LeEco Le 2 (X527) Russia/International - Unboxing & Review

Alberto96

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Feb 24, 2010
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Introduction

This is the LeEco Le 2 X527 (Russia/International).





Hardware

This device is powered by a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 MSM8976 (Quad 1.8GHz Cortex A72 +
Quad 1.4GHz Cortex A53 CPU and Adreno 510 GPU), together with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of ROM. Unlike previous LeEco devices, this is the Russian/International variant ready-to-use in Russia and all European Countries thanks to the preinstalled Google Services and the support to many LTE Bands (1/2/3/4/5/7/8/20/38/40/41). Everything else is exactly the same as the X520 (Chinese) and X526 (Indian) variants.





Unboxing







Packaging comes with some accessories: 1x Type-C Full Reversible USB Cable, 1x Quick Charge 3.0 (5V up to 12V) USB Charger, 1x Quick Start Guide, 1x Warranty Certificate, 1x Type-C to 3.5mm Headphone Jack (yeah, no built-in jack is here), 1x SIM Card Tray Tool, 1x TPU Cover and the Smartphone (of course).





The package itself feels, and looks, premium. Considering the price target of this device, it is pretty interesting to find such a good amount of accessories included, especially the QC 3.0 charger.





Just like all LeTV/LeEco devices, also this one features a Metal Chassis with Plastic Antenna Bands on the upper/lower sides of the rear. The device itself feels solid, pretty compact and well-made.







It is 15.12x7.43x0.79cm, probably one of the most compact 5.5" devices you can find, with huge bezels though. As regards its weight, it is super lightweight, only 156g.







On the front side there is the Standard (no 2.5D Curved) Display and the upper front side of the device features a Front-Facing Camera (with an interesting sensor size), an Earpiece, and the Sensors hole that includes Light and Proximity Sensors.







An RGB Notification LED is here, on the left.





On the lower front side there is the Touch Keys area, with Multitasking, Home and Back touch buttons. All buttons are backlit. (pretty bright too)





On the back side there is the unibody metal chassis, as mentioned before.





The upper rear side of the device features the Camera Sensor (OmniVision OV16880) supported by a single rounded Flashlight (Dual-Tone), and the huge Fingerprint Scanner with a mirror-like surface.





On the lower rear side there is just the LeEco logo with other minor things because the Speaker is placed near the USB port.





Device

Screen

LeEco choose to use a BOE screen (with NT35596s display controller) and the quality seems to be pretty good. I have not noticed any kind of issue, it is bright, with customizable color presets and excellent viewing angles.





Light Sensor supports ultra-smooth light changes, this is its maximum brightness.





Viewing Angles are as good as you would expect from an high-quality IPS panel.





Also the Touchscreen Panel is excellent, 10 points supported.





Camera

Something interesting about this device is the Rear Camera Sensor, an OmniVision OV16880 (16MP) with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), PDAF and F2.0. Personally i found it to be great for photos in high and medium light conditions, but pretty average in low light conditions.

Photos taken using the default Photo mode are just fine, with an high amount of details and almost no image noise. Thanks to the image stabilization it is rare to not get a decent shot.

"HDR off" on the left and "HDR on" on the right.









Here you can see some photos taken without HDR and in different light conditions.









The Flashlight is super powerful, but it isn't real Dual-Tone. It is just a standard LED covered with a Dual-Color Plastic. Basically it looks pretty warm everytime, in any condition. A real Dual-Tone Flashlight has an indipendent LED for each color, with the software that chooses which one to use.





Macro Photos look decent, a bit out of focus if you don't play a lot with the tap-to-focus feature.







As regards Video Recording, the camera is able to record 4K and Full-HD videos at maximum 30FPS (no 1080p60 is here), and the quality is good even though the Optical Image Stabilization doesn't seem to be super-efficient compared to other devices. I might post a Camcorder Sample soon.

The Front Camera is probably not as good as you would expect from an high-quality 8MP camera sensor, seems to have some focus issues. Just like the Rear Camera, also this one suffers a bit in low-light conditions.





