While other phones decide to feature two displays for innovative purposes, Leagoo Elite 1 aims to please consumers by stacking extremely impressive hardware and a price tag that will literally make you go ‘wow’. Additionally, the device also comes with an appealing design and lots of amazing features. Let us see how well Leagoo Elite 1 will do when pitted against the remaining Chinese competitors.

Design

Design of the Elite 1 is what struck us the most when we first laid eyes on it. Our first impression of the device was a large version of the silver iPhone 5s, which looks beautiful in its own right. The front side of the device is dominated by the 5.0 inch display with a square fingerprint sensor flanked by two subtle capacitive buttons below along with a front facing camera. A microUSB port can be found right at the bottom with speakers on both sides & a 3.5mm headphone jack.

A metal frame is covering the smartphone, which shows that the company has invested quite a large amount in making Leagoo Elite 1 in to an attractive product between. Both the volume rocker & power button are on the right side with a “smart button” below, which we going to cover later in the ‘Software & Features’ section. The device measures in at 143.8mm in height and 69.5mm in width. At 7.5mm it might not be the thinnest mobile device around, but that is actually a good thing in the end. Perhaps the biggest gripe with the design of this phone is the bezels. They are not huge by any means, but we feel that the company could taken a huge advantage of the overall looks had the bezels been thinner. Now that would have really reeled in customers.

Display

At 5 inches, display of the Elite 1 is just the average flagship size. This panel definitely does not disappoint. It has a resolution of 1080p, which means that everything present in the display looks rich and extremely embellished. Just for your knowledge, the IPS screen has been made by Japan Display (JDI), which also provide Apple with the screens for its iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, which explains why they are of extremely high quality.

Specifications

Coming to the most important segment of this review, Leagoo Elite 1 packs some of the most impressive hardware that we have seen from a smartphone that costs less than $200. A 64-bit octa-core CPU is present in MediaTek MT6735, alongside Mali T-720 graphics. Now, combine that with 3GB of RAM and you got yourself a pretty beastly spec’d out phone. Personally, we were thrilled to hear that a sub-$200 came with 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of internal storage.

GPS, Bluetooth & 4G are all present, which we would expect from such a smartphone. However, before you get overly excited to witness 4G connectivity speeds on this bad boy, it will be a very good idea to check if your network provider runs 4G on the compatible frequencies.

While there is no NFC chip, we did not such a big deal out of it since consumers hardly require use of such a function. However, they do require use of carrying around more than one SIM, and Leagoo Elite 1 cater to this requirement perfectly by feature two SIM card slots.

Software & features

Once again we see a new device coming with Android 5.1 out of the box. This however is not completely a stock build since it is running Version 1.1 of Leagoo interface. This skin has some very interesting features. First of all, it gives you an option to change your default launcher to the Google Launcher in the settings. That’s an option that Google should make mandatory for OEMs. You have several multi-finger gestures. Swiping with two fingers will change the theme, and swiping with three fingers will take a screenshot.

Present all the way to the right is a really nice looking music player, whereas on the left side, you have a dedicated photo screen. From here, you have a small camera viewfinder & overview of last photos. When you take a photo, you can immediately share it on social networking platforms. Again, if you do not like these features you can always switch to the stock Google Launcher in settings section. A physical button that looks like a Sony power button called ‘smart button’.

This button allows you to assign a different function for it. You can set it up to work as a camera shortcut, answer calls & and perform other tasks as well. Again, it is all up to you how you choose to use it. The best part about this is that the company actually gives you a choice, whereas on multiple occasions, Chinese OEMs want to keep you tied down to their own interfaces.

Battery

Perhaps the second most important component of Leagoo Elite 1 is its battery and this is where we found the device to be the least impressive. With a 2400 mAh battery & 1080p screen, we would expect that the smartphone would provide us with ample battery life, but that is not the case. We got slightly less than 5 hours of battery life, and depending on what kind of tasks you will be carrying out on Leagoo Elite 1, you might end up getting far less battery life as well.

If you are constantly on the move, then we will highly recommend you to purchase a high capacity powerbank, because after what we just saw, you will definitely have use for one.

Camera



A 16 megapixel camera is present on the rear side and it delivers stunning photos, even in low-light conditions. We can definitely say that without a doubt, this camera sensor would be able to hold its own against devices such as Galaxy Note 5, or even an iPhone 6s. On the front side you have a 13 megapixel camera. However, megapixels are not everything, and from the camera samples posted below, you clearly see as why this is so.

Camera samples

Conclusion

This device has an excellent display, beautiful design, solid camera, a very powerful CPU & runs the latest version of Android update. However, despite the fact that it excels in these areas, we do have one major complaint; the overall battery life. A 2,400 mAh battery is not enough to provide you with ample battery but if you can purchase a high capacity powerbank for yourself, then we can say without a doubt that you will be satisfied with what Leagoo Elite 1 has to offer. If you are planning to purchase one, the all you have to do is to click the link below and you are all set.

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