Ulefone has certainly carved a name for itself in the affordable smartphone space and while the company may be unknown too many people in the western hemisphere they've actually been doing an amazing job for quite some time now. As the company expands beyond its borders and reaches new heights today we seek to take a look at one of its most promising new models; the Ulefone Power.
Specifically, we're gonna dive head first into the pros and cons of a phone that's so appealing it makes the Moto G look like a starter phone. Without further ado, here are the advantages and disadvantages of the Ulefone Power.
Ulefone Power Pros and Cons without the sugarcoating
Cons of the Ulefone Power
Low base storage (and cuestionable expandability)
The first thing that strikes us when taking a gander at the Ulefone Power is the fact that the smartphone comes equipped with a very modest base storage of 16 GB. You might think this is irrelevant when you consider that it supports SD cards that go up to 128 GB but Ulefone's signature handset has a problem that's very common amongst many of his "peers"; the shared memory slot.
To be more specific, the phone has two slots; one for your standard microSIM card and another slot which can be filled either by a standard SIM card or by your microSD storage card. That means that if you need to upgrade storage and use two numbers at the same time you're out of luck with this phone.
This all could've been easily avoided had the company at least placed a 32 GB base version but with 16 GB those who are looking for a phone to carry two numbers and all their data will simply have to take their money elsewhere. To be fair, this issue is fairly common so there's no point in dwelling over it.
It's on the heavy side of things
Surely no one expected a 6050 mAh battery to have no weight so we kind of saw this one coming. Specifically, the phone weighs in at 190 grams (standard for this size is 150) and its thickness is not winning any awards either with 9.5 millimeters.
This presents itself as a disadvantage when it comes down to general ergonomics. Couple that with the fact that the phone is a phablet and you've got yourself a phone that might not be the perfect fit for everyone and might take a bit of an adjustment on behalf of the user.
Updating Android is unlikely
As it is, even big name brands like Samsung and LG only upgrade a handful of their phones beyond the first iteration so it would certainly come as no surprise if the smartphone stuck it out with Android 6.0 and never went beyond that. This is a minor con of the Ulefone Power, especially when you consider the fact that the phone has a heavily customized skin which will be good at not making you feel like your phone is outdated a year from now.
WiFi is of the b/g/n variety
This is something that most people don't even look at but that I consider to be a pretty big deal. I'm talking about the WiFi antenna which ideally should be of the a/b/g/n/ac variety. Why does this matter? Simply put; if you've got a compatible router in your home or at your office your phone will have up to three times faster download speeds.
We're not saying that a b/g/n antenna is slow but it's certainly not as fast as it could be had they gone with the ac antenna.
No NFC support
As is customary, this chinese phone doesn't come with NFC support. Again, this is a very popular problem and even big chinese brands like Xiaomi and Meizu tend to skip over the part in their more affordable phones.
Pros of the Ulefone Power
Overall impressive design
Once we've reviewed the cons we've gotta say that the Ulefone Power's design is certainly on the pros side of things. To this point, we really like the 2.5D curved display as well as the different colour options available; our favourite being the wooden one.
Ergonomics are also pretty good, despite being on the heavy side of the phablet market. This is also thanks to the vision Ulefone had when placing the fingerprint scanner on the back end of the phone as well as the dedicated "artist button" which you can program either to be a quick access to your camera or your microphone.
Incomparable battery life and charge velocity
Battery life is a big deal for most consumers and when asked what they would like to improve of their current smartphones the general response is an improved battery life across the board. That's why we're really excited with this smartphone's battery life since - according to the company- it can deliver up to 63 hours of talking time and 4 days of regular use. This is all thanks to its 6050 mAh battery which is also the main reason why the phone is heavier than many of its colleagues.
However, battery life is not all this phone has going for it, it also has a speedy charge on its side. Specifically, we're looking at 2 hours of talk time on a 5 minute charge, 1 day of usage on a 30 minute charge and the full charge can be over and done with after just a couple of hours.
Outstanding internals
A big phone with a good battery is only as good as its internals. It would be pointless to have a phone that can run all day if it's a dud when you use it. Ulefone knows this and that's why this phone sports a great MediaTek MTK6753 octa core CPU that can work at a speed of 1.3 GHz.
However, the CPU isn't everything, RAM plays a major role in general performance, especially in terms of multitasking and that's why this phone delivers 3 GB of RAM.
We already mentioned the major disadvantage that the 16 GB of storage provided but other than that the internals are pretty awesome, especially for a budget phone.
A good camera and an infrared sensor
Infrared sensors on phones aren't all that common. However, they provide the user with a wide array of usability features. You could use your phone as a remote control for your TV, ac, fans, music systems and a whole lot more. It's odd this feature hasn't really gone mainstream since it can prove to be quite handy when you lose your remote or run out of battery on your standard remotes.
There's also the issue of the camera which in this case is signed by none other than Sony. The main camera has a 13 megapixel sensor with a high ISO to give you good lighting even when your pics are done in dark settings.
The front camera is a bit more "ordinary" with a 5 megapixel sensor but all in all it's pretty good for your basic video chat and selfie pics. It's not the best set of cameras in the smartphone market but they're quite allright.
A competitive price point
Finally, to wrap up our list of pros of the Ulefone Power we couldn't ignore the price point. At the price of this phone you wouldn't really expect anything beyond an entry or mid level phone but to get what's basically high end specs at this price is a bargain.
It's not that hard to see why this phone has become a massive success amongst consumers, especially for those who don't really like to tie themselves up to contracts and prefer to fly freely once they purchase their phones.
In Conclusion : Do the advantages outweigh the drawbacks?
Time to close our review of the Ulefone Power pros and cons and we must say it's not that hard to see why this phone is such a success. Sure, storage should've been upgraded to 32 GB but other than that there's no major drawback that would make someone look in another direction.
CPU is great, screen is spectacular, RAM is more than enough and battery life is simply a joy that very few phones share. All in all, an excellent choice for a low cost phablet that won't disappoint.