqueness in the X9’s design is more pronounced on its rear side. The plastic strips which allow signals to travel through are now located more towards the top side and bottom side, giving the back of the phone a more unified look. The rear-facing camera does pop up a little, but as the lens is covered by sapphire glass, it won’t get scratches easily. If you are still concerned, the cases which can be found in the retail package will save you from those worries.
The vivo X9 measures 152.6*74*6.99mm, about the same dimensions as the Samsung S7 Edge (150.9*72.6*7.7mm) and One Plus 3 (152.7x74.7x7.35mm), more compact than the Apple iPhone 7 Plus (158.2*77.9*7.3mm). Using the phone with one hand shouldn’t be a problem for most people, and for folks with smaller hands, there's a one-handed mode that resizes things onscreen to make apps easier to reach. The X9 weighs 154g, also about the same as the Samsung S7 Edge (157g) and One Plus 3 (158g), significantly lighter than the Apple iPhone 7 Plus (188g). Thanks to the balanced weight distribution, the X9 feels even lighter than the number suggests.
The build quality of the X9 is amazing. The front side of the phone is covered by Corning Gorilla glass 5, which is super resistant to scratches, and may be able to survive many occasional drops. The metal structure also feels extremely solid.
Display and sound
The X9 rocks a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display at the resolution of 1920*1080px. Although it is not the most cutting-edge in terms of pixel density, as most of the flagship smartphones have 2K displays now, it was still impossible for us to pick out individual pixels while using the phones in a normal distance. Putting the phones in a VR set we started to notice the difference, as my Samsung S7 Edge does look a lot sharper and more natural than the X9.
Despite the lower pixel density, the display of the X9 is still breathtakingly gorgeous. Like most AMOLED panels, the color saturation and contrast ratio here are simply great, you get very deep black and rich tones. The X9’s display looks generally more pleasing than most of the LCD panels used on other smartphones, as everything appears more vivid and alive.
Viewing angles are excellent as well, looking at the display from an extreme angle the colors are still not distorted. The brightness of the display is also great, you won’t have any problem using it outdoors in direct sunlight.
One of the major selling points of vivo smartphones is Hi-Fi. The X9 features an AKM4376 DAC to boost its audio performance. Specs-wise, this converter isn’t really so impressive as the quad-core DAC used in the LG V20 or the dual ES9028 DAC used in vivo’s very own Xplay 5. But coming from the S7 Edge, my audiophile ears did notice a significant improvement in overall sound quality when plugging in my B&O H3 in-ear monitor. The bass has a lot more punch, the vocals are crisp clear, instrument separation and positioning are as good as some of my earlier DAPs. I even asked a few of my non-audiophile, iPhone using friends to try listening to music with the X9, all of them actually said that the X9 sounded a lot better than their iPhones, although they couldn’t really pinpoint what the differences were. Acoustic nuts may still find their DAPs with Amplifiers irreplaceable, but for average smartphone users, the X9 is certainly one of the best phones out there to enjoy music.
On the speaker front, the X9 is also outstanding compared to many other smartphones. Not only are the built-in speakers louder, but the sound coming from them also has more clarity, layers and strength. Enabling the “Super Audio” mode in the settings, the X9 can sound as loud as some of the portable speakers and laptops, very impressive given the phone’s relatively small footprint.
System, UI and Apps
The X9 runs Android 6.01 Marshmallow out of the box, with a heavily customized skin called “Funtouch OS 3.0” on top. I know many folks prefer stock Android skin to those customized UIs, but vivo has really taken measured steps into developing their own UI, especially for the Chinese customers.
Like many customized skins, the Funtouch OS doesn’t include an application drawer, everything lays on the homescreens. Users can create folders to keep them in order.
And personalization freedom is what the X9 gives a lot of: You can rearrange the navigation buttons and even add extra ones. You can make the on-screen keyboard larger or smaller. You can hide the icon of the apps which you don’t want people to know that you are using. You have many interface themes to choose from. There are the so-called signature wallpapers, generated around the first initial of the user. And the list goes on.
