The LeTV One aka S1 or X600 managed to become extremely popular in China but internationally as well since it isn't only the very first phone made by LeTV but also boasts some very impressive specs at a comparably affordable price-tag. It's one oft he first phones to make use of the Mediatek MT6795 which is also known as the Mediatek Helio X10.
Now we already got ourselves a review sample of the LeTV One to check how good this phone and Mediatek's first high-end SoC really are. This time we purchased the device with own money from Geekbuying , so no sponsoring going on here.
Unboxing
The LeTV One comes in a simple white box with the LeTV logo on it. As oh-so-often the rear contains the devices specs, serial number and stuff. Opening the box, the phone appears right on top followed by a power supply, a USB-C cable and some end-user notes. There is no screen protector or headset.
Design
The very first thing we noticed after unboxing the LeTV is how well it is built and that LeTV paid quite some attention to detail even for the entry-level device of their line-up. The front is made from Gorilla Glass and gives a quality, solid feel in combination with the well-crafted metal frame. The power button of the phone is embedded into the right side of the phone while the volume rocker got some space on the left side. The lower side houses a USB-C port, voice microphone and speakers, the upper side the 3.5mm headphone jack. Two things we didn't like about the LeTV One are the large black borders around the LCD panel and the rear, which is made from polycarbonate and feels a little cheap compared to the remaining device. Obviously that's complaining on a high level considering the pricing, but LeTV could've paid a little more attention to detail there. Another downside is that the touch buttons are back illuminated but not bright enough. You really can only see them at night. Under daylight they are completely invisible.
Display
LeTV went for a 5.5-inch 1080p LCD IPS OGS display for the One, which we really are thankful for since 2k resolution at 5.5-inch does offer more disadvantages than advantages and thus isn't worth being used. LeTV apparently realized that and made the right decision. The screen is really nice and offers a decent amount of contrast and realistic colors. Something we didn't like that much is the brightness, which could be a tad higher. Don't get us wrong now, it definitely is bright enough for acceptable outdoor readability, but that tad of extra brightness wouldn't hurt. Another thing that some might dislike is that the display is catering the ones who like a warm color reproduction with a slight yellow-ish tint.
The touch screen of the LeTV One works absolutely flawlessly. It offers a very wmooth surface, no input lag and is very responsive. Definitely a high-end digitizer that's been packed inside of there.
Hardware
The specs are probably the main reason why the LeTV One S1 / X600 is so attractive to a lot of people. It comes with a Mediatek Helio X10 2GHz chipset, that some of you might know as the MT6795, combined with 3GB of RAM and 16GB of non-expandable memory. This is the first Mediatek high-end SoC and a strong competitor to Qualcomm's Snapdragon 810. In fact, it isn't only a competitor, it blows the Snapdragon 810 out of the water as we currently are able to witness by comparing it to the SD810 inside the Xiaomi Redmi Note Pro.
Now some of you probably wonder how that can be since Mediatek does only use Cortex A53 cores in this chipset while Qualcomm mixed the A53 cores with four A57 cores. Well, what's the reason for placing cores inside a mobile chipset that you cannot get cooled inside a smartphone? In the end the Snapdragon 810 ends up being a quad-core A53 chipset with a monster GPU after handling demanding tasks for just a few minutes. Since the Mediatek Helio X10 is built and managed in a way it doesn't need to clock down, it can retain its processing power even at high load for hours, which makes it perform much better than the Snapdragon 810. Yes, we've been very surprised to come to that conclusion, but the Helio X10 definitely kills the Snapdragon 810. Now if Mediatek keep that up and Qualcomm don't manage to create a decent 8-core chipset we believe that Mediatek will lead the market of mobile chipsets by the end of 2016. Let's see if we're right with that assumption!
Anyway, how's the Helio X10 performing? Well, it's just as fast as the Snapdragon 810 running in the fridge (no joke). The raw CPU processing power even is a tad higher than the one of the Snapdragon 810 thanks to Core Pilot, which allows Mediatek to retain higher frequencies on 100% core load. The category the MTK chipset still is behind Qualcomm is the GPU part. Here the MTK chipset has about 50 to 70% of the SD810's GPU horsepower, which still is enough to run all those games out there. What's more, the Helio X10 stays significantly cooler. While the Snapdragon 810 its 60°C within a few minutes of gaming, the Mediatek Helio X10 needs at least 30 minutes of intense gaming to hit 50°C.
