After using the LeTV Le1S for a few weeks now I have finally finished with it. Here is my full LeTV Le1s review.
When LeTV released the LeTV Le1S they rewrote the rule book. They had already done a stellar job with the original Le1 (review here) and now here they are launching a phone with full metal body, and fingerprint scanner for less money. But did they get it right?
LeTV Le1s Review – Design
When the initial leaks of the LeTV Le1s were first published, everyone at GizChina thought they were fake. If you don’t remember them, well they looked like the rear of a UMi Iron, and we just didn’t think the design fitted in to the current LeTV line up. Well we were wrong and the leaks were correct, but in person it doesn’t look half as bad as we thought it might.
Think of a shrunk down version of the LeTV Le Max and you have a good idea what the LeTV Le1s looks like from the front, but the rear is totally unique to the newcomer. The new full metal construction of the budget phone is certainly better looking that the metal and plastic mix on the original Le1, and the inclusion of the rear facing fingerprint scanner puts the specs on par with what Meizu and Xiaomi are offering.
Instead of running through a general description of the look and feel of the LeTV Le1s I think it is more suitable if I compare old with new.
LeTV Le1S review – Le1s vs Le1
Ever since I got my hands on the Le1s I had the feeling that the phone was long, and if you offer it up to the original Le1 you can see that it is infact a few mm longer than the orignal LeTV phone (LeTV Le1: 147.9 x 73.5 x 9.5 mm, Le1s: 151.1 x 74.2 x 7.5 mm). Normally we see a longer design when a phone maker adds a fingerprint scanner to the chin of a phone, but as the Le1s has its on the rear I’m not sure what the reason behind the longer design is.
Width of both phone is almost identical, but the thicknesses aren’t. The LeTV Le1 has a more pronounced curve to the rear making it a whopping 9.5mm thick, while the newer LeTV Le1s has a flatter rear and thinner 7.5mm design. 2mm doesn’t sound like much, but with both in your hand it is certainly notable.
Differences continue to the base of the phone where the Le1s has larger oval speaker holes for it’s dual speaker set up and the Le1 has simple, small drill holes.
Physical button placement on each phone is different too. The Le1s has both the power button and volume rocker on the right hand side, in addition the notification switch found on the Le1 has been ditched on the newer phone. The last difference is the SIM tray that is on the left of the Le1s and on the right on the Le1.
It’s only slight cosmetic changes that are notable at the top of the Le1S, and the phone has the same 3.5mm headphone jack and IR remote as its older brother.
The rear of each phone is very different with the LeTV Le1S benefitting from a full alloy build, rear fingerprint scanner and also getting a new camera placement. I actually prefer the central camera design of the Le1 in all honesty, and its nicer to have a dual LED flash than the single offering on the Le1S.
So physically there are some huge differences between the two LeTV phones.
LeTV Le1s Review – Hardware
Upfront the display on the LeTV Le1s is a 5.5-inch 1920 x 1080 FHD panel. This is right on par with the competition and very similar to the screen on the Le1. Visually it is wonderful, even going to the LeTV after using the AMOLED panel on the OPX, the LeTV offers equally vibrant colours and impressive dark blacks.
Black bezels around the 5.5-inch panel are the norm for 2015 phones, but it’s almost like LeTV are using them as part of their trademark design. Its fine, but I hope they get thinner on new 2016 devices.
The front of the phone also has touch controls in the gold chin that light up once pressed, and there is a front facing 5 mega-pixel camera.
Under the hood most of the hardware that was found in the Le1 has been passed down to the Le1s. We get an excellent Mediatek Helio X10 chipset, 3GB RAM and 32GB internal memory (there also appear to be some 16GB versions floating about too).
The SIM tray on the left of the phone has space for dual SIM cards and will allow the LetV Le1s to run on 4G LTE networks with bands B1/3/7(1800/2100/2600MHz). The SIM tray does not support micro SD cards (a real bummer).
A fingerprint scanner on the rear of the phone is new for budget LeTV phones. LeTV have given the scanner a mirrored finish so that you could use it as a mirror when taking selfies with the rear camera but I doubt you will ever use it like this. As a security measure though it is amazingly fast and super accurate. There is rarely a time the scanner doesn’t correctly identify me, and unlock speed is almost instant. If you cast you mind back to the camera shootout I performed with the Le1S, OPX and Mi4C, I loved the super fast fingerprint scanner for easy access and wish the other two phones had something similar (if only the same could have been said about the camera).
Inside the new all metal body is a 3000mAh battery which now supports fast charging with the included fast charger. You will be glad it does have faster charging too as battery life from the Le1S is a real disappointment. Even during my camera test when the phone had no SIM (and so no LTE connection) the phone died after a day of use. After a few OTA updates the battery life now has been stretched to a day (just), but then you will need to charge the phone during the night. This might have been ok in the past, but these days my phones (OPX, Mi4C, Le1!!!) all last me well in to the following day.
Gizchina News of the week
Other hardware details are PDAF on the rear camera, but I’ll go in to more detail with that below, USB Type C, and HifI Audio. Hifi Audio on the Le1 really blew me away and audio on the Le1S is really great too, but I’m not really feeling its superb. I don’t know if this is because audio on all phones this year has generally been excellent and I am desensitized, or if the audio on the older phone is slighty better.
LeTV Le1s Review – Performance
Can’t really grumble here. The performance of the LeTV Le1s has been fine for me and feels every bit as fast as the older phone. Updates are frequent too, so we should see speed maintained, and hopefully better battery life.
LeTV Le1s Review – Camera
On the rear of the phone we have a 13 mega-pixel F2.0 camera with PDAF. The position of the camera is new, the lens is smaller and now there is only a single LED flash. On paper though the rear camera should perform well, but what I found was the opposite.
I will be honest when I say that I had high expectations for the Le1s. The camera on the Le1 was stunning for the money, and this year I have tested phones with amazing cameras so I honestly though the Le1S would have one too.
