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Mobile Professional Reviews--Oppo R5 review
Oppo's R5 is a seriously gorgeous phone. Clad in metal, it's super-thin -- just 4.85mm (0.19 inches) deep, and it weighs a scant 155 grams (5.5 ounces). It's certainly impressive, but this comes at the loss of the 3.5mm audio jack, so you'll have to use Bluetooth headphones if you want to listen to music. For Android fans envious of the iPhone 6 's slim frame, well, look no further. The R5's ultra-slim body beats the iPhone handily, and will draw envious stares from other Android owners as well. But slimness isn't all that great without the performance to back it up, and this is where the phone falters. It's oftentimes sluggish, and the camera takes forever to start up. The phone's thin frame also doesn't help with the heat and it can get uncomfortably hot at times.
See a phone that's less than 5mm thick, How to Transfer Playlist from iTunes to iPhone with Data Remained the... See full gallery
Oppo hasn't yet revealed exact dates for the phone's availability, but the Chinese company intends to sell it globally, either through its online store or working in partnership with local distributors. What I do know is that there will be three versions due to the different LTE bands -- one for the US, one for China and one for the rest of the world.
Price wise, the R5 will be sold at $449, which converts to roughly £310. It will also come unlocked, so you'll be able to use the phone on 3G mostly everywhere.
DesignThe R5 is encased in metal -- with a hand-polished steel frame and, on the back, brushed aluminum. This gives the phone a premium feel that you'd expect from a more expensive device.
The two-tone color scheme (either white and silver or white and gold) at the back does draw comparisons to Apple's iPhone designs, but the shape of the phone is much more angular. Despite being thinner, it doesn't feel as slippery as the iPhone.
One downside to the thin frame of the phone is that the rear 13-megapixel sticks out, much like Apple's iPhone. However, unlike the small bump of the iPhone 6, the R5's rear camera pops out a fair way, enough that it makes the phone uneven when placed on a flat surface.
The R5 sports a 5.2-inch AMOLED display, with a full HD resolution of 1,920x1,080 pixels. The screen is bright and sharp, while colors were vibrant. I do have issues with the auto-brightness settings of the phone -- it can sometimes be too dim.
Like most Chinese-made smartphones, the R5 sports physical home, menu and back keys. I'm not a fan of physical keys since I feel software keys are better to interact with -- you can (depending on the OS) switch the back button to either the left or right position.
The volume and power keys are on the right side, with the micro-USB port at the bottom. As mentioned earlier, there's no 3.5mm audio jack.
Oppo's R5 is powered by an octa-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor, and in theory, should have enough juice to power the phone. But my experience with the device was less than satisfactory: at times the phone would pause between switching apps, for example. I reckon a software update could fix this, and I will update the review if it does.
The phone packs 2GB of RAM, 16GB of onboard storage and a 2,000mAh battery. There's no microSD card slot to expand that storage, which limits the number of apps you can install and the number of tunes and movies you can keep onboard.
The phone is powered by Android 4.4 KitKat -- not the latest 5.0 Lollipop -- with Oppo's custom ColorOS UI on top. The software is very much improved from the company's first version, How to move apps from an old iPhone to a new iPhone though it looks similar. For one, it's much flatter.
Which is better? Le 1s or iPhone SE?
Let's start with the OS. Android and iOS are now at-par on features, freely taking inspiration from each other and the perennial also-ran Windows Phone. However, if you've been using an Android phone, the move to iOS is jarring regardless of preparation. Trust me, having moved from a OnePlus 2 to an iPhone 6S, I know this better than most. If you're an iPhone user already, there is no discussion required. If you're an Android user, then I'd say "Don't even consider an iPhone!"
Moving on to design and build, the new iPhone is, in line with Apple's policy "thinner, smaller and lighter" than the Le 1s. However, the Le 1s has an astounding screen-to-body ratio of 75% that enables single-handed use and the phone doesn't feel too big. After all, within reason, bigger is always better! Both phones offer amazing build quality at their respective price points, so that's not really much of a contest.
On display, if you like smaller screens, the iPhone SE will appeal to you. But for someone who has used a 4+ inch screen device earlier, going back to a smaller display doesn't really work. In this respect, the Le 1s scores with its big but not too big display, and its helped by minimal bezels. Resolution-wise, its a no contest with the Full HD In-Cell display on the Le 1s ruling the roost with its fantastic color reproduction, great viewing angles and almost-zero bezels.
On connectivity, both the Le 1s and the iPhone SE are at par with each other on Wi-Fi and Network compatibilities, but the Le 1s scores with its dual-SIM capability.
