[Update] THL 4000 Review – MT6582M 4.7″ 540p Sub-$100 Phone Done Right

[Twotems]

I want. I want so bad. I might end up buying one of these later today or this week.

I've been hella hard on my battery lately with continual phone usage. Just this morning, it's 9:30am, I've texted a bit, watched half of a youtube video, played the stupid Simpsons game for 10 minutes, and streamed a podcast via bluetooth on my way to work. Less than 2 hours off the charger and I've already used 11% of my battery.

5% in 24 hours is unreal, man. Absolutely unreal.

11% on a load like that isn't too bad. Don't get too excited because my figures were mostly on standby. But for $90 you really can't lose.

[jbrandy442]

Please help me..my THL switch off whenever I listen to the radio

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Please help me..my THL switch off whenever I listen to the radio...what can I do to it please

[Twotems]

Update: overall I'm very satisfied with this phone but it does have some quirks. As Damian stated the Auto Brightness has a mind of it's own but since I never use auto it can be overlooked. The battery lasts for about 5 days on standby with a little surfing, app use and wifi always on but regulated by LeanDroid. It would probably do about 10 days without wifi. BUT, it discharges from about 25% to Zero in less than 5 minutes. It's done that in the two charging cycles so far (yep only charged it twice in 16 days since initial charge). Very strange and quite worrisome as there's clearly an underlying software or hardware issue there. Unlike Damian I found the speaker to be weak but that was quickly solved by downloading Viper and now that little thing thumps with zero distortion. Call volume is also a little low for me but I've hardly made any calls on it to figure it out properly.

On the plus side the screen is excellent. Yes it's "only" 540p but it's actually sharper with truer colors than my 1080p Lenovo and the Lenovo screen is excellent. No joke. Comparing them running hd sports programming side by side everyone picks the THL. This justifies my belief that screen resolution numbers are garbage and a higher number doesn't translate to a better picture. I won't even get into discussing over-hyped, unnecessary, battery sucking 2K screens.

It would be nice to hear from others who have used it on a daily basis. I certainly wouldn't have a problem using it as my main phone, it's that good.

[Sniper47]

When spending lots of time on standby, there's very little load, so even though battery is slowly losing juice, it doesn't register well, until load starts, in which case it may quickly drain down to "true" voltage.

Take a look at voltage after a long time on standby and using it for about 20 minutes straight, that is a truer representation of how much life is left.

3.5 is about minimum you should run Lithium ion down to. After that, the decline is very steep.

In other words, don't worry about. Everything is normal with your phone.

If you used your phone straight or expired the juice from 100% over 12-24 hours without a long period of sleep towards the tail end, you should see a smooth discharge down to 1%

Really enjoy hearing these stories about super positive experiences. Choose your phone well and don't be *too* picky and you will be beyond pleased.

[andthesunrises]

I've had mine for a few weeks. It's been good.

The battery's good, even with my standby battery drain problem (typical of Japanese data-only SIM) I can still go a full day with heavy usage without a problem.

I'll list the rest of my views
-Phone's fast and responsive for most of the tasks I do. Not to the level of OnePlus One fast, but I can totally use it as a daily drive without a prob.
-Rooting is simple, Gravitybox via Xposed framework is easy
-Changed brightness control to status bar slide via GravityBox
-Installed many more features via gravitybox, like Battery Arc, almost as customized as my CM-based phones
-Very stable, stock ROM very rock solid with almost no crashes. With Gravitybox I feel no need to find a custom ROM (which doesn't exist)
-Screen is a nice size with decent resolution.
-QUAD band 3G! This phone will work for most of the carriers. OnePlus One is Penta, but it's in a different range. I'd take this phone to south east asia countries as I travel.

Things I don't like
I can confirm that the light sensor is wonky. A test shows that it can only read 3 levels of lux (0, 1500, 10000, or something like that), which isn't really useful when it comes to indoor condition. This was going to be a dealbreaker for me. I spent time with the suggestion and still wasn't happy with it until I installed gravitybox.

-ROM Volume control is lacking, only shows ring volume on home screen, unless you're playing music, can't bring up the full sound menu to adjust each volume even in setting.
-Heavy (its like holding a wad of battery)
-Case is crap. The case doesn't even intend to protect the edge of the phone. One drop (loaned to a friend) bruised the plastic corner. Another drop crack the case.
-Lack of accessories online. There's no TPU soft case around that's more like a bumper. I've ordered a one-size-fit all rubber band-like stretch bumper to try
-Digitizer not as easy to get used to as my smaller HTC desire HD, or my bigger OnePlus One. Typing is just not as good. I've tried with/without screen protector. Can't say that I type with confidence even with the best keyboard (Swype or Swiftkey)
-Does not charge all that fast with the 4000MAh. Using everything stock cable / charger, it charges in about 4 hours from 0% to 100%. (1Ah / hour) This phone really need 2A charger with a battery this size.

In sum, I like this phone. This maybe the best purchase I've made for under 100 for a phone. I bought this as a loaner to people who visit and I can totally seeing myself using this as a daily driver (which I did for 2 weeks) if I didn't have a OnePlus One.

[Bacon_Puffs]

I've had mine for a few weeks. It's been good.

The battery's good, even with my standby battery drain problem (typical of Japanese data-only SIM) I can still go a full day with heavy usage without a problem.