The truth is the camera is a huge let down! I have no idea why LeTV have taken such a huge step back in camera performance but they have. The issue seems to be in the lens as I assume the sensor and software is the same as the Le1. Using the camera in the day is fine, but compared to what the Le1 offered, and phones like the Xiaomi Mi4c can do, the Le1s is well behind the game.
LeTV Le1s Review – EUI ROM
EUI is one of my prefered Android ROMS of the year. I like simple touches like the keypad on the lock screen adjusting position depending on where you swipe it, I like the clean style and I also like the frequent updates.
There is alot of fluff in the ROM though, plenty of apps and services that we can simply not make use of outside of China and I hope an international ROM will be launched either with these parts removed or working.
It’s a young OS too so there are a few bugs now and then, and even if your phone is working well today, it doesn’t mean something won’t break on the next OTA. Thankfully though LeTV are fast with updates and tend to fix things.
It’s also worth noting that I received our review phone from Shop.GizChina.Com who install Google Play services before shipping, so Google is already ready to go once the phone arrived.
LeTV Le1s Review – Video Hands on
LeTV Le1s Review – Gallery
LeTV Le1s Review – Specifications
| Model: | LeTV 1S X500 |
| Sim Card: |
|
| Color: | Silver |
| Capacity | RAM: 3GB
ROM: 32GB |
| Multi-Languages | English,Chinese |
| Chipset | CPU: MediaTek helio X10 MT6795T Octa-core
GPU: PowerVR G6200 Other: USB2.0 Type-C |
| System | EUI 5.5 base on Android Lollipop |
| Screen | Display Size:5.5 inch IPS Screen
Resolution: 1920*1080pixel Technology:403 ppi pixel density |
| Camera | Rear Camera: 13MP camera f/2.0, PDAF
Front Camera: 5MP front camera |
| Network and Wireless Connectivity | 4G: FDD – LTE: B1/3/7(1800/2100/2600MHz) ,
TDD-LTE: B38/39/40/41 3G: WCDMA 850/900/2100MHz , TD-SCDMA: B34/39 2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz WIFI :802.11ac/a/b/g/n 2.4GHz and 5GHz Dual Bands support APT-X Techonology,Wi-Fi hot ,Wi-Fi Display,WLAN direct GPS:GPS/AGPS/GLONASS/Beidou Bluetooth: V4.1 |
| Battery capacity and life | Non-removable 3000mAh lithium-ion battery
Standby Time: About 2~3 days Others: Quick Charge 2.0 |
| Sensor |
fingerprint identification, light sensor, gravity sensor, proximity sensor,Infrared ray remote control,compass
|
| Hi-Fi System | — |
| Multi-media | Video:
H.265(HEVC),H.264,H.263,MPEG-4,MPEG-2,VP9,VP8 MP4,3GP,3GP2,MKV,AVI,ASF,Xvid,FLV,Ts,Webm Audio: AAC/AAC+/eAAC+,MP3,AMR,MIDI,PCM,OGG,FLAC,AC3/EAC3,DTS-HD AAC,MP3,WAV,AMR,FLAC,MIDI,OGG Others:Dolby Audio,DTS Headphone:X™,LeHiFi Technology |
| Size | Dimensions: 151.1*74.2*7.5 mm
Net Weight: 169g |
LeTV Le1s Review – Conclusion
I had high hopes for the LeTV Le1s and this is perhaps why have come away so disappointed. To get things straight this is not a bad phone. It has amazing build, a wonderful display, very good audio, and easily one of the best fingerprint scanners on the market, but it misses the mark in battery and camera performance by quite a way.
If the camera isn’t a concern and you want a powerful phone capable of serious gaming on a budget then the Le1s fits the bill, but then again so does the original Le1 at a lower price and you get a camera too!
If performance, fingerprint scanner and price are your concern then the Redmi Note 3 might be the one to get, and there is also the ZUK Z1 to look at too.
Too bad about the camera and battery life.. Was thinking about buying this for my brother. Would gladly have paid $20 more for a 1mm thicker phone with bigger battery and a better lens. Oh well.
Nice review, but the only photos of the phone’s screen have been shot with a black screen background, so we don’t clearly see the black bezzels. Could you add a photo of the phone screen with a light screen so we can clearly see if this bezzels are a no go ?
Thx !
and my letv 1s has yet to be shipped. kind of sad to hear the camera is a huge letdown.
First of all, nice review! As an owner of the phone (Le1s) I can confirm the battery has got better with the updates, but there’s still MUCH room for improvements. Regarding the camera I hope you you would have reached out to LeTV regarding the camera so these assumptions could be left out of the review. The camera have also got a tiny bit better when in darker environments and I know for a fact that these shots used in the review were taken before the update arrived. I’ve sent LeTV an e-mail regarding the camera, let’s see if I get an answere regarding the assumed lens problem. // Klaus
Yes, nice review so far. Andy, you are still on the Rom 7S, aren’t you? With the update 8S everything gets better, I get around 4 hours of SOT with two working days, at night I use the function that the phone goes off at 11pm and gets on by itself at 6am,a nice feature.
For me it’s not the perfect phone right now, many things are missing like dt2w or use the fingerprint scanner for different apps, but for this price it’s a pretty good phone. Björn
Going to keep using it and will update later in the month with any changes I find 😀
It has a thinner and narrower body than Le1, so being a bit longer is unavoidable to retaining battery capacity. Making it 4mm shorther would have cost some portion of room dedicated to battery. It isn’t really long, Le1 had one of the best screen to body ratio on the market. Comparing to it every 5.5 incher except LG G3 is longer.
Black borders doesn’t hide large bezels I think. It one of the narrowest 5.5 inchers on the market.
Camera performance isn’t bad for the class. That’s norm for the ~1000 yuan phablets. Same results with the Redmi Note 2.
