In the first quarter of 2016 the Russian market of smartphones there is a new brand Phicomm. He demonstrated several of its models, among which was 653 and Energy.
Phicomm Energy 653 is positioned as a budget solution for those who because of economic crisis in the country is not ready to buy an expensive smartphone, but at the same time wants to get the best features for little money.
Packaging
When purchasing a smartphone Phicomm Energy 653, you will receive a small size box is white, decorated with orange paintings, inscriptions and snapshot device – all very bright and positive.
The package allows to assess the device’s appearance and learn about their characteristics: they are listed on the back side of the case. Also, the manufacturer stated IMEI, supported cellular network and even the color contained inside the box of the device. In our case smartphone black.
Package contents
Inside the box with Phicomm Energy 653 contains a removable battery, a proprietary film on the display (it will need), wired headset with in-ear earphones, as well as the logo of Phicomm, warranty card and instruction manual. Charger and data cable included in our case was not. Manual to the smartphone carries only basic information about how to install the SIM card and the drive, how to insert the battery, where the interfaces are and which button is responsible for what. Other useful information in it.
First impression
Smartphone Phicomm Energy 653 seemed to us to be extremely easy – it hardly felt in the hand. It looks smaller than it actually is the result of something fairly slim in comparison with “classmates” of the side and upper part of the display. The thickness of the device for its price, in principle, the standard.
The front panel Phicomm Energy 653 entirely black and glossy. We recommend immediately applying the protective film from the kit, as the presence of reinforced glass in the list of the specifications of the question, besides closing the screen plastic cover very easily soiled traces of it remain literally after every touch, oleophobic coating is not here either. Removes fingerprints moderately easy – for this, by the way, is optimally suited a small piece of velvet material from a bag of film.
The back of the case, it is the same removable battery cover, has a nice rough surface is not soft touch, of course, but something very close in feel. Its black color call radically impossible: it is in low light, but are actually a dark grey shade, very deep and pleasing to the eye. Rough surface, we note, prevents the phone to slip out of his hands, even if it is held not very tightly.
Specifications
Details about the specifications of the smartphone Phicomm Energy 653 you can learn by studying the information on the box, but there they are presented in an abbreviated form. A complete list is located on the company’s official website, which for some reason has no Russian version – there is only English, German and, in fact, Chinese. But, be that as it may, given in both sources of information differences are not that nice.
— screen: 5 inch, IPS, 1280×720 pixels;
— processor: Qualcomm MSM8909, 4 core, 1.1 GHz;
— memory: 1 GB RAM, 8 GB ROM, microSD up to 64 GB;
— work in networks: GSM, 3G, 4G (LTE);
— front camera: 2 megapixels;
— main camera: 8 megapixels, autofocus, flash, record HD-video;
— wireless modules: Wi-Fi 802.11 n, Bluetooth 4.0, FM, GPS;
sensors: G-sensor, proximity sensors and lighting, electronic compass;
— battery: Li-polymer, 2300 mAh, 7 hours talk, 250 hours standby;
interfaces: microUSB, 3.5 mm;
— OS: Google Android 5.1 Lollipop, Google Play support;
— dimensions: 144х71х8 mm;
— weight: 130 grams;
— Additional information: support for two microSIM cards.
Notable here may be noted a separate microSD slot – he is separated and not merged with microSIM. Battery is good for these characteristics of the capacity and potential to provide good battery life. Special attention deserves the support of cellular networks of the fourth generation, because in the budget segment this is still a rarity. But internal memory is clearly not enough, and more about this we will talk later. Let us add that under the main camera flash there is a small hole that looks like a second microphone for noise suppression. However, nowhere in the description of the smartphone or reads, and in the settings menu also no option to turn on a second microphone. The purpose of the hole remained a mystery to us.
Ergonomics
In terms of the controls 653 Phicomm Energy is no different from most other smartphones of the category of “$150”. On the right side of the case he located the power button and volume rocker, and the bottom is a lone microphone.
All interfaces displayed on the top face, and if in the case of a 3.5-mm input for headphones this is logical, there is microUSB, not all may seem convenient.
Standard buttons Android-smartphones lie directly below the display, but does not have a separate backlight, although they have a reflective surface, making them highly visible day and in the evening twilight. Installed above the screen, from left to right, camera, earpiece and the barely visible sensors of approximation and lighting.
In General, everything is quite usual and many people are familiar with. The ergonomics of this time-tested and very comfortable, except for the location of the microUSB port.
Screen
Consider the display of the smartphone is based on IPS matrix, and in this case it’s an honest IPS, judging by the viewing angles. The screen does not fade and is filled white even at almost 180 degree angle of view. Performance for the inexperienced user is also at a very high level.
Touch panel, as shown by the test in AnTuTu, responds to five simultaneous touches, which, in our opinion, excessively – for most of the most popular gestures just two taps. But, as they say, bigger is better, Yes better.
What is missing the screen, so that the brightness impression is that the LEDs at the maximum brightness turned all Shine at full capacity. In artificial light, in cloudy weather, in twilight or in the dark the screen is easy to read, but on the sun fades completely, and the smartphone turns into stuffed with electronics the mirror.
