It has been a while since Ecoo was the most talked about maker here at GizChina. The company’s first phone, i.e., the Ecoo E01 Focus was, at one point, known as the world’s cheapest 1080p octa-core phone.
The Aurora was announced earlier this year, but in a 2GB RAM variant. It still made a lot of sense, because not a lot of MediaTek MT6752 64-bit octa-core phones were available for under US$200 back then. Ecoo took their own sweet time in shipping the phone, but it is regarded as one of the better ones if you’re looking for the best bang for your buck. A few weeks back, an upgraded E04 Aurora was announced; with the same specifications, the phone got an added gig of RAM to bring the total to a respectable 3GB.
Geekbuying sent one over to us for review, and after spending a couple of days with the device, I’m happy to say I’m impressed. The best part about the device is the fingerprint sensor, which works near-flawlessly!
A quick recap over the specifications: the Ecoo E04 Aurora has a 5.5-inch 1080p display, 1.7GHz octa-core 64-bit MediaTek MT6752 processor, 3GB RAM, 16GB on-board storage, dual SIM, 8 mega-pixel front camera, 16 mega-pixel rear camera, 3000mAh removable battery and a fingerprint sensor.
The phone has impressed in almost every aspect. One niggle (which might be more than just ‘little’ for you OCD victims) is that there’s an unusually thick black strip below the screen, about double the size of the rest of the strip.
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The textured rear of the device gives it not only a nice look but also makes the phone grippy and comfortable to hold. Performance too seems top-notch, as we’ve seen with other MT6752 phones like the JiaYu S3, iOcean Rock, Gionee Elife S7 and more.
We haven’t really spent a lot of time with the camera yet, but from what we can tell already, the listed 16 mega-pixel resolution is a bit of an optimistic move. We’re pretty certain it’s an interpolated value, perhaps taken up from 13 mega-pixel.
Ecoo E04 Aurora 3GB Gallery
Battery life so far seems pretty good, and the phone hasn’t shown signs of heating up. The MT6752 is starting to build a sort of a reputation for being one of the most power efficient MediaTek chips out there; that combined with the 3000mAh battery of the E04 Aurora, we’re looking at a battery life of more than one average day.
Overall the phone looks and feels like a quality device… one that a company with global ambitions would make. The curved glass over the screen and the lovely (not exactly an adjective usually associated with fingerprint scanners) fingerprint scanner give the phone some extra value.
This is only a very quick hands on post, if you’re interested, stay tuned for the full review which will come next week. Meanwhile, feel free to comment below about anything that you would like to have tested on the phone, and we’ll try our best to include it in next week’s review!
The Ecoo E04 Aurora with 3GB RAM can be had at popular reseller GeekBuying‘s online store for US$190!
Is the capacity of the battery real?
How is the sound quality through the headphones jack and Bluetooth?
Does the gps work as expected?
I have a Kingzone z1 on the way but i’m kind of thinking of selling it and buy something else that doesen’t have false specifications…
Why it’s so fcking hard for them to test this as well.
When I read this bullsh*t I think they turned the phone on/off and tested it just for 1 minute..
Be patient, battery (and everything else) will be tested in depth for the review. This is only a quick hands on post for eager readers.
And I thank you alot Yash. I was waiting for this “hands on” for a while. It would be great to have that full review prior to 15 of April… a game changer I predict. 🙂
We’ll try pushing the review before our readers give up everything to follow the next Game of Thrones season. 😉
Just wanna make the most of the pre-sale… no GoT here. No time to waste there!
It’s called first impressions. It’s literally just first impressions. What do you expect from first impressions?
Can’t say for now, the review next will will provide a better picture about the battery.
The capacity is real this time.
Through headphones, it’s on the lower end of decent. Sounds are muddy at times, and the clarity isn’t too good, but it’s decent enough to listen to music. I haven’t tested Bluetooth earphones because I can’t get a good pair yet.
GPS is not really good, and pales compared to other MTK6752 phones.
Thank you. Looks like I just have to wait for a decent model. Maybe the telephone p7000/8000 will hit the spot. ?
Lol its Elephone but indeed a Telephone 😛
What headphones are you using? That certainly affects the outcome of the headphone jack test.