Visually wonderful display, great audio, great design and metal build, powerful hardware, amazingly fast and super accurate fingerprint scanner, but mediocre battery life and camera performance which both is norm for the class.
Comparing those budget phablets to ~35% more expensive phones and finding out some drawbacks is quite normal.
To people who are looking to saving some money, those drawbacks might be a real concern, but to people who can’t afford more than that price it offers a lot of bonus with some average qualities.
battery and camera are big deal for most of the customers.
thankfully there are quite few alternatives.
Battery and camera performances of those alternatives about the same slightly more or less.
Check the Redmi Note 2 review. Mediocre camera, mediocre battery life.
Camera performances of Meizu M1 Note and M2 Note is slightly better than Redmi Note 2, but it still is mediocre. Battery life is better, but every other way those are inferior.
If you are expecting better camera performance and battery life including these features you have to pay more significantly. At this price range there are trade offs.
We have yet to see Meizu Metal and Redmi Note 3 reviews, but looking at Meizu M1/M2 Note and Redmi Note 2 we can predict the results. Due to LTPS display Meizu Metal probably gonna have a better life so Redmi Note 3 with larger battery too.
don’t forget the x600
Haha, no. I’ve recently had the chance to use a Le1S, and my current daily driver is a Redmi Note 2. I’d rather take the Redmi Note 2 over the Le1S any day of the week.
1. While the Redmi Note 2 isn’t the best at taking pictures, it’s still a decent shooter that can take very good pictures when you really try. The Le1S’s camera is just dismal, to the point even normal outdoor pictures can have overblown highlights. Both are pretty fast though.
2. The Redmi Note 2’s battery isn’t good on the stock MIUI ROM (custom ROM battery life is fantastic, but more on that later), and I could barely squeeze 4 hours of SoT from it everyday, but that was with LTE constantly turned on and some gaming as well as Youtube streaming. The Le1S is almost on level ground here, if the standby times weren’t as bad as they currently are.
3. The Redmi Note 2 isn’t even in the same price bracket as the Le1S. The Le1S is supposed to be going up against phones like the Mi4C and OnePlus X, not a budget device that costs much less than it. The Redmi Note 3 would be a better comparison, but that thing has a massive 4000mAh battery, demolishing the Le1S’s already poor battery life.
4. Xiaomi have a community on the XDA forums because they release the source code for their phones. The Redmi Note 2’s XDA page is already filled with battery saving kernels and customs ROMs that LeTV simply can’t compete with. The current ROM I run on my Redmi Note 2 is the sMIUI ROM, and with it I can easily get 6 hours of SoT from my phone, even with heavy usage.
The LeTV may the better build and a fingerprint scanner, but the Redmi counters this by having expandable storage, a removable battery, dual sim card slots and a functioning IR blaster. The Le1S simply isn’t worth it to me. This is just my opinion however, so feel free to disagree with me if you want. These are just things that I’ve observed throughout these past few days.
So out of the box Redmi Note 2’s battery life isn’t good. What community did with custom kernels and ROMs good, but not for everyone.
Price of the 32GB Redmi Note 2 is 999 yuan , while 32GB Letv 1s priced 1099 yuan. Sure 16GB Note 2 is even 200 yuan cheaper, but two phone pretty much on the same price range.
OnePlus X and 32GB Mi4c on the 1499 yuan price range. I didn’t made up that ~35% difference.
That would be true if the Redmi Note 3 didn’t exist, since the Redmi Note 3 has the exact same price as the Le1S, making it the true competitor.
As it stands, the Redmi Note 2 is the budget offering, which will be going up against devices like the Meizu M2 Note and the whole shebang of other MTK devices.
The Redmi Note 3 is the MTK mid-ranger, going up against the Meizu Metal and LeTV 1S.
So you know it’s a problem when a device in a lower price bracket is basically equal to your mid-ranger in many ways. Also, out of the box with no updates, the Le1S has worse battery life than the Redmi Note 2.
I already said here on several occasions that Redmi Note 3, Letv 1s and Meizu Metal are direct competitors to each other and Redmi Note 2 for the people who needs replaceable battery and external storage.
I just tried to point out Letv 1s’ price pretty much close to the Redmi Note and not close enough to OPX and Mi4c.
K then.
Well the x500 code explain it a step back
Can someone talk about the security features pls? Applock for instance that’s what I care about to be able to lock my apps camera is not my concern.
Mehn. Am disappointed.
Camera is a letdown for a 2015/16 phone and the Type C is purely cosmetic as it is missing the most important thing for Type C, USB 3.0.
“…the Type C is purely cosmetic as it is missing the most important thing for Type C, USB 3.0” — Actually, they are smart to cut costs by sticking with USB 2.0 and only upgrading the connector to Type-C since it gives consumers the one benefit that matters (reversible connector) and leaves out the benefits that don’t mean much for smartphones with eMMC 5.0 internal storage. Samsung came to their senses and switched back to USB 2.0, and it looks like Letv might be doing the same.
The cost saving is minimal in the grand scheme of things. Reversible isn’t even a real benefit. If you travel and forget or lose your cable, it’s a lot easier to find a normal micro USB than a Type C.
“The cost saving is minimal in the grand scheme of things.” — It’s not just the cost saving at the PCB level; it extends the entire chain, down to the cost of the pack-in cable (USB 3.0 cables are more expensive to make and less reliable than USB 2.0 cables). In any case, my point was that Letv made the right choice to not go with USB 3.0 on a smartphone because it wouldn’t make much sense for them financially, and could also be a short-term annoyance for their consumers as you pointed out (having to bring a Type-C cable or buy an adapter).
“Reversible isn’t even a real benefit.” — It is a real benefit when you are able to plug in the cable without looking. I hardly ever transfer large amounts of data to my phone (only time is when I get a new phone), so I can care less how fast it transfers, but I’m totally stoked that I can plug in a cable in the dark without fiddling and scratching up the area surrounding the USB port, which I’ve already one with my current phone.
