Exclusive: This is the 8-core MT6592 THL Monkey King 2

AndiNovember 15, 2013

Rumours are fine but seeing the actual REAL product is something else! So feast your eyes on this! Real photos of the 8-coreMT6592THLMonkey King 2!

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Just over a month ago I visited THL’s offices and got the prototype THLMonkey King 2 in my hands and I can happily say that these new photos look exactly the same! From previous hands on experience I can tell you that the Monkey King 2 has a 5 inch 1920 x 1080 display, 2GB RAM, dual 13 mega-pixel cameras, and 8-coreMT6592 processor.

thl monkey king 2

From speaking with THL’s engineers I can I know that they hoped to offer an alloy body and replaceable battery. We’ll have to wait until we get our hand on the Monkey King 2 to see if they were able to make this happen.

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About the author
Andi

- that’s what I said 😉
- ace
  November 15, 2013
claude
November 15, 2013
at ur opinion 3G 850 or 900 frequency ?
the 5″ size is really perfect for me… I dt need phablet
- Cassie
  November 15, 2013
  - Sarah
    November 20, 2013

highwind
November 15, 2013
This will probably be my new phone 🙂
I was tempted by Xperia/Lumia-styled phones namely iOcean X7, THL Monkey King 1 and Neken N6 for almost 3 month now but every single of them had one or another flaw which I disliked (no softbutton light / no replaceable battery / no all-black version) so I resisted to buy…
*Fingers crossed that MK2 wont have any flaws* xD
EDIT
btw @Andi or whoever did it => good job one the new comment system, works much better than the old one
Airyl
November 15, 2013
Wow, it looks really good! While I will miss the red highlights of the original Monkey King, this one has a more original design and looks really comfortable to hold! Can’t wait to own one, especially if it has an alloy body!
- Cassie
  November 15, 2013

toioioio
November 15, 2013
- Airyl
  November 15, 2013
  - toioioio
    November 15, 2013
    - Airyl
      November 15, 2013
Zeca
November 15, 2013

Peter Pain
November 15, 2013
Hate the lettering, camera placement looks like it’s an afterthought, especially dislike the logo, looks like some cheap Chinese knock off. Even if it’s aluminum, it’s a long way from magnesium. FFS dodgy Chinese phone manufacturers, get an art student in the office for 30 minutes! Fail from a design viewpoint atm.
It better be very cheap with a huge battery – like $200, otherwise the Mi3 is a no brainer.
And as much as I like the comments edit system, I prefer to login with my gizchina login wherever that went to?
- Ian McDowall
  November 15, 2013
  $200.00 for an 8 core handset with those specs? Plus the cost of a magnesium chassis? Well, there’s nothing like asking for the moon on a stick! 😉
  But seriously, whilst buying a Chinese handset is relatively cheap, the manufacturers still have to pay wages and turn a profit too – after all, they’re in business – not simply serving as a charity for spoiled westerners looking for premium on the cheap.
  Rant over, apologies everybody.
  - November 15, 2013
    Mi3 has a processor which returns twice the stats of the 6592, so don’t fall for 8-core marketing. It’s got a magnesium chassis (thought the reference was obvious given it’s clone nature), and is a known quality product so likely the camera is top notch. It looks great and will probably come with (has capability) for LTE. It will cost $329.
    The THL is not as good, full stop.
    So what price does it need to be for people to not say – hey this phone is half an Mi3 but I save xxx $.
    I think initially $250 (ideally shipped), any more and people will buy the Mi3 at $329. Plus the Mi3 has hinted shipping internationally for free like Oppo, so for things like the THL you need to add a margin for the reseller as well. The THL (or in general 8 core) price in China therefore should ‘initially’ be be $200. Much like the current 6589T phones are/were.
    I guess phone companies in China need to compete with the likes of Xiaomi. But I’m interested to hear others thoughts on the new 8-core era.
    Anyone know the difference in chip price between a 6589T and a 6592. I guess it’ll be the same price as when the 6589 debuted.
    Long post over 🙂
    - Airyl
      November 15, 2013
      Just your opinion. I’d still rather have the Monkey King 2, since it probably has microSD slot, dual sim capabilities, removable battery and quality front and rear cameras just like the it’s predecessor. The MK2 also has an alloy jacket unlike the Mi3’s magnesium frame. Other than that, the Mi3 will also probably cost more than $329 once shipped out of China, while the MK2 will cost $249 tops. There are a lot of reasons to pick the MK2 over the Mi3, it’s really all about what you need.
      - Ian McDowall
        November 16, 2013
        So, is it the general consensus that the MK2 will come in at about $250, then?
      - November 16, 2013
        Needs – Agreed. Looking at the current market clearly suggests what people are buying and hence the demands.
        Usually I personally buy a removable battery just in case, I’ve yet to ever use.
        Don’t feel the need for huge media stores outside of home/work/car where I’ve got it covered.
        Dual SIM can be useful for work though. As I said: Needs – Agreed. 🙂
        
