iPhone Killer already in America: Le Pro3 smartphone review

Le Pro3 smartphone belongs to the thriving niche of “killers” – the top and limitlessly expensive smartphones of famous brands. 60 thousand Dollars or more – not the limit. And what, in fact, are?Newly launched brandsXiami, LeEco, Meizu and others believe that it is stupid to overpay just for the hyped nameplate, if for the same and even more steep hardware you can pay in times less.

Today we’re testing the Le Pro3 in its most budget variant – 4 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal memory. But that’s not the main thing when it comes to the top-of-the-line Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor MSM8996 Pro , a high-capacity battery with support for quickcharge 3.0, an excellent 1920×1080 screen, metal body and a bunch of other stuff. And all this is available for less than 20 thousand Dollars – not unlike that Samsung in this case – just unbuckle!

So, I take the “killer” in my hands. Is it really a real “killer”?

The case, the design and the package

Serious stuffing can not do without stylish packaging. Le Pro3 body, of course, stylish.Despite the impressive 5.5-inch display, the smartphone is noticeably smaller than its competitors – 151.4×73.9×7.5 mm. However, its design is not far removed from the previous model, it can be confused. Le Pro3 looks quite in flagship style: metal body, stylish stripes on the back, rounded fingerprint scanner, massive rear camera unit, stereo speakers on the bottom and, what I like best, the symmetrical position of the front camera and light sensor on the front.

Let’s not forget the shiny, well, exactly polished strips encircling the device on the ends. It’s noticeable right away, but to the touch I wouldn’t say it’s very pleasing: there’s a feeling of clumsiness and awkwardness. In general, the device fits quite comfortably. We had a matte version in our test, without the slightest hint of unauthorized slipping.

Build quality is above all praise. I did not try to drop it, of course, but I did not notice any snags or gaps. The package includes the phone, charger with Quickcharge 3.0, a TypeC to 3.5 mm, a silicone sleeve and a paper clip to remove the SIM card. Le Pro3″ cannot be controlled with “one thumb” fully, but typing at the bottom of the screen is also possible with one hand. An important nuance, since the “two-handed” display in 5.5 inches often scares away potential buyers.

Let’s take a closer look at Le Pro3 from all sides.On the top panel is only an IR port. Cool stuff. However, do not think the country returns to the zero years, when the two phones were lying next to each other and enthusiastically shared files. Here IR operates as a remote control for various home appliances. Called – the phone in his hands, if you do not call, you can turn on the smartphone TV or a projector. It’s insanely convenient.

Moving on. On the left end there is only a slot for two SIM cards. The battery is Micro-format, but you can not insert a flash card with additional memory here. You can be upset, of course, but now you can buy a flash drive with dual USB connector: on the one hand – the usual USB, on the other – Type-C interface with up to 128 GB of memory. In addition, it is possible to buy a smartphone with more memory at once – for 64 or 128 GB.

The right side has two buttons: one controls the volume, the other – turns on the power. They’re done in a glossy style and don’t seem to be part of the body. Therefore, the buttons are instantly palpable, the moment you press it feels very clear. One might think that the power button is too low, but it doesn’t matter if you operate it with your other hand.

On the bottom face you can find the “bullet holes” of the two speakers and the USB connector between them. Connector is used for both charging and connecting headphones. In our opinion, the iPhone imitation is not a good choice. I don’t think the Le Pro3 is a bargain-basement buyout for the pompous, practical, money-conscious… Rejection of the headphone jack – it’s not practical, especially if you already have in your arsenal of quality headphones.

In the depth of the holes for the speakers there is a fine mesh, so there should be no problems with dust, but you need to be more careful with water. The speakers are loud enough and give quite a decent sound. Of course, the table does not shake because of the bass, but the sound is very intelligible, extraneous noise does not spoil the impression. However, since the speakers are “rolled down” to one side, do not expect stereo effect on this smartphone. When watching movies “on the big screen” the sound will be fed only from one side of the device.

On the back side there are a camera, a fingerprint scanner and a dual LED flash. The fingerprint scanner is square with rounded corners. Works efficiently, its chrome finish is just a paradise for fingerprints. I even managed to take a picture of my prints in the smallest detail.

The diodes used as flashes have different color temperatures, which helps reproduce colors better. The camera head protrudes a lot in relation to the case. Although it is covered by a metal frame, there was a fear that it could be inadvertently scratched. However, if you buy a solid case, this problem will not be so urgent.

I was pleased with the central location of the camera. In my opinion, this is the optimal position. It practically eliminates fingerprints when shooting vertically or horizontally. There’s also less chance of smearing the camera.

And finally the front side. At the top of the speaker, camera, proximity sensor and a colored LED, which is not visible until it works. A very handy gizmo that has already appeared in Sony smartphones. The expenses are minimal, but it has a lot of advantages: the color of the diode shows exactly what happened – did the e-mail or SMS arrive, were there any missed calls?. And how easy it is to find the phone at night – just a fairy tale! By the way, the diode is not very bright, so that “dear, turn off that awful light” you will not hear, and asleep and falling asleep he will not interfere.

The control buttons on the smartphone – touch, located at the bottom and highlighted with a white backlight when you click. Nothing special, it works as it should, but with gloves they do not press.

The display

Le Pro3 smartphone comes with an excellent screen with FullHD resolution. For safety, it is covered by2.5D glass with rounded edges. The image sensor is made on IPS technology, which provides very high viewing angles without distortion of brightness and color.