I never need to look at my cable to plug it in, it is near automatic after using micro USB for years. I plug my phone every night in the dark without issues and I still use the original USB it came with.
If you don’t look at the cable, how can you tell which direction to plug in the cable? You either have a cable that lets you know which side is “up” by feel alone (like a dimple), or you have a unique set of skills. Being able to plug the cable in either direction may not be a real benefit to you, but I’m sure it’s a welcome addition for many folks.
I have used cell phones for years, it’s nearly automatic plugging my phone in. It’s a daily task I don’t even think of when doing it.
I am quite happy now, I have bought LETV LE1 (X600) during the 11.11 festival at aliexpress. It costed me around 160euros (the 32GB version), and I could even buy it cheaper (150 euros price tag), but I wasn`t so fast. The previous version is cheaper now, has better camera (the X600 has Sony IMX 214, meanwhile the X500 is using the Samsung camera chips, which are usually worse than the SONY chips… TYou can clearly see it whyle checking picture of Redmi Note 2, Redmi metal, or now the pictures taken by the LETV X500, on the other hand Meizu M2 / m2 note is using Samsung Isocell sensor and these Meizu phones are producing really nice pictures).
And I really dont miss the fingeprint. The phone is extremely nice and it will be perfect gift for my girlfriend. So I was able to save some money, and the previous generation is perhaps even better then the new one.
I hope this is better than the original as I persuaded a friend who was in need of a new phone to buy a Chinese one and he got the Le 1 x600. I have to say that the OTA doesn’t work (signature error), the speaker phone doesn’t work (speakers work fine for everything else) and the most amount of bloatware I’ve ever seen on a phone period! What makes it worse is the security on the phone detects malware on some of their own pre-installed apps, asks you to delete them and then reinstalls them, tries to update them agian and the cycle repeats! Wouldn’t touch another of their phones, shame the original review didn’t mention all this bloatware that can’t be removed.
thanks for sharing your experience.
i was tempted by them (even with their TV) but i can’t really stand bloatware.
Don’t be tempted! I very nearly bought the letv max but so glad I didn’t now.
every chinese ROM is loaded with bloatware, even Lenovo’s have a shitload of it. Don’t you automatically flash stock ROM on your chinese phones ?
no i don’t. i simply avoid those phones whose ROM is full of bloatware, or uninstall the non needed crap.
keep in mind that not every phone has an unlocked bootloader, not every phone gives you a chance to uninstall their bloatware,not every phone provides stock android alternative.
I also don’t install ported roms (made by who? and what’s inside that anyway?).
i have saw 3 roms of the x600 , when it appeared the dude at my local stock left me to do a fast review for their chinese vid. The Rom was pretty much eh for me because it was chinese only and had some of their exclusive stuff but ut ran smiothly , then a friend of mine ordered one from gearbest ( or another shop dont quite remember) and had an english kind of rom with shtload of bloat, apparently the shop preinstalled it and wanted to send the phone back to tinker with it if we want the “bad international rom ” after the return we persuaded him with paypal because we wanted the money back but he said if we wsited for 1.5 weeks he would send a normal rom phone + tempered glass and piston 3 and gift card , we agreed when the phone arrived the rom was real good , pretty much clean , Some relstive bought one from geekbuying and it was normal too
that was interesting.
thanks for sharing that too
uh ok… i wasn’t aware of that. I just go to XDA when i need a stock ROM, learn “how to” the hard way and install it… so i thought it was as simple as this.
only on supported devices.
It’s trivial to delete the crap. Use Titanium to delete the Chinese apps. Much cleaner.
that’s what i usually do, the problem is that it might not work sometimes and according to Rob this is the case of LeTV
It’s not though. All you have to do is replace the shitty reseller ROM, and it works perfectly.
Replacing with what?
the official one or a third party rom?
either / or :b
When a phone comes from the reseller with an unusable ROM (like Rob’s, or even mine), it’s very likely not how the manufacturer wanted it to be. Resellers tend to jam their phones up to the brim with crapware, which is undoubtedly a dick move. The X600 has a pretty usable stock ROM (there’s a few Letv apps that are not very useful), but also there’s one called BB72, which is basically stock without the clutter. It works like magic.
Moral: don’t let resellers ruin yo phone.
i never keep reseller’s ROM, not even when they work well.
I also don’t install third party ROM ported by who knows who….
I handle sensitive data on it, home banking, credit card so a third party rom made by Igor from awesomerom.ru is not an option to me.
i wanted to know how the official rom is, how easy is to uninstall the bloatware.
I don’t want my phone randomly plays a Chinese song while in a conference for example or to clear default app (like opening a link with Chrome rather than default browser or google play rather than their store)
Weeeeelll, in that case I’m not sure this is the right one for you. I’m pretty sure the stock ROM isn’t “intrusive”, and the bloatware isn’t harmful, it’s just.. there… but I didn’t bother trying to remove it, I just installed the one without. I do know about people living happily with the stock ROM so it can’t be that bad.
i don’t mind bloatware as long as it won’t bother me. I love Miui, and that rom has a lot of Chinese services i can care less, but they don’t bother me that much.
like i said, as long as they don’t interfere with my stuff then I’m OK with it.
*shrug* Works for me. You just need to be careful uninstalling the right apps. I leave the Feedback installed as if some app crashes the phone will reboot without that app.
I’m curious to know why didn’t doesn’t work for Rob.
Rob was talking about one of his friends phone.
he said he was going to buy the Max,but then he changed his mind
same story as @disqus_0lJZ8Bi7SK:disqus here… i’m about to fork it to a BLU PURE XL….
any sugestions??? (its a Gionee elife e8, wich i believe to be decent enough)
I was looking at that for a while but read so much negatives about it I decided against it. Still want a 2k 6″ screen but the x10 just doesn’t have the grunt to run that resolution. I just bought the takee 1 and have to say the screen is awesome and the sound is really good too and for $95 is a bargain, my friend like it so much I bought them one too!