I'll list the rest of my views
-Phone's fast and responsive for most of the tasks I do. Not to the level of OnePlus One fast, but I can totally use it as a daily drive without a prob.
-Rooting is simple, Gravitybox via Xposed framework is easy
-Changed brightness control to status bar slide via GravityBox
-Installed many more features via gravitybox, like Battery Arc, almost as customized as my CM-based phones
-Very stable, stock ROM very rock solid with almost no crashes. With Gravitybox I feel no need to find a custom ROM (which doesn't exist)
-Screen is a nice size with decent resolution.
-QUAD band 3G! This phone will work for most of the carriers. OnePlus One is Penta, but it's in a different range. I'd take this phone to south east asia countries as I travel.

Things I don't like
I can confirm that the light sensor is wonky. A test shows that it can only read 3 levels of lux (0, 1500, 10000, or something like that), which isn't really useful when it comes to indoor condition. This was going to be a dealbreaker for me. I spent time with the suggestion and still wasn't happy with it until I installed gravitybox.

-ROM Volume control is lacking, only shows ring volume on home screen, unless you're playing music, can't bring up the full sound menu to adjust each volume even in setting.
-Heavy (its like holding a wad of battery)
-Case is crap. The case doesn't even intend to protect the edge of the phone. One drop (loaned to a friend) bruised the plastic corner. Another drop crack the case.
-Lack of accessories online. There's no TPU soft case around that's more like a bumper. I've ordered a one-size-fit all rubber band-like stretch bumper to try
-Digitizer not as easy to get used to as my smaller HTC desire HD, or my bigger OnePlus One. Typing is just not as good. I've tried with/without screen protector. Can't say that I type with confidence even with the best keyboard (Swype or Swiftkey)
-Does not charge all that fast with the 4000MAh. Using everything stock cable / charger, it charges in about 4 hours from 0% to 100%. (1Ah / hour) This phone really need 2A charger with a battery this size.

In sum, I like this phone. This maybe the best purchase I've made for under 100 for a phone. I bought this as a loaner to people who visit and I can totally seeing myself using this as a daily driver (which I did for 2 weeks) if I didn't have a OnePlus One.

I've had no problems swiping or typing on mine. Though it took a little bit getting used to because its smaller than my last phone. Now that I have though, its flawless.

Battery is 4000mA. Of course it will be a little heavier than most phones its size. I actually like it. Reassuring heaftiness to it.

Case has protected mine great. Two heavy falls to concrete and not a scratch on the phone and just slight dent along the edge of the case. Perhaps they were "lucky falls though". Would be cool if it protected the top and bottom better.

1Aph is quite fast. Most phones this price are charging at .5. For the price, really impossible to expect more.

GravityBox should allow for adding different volume controls. There's no phone I've used that allows you to select volume controls with the stock ROM.

Deep sleep isn't using any extra juice for me. But then, I don't leave SIM data on all the time. I guess that would pull more juice.

[andthesunrises]

Well.. I don't like to use the argument that "can't expect more out of a cheap phone" I'd compare a phone to a phone, doesn't matter the price range. I think the THL4000 holds its own even against OnePlus One in terms of being a phone.

There are just small things that can make a phone a lot more usable without spending so much money into the process. The volume control is one thing I've noticed across the 2 lower-priced Chinese phones running 4.4.2 I have.

The phone is plastic, a heavy fall without the case WILL dent and scuff it. The case could've been made with a softer material (TPU) with more bumper protection. This again is not a price issue as all of them are about the same price to make, just a decision they've made.

This is a decent phone. No doubt.

[Bacon_Puffs]

Well.. I don't like to use the argument that "can't expect more out of a cheap phone" I'd compare a phone to a phone, doesn't matter the price range. I think the THL4000 holds its own even against OnePlus One in terms of being a phone.

There are just small things that can make a phone a lot more usable without spending so much money into the process. The volume control is one thing I've noticed across the 2 lower-priced Chinese phones running 4.4.2 I have.

The phone is plastic, a heavy fall without the case WILL dent and scuff it. The case could've been made with a softer material (TPU) with more bumper protection. This again is not a price issue as all of them are about the same price to make, just a decision they've made.

This is a decent phone. No doubt.

Like I said, I've had 2 hard falls to concrete. Not a scratch on the phone. That being said, will depend how it lands. Metal dents and scratches easier than plastic. At least the alumimum style metals they use on most phones.

The phone charges fast enough for me. You may not like or agree with the agruement, but I'm thrilled with the charging speed "for the price". Its truly amazing what THL has produced with this phone. I realize you're just going over what you think could be improved, but better charging systems do cost more money. As much as it would cost to improve any other thing on it.

Try to see if gravity box has the option to adjust which volume controls are there. I seem to remember that being possible.

[modestMouse]

Wait. You guys got GravityBox to work? I can't get mine to work. Xposed installs okay and so does GravityBox, but when I reboot and try to run it, it just says 'waiting for gravitybox to respond'. Then says 'not responding' and exits.

Which Xposed framework and GravityBox version are you using

[Sniper47]

@andthesunrises , see Media Tweaks



@modestmouse , move Xposed and GravityBox to internal storage if you have them on SD. See if that fixes "GravityBox system framework not responding. Exiting" error.