September 1, 2014 at 12:48Chinaphone inside: how much was saved in Haier W867
All of us are already accustomed to Chinese smartphones flooding our market. Most models even ceased to be disgusted by the materials of the case or outlandish iron, for which there are no updates, no games. Rare and strange video accelerators have sunk into oblivion, MediaTek has ceased to produce heating devices of an unknown purpose and is still engaged in the production of processors, phenolic shit plastic has given way to normal polymers.
The desire of users "to buy a dime" and the desire of manufacturers to save on production have not disappeared anywhere. What we get on a nickle and what the manufacturer saves on, I suggest looking at the example of the Haier w867 phablet.
Inside the 5.5-inch phablet, fortunately (or unfortunately) is not neon, but a completely ordinary set of pieces of iron: Haier W867 will not offer you super-performance, but even call it a choke - the language does not rotate. MTK6582 (4 Cortex A7 cores with a maximum frequency of up to 1300 MHz) acts as a well-known and popular among Chinese phones, as a video accelerator - it saw a lot of Mali-400 MP2, the "single-core" version of which was still in Galaxy S II. This system is flavored with one gigabyte of RAM, four gigs of read-only memory and two slots for SIM-cards. The memory can be expanded using microSD cards.
Among the "additional" bonuses are support for WiFi N (doubtful, but the manufacturer claims up to 150 megabits), Bluetooth (most likely, like many MTK-based smartphones, without an A2DP profile and stereo audio transmission), GPS - in general, the set is standard. It is difficult to find a smartphone now without any of the above. The camera is, or rather, two whole: at 8 and 1.3 megapixels. Take frames and videos. Better to characterize them will not work, unfortunately, you want a photo flagship - spend more than 160 bucks.
The performance of this system naturally does not set records: the test results are clearly visible in the screenshots. Purely for comparison - Nexus 4, last year’s Google flagship with a good quad-core and two gigabytes of RAM is gaining 18-19 thousand in Antutu , depending on the firmware and testing conditions.
The results of benchmarks are displayed on the IPS display with a resolution of 960x540 pixels. I can’t call a record holder, but you can use it quite tolerably, at least I didn’t feel any discomfort like “tear my eyes” even after the Nexus 5 FullHD screen: there is a margin of brightness, albeit small (the screen fades considerably in the sun), the resolution allows show more or less decent results in games, still the video core is old. For six to seven thousand rubles - quite a performance.
All this “wealth” is fed from the battery with a capacity of 2000 mAh. Again, this is not a record figure, but considering the total cost of the device in retail, as well as considering the chipset and screen that are not the most greedy for consumption, this is quite a working volume. By the way, the devices have been fully certified and imported in white, which adds a couple of confidence points to the manufacturer, but, unfortunately, affects the cost of the device in the Russian Federation. One and a half days in the “be in touch” mode - no problem. And on the Internet, and chat, and the device is constantly transmitting data.
Localization of the smartphone thoroughly engaged. In addition to the translation (which, of course, was taken care of by Google itself), the manufacturer supplemented the translation of the Dual-Sim functionality and took care of good packaging. A nice box of white cardboard is packed in a “slider”, on a short the main characteristics of the device are covered in sufficient detail. As far as I know, the local office of Terminal Equipment Company, an official representative of Haier-Telecom, has its own staff of engineers who helps to send bug reports and localize updates.
By the way, about the updates: closer to the fall on devices with the MTK6582 chipset, Haier promises to release Android 4.4, because knocked out the necessary drivers and components from MTK. Not the most pleasant update dates, but better than nothing; in addition, this patch will close the vulnerability with OpenSSL quite relevant. There is no information about L, but here, as in the case of 4.4, the question is rather not about reluctance to update Haier devices, but about the availability: it will give MTK drivers for the new version of the Android kernel - there will be an update (the pieces of iron will be pulled without problems ) Will not give…
In search of “what the manufacturer saved”, I looked even under the plastic. The back cover is mounted on 11 identical screws and can be easily removed. Just in case, we sign a screw and an angle (there are few screws of different lengths inside), we begin to unscrew in a circle and consult the prompt. This time, lucky, all the screws are identical. Sometimes there are 3, or even 4 sets of hardware of different lengths.
Next, gently pry the plastic (after removing the SIM card), unhook it around the perimeter from the "latches" and simply remove the protective "casing" without sudden movements - antenna cables can be attached to it. In this case, there were no loops, all antennas are on spring-loaded contacts. What awaited us under the lid?
Under the cover was a very decent size motherboard: green, quite "simple" in appearance. Again, the loops of the buttons and the screen are inserted neatly and without distortions, there are no traces of the manual assembly curve, the soldering is decent. The external speaker surprised me with its size (compared to that on the Meizu and LG devices it is simply gigantic), but, unfortunately, it does not please either the quality or the maximum volume. Before packing density of parts like the Meizu , of course, far away, but the price is different almost doubled.
A smartphone is hard to hear “out of pocket”, from another room or ten meters away, and even worse. However, recently people have not been letting their smartphones out of their hands, so the problem can hardly be called the biggest disappointment in the world. What I definitely DO NOT like about this “Chinese” is the vibration. She is sluggish, is very “late”, short pulses are generally better heard than “seen”. The motor obviously needs time to unwind, and the weight is either small or the “vibration” itself is in poor contact with the body.