Software
The LeTV One runs a new Android custom ROM called "EUI". The system is based on Android 5.0 Lollipop but we have kinda mixed feelings about it. First of all, it isn't that much of a unique custom ROM but more of a mash-up of elements taken from Apple's iOS, MIUI and Flyme OS. Some might like it, some don't, it really is a thing of taste. A little bit more significant is the sheer number of bugs the ROM still has. But you have to consider that this is LeTVs first phone ROM, so that didn't come as a surprise. Anyway, they release OTA updates extremely frequently and users even are able to do bug reports inside the update application. Every new release fixes a couple of bugs, so it won't take long until the phone runs perfectly. That being said we don't want to get deeper into the matter after mentioning that none of the bugs is significant enough to render your phone unusable.
Audio & Multimedia
One huge advantage of the Mediatek Helio X10 over the MT6752 mid-range chipset are its multimedia capabilities. It renders 4k videos without any issues onto the screen, and in case you are one of those who believe that you need a 2k screen to watch ultra HD videos, please finally understand that you don't. Even with a 1080p display you'll notice a great improvement in image quality while enjoying a better performing GPU with less energy consumption.
Audio quality is on a very high level as well, since Mediatek started using premium audio solutions with their chipsets for a while now. Like with the MT6595 the MT6795 offers a very decent audio output that is better than the output of a few Qualcomm chipsets in direct comparison. The internal stereo speakers of the LeTV One perform nicely as well but could enjoy a little more intense bass playback. Something we missed are detailed audio settings like it's the case with the Meizu MX4 or some Oppo phones. Anyway, rooting the phone allows you to install Viper4Android or Atmos for Android to further improve audio quality.
We also did a couple of phone calls on the LeTV One and didn't find any reason to complain. The audio quality is good and so is the noise cancellation. The only bug we noticed is that the audio gets interrupted from time to time. This bug is known already and will be fixed with the next OTA.
Reception Quality
The LeTV One S1 / X600 offers dual SIM support and you can use LTE SIM cards on both slots. Unfortunately the phone lacks support for FDD-LTE band 20, which might be disappointing for some users in Europe. During the whole review period we never had a single issue with the reception quality. It has been on the highest possible level, no tad behind the Meizu MX4, which already performed outstandingly well. The same applied to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth which just both worked without worries. GPS works perfect as well and isn't any bit behind a Snapdragon 801 or 810, be it speed, fix count or accuracy. Well done, Mediatek and LeTV!
Camera
The main camera of the LeTV One comes from Sony and offers a 13 mega pixel resolution plus capability of creating 4k videos in stunning quality. The camera really performs very well and can be counted towards the best phone cameras we used to date without exaggerating. Depth of field, amount of details, colors, shutter time – all that is on a very high level. The only flaw we noticed is that sometimes pictures tend to be a little overexposed, but this is likely to be a software issue. Something we missed are features of the camera software. There isn't much to discover besides a panorama and night mode, which hopefully will be improved later on. The front camera was a huge surprise. Despite not being equipped with an auto focus, it creates very sharp pictures that even demanding selfie-takers will get to love.
Battery
Battery life again is a win for the LeTV One. Thanks to the efficiency of the Helio X10, the LeTV One will survive a long time with its 3,000mAh cell. You won't have any issues getting throughout a full day with a single charge, even if you power-use the device. Indeed we often got 2 days of battery life, which is a pleasure compared to some Snapdragon 810 devices that can suck a 3,000mAh battery empty within 60 minutes while playing games. Charging takes about 1.5 hours, which isn't that much considering LeTV doesn't advertise any fast-charging capabilities.
LeTV One S1 / X600 Review: Final Conclusion
Taking all that into account we'd say that the LeTV One is a great debut of LeTV on the phone market and makes us looking forward to their next devices. Price-performance-wise the phone really is kickin' a few asses out there and is one more perfect example for the fact that Mediatek is the new boss of the mobile chipset arena these days (and hopefully will stay). In case you are looking for the high-end inside the sub $300 area, the LeTV One definitely is worth a closer look for you.
In case you want to purchase the phone, check out the offer at Geekbuying who have a decent pricing of $294. We purchased there as well and the device arrived after just a couple of days.
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