Full specifications for the brand new UMi Iron smartphone. Keep reading for details of this all alloy flagship phone.
Today UMi announce the full details of the UMi Iron smartphone along with competitions to buy the new flagship for just a fraction of the retail price.
For those of you not keeping count, the Iron is the 4th UMi phone of the year and only the 2nd 5.5-inch phone from the company in 2015. The UMi Iron is designed to sit above the current UMi eMax, and boasts a more feature packed specification profile.
The Iron has an all alloy body measuring 152.3 x 76.5 x 7.9mm, quite a compact design but large enough to house a 3180mAh battery which is apparently good for a standby time of up to 12 days.
A silver grey alloy rear cover sports the UMi Iron logo, and Sony IMX214 13 mega-pixel main camera and dual LED flash. We have had really great experience with the IMX214, and hope the camera on the Iron performs just as well as other phones with the same camera.
Gizchina News of the week
The front camera is an 8 mega-pixel OV8858 camera which also gets the benefit of a front LED flash. This isn’t a very common feature, but it is a feature we really like to see and makes the front camera a whole lot more useable in a wider range of environments.
A 5.5-inch FHD 1920 x 1080 display with a pixel density of 441ppi takes up the majority of the front of the phone. On screen navigation buttons are again a feature we like (but are not to everyones taste), and the use of a pulse LED notification light (similar to that found on the Oppo Find 7 and N3) is another really nice touch.
Android 5.1 Lollipop runs on 3GB RAM and an octacore Mediatek MT6735 MT6753 chipset running at 1.3Ghz with FDD support for 1800/2100/2600mhz.
Official pricing of the UMi Iron is just $179.99, however UMi have given us special discount codes that will allow you to buy the phone at just $17.99 with free shipping
. We also have word that our review phone is on the way too so watch out for our unboxing and hands on.
Looking forward to the hands on review!
And nothing about the glass… I’ve been waiting for this info for all the time from the first teaser, and got nothing at last. If there is no gorilla or dragontrail, then why to make the all metal body!?
Surely you mean that it has MTK6753 as oppose to MTK6735..?
http://www.geekbuying.com/item/UMI-IRON-4G-LTE-5-5inch-FHD-Android-5-1-3GB-16GB-Smartphone-64bit-MTK6753-Octa-Core-1-5-GHz-13-0MP-Miracast-OTG—Golden-346784.html
Actually the specs we were sent say 35, but the image above says 53…. Both chips exist which makes things a little annoying. I’ll double check
Please also ask about the glass
annoying AND confusing !
This is a massive let down after all the hype surrounding the teasers, not going to ne my next phone now.
Haha .. I was already walking in the opposite direction, away from this but the specs now made me run faster 😛
I’m still scratching my head as to why mid 2015 mid range phones are lower specced than early ones? The MT6752 is way better than the 6753 everyone is using now. Its halfway through the year and still NO 6″ PHONES!!!! WTF????
Exactly what I’m thinking: why the 6753 was ever released? It’s so underpowered, and the so called world wide LTE is never used: just look at the FDD support of Umi Iron. And Gionee E8 has 6″ 🙂
Yes it is but did you see the price?!! The Allview version will be cheaper than the Chinese version, that has to be a first! Lol The GPU on the X10 is too weak for 2k resolution and I’m not a lover of AMOLED screens.
Yes I tend to agree with you, the X10 could be a bit weaker for 2K. And the Allview is cheaper at preorder, I know ’cause I’m from Romania. I’m not gonna order it though, because I bought an Xiaomi Mi Note this year, and I’m very happy with it 🙂 The AMOLED screens of Note 4 and S6 are very good though… I’m tempted to search for an AMOLED screen, for my next phone.
please approve my request on fan page
The phone is nicer than the 1.3GHz clocks.
6735? Next please!
typo. 6753.
looks cool , awesome specs and best pricing ! i really like the looks and metal body
Strange… Exact same size as the UMI eMAX.
This looks like a cracking phone. I really like that LED notification light. Reminds me of many Japanese style phones that use this quite commonly too. Looking forward to the review on this phone.
So … where is that specification? Sim card or cards? SD card ? Storage ?
