Chinese manufacturer UMI sometime back launched an affordable Android handset S1 for around Rs 12,000. Here is our review of the device.
Android 4.2.1 based UMI S1 has a 5 inch display with 720 x 1280 pixel HD resolution. It is powered by a 1.2 GHz quad core processor from Mediatek. It has 1 GB RAM and 8 GB internal storage, which can be further expanded to 32 GB using a micro SD card. On the battery front it has a 2500 mAh power house.
Design and form factor
If we talk about design UMI S1 has a plastic body and the back panel is made of rubberized plastic, which makes it non slippery. The side panel of the device is of red colour, which gives it a good look. On the right panel there is a volume rocker and on the top panel there is a power on/off button and 3.5 mm jack. Both the power and volume rocker buttons are almost merged with the design of the phone and are sometimes difficult to access. The design of the phone seems to be inspired from HTC Butterfly; even the colour combination is similar to it.
Camera
Under the back panel you will find dual SIM slots and space for a micro SD card. On the camera front UMI S1 has an 8 Megapixel rear camera with auto focus and LED flash, along with a 2 megapixel front camera.
The picture quality of the rear camera is quite good in well-lit conditions, but in low light conditions it is just average.
Display and storage
UMI S1 has a 5 inch IPS display with 720 x 1280 pixel resolution. The display quality is quite good and colour reproduction is also appreciable keeping in the mind the price tag of the smartphone.
On the Internal Memory side it comes with 8 GB of which around 5 GB is available to the user. However, it can be further expanded to 32 GB using a microSD card.
Performance
We reviewed UMI S1 for around two weeks and did not face any issue with the performance of the device. It didn’t show any lag during browsing, playing games or watching videos. Except that there is a lag while playing heavy graphics intensive games.
The overall experience of the device was good. Even voice quality and reception of signals was good during calls. The loudspeaker of the phone could have been a little better as even on full volume sound was not clearly audible at a distance of 2 feet.
On a full charge if you use the device for around 45 minutes of browsing, 1 hour of calling, 15 minutes of video playback and around 30 minutes of gaming you will get around 1.5 days of power backup, which is quite good.
An issue we faced with the device was with GPS connectivity. It took significantly longer to connect to the GPS as compared to other smartphones in this price range.
Conclusion
UMI S1 is a decent budget Android phone with a price tag of Rs 12,000. It comes with a decent spec sheet and performs well. It would have been better if camera quality in low lighting conditions and GPS were up to the mark. Overall it is a nice budget smartphone and offers value for money.