UMi Iron Pro Review


umi iron pro review

UMi updated their original UMi Iron to pro spec with the UMi Iron Pro, so does this latest version of the phone fulfill in it’s promises, features and hardware?

The original UMi Iron launched earlier this year and was the first 5.5-inch FHD phone from UMi to get the all alloy treatment, it also promised a bunch of health features, security features and audio enhanements but didn’t quite meed expectations. Does the new updated UMi Iron Pro build on where the old model fell short? Find out in our full UMi Iron Pro review.

Umi Iron Pro Review – Design

If you ever saw or got your hands on the original UMi Iron then the design of the UMi Iron Pro will come as no surprise. Physically the only changes between the original and the UMi Iron Pro is the inclusion of a single touch fingerprint scanner on the rear. The addition of the fingerprint scanner means the phone has 3 biometric security options (more on this below), and the inclusion of a type C USB.

For those of you who are new to the UMi Iron and the UMi Iron Pro, here is a brief run down of the design.

umi iron pro review

From the front the phone has a 5.5-inch FHD display with slim black bezels around the screen that run all the way to the very edges of the phone. This gives the impression of a bezel-less design and we have seen this design style in a large majority of 2015 Chinese phones. For the UMi Iron Pro the black bezels are around 3mm thick all around the panel, so smaller than some phones.

umi iron pro review

Above the display we find an 8 mega-pixel camera, with single LED flash. The front camera can be used to set up an eye print unlock features, and to the left there is a sensor for taking your pulse for the Uhealth app.

umi iron pro review

Beneath the display is a silver chin with small LED light bar which is used to notify you of calls, battery and charge status. As you can see there are no capacitive buttons on the phone so we rely on on-screen controls for navigating through Android.

umi iron pro review

The sides and rear of the phone are made in to 3 pieces. There are plastic caps at the top and bottom with an alloy panel taking up the middle section. These plastic areas are used to prevent interference with the antennas. It’s nice to see that the fit between the panels is better on the Iron Pro, but it’s still not up to the level of other Chinese phone makers.

umi iron pro review

The sides of the phone taper in slightly towards the display meaning that the rear of the phone is slightly wider than the front. Along the left we find the power button and volume rocker, and on the right a SIM tray. 3 cross head screws attach the panel to the phone. The top of the phone has the 3.5mm headphone jack, while the base has a Type C USB.

umi iron pro review

On the rear, starting at the top, we find a 13 mega-pixel main camera with dual tone, dual LED flash. Then the single touch fingerprint scanner, UMi logo, Iron Pro name and finally a single speaker hole.

UMi Iron Pro Review – Hardware

umi iron pro review

That 5.5-inch FHD display is actually rather nice. The OGS panel offers good viewing at all angles and brightness isn’t bad. No issues with the display really, but if you compare it too other UMi phones, the UMi Emax Mini for example, it isn’t as vibrant.

umi iron pro review

Above the display is that pulse monitor. When I had the original UMi Iron I could never get this feature to work, but on the Iron Pro it works right out of the box. Just how accurate or useful it is is another question. With wearables being so cheap (like the Mi Band) it seems a little unnecessary to have this feature built-in to the phone.

Moving across the top is the front facing camera 8 mega-pixel camera which also double tasks as an Eyeprint ID feature. From the security settings you can chose Eyeprint ID Unlock where you will be guided through the set up process. It takes a minute or so for the phone to register your eyes and once set up the Iron Pro can then unlock after a scan. In theory it is a cool feature, but in practice it is very slow and takes about 20-30 seconds to decide if you are allowed to open the phone or not.

