Vernee M6 review: super slim, affordable Android for the masses

Vernee is once again “in the house” here in Gizchina HQ and today they decided to send over their slimmest ever Android smartphone and surely one that most of those novices out there will love in an instant.

It’s called Vernee M6 and it’s part of their mid-range portfolio, equipped with an MT6750 processor, an HD display and 4GB of RAM (which is pretty typical for smartphones within this price range).

Since its official launch some weeks ago, the phone has generally been well received, and we believe, pretty much rightly so. It definitely isn’t a phone that will ‘change everything’, but it’s a fairly nice device – the slimmest ever designed by the Chinese company and it surely deserves all the praises for this. Let’s take a deeper look in the Vernee M6 review!

Vernee M6: Technical specs

• Display: 5.7 inch 1440 x 720 pixels IPS screen
  
• Size: 15.40 x 7.32 x 0.69 cm / 6.06 x 2.88 x 0.27 inches
• Weight: 150 gr.
• CPU: MTK6750 Octa Core 1.5GHz
  
• GPU: Mali-T860 MP2
• System: Android 7.0
  
• Storage: 4GB RAM + 64GB ROM
  
• Cameras: 13.0MP ( SW 16.0MP ) back camera and 8.0MP ( SW 13.0MP ) front camera
  
• Battery: 3300 mAh
• Sensors: Ambient Light Sensor, E-compass, Gravity Sensor, Proximity Sensor
  
• Features: GPS, GLONASS, OTG, Audio Jack 3.5mm
  
• Bluetooth: 4.0
  
• SIM Card: dual SIM dual standby, 1 Nano SIM card + 1 Nano SIM card and 1 TF card can be inserted at the same time
  
• Network:
• SIM 1: GSM B2/B3/B5/B8 – WCDMA B1/B5/B8 – CDMA BC0 – FDD-LTE B1/B3/B5/B7/B8/B19/B20 – TDD-LTE B38/40
  
• SIM 2: GSM B2/B3/B5/B8 – WCDMA B1/B5/B8

Vernee M6 Review: Design & Build

Right off the bat, the Vernee M6 will remind you of at least 5-6 other typical mid-range models in the market, just pick one, they’re all the same to me. The only real noticeable feature however is the total absence of a front facing fingerprint scanner, something that adds a lot of points to its general design score, leaving a lot of space for its 5.7 inch HD+ display to show off a bit.

At around the $150 mark ($149 while writing this review), the Vernee M6 isn’t the cheapest Chinese device, but I guess that it does the job. While the Chinese are getting to a point where they almost get the hardware right (full display, 4G/LTE, dual SIM, 4GB RAM, etc.), there’s definitely still a void to fill when it’s software we’re talking about. More on that later.

Combined with a metal finish and an elegantly designed body (that is prone to smudges on the back side however), the Vernee M6 is definitely a treat to the eyes. What it could’ve done with, as mentioned, is a bit of heft to it.

One gripe with the build I have is that the bezels on top and above the display are not as tiny as one would like to believe, or as they’re shown in some promo photos. They’re not huge, don’t get me wrong, but I guess that’s the price to pay (plus 149$) to get a budget, full display smartphone with a mere 6.9mm of thickness.

Also, the SIM and microSD trays seem shaky. At first I thought they hadn’t fit in place well enough, but despite ensuring that they had, the wobble in the trays remained. Perhaps something Vernee could take care of in their future models.

While Vernee as a brand is more or less new in the market, I’m pretty sure they have faces on their team that have been around for a while… which makes mistakes like these a little irritating.

The glass on top of the 2.5D display seems to (thankfully) feature some kind of oleophobic coating, so you won’t be seeing a lot of smudges there while in everyday use, something that I really liked during my days with this device in my hands. 

Despite its metal finish, the rear of the phone does feel like plastic at times (especially when you’re taking the phone in your hands for the first time), but I can confirm it’s metal. Vernee probably could work on this a bit more as well, i.e., on giving the metal a more ‘metallic’ feel.