When it comes to performance, I believe that specs are just one part of the game. Real-world performance is key. And in this area, despite having lesser amount of RAM than the Le 1s, the iPhone SE performs equally well due to better memory management in iOS versus Android. Its a straight tie!
Camera is another key feature where specs are just one part of the game with actual photo clarity being the key identifier. The iPhone SE uses the much-lauded camera module from the iPhone 6S, so its a given that photos will come out well. The Le 1s on the other hand had a few initial hiccups with photo clarity but they've since been resolved by OTA updates, so overall - its a good camera experience on both smartphones. The Le 1s scores in lowlight clarity and front-camera! Apple, for reasons that defy logic, went with a 1.2MP sensor on the front-camera. Now megapixels might not be everything, but with a 5MP sensor, the Le 1s handily beats the iPhone SE on selfies. Another reason is the smaller aperture size on Le 1s cameras – both front and rear (f2.0) compared to the iPhone SE which has f2.4 on the front camera and f2.2 on the rear camera – in photography parlance, smaller is referred to as “wider”. A wider aperture lets in more light which gives better photos in low-light and indoor situations, and gives you that beautiful blurred “out of focus” effect on wide shots.
With respect to sensors, the Le 1s has an infrared sensor to control home appliances that the iPhone doesn't. Everything else on this front is a tie.
Finally, the "essential spec" in today's world, battery! The Le 1s has almost double the battery capacity of the iPhone SE, with fast-charge built-in! While iOS has better power management than Android, the huge difference in capacity should result in longer standby times with the Le 1s!
Regardless of all technical specifications and performance comparisons, there will still be people convinced that an Apple product is the next best thing since sliced bread! So, to those people, here is a final nail in the coffin. Both the Le 1s and iPhone SE are good phones that do almost everything you can expect them to. Most importantly for a budget-conscious Indian, the Le 1s costs INR 10,999 while the iPhone SE starts at a whopping INR 39,000! That’s three times more expensive than the Le 1s!!! Case closed.
Review of LeEco Le 1s - A Value For your Money!
Fingerprint Sensor
There is a mirror finished fingerprint sensor on the back of the 1s, right above their branding.
Its accuracy is really good and its placement is just perfect. The index finger
naturally rests there no matter which hand you use it from and the device is
automatically unlocked.
4K Recording
One neat feature hidden is that the phone capable of recording 4K videos. It can be
enabled by going into the camera settings while inside the camera. Frankly it
is not the best 4K camera out there, but it gets the job done. Most of the
phone cameras out there which record 4K cost about INR 50,000. Also, it is a
clever addition to the phone because they sell 4K TVs in China on which these
videos can be consumed. They intend to bring these TVs to India soon!
Fast Charging
The LeEco Le 1s supports USB Type-C port at the bottom and it has a 3,000mAh battery which
is pretty average for everyday usage. It lasts half a day with heavy usage and
lasts full day if you are not a heavy user. It comes with support for fast
charging. My device is taking 1 hour 20 minutes to get fully charged.
IR Blaster
On the top-right on the phone, there is a small IR blaster placed and the phone can be
used as a remote with a dedicated app which is preinstalled in the device. This
app can be used to control many home appliances like TVs, AC, etc. Also, they
let you make your own remote with custom IR functions.
Dual SIM
LeEco 1s comes with dual SIM support, something that is common with most of the phones
these days. They can be accessed using a SIM eject tool and has support for one
Micro SIM and one Nano SIM. The best part of the dual SIM is that both the SIMs
support 4K at the same time!
Price
Last but not least, the final reason to get this beautiful handset is its price. The Le 1s
is priced at INR 10,999/- which is tad lower when compared to phones with
similar features. The LeEco company has claimed that they are selling this
phone with a loss i.e. for less than bill of materials.
