UMI eMAX preview 2GB 3780mAh

Well known as one of the top-quality budget brands, UMI, a long time player in the China smart phone market has now fully entered the battle on the Western front. They’ve always marketed towards Westerners, but recently have upped their game.

I tend to really like the names of their models; UMI Hammer, UMI Iron, UMI eMAX, UMI Zero, are all memorable, strong names; you can tell someone is on their game in the marketing department.

The UMI Iron has been delayed for a couple of weeks, but the UMI eMAX is ready and rarin’ to go.

UMI eMAX style

Taking a look at the phone, it appears to have a very similar styling to Elephone P6000, a style that I quite like. The sides and buttons are of one piece. This is something that’s rarely done, but I tend to prefer it.

The phone is available in grey and charcoal, and the backpiece is plastic with faux brushed aluminum styling.

UMI eMAX review specifications

Summary

• SoC: MT6752@1.7GHz
• RAM/ROM: 2GB/16GB
• OS: 4.4 (will upgrade to Lollipop 5.1)
• Display: 5.5″@1080p IPS
• Extras: Gyroscope / Compass / OTG / Accessories available
• Battery: 3780mAh

While many new models are coming with MT6735, eMAX is fully fleshed with the MT6752 SoC@1.7GHz. The display is 5.5″@FHD 1080P, giving a retina experience with a PPI of 400.

RAM is 2GB and ROM storage 16GB. According to official specs, the UMI eMAX comes with 3G WCDMA 900/1900/2100 and 4G LTE 1800/2100/2600. I find it curious they’ve not covered 850 WCDMA, but they’re not alone in this decision, as several recent models from other brands have done the same.

Check out UMI eMAX at our sponsor

Check out UMI eMAX at the official UMI site

The included 1900 does make 3G compatible with quite a few areas in the Americas. The 900 & 2100 make it ideal for UK/Europe, and most areas in Asia should work with 2100 as well. As always, check with your carrier to see what frequencies are covered in your area.

Since the UMI eMAX has 1080p and MT6752, it will need some fairly serious battery juice to give decent onscreen times between charges; here, UMI did not disappoint, giving the UMI eMAX a big 3780mAh battery. Assuming the eMAX is properly deep sleeping, this should give enough juice for 6 hours onscreen (low brightness / WiFi / typical surfing / YouTube / chat).

Truly, UMI is one of the few budget China brands that are putting smart marketing together with a strong, quality product

The OS according to official specs is KitKat 4.4. To me this is neither here nor there. KitKat is an excellent OS and I’ve found the benefits of Lollipop to be few to none. Still, I understand the desire to want the latest OS, and according to UMI, the OS will be upgradeable to Android Lollipop in the near future.

The UMI eMAX is dual-SIM and capable of upgrading the storage via micro-SD up to 64GB. The camera is 13MP rear and 5.0 front. Excellent to see a compass is included, and interestingly, UMI has also given us a gyroscope in the mix.

Several accessories are available, including tempered glass screen protectors, silicone skins and flip cases. I’ve come to really enjoy the tempered glass protectors. While they get dirtier easier than plastic, the are far less prone to scratches and scuffs, offer a crisper view of the display, and there’s a significant tactile difference when sliding your finger over glass as opposed to plastic.

Check out UMI eMAX at our sponsor

Check out UMI eMAX at the official UMI site

Over the past six months, we’ve seen UMI ramp up their marketing towards Westerners. Not to the extent that we see Elephone and Ulefone pushing it, but UMI’s presence has definitely been made known.

UMI is one of the few budget China brands that are putting smart marketing together with a strong, quality product and am very much looking forward to see what else UMI has in store for us.