LeEco ( the company formerly known as LeTV) is the latest to join the long, long list of Chinese smartphone manufacturers trying their luck in India.
The company doesn't have any of the advantages of being an early mover, and no matter how shockingly low it can push prices, it won't be the first to be doing so. Still, there's a lot to like about the Le 1s.
Which is quite full of interesting features considering its budget price tag. There's only so far you can go with specifications, and so LeEco has decided to bring premium materials and build quality to the budget smartphone space. The Le 1s is made almost entirely of metal, save for two plastic strips running along the top and bottom of the rear for the various antennas to work. The strips are certainly noticeable, but not as prominent as the plastic antenna lines on the iPhone 6 and 6s series, for example, so some might actually prefer this.
The front face is pretty slick, with black glass surrounding the screen and extending all the way to the two sides. The front camera and sensor window are arranged symmetrically on either side of the earpiece. There are the standard three capacitive Android navigation buttons below the screen, but they're hidden until you tap one, at which point they all light up. The metal band running around the sides has chamfered edges, but the Le 1s manages to avoid looking like an iPhone 5 overall thanks to its proportions. Rather than the Qualcomm processors that have become commonplace in this segment, LeEco has chosen the MediaTek Helio X10, also known as the MT6795T. This is a pretty powerful chip, with eight cores clocked at up to 2.2GHz and integrated PowerVR G6200 graphics. There's also 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, which is sadly not expandable.
The 5.5-inch screen has a resolution of 1080x1920 which is now standard at this price level. There's a 13-megapixel camera on the rear and a 5-megapixel one in front. Unfortunately, the 3000mAh battery is sealed in. 4G is supported across both SIM cards, and there's also Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.1, and A-GPS. FM radio appears to be missing.
The Le 1s runs the rather dated Android 5.0.2 with LeEco's heavy eUI skin. Predictably, it dispenses with the app drawer and there aren't as many customisation options as we've seen before. The most difficult thing to get used to is that all shortcuts and quick settings have been moved to the app switcher screen. It looks like a mashup of iOS 7's Control Center and app switcher and is functional enough, but it seems as though LeEco wanted to be different just for the sake of being different.
There aren't very many preloaded apps - you get Yahoo Weather, and an app called My LeTV which is a gateway to the company's cloud storage and security services. The only other non-default app is called OK Remote Control, which can use the IR emitter or work over Wi-Fi with compatible TVs, most notably LeTV's own) . There are no Indian TV and set-top box brands in the list of compatible products, and third-party apps like Peel do not work with the Le 1s. LeEco might have been late to the party but it did arrive in style. The company claims that 70, 000 units of the Le 1s sold out within two seconds in the first flash sale, and that over 6, 00, 000 people registered for the chance to claim one. Over three million units have sold in China in the three months since it launched there, so there's clearly no shortage of demand.
Meanwhile, things just keep getting better for value-minded Indian buyers. With this phone, you get considerable power and top-notch specifications, all neatly presented in a very nice package. The most obvious competitor right now is the Lenovo Vibe K4 Note, which has slightly poorer specifications but has better entertainment capabilities including an optional VR headset, which is a totally unique feature. There's also the Moto G ( Gen 3) ( Review) to consider, if you'd rather have durability and great software than looks and raw performance.
Go for this phone if you're willing to give a brand new player a chance, and if you would really like to have a premium-looking phone that you can show off. However, keep in mind that even though you can now get a lot of the looks and specifications of a high-end flagship, you can't assume that you'll also get the same level of finesse.
