[Device Reviews and Information] Alberto96:
Review

Introduction

Being the biggest smartphone released by the Chinese LEAGOO, the Shark 1 is one of the devices that could be called phablet due to its large 6 inches screen, just like the Huawei Mate 8. Even if it could make you think that it is much larger than a 5.5 inches smartphone, I must admit that this isn’t real, it is just a bit larger thanks to its limited bezels and on-screen buttons, the best way to save some space.

This is the LEAGOO Shark 1

Hardware

This device is powered by a Mediatek MT6753 SOC clocked at 1.3GHz, with 3GB of RAM and 16GB of ROM. It shares the same classic Rear Camera sensor used by the OnePlus One (13MP Sony IMX 214) while the Front Camera sensor is a 5MP GalaxyCore GC5024. Its Screen is made by LG and it is great. Follow my next paragraphs to know more.

Unboxing

Packaging comes with standard accessories: 1x In-Ear Headset, 1x SIM/MicroSD tray Eject Tool, 1x Micro-USB Cable, 1x 5V/7V/9V/12V USB Quick Charger, 1x Quick Start Guide, 1x Warranty Certificate and the Smartphone (of course).

The device has a Metal Chassis, with a Metal Back Cover. The device feels pretty solid, it doesn’t feel heavy at all because the weight is well-distrubuted. Unfortunately, there is a small, but noticeable, key rattling. Nothing serious though.

It is just 15.9x8.3x0.9cm, thinner than the OUKITEL K6000 with more or less the same battery capacity, and it weights 243g, but barely noticeable.

On the front side there is the usual 2.5D Curved Display, required to allow a smart usage of the device unless you have big hands to handle a 6 inches screen, and the Glass is enclosed in a Plastic Frame. The upper front side of the device features a Front-Facing Camera supported by a Flashlight, an Earpiece, and the Sensors hole that includes Light, Proximity and Gesture Sensors, and the rare Notification LED. Finally a device that has it, well done LEAGOO!

On the lower front side there isn’t anything at all.

On the back side there is metal back cover, but on the upper and lower sides of the back cover there are two plastic covers, probably used for the antenna stuff.

The upper rear side of the device features the Camera Sensor supported by a Dual-Flash (Dual-Tone) configuration, and the not-so-small rounded Fingerprint Scanner.

The lower rear side of the device features a noticeable Brand Logo and the big Speaker hole.

Also on this device the SIM Card/Micro-SD tray has been well designed to allow the usage of a Micro-SIM and a Micro-SD without having to replace your SIM with a Nano variant. So you can use a Micro-SIM and a Micro-SD in the same time. It seems that only compact devices tend to use the less smart sim-slot variant.

Device

Screen

As declared on their website, the device features a good LTPS LG screen, better than others from other minor brands, and its brightness is superb. Image Quality is great too.

The Light Sensor works great too, and supports smooth light changes making auto-brightness much better. This is its maximum brightness.

Viewing Angles do not suffer any issue at all, perfect in every condition.

Camera

Rear Camera is pretty good, the noise level tends to be a bit high but still better than many other chinese smartphones. Photos tend to be a bit too much sharp though.

As you can see, HDR makes photos brighter just like it should. With (left) & Without HDR (right).

Flashlight is pretty powerful, but it couldn’t have been worse due to the Dual-LED configuration.

As regards Video Recording, there are no major issues. 1080p videos (Video Quality – Fine) are recorded with a decent level of details, just remember that there is no OIS so you can’t expect stable videos.

V Just check my sample here V

[YOUTUBE]DmgmsSPwaNs[/YOUTUBE]

Front Camera records decent photos (my sample photos are bad i know, a bit out of focus), luckily there is a flashlight that helps a lot as regards the brightness level. I recommend to keep an high distance between the camera and object you want to record.

Audio

Speaker isn’t loud at all, I must admit pretty poor, I can’t recommend to use it for Video/Music Playback.

Unfortunately, it is positioned on the back, and, as I have already said for many other devices, if you place the device on a table you could experience volume issues, but this doesn’t mean that it is a bad thing. As always, what matters here is the quality.

In-Call Quality is decent, Microphone tends to muffle a bit the voice (noticeable also on my video), but it can’t be considered extremely negative.

The Audio Department, except as regards Headphone output which is supported by a Dedicated Amplifier increasing output power, hasn’t been well-designed.

Telephony, Mobile Network & WiFi

Thanks to the 4G Band 20 support (some other Chinese Smartphones don’t have it), I’m almost always and everywhere connected to the 4G Network of my Mobile Network Provider (TIM Italy).

Also 3G Signal Reception is accurate, actually I never managed to get connected to the 2G Network of my Mobile Operator because there was always some 3G Signal available.

4G Network Speed is pretty good, it highly depends on your Mobile Operator and mine isn’t pretty good. While 3G Network Speed, is just fine as it should.

