LeEco LE 1S: Another Chinese Brand Enters India

• Posted By Amritesh
• On January 29th, 2016
• Comments: no responses

LeEco formerly known as LeTv is the latest Chinese brand to enter India. LeTv is widely known as the Netflix of China and it entered the smartphone segment just last year. In the recent past we have seen many Chinese brand entering the Indian market trying to grab the huge market share by offering decent specs devices at very reasonable prices. Although some are yet to make substantial in roads in India, but likes of Gionee, Xiaomi and One Plus have done exceedingly well.

LeEco has observed the success enjoyed by some of these brands in India and now they are looking to grab sizeable market share with their two launches, namely Le 1S and Le Max. Le1S is budget end smartphone while Le Max is premium device launched by the brand. LeEco also has plans to launch their other products in India as well, like Smart Televisions and Smart Bicycles.

LeEco has exclusively tied up with Flipkart for the launch of their two devices, i.e Le1S and Le Max. Le 1S will be up for flashsale from 2^nd of February,’16 and the registration for the same is going on Flipkart portal. The device has generated massive interest among the buyers and more than 3 lacs have already registered themselves for the flashsale. The phone has been priced very aggressively at Rs 10,990/- and some promotional offers are providing additional discounts as well. Although you have many decent devices in this price range but Le1S is backed by some premium specs which are mostly available on high end devices.

Le1S comes with entirely metal build and also has a fingerprint scanner at the back. In my opinion, these two aspects of the device will make it a favorite among buyers. Furthermore, LeEco has also announced 550 service centers in India which promises decent after sales support as well.

Le Max the premium smartphone is priced at Rs 32,999/- and is slated to go on sale from 16^th Feb,’16.

LeEco in my opinion have strategically planned their entry in the Indian market as their rivals Xiaomi will soon launch their budget end phone Redmi Note 3 which also promises to be a decent device, priced very aggressively.

Click to Read My views of Xiaomi Redmi Note 3

Let’s look at the reasons which makes Le 1S an interesting buy:-

Build and Design: The phone sports aluminum unibody design and near bezel less display. The device offers an impressive 80% screen to body ratio and weighs 169 gms which is acceptable considering it is a 5.5 inch device. The phone does resemble the iPhone6 but the noticeable difference is the fingerprint sensor placed at the back with mirror finish. The phone looks sturdy and has got a premium feel to it. For Individuals with large palms even single handed use is possible on this device.

Finger Print Scanner: The fingerprint scanner on the phone has received great feedback from the reviewers with claims of more than 99% accuracy and unlock speed of ¼ of second. The mirror finish scanner also is claimed to be scratch resistant, which makes this device all the more exciting.

Hardware Specifications: The phone is powered by Mediatek’s latest Helios X10 octa core processor and 3Gb Ram which again is pretty decent for a budget end smartphone and promises a lag free performance. Le 1s uses the Power VR G6200 GPU which is capable of handling most of the graphics intensive games thrown at it. Although the phone does not have external SD card support but internal 32 gb will be sufficient for most of the users in my opinion. The phone is backed by 3,000mah battery which should last for a full working day provided that device is well optimized and it supports fast charging as well.

Decent Camera: The phone sports a 13 megapixel rear camera and 5 megapixel front camera which perform reasonably well under proper lighting but like most of the other devices struggle in poor lighting conditions. The camera interface is simple and advanced users might consider using a third party app.

Promise of Faster Software Upgrades: The phone comes with Android Lollipop and LeEco have promised Marshmallow update as early as March or April which is acceptable. The phone runs on custom UI which is pretty simple and again looks to be inspired by Apple.

Concerns which needs to addressed:

After Sales Service: Although the company is claiming that they have got 550 service centers but it remains to be seen the kind of support they provide to end users. Most of the service centers are third party tie up which do consume a lot of time in providing required support as their TAT (turn around time) is on the higher side.

Software Optimization: This might just be a minor knit picking (at personal level) but few of the Chinese brands had issue with their software optimization when they just entered the market as some of the text continued to be in Chinese language and also the software had some issues which was later resolved with patch updates.

Durability and Support: The specs look amazing on paper but in the longer run it is durability and software support which will help the company to stand out. If LeEco phones survive the durability test and are backed with timely OS updates then I’m sure they will enjoy enormous success in India.

Key Specifications are given below:-

Processor	2.2 GHz Octa-Core Mediatek Helio X10 Processor
Storage	32 GB (No SD Card Slot)
Operating System	Android Lollipop 5.1
Rear Camera	13mp/4K Video Recording
Front Camera	5 mp/720p Video Recording
Ram	3 GB
GPU	Power VR G6200
Battery	3000 Mah
Display	5’5 inch (Corning Glass 3)
Type Sim	Dual Sim (Micro & Nano)/GSM 4G Support
Resolution	1080*1920(403ppi)
Touchscreen Type	Capacitive
Dimension(mm)/Weight(gms)	151.1 x 74.2 x 7.6 mm/169