[Review] Rugged smartphone Oinom LMV9

[Phoneine]

Two years after....

Just an update after almost 2 years of using this phone.

Still very happy with the phone, it now sells for about 130 USD which is half of what I paid at the time.

Damage:

The wire of the earphones was snatched out of the audio jack and that damaged it. I have now a buzzing sound and bad contact on the audio jack. :-(.

Plusses:

Battery life: such a luxury 2-4 days depending on usage. Never managed to get the battery empty on a single day.
Rugged: survived frequent and rough usage, no screen protector, just a minor scratch on the screen. Fallen a lot of times, water spilled over a few times, no consequences.
Speaker: very loud, good sound (with equalizer app).

Minusses:

Flash light not so bright, camera is very bad in low light conditions.
Hardware buttons: call answer and call hangup buttons are a nuisance since they answer a call by themselves when the phone is in your pocket. Happened to me at a party. I didn't hear the call and the phone went active in my pocket, randomly calling persons in my contact list (at 2AM in the morning!).

Nobody's perfect and this phone isn't either, but I'm still very, very satisfied with it!

[Matjazz]

I first saw this phone few years ago branded as Evolveo Strongphone D4 ([Only registered and activated users can see links Click here to register]). It was/is also sold as Icemobile Gravity Pro ([Only registered and activated users can see links Click here to register]) and some other brands as well. The Chinese have since updated it and now it has 8gb internal storage, MTK6582 processor and Android 4.4
I've read about calls being accidentally answered by dedicated key. In Evolveo Strongphone D2 (Oinom LMV9D) this was solved with option to disable it. The description says: You can deactivate front buttons in the phone menu if you do not want to use them ([Only registered and activated users can see links Click here to register]) I think this could also be solved with proximity sensor which could detect if the phone is in pocket.
Anyway I'll be buying the new version of Oinom LMV9 with 4500 battery from one of the Aliexpress shops and will report back.

[Matjazz]

I bought the 1GB ram 8GB ROM 8.0MP Back Camera MTK6582 orange version with 4500mAh battery. The phone arrived in Slovenia (EU) one month after payment as orders usually arrive from China. Customs took 39€
This phone is/was quite popular among retailers and versions of this phone were sold under many brands.
It's solid and leaves no doubt that it's strong and waterproof with no fake screws. The shape of phone fits hand very nice in hand when holding it against an ear or when looking at the screen thanks to the four bulges on the side of the phone. The bulges are also risen above the screen which is good for screen protection. The housing material that is black in all versions is some sort of hard rubber with exception of battery lid that is hard plastic. The colored portions are also hard plastic. The battery lid is a bit risen but that's hardly noticeable when handling the phone and I would recommend getting a 4500mAh battery rather than 2800mAh. My Gsam battery monitor averages per battery charge: battery life 4d 11h (19h active), screen on 14h 16m (11h 47m max).
The headphone/usb plug fits firmly in its place the bundled micro usb cable fits nice but usual micro usb cables can't reach the plug so I had to trim the micro usb end of the cable a bit to remedy that.
The red and green buttons on the front would be a nice feature but unfortunately they get inadvertently pressed all the time so I just disabled them in settings/accessibility. I tried with proximity lock app and it solved the accidental unlock but not the accidental answer/decline. Too bad the manufacturer didn't solve this by deactivating those buttons when proximity sensor is covered. The side buttons are easy to find/feel and work well. The SOS button is recessed and can make a call even when phone is locked. I wish it could be assigned to flashlight.
The back camera does the job but it's no match for modern phones. The front camera seriously lacks sensitivity and can be only used when there's moderate light in the room. Sound is good enough and loud enough. So far my contacts haven't complained about me soundig poor so I guess the mic is good enough too.
Screen is good and I don't mind the low resolution (by todays standards). Viewing angle is good and colors are good enough. It works with regular gloves, is a bit clumsy with wet fingers and hardly responsive when wet. It came with applied clear protective film.
GPS performance is the thing I was most sceptical about. On one hand I read that previous versions (MT6589) had dedicated GPS unit while on the other hand I had CAT B15Q smartphone with same MT6582 processor that had absolute worse GPS performance. It ook it's sweet time to lock position and danced in the radius of 30m even when I was standing still under clear sky. However this phone locks position fast outdoors and it locks it even indoors. Accuracy is also good. I had some phones and only Lumia 920 tops this phone in GPS performance.

Settings/About phone:
Model number: V9H, Android 4.4.2
Kernel version: 3.4.67 liuxingyi@fwd-desktop #1 Mon Jun 1 18:28:04 CST 2015
Build number: ALPS.KK1.MP1V2.10
Custom build version: V9H_OINOM_EZ_20150601_V0.1.2
The phone came rooted.
Phone has 8GB space of which is 0.89GB available for internal storage (apps) and 5.26GB for phone storage. Half of internal storage is already taken by built in apps. I solved the lack of internal storage with Link2SD app and SD card with two partitions.
The phone came with Twitter that had some virus as reported by Comodo antivirus. I removed it with Sistem app remover (ROOT). The phone also had browser hijack so Chrome and Firefox opened two unwanted tabs (porn, dating, off market apps...) each time it started either of them. After reading this article [Only registered and activated users can see links Click here to register] I removed Youtube app and annoying tabs stopped. And I wondered why Twitter and Youtube didn't update like most other apps. After that I removed all the non standard system apps (DU battery saver, Clean Master, some file explorer...) Luckily I never ran Twitter or Youtube.
Other than that the phone is your usual MT6582 android 4.4.2 phone.