Huawei Honor 6 Plus review
Honor, if you didn't know, is the brand Huawei uses to sell some of its phones in Europe and it's the name attached to the new Honor 6 Plus. A 5.5-inch Android smartphone with a full HD display, an octa-core processor and a quirky dual 8-megapixel camera, it's got everything you need to cope with your social network and Netflix addiction. And true to the Honor brand's affordable promise, the 6 Plus comes with a low price. Now, here's where it gets confusing: though Honor as a separate brand is supposed to exist only in Europe, the Honor 6 Plus has been on sale since December 2014 in China, but sold as the Huawei Honor 6 Plus. What's more, Huawei does sell phones in Europe with its own name attached -- the flagship P8 , for example, launched in London in April. What's the difference between them all? Not much, really. Strip away the Honor branding and you're left with a signature Huawei phone complete with the same Emotion user interface. That's not a criticism, really, but you shouldn't forget that a phone bearing the Honor name doesn't deliver a unique experience from a Huawei-branded counterpart. Like other Honor phones, you can pick up the Honor 6 Plus in the UK, SIM-free directly from Amazon for £300. Yet, the 6 Plus also is the first of Honor's phones to be available through a UK network, showing a definite commitment by Honor (or Huawei) for it to become a recognised brand, selling in stores. The Three network has the phone available on a range of contracts from £24 per month, with a £19 up front charge. In the US, you can buy the Huawei Honor 6 Plus through Amazon for $472. The design of the 6 Plus is possibly best described as that of a larger, cheaper iPhone 4. The black glass front and back together with the metal-effect band running around the edge are similar to Apple's earlier phone, although 6 Plus' band is plastic, rather than metal, meaning it doesn't feel as solid or indeed as premium. The back panel has a very subtle criss-cross pattern which you can only really see under certain lights. Honor could have made this a bit more prominent, which would have helped add a bit of interest and separate its design more from the iPhone 4. With its 5.5-inch display, the Honor 6 Plus is significantly larger than the iPhone 4, measuring 150mm long and 75mm wide. It's comfortable to hold and easy to slide into a pocket, but you'll need two hands to type properly. The phone comes with 32GB of storage as standard, which is a generous amount for a more budget-conscious phone. Cheaper phones typically skimp on the storage by offering 16GB or even 8GB of space, so it's nice to see a more healthy offering that doesn't force you to also buy a microSD card. It does accept microSD cards though, which is worth bearing in mind if you save a lot of music and videos to your phone, rather than streaming them. The 5.5-inch screen has a full-HD (1,920x1,080-pixel) resolution, giving it a pixel density of 400 pixels per inch. That's the same size and resolution as the iPhone 6 Plus, and in terms of clarity, there's nothing to differentiate the two. Small text beneath icons is sharp and easy to read and high-res photos look crisp and sharp. The Honor's display is reasonably bright, sufficiently countering the harsh overhead office lights in the CNET UK office, although outside in the bright sun it did become a bit more difficult to see, even when set to max brightness. Colours are bold and vibrant, making Netflix shows like 'Breaking Bad," "SpongeBob" or indeed "Power Rangers" look good. The Honor 6 Plus runs Android 4.4.2 KitKat, which is several versions out of date. The most up-to-date version of Android is Lollipop, which you can find on even rock-bottom budget phones, so it's very disappointing to see such an old version of the software on a midrange mobile. On the surface you probably won't be able to tell, however, as Honor has heavily skinned the phone with the same Emotion user interface you'll see on most of Huawei and Honor's recent phones. It makes huge changes to the stock Android interface, including the colour schemes and the fonts (which you can alter using various themes), but the biggest change is that there's no app tray. I don't like this change as it forces you to keep all of your apps scattered across the homescreens. Once you throw widgets into the mix, it quickly becomes cluttered and difficult to navigate. The phone is powered by a Kirin 925 processor -- an octa-core chip that apparently uses four lower-powered processing cores for everyday tasks, and four burlier cores for more intense processing needs. That's backed up by 3GB of RAM. It performed well on benchmark tests, scoring an impressive 4,456 on the Geekbench 2 test, How to transfer app and data from iPad to iPhone 6? although a less impressive 11,982 on the Quadrant test. By comparison, the Sony Xperia Z3 and LG G4 scored over 20,000 on the Quadrant test and the Galaxy S6 managed to achieve over 36,000. Still, it was able to play the demanding game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas extremely smoothly, and photo editing in Snapseed was handled without any trouble at all. Everyday essential apps like Instagram were also handled perfectly well, but navigating around the phone's interface was less smooth, with noticeable stutters and lag creeping in -- an issue I would bet is caused by the bloated Emotion software. I'd really like to see how a stock Android version of this phone performs as I'm sure it would be a lot more smooth to use. On the back of the phone are two 8-megapixel cameras. One takes regular shots, but the second allows some interesting depth of field effects and also lets you refocus a scene after you've taken it. I'll start with testing the phone's standard photo quality. I was pleased with this first shot of the London Eye. There's a great balance in exposure between the bright sky and the River Thames and a nice rich blue colour in the sky as well. There's a lack of clarity on the fine details when you zoom right in, but it displays full-screen well, making it great for Facebook. This second shot of a fruit stand is not bad either,transfer candy crush to new iphone although the white garlic has been rather overexposed. Again, when zooming in there's a noticeable fuzziness to the picture.
