As a follow through article to (Ekophone 4.20 Unboxing and Initial Impressions) our team further test the unit to see how it performs and see its maximum potential. Now lets take a deeper look into their mid-range smartphone offering the Ekophone 4.20.
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| See Giveaway below! :) |
Here's our Full Review!
Accessories
Accessories
Man what can I say? Hands down! It is a complete overall package! Ekophone impressively managed to squeeze in a flip cover, a screen protector, earbuds with mic and usb cable charger into that box! :)
All of the accessories are almost perfect to me except one, its earbuds with mic. Unfortunately, its earbuds didn't sound as good as other stock earbuds I've tried, the volume was pretty low too and it don't have left and right markings. Hopefully, Ekotek will address this issue on their next releases.
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| Look at that lovely looking elegant flip cover case! |
Build Quality
Ekophone brought the house down on this one! They pulled off with a very thin elegant looking phone that doesn't compromise its build quality. Everything feels so premium and solid. I love the touch of aluminum on the side and surprisingly its plastic parts doesn't feel cheap or easy to break at all. Great Job Ekotek!
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| Sim 1 & Sim 2 Present! Take a look at that chassis everything looks so solid! |
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| Aside from that the phone is also really thin. :) |
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| A very minimalist sexy back! |
Display
Just Right! The colors found on this device looks vibrant and clear, the colors are just right even though it is not as sharp as Full HD phones with high ppi. Viewing your photos and movies is just feels right. Ekotek also didn't disclose the exact ppi of Ekophone 4.20, however based on CPUZ it has roughly around 240 ppi. I must say that is pretty decent for a phone of this size, however Ekotek must step up their game as most local brands already have 290+ ppi in this price range.
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| Good display! |
Performance
Quite Okay! Powered by a Dual Core 1.2GHz MTK6572 and 512 MB of RAM, Ekophone 4.20 did a good job after few days of testing. I hardly feel any lag on regular surfing, texting, making calls and social media applications. Amazingly, there are very few bloatwares in this phones. That could be the reason why it feels smooth even though it has a fairly low RAM at 512 MB. Unfortunately with just 512 MB of RAM, I have limited multitasking capability. At most I can open 3-5 apps smoothly at a time.
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| Samsung like icons here |
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| It also have a nice app shortcut drawer on the side :) |
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| This is what I love with its UI, clean your apps now! |
When it comes to gaming this device did fairly well, there are occasional lags when you play average games. Overall it performed pretty decent on average and light games, but expect that it might not be able to run large apps and games due to its limited ram.
Battery Life
Surprisingly, this device lasted me more than a day of moderate use given its low battery capacity at 1200 mAh only. When it comes to gaming, expect huge battery drainage and you might need to prepare your phone charger. :)
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| Ekophone 4.20's battery performance |
Audio Quality Test
Headphones - It can drive headphones properly up to 80% volume. Ekophone 4.20 headphone sound quality is quite okay, you could hear the details just right, though it lacks a little sparkle in the treble department and punch in the bass region compared to starmobile play and MyPhone's A919i.
Call Quality - without using the earbuds included, it performed quite well and you could hear the voice clearly. Unfortunately, when you use the earbuds it didn't perform quite okay.
Speakers - The speakers was loud and clear enough for my taste and you can hear the details just right. Just don't expect audiophile grade audio here, but it is quite okay for regular users.
Call Quality - without using the earbuds included, it performed quite well and you could hear the voice clearly. Unfortunately, when you use the earbuds it didn't perform quite okay.
Speakers - The speakers was loud and clear enough for my taste and you can hear the details just right. Just don't expect audiophile grade audio here, but it is quite okay for regular users.
Benchmarks
Here's the result of our benchmarks with Ekophone 4.20
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| Antutu Benchmark |
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| Quadrant Benchmark |
Camera Test
Check out our sample shots with the camera! :)
Rear Camera
Even though it is just a 5MP camera it is a good one. You can see the details of the photo quite well and it is not that grainy compared to others. :) Good job Ekotek!
Even though it is just a 5MP camera it is a good one. You can see the details of the photo quite well and it is not that grainy compared to others. :) Good job Ekotek!
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| Pretty Impressive for a 5MP Camera |
With Flash
Even though it does not have a dual led flash, I'm quite surprised that its flash performed quite acceptable in our shots.
Even though it does not have a dual led flash, I'm quite surprised that its flash performed quite acceptable in our shots.
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| In a very dark setting its single LED flash did quite well |
Front Camera
Ekophone 4.20's camera is only at 0.3MP, which is quite low with today's standard. Fortunately it performs pretty well as long as the lighting is good.
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| Trying out #Selfie in Ekophone 4.20! Pardon my face, LOL |
Pros
- Top notch build quality
- Elegant looking design
- Easy to use UI
- Great overall package
- 2 weeks outright replacement
- Good Screen Quality
Cons
- Priced a little high for the specs compared to other local brands
(forgivable for those who look for a classy looking local smartphone with great build quality)
- No USB OTG
- Keyboard on text messages is a little awkward (where's the enter key?)
- Subpar Earbuds (No Left and Right Markings too)
Verdict
Ekophone 4.20 is a capable everyday phone, though it is not spec'ed as high as its competitors in this price range, Ekotek manage to fill the gap up with its outstanding build quality and class leading design. It does not feel cheap at all! :)
As a new brand, Ekophone did great! Though there are some flaws that need to be addressed, I'm sure Ekotek would be able to address that in their next releases.
Check them out:
- http://ekotek.com.ph/ekophone420
- http://ekotek.com.ph/about/
- https://www.facebook.com/ekotekgadgets
