The UMi Iron is a daring move for UMi. A device with good hardware and tons of added features, but have the phone maker managed to pull it off? Find our what we think in our UMi Iron hands on and first impressions.
UMi have taken a different approach with the UMi Iron. They have kept the hardware to the same level as their rivals, but really focussed on adding edition functions and features often overlooked by competitors.
Looking at just the hardware nothing really takes us by surprise on the UMi Iron. This actually really good news, as not one element of the hardware line up gives us cause for concern. Up front is a 5.5-inch 1920 x 1080 display, Mediatek provide an eight core MT6753 chipset and with 3GB RAM on board and a mostly stock Android 5.1 Lollipop install you shouldn’t need to worry about the performance.
Sony has been asked to supply the 13 mega-pixel IMX214 main camera, one of the most popular and better performing 13 mega-pixel sensors on the market! Even the front camera is an impressive 8 mega-pixels. 8 mega-pixels up front is good for selfies, but it also means the camera is accurate enough to offer a retina scan feature for security (a feature coming in an OTA next week).
Internal storage is 16GB which is a good start, and thankfully there is room for a micro SD card so you can add to it if needed. LTE support, GPS, WIFI, Bluetooth are all there, even the battery is an impressive 3350mAh unit.
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The whole kit and caboodle is housed in a metal body, with the upper and lower areas of the rear made of plastic to prevent interference with the antennas. It’s all well thought out stuff and looks promising from the start.
If UMi had just left the specs at that then it would all sound really good value for just $179.99, but there is even more. An update brings with it an RGB notification beam at the base of the phone plus a heart rate monitor. A future update will bring the above mentioned retina scanner and also a UV scanner too! Oh, that’s not to mention the advanced audio HIFI brought to the phone via a Texas instruments chip.
UMi Iron Hands on and first impressions
The UMi Iron has a great package, some really neat features and the promise of OTA updates that are scheduled for later this month. This is all a very ambitious challenge for UMi, but if they can make it all happen and work as we hope they could be on to a real winner.
So far the features of the phone do impress us, as do the OTA features. The alloy body is a nice touch, but there is a bit of an alignment issue with our early production model between the alloy panel and plastic on the back.
The phone is fast, feature packed, easy to manage with one hand (even with a 5.5-inch display) and really very affordable! I am currently running the update for the UMi Iron to test the heart rate sensor and the LED notification and will perform a full review once we have fully tested the phone with the next OTA scheduled for 6th July.
[ UMi ]
Ugly black frames in bazels. No capasitive buttons. Oh no, thanks!
That is your opinion you know? I actually hate capacitive buttons and think that you need then only for budget phones and the black bezels arent such a big deal
If you hate capacitive buttons then you hate pretty much all phones on earth because on-screen buttons are rare. Very uncomfortable, and using screen space. This is a no- goer for me.
On screen buttons ? Horror ! I was considering the purchase of that phone until I read your post. Than you. I have bought once such a phone ( iOcean Rock) and I will never again. Just a real pain. And a lie about the real usable screen size, since screen real estate is used by the buttons.
I really want this phone but such a shame they are not supporting 4G at 800hz (Band 20) as this is very common in the UK. I think I’ll be going for the Ulefone Be Touch 2 instead. Shame.
Ulefone Be Touch 2 is the right phone I have been waiting for a long time, but unfortunately I realized that it does not have notification led. That made me very disappointed, because everything else seems to be perfect.
Interesting. I didn’t realize the Be Touch 2 has no notification LED. Mind you, it’s not a key feature for me. Most of the time my phone is in my pocket. It will vibrate to let me know when I need to check it and the lollipop lockscreen notifcations give me a lot more info than an led. Plus, I use a smartwatch so can get quick notifcations that way too.
I agree a bad omission particularly if your with O2 as it will be a problem , EE have access to 1800mhz and 2600Mhz for 4g so the UMI Iron should work well in and around large towns and cities but patchy in the more rural areas
The 1.3GHz is the weak point.
The upper bezel is a a couple of mm taller than the lower bezel and it’s very noticeable.
The LED cut maybe would be cooler if it’s longer and thinner or better hidden, either way it needs to be better.Oppo’s implementation was way cooler.
Oh and they should sell a 3rd version with black front and silver back, no reason to do only white-silver and black-gray. I assume many can’t live with a white front but would love the silver back.
bad , looks great but specs bad , flagship android device need better cpu , 1.3GHz is the best weak point. i am not stupid
This has all the makings of a winner
ikr (im soo excited!)
dont u think its weird that they sell the phone with the retina scanner function for later? i mean its one of the big diferences among the phones in that price range, and they dont put it in there since release?
Like they didnt have time to make it right from the start or am i missing something?
probably couldn’t get it into the first build and didn’t want to delay launch
AND ?
u think its a good strategy ?
Andy: As told earlyer – you need 3 words , not just one word , in order to get the Voice Un-log to work!!
I don’t know when you told me this , but it is 3 syllables. So “unlock please” should work. I have also found “OK, Umi” to work.
Why UMI doesn’t have gsm 850?? I’d buy one, but without that feature I got to step back, because that band is mostly used in my region
So the phone is already hardware enabled for the retina scan now… but it will only be enabled by an OTA update sometime in the future?
MTK6753 1.3GHz???
antutu benchmark???31000+???
And ?
MTK6753 1.3GHz???
antutu benchmark???31000+???
Now if only I could get this at $17.99. But it’s worth it if it really has sensors for blood sugar testing.
Like a hidden needle or something.
Now if only I could get this at $17.99. But it’s worth it if it really has sensors for blood sugar testing.
Like a hidden needle or something.
Does it come rooted andi ?
hey guys, help please.
has telephone any screen protector? (gorilla glass)
no information, donot any screen saver ?
What price will it have? I have a code for the iOcean Rock, should I wait for the Iron?
Anyone has a good advise on this one?
They should have put the 6752 in it instead…
I would have bought one then for the missus.
i thought 6753 should be advanced , but what a pity only 1.3ghz , please come with the flagship version . 1.3ghz is cheating. please clear it is not iphone ios
Possibly a great phone! Looking forward to the full review.
Is the full UMi eMax review still coming?
Does the display have Gorilla glass?
UMI never in the past, seemingly not for IRON too, used/uses gorilla glass
Any news regarding the latest update? Thanks!
Hey, any updates on the OTA update for the UMI Iron ? Waiting for the review!
UMI IRON VS Elephone P8000
Why the MT6753!?!?!?
in the video you say iT has single sim. All specifications say iT is dual sim. What is it? Single would be a real deal breaker.
A metal battery cover does not make this phone have a metal body.
How’s the review coming along? Did the 6 July OTA update add/ fix a lot of features?
will simply wait for the full review
Is the full review still on it’s way or has it been scrapped?
A full review would be great, current phone is on last legs, but won’t pull the trigger on this until the review is out and it’s started shipping (got burnt with the zopo 998 pre order couple of years ago) so how about that full review, better still with the cyanogen Rom 🙂
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Hi. when review?