[Oukitel (All phone models)] Alberto96:
Introduction

This is the OUKITEL U7 Plus.

Hardware

This device is powered by a Mediatek MT6737 SOC clocked at 1.25GHz, a new CPU from Mediatek that is basically an MT6735 with a new Modem that supports VoLTE, together with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of ROM. It features a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera.

Unboxing

Packaging comes with basic accessories: 1x Micro-USB Cable, 1x 5V/1A USB Charger, 1x Quick Start Guide, 1x Warranty Certificate and the Smartphone (of course). No TPU Cover or Screen Protector, but as always a screen protector is already applied.

The device has an Unibody Plastic Chassis, pretty solid and it provides a great grip with curved edges. We all might have preferred a Metal Chassis, but this is removable and makes the device much lighter.

It is 16.00x7.83x0.94cm, considering that this is a 5.5 inches device it isn't compact at all. I had to use my old-Meter to measure the device because my caliper supports maximum 15.3cm. It weights 197g, maybe a bit too much for a Plastic Device.

On the front side there is the usual 2.5D Curved Display, with small bezels. 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, and the rare Notification LED. Finally a device that has it, well done OUKITEL! This is something so rare to find nowadays. 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 Unibody Plastic Chassis, removable and solid.

The upper rear side of the device features the Camera Sensor supported by a single rounded Flashlight, and the compact, rounded, Fingerprint Scanner. OUKITEL design makes all rounded. The lower rear side of the device features just the brand logo, because the Speaker is positioned near the Micro-USB port.

Device

Screen

The screen is pretty good, without any issue as regards grayscale, color reproduction and so on, just a bit warm.

Light Sensor supports smooth light changes, this is its maximum brightness. Maybe it should have been a bit higher for a 5.5 inches screen.

Viewing Angles are not as good as i would have expected. Compared to other OUKITEL devices, this doesn't offer the same viewing experience.

Camera

Rear Camera is pretty good, photos quality doesn't have major noise issues, even on low-light conditions. Daylight photos are detailed and sharp.

Flashlight is powerful enough, sufficient to improve low-light photos but do not expect superb light. (do not compare it with Dual-LED configs)

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

Front Camera records decent photos, and it seems to be a wide-angle variant. Selfie-lovers will appreciate it.

Audio

Speaker is loud enough, a bit distorted it seems but nothing serious.

Unlike most other devices, it is positioned near the Micro-USB port, so even if you place it on your desk or anywhere else, you won’t have to worry about it. A nice add-on.

As regards the Microphone, it works decently well in any case (in-call, VOIP, etc...).

The Audio Department has been accurately enough designed, i am a bit bored to see devices with speakers on the back, so this is something that i always appreciate on any device.

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, even though some 3G frequencies are missing, maybe my engineering sample will get other frequencies with an update, who knows.

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.

WiFi 5GHz isn't supported here, so only 2.4GHz WiFi speed can be tested. I managed to get connected to my network connection at 65mbps, and Speed Tests reached more or less 41mbps.

Battery Life

I have measured the real battery capacity using my USB Tester, and it seems that the real battery capacity matches the declared one. (declared 2500mAh, real ~2550mAh).

Check this Geekbench Battery Test, good battery life for just 2500mAh of Battery Capacity.

https://browser.primatelabs.com/battery3/386758

As regards battery charging times, the 5V/1A charger is enough for a normal charging runtime, but you can't expect super-fast times.

Software

OUKITEL choose to use, as they always do, an almost completely clean Android 6.0 release and it works pretty good, but with some performance issues. I'll talk more about performance in the next paragraph.

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

Notification LED settings are pretty simple, the color isn't customizable but still better than nothing.

As regards the Fingerprint Scanner management, it is pretty easy to configure, pretty fast unlock times with just some minor issues with its accuracy.

[YOUTUBE]ZZkAD72ehS4[/YOUTUBE]

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 isn't superb, lower than MT6737, maybe the software isn't ready enough. I hope to see some improvements here.

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 medium. Not as good as MT6735, but sufficient.

GeekBench – CPU Performance is nearly as good as other CPUs with the same configuration (4x Cortex-A53), enough to handle almost every type of activity.

GFXBench – As already said, GPU performance is lower than MT6735 so it clearly confirms that the software isn't ready yet.

PCMark – As you can see, only the Writing score is a bit lower than others.

Work

Storage

Vellamo – Nothing to say about this benchmark, seems to be decent for the CPU.

Just like i said for the OUKITEL C4, it is clearly noticeable that this device needs some software improvements as regards performance. Every OUKITEL device i have tried have been updated constantly, so an OTA update to fix this performance issue might be near to release.

Conclusions

5.5 inches devices are becoming more and more common nowadays, and this makes no exception. It has a good screen, great design and solid build quality. If OUKITEL manages to fix this Performance issues that seems to be present on all MT6737 devices i am trying, including their latest OUKITEL C4, then this can be definitely considered as the cheapest, and most complete, 5.5 inches device.

So, do I recommend it? Yes, unless you manage to find something better at the same price.

Pros:

Accurate Screen

Notification LED

Good Quality Camera

Fingerprint Sensor

Decent Battery Life

Nice Unibody Design

Cons:

Software needs some performance improvements

No Compass/Magnetometer

A Dual-LED Flashlight might have been better

Not so compact as other 5.5 inches devices

Rating: 8.2

Packaging and Accessories: 8

Design and Materials: 8.5

Performance and Heat Dissipation: 7

Screen: 8

Camera: 8

Sound: 8

Battery Life: 8.5

Software: 7

OEM Support: 9

Price: 9.5

You can find full-res images (I know, Quality isn't excellent) here: http://imgur.com/a/P5ICH

Official Website: http://www.oukitel.com/products/u/u7-plus-52.html

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