Evem Mali T760MP2 isn’t enough for 1920×1080 resolution. In Antutu 3d graphics test It scores around 9000. Whereas T720 in Mt6753 scores around 6000. So going with the full resolution display Umi Iron does a mistake as does Meizu M2 Note.
this one or p8000? or wait for oukitel u9 ?:)
Oukitel U9 imo.
Definitively NOT the P8000, trust me, the people that fire up that phone for the first time are going to feel so lied to! Oukitel looks promising so yeah agree with you on this one
Looks amazing. Not sure about build quality. Now if only it had the Helio x20…
Looks nice indeed, the price looks even nicer!
Lets hope the rest of the specifications are as promising,
I think SD slot is an must,
USB type-C would be cool too but not really a problem with out.
Good back speakers is definitely needed nowadays imo.
How do you know the speaker or speakers, and how do you know they are good?
Another 5.5 inch phone I’m still looking for a killer 5 inch or less phone, what ever happened to the mythical Jiayu S4 that has been rumoured & rendered since October 2014
I m awaititng that phone too 🙂 german website listed it a view months ago.
http://jiayu.de/jiayu-smartphone/s-serie/jiayu-s4.html
Jiayu takes for ever to release phones. There is already a killer 5 inch phone available and it can now be purchased for less than $300, the Xiaomi Mi4.
A great phone but as far as I know no 800MHZ lte band, as I live in a small town only 4G coverage is 800MHZ.
800 is tough for Chinese phones its a band that is only used in Europe really and most Chinese phones don’t have a strong presence in Europe so they dont include it. Jiayu S3 and Zenfone 2 both have 800 but they are 5.5.
deception why 6753 gpu T720 , i woud have bought if it was 6752
can u tell me differences ?
mt6753 – t720 < mt6752 – t760; the first is desing to handle up to 1980×1080 , the second one h.265 ultra HD playback so it can handle bigger resolutions
the first is low cost the second one no, so it has better performace:
benchmark (antutu) mt6752 usually = 40000 – 44000
benchmark (antutu) mt6753 aprox = 31000 – 35000
hmm… then i’d like moar cheap phones with 6752 rather than 6753 (blech!) !
Looking forward to the hands on review!
And nothing about the glass… I’ve been waiting for this info for all the time from the first teaser, and got nothing at last. If there is no gorilla or dragontrail, then why to make the all metal body!?
Surely you mean that it has MTK6753 as oppose to MTK6735..?
http://www.geekbuying.com/item/UMI-IRON-4G-LTE-5-5inch-FHD-Android-5-1-3GB-16GB-Smartphone-64bit-MTK6753-Octa-Core-1-5-GHz-13-0MP-Miracast-OTG—Golden-346784.html
Actually the specs we were sent say 35, but the image above says 53…. Both chips exist which makes things a little annoying. I’ll double check
Please also ask about the glass
annoying AND confusing !
This is a massive let down after all the hype surrounding the teasers, not going to ne my next phone now.
Haha .. I was already walking in the opposite direction, away from this but the specs now made me run faster 😛
I’m still scratching my head as to why mid 2015 mid range phones are lower specced than early ones? The MT6752 is way better than the 6753 everyone is using now. Its halfway through the year and still NO 6″ PHONES!!!! WTF????
Exactly what I’m thinking: why the 6753 was ever released? It’s so underpowered, and the so called world wide LTE is never used: just look at the FDD support of Umi Iron. And Gionee E8 has 6″ 🙂
Yes it is but did you see the price?!! The Allview version will be cheaper than the Chinese version, that has to be a first! Lol The GPU on the X10 is too weak for 2k resolution and I’m not a lover of AMOLED screens.
Yes I tend to agree with you, the X10 could be a bit weaker for 2K. And the Allview is cheaper at preorder, I know ’cause I’m from Romania. I’m not gonna order it though, because I bought an Xiaomi Mi Note this year, and I’m very happy with it 🙂 The AMOLED screens of Note 4 and S6 are very good though… I’m tempted to search for an AMOLED screen, for my next phone.
please approve my request on fan page
The phone is nicer than the 1.3GHz clocks.
UMI Hammer has 800MHz LTE band, why not on this one? Too bad, looks like I’ll have to look for another phone.