I couldn’t go for something like that but that’s me. Then again I don’t know what you been reading I have been watching a lot of YouTube reviews and they all say the same about it. BARGAIN. then again I was looking to see if you guys have something specific to kill the idea.
It’s all down to the individual I guess. I just couldn’t go for it simply because of the really crap camera, overly saturated AMOLED screen and laggy performance but that’s just me. Unfortunately there isn’t a lot of choice in the 6″+ category at the moment, I’m hoping after xmas there will be some good ones released with all the new chipsets, fingers crossed 🙂
I’m half sure you actually run a resellers’ modified rom!
When i bought my gionee elife e7, i had problems like that too… It had a ton of bloatware, malware, and the program for the ota was removed in order to avoid every possible change to the phone, leaving malwares where they were.
Similar things happens to lenovo’s smartphone and a few other brands.
Try to flash some rom (there are a few with less bloatware perhaps) and then see what happens!
gearbest sometimes install crapware roms
Seem like the ZUK Z1 is the best choice at the moment. In my opinion, Chinese firmwares are choke full of bloats & services that are useless outside China. It worth the extra to go with one that have the option to run cyanogen or cyanogenmod based firmware. Right now that’s the zuk z1. Peace of mind down the line I tell you.
Guys, anyone at all. Letv 1 or 1s? And does the letv feel premium/look premium?
don’t you read the article at all?
Don’t you know any manners?
I read it but…. I need some opinions.
I have the X600 (the 1), and I have to say, even with the shiny plastic back (which feels quite cheap to be honest), whenever I take the phone out of the case, I’m absolutely shocked about how great it feels in the hand. If you’re not a bezel fetishist and you get over that, then it’s a gorgeous piece of tech. I regularly have people asking what the hell it is 😡
Please keep in mind that I don’t have much long term experience with other phones, though I do touch everything I possibly can in larger electronics stores.
To answer your question: it looks premium from all sides, except the back (and even that isn’t all that bad). It definitely feels like a premium device to me (that costs 2-2.5x as much), but then again, my previous phone was very poorly built :p
Too bad about the camera and battery life.. Was thinking about buying this for my brother. Would gladly have paid $20 more for a 1mm thicker phone with bigger battery and a better lens. Oh well.
Nice review, but the only photos of the phone’s screen have been shot with a black screen background, so we don’t clearly see the black bezzels. Could you add a photo of the phone screen with a light screen so we can clearly see if this bezzels are a no go ?
Thx !
and my letv 1s has yet to be shipped. kind of sad to hear the camera is a huge letdown.
First of all, nice review! As an owner of the phone (Le1s) I can confirm the battery has got better with the updates, but there’s still MUCH room for improvements. Regarding the camera I hope you you would have reached out to LeTV regarding the camera so these assumptions could be left out of the review. The camera have also got a tiny bit better when in darker environments and I know for a fact that these shots used in the review were taken before the update arrived. I’ve sent LeTV an e-mail regarding the camera, let’s see if I get an answere regarding the assumed lens problem. // Klaus
Yes, nice review so far. Andy, you are still on the Rom 7S, aren’t you? With the update 8S everything gets better, I get around 4 hours of SOT with two working days, at night I use the function that the phone goes off at 11pm and gets on by itself at 6am,a nice feature.
For me it’s not the perfect phone right now, many things are missing like dt2w or use the fingerprint scanner for different apps, but for this price it’s a pretty good phone. Björn
Going to keep using it and will update later in the month with any changes I find 😀
glad I ordered it for myself and looking forward to receiving it in couple days 🙂
It has a thinner and narrower body than Le1, so being a bit longer is unavoidable to retaining battery capacity. Making it 4mm shorther would have cost some portion of room dedicated to battery. It isn’t really long, Le1 had one of the best screen to body ratio on the market. Comparing to it every 5.5 incher except LG G3 is longer.
Black borders doesn’t hide large bezels I think. It one of the narrowest 5.5 inchers on the market.
Camera performance isn’t bad for the class. That’s norm for the ~1000 yuan phablets. Same results with the Redmi Note 2.
Visually wonderful display, great audio, great design and metal build, powerful hardware, amazingly fast and super accurate fingerprint scanner, but mediocre battery life and camera performance which both is norm for the class.
Comparing those budget phablets to ~35% more expensive phones and finding out some drawbacks is quite normal.
To people who are looking to saving some money, those drawbacks might be a real concern, but to people who can’t afford more than that price it offers a lot of bonus with some average qualities.
battery and camera are big deal for most of the customers.
thankfully there are quite few alternatives.
Battery and camera performances of those alternatives about the same slightly more or less.
Check the Redmi Note 2 review. Mediocre camera, mediocre battery life.
Camera performances of Meizu M1 Note and M2 Note is slightly better than Redmi Note 2, but it still is mediocre. Battery life is better, but every other way those are inferior.
If you are expecting better camera performance and battery life including these features you have to pay more significantly. At this price range there are trade offs.
We have yet to see Meizu Metal and Redmi Note 3 reviews, but looking at Meizu M1/M2 Note and Redmi Note 2 we can predict the results. Due to LTPS display Meizu Metal probably gonna have a better life so Redmi Note 3 with larger battery too.
don’t forget the x600
Haha, no. I’ve recently had the chance to use a Le1S, and my current daily driver is a Redmi Note 2. I’d rather take the Redmi Note 2 over the Le1S any day of the week.
1. While the Redmi Note 2 isn’t the best at taking pictures, it’s still a decent shooter that can take very good pictures when you really try. The Le1S’s camera is just dismal, to the point even normal outdoor pictures can have overblown highlights. Both are pretty fast though.
2. The Redmi Note 2’s battery isn’t good on the stock MIUI ROM (custom ROM battery life is fantastic, but more on that later), and I could barely squeeze 4 hours of SoT from it everyday, but that was with LTE constantly turned on and some gaming as well as Youtube streaming. The Le1S is almost on level ground here, if the standby times weren’t as bad as they currently are. I’ve heard that the Le1S’s battery life has improved though, so I’ll need to check up on that.
