[Android General] YCkcaJ:
Introduction:

Hi,

been looking around for a while but not much attention seems to be given to Mediatek phones here on XDA.

I got one anyway since the performance seems to be rather good and compared to some brands that are well established in the 1st and 2nd world the Mediatek phones are sometimes even better. (Sorry Sony! But your TN displays are horrid.)

Picked Neken N6S from other available competitors in the price range of $200 - $250 shipped to Europe.

More about competitors and different options later.

Specifications:

Neken N6S

2GB DDR2 RAM

16GB ROM = 2GB app space, 12GB user space, ...

MT6592

3000mAh (optional), 2000mAh (default)

Notification LED: Yes

OS.: Android 4.2.2

Dual Sim (2 full sized SIMs, no micro or nano crap)

Display: IPS, 5.0", 1920x1080

Multitouch: 5 point

OGS: Yes

OTG: Yes

Dimensions: 141.7x70.5x10.9mm (2000mAh, presented)

Dimensions: 142x71x11.9mm (3000mAh, real measured, larger battery adds 1mm of thickness, rest is as precise as I can get but it's quite close to presented dimensions)

Weight: 165g (presented)

F. cam: 8.0 Mpx

R. cam: 13.0 Mpx

CPU: 8x1.66 Ghz

GPU: Mali-450 MP4 (MP4 = 4 cores, basically 4 Mali-400 cores)

GPS, A-GPS (no Glonass on Mediatek)

SD card size: supposedly up to 64 GB

Gravity sensor: Yes

Proximity sensor: Yes

Light sensor: Yes

Compass: Yes

WiFi: b/g/n (yes N as well)

Bluetooth: Yes (4.0, but dunno how to verify)

2G: 850/900/1800/1900

3G: 2100 (been to a screen that shows the bands, but don't know how to get there again, if it was some app or settings menu option, there were some other 3G bands but I can't test them, it all works on 2100 MHz here.)

Package:

Bought from Neken on aliexpress/alibaba. (Yes, from Neken directly it seems, hence the option to get the larger battery without buying the standard one as well and lower price due to avoiding resellers aka websites that resell phones)

Price: $238.4 including DHL (3 days shipping, arrived in 2.5 days once DHL had it in hands), excluding tax.

Total price: cheaper than Motorola Moto G 16GB single SIM, cheaper than Sony Xperia SP, cheaper than Samsung Galaxy S3, ... I say it's a steal if it will work at least for a couple years :good:

Contents:

Neken N6S, extended battery back cover, 3000mAh battery, screen protector installed, 2 spare screen protectors, clear hard case (fits only standard battery, not the extended 3000mAh), 1.0A charger (got US plug, probably only US plug available, should work with an adapter in EU too, don't have adapter yet), headphones (better than the ones I have from Nokia), USB cable for charging and connecting to PC, manual (Chinese and English if I remember correctly), ...

Bought separately:

Clear TPU case for Neken N6. Yes everything from N6 fits N6S, more importantly the TPU case can also be used with the extended 3000mAh battery :)

They will tell you it can't be, it was designed for the standard 2000mAh battery, but I risked it and got it anyway.

The case fits, to my surprise the backside and whole case is not thin, it could be 2mm thick so it does not really stretch but it fits anyway, it's snug but it locks on all 4 corners no problem and all the edges lock as well.

Pictures:

Unprocessed pictures.

New, with dust under the screen protector, fixed it later.

My camera lying with it's lens on the screen and focused to 0.

Pictures with the clear TPU case, IPS viewing angles:

Yes the buttons are separate, not on screen :)

And unobtrusively illuminated when touched. They are touch buttons below the screen. That means you get true 1920x1080px of screen estate to use. Darn it, forgot to zoom the wallpaper.

The back.

Almost default home screen.

Tests:

Real tests, done by me. Want some other? Let me know.

Click the picture to view full size, kept them original at 1920x1080px PNG.

Some are done without limited CPU some maybe with, I limit the CPU by default to save battery.

All done at 1920x1080px (unless benchmark forced it otherwise), 1080p is really taxing for mobile GPUs.

Nenamark v2.4:

FPS: 55 - 57fps

Antutu v4:

unlimited CPU: 25 - 26k

limited CPU: 24 - 25k

Antutu device info:

Antutu 3D Rating v4.00:

2494

Epic Citadel:

HQ: 37.0 fps

HP: 39.8 fps

3D Mark 1.2:

Ice storm unlimited: 6947

Ice storm extreme: 3754

Ice storm: 5313

GFXBench:

T-Rex: 8.7 fps

Quadrant:

Score: 12858

CPU: 53202

RAM: 4015

I/O: 4548

2D: 224

3D: 2301

LCD Tester 3.8.3:

Refresh rate: 57Hz

Yellow can be a little to the green side on lowest brightness.

Blacks are enhanced, it seems to hit the limit at 10 or 11 which looks black.

White seems to be alright, goes all the way and only 255 looks like pure white, 254 can be distiguished.

