I have just come from the IUNI offices here in Shenzhen where I managed to spends some time with the fantastic IUNI U3 smartphone. Keep reading for my hands on impressions.
In a competitive phone market, such as it is here in China, it is very important that a phone stand out from the competition, even more so when a company is brand new. IUNI are now just 12 months young and after launching their first flagship early this year, the alloy bodied U2, the company have an all new phone poised to go on sale.
The IUNI U3 was officially announced at the end of August and won’t be available for same until later this month, but that hasn’t stopped us from getting an early hands on with the all new flagship smartphone.
Available in white, black and signature green, the IUNI U3 is a phone that feels 3 times its asking price. The earlier hands on photos we had seen from the launch do not do the handset justice, and in the flesh it is a stunningly crafted device.
Tech specs are as good as anything on the market today, well in fact the hardware in the IUNI U3 is about as cutting edge as you can get. Impressive considering the company is so young and the fact the U3 will sell for just 1999 Yuan here in China ($325).
Gizchina News of the week
IUNI U3 hands on photos
Continuing their partnership with Qualcomm, the IUNI U3 has a powerful Snapdragon 801 processor that purrs along at a stonking 2.5Ghz with aid from a full 3GB RAM and a powerful Adreno 330 GPU. All that power is needed to ensure the 2k display, with an incredible 538ppi, can keep up with your gaming antics!
A 3000mAh battery keeps the screen and power going and can be accessed, but not removed, by removing the rear panel. Taking the rear panel off does allow you to insert both your SIMS (yes this is a Snapdragon 801 dual sim phone) and there is space for one LTE and one GSM card under here.
Speaking of the screen, it is a 5.5 inch panel with resolution of 2560 x 1440 from Sharp. Thin bells help keep the width down while a slightly curved taper to the edge of the glass allows your fingers to smoothly slide from edge to edge.
To say I am impressed with the look, feel and build quality of the IUNI U3 is a bit of an understatement. This phone is easily on par with Oppo and Vivo device costing almost double the retail price!
What I didn’t get to try too much during my visit to the IUNI office was the new English version of the IUNI ROM based on Android 4.4.4, and the camera, the front being especially interesting as it’s an ultra-pixel model. Thankfully a review unit of the IUNI U3 is being arranged for me as we speak and we will be able to put this amazing new phone through it’s paces.
I also managed to interview IUNI CEO Frank He today, which I will be writing up in the coming days.
What do you think of the IUNI U3? Let us know in the comments below.
[ IUNI ]
im a buyer if it has lte 800Mhz and (decent) english settings and support.
Me too, In the UK all 4G providers have bought bandwidth in the 800mhz band. The 800mhz frequency will work over longer distances and used for coverage in the non-urban areas of the country. As I live in a non-urban area I will not buy a new phone that does not support LTE 800mhz
*drools*
IUNI sould bring it over to the subcontinent.. it will sell like hotcakes over here
Ruined by that one little thing: no Google services.
Android has great possibilities and You might be able to get them by rooting…:)
nope, google service even run on non-root device.
no google in china phone only a security and trust issue, so chinese phone comes in pre-unintalled
Apparently this can be added by the user. I asked during the meeting and it soulds possible to do.
I wish it comes to India….:D
I want one!!!
English and International bands. Kernel Sources according to GPL. AOSP build for those who don’t like IUNI’s ROM. AND A ROM THAT IS PORTED TO ALL DEVICES EQUALLY,none of that “your phone is old so well give you all the features but not the new android version of the flagship”
Do that and we can be friends IUNI.
my only questions about this phone it’s the english rom cause in terms of hardware it’s what i want on a phone right now
Yup the new ROM now surrports English and Chinese
Andi, please talk to the Chinese vendors and explain them how touch to wake technology is important. tnx.
Just tell them we need cm11 or mokee.
Looking good, too big for me tho
it is actually quite compact feeling
What a steal! I think the OnePlus is now passée.
How about more details on the specs.. does it have IR, FM radio?