I have a KINGZONE Z1 the only 2 things that are disappointing is the reception of 4G and the GPS reception which is awful, I have a ulefone be pro which is far better at these 2 important features, the kingzone is better at each everything else.
Just one thing to check. The 3gb ram change is the only difference? Of what I remember, jiayu had a phone with some other differences between a 2 and a 3gb version.
I don’t know what, nfc or anything like that. I’ll order one, but I don’t know if this or the 2gb version, I don’t see yet the necessity of a 3gb version
The 2GB RAM and 3GB RAM version of this phone cost the same, so its basically like they moved on to making it a 3GB RAM phone.
It has fingerprint scanner for which you may set upto 5 apps/functions with each fingerprint to switch directly from off screen.
i’ve check for this device in some review and websites, but there are some websites that mention this device are using gorilla glass 3, and many other’s not.
Can you check this for sure in the next review?
Just see the 2gb reviews. Good phone not much else to say. Can we have new reviews of interesting stuff e.g. Cubot X10, Amkov lens OX-5, TCL M2U
Is the capacity of the battery real?
How is the sound quality through the headphones jack and Bluetooth?
Does the gps work as expected?
I have a Kingzone z1 on the way but i’m kind of thinking of selling it and buy something else that doesen’t have false specifications…
Why it’s so fcking hard for them to test this as well.
When I read this bullsh*t I think they turned the phone on/off and tested it just for 1 minute..
Can’t say for now, the review next will will provide a better picture about the battery.
Be patient, battery (and everything else) will be tested in depth for the review. This is only a quick hands on post for eager readers.
And I thank you alot Yash. I was waiting for this “hands on” for a while. It would be great to have that full review prior to 15 of April… a game changer I predict. 🙂
It’s called first impressions. It’s literally just first impressions. What do you expect from first impressions?
The capacity is real this time.
Through headphones, it’s on the lower end of decent. Sounds are muddy at times, and the clarity isn’t too good, but it’s decent enough to listen to music. I haven’t tested Bluetooth earphones because I can’t get a good pair yet.
GPS is not really good, and pales compared to other MTK6752 phones.
Thank you. Looks like I just have to wait for a decent model. Maybe the telephone p7000/8000 will hit the spot. 😊
We’ll try pushing the review before our readers give up everything to follow the next Game of Thrones season. 😉
Lol its Elephone but indeed a Telephone 😛
Just wanna make the most of the pre-sale… no GoT here. No time to waste there!
What headphones are you using? That certainly affects the outcome of the headphone jack test.
I have a KINGZONE Z1 the only 2 things that are disappointing is the reception of 4G and the GPS reception which is awful, I have a ulefone be pro which is far better at these 2 important features, the kingzone is better at each everything else.
Just one thing to check. The 3gb ram change is the only difference? Of what I remember, jiayu had a phone with some other differences between a 2 and a 3gb version.
I don’t know what, nfc or anything like that. I’ll order one, but I don’t know if this or the 2gb version, I don’t see yet the necessity of a 3gb version
The 2GB RAM and 3GB RAM version of this phone cost the same, so its basically like they moved on to making it a 3GB RAM phone.
It has fingerprint scanner for which you may set upto 5 apps/functions with each fingerprint to switch directly from off screen.
i’ve check for this device in some review and websites, but there are some websites that mention this device are using gorilla glass 3, and many other’s not.
Can you check this for sure in the next review?
Just see the 2gb reviews. Good phone not much else to say. Can we have new reviews of interesting stuff e.g. Cubot X10, Amkov lens OX-5, TCL M2U
3G: WCDMA 900/2100MHz
I want this phone for personal use, but I can’t deal with the lack of 3G ;_;
It compatible with 3G and 4 LTE
aww.. MAN!!! , PLEASE LET THE CAMS BE GOOD!
3G: WCDMA 900/2100MHz
I want this phone for personal use, but I can’t deal with the lack of 3G ;_;
It compatible with 3G and 4 LTE
aww.. MAN!!! , PLEASE LET THE CAMS BE GOOD!
Pls ask Geekbuying if we can get discount..
Please send me a message for 11usd discount code
http://gearbestreview.blogspot.hk/p/gearbest-coupon.html You can find any product discount code from here. ECOO E04 3GB just need $179.99
what about efox-shop.com has 10 euro coupon for it: efoxecoo
There is a code E04PLUS.