3. The Redmi Note 2 isn’t even in the same price bracket as the Le1S. The Le1S is supposed to be going up against phones like the Mi4C and OnePlus X, not a budget device that costs much less than it. The Redmi Note 3 would be a better comparison, but that thing has a massive 4000mAh battery, demolishing the Le1S’s already poor battery life.
4. Xiaomi have a community on the XDA forums because they release the source code for their phones. The Redmi Note 2’s XDA page is already filled with battery saving kernels and customs ROMs that LeTV simply can’t compete with. The current ROM I run on my Redmi Note 2 is the sMIUI ROM, and with it I can easily get 6 hours of SoT from my phone, even with heavy usage.
The LeTV may have the better build and a fingerprint scanner, but the Redmi counters this by having expandable storage, a removable battery, dual sim card slots and a functioning IR blaster. The Le1S simply isn’t worth it to me, at least not yet. Once they’ve ironed out all the kinks and bugs through software updates, it should be a fairly solid offering. Now is simply not that time.
This is just my opinion however, so feel free to disagree with me if you want. These are just things that I’ve observed throughout these past few days.
So out of the box Redmi Note 2’s battery life isn’t good. What community did with custom kernels and ROMs good, but not for everyone.
Price of the 32GB Redmi Note 2 is 999 yuan , while 32GB Letv 1s priced 1099 yuan. Sure 16GB Note 2 is even 200 yuan cheaper, but two phone pretty much on the same price range.
OnePlus X and 32GB Mi4c on the 1499 yuan price range. I didn’t made up that ~35% difference.
That would be true if the Redmi Note 3 didn’t exist, since the Redmi Note 3 has the exact same price as the Le1S, making it the true competitor.
As it stands, the Redmi Note 2 is the budget offering, which will be going up against devices like the Meizu M2 Note and the whole shebang of other MTK devices.
The Redmi Note 3 is the MTK mid-ranger, going up against the Meizu Metal and LeTV 1S.
So you know it’s a problem when a device in a lower price bracket is basically equal to your mid-ranger in many ways. Also, out of the box with no updates, the Le1S has worse battery life than the Redmi Note 2.
I already said here on several occasions that Redmi Note 3, Letv 1s and Meizu Metal are direct competitors to each other and Redmi Note 2 for the people who needs replaceable battery and external storage.
I just tried to point out Letv 1s’ price pretty much close to the Redmi Note and not close enough to OPX and Mi4c.
K then.
Well the x500 code explain it a step back
Can someone talk about the security features pls? Applock for instance that’s what I care about to be able to lock my apps camera is not my concern.
Mehn. Am disappointed.
Any advice on phone with good phone with good camera, 3gb Ram 16/32 Rom with SD. Price b/w $200 = $250
sd card eh… i dont know meizu metal? Xcept only 2 ram.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3
Am I the only one thinking that the design of Le1 is much prettier then the Le1s?
I love goooolllldder.
Same here.
eww .. HORRIBLE cam !
big let down !
Camera is a letdown for a 2015/16 phone and the Type C is purely cosmetic as it is missing the most important thing for Type C, USB 3.0.
“…the Type C is purely cosmetic as it is missing the most important thing for Type C, USB 3.0” — Actually, they are smart to cut costs by sticking with USB 2.0 and only upgrading the connector to Type-C since it gives consumers the one benefit that matters (reversible connector) and leaves out the benefits that don’t mean much for smartphones with eMMC 5.0 internal storage (mainly, transfer speed). Samsung came to their senses and switched back to USB 2.0 , and it looks like Letv might be doing the same.
The cost saving is minimal in the grand scheme of things. Reversible isn’t even a real benefit. If you travel and forget or lose your cable, it’s a lot easier to find a normal micro USB than a Type C.
“The cost saving is minimal in the grand scheme of things.” — It’s not just the cost saving at the PCB level; it extends the entire chain, down to the cost of the pack-in cable (USB 3.0 cables are more expensive to make and less reliable than USB 2.0 cables). In any case, my point was that Letv made the right choice to not go with USB 3.0 on a smartphone because it wouldn’t make much sense for them financially, and could also be a short-term annoyance for their consumers as you pointed out (having to bring a Type-C cable or buy an adapter).
“Reversible isn’t even a real benefit.” — It is a real benefit when you are able to plug in the cable without looking. I hardly ever transfer large amounts of data to my phone (only time is when I get a new phone), so I can care less how fast it transfers, but I’m totally stoked that I can plug in a cable in the dark without fiddling and scratching up the area surrounding the USB port, which I’ve already done with my current phone.
I never need to look at my cable to plug it in, it is near automatic after using micro USB for years. I plug my phone every night in the dark without issues and I still use the original USB it came with.
If you don’t look at the cable, how can you tell which direction to plug in the cable? You either have a cable that lets you know which side is “up” by feel alone (like a dimple), or you have a unique set of skills. Being able to plug the cable in either direction may not be a real benefit to you, but I’m sure it’s a welcome addition for many folks.
I have used cell phones for years, it’s nearly automatic plugging my phone in. It’s a daily task I don’t even think of when doing it.
I am quite happy now, I have bought LETV LE1 (X600) during the 11.11 festival at aliexpress. It costed me around 160euros (the 32GB version), and I could even buy it cheaper (150 euros price tag), but I wasn`t so fast. The previous version is cheaper now, has better camera (the X600 has Sony IMX 214, meanwhile the X500 is using the Samsung camera chips, which are usually worse than the SONY chips… TYou can clearly see it whyle checking picture of Redmi Note 2, Redmi metal, or now the pictures taken by the LETV X500, on the other hand Meizu M2 / m2 note is using Samsung Isocell sensor and these Meizu phones are producing really nice pictures).
