LeEco (formerly LeTv) recently held a grand launch event in India to announce their first smart phones in the sub-continent market. There were not one but 2 devices that were announced – Le 1s and Le Max. Le 1s is the mid ranger from LeEco where as the latter is company’s premium flagship device that we will be reviewing today.
You take a look at Le Max and the one thing that will strike instantly is the gorgeous Bezel-less display which measures 6.33″ and has a Quad HD resolution. Le Max has a very good screen to body ratio of around 80% which gives the phone a great look and feel.
The Le Max phone has a solid build with a body carved out of single block of aluminium to give a a robust look and with 8.9mm thickness, the phone feels very good to hold in the hand. There is an IR blaster at the top which can be used to control TV’s and a standard 3.5mm socket for the headphones. At the bottom we have a USB Type-C connector alongside a mono speaker and capacitive touch buttons just below the screen for home, back and options. On the right side we have Power/Lock key, Sim card tray and a WiHD (provides Full HD wireless video linking but needs a special receiver). We have a volume rocker and notifications key (similar to iPhone) on the right side of the Le Max phone. Every physical button on the phone has a very good tactical response and looks robust.
The Quad HD screen is stunning and has deep blacks and good natural colors along with excellent outdoor visibility. With a 2560 x 1440 resolution on a 6.33″ display, we have pixel density of about 464ppi which is really great and makes the text and images look sharp and crisp. This is way better than most of the other devices that have 5.5″ FHD screen in terms of the image/text quality.
“Stunning display with great outdoor visibility makes Le Max a great media device”
The UI is a custom skin from LeEco called eUI which lies on top of Android Lollipop version 5.0.2. There is no app drawer and all the apps are on your home screen just like MiUi. There are some pretty customizations that we find in eUI which comes in handy, especially the control center which gives you a whole set of options and settings right on your home screen. This also includes the current open apps and to switch between the apps.
“eUI – One of the smoothest and most customizable Android skins”
Le Max is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset which is a 64-bit Octacore processor paired with 4GB of RAM and 430 GPU for great performance and graphics intensive gaming. It is evident that LeEco did not want their flagship phone to be just powerful like any other smart phone/phablet. They have made it like a complete media device to view digital content and enjoy gaming on the go unlike any other device. Snapdragon 810 has proven to be a monster when it comes to performance and Le Max with it’s eUI does not disappoint us either. There is absolutely no lag in navigation, opening applications or switching between the open apps. The phone comes in two variants – 64GB Silver variant and 128GB Gold variant. On the connectivity side we have dual sim capability with 4G.
Le Max uses a 21MP snapper on the back which is a Sony IMX230 sensor with F2.0 aperture which is great in capturing a lot of details and the pictures look excellent. The camera interface is basic and easy to use for all types of users. There is a slo-mo mode for recording slow motion video with speed reduced by 2x or 4x of normal pace. The 4MP Ultra pixel camera on the front does a good job for taking selfies and video chatting.
One feature that we really liked in Le Max is the audio quality in both headphones and the built-in speakers. Le Max uses the “Le Hifi” and the dedicated LeTV-HQ7A sound chip for high quality sound. There is very little background noise and distortion which allows the user to focus on the audio alone. The speakers on the phone is loud and clear which scores over most other smartphones. LeEco has done a good job on call quality too as the sound is clear and audible on calls.
The fingerprint sensor is another highlight of Le Max because we are really impressed with the way it recognizes our finger patterns. The speed of recognition is very fast and accurate allowing the user to unlock the phone with just one touch. The fingerprint sensor can also be used for taking pictures using the front camera which makes it easier instead of reaching out to other physical buttons.
There is a 35oomAh battery which provides juice for a whole day with normal operations like calls, texting and browsing. We were expecting the battery life to be bad considering the screen size and powerful chipset but Le Max actually surprised us with it’s extended battery life.
Verdict: Le Max is beast of a phone and we are surprised that LeEco has come up with such a high quality device considering how new they are in the smartphone industry. We hope to see many more great devices from LeEco in the future but for now Le Max is clearly a winner and a true premium flagship when it comes to build, quality and performance.