There is a code E04PLUS.
please review Lenono K3 Note
Pls ask Geekbuying if we can get discount..
Please send me a message for 11usd discount code
http://gearbestreview.blogspot.hk/p/gearbest-coupon.html You can find any product discount code from here. ECOO E04 3GB just need $179.99
what about efox-shop.com has 10 euro coupon for it: efoxecoo
There is a code E04PLUS.
This “review” said nothing about it. I had the 2GB version 1 month and send it back to the seller, as the CPU got very hot while playing games. I played Star force all the time and managed all levels on it. The problem was, the CPU area got so hot, that I could not hold a finger on the usb connector, when the back cover removed, so hot it was. And it freezed and restarded, a window showed up, that I have to replace hot battery. Then, the camera does good pics on good light, but once you try to take a pic like in restaurant with much less strong light, you will get huge pink&green noise, very annoying. The battery disappeared in front of your eyes and is very thin and light, so, the capacity can be maaaaxxximally 2200 mAh, 3000 mAh is fake capacity. The GPS fix works fine outside, when you are in any open space office at the window – no fix. GPS used in car by other tester, who wrote also a negative review on this phone on gizchina.cz, wrote, that it was sometimes very hard to get accurate information and you need a help by usage of data.. So, you will probably have problems with any offline maps. Max CD card capacity was announced 32 GB max. I inserted 64 GB card in it, uploaded about 50 GB of music and movies and worked just fine. What was really terrible for me – very low maximum loudness for the head speakers and the sound quality… U use my old zte v970 + Creative EP-630 headphones over 2 years and this phone has for me great sound, so I did comparative tests, listened to the same music on sd card and on spotify and the difference was really very big – zte – loud, plastic, dynamic, bassy sound, ecoo – cheap, no bass, no dynamics, if you try to enhance it with that 3D effect boost and Sound enhancement for earphones, it changes, looks like better, but, it is not, but it just demolishes the real sound of your music. A bit helps the Neutron player. I checked the sound settings via MTK engineering tool and zte – it was set on 135 out of 160 by default and loooud and good sound, my ecoo was set on 160 out of 160 by default and quiet… What was nice for me was the display, vivid colors, but many other have same good display. The finger print sensor let say works, but, you will not use it, why would you… any pattern lock is much faster, works more precisely and with one hand… for fp sensor you will need mostly two hands and repeat it from time to time… So, for me it was a disappointment for that price I paid – 180 USD + 28 USD DHL and then in our country 23 USD extra fee, that DHL did customs on behalf on me and then another 50 USD for the VAT, so, by the end, final price was 280 USD, so, no big deal for chinese phone. For that money I can buy Samsung S4 as a second hand with also 1 year guarantee, (we have two years guarantee in our country) which really works!!! great camera, great display, great gps, great sound,great LTE, great GPS!!! and many custom roms, maybe LP too. My total loss for this experience will be about 35 USD :-). I will rather buy second hand Note 3, which is beside missing dual sim and lower ppi better in all parameters and has also many custom roms and also Lollipop from dec 2014. Never buy new phones!!! Maybe after 3-6 months of testing by other unpatient customers, who will give you the real review and experience… New chinese phones have often many, many bugs, cos the producers try to keep the developer costs as low as possible, and not always detect and restore all hw and sw issues… On the other hand, the ecoo phone (produced by Elephone!), is nice phone, looks good, not like boring Yiayu S3, just the gay pinky ring about camera is somewhat crazy :-).
Viper4android app easily solves sound problem!
I guess I had it installed, but it was all in chinese 🙂
Odd, Mines in English & works great!