Audio

This is where LeEco shows its capabilities. Everything, starting from the Speaker ending with the Microphone, is perfect here. At least on my device, the speaker sounds great, with and without Dolby Atmos.

As you might have already noticed, this is a device that doesn't feature a 3.5mm Headphone Jack. It uses CDLA (Continual Digital Lossless Audio) instead, that provides the best audio quality using the USB Type-C port.





Even using the 3.5mm adapter you will get higher audio quality compared to standard 3.5mm devices. Ok, this is not a feature that everyone would appreciate, because you can't charge the device in the same time while using your Headphones, but for audiophiles this is definitely an appreciated feature.

The Microphone works perfect, the same applies for the Earpiece. I have tested it with Normal 3G Calls (no VoLTE is available here) and VOIP, everyone was able to hear my voice perfectly and i had no issues in hearing the third-party too.


GPS

When it comes to GPS Quality all Qualcomm Devices work great, Mediatek and others still have to learn a lot in this area, and as you might notice here the GPS is working perfect. More than 24 satellites in view outdoors, and indoors it is able to get some signal enough to get a more or less precise location.

Indoors on the left, outdoors on the right.





Telephony, Mobile Network & WiFi

Thanks to the 4G Band 20 support (some other Chinese Smartphones don’t have it, including some other LeEco devices), i was able to get some 4G signal almost everywhere.

4G Network Speed is higher than average, other devices tested in the same room, same position, were not able to get such high speed (photo on the left). I have also tested other bands speed (well, others supported by my Mobile Operator), result on the right.





WiFi 5GHz is supported here, and its speed is great. It supports only 1x1 Stream (Snap 652 WiFi Hardware limit), enough to get almost full-speed from my Broadband Internet Connection. (VDSL 100/20)





Battery Life

I have measured the real battery capacity using my USB Tester, and it seems that the real battery capacity matches the declared one. (declared 3000mAh, real ~3010mAh).





I lost my PCMark Battery Test (software bug), but i managed to find its duration in the Battery Stats. Not a great battery life unfortunately, lower than average, barely reaching 4 hours of screen-on time.





As regards battery charging times, thanks to the Quick Charge 3.0 support, together with the already included QC 3.0 charger, i managed to full-charge the device in almost no time. I will not say how many minutes because it highly depends on the device's temperature and other factors.​
 
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Alberto96

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Feb 24, 2010
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Software

Being an Android Developer this LeEco UI (or EUI) is not something i appreciate so much, but, good news, my idol @codeworkx has already developed a great LineageOS (ex CyanogenMod) ROM for this device.

Anyway, talking about the pre-installed software, the device runs on Android 6.0 (customized as mentioned before) with Security Patches updated to August 2016 (because this X527 software release doesn't support OTA Updates, neither new updates are available online). Thankfully all LeEco Chinese Stuff has been removed, and all Google Apps/Services are working great out-of-box.

Somehow they choose to pre-install 4 useless apps: UC Browser, 9Apps, Yahoo Weather and UC News. As you can see here, UC Apps can be disabled, everything else can be uninstalled.









Similar to MiraVision (for Mediatek), there are some customized screen profiles. Also, there are some interesting features such as Pocket Dial Protection, etc...







Almost all sensors are available here, high-quality hardware has been used.





As regards the Fingerprint Scanner management, it is easy to configure, easier than AOSP (in my opinion), with a maximum of 5 fingers that can be saved. It is fast, accurate, but the scanner itself is a bit over-sized.




Even if the Notification LED supports multiple colors, the software doesn't allow you to customize anything.





Benchmarks

I have used 3DMark, AndroBench, Antutu Benchmark, Epic Citadel, GeekBench 3, GFXBench, PCMark (Work 2.0, Computer Vision, Storage & Work 1.0) and Vellamo to stress the device to the limit. I won’t test Games or Video Playback because there are already some related tests included in these Benchmark suites.