And I really dont miss the fingeprint. The phone is extremely nice and it will be perfect gift for my girlfriend. So I was able to save some money, and the previous generation is perhaps even better then the new one.
As a user of the phone, I actually find review a bit outdated. I have the latest official ROM 008s and I have deleted all of the Chinese LETV apps and my battery life quite good, comparable to other phones with the same battery size. It might be possible that Letv own apps are doing something in the background. As for camera, apart from a bit slow auto focus it’s quite decent, again I would say it’s even better than on Jiayu S3 which has imx 214. It might be the case that it was way worse on the previous ROMs
Can you please tell us how to delete chines app. Thnk
Just rooted it and deleted with Root App Delete. You will need new launcher, as the Letv button in the middle will not work anymore
what is a best way to install google play ? I dowloaded it from that chinese app store toghether with google services but still can’t run it only has got a msg “app stopped” any ideas?
Use this guide for google play installation:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q8ZidFOzl-k
I hope this is better than the original as I persuaded a friend who was in need of a new phone to buy a Chinese one and he got the Le 1 x600. I have to say that the OTA doesn’t work (signature error), the speaker phone doesn’t work (speakers work fine for everything else) and the most amount of bloatware I’ve ever seen on a phone period! What makes it worse is the security on the phone detects malware on some of their own pre-installed apps, asks you to delete them and then reinstalls them, tries to update them agian and the cycle repeats! Wouldn’t touch another of their phones, shame the original review didn’t mention all this bloatware that can’t be removed.
thanks for sharing your experience.
i was tempted by them (even with their TV) but i can’t really stand bloatware.
Don’t be tempted! I very nearly bought the letv max but so glad I didn’t now.
same story as @disqus_0lJZ8Bi7SK:disqus here… i’m about to fork it to a BLU PURE XL….
any sugestions??? (its a Gionee elife e8, wich i believe to be decent enough)
I was looking at that for a while but read so much negatives about it I decided against it. Still want a 2k 6″ screen but the x10 just doesn’t have the grunt to run that resolution. I just bought the takee 1 and have to say the screen is awesome and the sound is really good too and for $95 is a bargain, my friend like it so much I bought them one too!
every chinese ROM is loaded with bloatware, even Lenovo’s have a shitload of it. Don’t you automatically flash stock ROM on your chinese phones ?
I’m half sure you actually run a resellers’ modified rom!
When i bought my gionee elife e7, i had problems like that too… It had a ton of bloatware, malware, and the program for the ota was removed in order to avoid every possible change to the phone, leaving malwares where they were.
Similar things happens to lenovo’s smartphone and a few other brands.
Try to flash some rom (there are a few with less bloatware perhaps) and then see what happens!
no i don’t. i simply avoid those phones whose ROM is full of bloatware, or uninstall the non needed crap.
keep in mind that not every phone has an unlocked bootloader, not every phone gives you a chance to uninstall their bloatware,not every phone provides stock android alternative.
I also don’t install ported roms (made by who? and what’s inside that anyway?).
gearbest sometimes install crapware roms
i have saw 3 roms of the x600 , when it appeared the dude at my local stock left me to do a fast review for their chinese vid. The Rom was pretty much eh for me because it was chinese only and had some of their exclusive stuff but ut ran smiothly , then a friend of mine ordered one from gearbest ( or another shop dont quite remember) and had an english kind of rom with shtload of bloat, apparently the shop preinstalled it and wanted to send the phone back to tinker with it if we want the “bad international rom ” after the return we persuaded him with paypal because we wanted the money back but he said if we wsited for 1.5 weeks he would send a normal rom phone + tempered glass and piston 3 and gift card , we agreed when the phone arrived the rom was real good , pretty much clean , Some relstive bought one from geekbuying and it was normal too
that was interesting.
thanks for sharing that too
It’s trivial to delete the crap. Use Titanium to delete the Chinese apps. Much cleaner.
that’s what i usually do, the problem is that it might not work sometimes and according to Rob this is the case of LeTV
I couldn’t go for something like that but that’s me. Then again I don’t know what you been reading I have been watching a lot of YouTube reviews and they all say the same about it. BARGAIN.(remember all the spec’s) then again I was looking to see if you guys have something specific to kill the idea.
It’s all down to the individual I guess. I just couldn’t go for it simply because of the really crap camera, overly saturated AMOLED screen and laggy performance but that’s just me. Unfortunately there isn’t a lot of choice in the 6″+ category at the moment, I’m hoping after xmas there will be some good ones released with all the new chipsets, fingers crossed 🙂
It’s not though. All you have to do is replace the shitty reseller ROM, and it works perfectly.
Replacing with what?
the official one or a third party rom?
either / or :b
When a phone comes from the reseller with an unusable ROM (like Rob’s, or even mine), it’s very likely not how the manufacturer wanted it to be. Resellers tend to jam their phones up to the brim with crapware, which is undoubtedly a dick move. The X600 has a pretty usable stock ROM (there’s a few Letv apps that are not very useful), but also there’s one called BB72, which is basically stock without the clutter. It works like magic.
Moral: don’t let resellers ruin yo phone.
i never keep reseller’s ROM, not even when they work well.
I also don’t install third party ROM ported by who knows who….
I handle sensitive data on it, home banking, credit card so a third party rom made by Igor from awesomerom.ru is not an option to me.
i wanted to know how the official rom is, how easy is to uninstall the bloatware.
I don’t want my phone randomly plays a Chinese song while in a conference for example or to clear default app (like opening a link with Chrome rather than default browser or google play rather than their store)
Weeeeelll, in that case I’m not sure this is the right one for you. I’m pretty sure the stock ROM isn’t “intrusive”, and the bloatware isn’t harmful, it’s just.. there… but I didn’t bother trying to remove it, I just installed the one without. I do know about people living happily with the stock ROM so it can’t be that bad.
i don’t mind bloatware as long as it won’t bother me. I love Miui, and that rom has a lot of Chinese services i can care less, but they don’t bother me that much.
like i said, as long as they don’t interfere with my stuff then I’m OK with it.