please review Lenono K3 Note
please test the flash properly – dark room conditions not outside xD
edit – consider testing the different roms – lollipop, kitkat, flyme os and colour os
edit 2 – talk about these black borders on the phone which made the bezels look thinner but is pure fakery in real life -_-
This “review” said nothing about it. I had the 2GB version 1 month and send it back to the seller, as the CPU got very hot while playing games. I played Star force all the time and managed all levels on it. The problem was, the CPU area got so hot, that I could not hold a finger on the usb connector, when the back cover removed, so hot it was. And it freezed and restarded, a window showed up, that I have to replace hot battery. Then, the camera does good pics on good light, but once you try to take a pic like in restaurant with much less strong light, you will get huge pink&green noise, very annoying. The battery disappeared in front of your eyes and is very thin and light, so, the capacity can be maaaaxxximally 2200 mAh, 3000 mAh is fake capacity. The GPS fix works fine outside, when you are in any open space office at the window – no fix. GPS used in car by other tester, who wrote also a negative review on this phone on gizchina.cz, wrote, that it was sometimes very hard to get accurate information and you need a help by usage of data.. So, you will probably have problems with any offline maps. Max CD card capacity was announced 32 GB max. I inserted 64 GB card in it, uploaded about 50 GB of music and movies and worked just fine. What was really terrible for me – very low maximum loudness for the head speakers and the sound quality… U use my old zte v970 + Creative EP-630 headphones over 2 years and this phone has for me great sound, so I did comparative tests, listened to the same music on sd card and on spotify and the difference was really very big – zte – loud, plastic, dynamic, bassy sound, ecoo – cheap, no bass, no dynamics, if you try to enhance it with that 3D effect boost and Sound enhancement for earphones, it changes, looks like better, but, it is not, but it just demolishes the real sound of your music. A bit helps the Neutron player. I checked the sound settings via MTK engineering tool and zte – it was set on 135 out of 160 by default and loooud and good sound, my ecoo was set on 160 out of 160 by default and quiet… What was nice for me was the display, vivid colors, but many other have same good display. The finger print sensor let say works, but, you will not use it, why would you… any pattern lock is much faster, works more precisely and with one hand… for fp sensor you will need mostly two hands and repeat it from time to time… So, for me it was a disappointment for that price I paid – 180 USD + 28 USD DHL and then in our country 23 USD extra fee, that DHL did customs on behalf on me and then another 50 USD for the VAT, so, by the end, final price was 280 USD, so, no big deal for chinese phone. For that money I can buy Samsung S4 as a second hand with also 1 year guarantee, (we have two years guarantee in our country) which really works!!! great camera, great display, great gps, great sound,great LTE, great GPS!!! and many custom roms, maybe LP too. My total loss for this experience will be about 35 USD :-). I will rather buy second hand Note 3, which is beside missing dual sim and lower ppi better in all parameters and has also many custom roms and also Lollipop from dec 2014. Never buy new phones!!! Maybe after 3-6 months of testing by other unpatient customers, who will give you the real review and experience… New chinese phones have often many, many bugs, cos the producers try to keep the developer costs as low as possible, and not always detect and restore all hw and sw issues… On the other hand, the ecoo phone (produced by Elephone!), is nice phone, looks good, not like boring Yiayu S3, just the gay pinky ring about camera is somewhat crazy :-).
Viper4android app easily solves sound problem!
I guess I had it installed, but it was all in chinese 🙂
Odd, Mines in English & works great!
please test the flash properly – dark room conditions not outside xD
edit – consider testing the different roms – lollipop, kitkat, flyme os and colour os
edit 2 – talk about these black borders on the phone which made the bezels look thinner but is pure fakery in real life -_-
Test GPS and sound quality speaker/headphones please
Although the picture has 2; in reality only 1 speaker working, the Right side, if the phone is facing you. It’s loud but not loud as HTC M8 with powerful and functional dual speakers.
Test GPS and sound quality speaker/headphones please
Although the picture has 2; in reality only 1 speaker working, the Right side, if the phone is facing you. It’s loud but not loud as HTC M8 with powerful and functional dual speakers.
depending on the price of the m7, I may buy this one.
Camera, test it, please.
depending on the price of the m7, I may buy this one.
Camera, test it, please.
Very dissapointed in this phone so far.
My 3GB version arrived a couple of days ago with KK on it (not the promised Lollipop). I installed the Lollipop beta found on their download page and here are my initial observations.
– The lollipop beta sucked the life out of the battery. Seriously, I had to put it on to charge twice yesterday just to get through the day (and I am not a heavy user). As others have observed it also seems to run quite hot.
– The beta is also quite jumpy.
– Flashing the beta also wiped out my IMEI details so had to find out how to get them back
– Another deal-breaker for me is the headphone volume. It is appalling. Even after increasing the max volume in the MTK engineering options it is bad. The volume at max is ok in a quietish room but no-good for a commute. In an attempt to improve it based on one of the suggestions in this thread I tried to install Viper4Android. To do this I had to flash back to KK so that I could root the phone to install V4A. Even with everything pushed to the max the volume improvement was minimal
– Another disapointment is the very flimsy plastic back cover. This think will break given the slightest knock. It feels about as brittle as a potato crisp!
