2014-04-02, 21:19
so i received mine today. i am super happy with it. this phone is an absolute beauty. while not 6.5mm as advertised it's still very slim and light. the design looks as good as on the pictures. the black glass face contrasts very nice with the white and metal body.
the metallic buttons look and feel good.
In the box:
the phone, battery, wall-plug (white), USB to Micro USB data&charging cable (white), headset (white), manual, extra screen protector (one was already applied to the phone which i removed), flip case (white). i received as an extra for having to wait so long a crystal silicone case (the one which was already shown here) which is really nice, it almost adds no extra girth to the phone.
the silicone case also has integrated plugs for the USB and audio jack. the USB one is easy to open, the audio jack one sits so tight that you have to lift the whole case to get it out.
the phone is one of the 900/2100 WCDMA ones with v4.0 on the label.
original Firmware inew_v3e_v1.0.1 with baseband date 2014/02/15
camera shows 13MP (and its the highest setting, no 18MP interpolation), F2.0 reported in picture details (fake...) camera details CXQ V3-E
otg works right out the box.
nfc i will test tonight at home. the backplate (without red nfc label) has an extra "nose" that snaps in place next to the nfc contacts.
APN settings were read and applied correctly from both sim cards, 3G is switchable between both cards.
proximity and light sensor both work without problems.
no AIR-gesture settings in the menu (as expected)
general build quality is great, backcover sits flush on the phone, no gaps anywhere.
the plastic feels quite nice, but is not as good as on my samsung phones.
the led flash is bright, but also here nowhere near my Notes' flash (which is superawesome compared to most other phones though), its nearly on par with the flash on the Grand Duos.
Call quality is excellent, very clear and without any background noise. the earpice sounds a little tinny but perfectly audible.
the headset that comes with it is made nicely, its not the usual cheap crap. but its crap nonetheless, can be used to make calls but not much more. speaker is loud and clear. listening to music on headphones the audio quality is ok-ish, lacks bass and clarity but isn't too bad.
GPS works ok also, not perfect but its good enough to find an address on foot. (for "real" navigation i have a navigation system inbuilt in my car)
in comparison to the Samsungs which have also GLONASS its as fast to aquire a fix but not as accurate.
the WLAN is quite ok also, its about the same as my Galaxy Grand, the S3 and Note both have much better reception ( ithink this is a general problem with dual sim phones vs single sim)
i cant say much about GSM/WCDMA reception since i live in Zürich and there is practically no spot here where you have bad reception.
problems so far - home button is pretty screwed up, like with the lewa rom.
when the phone is placed on the table it works normal, in hand it requires a lot of effort to get it working (operating with the thumb does not work at all)
the backlighting of the touch buttons is uneven (brighter on the bottom) but this is barely noticable.
my verdict:
for 180USD including shipping and insurance this phone is truly amazing. my Samsung Grand Duos cost twice as much but is mediocre in comparison.
the metallic buttons look and feel good.
In the box:
the phone, battery, wall-plug (white), USB to Micro USB data&charging cable (white), headset (white), manual, extra screen protector (one was already applied to the phone which i removed), flip case (white). i received as an extra for having to wait so long a crystal silicone case (the one which was already shown here) which is really nice, it almost adds no extra girth to the phone.
the silicone case also has integrated plugs for the USB and audio jack. the USB one is easy to open, the audio jack one sits so tight that you have to lift the whole case to get it out.
the phone is one of the 900/2100 WCDMA ones with v4.0 on the label.
original Firmware inew_v3e_v1.0.1 with baseband date 2014/02/15
camera shows 13MP (and its the highest setting, no 18MP interpolation), F2.0 reported in picture details (fake...) camera details CXQ V3-E
otg works right out the box.
nfc i will test tonight at home. the backplate (without red nfc label) has an extra "nose" that snaps in place next to the nfc contacts.
APN settings were read and applied correctly from both sim cards, 3G is switchable between both cards.
proximity and light sensor both work without problems.
no AIR-gesture settings in the menu (as expected)
general build quality is great, backcover sits flush on the phone, no gaps anywhere.
the plastic feels quite nice, but is not as good as on my samsung phones.
the led flash is bright, but also here nowhere near my Notes' flash (which is superawesome compared to most other phones though), its nearly on par with the flash on the Grand Duos.
Call quality is excellent, very clear and without any background noise. the earpice sounds a little tinny but perfectly audible.
the headset that comes with it is made nicely, its not the usual cheap crap. but its crap nonetheless, can be used to make calls but not much more. speaker is loud and clear. listening to music on headphones the audio quality is ok-ish, lacks bass and clarity but isn't too bad.
GPS works ok also, not perfect but its good enough to find an address on foot. (for "real" navigation i have a navigation system inbuilt in my car)
in comparison to the Samsungs which have also GLONASS its as fast to aquire a fix but not as accurate.
the WLAN is quite ok also, its about the same as my Galaxy Grand, the S3 and Note both have much better reception ( ithink this is a general problem with dual sim phones vs single sim)
i cant say much about GSM/WCDMA reception since i live in Zürich and there is practically no spot here where you have bad reception.
problems so far - home button is pretty screwed up, like with the lewa rom.
when the phone is placed on the table it works normal, in hand it requires a lot of effort to get it working (operating with the thumb does not work at all)
the backlighting of the touch buttons is uneven (brighter on the bottom) but this is barely noticable.
my verdict:
for 180USD including shipping and insurance this phone is truly amazing. my Samsung Grand Duos cost twice as much but is mediocre in comparison.
my phones current and past:
Brand phones:
Brand phones:
- Samsung Galaxy Apollo/Leo/3 - retired, 2x Samsung Galaxy S - gone, Samsung Galaxy Note - stolen , Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos - retired
- Samsung Galaxy S3
- Samsung Galaxy S4 black edition (work issue)
- Pinphone 3 (never received), Smarty A8 (MTK6515 HTC Chacha clone), iNew V3 - sold
- Xiaomi Redmi 1s - Wife's daily driver
- Xiaomi MI3 64GB with MagicSim on dual bootMIUI v5 (4.8.22) /CM11
- ZTE Open (FirefoxOS) - now running ICS! -retired from duty.