If you have the eye scan feature on then the fingerprint scanner won’t be active, you will also have to swipe the display to get the eye scanner to kick in. I also tried the scanner with my wife and children to see if it would unlock for them, but the Iron Pro stayed securely locked.

umi iron pro review

The fingerprint scanner is good, again it isn’t fast to set up, but once set up it reads and unlocks accurately and is quick, not fast but fast enough. It’s a one touch feature meaning that even if the phone is asleep you don’t need to first wake the phone before scanning.

umi iron pro review

The final security feature is the voice unlock feature, again once you have it set up (with a 3-6 syllable phrase or word) you must swipe the display to get the microphone to start listening and then you speak your phrase. You might think speaking a password in to your phone seems like a dumb idea, but even if someone hears you they would need to have a similar voice to you for it to register with the phone (I tested it).

Along the bottom of the phone is the notification beam, this is an RGB item so you can choose different colours for missed calls and missed app notifications, for charging and a low battery though you can only have the default Red light, or choose to turn it off.

As I already mentioned the UMi Iron Pro and UMi Iron are almost identical except the fingerprint scanner and the Type C USB. For the Iron Pro Type C really doesn’t add any benefit to the phone other than you can use the plug either way round. More expensive phones also feature faster data transfer etc.

umi iron pro review

Other hardware details are all under the hood and include a Mediatek MT6752 1.3Ghz octacore processor, 3GB RAM, 16GB internal memory, 3100mAh battery, and a SIM tray that will accept either dual SIM cards or a SIM and SD card.

umi iron pro review

UMi also include Vipor for Android on the UMi Iron Pro. This app is designed to improve the audio performance of the phone and which it does but there is a hardware issue with the phone that makes the the sound pop and crackle when using the Pro with earphones. This issue was present with the original UMi Iron, so it’s a shame that it hasn’t been fixed on the updated handset.

UMi Iron Pro Review – Performance

UMi Iron Pro Review – Camera

The 13 mega-pixel rear camera is a Sony IMX214 sensor, that’s a solid camera and we have seen what it is capable of on numerous other phones. Compared to other IMX214 phones the performance is a little behind and generally images look a little dull.

There are much worse cameras on phones, but I was hoping for a little more from the 2nd generation UMi Iron.

UMi Iron Pro Review – UMi Rom

umi iron pro reviewThe ROM on the UMi Iron is one of UMi’s own, so its the same as the UMi Fair, but different to the ROM on the eMax Mini. The system itself is based on Android 5.1 Lollipop with some changes thrown in to the app icons, and the settings (the additions for security and the LED notification beam).

I’ve experienced issues turning the phone on, sometimes it simply stalls at the UMi logo at boot up (switching it on and off fixes it). So far I haven’t had an update for the phone, but it doesn’t look like the Iron Pro supports OTA updates and you will have to use the Rootjoy app.

UMi Iron Pro Review – Hands on video

UMi Iron Pro Review – Gallery

UMi Iron Pro Review – Conclusion

Compared to the UMi Iron the Pro adds a fingerprint scanner, Type C USB and a working pulse reader, but the rest of the phone (including the issues with the audio) is all the same.

umi iron pro review

UMi will sell the UMi Iron Pro for around $169 (we think) at that price you could buy the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 which has a more powerful Helio X10 chipset, PDAF rear camera and guaranteed MIUI updates, on the other hand the Iron Pro has a metal body and fingerprint scanner.

However if a metal body, fingerprint scanner, and health apps are important to you then check out the UMi Iron Pro, but keep an eye on the updates to see if the camera gets sorted.

 

Disclaimer: We may be compensated by some of the companies whose products we talk about, but our articles and reviews are always our honest opinions. For more details, you can check out our editorial guidelines and learn about how we use affiliate links.

Previous Xiaomi Redmi Note Prime: Full Specifications, Pictures
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43 Comments

  1. mf1gt3r
    December 14, 2015

    Performed as expected. Umi needs to up their game.

  2. martin95
    December 14, 2015

    I would not buy tumi phone, because it is always virtual buttons, occupy screen display area is umi not understand why there is such a design.

    • Dante
      December 14, 2015

      Yeha umi Is bad BUT STOP ULEFONE NAKING FAKE COMMENTS OR IM GOING TO FIST YOU THROUGH THE FKIN SCREEN

      • balcobomber25
        December 15, 2015

        It’s not that serious…..