This is a Speed Test taken using my 4G internet connection, unfortunately I won’t be able to show a better one. (poor mobile network operator)

There is no WiFi 5GHz support here, but WiFi 2.4GHz speed isn’t extremely low, I managed to get connected to my network connection at 65mbps, and Speed Tests reach more or less 35mbps.

Battery Life

I have measured the real battery capacity using my USB Tester, and as you can see it a bit lower than declared. (declared 6300mAh, real almost 6050mAh). I’ll repeat this test after some weeks.

I’m able to reach more than 8 hours of screen-on time with everything on (Sync, Location, 4G, WiFi…), with 10% of battery left. So it can touch the 10 hours barrier without issues.

If you are worried about charging times, you don’t have to. LEAGOO provides a Quick Charger (with MTK Pump Express Plus tech.), similar to Qualcomm’s Quick Charge tech., that allows you to charge the device completely in more or less 2 hours.

Software

As already said for the LEAGOO Alfa 2, almost everything has been customized. LEAGOO OS, based on Android 5.1, seems to have some nice features that help users to enjoy Android even better. (just like Xiaomi does with its MIUI ROM). I’ll show you some customized parts of the system with some screenshots.

Just like other last-gen Mediatek Devices, there are some typical features such as Gestures, Scheduled Power On/Off, etc…

The UI is extremely responsive and smooth, with no lags at all, but animations have a little bug. LEAGOO decided to hard-code the speed in the framework, so if you restore animations speed to 1.0x instead of the default 0.5x, they’ll look like slow-motion. A bit annoying, but also funny.

The LED Notification Light can be configured easily. You can even disable/enable every single feature.

As regards the Fingerprint Scanner management, it can be configured via the Settings apps and it can be configured easily, similar to other Android 5.1 devices. It is a bit slow as regards unlock time, and it isn’t pretty accurate too, but still enough for decent usage. I’m pretty sure that with Android 6.0 it will get even better, hoping in an update from LEAGOO.

[YOUTUBE]c0b3DZvOhUk[/YOUTUBE]

Benchmarks

I have used 3DMark, Antutu Benchmark, Epic Citadel, GeekBench 3, GFXBench, AndroBench, PCMark (Work & Storage) and Vellamo (Browser & CPU Tests) to stress the device to the limit. I won’t test Games or Video Playback because there are already some related tests included in these Benchmark suites.

3DMark – GPU Performance isn’t extremely good, OpenGL 3.1 & 3.0 tests require lots of power, and this is where almost every mid-range GPU falls. OpenGL 2.0 tests are pretty good though.

Other 3DMark tests can be found on my Imgur album linked at the bottom of the thread.

AndroBench – eMMC Performance seems to be decent, especially as regards Reading Speed. Writing Speed isn’t as good as other devices though, maybe it requires a little software update.

Antutu Benchmark – I won’t say a lot about this benchmark, this isn’t as reliable as others. I’m providing this just for benchmarks lovers.

Epic Citadel – As you can see, 3D performance isn’t so high, but still enough for almost all games.

GeekBench – CPU Performance is nearly as good as other CPUs with the same configuration (8x Cortex-A53), enough to handle almost every type of activity. It could have been better though.

GFXBench– GFXBench score is low, but you can’t expect something better with this CPU.

PCMark – As you can see, only Video Playback score is a bit low. Pretty good.

Work

Storage

Vellamo

Browser score is probably lower than expected.

The same for the CPU score. Multicore score is nice though.

Conclusions

This device is a beast, with its rare Notification LED and small-bezels, is probably one of the best phablet available on the Global (yes, not even Chinese-only) market, I call this “the cheap Huawei Mate 8”. It has everything that a device should have, maybe a more powerful CPU would have been better, but for the price you can’t expect something better.

So, do I recommend it? If you have large hands, and/or if you need a device with an huge battery and screen, then this is the right choice, unless you want to spend 3 times the price of this device to get a Mate 8 hehe.

Pros:

Superb Screen

Great Battery Life

Well-distributed Weight

Notification LED

Dual-Tone Flash

Smooth, but customized, Android OS

Cheap

Cons:

Camera needs to be improved a bit

Microphone isn’t excellent

Low Speaker Output & Fidelity

A bit slow & inaccurate Fingerprint Sensor

Rating: 8.6

Packaging and Accessories: 8.5

Design and Materials: 9

Performance and Heat Dissipation: 8

Screen: 9.5

Camera: 8

Sound: 7

Battery Life: 9.5 (I won’t give 10 because real battery capacity is lower than declared)

Software: 8

OEM Support: 9

Price: 9.5

You can find full-res images (I know, Quality isn't excellent) here: http://imgur.com/a/wAnNI

Official Website: http://www.leagoo.com/mobile/Shark_Series/Shark_1.html

You can buy it on many online shops such as GearBest, AliExpress and many others.​