The build quality
Most smartphones with a removable back cover, there is the same problem – the backlash and squeaks that the cover itself. In 653 Phicomm Energy, despite the low price, nothing. It is, of course, is because the unit is new, but one can see that collected all the conscience. Both interface connector is also quite decent quality – data cable and headphones kept them tight and not wobbly.
The sound and connection quality
The musical component is what Phicomm Energy 653 can rightly be proud of. Smartphone never was positioned as the optimal solution for music lovers and audiophiles, however, speaker is very loud. The speaker copes well with high and medium sound frequencies, but on lower levels you can forget. On the other hand, since he doesn’t have a discrete DAC and amplifier, so forgive him this slight disadvantage. Vibration motor, on the contrary, is rather weak – if when the smartphone in your pants pocket vibration still can be felt in the pocket of a jacket or coat anymore.
Regular headset we were a bit disappointed: the sound is good, the wires and the connector do not seem flimsy, but they constantly strive earbud out of your ears. If you use infrequently, it’s okay, but if you have a smartphone – it is primarily an mp3 player, I advise you to think about purchasing other headphones. By the way, an FM radio uses the wired headset as an antenna, and refuses to work without it.
Cellular networks smartphone keeps confidently, but it depends largely on the networks themselves, rather than from the cell phone. GPS receiver here moderately sensitive and fast: when you test the program “Navitel Navigator” cold start was only a couple of minutes, after which it was immediately caught six satellites.
Work offline
The power supply system of the smartphone Phicomm Energy 653 is implemented as a removable lithium-polymer battery, which is an advantage of this model: for battery listed her number, and you can always order a spare battery and carry it with you in case of lack of energy in the main battery. Battery from 653 Energy will take much less space compared to an external battery. In General, solid pros.
Charging time battery network memory with the current strength of 1 ampere was 2 hours 20 minutes. When using a more powerful charger this process will be completed even faster, but from PC cell phone charging for a long time – about 4 hours, but it’s not in it, and the USB 2.0 standard, which implies a current more than 0.5 amps.
A fully charged battery we had for a long time: 1% charge in it left after a couple hours of talk time on 3G, hours video, two hours of streaming HD video from YouTube, hours stay “Vkontakte” and about half an hour of travel through the menu and chatting in instant messengers. In this case we battery not calibrated, and the brightness of the screen was almost maximum. Conclusion: even with very heavy use the battery will sustain an 8-hour working day, and if not to force the smartphone, then it definitely will last for a couple of days.
Software and memory
Smartphone Phicomm Energy 653 operates on the basis of OS Google Android 5.1 Lollipop. The device is not overloaded with useless programs, and the entire set of preinstalled apps fit on one screen – delete then absolutely nothing. The original shell is not installed, so when you turn you will meet the stock interface Material UI. The lack of unnecessary applications and shells very positive impact on the load time of your smartphone: on preparation for work, it takes about 30 seconds from pressing the power button.
Pay attention to the application to update the system: here it is proprietary, directly from Phicomm, and this is the only case when this smartphone there are problems with the Russian language. The inscription on the screenshot actually means that the system is already updated to the latest version.
As for memory, the Phicomm Energy 653 this is simultaneously bad and good. Upset us a little as 8 GB of ROM that is not enough even for a budget model, but that’s not all: by default, the user can use only 5 gigabytes, so you can forget about offline maps for navigation. But with cards microSD, for which a separate slot, everything is just perfect: at the stated support for 64-Gigabyte card, the phone recognizes the drives to 128 GB. Support for USB OTG in this model is not provided: an experiment to connect flash drives of various sizes by means of a special cable gave no results.
Performance
Opportunities Phicomm Energy 653 in terms of performance we measured in the two most common benchmarks – Quadrant and AnTuTu version 6.x. According to the test results in Quadrant, the smartphone scored 8250 points, while in AnTuTu it earned almost 19800 points.
Along the way, AnTuTu told us about filling all of the information coincided with published on the website and printed on the box, except for one: the program has detected a NFC module, which in fact do not.
The verdict
Smartphone Phicomm Energy 653 – this is the case when it is not necessary to be afraid of the unknown brand. At an average cost of $ 7500 rubles at the time of writing, the smartphone carries functions at least 10 thousand. Of course, without flaws is still not done, but this is quite natural, even in smartphones for 40,000 rubles there is always something to complain about. In addition, deficiencies here is surprisingly quite a bit, but the advantages are much more.
In our opinion Phicomm Energy 653 definitely worth it to be your new smartphone, main and spare, and in the car it will definitely come in handy due to a well-configured GPS unit.
Pros Phicomm Energy 653
film on the screen in the package.
– good build quality;
– support memory card of large volume;
– a dedicated microSD slot;
– removable battery;
– loud speaker
– long battery life;
– support 4G network.
Cons Phicomm Energy 653
– insufficient brightness of the screen;
– small amount of internal memory;
– easily soiled front panel.
