I’ve been using this badboy for a few weeks now and I am really impressed by the performance of it and overall value of it.
The phone is suppose to have quite a low powered chip in it, but honestly everything runs smooth 95% of the time. If something does slow down I suspect it comes down to the apps choking on trying to load larger images while scrolling too fast. There’s always some skipping when it comes to any phone, even the most premium iphone/androids.
Now, you wouldn’t think you could game on such a cheap phone but boy you would be wrong! Games that run off of sprites like Candy Crush work flawlessly, and even some 3D intensive games are playable. I tried out Call of Duty Mobile and got probably 15-20 fps. It was not a completely smooth experience, but it was definately playable and I got a few kills in the short demo match that I played. For casual gaming this phone hits the mark.
The packaging was fairly plain, but clean with a nice little green leaf emblem that gives the packaging a bit of personality. I love the fact that the phone comes with the screen protector and case preinstalled, phones that are 6-8 times the price don’t even give you a screen protector(I am looking at you Apple, samsung does included a free protector typically).
The charger that came with it seem to have some scuffs on the plastic, but it worked perfectly and the fact that it was USB-A meant that it is compatible with my monitor, my desktop computer, laptop, and car charging port. It was only 8 bucks so I can forgive it was refurbished.
The initial case with its specs of brown was a bit disconcerting at first, but I got used to it and the fact that I can throw it away in the forest is a nice touch. The overall look of the sides and back of the phone is fairly decent with a shiny green power button. The plastic back is absolutely fantastic, no more worrying about dropping the phone and cracking a 500$ glass back. Taking off the plastic back is a bit clumsy at first, but once it’s off inserting the sim was a cinch. The phone is very durable and I was tossing it around with no fears about damaging the phone.
The cameras are just okay IMO, they are good enough to take reference photos for everyday tasks and will obviously capture social moments. But it’s no iPhone 12 pro that has a faster camera and excellent color accuracy. Android phones tend to have this cool color profile no matter how expensive or cheap they are and this is no exception. The wide angle lens seems to have some smearing that I am not sure what the cause is. The main lens works just fine though. If you rely on sharing photos for your work/business I would not recommend this phone.
The 720p resolution seemed low at first, but I got used to it for web/app scrolling. Watching youtube is perfectly fine on it, I can even make out tiny chat text on twitch. The screen does get very bright so there’s no issue there.
The rear fingerprint scanner is reliable albeit a tad slow. It still beats having to drop my mask to unlock the new iphones. (Come on apple, pandemics are here to stay)
For overall value, if you compare this phone to top of line apple/android phones you only have to get a year or a little bit more out of it to get the equivalent value, and then after that the phone starts to have great value in years 2-3. I suspect even after four years of use the phone will still be quite usable especially considering how easy the battery can be replaced.
Overall: it’s a great little phone for the value just for basic everyday smart phone use.
