Long Term Review of Le 1s

 Long Term Review of LeTv LeEco Le 1s

-By Akash Sikder, 16-07-21

LeEco Le 1s(Le X509):

Key Specifications:

·     1.8 GHz Octa-Core MediaTek Helio X10 SoC (53K+ AnTuTu Score) with PowerVR G6200 GPU

·     5.5 inch FHD Display with 1920x1080 resolution(403dpi)

·     3GB RAM & 32GB Storage(Non-expandable)

·     13MP Rear Camera, f2.0 & 5MP Front Camera, f2.0 with Rear LED Flash

·     4K video shooting with 30fps

·     EUI 5.8.019S

·     3000mAh Li-Po Battery(non-removable)

·     Android Marshmallow v6.0

·     Rear side Fingerprint sensor

·     4G Enabled, Bluetooth v4.1, A-GPS, GLONASS Enabled

·     Wi-Fi enabled (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac supported)

·     USB OTG Supported

·     Type-C & Fast charging

·     Corning Gorilla Glass 3

·     Sensors: Compass, Magnetometer, Gravity Sensor, Proximity, Light Sensor, Infrared Sensor

Price:  ₹10,999/-

Release Date: May 2016(India)

Weight: ~170gm

In-the-box:

a)Handset, b)Charging Adapter, c) Type A-Type C charging Cable, d)Sim Tray Ejector tool, e)Documentation, f)TPU Case

Overview:

 

Pros:

a)  Metal Build

b)  IR blaster

c)   Notification Light (color changeable)

d)  Fast Charging

e)  Fingerprint Sensor

f)     Screen quality

Cons:

a)  Dim Display for outdoor usage

b)  The camera is not worthy

c)   The battery could be better

d)  Volte is not enabled

e)  Heavy and unpolished UI

f)     Heating issue

 

Looks and Design

In terms of build quality, this LeEco Le 1s is flawless. The body is mostly made of metal, along with two strips of plastic antenna which are located at the top and the bottom of the rear side of the device, are visible. The fingerprint sensor module which looks like a shinning glass, adds pretty much beauty to this device. It feels like a premium handset at this price point. And I have to say that the build quality of this phone is top-notch. On the front side, there is an HD display with black surroundings and the front camera, and the sensor module is placed symmetrically with the earpiece module. The color-changeable notification light is pretty cute. And there are three navigation buttons, which were invisible until I tap any of them, and at that point, they all lighten up.

 

Display

This device has a 5.5 inches high-definition IPS display with heavy bezels. The display resolution is 1080x1920p and screen density is 403dpi.The display performs pretty well in indoor conditions, but can't use it outdoor as its display's peak brightness is too low. Although, I have the Corning Gorilla Glass protection 3.0 to protect my display from unnecessary damages.

 

UI

This Le 1s comes with a EUI 5.8.019s after updates and it has the Android v6.0 (Marshmallow) with October 2016 Android Patch, which is pretty old. After the discontinuation of this Brand LeTv, this device stops getting updates. This UI is average, as it has a minimal number of pre-installed apps like Yahoo weather, Flipkart, and some other brand apps like LeViDi, LeView, MyLeTv, and Live. And the control center is not in the notification bar, it is in the app switching center which is pretty similar to iOS devices. But this will be a problem for new users like me. Whenever I used to use this type of control center, this will be an amazing experience.

Performance

Though the UI of this device is quite heavy and the user's experience is quite unpolished. But because of that MediaTek's Helio X10 Turbo processor, the device doesn't feel lag. This processor is based on a 28nm architecture, which is quite a battery efficient also. When it comes to the AnTuTu Benchmark score, this device scores nearly around 53 thousands+, which is pretty good in this price segment as compared to other devices at this price point. In day-to-day activities it is fluid but when I open some heavy apps it starts showing lags. This device is quite outdated and in the meantime, the Android develops a lot and the apps also develop a lot, So, maybe that's the reason why this device feels lag when it comes to using some heavy apps like Facebook and Google Chrome. Although, this device has a total ram of 3GB, after killing all the apps it only frees up to 1.2 or 1.3 GB max. The device gets too hot due to its metal uni-body design while using a heavy app, mostly whenever using a heavy app with a cellular network connection, its temperature reaches up to 45°-47°C (normally its around 35°c). Another big thing is the physical fingerprint sensor on the rear side with a shiny pink glass type look and the fingerprint sensor does its work quite well. When it comes to gaming, I played a lot of heavy games, it runs all the games pretty good, but whenever I play games it temperature reaches up to 45°c also. But in terms of gaming, there is no lag. There is a ram management issue seen whenever I use 4 or 5apps in the background, it automatically kills some of my apps. And the result is I was not getting notifications from those apps like Facebook and WhatsApp. Whenever I reopen that app I got all the notifications. It happens because of that heavy UI and RAM management issue. But considering the price point, this device does work very well.