Vernee M6 Review: Hardware & Performance

Given the kind of pedigree the phone had (courtesy MTK6750 SoC), I was expecting to see a semi-average, typical performance. Yes, it performed exactly as one would expect, with this well known – and heavily used- chipset by Mediatek. Decent performance in everyday use, it will get the job done for everyday chores, some social media, Emails, a bit of Skype, Chrome for browsing etc, but don’t expect anything more.

So you won’t get performance-hungry gaming titles, no super swift everyday response for proffesional, heavy duty users etc. It’s a typical mid-ranger device, priced at 149,99$ – that’s all. You get the point, don’t you?

While the OS is pretty much vanilla Android, there’s still a few glitches here and there. As I write this review, I’ve been notified of another OTA which will hopefully make things better.

Performance wise, the M6 is right up there with the likes of other MT6750 phones. In fact it’s pretty zippy thanks to the lightweight OS (unless it’s having a RAM issue). I’ve managed to run quite a few apps all at the same time without having any caching issues. I’d go as far as to say that you really don’t need 6GB of RAM at this point in time if your 4GB RAM is accompanied by decent software.

All in all, I’d give the M6 a 7.5/10 for it’s performance. Good thing here is that there’s still scope for it to get to 8-8.5 with improved software!!

Moving on to the hardware, it’s been a mixed bag of sorts. The display is a HD+ IPS unit — at 1440 x 720 pixels resolution and yes, I know some of you would prefer a FHD+ panel, but guys, the chipset won’t manage, come on. The display all in all, packs a nice and bright panel with some amazing back light consistency – no light bleeding whatsoever. Well done here Vernee!

The sound is.. not what I expected. Both the earpiece and the built-in loudspeaker offer average performance. While the earpiece is still doable, the loudspeaker offers poor sound with virtually no bass, a bit lower volume than expected but if you turn off the sound enhancer settings this helps a lot!

The Vernee M6 has a non-removable Li-Po battery which has no fast charging feature. These days people prefer purchasing fast charging battery smartphones, so take into account that this smartphone needs almost 2.5 hours to charge completely. As for its battery life while in typical usage, I’ve constantly managed to get over 4,5 hours of screen on time (4-5 hours on an average) when mostly on WiFi, and around the 5 hours mark when on 3G/4G. While this is good, it could get better, especially considering the battery size of 3300mAh.

As I mentioned before, the fingerprint scanner of the device is positioned at the back, just below the main camera. It is not one of the fastest in the market, but it surely gets the job done, offering 0,1 seconds of recognition time, with an average of 95% success rate while in everyday use. Typical stuff there too, don’t expect anything else.

Vernee M6 Review: Camera

Despite the lack of features and a poor HDR mode, the Vernee M6 can take some decent photos. The 16MP camera sensor (13MP in fact, and uses interpolation) is definitely potent enough to take some breathtaking shots I’m sure, but again that’s bottle-necked by the software running on the phone. It’s sad to notice that there’s no manual mode on the camera app, somethin2121g the M6 definitely deserves.

The camera focuses fast, and thanks to its RAM/SoC combination, saving clicked photos is extremely fast also. As you’d expect, the shutter tends to remain open for a little while longer in low-light situations, which means you’ll often end up with blurred photos. This, in turn, will make you miss OIS. There’s an ‘anti shake’ mode in the settings that you can turn on (probably something based on EIS), but it doesn’t work all that well anyway.

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The device also features a single LED flash, 0.2-second fast focus and f/2.0 aperture. And there’s a selfie camera placed in front, packing an 8MP sensor (13MP with interpolation) with beauty mode and facial recognition.

As for video, there’s no 4K video support, just full HD (1080p) at less than 30fps.

Vernee M6 Review: Conclusion

The Vernee M6 is definitely a phone that breaks away from the norm, and tried to go the extra mile, providing an exceptional everyday “grip” with its 6.9mm of thickness – it’s really slim, you’re gonna love it- along with typical performance and an average battery life.

Make no mistake, for around the $150 mark, the M6 is still perhaps one of the best spec’d phones out there. I suggest that you do have a look at it, before you decide what to buy, especially if you’re a fan of super slim, affordable 4G/Dual SIM Android smartphones with decent imaging specs.