Phones are getting bigger and bigger in 2016 and leading the charge is LeEco, a company which was known as LeTV before it decided to rebrand.
It’s a new Chinese player in the highly competitive Indian smartphone market and it’s betting big on the large screen size of the Le Max, a smartphone that falls half an inch short of being a tablet.
Priced at Rs 32,999, it’s not a cheap Chinese smartphone at all. It is robust and has the finesse to challenge its Japanese and Korean competitors. Its competition largely includes the Samsung Galaxy Note 5, the QiKU Q-Terra and even the iPhone 6s Plus.
Key Specifications: Le Max
- Processor: (1.5 GHz Quad+ 2GHz Quad) Octa-Core Snapdragon 810 Processor
- RAM: 4GB
- Display: 6.33 Inch Quad HD Touch Screen Display
- Rear Camera: 21MP With LED Flash
- Front Camera: 4MP Ultrapixel
- Battery: 3,400 MAh
- Operating System: Android Lollipop
- Price: Rs 32,999
What’s Good?
The Le Max is aptly named because of its huge 6.33-inch 2K display. The real estate that you get on the display is enormous and the thin bezels help in maximising the display experience. The display is sharp and color reproduction is in the league of what you get on modern flagship smartphones thanks to the 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution on the 6-inch display.
The phone is apt if you love watching videos or reading books on your smartphone. In my experience, this phone was made to watch Netflix on.
Performance wise also the Le Max is on the money with an Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 Processor that’s backed by 4GB RAM. It gives you performance across the range, be it multitasking or gaming.
For taking images, the 21-megapixel snapper at the back does a fantastic job. There are video options of slow-motion and 4K. The OIS (Optical Image Stabilisation), dual 14-bit ISP image processor and the 6P lens work in tandem to reproduce great image quality and videos.
The phone also gives you a good battery life of one and a half days with full charge and mixed usage. Considering it has a 3,400 mAh battery, you expect more but with the sheer size of the screen and fire power that the phone has to offer, a day and a half is more than what you get with the iPhone 6s Plus.
The most amazing bit is the storage on the Le Max – 64GB of internal storage is standard. The phone is a 4G LTE compatible device on both the SIM card slots.
What’s Bad?
It’s a well-built smartphone with a metal body and round edges but is a bit heavy, weighing in at 204 grams. It’s not a thin phone either at 8.9 mm and has trouble fitting in your jeans pocket.
The 4-megapixel front camera features a 5P lens with an 81-degree wide-angle lens and an f2.0 aperture. On paper, that sounds impressive but in the real world, the selfies come out hazy sometimes and the focus takes time to adjust.
The Le Max runs on Android Lollipop Operating system and not the latest Google build. On top of that, you also get LeEco’s EUI OS, that at times feels laggy.
The fingerprint scanner on the Le Max is good but still not in the league of the iPhone 6s Plus.
This phone comes with USB Type-C and, right now, there are only a few phones in India with that. The company does provide a USB Type-C to Micro-USB cable inside the box, but carrying it around all the time is a bit of a fuss.
Why Buy It?
LeEco is a new entrant in the Indian market and the company says it’s here to stay. Right now, it’s selling phones on e-commerce platforms and the after sales service will be put to the test after the 2nd February 2016 Le Max sale.
At Rs 32,999, the Le Max is a tempting smartphone to buy. It has all the features that one wants from a flagship smartphone.
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