It took hours to get out there, but the trip to the JiaYu Shenzhen factory proved fruitful as we got to play with the JiaYu S1!
We arrived at JiaYu’s factory hours late and just as everyone stopped work and headed to the canteen, but Felix and Wade from JiaYu made us welcome and even let us play with a few of their new phones!
JiaYu S1 Hands on1
The JiaYu S1 is a big step for JiaYu. It is the firstphone they will offer with a 5-inch 1080 display and the first model of theirs to run a Snapdragon 600 CPU!
We had some hands on time with the pre-production sample. Although the sample did suffer from a sticky power button, the rest of the package was just perfect.
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The 5-inch display is attached to a stainless steel chassis giving the S1 incredible stiffness. No sensible amount of force will flex this phone, so you need not worry about placing it in your back pocket while sitting down.
JiaYu have packed the S1 with all the must have features including a display by Sharp, front and rear cameras by Sony, a 1.7Ghz S600 CPU, 2GB RAM, 32GB memory, NFC and wireless charging.
Some of you might be disappointed to see that the there is only room for one SIM and you cannot install a SIM, plus 2300mAh battery is non replaceable, however it wouldn’t deter us from buying this phone!
JiaYu S1 hands on video
JiaYu told us that the S1 will be ready for launch in October. We expect this to mean that pre-sales will begin ahead of the October holidays and the phone should begin arriving with customers by the end of the month. And yes, they mean October 2013 🙂
I am more confident in the production month of S1 than G4, mainly because it utilises an older CPU. There should not be any ‘unknown’ parameters in the assembly, apart from the usual licence issues.
It all depends now on the price, they should take into account that the Nexus 4 with 16GB is $249… so a Chinese phone with 32GB should not be more expensive.. shipped.
Although the G4 Advanced is still around $300 shipped, they should really reconsider their pricing.
Wise thoughts. Agreed.
There’s no way a phone with S600 and 1080p screen can be cheaper than a phone with S4 Pro and smaller 720p screen. The best they can do maybe around $320 in china.
I can buy oppo find 5 for $340 here in Vietnam through official distributor and warranty, it’s a proved good phone so only if I can get this one cheaper than that, no.
340 USD for find 5 with 600 snap edition. Are you joking and its not a fake? That’s cheaper than anywhere reliable I have seen in China. Anyway great deal there.
Wait, checked again, it’s S4Pro, not S600, S600 edition only available in China. It’s 6.900.000 VND – 326 USD. A limited sale off through September to celebrate the National Day happened in September 2nd. Unlikely the price will go up again, maybe clearing the way for N1.
And I have no use for better cpu so everything with 2GB or rams for browsing is good enough for me, S4 Pro still a very good deal.
Minideal are preselling the S1 for $269.
It might be a hoax, but it’s close to the Nexus4 flagship.
The one flaw of the Nexus standard is that the battery specs suck and no removable back, hence no micro sd. That’s why the Google phone didn’t totally take over the whole market I think.
A bigger battery (removable) and micro sd feature is worth an extra 50 bucks easy. So its more fair to factor around $300 instead of the $250 for comparison sake. That is if a phone has the removable back and sd.
Victor is right on the pricing aspect. If customers in the US are gonna buy Chinese phone brands, they want it to be cheaper than the brands they are already familiar with and trust. If the Jaiyu S1 was $250-$275 China retail price, it’ll come in about $300-$325 shipped for sale in the US. That puts you fairly competitive with the Nexus phone. (which as much as I want to, I can never buy the Nexus just based on the battery issues)
If it wasn’t for Google phone, the Chinese brands would have a way easier time with their prices. That Nexus is the eternal thorn in their side.