        • Dante
          December 15, 2015

          still people sometimes blindly follow stupid reviews and fake comments so for someone it moght be a problem if he might be encouraged to buy a phone from a fake comment

          • balcobomber25
            December 15, 2015

            If people are buying phones based solely on comments they have bigger problems than we can help them with.

      • martin95
        December 18, 2015

        You have a very pulled in English.

        • Dante
          December 19, 2015

          “You have a very pulled in English.” Nailed it , graramrmemre ovr 9 tausend , i wunder if ur name is martin but not mar jue tzin nay ti fye

        • Dante
          December 19, 2015

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt5tRaV3iY0 tell me what do you think
          (im 100% sure youll just pop)

  3. afghanPower
    December 14, 2015

    A better phone with a better price: Redmi Note 2 / Meizu M2 Note
    A better phone with metal unibody that’s $10 more: Redmi Note 3

    • martin95
      December 14, 2015

      ulefone Be Touch 3 nice phone!

      • martin95
        December 14, 2015

        If it’s price is $169.99

      • Dante
        December 14, 2015

        fkin fake comments im sick of ulefone employees hatin on umi ele and doogee I killed the doogee commenters and im gonna kill you too

        • martin95
          December 18, 2015

          You can kill the whole world, you are the person cow B.

          • Dante
            December 19, 2015

            sure i guess i am the person … cow … B? what are you talking about mate , did the ulefone boss try to send a ” trooper “to finish me with ” smart” remarks , lol even if he would have a army of english speaking worker class employees , ( which im sure he doesn because i think there are more people at ulefone that know more russian than english ) it wont help , i am indestructible , truth is indestructible , and the truth is that a lot of ulefone,doogee , elephone , umi phones suck , realising 3 be touch models in less than 6 months just for android updates and a higher res screen is not a valid reason for calling it 2 or 3 , im sure that after this you will finally shut up , or your weak ass weibo translator will overload and blow half of the ulefone building

          • Dante
            December 20, 2015

            still no response , as i expected

  4. NO.5
    December 14, 2015

    So, crap camera, rough craftsmanship, and boring design is all what i will get for the price. I almost have been cheated by their fake price to buy one. And i’ve made my mind to get a Ulefone Paris, which should be for better in every aspect. Most importantly, UMI never has software support, while Ulefone Paris has 4 updates so far.

    • Dante
      December 14, 2015

      Im really thinking about you as a Ulefone employee so beware , Ulefone made 2 fkin phones which they couldnt update to 5.1.1. and they made the 3 rd one , its like samsung made galaxy s6 galaxy s7 and s8 in a year just to make minor updates in android

    • Tal Bar
      December 19, 2015

      I bought Be touch 2 and return it to the seller. Crap phone, bad wifi, the screen got white dots after one week and no support from company. And what more important – their lies about the android version. They sold it with android 5.1, but physically it was 5.0 with build prop changed. Crap phone, crap company either..

  5. Nilzie
    December 14, 2015

    Who in their right mind would buy this instead of say, redmi note 3 or letv 1?

    • balcobomber25
      December 14, 2015

      Someone who doesn’t like Xiaomi or LeTV?

      • Nilzie
        December 14, 2015

        You mean fanboys? Ok I got my answer

        • balcobomber25
          December 14, 2015

          I mean the opposite of fanboys. A lot of people don’t like Xiaomi for various reasons and LeTV is still relatively new whereas UMI has been around for awhile. Everyone has different views and opinions when it comes to phones.

          • Nilzie
            December 14, 2015

            So wait… does this sound like something of an opposite of a fanboy would do? Buy a phone with inferior specs, components and build quality for the same money. and on top of that UMI has a horrible reputation for Android updates.

            Does this sound like something a fanboy or non fanboy would do? I dont see “I dont like company X” as a valid argument.

