[Device Reviews and Information] Alberto96:
Introduction

This is the LEAGOO M5

Hardware

This device is powered by a Mediatek MT6580 SOC clocked at 1.3GHz, with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of ROM. something unique that i didn't managed to find on any other device with this SOC is the Fingerprint Sensor. This is the only device with MT6580 SOC that has it! Well Done LEAGOO. Everything is supported by a 8MP Rear Camera and 5MP Front Camera, as soon as i manage to find the sensors manufacturer i will add it.

Unboxing

Packaging comes with some accessories, standard by LEAGOO: 1x Headset (not in-ear, but still better than nothing), 1x Micro-USB Cable, 1x 5V/1A USB Charger, 1x Quick Start Guide, 1x Warranty Certificate and the Smartphone (of course). LEAGOO still includes headsets in its packages, and even if the quality isn't the best, i still thank the company.

The device has a Strong Metal Chassis, with a Glossy Painted Back Cover. It feels extremely solid, and fells a bit heavy due to its chassis. There is a small key rattling, nothing serious though. Keys are made of Metal, that's why this is more noticeable here.

It is just 14.16x7.12x0.97cm, pretty compact thanks to its slim borders and it weights 180g.

On the front side there is the usual 2.5D Curved Display, with small bezels as already said before. The upper front side of the device features a Front-Facing Camera, an Earpiece, and the Sensors hole that includes Light, Proximity and Gesture Sensors. Unfortunately there is no Notification LED, but this device is ultra-cheap for its specs so we can't have all.

On the lower front side there is only the Soft Keys area, with Menu, Home and Back touch buttons.

On the back side there is the plastic back cover, stylish with its blue color. Ignore the scratch on the right side, i made it... :facepalm

The upper rear side of the device features the Camera Sensor supported by a Single Rounded Flash (Single-Tone) configuration, and the compact rounded Fingerprint Scanner. One of the best placed fingerprint sensors i have ever tried. I'll talk about it in the next paragraph.

The lower rear side of the device features the brand logo, vertically placed, and the Speaker Hole with two little points to keep it uncovered if you place the device on the table.

Device

Screen

The screen is bright enough, a bit warmer than usual, but with excellent color reproduction.

Light Sensor supports partial smooth light changes, sufficient for smooth fading in/out. This is its maximum brightness.

Viewing Angles do not suffer any issue at all, perfect in every condition. There is a slight banding issue though.

Audio

Speaker is extremely loud, and even if it lacks low frequencies (unfortunately this is a common negative aspect), its sound is pretty good.

In-Call Quality is decent, and pretty loud too. Everyone was able to hear me perfectly. Microphone Quality seems to be good.

With its Awinic K7 amplifier, its audio output through the Headphone Jack is great. Well i'm not saying that it is perfect, neither i know how to declare it perfect because i am not an audiophile, but with my Piston 3 it worked great with high-fidelity Music.

Telephony, Mobile Network & WiFi

This device supports HSPA+, no 4G, and the Mobile Signal reception matches the standards. I was able to get connected to the 3G network of my Mobile Operator almost every time, and everywhere. If you do not need 4G Speeds, then this might interest you.

As regards the WiFi, there is no 5GHz support here (well MT6580 doesn't support it at all), so all my tests have been done using my 2.4GHz network. Compared to some other devices, it is definitely fast, The device got connected at 65mbps.

Battery Life

I have measured the real battery capacity using my USB Tester, and as you can see it is even a bit higher than the declared value. (declared 2300mAh, real almost 2400mAh).

I’m able to reach more than 8 hours of screen-on time with everything on (Sync, Location, 3G, WiFi…), so it can touch the 10 hours barrier without issues if you turn off some features.

Check this Geekbench Battery Test, definitely a superb battery life for just 2300mAh of Capacity. Awesome!

https://browser.primatelabs.com/battery3/382422

Charging Times are not extremely high, the 1A charger helps compared to 0.5A USB Charging, but still not fast as 2A or Quick Charging times.

Software

LEAGOO choose to cooperate with Freeme OS in order to provide a customized UI, just like Xiaomi does with its MIUI. First of all, it is based on the latest Android 6.0 release, with an huge amount of customizations. Even higher than the ones found on the UHANS S1, so this is a real pure FreemeOS experience.

Talking about its features, some of them are great while others might result a bit useless. (e.g. LEAGOO Share). The Weather app is awesome, with nice UI and many features.

Finally, there isn't the UGLY MEDIATEK CAMERA APP. Instead, you will find a Stylish Camera App with any type of customization. Excellent!

Usual Mediatek Gestures are here, just placed differently in the Settings menu.

As regards the Fingerprint Scanner management, it is pretty easy to configure, pretty fast unlock times and no issues with its accuracy.

The device can be unlocked in less than 2 seconds, considering that the MT6580 is a low-end SOC this is impressive. LEAGOO declares 0.19s, and this is true if the screen is on, it means from the Lockscreen to the Launcher. With the screen off, than it takes more or less 1-2 seconds, depending on the actual status of the device.

Benchmarks

I have used 3DMark, AndroBench, Antutu Benchmark, Epic Citadel, GeekBench 3, GFXBench, PCMark (Work & Storage) and Vellamo 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 matches other MT6580 devices, just a bit higher thank to its 2GB of RAM that helps benchmarks to run the most smooth possible without any memory issue.

AndroBench – eMMC Performance is decent, not superb, but more than enough for basic tasks. At least it guarentees no lags while saving photos or such.

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 is pretty high. 3D Games will run with no major issues at all.

GeekBench – CPU Performance is nearly as good as other CPUs with the same configuration (4x Cortex-A7), enough to handle almost every type of activity.

PCMark – As you can see, only the Video Playback score, as on all MT6580, is a bit lower.

Work

Storage

It is clearly noticeable that this one of the fastest MT6580 device ever released, with an excellent software optimization.

Conclusions

It is nice to see how the MT6580 chipset can be pushed to the limits, and LEAGOO did it. The first MT6580 device (correct me if i am wrong) with a Fingerprint Sensor, and probably the only one that also has FreemeOS. I am not a fan of Custom OSs, but i like the way they customize the software without making it heavy. Also, LEAGOO targeted this device to the low-end range with cheap price, but with nice specs.

So, do I recommend it? If you are searching for a cheap device, you don't need 4G support and you need a fingerprint sensor, then this is the best choice. Definitely the most cheap device that features so high specs.

Pros:

Accurate Screen

Insanely Cheap

Metal Chassis

Smooth Software

Fingerprint Sensor

Superb Battery Life

Cons:

Camera Software isn't perfect yet

Slight Screen Banding issue

Speaker lacks low-frequencies

No Compass/Magnetometer

No Notification LED

Rating: 8.6

Packaging and Accessories: 9

Design and Materials: 9.5

Performance and Heat Dissipation: 8

Screen: 8.5

Sound: 7.5

Battery Life: 8.5

Software: 9

OEM Support: 8.5

Price: 9.5

You can find full-res images (I know, Quality isn't excellent) here: http://imgur.com/a/w0sNF

Official Website: http://www.leagoo.com/en/mobile/M_Series/M5.html

You can buy it on many online shops. Official, and authorized, Retailers are listed in the LEAGOO website.​