3DMark – GPU Performance is high, OpenGL 2 games manages to get smooth 60FPS while OpenGL 3 require some more power.







AndroBench – Average eMMC Performance, unlike Snap 820 this isn't using UFS so you can't expect something better, at least not on EXT4 FS.





Antutu Benchmark – I won’t say a lot about this benchmark, this isn’t as reliable as others (well benchmarks are not reliable at all, imagine how bad this is). I’m providing this just for Antutu lovers.





Epic Citadel – 3D Performance is good enough to get almost 60FPS with heavy games.





GeekBench – CPU Performance matches the Snapdragon 820 in single-core tests, and beats the Snapdragon 810 in multi-core tests.

CPU





Compute




GFXBench – GPU Performance here seems to be a bit capped, i think some thermal throttling got triggered during this benchmark.






PCMark – Nothing to say about these scores.


Work 2.0



Computer Vision



Storage



Work 1.0




Vellamo – Well, top-ranked in all tests, beating Snapdragon 810 devices. Impressive.







This Snapdragon 652 is a real beast, the best compromise between the Snapdragon 810 and 820, providing low battery usage with great daily performance.


Conclusions

Being the first LeEco device i ever try i have to say that i am impressed, and i have also to admit that every previous device i have reviewed in the past is not able to match the quality of this one. (except the Doogee F7 Pro, interesting competitor)

It is nice to see that, somehow, LeEco choose to enter the Russian Market (and indirectly International, thanks to its LTE bands support and built-in Google Services) providing one the best cheapest device you can find. Ok, for the same price there are also some other devices, but this is unique. Slim, lightweight and with great overall quality. Also, LeEco is now Developer-Friendly, providing source code for all devices.

Be careful though, i am not saying that this is a perfect device, its battery life is not great and the pre-installed software doesn't support OTA updates, but everything else is just great for the price.

So, do I recommend it? Definitely Yes!

Pros:

Lightweight
Bright Screen
Backlit Touch-Keys
Great Rear Camera Quality with OIS
Outstanding Performance
QC 3.0 Charger and TPU Cover included

Cons:

Barely Sufficient Battery Life
No OTA Updates supported (16s software release)
Over-Sized Fingerprint Scanner
Average Camera (both) Quality in low light conditions
No Type-C Earphones included


Rating: 9.1

Packaging and Accessories: 9.5
Design and Materials: 9.5
Performance and Heat Dissipation: 10
Screen: 9
Camera: 9
Sound: 9
Battery Life: 7
Software: 8
OEM Support: 10
Price: 10


You can find full-res images (I know, Quality isn't excellent) here: http://imgur.com/a/emuqv

Official Website: http://le.ru/catalog/phones/le2

Check my Social Networks to know more about reliable places where to get the device and much more, i will be posting some updates too.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Alberto.GearLabs
Twitter: https://twitter.com/XDA_Alberto96
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gearlabs_official
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+AlbertoGuanti
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ95vBRBhAmYU7z1DNMDgXw[/B]
 
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mdfarazb2

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Jul 2, 2015
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Awesome Review Bro!!!! Very well explained. Each areas clearly covered..:fingers-crossed:
Hope to see some development in future for this little beast from your side:)
 

alessiogentile

Senior Member
Nov 9, 2015
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Hi Alberto you can also try all the BB72 roms, they work on the x527 also.
you can improve a lot the battery with greenify and amplify... i get 6h of sot easily. on my x520
Best result was with the Cm13, 7-7,5h of sot! amazing.
Look at the cpu frequecies with kernel auditor... a72 minimun freq is 800mhz, not 400mhz. A53 is fixed at 600mhz not 400. Try to set the governor of the a72 cluster to "powersafe", you can't notice a single lag.
By the way i returned to the EUI 19s now, becuse on the cm13 when i turn off the mobile data and switch on again the signal goes zero and it's unable to connect again
(scusa il mio pessimo inglese)
 