6735? Next please!
typo. 6753.
wait.. 6735 ?! are yew SURE ?!
i bet its 6753 .. as in octacore !
looks cool , awesome specs and best pricing ! i really like the looks and metal body
Strange… Exact same size as the UMI eMAX.
This looks like a cracking phone. I really like that LED notification light. Reminds me of many Japanese style phones that use this quite commonly too. Looking forward to the review on this phone.
So … where is that specification? Sim card or cards? SD card ? Storage ?
Evem Mali T760MP2 isn’t enough for 1920×1080 resolution. In Antutu 3d graphics test It scores around 9000. Whereas T720 in Mt6753 scores around 6000. So going with the full resolution display Umi Iron does a mistake as does Meizu M2 Note.
this one or p8000? or wait for oukitel u9 ?:)
Oukitel U9 imo.
Definitively NOT the P8000, trust me, the people that fire up that phone for the first time are going to feel so lied to! Oukitel looks promising so yeah agree with you on this one
Its not even listed on on their own website. Anyone knows what happend to their special audio chip made by texas-instruments?
It is still on the picture – DirectPath is TI’s trademark.
Looks amazing. Not sure about build quality. Now if only it had the Helio x20…
Looks nice indeed, the price looks even nicer!
Lets hope the rest of the specifications are as promising,
I think SD slot is an must,
USB type-C would be cool too but not really a problem with out.
Good back speakers is definitely needed nowadays imo.
How do you know the speaker or speakers, and how do you know they are good?
Another 5.5 inch phone I’m still looking for a killer 5 inch or less phone, what ever happened to the mythical Jiayu S4 that has been rumoured & rendered since October 2014
I m awaititng that phone too 🙂 german website listed it a view months ago.
http://jiayu.de/jiayu-smartphone/s-serie/jiayu-s4.html
Jiayu takes for ever to release phones. There is already a killer 5 inch phone available and it can now be purchased for less than $300, the Xiaomi Mi4.
A great phone but as far as I know no 800MHZ lte band, as I live in a small town only 4G coverage is 800MHZ.
800 is tough for Chinese phones its a band that is only used in Europe really and most Chinese phones don’t have a strong presence in Europe so they dont include it. Jiayu S3 and Zenfone 2 both have 800 but they are 5.5.
deception why 6753 gpu T720 , i woud have bought if it was 6752
can u tell me differences ?
mt6753 – t720 < mt6752 – t760; the first is desing to handle up to 1980×1080 , the second one h.265 ultra HD playback so it can handle bigger resolutions
the first is low cost the second one no, so it has better performace:
benchmark (antutu) mt6752 usually = 40000 – 44000
benchmark (antutu) mt6753 aprox = 31000 – 35000
hmm… then i’d like moar cheap phones with 6752 rather than 6753 (blech!) !
UMI Hammer has 800MHz LTE band, why not on this one? Too bad, looks like I’ll have to look for another phone.
wait.. 6735 ?! are yew SURE ?!
i bet its 6753 .. as in octacore !
Its not even listed on on their own website. Anyone knows what happend to their special audio chip made by texas-instruments?
It is still on the picture – DirectPath is TI’s trademark.
No 4G for most Europeans on this one, since the 800Mhz/B20 band is missing – again. Funny, because UMI seems to be putting marketing effort into promoting this model in Europe. They even ship UMI-branded EU wall chargers with the Iron. What’s the point of that, when the phone is not optimally rigged for Europe? Do your homework, Umi!
It will work in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic,Iceland, Poland, UK and Sweden. All of those have at least one network that operates on Band 7 (2600) or Band 3 (1800). Several of them have multiple of those networks.
In Czech Rep. is 800Mhz necessary
In the Netherlands it’s also the most important 4g band. Don’t get the processor choice if they are not going to use the world-LTE feature of it.
I have a friend who lives there he uses 1800 on O2.
yes, but in large city’s only
And that is mainly was Umi is targeting the large European cities. When launching a product in a new country the very first place you launch it is the largest cities in that country, because typically that is where the most money/sales will be.
In the UK the 1800 & 2600 MHz bands are only available in large city’s almost anything smaller than Newcastle will be covered by the 800mhz band on any UK network. This is because the 800mhz band transmission range is much larger than the 1800 & 2600 MHz bands, might be the same for other countries mentioned it is vital for 800MHZ band for good 4G coverage in the UK
That doesn’t change the fact their 4G will work in Europe and most of the European sales they are targeting is most likely people in large cities.