Like I said earlier, many of the features of the Funtouch UI are tailor-made for Chinese customers, whether vivo will use a different UI on the units for oversea market is still unknown. Fortunately, this is Android and you can always install third-party launchers such as Google Now launcher to get the stock Android experience.
Cameras
Most of smartphone makers have realized now that people need better front-facing cameras for selfies. That’s why you get greatly improved front cameras on the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, the Apple iPhone 7 and many other flagship smartphones. However, no brand went as far as vivo did, as the newly released X9 has featured dual front-facing cameras: a 20MP primary camera complemented by an 8MP secondary camera and a moonlight flash, arguably the best selfie camera setup on any smartphone currently available. The 20MP front-facing SONY IMX376 CMOS lens is in charge of taking the picture and capturing all the details, while the 8MP sensor deals with blurring the background.
To everyone’s delight, the impeccable specs do translate into outstanding selfies. The dual front facing cameras capture lots of details and very rich colors under optimal conditions. HDR is available for those tricky scenes and it works pretty well.
The vivo X9 easily crushes other market-leading smartphones when it comes to taking photos with the front-facing cameras.
Even in low light conditions, the selfie cameras are still usable, thanks to the front-facing moonlight LED flash, which provides just the right amount of illumination to light up your face without dazzling your eyes.
The X9 adopts a 16MP SONY IMX298 Exmor camera with F/2.0 aperture on its rear. The lens offers a sensor size of 1/2.8" and a pixel size of 1.12μm, and has been commonly featured on lots of flagship smartphones such as the Xiaomi Mi5, Huawei Mate 8 and One Plus 3. The camera focuses fairly quickly, has a fast shutter and takes nice photos in general.
In automatic mode, images are not as sugarcoated as the photos taken by some other smartphones. There are no excessive amounts of contrast or saturation to the photo, and sharpness is also kept at a reasonable level. As a result, photographs are natural, delivering a very close representation of reality. Unfortunately, the rear-facing camera on the X9 isn’t accompanied by optical image stabilization, which is now a standard feature for flagship smartphones. As a result, ghosting and blurs could happen when you are not holding the phone steadily.
The camera app also offers lots of effects and modes for the users to play around with. The users are provided with 7 modes and dozens of different filters when shooting with the rear-facing camera, including the popular time-lapse photography. With the front-facing camera, the users has many different beautification functions to choose from as well.
Videos taken by the X9 look fine, with lots of details and rich colors. The phone is also capable of taking smooth 4K videos.
Performance
The heart of the vivo X9 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Octa-core processor clocked at 2.0GHz, beating alongside 4GB of RAM. It's not quite the Snapdragon 820 and 821 you'll find in those mainstream flagship Android smartphones, and the differences did show in benchmark tests.
In the Antutu V6.0 benchmark test, the X9 was returned a score of 61,544, far below the scores of the One Plus 3T and Samsung S7 Edge, and also many points behind the LG G5 SE. Only when compared to entry level smartphones such as the Meizu M5 Note and Huawei P9 lite, the X9 could have an advantage.
On the Geekbench 3 benchmark, the X9 scored 785 in single-core performance and 4,050 in multi-core. That's definitely nowhere near the Samsung S7 Edge and One Plus 3T in either category.
In the more graphics-focused 3DMark, the X9 scored 13,829 in the Ice Storm Unlimited test and 473 in the Sling Shot ES3.1 test.
In the PCMark Work 2.0 test, the vivo X9 was returned a predictable score of 4,780.
The X9 has 64GB internal storage, which is very generous considering many flagship smartphones only have 32GB storage on board. However, the eMMc 5 used here is not as fast as the UFS 2.0 used on high-end smartphones, the Androbench test scores told the difference. As you can see from the chart above, the X9 doesn’t match high-end smartphones in terms of Sequence Read Speed, but its Sequence Write Speed is actually quite similar to those flagships.
Fortunately, the benchmark scores didn’t entirely translate into real-world performance, as the X9 felt almost as fast and responsive as the Samsung S7 Edge while dealing with everyday tasks such as social networking, video feeds and web-browsing. The only difference that I noticed was it did take a little longer to install an application, and screen rotation didn’t happen as instant as it was on the S7 Edge.