[Matjazz]

Li-Ion batteries are safe to deplete to 2,8V and I was curious about the battery voltage when it gets depleted and the phone shuts down. It was 3,49V. Then I measured empty battery of Lumia 520 and it showed 3,5V Perhaps phones let battery deplete only to 3,5V to prevent from depleting beyond safe point too soon if the phone is left unattended.


The phone takes some time (8h) to charge its 4,5Ah battery and I was wandering if a better USB charger would charge it faster. I then measured the current that phone draws from USB charger. The Lumia 520 draws 1A and is charged in a couple of hours (1,43Ah).
It's a disappointing that this phone draws only 0,47A. Considering that the smallest battery it can adapt has 2,8Ah it could easily charge at a double rate. Too bad it doesn't.
Also the charging isn't constant. It regularly drops to 0A for a split second. This happens every 5 seconds or so. I don't know whether this is common to Android phones or MTK phones. Lumia 520 charges at 1A constantly.

[MegaManX]

Li-Ion batteries are safe to deplete to 2,8V and I was curious about the battery voltage when it gets depleted and the phone shuts down. It was 3,49V. Then I measured empty battery of Lumia 520 and it showed 3,5V Perhaps phones let battery deplete only to 3,5V to prevent from depleting beyond safe point too soon if the phone is left unattended.


The phone takes some time (8h) to charge its 4,5Ah battery and I was wandering if a better USB charger would charge it faster. I then measured the current that phone draws from USB charger. The Lumia 520 draws 1A and is charged in a couple of hours (1,43Ah).
It's a disappointing that this phone draws only 0,47A. Considering that the smallest battery it can adapt has 2,8Ah it could easily charge at a double rate. Too bad it doesn't.
Also the charging isn't constant. It regularly drops to 0A for a split second. This happens every 5 seconds or so. I don't know whether this is common to Android phones or MTK phones. Lumia 520 charges at 1A constantly.

Assuming they're properly calibrated, nearly all Lithium ion powering high draw electronics like mobiles and cameras etc... Are powered down to 3.5V. With Lithium ion, after 3.5, power drops extremely quickly to 3.0. Theres big benefit to battery longevity by stopping at 3.5, but little short-term time gain by discharging down to 3.0.

[Matjazz]

I installed Xposed framework and module Xposed additions. I remapped buttons with additions and now I have flashlight on SOS button and camera button unlocks the phone. The red and green button are set to inactive when screen is off. Much better this way.
I also installed Tiny call confirm (google play) to prevent answering/declining call in pocket.

Two months ago screen auto brightness started misbehaving. It would either be very low or maximum. I tested light sensor and it seem that it reports only two values. i'm now using Brightness Widget - Backlight! (google play) to toggle brightness and I linked it to long press of green button.

A few weeks ago I missed my pocket and dropped the phone on asphalt. The phone didn't get even a scratch but later I noticed that battery cover is too loose


Apparently the battery cover hook broke off


The phone is no longer waterproof. I ordered two spare battery covers. Obviously this phone isn't tough at all. Too bad.

[CostinSN]

A good phone, overall BUT:
1.It has a distinguishable lag .
2. It has 4 ROM application that steals user information (avoid making online payments with this phone).
3. It's heavy, so if you're frail or used to feather-like phones it's a No No.
4. Sometimes it deletes your gallery files (music, photos, movies).
5. It switches constantly to the chinese access point and it automatically and randomly starts your mobile data.
6. After 3 months the system/bios crashed and there is no way to resolve it. (half a screen is blue, half is filled with coloured lines).
I strongly advise you to not buy it and I will never buy again chinese phones.
I've found another phone, at a similar price (I won't mention it's name because I don't want to be perceived as a marketing scum) and with better specs.

[Phoneine]

Ultimately in April 2017 I replaced this LMV9, so it only lasted 3 years.
I got tired with the broken audio output (it was damaged when the cable to my earphones hooked up after the handlebar pf my bike), the OS was getting outdated and the camera was not good at low light conditions. Also the flash light was not very bright and I didn't read some tips here on how to disable the phone answer call/hangup buttons.
Since then I have a Samsung A3 with protective cover. This also fell a few time without damage and overall I'm happy with that phone, better camera and happy to be able to use earphones with an 3.5mm audio jack again.
As of now, I plan to use the LMV9 again as an indoor phone (bit like a small tablet), but since it's so old, some apps I'd like to use it for don't install on it.