Alberto96

Recognized Developer
Feb 24, 2010
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Hi Alberto you can also try all the BB72 roms, they work on the x527 also.
you can improve a lot the battery with greenify and amplify... i get 6h of sot easily. on my x520
Best result was with the Cm13, 7-7,5h of sot! amazing.
Look at the cpu frequecies with kernel auditor... a72 minimun freq is 800mhz, not 400mhz. A53 is fixed at 600mhz not 400. Try to set the governor of the a72 cluster to "powersafe", you can't notice a single lag.
By the way i returned to the EUI 19s now, becuse on the cm13 when i turn off the mobile data and switch on again the signal goes zero and it's unable to connect again
(scusa il mio pessimo inglese)
Stock EUI made by LeEco for the X527 works better than any Custom ROM. BB72 or other cookers ROMs are only good on devices that didn't came with Google Services pre-installed. (e.g. X520 and other Chinese Variants).
 

san.medius

Member
Oct 1, 2009
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Have you tried it?

For those who need to update their X527 device to the latest eUI 5.8.019s release (X527-only), this is the link: https://cloud.mail.ru/public/MCGu/ym1X18Cfi

I found it today, updated using Local OTA (via recovery, without any wipe), and it is working just great. Smoother, some minor bugs have been fixed and, finally, there is an OTA Update app pre-installed.
Has anyone tried this ROM?

I have installed this ROM and i don't have 4G connection on my phone. It finds the 4G network (Vodafone 4G) manually but when i click it says network unavailable. :(

Automatically the phone runs only with H/H+ :(
 
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Alberto96

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Feb 24, 2010
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Has anyone tried this ROM?

I have installed this ROM and i don't have 4G connection on my phone. It finds the 4G network (Vodafone 4G) manually but when i click it says network unavailable. :(

Automatically the phone runs only with H/H+ :(
I'm still using the device with this 19s ROM, 4G working perfect with my Mobile Operator. (TIM Italy)

There is something else that is causing this issue at your end, such as a non-4G SIM Card (replacement is the only way to fix it) or the unavailability of the 4G Service in your Mobile Plan. (you need to enable this option, that might be free or not based on your plan)
 

san.medius

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Oct 1, 2009
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I'm still using the device with this 19s ROM, 4G working perfect with my Mobile Operator. (TIM Italy)

There is something else that is causing this issue at your end, such as a non-4G SIM Card (replacement is the only way to fix it) or the unavailability of the 4G Service in your Mobile Plan. (you need to enable this option, that might be free or not based on your plan)
Thanks for your reply!

My SIM Card does have 4G Service. I have used it with my old LETV 1s. Even with the limited 4G bands of the phone it got 4G connection in the available areas.
Can such an issue come from using the same SIM Card on two phones?
I have noticed that the second SIM Card shows me just 2G networks although it should be able to run on H or H+. A friend told me that this could be normal when both cards are used at the same time. So the one gets the "full power" and the other one just the minimum. Is this true or can both slots get 4G connection (if both cards are 4G).
I use the one SIM just for data and the other for calls and messages.

Thanks!
 

Alberto96

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Feb 24, 2010
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Thanks for your reply!

My SIM Card does have 4G Service. I have used it with my old LETV 1s. Even with the limited 4G bands of the phone it got 4G connection in the available areas.
Can such an issue come from using the same SIM Card on two phones?
I have noticed that the second SIM Card shows me just 2G networks although it should be able to run on H or H+. A friend told me that this could be normal when both cards are used at the same time. So the one gets the "full power" and the other one just the minimum. Is this true or can both slots get 4G connection (if both cards are 4G).
I use the one SIM just for data and the other for calls and messages.

Thanks!
This is weird. I don't know then.

This device should support 4G on the first SIM and 3G on the second SIM. Both cards can't use 4G in the same time.
 

puetzfu

Member
May 3, 2012
15
0
0
Sound levels too high on the X527

Does anyone know how to modify the sound levels?
The lowest level is still too loud for an office environment.
With the Mediatek chip you could enter the Engineering menue and modify a lot.
Can anyone tell me if this is possible on the Sapdragon as well?