There is this new competition between the Chinese smartphone companies to provide best features in the least price. Sometimes they fail to keep up the with the build quality, or may be increasing the performance has adverse effects. But some companies manage to hit that sweet balanced spot where all the features are kept in mind while building a new smartphone. Recently we got LeTV Le 2 for review which is the successor to the previous model Le 1S. Let us do the LeEco Le 2 full review and find out if it managed to hit that sweet spot. It comes with this entertainment package wherein you can watch various shows and live stream of some channels.
LeEco Le 2 full review
Design – 8/10
The Le 2 smartphone has a very premium metallic design considering it is a budget smartphone. It has a matte finish all over the body, with the edges sharpened to give it a glossy shiny look. On the right, there is the power button and volume rockers while the IR blaster is on the top. USB type C charging/data syncing port is at the bottom with the speaker grills. The Fingerprint sensor is on the back with Letv logo. The phone weighs 153g approx and does feel light in the hands as it is slim. I can say that the design of Le 2 has a premium finish and you don’t need to worry about this. Though I cannot say much about the build quality. The phone is still surviving after a few falls from my pocket and table height.
Display – 9/10
LeEco Le 2 has a 5.5 inch IPS full HD display with pixel density of approx 401 ppi. The depth of all the colors, crispness and display quality is amazing. This is one thing that I love the most about this device. There is no specific screen protection mentioned anywhere but it comes with Gorilla Glass 3. The touch is very responsive and the viewing angles are great. It has touch capacitive buttons below the display. When you turn off the display you won’t notice any bezel on the sides. Le 2 must get 10 for the display but there is a thing called AMOLED.
Does the display cracks(noise) when pressed hard?
Many people heard that there was some issue with the display of Le 2. Some people complained that they heard cracking sound when the display was hard pressed. Well, I can say that you do hear some sound but that is definitely not cracking sound. It is just that there is some hollow space below the screen. It doesn’t affect the phone in any way and I have tested it well. In the normal usage you never have to press the display that hard anytime as the touch works well.
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Camera – 7/10
Le 2 comes with 16MP rear camera having f2.0 aperture with dual tone LED flash. The auto-focus works well though I had some issues with touch focus. The camera is average and performs great in daylight. I won’t say that this is the worst camera in this price segment. You can record 4K videos at 30fps & 720p slow motion videos at 120fps with Le 2. The front camera is of 8MP and can take some great selfies. You can use the fingerprint sensor to click selfies which makes the job much easier. The camera on this phone is much better than its competitor Redmi Note 3. Overall the camera is decent, but if you want a better camera smartphone then spend few more bucks to get Moto G4 Plus.
Performance – 9/10
The phone comes with Qualcomm MSM8976 Snapdragon 652 chipset octa-core processor(4×1.4GHz cortex A53+4×1.8GHz cortex A72). It has 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage out of which 24GB is user available. On the graphics end, it runs on Adreno 510 GPU which can process any high-end game you throw at it. Le 2 has performance as its one of the strong points and so it’s called Superphone. Now with this power comes heating. Yes, the phone does gets warm a little bit while you play high-end games. Though the maximum heat was experienced at the time of using JIO 4G + GPS + Pokemon Go + sunlight. LeEco has done a good job reducing the heat if we compare it to Le 1s. The smartest thing they have done is by providing transparent silicon case with the phone which protects it along with that it reduces the heat sensation. If you are using the phone with the case then you will not experience heat even a little bit. There was no lag in the day to day usage, but you need to clear the RAM before you start playing high graphics intensive game or you may experience a little lag. Though I had almost no complaints with the performance of this phone.
On the software side, it comes with the latest Android 6.0 marshmallow with EMUI theme running on top of it. It also doesn’t have an app drawer, you can auto arrange the icons or group them in folders. Le 2 comes with supertainment package that includes 1-year free subscription to some of the TV channels, movies/videos on demand. You have the Live button instead of the app drawer button which cannot be replaced by any other quick launch icon. The option to toggle Wifi, Bluetooth, Music is now shifted to the ‘recent apps’ button. It will take some time to adjust but then it works like a charm. The remote control app for the IR blaster worked like a charm for almost all the devices I tried to control using it.
Sound and connectivity
The audio level experience of Le 2 was good and if we compare it with the smartphones that are launched nowadays, it is much better. Though I may not consider it as the loudest audio device. The speaker is just placed below the right speaker grill and the placement is proper such that we don’t cover it while playing games and watching movies.
There are different common connectivity option like Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS, OTG support, IR etc. The phone comes with Dual nano SIM support. Le 2 is VoLTE enabled that means you can use networks like JIO easily. Though there is no 3.5mm audio jack to insert your earphones. The USB type C to 3.5mm converter comes with the device. The fingerprint sensor works great and can be also used to click selfies.
CDLA earphones review – Disappointing
The CDLA(Continual Digital Lossless Audio) earphones where free for the customers who bought the phone in the very first sale. The design is the same of the earphones that comes with iPhone. Frankly I don’t like those earphones much. Here are the drawbacks:
- First of all, they don’t fit into your ears properly. So the sound leaks a lot, don’t get me started about noise cancellation.
- Second thing, the treble is high so if you hear the audio at high level then you may experience a little pain.
- Third, while playing games the audio from earphones distorts a lot(For example- Mortal Kombat X).
The only good thing about these earphones is the audio quality if you are in a silent room and the orange LEDs on each earpiece. The LEDs make the earphone look really cool. the build quality is also good. LeTV needs to work on refining their earphones. The price of the earphones is Rs.1990 on LeMall and they are totally not worth the buy.
Battery
Le 2 comes with a 3000mAh battery that supports fast charging. The phone can charge up to 60-75% in 45 mins and for the full charge it takes 1.5hrs. If you are a heavy user using 4G, then you will need to carry a power bank along with the smartphone. Under normal usage condition, the phone can last till you return home from work. I would say the battery performance on Le 2 is average. The phone does heat up a little while charging. Using the phone will charging is strictly not recommended.
You get 1 year of manufacturer warranty with 6 months warranty on the accessories. The price of Le 2 is Rs.11,999 and is available on LeMall and Flipkart.
So this was the LeEco le 2 full review along with CDLA earphones review. The phone is totally worth to buy in this segment. It is in fact one of the best smartphones to buy in this budget. If you want expandable storage then I suggest you go for Redmi Note 3. I actually am using Le 2 smartphone as my primary device and loving it. If you have any doubts regarding this smartphone then do comment below.
