This a departure from my normal topics as there seems to be little information online about the phone. Paid ~32€ (38 USD) for a shipped unit, so try to keep the price in mind. A unit with similar features would cost today at least 55€.
Phone, TPU shell, charger, cable, small leaflet.
No earphones, no extra screen protectors.
Compared to a Motorola Razr XT910, it looks like a monster.
Decent enough for everyday usage. I've loaded a few apps onto the phone and it still functioned without major lags. It sports an MTK6580A 1.3GHz processor and 1GB of RAM.
I'm comparing it with the phone it's supposed to replace: Motorola Razr XT910 with dual-core 1.2GHz processor and 1GB of RAM. It outperforms the Razr by far, even though on paper they might look tied. Might be because it comes shipped with Android 7.0.
It has 8GB of internal storage, out of which 4GB will be available to the userspace. This means that the installed apps (including pre-installed) will fight for this storage space. The storage can be expanded with a microSD.
Huge downside -for me - is the lack of USB OTG.
It claims Bluetooth 4.1 and I was able to verify that it can detect BLE devices.
WiFi is only available on the 2.4GHz bands.
GSM receiver is 2G and 3G, does not seem to support LTE (4G). It does support HSPA+, HDUPA and HSUPA 3G extensions.
It is a dual-SIM phone, but given my previous experience with cheap dual-SIM devices I expect that only one of them will support 3G+ connectivity at a time. Not thoroughly tested.
It has an FM receiver with surprisingly good reception.
Tinny loudspeaker but decently loud and clear. There is a sound enhancement mode ("bass+") that doesn't seem to do anything. Microphone quality is "meh"- muffled at a distance, too hot when close. There doesn't appear to be a noise-reduction secondary microphone.
Nice and sharp 5" HD IPS display, once you remove the screen protector.Seems kind of strange that they shipped a translucent screen protector that dulls the image. Beneath the matte screen protector there is a clear one.
The touchscreen is a bit slow to use, that is, it has a certain lag to it. To me it feels like they are doing a lot of smoothing/averaging in order to avoid ghost touches.
No notification LED
Capacitive hardware buttons (home, back, menu) but not backlit.
No ambient light sensor, just a proximity one.
GPS is decent and seems to have GLONASS support as well.
Doesn't seem to have a gyroscope/compass.
You can enter the "Engineer menu" by dialing *#9646633#.
It claims a dual-camera system but I have my doubts. The back cameras are 5MP + 0.3MP.
I will take the unit apart in the future to see if the second camera is connected at all.
Apart from that, the camera takes decent photos, assuming there is enough light.
Expect lots of noise in dark areas.
The phone is much larger than I expected and quite a bit heavier too.
The spec sheet lists the dimensions at 143x71x9.5mm and 175g. My measurement validates those values.
The removable battery is listed at 2800mAh - I haven't completed a full range of tests on it, but it seems that the value is close, so you can expect a pretty good battery life.
My former experience with MTK devices is that they tend to enter some aggressive sleep mode, in which push notifications are not received anymore. This might be problematic if you depend on "instant messaging", but I like think they just want you to enjoy your real life more.
The build quality is ok, there are no creaks (yet) and there is a sturdy metal frame around the display. The camera module doesn't protrude too much from the back, but it's still prone to scratches. The back has a nice texture to it that prevents slipping.
The phone is ok, for the price, does not excel in any department but has some good-enough strengths: build quality, battery, screen, speaker.
The major downsides are the lack of OTG and the missing backlight for capacitive keys. This means you have to memorize the button layout if you want to use the phone in the dark, or download an app to activate soft keys.
While it's running a relatively new release of Android (7.0) I don't expect any updates to be received. There weren't any unneeded/spam apps installed, but I haven't done a thorough analysis. At this point in time (Sep 2017) there doesn't seem to be a method to obtain root.
In the box
Phone, TPU shell, charger, cable, small leaflet.