Awesome article Andi. Please keep us updated,
Certainly will. I will have a review phone in my hands by the end of the week so you can expect more 😀
Dear @Gizchina:disqus pls review ZTE Nubia Z7 Max asap,I am waiting.Also you knew that it’s confirmed by ZTE that they will indeed launch Nubia Z7 Max model in my India by October,so pls kindly consider doing a review on Nubia Z7 Max Model,will you?
Hey ANDI can you pls send me the sales contact of IUNI? i was looking on their website couldn t find it…
thks
okay thanks for ignoring me
cheers
Ask Mr. He please if they will build a compact version with same specs but 4.7″ display?!
i really like IUNI U3 design & Hardware. Above all its price is simply superb. Just tell me that they have an SD card slot pls. They could have done 1080p model only…. that was more than enough with little more reduction in the price…. then it would have been really the Killer flagship phone Hands Down…..
Even then i am already saving my money to spend on it. Can you do all of us one favour andi ? pls share a link where we can buy it Internationally without worrying about the originality of the product pls…. As so many knock offs are in the Market, it is difficult to get a genuine product at a reasonable price….
Hope you wont mind sharing a link to buy it as soon as it is available for International users…
Oppomart had it listed as “pre-sale” but they have now removed it.
http://www.oppomart.com/phones.html
Liaow.com has it, I got a Meizu from them once. Fairly reliable, but not the cheapest to be honest.
http://liaow.com/iunilist.php
green one looks amazing. do one with a little cheaper mt6595 / fullhd flavour and i’m sold 🙂
Yep the green one is actually my fave too
Agree, and I’m also extremely glad they didn’t make a gold version. It’s just so overused to the point that it’s not even about how good it looks.
Thank god I am going to China this month.. I am getting this phone any how.. I am just worried about the firmware.. I hope I can get to flash clean android to this phone..
Don’t you buy me one too?
Let us know what you think when you get one 😀
Sir,viro smartphone company seems to be a scam.They takedown the FACEBOOK page, TWITTER page, youtube videos WEBSiTE (only the countdown remains hidden at the bottom).. is this fake?
and try to steal money from pre-selling?
look:
http://www.scamadviser.com/che…
it says:
Although this website appears to be based in Denmark there are other countries involved and you should review this information carefully and decide if it is as you expect.This webite is very new , and as such doesn’t have an online reputation yet. As with all new businesses , we suggest that you take care and if necessary get in contact with the owners before placing an order of value.
The website has been newly registered with a short life expectancy, which follows the pattern used by many fraudulent and fake selling websites. Please be vigilant and take extra care before providing any payment information.
really looking forward to this handset, as long as they dont screw over international buyers… hopefully english rom will be good, playstore can be added and 800 and 1800 lte bands will be supported. as the other guys said can you see if you can hook up a gizchina deal for those of us not in china… would be great if we could buy direct from IUNI.
what about SD card why the newest phone dosen’t support SD card
Will probably not be available anywhere other than China for a very, very long time.
You will be able to import one though !
yes for almost double the price and if you ever need to make use of the warranty you are pretty much screwed.
Sadly true. I agree. I’m getting a Xiaomi Mi3 next month, probably keep that for around 12-15 months and then see whats on the market.
Not double if you know where to look, as for warranty it’s like getting the high end phone (which now crazily could cost near $1K off contract) at 1/3 price, some/lots of people are probably happy to concede.
Battery?? Size??
3000mah
The question is how much will it cost to international consumers.
They are not looking to enter the international maket just yet, but the desire is there so we wil have to see.
I have seen in internet that it does not have fm radio.is this true? So sad.otherwise perfect phone.they should bring it to India where it sell like crazy !
Not sure about this will need to check
I have been looking for a new phone to replace my trusted Mi2 and my choice has come down to these: IUMI U3, Xiaomi Mi4, Nubia Z7, Vivo Xshot. Andi, I am really looking forward to your review of the U3. I have already had OnePlus One and I was not impressed by its camera. Also looking at the specs, Meizu MX4’s camera would not be great either.
I thought the MX4 would have the best camera.