Gamma looks like 1.4, but it doesn't seem off to me. Yes the blacks can be seen sometimes as dark but that's about it.

GPS Test:

No signal inside a concrete building.

All tests outside walking on a road, field, forest.

Strength usually around 30. Probably doesn't go over 40. Is it good or bad?

Lock time after a fresh start usually 20 - 70s. If it had GPS lock before, then it locks instantly.

Some apps are better than other when it comes to getting a location.

Speedtest:

WiFi connected to an old router with WiFi N, 65 Mbps.

30/30 Mbps network connection.

The phone maxes it no problem to 30/30 Mbps.

Pros & cons:

Decent screen, maximum size of 5.0" that I found still pocketable and usable one handed although two hands are more comfy.

1080p can be a bit hard on the GPU when gaming but even Real Racing 3 runs fine on the default high setting. I turned it down all the way to low but it wasn't a slideshow on the default high setting either. Other games ok as well graphic performance wise, but most are boring.

It is truly a shame game developers forget to give users the basic graphic configuration settings so one could easily in-game change to lower resolution, some offer lower graphic details.

Device did not come rooted.

With 3000mAh battery it can play 4.5h of 1080p 8bit video/movies using MX Player HW+ video decoding and software audio decoding, movies are standard PC quality, around 3-4GB each, no low bitrate things but just small enough to fit on FAT32. This is played at FULL brightness, with headphones, cellphone ON (3G), WiFi OFF, BT OFF, location OFF, Clear Motion ON, CPU saving ON. Does not get hot with HW decoding.

Can also play 20 Mbps 1080p 8bit videos using HW decoding. And movies encoded in 1080p 10bit via software decoding but it is using the CPU quite a bit, it has the power to decode it smoothly though.

It is 4h of playback to hit 15% warning and then another nearly 30min to hit 4% warning.

Playing a lower complexity video at minimum brightness it would last "forever" (that's what GSM arena uses for their crappy testing, SD video and airplane mode, etc.).

The OS seems to have a few enhancements, Clear Motion that makes playing video smoother, I don't know how, but it could be interpolating frames to get higher framerate. It really works and a low fps footage from a camera plays more smoothly with it.

I use it.

Next are two audio enhancements, first works IMHO as a equalizer when headphones are plugged in and enhances middle frequencies.

The speaker booster seems as a normalization and makes quiet things more loud which can be useful for movies and playing them without a boost in the video player. But this works everywhere, even for playing songs where it is noticeable too I think.

I don't use the earphone enhancer but I do use the speaker booster since the speaker is not extremely loud.

Headphones are a bit the opposite, I basically use minimum volumes with the two headphones I have.

Device info:

Front camera is not very good, I would not say it has 8Mpx but maybe 5Mpx but still nothing spectacular in terms of noise.

Rear camera is ok, 13Mpx seems real, since the lens is tiny and all that jazz of phone camera is there and it will never measure up to a decent compact camera. Think what you want but iPhone's camera sucks too. Don't expect wonders. Camera operation seems as fluid as I've experienced on Samsung Galaxy S4. The burst shooting mode is fast, I mean it really is fast and much faster than my older compact camera. Focusing is alright, nothing bad. It can track objects too if you like that. Panorama, HDR and so on. Flash is fine, can't compare to other phones.

Rear camera is protected if you use the extended back cover with larger battery, the lens is not sticking out anymore. With the TPU case on the lens is sunk inside.

Touchscreen is ok but rarely some applications seem to have an issue. Real Racing 3 likes to lose touch for gas pedal when holding it down for minutes during some races, RR3 also rarely loses orientation which means no steering or no steering to one side. ON/OFF of RR3 fixes it. LCD Tester today acted up in one of it's tests by moving to the next like if I touch it. Strange because there were no ghost? touches anywhere else at the moment when I moved around but only in that test. So go figure I think the touchscreen is alright, just some applications are not very good at handling the controls.

Screen looks nice, not over saturated, yay! The blacks are a little enhanced though. Whites are fine.

Screen is usable whole, no software buttons. At 1920x1080px (440 PPI) it is impossible to see the individual pixels as close as I can focus. Nice to read text like ebooks and websites. Brightness is alright during the day, outside, I would prefer lower minimum though but doubt any phone goes that low by default.

SD card works, use my older 8GB card, lost some screenshots and such since it crashed but after reformatting it in the phone itself it works alright so far. Will replace it with a bigger and newer one, it did act up in my older phone too.

App space is 2GB and I did not manage to fill it yet and I did install lots of things to try them out.

2GB RAM seems alright, probably even 1.5GB RAM would be ok, but 1GB for Android seems a little bit small if one uses the smartphone a lot, like gaming especially or web browsing.

16GB ROM has nearly 12GB user usable and it is enough space for me especially since I can add as much as I like via an SD card.

Buttons work alright, they do have a tactile feedback, for me it could be stronger but that's me used to robust buttons ;)

Proximity sensor only recognizes near and far, works fine to turn off the screen when calling.

