You might not have ever heard of this Chinese brand, well they used to be known as LeTV, still doesn’t ring a bell? About 5 weeks ago I review the Le Max 2, a $230 flagship mobile with some crazy specs for the price. Full metal unibody, Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, 3GB of RAM, 1440p display, and Sony 21MP camera. Well now the successor is here, this time it has the latest Snapdragon 821 (Google Pixel has this) 4GB to 6GB of RAM, 1080p screen, still has the metal build, fingerprint reader, and a huge 4070mAh battery. My detailed video review is below:
While it’s a great all-round device with very decent battery life, it’s not perfect. LeEco still continues to believe nobody wants or needs a 3.5mm audio port on their mobile and the lack of a MicroSD card slot forces you to have to get the more expensive version if you want more than 22GB of free space. Yet again it’s another flagship that suffers from the lack of OIS on the camera. As a result, video is shaky and low-light photos aren’t particularly good. At least the dual LED flash is power and has more range than most.
But you have to remember it’s around $320 USD for a snapdragon 821 mobile with a large 4070mAh battery isn’t a bad deal, wait a few months and that price will be even cheaper. Don’t want to spend that much? Then the LeEco Le Max 2 is worth a look, the Snapdragon 820 is still a powerful flagship chipset.
Pros:
- Solid and well built
- Good performance*
- Decent dual loudspeakers
- Very good battery life
- Great audio quality via type-c
- Takes a good phone in good light
- Smooth gaming experience
- Good wifi range and speeds
- Fast 4G with good signal strength
- Call quality
- GPS works well
- Powerful LED flash
Cons:
- No MicroSD support
- No 3.5mm jack
- No camera OIS or DIS
- Poor low light camera performance
- Screen in sunlight
- Video audio bitrate is too low
- *Occasional UI stutter (lag)
- Aggressive ram management
- 720p front cam video only
Benchmarks:
Le Pro 3 rear 16MP camera samples:
GroupDenmark .
They certainly pack quite a punch these high-end chipsets.
just got my grey X822 yesterday and at 222US IM pretty impressed with the scores it performs.
146.863 in Antutu 6.2 and partically the wifi is amazing.
Here in another room and thrue concrete walls, and on a 6 year old std netgear dualband router WNDR4300 im getting up around 226mb/s in wifi and here midday on the different servers in copenhagen, the speed is steady around 170 to 230mb in up and down wifi-speeds.
the fastest wifi item in house, ewen thow its the cheapest. (but also newest)
X822 Grey version that I like a lot more then the pink, but Im no fan of the dedicated bottomkeys, actually prefer, like my main phone with pop up, and I really miss landscape homescreen and down that alley, so you can let you thumps do the working..
Its an nice phone for an little over 200 bucks, and it significantly stronger then my main p8max, but the X822 grey doesnt got an quality/finish or feeling that are anywhere near p8max in my view but then again day and nigh in scores and not least 2015 kirin935chipset.
the phone comes in box that where totally sealed but with playstore and close to no bloat at all,.
btw the fingerprint seems to behave, and I do like that its sonic, and not one of thosde where you need to push down and activate before it, will take the reading.
http://i.imgur.com/1OsbhjU.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/nFPNUlt.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/eWqvHQQ.jpg
btw Chris, you have tested a lot of the latest serie LeEco phones, and most of these have moved away from jack to TypeC, and give the possiblelity for taking the digital signal to the headphones and having an quality DAC (digital to analog converter) in the headhpnes and in theory take more advantage of good headphones.
and LeECo have also there own socalled looseless standard CDLA (have you tested that)?
Was thinking to optain the LeEco CDLA earplugs with CDLA loseless, but doubtfull how much socalled good sound they can deliver, and if they ewen got an seperate dac of meaningfull standard, when you have in mund you can get them around 16.50U shipped.?
Have you tested CDLA from LeEco?
Chris G
Yes, I was really impressed with the Wifi range and speeds. Very good on this mobile allowing me to get almost the same speeds from downstairs where normally they drop a good 25% or more. The best part is the battery life, and the worse part the camera isn’t really that good at all. I’ll have a comparison with the Le Max 2 coming in a few days.