 

Battery & Storage

This device comes with a 3000mAh Lithium-Polymer battery which is sealed inside the phone. It does support fast charging with its official charging adapter with a USB Type- C cable. Overall battery performance is very good in WiFi connection, but whenever I connect to a cellular network the battery starts draining like a pulse. If I use it a whole day (of course without gaming), I might have 15-20% battery left. So, there is a mixed result for Battery life. But yes, there is a battery percentage showing on the notification bar, which is quite helpful. But when the device is charging, it may be warm a little bit if I enable the fast charging in the settings menu.

 

This device comes with a non-expandable 32GB of ROM and 3GB of RAM. But only 27GB storage I can use of that 32GB and I can't expand the ROM with my memory cards. Yes! I can use an OTG pen drive. This device supports an on-the-go USB drive, which is quite unfamiliar at this price point.

 

Connection

Le 1s is a 4G enabled device, which is quite rare at this price segment, but I can use only one 4G sim, it doesn't support dual 4G standby. It also doesn't support Voice over LTE. Although, I can make this phone VoLTE using some custom ROM. I am also using this phone by flashing a custom VoLTE fix ROM for the last 3years, which enables the VoLTE with 4G, but there is a problem, the call quality is very bad.

Le 1s comes with WiFi support with 802.11a/b/g/n/ac and has a Bluetooth v4.1 along with GPS support with A-GPS, GLONASS enabled.

 

Camera

This Le 1s comes with a 13mp rear shooter with f2.0.There is a LED flash on the rear side. This primary camera can shoot 4k videos @30fps.But the details are missing in the photos. Whenever I use this device in outdoor lighting conditions, the photos are quite good with minimal details. But whenever I use this in indoor lighting conditions, the camera struggles to snap a good shot and the result is photos come with fewer details and are not at the focusing point.

Let's come to the front-facing selfie camera, the front-facing camera sensor is a 5MP with f2.0.It does the job quite well. Although the details are missing and it also doesn't keep the original skin tone.

So, I would say that Le 1s struggles with its camera although it doesn't a camera-centric phone, whenever I am going to buy a new phone, always camera is a big preference. But yes, it does the job when considering the price segment. Some samples are here.

 

Sensors

Le 1s comes with a lot of sensors along with an Accelerometer sensor, a gravity sensor, a light sensor, a proximity sensor, a compass sensor, and a magnetometer sensor and the big thing is a fingerprint sensor and an infrared sensor.

Maybe all the sensors are seen in a phone which is priced at a higher point. But at this price point, a physical fingerprint sensor and an infrared sensor is a quite big thing. Although, all of these sensors do their work pretty well.

 

Final Verdict

Le 1s comes with a lot of specifications, which any other device can’t give you at this price point. The display of this device is top-notch with gorilla glass protection and FHD resolution. Despite there is some problem with the UI of this device and ram management is not quite well, the phone does the job pretty well because of having that fast MediaTek’s Helio X10 turbo processor. I would recommend this phone to gamers as it comes with this fast processor, and one of the best gaming performances at this price point, but a long time gaming may cause the heating issue. Le 1s comes with a 4G connectivity which is good but there is no volte, as it is quite outdated, you have to flash a volte fix ROM to use a JIO sim. Otherwise, it is perfect in terms of connectivity with Bluetooth, WiFi, and GPS technology. Le 1s is a performance-centric phone, so, the camera is average. The camera performs well in outdoor lighting conditions, but it struggles in indoor lighting. Although selfie camera does its job pretty well. Le 1s has all the latest sensors along with the infrared and fingerprint sensor, which is quite rare at this price point. Considering the price point, the day-to-day performance is quite well, the processor handles this fine. But occasionally, there is some UI lag, as it is quite outdated and the UI is pretty heavy. The phone also gets a little bit warm when it runs on the 4G cellular network and when it is charging also. But on wifi, the battery performance is pretty well. Overall, I would say it is a very good phone considering the price point, and it performs very well than the other devices which were available in the market at that time. And I am getting a lot of new features at this price of 11K. And the build quality will give me a premium feel. It is a value for money phone for all Indian and Global users. You can also get this phone if you are looking for top-notch features within a lower budget. But only if you are okay with the cons of this device.