Light sensor works fine but seems to have only about 8 levels approximately/guessing, at least that's what apps show.

Compass works, which is something not all Mediatek phones have.

All the other sensor goodies are there, see Antutu device info.

Phone charges alright via USB from PC, can be turned into charge only and charges best when not being drained at the same time, so of course it charges fastest when it's off, or screen is off, WiFi off, etc.

Not sure it supports fast charging, don't have a fast charger or know how it may detect fast charging on the charger. Had it plugged to a 30A USB port but it has data lines disconnected, no fast charging happened.

Calls are definitely better than my old phone, not very loud which is a shame but the audio is clear and has a decent quality compared to older phones.

Calls and playing music seems alright and does not drain much.

Screen and CPU/GPU hungry applications are the main cause of battery drain then having unnecessary connections enabled, like WiFi, BT, GPS.

TPU case fits both standard and extended battery variant. You just have to find a seller of the color option you like.

So far, 3 weeks later, I am satisfied and find no bugs in the phone.

Build quality is good as I have nothing to complain about. Compared to other phones, I've seen/had similar quality from Nokia.

Bezels are small, spaces between parts are minimal and only sometimes the plastic bulges a tiny tiny bit around the middle close to the buttons on the side. But this took me some time to find out by gliding my fingers around the phone. Had similar thing on a Nokia phone, that's just how plastic works. Back cover snaps well and holds. Phone seems to be all around plastic except the front where the screen is and I guess the black around the display is some metal. Paint seem good. The white back is painted as well and looks a little pearl like if you know what I mean. So it is not just pure white "ugly" plastic.

Installed screen protector was probably put by the seller and it had 3 dust particles under it. Cleaned it up later in my very dusty place, no idea how am I going to ever install a screen protector here, this certainly ain't dust free place :D

The protector is matte but I got used to it. The screen is glossy though.

No idea if any of the 3 spare screen protectors I have are glossy. But they are two different types/styles/source than the one that is on the phone. Got 2 with the package as gift and another one surprisingly with the TPU case.

GUI has app drawer and holding the home button brings the fake process manager I guess it's called nearly useless app manager that allows you to switch between apps but will not fully/truly close or kill apps if you remove them from there.

Other options:

Jiayu G4S MT6592, 2/16GB, 3Ah - not available at the time, didn't want to wait for it even though I knew it's gonna come out in April with G5S, seeing how overpriced and out of stock Jiayu phones can be I gave it a pass and the price may jump up after the initial sale of the first batch.

iOcean X7S MT6592, 2/16GB, 3Ah - more expensive, weird option for 3000mAh battery resulting in a possible Frankenstein.

Motorola Moto G - difficult to buy in Europe, only single SIM, no SD card, only 1GB RAM, ... seems like unfair comparison with MT6592 phones but Moto G costs more than them.

Sony Xperia SP - the display on most Sony phones is an old and outdated TN panel with poor viewing angles, had it in my hands and it felt like the same poor display I had on my Nokia E51, even more expensive than Moto G, $300 or so.

Jiayu G4 MT6589T, 2/32GB - was a tempting option at the time, for $226 but a wait for G4S would be wiser.

...

Picked it because it has MT6592 with 2GB RAM and a big 3000mAh battery.

The only other option was iOcean X7S which this told to be a clone of or some such, anyway, iOcean is more expensive and the 3000mAh option is Frankensteined on it I think.

Jiayu makes the only other 3000mAh phones but G4S got released only yesterday and I did not feel like waiting another month, waited long enough already. G4 platform is a nice phone but seeing how long it takes Jiayu to adopt new technologies and how out of stock and overpriced it can be I gave it a pass and did not wait for G4S. It is definitely more boxy like an iPhone is. With smaller screen it is easier to carry around but also harder to work on since the screen is smaller and yes it is noticeable, plus it may not be as good for reading due to lower PPI, still decent though. I would see G4S as a main competitor unless it's price goes up too much after the initial sold out.

G5S is probably fine too but one pays considerably more for the metal body.

At 5.0" or with 1080p, this is IMHO the only option right now when it comes to bigger battery. Unless of course you like the bigger battery option and higher price of iOcean X7S.

Update: Similar package of Jiayu G4S costs around $232 + shipping + tax.

From my POV, it's either G4S or N6S depending on how big a screen you want and if you want 720p or 1080p.

Would not opt out of a decent battery if you use the phone frequently. The cell standby and screen eat power plus does anything that uses the CPU/GPU a lot (games).

Clarifications:

Goal:

sub $300 total price

bigger than 2200mAh battery

decent CPU&GPU

minimal dimensions height and width wise

unlimited thickness since I do not care about thinness war and will rather have a device that runs for several days than a paper thin phone that lasts me a couple hours ;)

no bigger than 5.0" = still pocketable and usable by one hand only

working GPS

decent build quality

English as second language, feel free to point out errors. Surprised?