*shrug* Works for me. You just need to be careful uninstalling the right apps. I leave the Feedback installed as if some app crashes the phone will reboot without that app.
I’m curious to know why didn’t doesn’t work for Rob.
Rob was talking about one of his friends phone.
he said he was going to buy the Max,but then he changed his mind
uh ok… i wasn’t aware of that. I just go to XDA when i need a stock ROM, learn “how to” the hard way and install it… so i thought it was as simple as this.
only on supported devices.
Seem like the ZUK Z1 is the best choice at the moment. In my opinion, Chinese firmwares are choke full of bloats & services that are useless outside China. It worth the extra to go with one that have the option to run cyanogen or cyanogenmod based firmware. Right now that’s the zuk z1. Peace of mind down the line I tell you.
Guys, anyone at all. Letv 1 or 1s? And does the letv feel premium/look premium?
don’t you read the article at all?
I read it but…. I need some opinions.
I have the X600 (the 1), and I have to say, even with the shiny plastic back (which feels quite cheap to be honest), whenever I take the phone out of the case, I’m absolutely shocked about how great it feels in the hand. If you’re not a bezel fetishist and you get over that, then it’s a gorgeous piece of tech. I regularly have people asking what the hell it is 😡
Please keep in mind that I don’t have much long term experience with other phones, though I do touch everything I possibly can in larger electronics stores.
To answer your question: it looks premium from all sides, except the back (and even that isn’t all that bad). It definitely feels like a premium device to me (that costs 2-2.5x as much), but then again, my previous phone was very poorly built :p
glad I ordered it for myself and looking forward to receiving it in couple days 🙂
Any advice on phone with good phone with good camera, 3gb Ram 16/32 Rom with SD. Price b/w $200 = $250
sd card eh… i dont know meizu metal? Xcept only 2 ram.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is the best choice. If you want a near-stock ROM go for OnePlus One. If you don’t want a phablet, go for Xiaomi MI 4.
Am I the only one thinking that the design of Le1 is much prettier then the Le1s?
I love goooolllldder.
Same here.
eww .. HORRIBLE cam !
big let down !
As a user of the phone, I actually find review a bit outdated. I have the latest official ROM 008s and I have deleted all of the Chinese LETV apps and my battery life quite good, comparable to other phones with the same battery size. It might be possible that Letv own apps are doing something in the background. As for camera, apart from a bit slow auto focus it’s quite decent, again I would say it’s even better than on Jiayu S3 which has imx 214. It might be the case that it was way worse on the previous ROMs
Can you please tell us how to delete chines app. Thnk
Just rooted it and deleted with Root App Delete. You will need new launcher, as the Letv button in the middle will not work anymore
what is a best way to install google play ? I dowloaded it from that chinese app store toghether with google services but still can’t run it only has got a msg “app stopped” any ideas?
Use this guide for google play installation:
Tottaly outdated.
Tottaly outdated.
” I’m not sure what the reason behind the longer design is.”
I am: The measurements of both devices make it clear. The Le1S is thinner, so they had to make it longer and wider to get space for the hardware. The Le1 instead is a bit thicker, which I don’t mind, but can stay more compact in height and width.
” I’m not sure what the reason behind the longer design is.”
I am: The measurements of both devices make it clear. The Le1S is thinner, so they had to make it longer and wider to get space for the hardware. The Le1 instead is a bit thicker, which I don’t mind, but can stay more compact in height and width.
Still no fuckin Ltd Band 20 DEAL BREAKER!
Still no fuckin Ltd Band 20 DEAL BREAKER!
Real shitty camera
The rom is a perfect copy of iOS
Real shitty camera
The rom is a perfect copy of iOS
Lol bought x600 on 11.11 and since now tought i maybe had to pay more for the “better” x500.
The review cleared everything for me!
Now waiting for the xiaomi review!
Lol bought x600 on 11.11 and since now tought i maybe had to pay more for the “better” x500.
The review cleared everything for me! Numbers tell for them self 600>500.
Now waiting for the xiaomi review!
Does it have radio fm? thanks
Does it have radio fm? thanks
Is there any service centre for this company in INDIA???
Is there any service centre for this company in INDIA???
Hey, I have this phone about 3 months and suddely it stopped charging, I’ve tryed to find a way to open it but I can’t find it… Can anybody plz help me??
Hey, I have this phone about 3 months and suddely it stopped charging, I’ve tryed to find a way to open it but I can’t find it… Can anybody plz help me??
Worst phone I’ve ever owned is the Le TV max. It never worked, one day it heated up cooking itself. It wouldn’t turn off. I tried returning it and after 2 months it was returned to me. I tried it again. It arrived loaded with a lot of useless stuff using up memory and RAM. It kept insisting I register it. I tried. Then because Le TV couldn’t text to me in the US a confirmation code for me to insert after registering. The phone was locked. Now it has to go back to China. In less than 4 months it has been returned twice. I have had it 2 weeks. Worse phone ever, don’t buy. $450 to buy $200 shipping. What a waste. I still have no working phone. I’ve had 6 Chinese phones in the past, all good. This is the exception. TERRIBLE.
Worst phone I’ve ever owned is the Le TV max. It never worked, one day it heated up cooking itself. It wouldn’t turn off. I tried returning it and after 2 months it was returned to me. I tried it again. It arrived loaded with a lot of useless stuff using up memory and RAM. It kept insisting I register it. I tried. Then because Le TV couldn’t text to me in the US a confirmation code for me to insert after registering. The phone was locked. Now it has to go back to China. In less than 4 months it has been returned twice. I have had it 2 weeks. Worse phone ever, don’t buy. $450 to buy $200 shipping. What a waste. I still have no working phone. I’ve had 6 Chinese phones in the past, all good. This is the exception. TERRIBLE.