Jacob
Hello, I can see you write Copenhagen (I assume you are from Denmark)
If so, how is your experience with 4g and GPS in Denmark?
I’m very curious since I’m thinking about picking one up myself, also does notifications from Facebook, sms and so forth work as they should?
Jacob
Also. Where did you buy it?
Marek
Hello Chris,
Would you recommend Le pro 3 or Oneplus 3? I was happy with my xperia z3 display (ips lcd) till it broke. I use phone mainly for calls/ browsing web / car navi (google maps). Camera is secondary for me as I rarely take photos and almost never make videos. Price difference is quite big (up to 100$) but I guess 1+3 has better community support. What would be your pick? What would you suggest for me?
Chris G
Couldn’t say since I haven’t reviewed the OnePlus 3 but I hear only good things about it.
bkm
Grats on your work Chris.
Does the phone come with Google Play services installed ?
I already preordered though HBs’ EU warehouse but there was no word about Google Play,only that it has Chinese and English language.
Chris G
No it won’t have Google Play if it’s using the original Chinese ROM. My unit has it install as it’s a global rom. But if you need Google Play search, Mi5 Google Play installer V2 apk this should work.
bkm
Well,I thought so and did a little research and downloaded the latest google play apk through xda developer site.
But if installation fails through this ,are chinese app shops’ google play installers trustworthy?I mean malware is everywhere . .
bkm
And one last question..
How often and for how long does Le eco update its’ phones?
Thanks in advance!
Chris G
They are always pushing out updates for them via OTA.
Tok Yanru
how is this compared to the latest xiaomi mi5s?
Chris G
Beats it with build quality, battery life, voice call quality, loudspeakers, audio and 4k video. However, the Mi5S has a better screen and better at still images the IMX 378 sensor. My pick is the Le pro 3 because I prefer the better call quality and battery life over photo still quality (Le Pro 3 can take a good imagine in good light), I’ll have a comparison video Mi5S plus vs Mi5S Vs Le Pro 3 coming soon to help, since I have all 3 of the Chinese Snapdragon 821 flagships at the moment.
Tok Yanru
interesting.
wonder how does these 3 fare against Pixel haha.
Thank you for your review.
Dean
Do you know how does the le pro 3 compares to the Nexus 6p as that is what I currently use? The pixels price starts at $899 Canadian funds range and the one with the 5.5″ display is $1,049. 🙁
Chris G
Pixel is around the same price here, very expensive. The Le Pro 3 camera I would say is not as good as the Nexus 6P. See my samples, it’s poor in low light, often a blurred image. But it daylight can take a decent image.
desp
Very good review! Thank you.
I have a question about this phone;
Can this phone operate on 3G network on both sim slots simultaneously?
On most of the dual sim phones you have to choose one sim slot which can connect on 3G/4G network, while other sim has to stay on 2G. That can be a problem if I use carrier which doesn’t have 2G network.
Chris G
Well, you select one for data and one for calls/sms. Looks like you can’t have both using 4G data at the same time. Or I’m looking at it wrong. I have an unlimited 4G SIM and then my sim for my mobile. I used the mobile sim for calls and the other for data and it works perfectly. I can swap to the paid mobile plan sim too, but then the 4G unlimited doesn’t work. Hope that helps, I don’t think it’s quite what you wanted to hear.
desp
4G data can be used only on one sim, that is OK.
But for the other card, card for calls/sms only, can it be connected on 3G network while the first is connected on 4G network? Or it has to be only on 2G (like on majority of phones)
Thank you.
Chris G
I think it has to be on 2G
Dean
Your review comes at a good time. LeEco is just launching in USA today, promoting big products.
Chris G
Yes that was lucky, I just saw the news. Good move from LeEco to release in the US.
Mr pho
Any plans to review the Huawei Honor Note 8/V8 Max?
Chris G
Not at this stage, only so much I can spend on gear to review.