Fresh from China comes a brand and a unit you’ve probably have never heard of.
While unbeknownst to many, the Le Eco brand formerly known as LeTV, has been one of the firsts in including future-proof specs in their lineup. Are they here to do it again? Let’s find out.
Design & Display
Taking some notes on an obvious competitor, the Le Max 2 is clad in aluminum with visible antenna lines seen here. Up top will be the camera bump with dual tone LED flash plus a shiny fingerprint sensor situated right below. Nothing else can be seen apart from the shiny LeEco logo at the bottom portion.
Buttons can be found at the right panel starting from the volume rocker that’s located above the power button. The dual nano sim tray can be found on the opposite end. No option to expand.
Up top is an infrared blaster and below houses bottom firing stereo speakers and the USB C port. Yes, you guessed it, it will not come with a 3.5mm headphone jack. No, they did not copy Apple. In fact, they were a few months ahead of Cupertino in doing this. Why? We have absolutely no idea.
The whole backing tapers at the sides and chamfers for better grip to meet the front panel pleasantly being greeted by the highly reflective 5.7inch LTPS IPS LCD display at 1440p. The top portion is where you can locate the ambient light and proximity sensor and the 8MP front facing camera. The chin will house the backlit capacitive keys in reverse order with the back button at the right.
The bezel on the display is a bit thick compared to its rival phones, the device feels heavy and navigating one hand is a bit of a task. Overall, it has a solid build and premium feel but the display could be brighter.
Camera
The 21MP f/2.0, phase-detection autofocus main shooter is as good as it gets with no problem capturing in broad daylight and colors appearing naturally but lacks in sharpness.
Night shooting is fairly average and struggles to capture details accurately.
Taking a selfie on its 8MP camera captures sharp image and accurate colors slow on shutter speed.
Its rear camera can shoot up to impressive 4K resolution and minimizes shakiness with the help of Optical Image Stabilization(OIS), but could be better. One problem that I have noticed is that you might have to manually choose what object to focus on since it struggles to focus properly on the subject while recording.
Performance
The device is packed with a Snapdragon 820 quad-core chipset paired with 32GB or 64 GB for 4GB RAM variant and 64GB or 128GB for 6GB variant.
Expect to handle tedious tasks with no problem. There was no noticeable lag or stutter throughout the usage but you may notice the chin heat up a little bit. Playing games like Modern Combat 5 plays very smoothly at 60frame rates per second.
Le Max 2 runs on Android Marshmallow 6.0 with eUI 5.6 on top. LeEco’s UI is a comes with few bloatware which is a big plus for file management and provides cleaner look on user interface.
You will notice that the notification bar on top of the display is not your standard affair. Shortcuts to flashlight, wifi, bluetooth buttons and everything else are found on the menu on the left side of the capacitive keys. A slight adjustment is needed to get used to.
Its fingerprint scanner is disappointing. From registering to unlocking your device, it is very slow compared to other devices of the same category. Accuracy is lackluster as it will take some tries before unlocking on some events.
Battery
Its 3100mAh battery is small for its size but do not be deceived. The device can last throughout the day with a single charge while performing usual tasks. It also does not drain the battery easily on standby mode. Charging it from 0 to 100percent took less than 2 hours thanks to Quick Charge 3.0.
Audio
Speakers are loud but with some strains if you go past 50%. Additionally, the device supports high-res 24-bit audio with the proprietary USB C to headphone jack dongle included in the box.
Price and verdict
For P13,995 pesos or $300 for the base model, LeEco Le Max 2 is a true competitor if you are looking for a budget flagship. For this device, it is a hit and miss. Its battery and performance is great but its design and the just good-enough camera holds it back from being a true flagship alternative.
What do you think of the LeEco LeMax 2? Is it worth the buy?
Let us know at the comments section.
Mabuhay, Manila.
LeEco Le Max 2 Full specs, Release date, Official price in the Philippines
- Display: 5.7-inch 1440p IPS LCD, 515 ppi
- Design: flat glass, curved aluminum, camera bump
- SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor clocked at 2.1GHz speed (high-end chip for early 2016)
- GPU: Adreno 530
- Memory: 4 GB RAM or  6 GB RAM3GB 32/64GB or 64/128GB
- Camera: 21MP f/2.0 with OIS, phase detection autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash
- Selfie:Â 8 MP f/2.2 video 1080p
- Connectivity: WiFi 802.11ac, 4G LTE, Dual-SIM (hybrid), Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, GPS 4G LTE, Dual SIM (hybrid)
- Security: Fingerprint scanner
- OS:Android 6.0 Marshmallow with LeUI
- Battery: 3100mAh battery capacity, Quick Charge 2.0
- Ports and charging: USB Type-C
- Audio: High-res 24bit audio through dongle via USB-C, stereo speakers
- Release Date: May 2016 (International) availability in the Philippines through online reseller
- Official price: $300 USD or P13,995 pesos price from Widget City
