It’s an interesting strategy, and somewhat of a gamble. Will customers pay for the subscription from next year onwards once the one-year free membership is over? This remains to be seen. Will LeEco manage to make an offer that Indian smartphone users will not be able to refuse? Keeping all this in mind, we present to you the review of Le 1S Eco.
Look and design
If you have seen or used the Le 1s, there is nothing new to say about the Le 1s Eco. Both phones are exactly the same. The new model is currently available only in a gold variant, but there is no significant change in design between the two. Dimensions and weight are also unchanged. The test unit given to us still had the old LeTV logo. This is surprising, as the company has had a long time to change it.
The materials used to make the Le 1S and the build quality are excellent. So we are completely satisfied with this phone as well. It feels more expensive than it looks. It is a bit sharp on the edges, but it is generally quite comfortable to hold and use.
All the important points are easily accessible, including the fingerprint sensor on the rear. The SIM card slot on the right side can accommodate one Nano-SIM and one Micro-SIM card. There is no support for microSD cards on the handset. The Le 1s Eco comes with a USB Type-C port that can be used for charging and data transfer. You also get a quick charger, which is bigger and bulkier than the ones you usually get.
Specification
Compared to the Le 1s, the Le 1s Eco comes with a slightly lower clock speed CPU. It also comes with an octa-core MediaTek Helio X10 processor, but the company has said that it will give a clock speed of 1.8 GHz compared to the 2.2 GHz clock speed of the older phone.
It has a 5.5-inch display with 1080×1920 pixel resolution. The new variant also has 3GB of RAM and 32GB of inbuilt storage. There is no change in the 3000mAh battery, 13MP rear camera and 5MP front camera. You will also get a fingerprint sensor on the rear.
It has Wi-Fi AC, Bluetooth 4.1 and A-GPS and both the SIMs will support 4G LTE network. There is no space for microSD card, but the company will provide 5 TB of cloud storage free in Le Membership. These are excellent specifications for any phone, which makes Le 1S Eco even more amazing at this price.
This means you are getting the same old phone with major changes but at a lower price. We will have to see how the lower clock speed will affect the performance. Hopefully, the impact will not be too much.
Software
This is where the new Le 1s Eco breaks away from the older phone. The phone currently runs Android 5.0.2 and we feel the custom EUI skin needs some work. We feel there are unnecessary changes to the general functionality of Android. This custom UI can be improved further with a core software update and some industry tricks.
However, the most important feature of this phone is the LeEco membership package. This gives the user access to movies, TV channels, songs and live streams. You can access this by tapping the Live icon at the bottom of the homescreen. In simple words, this is a customized version of Yupp TV.
Right now the channel options are limited, but the quality is not bad on a fast internet connection. You will get many news and music channels in 10 Indian languages. But there are no options for sports, movies, entertainment channels right now.
Performance
Le 1s Eco is a solid phone, even if the media features are left out. We found that the phone got very hot at times while streaming videos and especially while charging. It can get a little uncomfortable if you are constantly holding it in your hands. There was no problem playing games. Watching movies on the full-HD screen was a great experience. The built-in speakers are good, but not enough for watching videos in a group.
The effect of the lower clock speed was not visible much in the benchmark results. The benchmark results of Le 1S Eco remained around the same as the older Le 1S.
In our battery loop test, the phone lasted for 6 hours and 7 minutes, which is disappointing. In normal use, the phone’s battery life was good and the standby time was also noteworthy.
Camera performance was also similar to that of Le 1s. Photos taken in daylight were quite good. There was an occasional problem with focus lock. Shots taken in low light were very poor. Photos taken under streetlamps, shop signs or even window light were not usable. This is where the reason for this variant of Le 1s being cheaper becomes apparent.
Our verdict
LeEco has taken an interesting decision to launch the Le 1S Eco as a separate model rather than a special edition of the older phone. Both phones are almost identical. There is nothing different except the difference of Rs 100 in price and a slight difference in clock speed. The company’s focus is on content and here LeEco will have to work hard to gain acceptance among the customers.
If the content offered by this company is not of use to you, then you may prefer to spend Rs 490 per month on some other content of your choice. However, 5 TB of cloud storage is a great offer in this price range.
If content is more important to you than a low-clocked processor, consider the Le 1s Eco instead of the Le 1s. On the other hand, if you are never going to use content, then you can buy the older Le 1s. Both look good. If you are very conscious about camera quality and battery life, then avoid both phones.
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