Ulefone is going in for the kill with its latest smartphone; the Ulefone Metal. This handset has set itself apart from the competition by providing features such as 3GB of RAM, fingerprint sensor, Gorilla Glass 3 protection and even an octa core processor at a relatively cheap price point. Today we strive to explore this phones best and worst features as we unravel the pros and cons of the Ulefone Metal.
Pros and Cons of the Ulefone Metal
Cons of the Ulefone Metal
HD display instead of Full HD. I was quite surprised to see that the Ulefone Metal doesn't feature a Full HD display but rather a more modest 5 inch HD display. I say I was surprised because many of its competitors within the same price bracket go for the Full HD displays so it was quite surprising to find out that Ulefone had neglected to include this feature amongst the phone's pros.
Not very good cameras. This isn't all that much of a surprise considering how other phones are fairing. Right now, the average camera set of an entry level phone is composed of a 13 megapixel rear shooter and a 5 mpx front shooter.
This would all be well and done except for the fact that the Ulefone Metal actually has a 2 megapixel front end shooter and an 8 mpx rear end that through interpolation can manage higher resolutions. However, that's software we're talking about, the sensor will still capture a 2 and 8 megapixel image.
Non removable battery. This con of the Ulefone Metal is actually a drawback very typical amongst high end phones as well as mid-range phones. In the hopes of designing a more compact premium-looking handset companies have decided to remove the option of swapping out the batteries within the phones.
This would be fine if phones had reached a point where there was no need to swap batteries but so far most smartphones can hardly manage more than a day of usage making the interchangeable battery an actual necessity for many users who don't wanna drag around a portable battery pack everywhere they go.
Base storage is just 16GB. With 3GB of RAM we were quite discouraged to find out that Ulefone's latest flagship only has 16GB of internal storage.
The problem with limited internal storage is that if you want to expand storage you have to give up another key feature which is the Dual SIM option that this phone offers its users. This happens because the additional SIM slot is also the microSD card slot so you have to make the choice between having two numbers or having more than 16GB of base storage.
Pros of the Ulefone Metal
Android 6.0 right off the bat. As surprising as it might seem, not all current phones launch with Android 6.0 as their operating system. Nowadays there are still models launching with Android 5.1, especially within the chinese manufacturers. Considering that most of these phones hardly ever get a chance to update their OS it's not a bad thing to have the latest OS already factory installed and ready to play.
A decent battery life. While we might've listed the non-removable battery as a con, there's a decent battery life which definitely goes into the pro list for this phone. To be specific, we've got a 3050 mAh battery that can deliver up to 1 day of battery life with heavy usage and a day and a half with moderate usage.
While not the most impressive numbers we've seen and a far cry from Ulefone's own Ulefone Power, they're still pretty good numbers for average joes who'll end up charging the phone at night either way.
Very ergonomic design. Amongst the many advantages of this phone, ergonomics takes a high place since the company has managed to deliver a 5 inch phone that can be operated on a single hand. What's more, the fingerprint scanner on the back of the phone delivers a more seamless unlocking experience which- according to the company- will take you roughly 0.2 seconds.
There's also the fact that despite being a 5 inch phone is has the size of a smaller phone by taking on the bezel and creating a phone that virtually has no bezel to be seen, this helps make the phone more portable and easier to handle on a single hand.
High end specs. Aside from the battery life and ergonomic design, another big advantage of the Ulefone Metal lies within its core internal specs. More specifically, this phone gets ahead of the competition by delivering a 3GB RAM module coupled with an octa core MediaTek processor which together make working with Android 6.0 a seamless and fluid activity. Overall, this is a great combo in terms of performance as well as multitasking, delivering a solid performance any day of the week.
Entry level price point. Finally, in wrapping our recap of the pros and cons of the Ulefone Metal we couldn't let the price of the handset go unnoticed. After all, we probably wouldn't even be talking about this phone if it weren't for its competitive pricing.
To this point, the Ulefone Metal delivers high end specs on a very budget-friendly price. Specs typically reserved for phones sold for several hundred dollars more are made available at a considerable discount and that is definitely a strong advantage point.
Wrapping things up: What's the final verdict?
Do the pros outweigh the cons? That's an entirely subjective question that's hard to answer in an objective manner. That said, this phone has a lot going for it. Its 3GB of RAM, quality processor, decent battery life and Android 6.0 being at the forefront of said pros.
However, there are a series of drawbacks to consider; mainly the limited internal storage and the bet on an HD display will dissuade more than one user from picking this phone over another but overall we're pretty pleased and consider this to be one of the flagship entry level phones of the year.