I see from the ecoo download page that the lollipop beta has now been taken down and replaced with a KK rom (but still labelled as Lollipop)
I guess what makes these differences really stand out is that a couple of weeks ago I got an iOcean M6752 ‘Rock’. The specs are very similar (minus the finger print scanner and the Ecoo allegedly having a bigger battery) but they couldn’t be more different. The build quality of the iOcean is far superior and with a bit of tweaking (rooting phone and installing maxxaudio for MTK) I get fantatstic sound quality from headphones, and great volume too.
Very dissapointed in this phone so far.
My 3GB version arrived a couple of days ago with KK on it (not the promised Lollipop). I installed the Lollipop beta found on their download page and here are my initial observations.
– The lollipop beta sucked the life out of the battery. Seriously, I had to put it on to charge twice yesterday just to get through the day (and I am not a heavy user). As others have observed it also seems to run quite hot.
– The beta is also quite jumpy.
– Flashing the beta also wiped out my IMEI details so had to find out how to get them back
– Another deal-breaker for me is the headphone volume. It is appalling. Even after increasing the max volume in the MTK engineering options it is bad. The volume at max is ok in a quietish room but no-good for a commute. In an attempt to improve it based on one of the suggestions in this thread I tried to install Viper4Android. To do this I had to flash back to KK so that I could root the phone to install V4A. Even with everything pushed to the max the volume improvement was minimal
– Another disapointment is the very flimsy plastic back cover. This think will break given the slightest knock. It feels about as brittle as a potato crisp!
I see from the ecoo download page that the lollipop beta has now been taken down and replaced with a KK rom (but still labelled as Lollipop)
I guess what makes these differences really stand out is that a couple of weeks ago I got an iOcean M6752 ‘Rock’. The specs are very similar (minus the finger print scanner and the Ecoo allegedly having a bigger battery) but they couldn’t be more different. The build quality of the iOcean is far superior and with a bit of tweaking (rooting phone and installing maxxaudio for MTK) I get fantatstic sound quality from headphones, and great volume too.
hi
please tell us about:
1.battery life
2.how hot this phone can be when you play hd games or hd movies?
3.what is android version of this phone? 4.4 or 5? which one is better?
and please tell us the truth…..if the phone is bad please tell us that its bad….don`t lie
THANKS ALOT
I bought it USD$ 200.99 April 20 and got it on May 05, 2015 from ebay, shipped from China. Ebay seller advertised on ebay Anroid 5 but it was not, I’ve received Android 4.4.4. version. After some frustrating negotiation. Seller deducted USD$10 and promised to ship me Android 5 ROM asap. But then again, I’m not a techy and I don’t know anything about ROM or RUM but one thing I know that it will cost me USD$50 to be upgraded to Android 5 in New York City. So, just wait till the real Android 5 is upgraded before you purchase. Like all my electronic devices, get a second battery or an external charger then you can play and watch HD anything you want for as long as you want.
hi
please tell us about:
1.battery life
2.how hot this phone can be when you play hd games or hd movies?
3.what is android version of this phone? 4.4 or 5? which one is better?
and please tell us the truth…..if the phone is bad please tell us that its bad….don`t lie
THANKS ALOT
I bought it USD$ 200.99 April 20 and got it on May 05, 2015 from ebay, shipped from China. Ebay seller advertised on ebay Anroid 5 but it was not, I’ve received Android 4.4.4. version. After some frustrating negotiation. Seller deducted USD$10 and promised to ship me Android 5 ROM asap. But then again, I’m not a techy and I don’t know anything about ROM or RUM but one thing I know that it will cost me USD$50 to be upgraded to Android 5 in New York City. So, just wait till the real Android 5 is upgraded before you purchase. Like all my electronic devices, get a second battery or an external charger then you can play and watch HD anything you want for as long as you want.
cmon already with the review
cmon already with the review
Battery, sound, GPS, *CAMERA* sucks!.. and the phone gets hot!
Battery, sound, GPS, *CAMERA* sucks!.. and the phone gets hot!