“their 4G will work in Europe” is an unnecessary generalisation. The bands (and their reception) differ with each service provider; in the largest city in Estonia only 800MHz reaches me inside the house. Furthermore, would you assume their ‘most likely targets in the large cities’ stay at home all the time? If they want home-based internet it is better to get cable.
Considering the fact that the MT6753 chip supports 800MHz it is plain silly they chose not to implement it.
“Considering the fact that the MT6753 chip supports 800MHz it is plain silly they chose not to implement it.”
It’s not plain and silly, its a business decision. Sales in Europe will be minimal to begin with, UMI doesn’t have the brand awareness in Europe that they have in Asia. It costs money to support extra bands, they have to use an extra radio to pick up that band. A company like UMI will target the largest cities in each country first, they don’t care if people travel or where they travel to, they care about sales.
“they have to use an extra radio to pick up that band”
No they don’t – the radio is inside the SoC, antenna and I/O pins come out of it.
When I say the word radio I am referring to the antennae they use to pick up bands. The SoC has a modem and a radio transmitter built into it which can pick up the 800 band, but it still requires a separate antennae to actually pick up that band. That costs money.
I’ll wager they save an amount in the order of $1 by excluding that frequency, if even that. It is a known fact manufacturers impose artificial limits on frequency bands in software, because there are custom ROMs to unlock those bands. Not the most rational part to cut costs from in my opinion, I would rather leave the heart rate monitor out. A heart rate monitor stuck on a phone is among the most useless sensors; a gimmick.
Your confusing yourself now. Companies like Sony, Samsung and certain Apple models do in fact lock bands in their software. They are phones that are sold in hundreds of countries and often times carrier restrictions or licensing restrictions (think FCC in the US) requires them to block certain frequencies. There are software tricks all over XDA to unlock those frequencies. But your phone has to have those antennae already built in for those tricks to work.
A company like Umi will only include the bands for the countries it plans to sell the most units in, sometimes they buy antenna which support multiple bands and there will be an extra one that isn’t used but it is available. The bands themselves don’t cost much per phone it might even be less than a $1 but multiply that by a couple hundred thousand units and that’s a pretty big expense for a small company that might only sell a few thousand units in Europe. That’s just the cost of the antennae there are also costs associated with the FCC and the EU for a device to operate on those bands. If you don’t have a strong presence in those countries it makes zero business sense to absorb those added costs. It sucks for people who live in those countries and want one of their phones trust me when I lived in the US I used to say many of the same things you are as to why our bands weren’t supported.
That’s just theory. In fact, in most larger European countries Band 20 (800) is the only one that is covered nationwide by the major providers. Other bands are not rolled out completely and have big reception gaps, also in cities.
Moreover, the European Parliament has passed legislation that forces member states to free up 800 Mhz for LTE. See: http://goo.gl/NKgDX1
This became possible because analog television, that made use of that band before, has been abolished in the EU. Admittedly, not every European country is up to speed, but the European Commision is pushing to enforce the EP legislation in order to establish 800 Mhz as the pan-European baseband for 4G. All the more reason for phone makers to pay attention to Band 20.
That may all be well and true but to say it won’t work in Europe is false and that was my only point. It will work in several large European cities.
Never said it does not work at all in Europe. Only that it won’t work for most Europeans. And that was my point.
And my point was that it will work for several millions Europeans who live in large cities. We are both right and wrong.
If you want to go into semantics:
It may work in Europe (‘s large cities) and it may not work in Europe (‘s large cities) – it is not guaranteed due to differences in band utilisation. Therefore you can say it will not work in Europe and it will work in Europe, because both are true (each in certain regions, for indeed neither can apply to all regions). That makes the statement “to say it won’t work in Europe is false” false, because in this particular case ‘won’t work’ and ‘will work’ are not – and cannot be – exclusive when speaking to Europe as a whole or even its large cities.
If this was a knowingly made targeting decision, then they are targeting people who live in certain large cities in Europe and do not travel. Kind of goes against the point of having a mobile phone.