Running graphics-intense 3D games, which I didn’t always do myself, the differences showed. Hiccups and lags did happen with big titles such as GTA: San Andreas, NFS17 and Asphalt 8, and we did notice significantly extended loading time and lower frame rates. With that said, the X9 still handled most of the games pretty well: Temple Run, Plants VS Zombies, Vitua Tennis and many other popular titles were as fast as they were on those cutting-edge smartphones.
Multitasking was generally fast, and the X9 could hold many applications in the background for a relatively long period of time, thanks to the 4GB RAM. Switching between applications on the X9 was not always as instant as it was on the S7 Edge, but for average users, the difference was ignorable. The internals may seem adequate for most people now, but with the upgrades of Android and many applications, how long will the Snapdragon 625 be able to keep everything running smoothly on the X9 is simply unknown.
Battery life and charging
The X9 has an irremovable 3,050mAh battery under the hood, pretty average for a 5.5-inch phone. As the X9 sports a more power-conservative processor, we actually expected it to do very well in battery life. Unfortunately, the result was just not as promising as we had hoped.
In the battery rundown test, in which we streamed full-screen videos over Wi-Fi with screen brightness and speaker volume at maximum, the phone lasted 5 hours and 38 minutes, which is 1 hour shorter than the S7 Edge’s result in the same test. In my nearly two weeks of testing, the X9 could power through a full day of moderate use, with around 30% charge remaining when I decided to call it a day. For intense smartphone gamers, carrying a mobile charger will still be inevitable.
The nice thing is, the X9’s battery consumption has been kept at minimum during standby. I once connected the phone to Wi-Fi and left it on my desk to receive messages and alerts for 12 hours, the battery only dropped 2%.
The X9 supports vivo’s very own dual-engine charging (5V-2A or 9V-2A), which supports up to 18W input, so topping up the battery takes very little time. With the stock wall charger, it only took around 1.5 hours to fully charge the phone.
Cellular and connectivity
The vivo X9 supports all major cellular networks, you can just insert any SIM card into the slot and start using the phone immediately. There are two Nano SIM card slots on board, which means the phone supports dual standby.
Like all other smartphones, the vivo X9 also features Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, and all of them work like a charm. There is no micro SD card slot for you to expand the storage, but the 64GB internal storage should be sufficient for most users. For me, the real disappointment is the missing of NFC. Users with the latest iPhones and Galaxy S phones should know how convenient Apple Pay and Samsung Pay are, and with the X9, you may never be able to use similar functions. Lots of new speakers and wireless headphones also features NFC for faster pairing with the smartphone, but with the X9, you will still need to take a number of steps to get them paired, shame on vivo!
Competitions
The vivo X9 is priced at RMB2,798 ($406) in China, and in the same price range you will find many powerhouse smartphones. Although none of them offer equally impressive front-facing cameras, they do make up with horsepower and other unique features. The One Plus 3T features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor clocked at 2.5GHz, 6GB RAM, 64GB UFS2.0 storage and 3,400mAh battery. The nubia Z11, which is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, has a breathtaking bezel-less design and the same AK4376 DAC. The Xiaomi Mi5s (Enhanced Edition) features a Snapdragon 821 processor, 4GB RAM, 128GB UFS2.0 storage, and a cutting-edge ultrasonic fingerprint scanner. Affordable flagships aside, many mid-range offerings run more capable chips like the Snapdragon 65X. Even the X9’s predecessor- the vivo X7 - is powered by a Snapdragon 652.
Verdict
For $406, the vivo X9 represents a really attractive mid-range offering. It has a simple and elegant design, great build quality and while performance isn't quite up to the level of its similarly priced rivals, it offers fantastic acoustic experiences and arguably the best front-facing cameras on a smartphone.
If you are looking for a future-proof powerhouse handset which will do very well in benchmark tests and intense 3D gaming, there are many affordable flagships out there, some of them priced even lower than the X9. But if you rank selfies and music as your top priorities, and horsepower is far down the list, then you won’t be disappointed with the vivo X9.
Hello, how can I change (or add) other language instead English and Chinese? My phone does not have google play and services. Is there a ROM with this stuff? Thanks!