The popularity of Chinese gadgets is growing every day. A large number of buyers prefer to choose inexpensive smartphones from the Middle Kingdom, as their low cost allows you to regularly buy new items. It is worth noting that manufacturers are doing everything possible to attract the target audience. For example, LeEco company relatively recently appeared on the Russian market. She advertises her phones by comparing them with such well-known brands as Samsung, Apple. Of course, the “Chinese” in terms of reliability is unlikely to be able to compete with the products of South Korean and American manufacturers, but if you look at its appearance, you can find a lot of similarities.
The hero of this article was the LeEco Le 2 mobile phone. Several modifications went on sale at once: X520, X527, X620. Let's look at what characteristics this gadget has. We will discuss its strengths and weaknesses. And also pay attention to what problems owners may face when using this smartphone for more than one year?
Equipment
LeEco Le 2 phone comes in a beautiful box made of cardboard. Its surface is matte, which gives a feeling of high cost. The primary color for the packaging box is black. The only thing on the front panel is the company logo. On the back you can see a sticker with brief technical specifications and other information.
Looking inside, the user, in addition to the device itself, will find a manual translated into Russian, a warranty card and a certificate. There is also a charger consisting of a USB cable and a power adapter. As for the cord, it is used not only to recharge the battery, but also to transfer data, for example, to a computer. Given that this phone model does not have an audio jack, there is a special adapter in the package. On the one hand, it is equipped with a microUSB plug, on the other - a mini-jack. The manufacturer also packed a special key-clip. It is used to remove the tray into which the SIM cards of the mobile operator are installed. A pleasant bonus for the buyer will be the presence of a bumper. This case protects the surface of the phone from minor mechanical damage.
Design
To design the case, the manufacturer did not use any original solutions. The buyer will see a regular smartphone, rather large sizes. Its dimensions are 151 × 74 × 7.5 mm. It is worth noting that everything here is within the standards, as the device is equipped with a 5.5-inch display. Separately, I want to pay attention to the thickness indicator. It turned out to be reduced, because the manufacturer used a battery of 3000 milliamps per hour. Did the phone itself win from this? This is a moot point. But outwardly this solution looks pretty nice.
Looking at the design, you can see that the manufacturer did not bother much. The case has a rectangular shape with rounded corners. Of course, this is a tribute to fashion, but, according to users, it was possible to make at least some original solutions. Several color schemes are on sale. However, the LeEco Le 2 Gold phone is the most popular among the female half, and the Silver model is among the male half. The weight of the device is 153 g. This indicates that during even a long conversation the user will not experience any inconvenience.
The front panel has a large touch screen. It is framed by a frame whose thickness is 3 mm. The control panel and the upper part are decorated for the overall style of the case. The speaker has a thin elongated hole. On the sides of it are the front camera and an LED type event indicator. An indisputable advantage is the presence of control panel illumination. It works when touched. In total there are three buttons on it. They are sensory, have a designation in the form of a circle, square and triangle.
The surface of the back panel is a little rough to the touch. It is made of metal. The upper and lower parts where the antennas are located are separated by a strip. On the back side, the manufacturer brought out a sensor that reads fingerprints, LED flash and the "window" of the main camera. At the bottom flaunts the company logo.
The "trick" of this model is the lack of an audio port. Instead, an infrared transmitter is located on the upper end. With it, this smartphone can be used as a remote control to the TV.
On the side faces are standard control keys: turn on and adjust the volume. They are displayed on the right side. But on the opposite is the tray for nano-type SIM cards. The most functional is the bottom end of the device. In the center is a USB connector. There are speaker holes on either side of it.
Screen
The LeEco Le 2 is equipped with an excellent 5.5-inch screen. The picture is played in Full HD quality. It does not break into pixels, even if you bring the device close to your eyes, since the resolution of the screen is 401 ppi. Of course, you need to pay attention to the technology used in the manufacture of the display. The manufacturer implemented the most popular IPS-matrix in the device. Of course, it has many undeniable advantages. They include excellent color reproduction, the optimal level of brightness and contrast, wide viewing angles. Implemented multi-touch function (up to 10 clicks).
Users can activate the automatic brightness adjustment option. It works correctly, there are no comments. The brightness range is sufficient to ensure that the information on the display is readable even in bright sunlight.
It should be noted separately that the manufacturer used an oleophobic coating. It’s easy to control the phone, fingerprints practically do not remain on the surface.
In the settings, you can adjust the saturation and contrast of the image. The user can change them at his discretion.
Cameras
In the LeEco Le 2 phone, the characteristics of the cameras fully comply with modern requirements. For the front manufacturer used an 8-megapixel matrix. According to users, the pictures are obtained of insufficient quality, that is, the optics are not up to the stated resolution. Shot moments are displayed on photos, there is a problem with sharpness and color.
The main camera is based on a sensor with a resolution of 16 megapixels. It is equipped with autofocus and flash. Unfortunately, users claim that this camera also does not cope with its tasks. The pictures are good, but far from perfect. Most comments were made about macro mode. If there is a need to photograph an object at close range, the camera simply does not focus. Although the developers reported that the problem was fixed in the new firmware, this did not affect the final result much.
In video mode, the camera works with a resolution of 4K. But according to users, the quality of the videos does not correspond to him at all. The only thing that speaks of such a high resolution is the weight of the files. But in reality, the quality is far from ideal: objects in motion are recorded in a rather blurry state, there are noises and fuzziness.
