I got another smartphone from the Chinese company UMI – Iron. And if I decided not even to review one of the early models of this brand, because there are too many bugs and in general questions about devices, now, probably, I will still write a full-fledged material. But first, I want to briefly share my first impressions of the device and generally chaotically talk about small but proud Chinese brands, for example, here is just UMI.
UMI has already learned how to design. More precisely, they 'learned': they take successful ideas implemented in different smartphones and create on their basis a kind of universal design for their next device. Of course, this is a very conditional description and, for sure, an important role in this process is played simply by the speed of creating the next 'pipe', but, one way or another, the new Umi iron looks at least interesting. The front side is glass, the back is aluminum. The ends on the left and right are also made of metal, and only plastic inserts at the top and bottom, this is necessary for normal operation of the antennas. The sides also have screws, I don't know if they are decorative or internet (most likely), but this solution also adds a couple of glasses to the design of the smartphone. In general, the new Umi iron does not look like another Chinese handicraft from an unknown office, thousands of them, but as a completely original and recognizable device. The LED in the lower region under the screen helps the device especially in this, it makes Iron quite recognizable even from the front side, provided that you know this device (I understand, it's funny, but how else?).
Technically, Umi iron occupies a place somewhere in the middle between top-end smartphones and mid-range devices.
Screen with a diagonal of 5.5 'and a resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels. A very bright IPS-matrix with maximum viewing angles is used, but in terms of color rendering, color settings and overall balance, the screen is inferior to displays in inexpensive models from large manufacturers. Another drawback is the lack of an oleophobic coating.
Platform MediaTek MT6753 with an eight-core 1.3 MHz processor, 3 GB of RAM, 16 GB of flash memory and a slot for a microSD card. Quite good characteristics, you see. The smartphone works quickly, I did not notice lags after a couple of days of using the device, I have not played games yet.
Cameras with a resolution of 13 Mp (main) and 8 Mp (front), so far everything is very sad here, unfortunately. Maybe they will fix something in future firmware, but at the moment the pictures from the main camera and from the front camera unmistakably give out in UMI Iron a smartphone from the category of unnamed devices, the quality of the photos is very poor.
For the front camera, by the way, a flash is provided, but in raw firmware there is little sense from it.
Battery capacity 3350 mAh. There is support for LTE (FDD-LTE: 1800/2100 / 2600Mhz). The smartphone works on a clean and not damaged by OS shells Android 5.1, which, in my opinion, is a plus.
The result is the following picture: UMI presents a new device almost every three to four months, this dynamics has been maintained for several years, despite the fact that the brand is just beginning to become somewhat noticeable outside of China. While devices from UMI I would classify as very inexpensive and full of bugs smartphones from small offices, but here, unlike some other brands that tried to follow the same path, some progress is noticeable. Simply put, it seems to me that if UMI maintains this pace, then in two or three years the company will reach a higher level. Not only in terms of the quality of smartphones, but also in terms of popularity. In the meantime, you can check out the $ 180 UMI Iron if you like experimenting with weird Chinese smartphones.