So a “mobile” phone is only meant for people who travel? That is news to me. I thought it was for people who needed access to everything when they are on the move. I guess people who live in large cities and dont do much traveling should hand in their mobile phones because they have no need for them. Makes perfect sense now.
From a mobile phone one would expect reliable connection while on the go; at least within a city as you keep repeating. However, often the high frequency bands do not cover an entire city. I have personally witnessed it and I am not the only one; one infamous problem with Zenfone 2 was locked bands on CN version (there was no indication back then which version a retailer is selling) and several people reported unstable connection, or only able to connect in certain regions – and that happened within a city not traveling far away. That is where lower frequency bands such as 800MHz one come into aid. Without it you can expect to lose connection or even most of the time lack 4G connectivity. I hope this brings clarity.
Locked bands happen on a lot of major phone brands, Sony is infamous for it. Certain countries or carriers require them to lock the bands due to regulations but there are ways around it (check out XDA). I do quite a bit of traveling for work, all over Asia and Europe. My travel phone doesn’t have the 800mhz LTE band. In most large European cities I went to I had no issues getting a good LTE signal anywhere I went. If i traveled outside of the city into the suburbs or countryside I lost connectivity. Such as in Poland when I left Warsaw and went to some of the historical sites. But inside the major cities I never had any issues.
Disappointed with UMI deciding to go with the mtk6753. This phone would have been perfect with the mtk6795.
No 4G for most Europeans on this one, since the 800Mhz/B20 band is missing – again. Funny, because UMI seems to be putting marketing effort into promoting this model in Europe. They even ship UMI-branded EU wall chargers with the Iron. What’s the point of that, when the phone is not optimally rigged for Europe? Do your homework, Umi!
It will work in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic,Iceland, Poland, UK and Sweden. All of those have at least one network that operates on Band 7 (2600) or Band 3 (1800). Several of them have multiple of those networks.
In Czech Rep. is 800Mhz necessary
In the UK the 1800 & 2600 MHz bands are only available in large city’s almost anything smaller than Newcastle will be covered by the 800mhz band on any UK network. This is because the 800mhz band transmission range is much larger than the 1800 & 2600 MHz bands, might be the same for other countries mentioned it is vital for 800MHZ band for good 4G coverage in the UK
In the Netherlands it’s also the most important 4g band. Don’t get the processor choice if they are not going to use the world-LTE feature of it.
That doesn’t change the fact their 4G will work in Europe and most of the European sales they are targeting is most likely people in large cities.
I have a friend who lives there he uses 1800 on O2.
“their 4G will work in Europe” is an unnecessary generalisation. The bands (and their reception) differ with each service provider; in the largest city in Estonia only 800MHz reaches me inside the house. Furthermore, would you assume their ‘most likely targets in the large cities’ stay at home all the time? If they want home-based internet it is better to get cable.
Considering the fact that the MT6753 chip supports 800MHz it is plain silly they chose not to implement it.
yes, but in large city’s only
That’s just theory. In fact, in most larger European countries Band 20 (800) is the only one that is covered nationwide by the major providers. Other bands are not rolled out completely and have big reception gaps, also in cities.
Moreover, the European Parliament has passed legislation that forces member states to free up 800 Mhz for LTE. See: http://goo.gl/NKgDX1
This became possible because analog television, that made use of that band before, has been abolished in the EU. Admittedly, not every European country is up to speed, but the European Commision is pushing to enforce the EP legislation in order to establish 800 Mhz as the pan-European baseband for 4G. All the more reason for phone makers to pay attention to Band 20.
That may all be well and true but to say it won’t work in Europe is false and that was my only point. It will work in several large European cities.
And that is mainly was Umi is targeting the large European cities. When launching a product in a new country the very first place you launch it is the largest cities in that country, because typically that is where the most money/sales will be.
“Considering the fact that the MT6753 chip supports 800MHz it is plain silly they chose not to implement it.”
It’s not plain and silly, its a business decision. Sales in Europe will be minimal to begin with, UMI doesn’t have the brand awareness in Europe that they have in Asia. It costs money to support extra bands, they have to use an extra radio to pick up that band. A company like UMI will target the largest cities in each country first, they don’t care if people travel or where they travel to, they care about sales.
