With all the excitement of the Ulefone Be Touch (and Be Touch 2) plus the Elephone P7000, the Mlais M7 has been a little overshadowed, but now it’s here on my desk I think it deserves a little more attention.
After the success (and early issues) with the Mlais M52, Mlais have struggled to gain the same type of traction as other phone makers. They generally launch phones a little slower, and they don’t have one new phone coming directly after the other. In fact we knew exactly what Mlais had planned for the first half of the year months ago, and that perhaps is why the buzz has gone away so quickly.
Mlais M7 hands on and first impressions
The Mlais M7 comes in same light blue box as the M52 with just a USB and EU charger. The model we received is the black phone, but there is also a white model too.
When you get in to the packaging and get the Mlais M7 in your hand you can have a good look around the phone, it may surprise you. First up with a 5.5-inch 720p display the M7 has similar screen specs to the Ulefone Be Touch, and the same size panel as the Elephone P7000, however there is one major difference. Where as both the P7000 and Be Touch are quite large phones (bezels on the P700o and home button on the Be Touch), the Mlais M7 is very compact in comparison. It is both narrower and shorter than the phones by quite a margin, and this makes it more comfortable in the pocket and easy to handle when in use.
Now that your attention is diverted to the design lets move on to the chassis shall we. We have already seen that the Elephone P7000’s ‘alloy chassis’ is merely for looks, but Mlais look to have genuinely made a solid metal chassis with some nice touches to boot. The metal frame is anodised black with the edges beveled and polished for a nice bright contrast. This design is carried over to the power and volume rocker. A neat and classy look.
As I have mentioned the P7000, I will also point out that Yes I have tried to bend the Mlais M7, and while with enough pressure it does flex it also springs back to its original shape again rather than doing an impression of a banana.
On the rear of the phone is a removable cover for access to the dual SIM slots, micro SD slot and removable 2600mAh battery. 2600mAh is unusually small for a 3GB RAM, MT6752 phone, but it is slightly bigger than the battery in the Ulefone Be Touch and we will see how it lasts while we give it a going over.
While we are talking about specifications the M7 also has 16GB internal memory, a 13 mega-pixel IMX135 main camera, 5 mega-pixel front camera, 4G LTE, Android 5.0 and a fingerprint scanner on the rear. The scanner on the Mlais M7 is similar to that on the P7000 so you will need to still press the power button to wake the phone up before the fingerprint read jumps in to action.
In my short time with the M7 I have ran Antutu on the phone (which caused a little more heat than I had hoped) and managed a score of 44,894. The Lollipop system hasn’t caused any issues thus far, and audio isn’t bad if you don’t mind a lack of bass for clarity (regarding the external speaker).
Video: Mlais M7 hands on and first impressions
Mlais M7 hands on photos
The Mlais M7 has a really impressive build and if I had to rank it against the Be Touch and Elephone P7000 based on my short hands on I would say it sits below the Ulefone but above the Elephone.
Full review of the Mlais M7 next week. Keep posted for more.
I hope it’ll come with a normal ROM support
Hopefully it just a good solid runner. Like any good phone should be.