Performance
The LeEco Le 2 32Gb mobile phone in terms of hardware can compete with mid-range smartphones. It is based on the Snapdragon 652 chipset. It is based on 8 computing modules. Half of them are of type ARM Cortex-A72. At maximum load, the frequency increases to 1800 MHz. The remaining four Cortex-A53 cores are clocked up to 1400 MHz.
Paired with the main chipset, the Adreno 510 graphics processor is installed. Its capabilities are limited by a frequency of 600 MHz. Complementes the characteristics of the hardware quite impressive amount of RAM. The developers in this model implemented as much as 3 GB. This suggests that the phone is great for multitasking. “Heavy” applications and other programs run smoothly, work without freezes. Even demanding games can be installed on the phone without fear of colliding with system brakes.
In this model, the integrated memory storage is 32 GB. The ability to expand it using an external drive is not provided by the developers, so you will have to be limited to such a volume. Unfortunately, it may not be enough for users who constantly record videos or take photos. Due to the high resolution of the cameras, multimedia files are quite heavy.
Sound
The LeEco Le 2 phone (X527 and X520) has a rather loud sound. The device has a Dolby Atmos system. It allows you to avoid the formation of noise and wheezing even at the highest volume. The sound reproduced through the stereo speaker is clear. Users do not complain about the sound of music through the headphones.
It is also worth paying attention to the possibilities of conversational dynamics. Due to the high quality, the subscriber, even being on a noisy street, clearly hears the interlocutor.
Interface
Like most other Chinese smartphones, the LeEco Le 2 phone is based on the “Android” version six. However, the manufacturer decided to distinguish himself by installing the EUI 5.8 proprietary shell on top of the operating system. What are the differences? It is worth noting that there are quite a lot of them. Developers completely abandoned the menu of installed applications. The changes affected the curtains of quick access, notifications and reboots. The user is available in a large number of themes that can be installed on desktops. Changing their appearance will be very easy. Application icons are arranged in random order. If necessary, you can change the scale of the desktop, font size, even disable touch-sensitive control buttons. Using the scanner, you can control the player and camera. It is also possible to restrict access to certain programs.
Autonomy
Unfortunately, the LeEco Le 2 phone is unlikely to surprise the user with a battery life. It has a battery with a capacity of only 3000 milliamps per hour. According to the manufacturer, such a resource is enough to provide a powerful platform. In fact, when operating in combination mode, the battery will discharge in about 24 hours. You can extend the battery life only by using the specially designed energy-saving mode.
Benchmarking Pro and Le 2 Versions
It is worth paying attention of buyers that outwardly distinguishing these versions is almost impossible. They are literally like two drops of water. However, differences still exist. First of all, it should be noted that the LeEco Le 2 Pro phone is based on the rather powerful 10-core Helio-X20 processor. It is produced by MediaTek. Unlike the X520 modification, which is based on the Snapdragon 652, the Pro version did not work well in the game plan. And the reason for this was the graphics accelerator. Note that these models use exactly the same screens. They differ in neither technology, nor resolution, nor size. Identity also applies to batteries. But the differences are in the amount of integrated memory. The Le 2 model is offered only in one version with 32Gb. As for the Le 2 Pro, here are a choice of options with 16, 32 and 64 GB. Also in this line there are versions with three and four gigabytes of “RAM”.
LeEco Le 2 phone: price
In the matter of value, everything is very clear. Modifications X520 and X527, which are based on the Snapdragon 652 chipset, are sold for no more than 9500 rubles. It is worth noting that after the start of sales, the price of this model fell sharply. Guessing over the reasons can, of course, take a long time, however, according to users, this was affected by the lack of reliability of the device.
The version of Le 2 Pro (X620) in stores is presented with a price tag of 10,000 rubles. The formation of value is affected by the amount of RAM and internal memory. Naturally, the higher the indicators, the higher the price.
Positive reviews
After studying the reviews presented on the Web, an interesting picture emerges. Most of the positive impressions were described only by those owners who have experience with the phone no more than three to four months. They highlight a stylish design, powerful platform, user-friendly interface. Of course, a lot of laudatory odes sounds to the screen.
However, it is worth noting that after a certain period of operation of the LeEco Le 2 phone, the reviews of many owners have changed dramatically. The reason for this was a problem with the operability of the device. Unfortunately, this Chinese manufacturer has a rather large percentage of defects. There are so many malfunctions and shortcomings that it is necessary to talk about this in more detail.
Negative customer reviews on the LeEco Le 2 32Gb model
Unfortunately, many owners experience with this model was not the best. During operation, very unpleasant moments appeared.
- During movie playback, the screen beeps. It is not possible to change or fix this problem.
- A large number of ads that run when watching a video, surfing the Internet and other activities.
- The resolution of the cameras does not match the declared quality.
- Short battery life.
- Wi-Fi signal is unstable. The phone does not connect to the Internet if there are several brick walls between the router and it.
- The GPS module does not work correctly, the error is about 300 m.
- The phone spontaneously turns off and restarts.
- Not all settings are translated into Russian, approximately 30% are in English.
- The version with 3 GB of RAM in fact provides only 1 GB, since the rest are occupied by the operating system.
- Of 32 GB of native memory, in fact, about 20 GB is available.
Conclusion
Whether to buy a LeEco Le 2 32Gb phone is a purely individual decision. According to some buyers, it is consistent with the declared value. However, the fact that after a while the device begins to freeze heavily, overheats and spontaneously shuts down is frustrating. At the moment, for such a cost, you can find other options, but you can not be sure that they will not show up with hidden problems over time.