“they have to use an extra radio to pick up that band”
No they don’t – the radio is inside the SoC, antenna and I/O pins come out of it.
When I say the word radio I am referring to the antennae they use to pick up bands. The SoC has a modem and a radio transmitter built into it which can pick up the 800 band, but it still requires a separate antennae to actually pick up that band. That costs money.
I’ll wager they save an amount in the order of $1 by excluding that frequency, if even that. It is a known fact manufacturers impose artificial limits on frequency bands in software, because there are custom ROMs to unlock those bands. Not the most rational part to cut costs from in my opinion, I would rather leave the heart rate monitor out. A heart rate monitor stuck on a phone is among the most useless sensors; a gimmick.
Never said it does not work at all in Europe. Only that it won’t work for most Europeans. And that was my point.
If you want to go into semantics:
It may work in Europe (‘s large cities) and it may not work in Europe (‘s large cities) – it is not guaranteed due to differences in band utilisation. Therefore you can say it will not work in Europe and it will work in Europe, because both are true (each in certain regions, for indeed neither can apply to all regions). That makes the statement “to say it won’t work in Europe is false” false, because in this particular case ‘won’t work’ and ‘will work’ are not – and cannot be – exclusive when speaking to Europe as a whole or even its large cities.
If this was a knowingly made targeting decision, then they are targeting people who live in certain large cities in Europe and do not travel. Kind of goes against the point of having a mobile phone.
So a “mobile” phone is only meant for people who travel? That is news to me. I thought it was for people who needed access to everything when they are on the move. I guess people who live in large cities and dont do much traveling should hand in their mobile phones because they have no need for them. Makes perfect sense now.
And my point was that it will work for several millions Europeans who live in large cities. We are both right and wrong.
Your confusing yourself now. Companies like Sony, Samsung and certain Apple models do in fact lock bands in their software. They are phones that are sold in hundreds of countries and often times carrier restrictions or licensing restrictions (think FCC in the US) requires them to block certain frequencies. There are software tricks all over XDA to unlock those frequencies. But your phone has to have those antennae already built in for those tricks to work.
A company like Umi will only include the bands for the countries it plans to sell the most units in, sometimes they buy antenna which support multiple bands and there will be an extra one that isn’t used but it is available. The bands themselves don’t cost much per phone it might even be less than a $1 but multiply that by a couple hundred thousand units and that’s a pretty big expense for a small company that might only sell a few thousand units in Europe. That’s just the cost of the antennae there are also costs associated with the FCC and the EU for a device to operate on those bands. If you don’t have a strong presence in those countries it makes zero business sense to absorb those added costs. It sucks for people who live in those countries and want one of their phones trust me when I lived in the US I used to say many of the same things you are as to why our bands weren’t supported.
From a mobile phone one would expect reliable connection while on the go; at least within a city as you keep repeating. However, often the high frequency bands do not cover an entire city. I have personally witnessed it and I am not the only one; one infamous problem with Zenfone 2 was locked bands on CN version (there was no indication back then which version a retailer is selling) and several people reported unstable connection, or only able to connect in certain regions – and that happened within a city not traveling far away. That is where lower frequency bands such as 800MHz one come into aid. Without it you can expect to lose connection or even most of the time lack 4G connectivity. I hope this brings clarity.
Locked bands happen on a lot of major phone brands, Sony is infamous for it. Certain countries or carriers require them to lock the bands due to regulations but there are ways around it (check out XDA). I do quite a bit of traveling for work, all over Asia and Europe. My travel phone doesn’t have the 800mhz LTE band. In most large European cities I went to I had no issues getting a good LTE signal anywhere I went. If i traveled outside of the city into the suburbs or countryside I lost connectivity. Such as in Poland when I left Warsaw and went to some of the historical sites. But inside the major cities I never had any issues.
Blu Life Pro/Maxon x3, is you?
Disappointed with UMI deciding to go with the mtk6753. This phone would have been perfect with the mtk6795.
How about the heart rate monitor? And Hi-fi sound? The specs are a bit disappointing, especially the CPU.
Blu Life Pro/Maxon x3, is you?
How about the heart rate monitor? And Hi-fi sound? The specs are a bit disappointing, especially the CPU.
No more UMI on my life. Ever!
No more UMI on my life. Ever!