PatchTuesday
Expert Member
Long Story:
So my grandpa's old phone has taken a nasty fall.
It was a ZTE V967s (540 x 960 px (5.00") 220 ppi,Android JB
) that he liked quite a bit.He gave me a strict budget of R1500 and no more,which i was more than willing to add to,but ultimately shot down as he see's it as wasteful.
His only condition was that it has much better battery life than the old phone (Li-Ion 2500 mAh).Never the less,I set out on a task to find a phone that meets these requirements.Considered the Xiaomi Redmi 2 8GB LTE at R 1,459.
Checked out some reviews but that battery life and Android 4.4.4 KitKat? I mean come on,what year is this?I see i can upgrade to MIUI 8 but that's a shlep,cause it needs to be unboxed,setup and run.
Came across this http://www.doogeemobile.com/doogee-x5-max.html.Pretty impressive for a cheapy.Android marshmellow and a 4000mah battery included.More surprising is that its available locally - https://www.takealot.com/doogee-x5-max-black/PLID43686795
So I bit the bullet and purchased.Turns out the price is R1299
,I included this in the order - http://www.takealot.com/doogee-x5-max-x5-max-pro-cover-black/PLID44077515
Leather cover +Tempered glass film for R149 extra.
Total Cost : R1448
Going to collect from the warehouse later today and will let you guys know if its worth it or wet toilet paper
Short Story :
Budget+Battery requirement = bought a Doogee X5 Max from Takealot today.
Once collected,will write a short review on the experience,as its for an old person.
The Review is in
Unboxing :
Pretty simple card board box.The phone comes in a plastic sleeve with information on it.
Both the top and bottom of the sleeve are cut out so you can push the phone through either way.
The phone also has a plastic cover on the screen,which i think most phones do.
Theres a 1000mA charger and a micro usb cable and quick instruction booklet.Seems pretty standard.
Initial Impression
This phone is a fair bit heavy,comparing it to this old phone though,its more or less the same weight range so he wont mind.
Its quite thick too.Must be due to the removable battery they've slotted in there.While these may seem like complaints,its more of a so you know thing if you do consider buying it.In my grandpa's case,it really doesn't phase him.
Thats actually where the so called complaints end.The phone doesnt feel like cheap.
It has a hard plastic shell with a type of silver brushed coating all the way around the phone.
The plastics used make it feel sturdy,no doubt adding to the weight
Powering on
Greeted by the standard android boot splash logo,followed by Doogee's boot screen.
It took awhile to boot for the first time.Standard setup wizard one might expect in a vanilla version of android.
Once I added in all the details,I was pleasantly surprised to find that the phone contains no bloat apps.Sure theres apps he is never gonna use,but no Chinese crap i had to uninstall.All official apps from google play store.
Browsing through the settings,theres quite afew extra options too,like this for example; fingerprint gestures (control the camera or gallery or music player with your finger print...sweet).The most interesting is that theres a smart actions tab.Once enabled,it gives you extra configurable options.I enabled "double tap to wake",and it really works too.
The phone only has 3G which shows its "age" compared next to my Xiaomi Note 3,but in real world applications(whatsapp/email and web browsing) you'd hardly notice.Downloading and youtube on the other hand is a different story that we'll come back to.Fortunately i connected it to the home wifi and didnt notice any slow downs.One thing to note though is that it only supports 2.4Ghz networks,unfortunately.
There's a feature under settings that boosts downloads,it combines 3G+ Wifi to make it "faster".I haven't had the opportunity to test this out yet but will update you guys when I do.
Final Thoughts
Aside from the bulkiness,its actually a very decent phone which regular people would be more than happy with for a good price.
I would buy myself one just to muk about with it or keep it as a spare
So my grandpa's old phone has taken a nasty fall.
It was a ZTE V967s (540 x 960 px (5.00") 220 ppi,Android JB
) that he liked quite a bit.He gave me a strict budget of R1500 and no more,which i was more than willing to add to,but ultimately shot down as he see's it as wasteful.His only condition was that it has much better battery life than the old phone (Li-Ion 2500 mAh).Never the less,I set out on a task to find a phone that meets these requirements.Considered the Xiaomi Redmi 2 8GB LTE at R 1,459.
Checked out some reviews but that battery life and Android 4.4.4 KitKat? I mean come on,what year is this?I see i can upgrade to MIUI 8 but that's a shlep,cause it needs to be unboxed,setup and run.
Came across this http://www.doogeemobile.com/doogee-x5-max.html.Pretty impressive for a cheapy.Android marshmellow and a 4000mah battery included.More surprising is that its available locally - https://www.takealot.com/doogee-x5-max-black/PLID43686795
So I bit the bullet and purchased.Turns out the price is R1299
,I included this in the order - http://www.takealot.com/doogee-x5-max-x5-max-pro-cover-black/PLID44077515Leather cover +Tempered glass film for R149 extra.
Total Cost : R1448
Going to collect from the warehouse later today and will let you guys know if its worth it or wet toilet paper
Short Story :
Budget+Battery requirement = bought a Doogee X5 Max from Takealot today.
Once collected,will write a short review on the experience,as its for an old person.
The Review is in
Unboxing :
Pretty simple card board box.The phone comes in a plastic sleeve with information on it.
Both the top and bottom of the sleeve are cut out so you can push the phone through either way.
The phone also has a plastic cover on the screen,which i think most phones do.
Theres a 1000mA charger and a micro usb cable and quick instruction booklet.Seems pretty standard.
Initial Impression
This phone is a fair bit heavy,comparing it to this old phone though,its more or less the same weight range so he wont mind.
Its quite thick too.Must be due to the removable battery they've slotted in there.While these may seem like complaints,its more of a so you know thing if you do consider buying it.In my grandpa's case,it really doesn't phase him.
Thats actually where the so called complaints end.The phone doesnt feel like cheap.
It has a hard plastic shell with a type of silver brushed coating all the way around the phone.
The plastics used make it feel sturdy,no doubt adding to the weight
Powering on
Greeted by the standard android boot splash logo,followed by Doogee's boot screen.
It took awhile to boot for the first time.Standard setup wizard one might expect in a vanilla version of android.
Once I added in all the details,I was pleasantly surprised to find that the phone contains no bloat apps.Sure theres apps he is never gonna use,but no Chinese crap i had to uninstall.All official apps from google play store.
Browsing through the settings,theres quite afew extra options too,like this for example; fingerprint gestures (control the camera or gallery or music player with your finger print...sweet).The most interesting is that theres a smart actions tab.Once enabled,it gives you extra configurable options.I enabled "double tap to wake",and it really works too.
The phone only has 3G which shows its "age" compared next to my Xiaomi Note 3,but in real world applications(whatsapp/email and web browsing) you'd hardly notice.Downloading and youtube on the other hand is a different story that we'll come back to.Fortunately i connected it to the home wifi and didnt notice any slow downs.One thing to note though is that it only supports 2.4Ghz networks,unfortunately.
There's a feature under settings that boosts downloads,it combines 3G+ Wifi to make it "faster".I haven't had the opportunity to test this out yet but will update you guys when I do.
Final Thoughts
Aside from the bulkiness,its actually a very decent phone which regular people would be more than happy with for a good price.
I would buy myself one just to muk about with it or keep it as a spare
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