In my opinion the Vivo Xshot has the best camera with a large aperture of f/1.8 and optical image stabilization (O.I.S.). Xiaomi Mi4 has f/1.8 but no O.I.S., Nubia Z7 has O.I.S. but smaller aperture of f/2.0. Meizu MX4 has even smaller aperture of f/2.2 and no O.I.S. I was really disappointed when I read the specs.
Maybe there will be a MX4 PRO! 😉
I thought it did have OIS?
the MX4 actually has the OIS feature.
I have not seen O.I.S. listed in any of the specs sheets I have for the MX4. Could you provide me a link?
It’s definitely near the top of my list for second phone / phone to buy / recommend for friends. Be nice to see how the camera goes, it’s not soo cheap. decent feature combination – screen, dual sim.
Look forward to some photo samples, does it have any sound / dac like features.
Andi, Iuni seem to regard gizchina and your readers highly enough to provide you with pre release access and phones, I wonder if next time you speak with iuni could you suggest an international ambassador program? say 50 phones reserved for giz readers, that would be happy to provide feedback and testing on the international version of the rom (as well as pre testing future updates to help the comunity as a whole) and to share their experiences on sites such as gizchina and its associated international sites. I would love to put my name forward if they are prepared to do this.
+1
I am also keen on this idea.if there is a spot available for a Greek beta tester sign me up 😉
Excellent idea. I would love to do a comparison to my Xiami and JiaYu devices.
I’ll certainly suggest something like this to them.
Sounds very promising, when you are able to get your hands on the new english rom, then I will be interested.
How about a video review Andy?
This vs Nubia Z7 Max, go go Andi!
By the way, do they have any plan for bigger storage version Andi? The lack of micro SD support is the only thing disappointing about this phone.
It appears to me that there actually will be an SD card slot..
http://www.pconline.com.cn/images/html/viewpic_pconline.htm?http://img0.pconline.com.cn/pconline/1408/26/5308296_20.jpg&channel=166
look at the top of the phone…
Oh crap, if this is true then it’s pretty much the perfect flagship killer phone. Though it’s strange that they don’t list it on their device spec on the official IUNI site.
Andi can you please check this out when you got your review unit?
There is no SD card. I bought one.
how does it compare to the mi4? had the white one for some time and it felt rather great.
The U3 is only for Chinesse market – NOT for international market
Then why do they even bother making english ROM?
I got confused by now. So what is this wcdma 900 stands for? Isn’t that for European 3G? Will this IUNI U3 work in Hungary for example? Thanks
There is nowhere mentioned if the IUNI has wcdma 800/900/2100 and fdd-lte or supports only td-scdma and td-lte protocol??
If there’s option of vanilla android or cyanogenmod instead of iuni os for market outside China, I would definitely buy it.
It’s amazing how far the Chinese brands have come along in such a short time. Mad props to them! In the meantime we in the West continue to be ripped off for lesser technology.
Not in stock yet but the U3 is already listed on JD. 2k (Display) for 2k (RMB) will be interesting to see. I’m more concerned about the display’s black luminance/contrast levels.
pconline cn did a review, the display seems to be superb.
Any reliable site that sends the IUNI to Europe??
coolicool can do this , my friend.
HOW IS THE SCREEN OUTSIDE IN BRIGHT LIGHT? THIS IS MY #1 CONCERN. HOW DOES IT COMPARE TO MEIZU MX4 IN SCREEN CONTRAST, BRIGHTNESS, AND GLARE, ESPECIALLY OUTSIDE?
I think your first concern is if the phone will work in your country as the model we have is China only. As for the screens they are both fine, but we have spent more time with the Meizu as it actually works in the EU.
Thanks for the prompt reply!!! I am going to be returning to the USA with it, so I think they will both work with USA’s wcdma and FDD. I preordered the FDD (Unicom) Meizu, but no idea when it will ship, and starting to think the IUNI might be better choice. I really wish I could get some more idea of the screen performances in bright light, and how well they do in games. You feel the camera hardware in the Meizu is significantly better? Or would you guess it’s mostly just a software thing that needs updating? Thanks