No earphones, no extra screen protectors.
Compared to a Motorola Razr XT910, it looks like a monster.
Performance
Decent enough for everyday usage. I've loaded a few apps onto the phone and it still functioned without major lags. It sports an MTK6580A 1.3GHz processor and 1GB of RAM.
I'm comparing it with the phone it's supposed to replace: Motorola Razr XT910 with dual-core 1.2GHz processor and 1GB of RAM. It outperforms the Razr by far, even though on paper they might look tied. Might be because it comes shipped with Android 7.0.
Storage
It has 8GB of internal storage, out of which 4GB will be available to the userspace. This means that the installed apps (including pre-installed) will fight for this storage space. The storage can be expanded with a microSD.
Huge downside -for me - is the lack of USB OTG.
Connectivity
It claims Bluetooth 4.1 and I was able to verify that it can detect BLE devices.
WiFi is only available on the 2.4GHz bands.
GSM receiver is 2G and 3G, does not seem to support LTE (4G). It does support HSPA+, HDUPA and HSUPA 3G extensions.
It is a dual-SIM phone, but given my previous experience with cheap dual-SIM devices I expect that only one of them will support 3G+ connectivity at a time. Not thoroughly tested.
It has an FM receiver with surprisingly good reception.
Sound
Tinny loudspeaker but decently loud and clear. There is a sound enhancement mode ("bass+") that doesn't seem to do anything. Microphone quality is "meh"- muffled at a distance, too hot when close. There doesn't appear to be a noise-reduction secondary microphone.
Display and touchscreen
Nice and sharp 5" HD IPS display, once you remove the screen protector.
The touchscreen is a bit slow to use, that is, it has a certain lag to it. To me it feels like they are doing a lot of smoothing/averaging in order to avoid ghost touches.
Features (or lack of)
No notification LED
Capacitive hardware buttons (home, back, menu) but not backlit.
No ambient light sensor, just a proximity one.
GPS is decent and seems to have GLONASS support as well.
Doesn't seem to have a gyroscope/compass.
You can enter the "Engineer menu" by dialing *#9646633#.
Camera
It claims a dual-camera system but I have my doubts. The back cameras are 5MP + 0.3MP.
I will take the unit apart in the future to see if the second camera is connected at all.
Apart from that, the camera takes decent photos, assuming there is enough light.
Expect lots of noise in dark areas.
There doesn't seem to be an option to turn off the camera sound or adjust some other advanced settings. The camera UI is sluggish to operate but decently quick when taking photos or focusing.
You should enable the "Zero" [shutter delay] option in camera settings.
The flash light is very weak, has perhaps a 1-1.5m range. Left is S7, right is A7.
Front camera is as expected.
Battery, build
The phone is much larger than I expected and quite a bit heavier too.
The spec sheet lists the dimensions at 143x71x9.5mm and 175g. My measurement validates those values.
The removable battery is listed at 2800mAh - I haven't completed a full range of tests on it, but it seems that the value is close, so you can expect a pretty good battery life.
My former experience with MTK devices is that they tend to enter some aggressive sleep mode, in which push notifications are not received anymore. This might be problematic if you depend on "instant messaging", but I like think they just want you to enjoy your real life more.
The build quality is ok, there are no creaks (yet) and there is a sturdy metal frame around the display. The camera module doesn't protrude too much from the back, but it's still prone to scratches. The back has a nice texture to it that prevents slipping.
Final notes
The phone is ok, for the price, does not excel in any department but has some good-enough strengths: build quality, battery, screen, speaker.
The major downsides are the lack of OTG and the missing backlight for capacitive keys. This means you have to memorize the button layout if you want to use the phone in the dark, or download an app to activate soft keys.
While it's running a relatively new release of Android (7.0) I don't expect any updates to be received. There weren't any unneeded/spam apps installed, but I haven't done a thorough analysis. At this point in time (Sep 2017) there doesn't seem to be a method to obtain root.
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