        Airyl
        November 17, 2013
    - highwind
      November 16, 2013
      And what do you need “twice the stats” for?
      “Owning” in Antutu?
      We are talking about smartphones here, they dont need workstation or gaming-console processing power…
      Power
      efficiency is much more of a concern on a mobile device and Cortex A7
      MT6592 will probably win in this department vs Cortex A9 Snapdragon.
      “Probably LTE”?
      MK2 is rumored to have LTE, too, so your “argument” is pretty worthless.
      “MK2 is not as good full stop”?
      Does Mi3 come with exchangeable battery?
      Does Mi3 support Dual-Sim?
      Is Mi3 expandable with SD-Card?
      Mi3
      might be a good phone, but it has the same design flaws as the Google
      Nexus 4/5 and I doubt it will be significantly cheaper in Europe (Nexus 5
      16GB going for 350€), especially if you see how fast the Tegra4
      versions it got sold out.
      - November 16, 2013
        I guess power is useful because in 3 yrs, when a s800 is dated, you can still run cyanogen on it fairly well, lesser chips might struggle.
        3000mah + s800 seems fine, even for ingress. But I suppose if it’s a concern they have a lower clocked s600 or you buy an external pack.
        LTE is a known for s800, 21st Nov will know more surely 6592.
        Still, IMO MK is a design fail and I forgot to add it’s a copy/fake.
        
        highwind
        November 21, 2013
        Most people dont use their smartphones for 3 years and even if they do, why does anybody need cyanogen then?
        The firmware most “china phones” are shipped with IS already stock android (like cyanogen mod) and with this firmware the phone will be as fast in 3 years as it is now…
        MK2 is surely a design fail because it doesnt sport a uber-expensive and uber-powerfull battery draining SoC which 99% of the users will never need.
        Open your eyes mate, just because YOU (think you) need uber-powerfull processing power (probably idling most of the time) doesnt mean everybody else does so, too
        copy/fake? what are you talking about?
        If you think the MK2 is a visual copy of the Mi3, then the Mi3 is a visual copy of the panasonic eluga aswell…

Xrain
November 15, 2013
I hope to see a GPS test comparison of MT6592 vs. MT6589. But I don’t think the Mediatek fixed the GPS problems
highwind
November 21, 2013
This phone was renamed to THL T100 btw.
Most of the stats from the article are correct, though it will come with a 5.3″ display instead of the annouced 5″
You can read more about it here
http://thlmobilemall.com/blog/category/mtk-eight-core-phones/
Poncan
November 25, 2013
the MK1 has one of the best cameras front and back from chinese brands, the downside of the MK1 is the lack of external storage and average battery cap…
- Poncan
  November 25, 2013
  and these (THL) are premium build phones although the designs are somewhat comparable with the mainstream brands flagships…