[Device Reviews and Information] Rakesh_chandra:
Hi guys,

This is Rakesh and today I am sharing my views on the LeEco Le 1s that I have been using for the past month. Yes, we all know that LeEco, formerly known as Letv, launched two smartphones in the market - Le 1s and Le Max. The Le 1s is priced at Rs. 10999 and the Le Max (64GB) is priced at Rs. 32999. Le 1s is their lowest priced phone but at the same time gives features of a flagship phone. LeEco claims that they are selling Le 1s at lesser than BOM (Bill of Materials) price (which is more than Rs. 16000). Let’s move on to the review then.

BUILD & DESIGN

The first time I opened the box I was like “Wow, awesome!”, yes guys it looks great, it really looks fantastic. One of the most beautiful phones I have ever seen. The mirror-surfaced fingerprint sensor, a smart looking camera and all metal body - all these things make Le 1s a looker! It looks premium and it feels premium. The weight is a bit on the upper side but still with a 5.5-inch Full HD display and bezel-less design it is very handy and easy to use.

9/10

SCREEN & MULTIMEDIA

Le 1s comes with a 5.5-inch LCD IPS Display covered by Gorilla Glass 3. The display is great with awesome colours and contrast levels. It is sharp enough and watching Full HD videos on the display is a visual treat. Mediatek’s clear motion technology is there, so there is not even a single frame drop. It can compete with flagship phones for sure.

9/10

CAMERA

Le 1s comes with a 13 MP rear camera and a 5 MP front camera. Rear camera is an ISOCELL unit with PDAF and high aperture for low light capturing. Still, with all these features, this is where Le 1s suffers a bit. The daylight pictures are good with good details and natural colours but in lowlight the camera is just okay. The pictures turned out to be noisy and macro shots turned out to be “whitish” in low light. I also found some reddish tint on the photo. Front camera is good enough for video calling but for selfie lovers it will be a “hit or miss” as the camera works sometime good and sometime bad. Lots of software optimisation is needed in the camera section as the basic things like “beauty mode” is missing. I hope LeEco will release an OTA update which can rectify these issues. UPDATE: The latest OTA improved the camera experience by a huge margin – both front and rear cameras!

8.5/10

PERFORMANCE

This is where Le 1s outshines every other smartphone in the same category. Le 1s has Mediatek’s current flagship 64-bit Octa Core Processor MT6795 Turbo (aka Helio x10 Turbo) clocked at 2.2 Ghz. Almost every other smartphone in this price range uses cheaper processors while LeEco uses this flagship processor. We can find this processor even in the flagship phone of HTC M9 (Which costs almost 45 K). Le 1s also has 3GB RAM with the system using almost 1.5 GB RAM but still the phone performs very well. No lag at all. Almost every high end game plays butter smooth. I have tested Asphalt 8 and Temple Run, both run fluidly. As far as the performance is concerned, it is really a beast. It warms a little bit, but that is common for all metal smartphones, so not a deal breaker for me.

9.5/10

CONNECTIVITY

Le 1s supports 2G/3G/4G networks in India. Everything is working fine. I didn’t experience any network issue so far. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are up to the mark. Le 1s supports dual SIM - one micro and one nano. Both are working perfectly fine. A small negative side is that it doesn’t support VoLTE, so for Reliance Jio users it is a deal breaker. Still it satisfied me. Thumbs up!

8.5/10

MEMORY

Le 1s comes with 32 GB of internal memory which is really good considering the price. It doesn’t support SD cards but it supports OTG. I was able to connect a 64 GB pen drive through USB Type C OTG cable and it was really fast and I had a nice experience. Overall at this price range it is really good.

8/10

SOUND QUALITY

The external speakers perform well and after plugging in earphones, it sounds really great. It is superior to the competition in this price range. Soothing to the ears and a good option for audiophiles.

8.5/10

PROS:

Stunning design

Premium Feel

Great Display

Good Speakers & Sound Quality

CONS:

Okay Camera

No VoLTE

No External SD card support

Considering the price point of 10999, LeEco provides a super “value for money” product which can break all records in the Indian mobile market. As their tag suggests a #SuperPhone at a #SuperPrice…

Overall Rating: 8.5/10

Verdict: Paisa Wasool..!