The display is made by In-CellTouch technology, if you want to keep it simple and not be a technical geek: it is thinner than other models, there are no other noticeable differences. Le Pro3 supports 10 simultaneous taps – maybe even more, but where to get so many fingers to test?

Sensitivity of the sensor is very good. Of course it doesn’t work through my gloves, but through a T-shirt, of course. In general, the sensitivity reserve is really there. Consumer magazine is not a set of bloggers indulging in reviews, so we tested the screen more seriously, using our colorimeter.

The results are as follows – in adaptive control mode, the shell maintains brightness at about 80-100 cd/m2. This is a very good indicator, approaching the brightness of professional displays. The pictures on the screen are not glowing, the screen looks like a photo. This balanced brightness doesn’t hurt your eyes, you can look at your smartphone all day long without getting tired.

The maximum brightness of the screen reaches 485 cd/m2.This is very high indeed, ensuring that the screen is easy to read even in direct sunlight. True,for the high brightness have to pay increased energy consumption, so do not forget about the adaptive brightness control.

There is no sense to measure the floating contrast, because at different brightness values will vary by an order of magnitude.At maximum brightness the contrast was about 1000:1, which is quite enough for a clear picture. A glimpse into color reproduction. Le Pro3 has four color modes, the presence of which is rather questionable.

In standard mode the color gamut is enormous, approaching sRGB! At the same time, the color gamut of green and red tones is far beyond its limits. In general the saturated grass, red sunsets even on the small screen are provided, and the saturated icons of Votsap and MTS are provided.

With decreasing brightness the color gamut also suffers, at 80cd/m2 the green saturation does not reach the sRGB borders. In general, without going into depth, the screen of Le Pro3 is really cool, the image is bright, colors are saturated, contrast is high, without distortion when viewed from an angle.

It’s worth mentioning one BUT: many users “roll up” against the manufacturers for the black frame around the screen. By the majority of votes our editorial staff agreed that it’s nonsense, but there were those who were naturally annoyed by the black frame: the black frame on a golden background looks like a rehearsal for the obituary of a smartphone. We had a lively discussion about this: if the screen ended at the edge of the front panel, it would be uncomfortable: fingers and palm would accidentally touch the sensor every now and then, making a false call. Better to have a frame than a smartphone that likes to call anyone you want. Another question is why the black frame cannot be painted in the color of the case..

Software stuffing

The basis of the soft-core isAndroid 6.0 Marshmallow with eUI shell. In our case it was version 5.8. By and large, it’s the usual Android, but with a number of differences that are worth talking about in more detail. First, as with Xiaomi smartphones, there is no “all apps” tab/menu. There is only a desktop, which displays icons of applications after installation. You can also add widgets here.

At first it is annoying, but then you quickly get used to it. And the large number of applications is easy to organize using folders. Unlike the MiU,I press the home button to display the first page instead of the middle page. In our opinion, this is more convenient because having made one page with frequently used applications, we want it to be always the main page. InMiUI this is not the case. As the number of apps grows, the “home” page shifts.

Also unusual is the work of the top drop down menu and the left button. The upper block contains only notifications. Everything else is moved to the menu of the left button.

At the top – access to standard applications such as flashlight, calculator, etc. Then the control unit for the player, the brightness control, and the control unit for WiFi, sound, turning the screen, etc. p. This diversity is crowned by the block of switching between applications.

In general, everything is collected in one place, which is very convenient, although unusual. However, I would take away the control of the player in favor of a block of WiFi. On the hotbar only five buttons, which is frankly not enough – you have to constantly scroll through the screen.

The main drawback of the test smartphone Le Pro3 – his obtuse “localization” of many items in the system menu – here sometimes you need to know not only English but also Chinese. Hopefully, with the arrival of this device in America, the situation will change in the direction of the literary American language.

In general the shell runs very smoothly, without glitches, freezes and brakes, even with the increased load in the form of a couple of games hanging in the background, which is expected with such serious hardware.

The manufacturer offers users a variety of themes for the display on its site, which change the appearance of the menu beyond recognition. But here’s the trouble – again, everything is in Chinese. Even the price of paid themes is shown not in Dollars or dollars but in yuan.

Describe in detail the standard applications will not, the main thing – there are already installed services Google and PlayMarket, the user does not have to dance with tambourine to install them.

Let’s note a number of points that distinguish Le Pro3 from other smartphones:

– In the list of contacts, a quick search by the first letter on the side goes to the American alphabet. In my X***I bought in the official store, with localized firmware, the search goes by the Latin alphabet, which is depressing.

– Calculator, in the horizontal orientation turns into a serious tool for engineering calculations,

– Unlike its main competitor – MiUI, there is no built-in antivirus, call recording, garbage removal program etc.p. Yes, these applications are easy to install from GooglePlay, but they will have ads that are oh-so-annoying. And in MiUI, they are part of the operating system

– There are application clones. For example, for two What’sUp accounts, which can be linked to two different SIM cards, but there is no cloning of spaces, as it is already done with other brands. Basically there is no double life.

– There is a built-in IR remote control. With IR you can use one phone as a remote control for all the devices in the house. All you need to do – choose the type of device, the manufacturer and select the desired algorithm done automatically .

I have no problems with well-known brands, I’ve managed to connect a Pioneer receiver and an LG television set. But with BBK and Thomson, the heroes of our past reviews, Le Pro3 did not want to be friends.

When you connect the device, the appearance of the remote changes, taking into account the characteristics of the device. So, the only significant disadvantage of the software part is poor localization of the shell. For some people it is a problem, for others it is not. In my experience, once you have your phone set up for you, you will very rarely go back to the menu.