Not long ago, finding a mobile device with more than 2 GB of RAM was almost impossible. And those who wanted more were laughed at.
This was just about an year ago. But now, as the market is flooded with phones with 3, 4 and even 6 GB, it has become a problem of plenty. And the competition is tough.
Joining the fray with a device boasting loads of RAM is the Chinese LeEco's Le Max 2, the successor to the Le Max. The launch has coincided with the arrival of the OnePlus 3, also from a Chinese company and also loaded with an enormous amount of memory. We tested the variant with 4GB RAM and 32 GB of storage space. A second variant with 6 GB RAM and 64GB storage is also available.
LeTV seems to have decided that it must be right "up there" with its flagship – and the size makes it apparent. The phone has a massive 5.7-inch screen, which plonks it firmly in the phablet category. With dimensions of 6.17 x 3.06 x 0.31 inches and weighing 185 grams, the phone makes no pretense of being 'thin' or 'lightweight'.
Design Unibody designs - with sealed batteries and lack of memory extension slots have become a norm now and the Max 2 like others in the LeEco family, is one. Except for the size, the Le Max 2 looks just like its cheaper sibling, the 2S. The phone, though heavy and big, is a delight to hold. The build is great and this is one area where LeEco has excelled.
In the rear, the huge protruding camera lens is centered at the top, and right below it, is the fingerprint scanner.
The bottom has the speaker grills on either side and the USB Type-C port. On the left is the dual nano SIM slots and on the right are the power and volume keys.
It is on the top that LeEco has decided to surprise us. There is just an IR blaster - and no audio port. As we had said earlier, the phone cannot be said to be thin - and we have no clue why LeEco has decided to do away with the 3.5mm audio port.
The Le Max 2 has a 1440 x 2560px IPS LCD screen. And a surprise for a phone that is supposed to be a flagship, the phone does not come with Gorilla Glass. And the weight is certainly going to worsen things if you drop the phone.
Software The display does not exactly excel under sunlight. While taking pictures, we had to struggle to find out whether we were really focussing on the object.
The phone runs on LeEco's eUI, and as usual, has no app drawer. If you are someone who uses lots of apps, you may have to spend your time searching for them. One way out is to install a third party launcher. Among the dock icons at the bottom is a shortcut for Le Live. This takes us to the LeEco's Live services, for which we need a LeEco account.
The notification panel is configurable and lets us choose the apps we need notifications. It also allows us granular control like to choose whether we want icon tags, display banner notifications or display notifications on lock screen. This is something that is extremely useful, but not found in most Android phones. LeEco scores in this area.
Performance More RAM may not mean much if it is not optimised. Even high-end phones with loads of RAM have had optimisation issues. But the Le Max 2 is buttery smooth thanks to the 4 GB of RAM and the Snapdragon 820 processor, even with multiple apps running in the background.
The fingerprint sensor at the back works even without waking up the phone, which is extremely useful. But the scanning process takes up a couple of seconds. Occasionally, we had to scan a second time as the scanner did not seem to recognise the fingerprint. But the two second lag should be something LeEco must look at.
Battery The 3100 mAh battery manages to last a day with around 5 calls of 2 minutes each, 20 minutes of video playback, 10 minute of video shooting and with at least five apps, including email and Twitter, constantly connected to the web. Using the battery saver option made it last for over one and a half days, but with a phone like this, it almost cripples the functionality - with most functions like email, messaging not syncing till we open them.
Many Chinese companies, including LeEco, have taken inspiration from iPhone, and it tells in the camera UI also.
Camera The 21 MP camera app is extremely configurable and handles contrast, colours white balance quite satisfactorily. The camera also does well in low light conditions. This is also a camera where the HDR option works really well.
The video records at 30fps and 1080p videos at 30fps. There is also an option to shoot at 4K resolution. While the 1080p videos are good, the 4K ones were not up to the mark in low light conditions. Under normal conditions, they packed a lot of detail and were brilliant.
Verdict Considering that this is the flagship, LeEco has got everything well with this phone, except for a few gripes like the delay in the fingerprint sensor. But for a company that has just entered the mobile market, the Le Max 2 is something it can be proud of. With the Snapdragon 820 and 4 GB RAM, the LeEco ranks among the best in this price range.
The phone is also availble at http://www.lemall.com/in/
Price: ₹22,999 onwards
Love: Great build, camera, lag-free operation.
Hate: Lag in fingerprint scanner, lack of glass protection.