            • balcobomber25
              December 14, 2015

              Why don’t you see it as a valid argument? Are people not allowed to have an opinion? I know a lot of people that don’t like MIUI or don’t like the way Xiaomi does things. I don’t like Apple, they have superior hardware to most phones. I also don’t like Samsung phones and I would buy a cheaper Chinese phone with less specs than buy a Samsung. It’s part of being a consumer. Specs don’t matter as much as you think they do to everyone, to you they do.

              The components aren’t any more or less inferior. All of these companies buy their components from the same distributors. They all use Sharp, JDI or LG etc. displays. They all use Sony or Omnivision cameras. They all use Mediatek or Qualcomm SoC’s, modems and controllers. As for build quality I have used a few Umi’s and they were very good build quality.

              And just so you’re aware this comment is written by one of Xiaomi’s biggest fanboys. But I can also realize Xioami isn’t for everyone and personally I don’t like LeTV.

      • Mesterio
        December 15, 2015

        Nothing to do with the tread but LeTV 1 or 1s?

        • balcobomber25
          December 15, 2015

          No clue don’t like the brand so couldn’t tell you which is better. Andi would be best to answer that.

  6. Dante
    December 14, 2015

    wowowwoowow Mtk 675..2 Yeahfufujsdhdjsidhjdjssbgodyeah this is a pretty nice phone , what about the audio?

  7. Muhammad Yasir
    December 14, 2015

    disappointing again … don’t you learn from your previous mistakes on the SAME DAMN HANDSET ?!

    wth is wrong umi :/ !

  8. yalok
    December 14, 2015

    Feels very cheap to behold. The metal feels like plastic and it’s very light. I didn’t like the build quality at all. Mix this with bad ROM support and your unsatisfaction is guaranteed.

    • balcobomber25
      December 15, 2015

      The bad ROM support is easy to get around on an Umi thanks to the excellent rootjoy app.

      • yalok
        December 16, 2015

        An app may make your life easier, but it will never replace an “army” of developers and testers that big companies have for their ROM support. Maybe I’m too harsh about umi and the like, but for me the difference is huge.

        • balcobomber25
          December 18, 2015

          Rootjoy isn’t an app. It’s software for your computer that allows you to hook up an UMI phone and easily replace the ROM. The ROM support from the community is 10x what is from any company, except maybe Xiaomi.

          • yalok
            December 18, 2015

            So an app is not software for computer?

            • balcobomber25
              December 18, 2015

              Sure it is but In this world the word “app” is used to describe software for a cell phone. Rootjoy is for the computer. It’s how we distinguish the two from one another. Example Chrome for Android is an App, Chrome for Windows is software. Glad I could clear up the confusion for you.

            • yalok
              December 18, 2015

              Thanks, now I can pretend better that I’m from the same “World”.

            • balcobomber25
              December 18, 2015

              Or we can just move on from this. Up to you.

  9. Marlon
    December 14, 2015

    Black Boarders..the reason I hang on to my OPO in 2015

  10. Mesterio
    December 15, 2015

    Fail!

  11. Tal Bar
    December 19, 2015

    Missing physical buttons.
    Ugly screws on metal sides
    Ugly plastic parts are bigger than metal body(no good build quality)
    No 2.5 curved edges of screen
    I’m not think about somebody who will go to purchase just this phone, if metal design is important, for similar price can get Redmi Note 3, Meizu Metal etc…
    I ordered LeTV x600 for 170$ – it’s not metal body, but looks much good quality phone.

  12. Arménio Roca
    February 18, 2016

    well… for the price is ” a topo de gama ” (portuguese) kkk… very happy for the choice ,há atuntu scores 39 481… amizing …

  13. Kashan Ali
    June 27, 2016

    Bluboo Maya are getting prepare to bang out the chinese market

    With $69.99 pre-sale price the Bluboo Maya will be came out with 2 GB of super RAM into the markets Get Ready for it!

  14. Ahmed Shahzad
    July 10, 2016

    Umi Iron pro was my last smartphone,I had a nice experience 😉
    But i already have bought a Maya at $69.99, and get notification that the order can be shipped on today July 10th.