What did the manufacturer save on if a phablet with, in principle, good performance characteristics (comparable with the flagship devices of 2012) costs less than 200 bucks?
Little by little: on pieces of iron that do not set records, on a screen that will surrender under the sun at its zenith, on an external speaker and a vibration motor. But they did not save on the quality of assembly and soldering of elements, the delivery set and the general level: the smartphone does not produce results that surprise, but also does not disappoint. For such money, finding a “white” alternative (and for gray you can get problems ) is quite difficult. Either the old models of decent manufacturers, or significantly less opportunities in the face of the old MTK dual-core, a smaller screen and battery. Here is a comparison of the models in this price segment and the form factor on the Yandex market:
The closest in all characteristics to the LG G Pro Lite DualSim is two thousand more expensive, it has a dull dual core from MTK, however, a slightly more interesting GPU. It looks a little better and more pleasant in terms of built-in software, but it is not at all promising in terms of hardware: updates for this junk will not be released. :( Samsung Galaxy Grand is worse in all glands, except maybe the camera. And more expensive by three thousand on average. Among the "Chinese" you can look at the "French" Fly Evo Chick 2, which costs "luxurious" for 7500 rubles HD Unfortunately, the case materials and build quality of the last Fly leave much to be desired, but you can’t get far on the same HD screen, besides, it has problems with viewing angles and batteries too. Lenovo also has interesting models. but I honestly did not hold them in my hands and personally I can’t comment on them at all.
No one has canceled the second-hand version of branded smartphones, but you can be sure of a purchase only if you take the “body” from good friends: every Avito has a lot of cats in a bag: drowned people, gluconauts with a drained battery or a bad memory, and trivially stolen smartphones.
The Chinese are similar in glands with screens 800x480 and 960x540, but with a smaller diagonal - a dime a dozen, for the same 6.5-7 thousand you will get about the same set of iron. So if the diagonal of the screen is critical, and you really want a shovel, there is a choice, but ... the question comes into play here: do the devices have a normal support and a normal guarantee? The situation with gray smartphones and potential problems with their crossing the borderI mentioned that there are not so many “white” Chinese, but brands that are not just “imported and cleared,” but also have their own department for customizing firmware and adapting it — even less. The issue of updating some manufacturers of similar iron models to Android 4.4 also remains open.
In the box, in addition to the standard headphones, which are unsuitable for the nominal playback of music (as with all smartphones with the rare exception, actually), the charging turned out to be an ordinary-looking box with ... a cover. The cover itself is put in place of the back cover, slightly thickening the device.
Actually, it opens with a "book" to the left, has a magnetic tail that allows you to fix the cover in two positions, it looks "usual". Of the minuses, I can note the inconvenience of communicating with the camera when wearing a case: either you need to hold it with your hand, or shoot horizontally. Well, the upper / lower ends look somewhat unfinished. Included with the cover was a protective film on the display. Both that and that - trifles, but add weight to a complete set. Some people of the older generation could not refuse to use phones in a case (my grandmother walks with HD2;)), and finding a protective peel for non-Samsung-eichtisi-skiing or non-iPhones can be extremely problematic. Well, a film in the absence of any decent glass (of course, Gorilla Glass does not smell here) will extend the life of the screen without wrinkles and scratches for several months. Anyway, to buy it in retail for 500-1000 rubles would not be interesting at all, but it’s nice that the manufacturer took care of the accessories and put them into the standard equipment. For some reason, I recall those days when the phones came with an additional removable panel of a different color from the box.
It is difficult to praise a device that is inferior in all respects to the smartphone that you use every day. It is slower than the nexus, it has a worse screen, a frankly weak camera. With all this, I can’t scold the W867 either: it’s well assembled, lives on a single charge for a relatively long time, costs a ridiculous 6,500 rubles and does not seem like a frank slopock. Everything works, I can hear the interlocutor almost better than in my Nexus 5, the screen does not cause bleeding from the eyes, despite the seemingly funny 960x540 pixels for a 5.5-inch shovel. Solid inexpensive smartphone. Well-assembled, will receive updates, imported legally, has a live Russian support, and they ask for it not very much. What is there to blame? For the vibro motor, perhaps. And let the creators cut it piece by piece from everywhere - uniform savings and balanced characteristics, IMHO,
The desire of users "to buy a dime" and the desire of manufacturers to save on production have not disappeared anywhere. What we get on a nickle and what the manufacturer saves on, I suggest looking at the example of the Haier w867 phablet.
Piece of iron
Inside the 5.5-inch phablet, fortunately (or unfortunately) is not neon, but a completely ordinary set of pieces of iron: Haier W867 will not offer you super-performance, but even call it a choke - the language does not rotate. MTK6582 (4 Cortex A7 cores with a maximum frequency of up to 1300 MHz) acts as a well-known and popular among Chinese phones, as a video accelerator - it saw a lot of Mali-400 MP2, the "single-core" version of which was still in Galaxy S II. This system is flavored with one gigabyte of RAM, four gigs of read-only memory and two slots for SIM-cards. The memory can be expanded using microSD cards.
Among the "additional" bonuses are support for WiFi N (doubtful, but the manufacturer claims up to 150 megabits), Bluetooth (most likely, like many MTK-based smartphones, without an A2DP profile and stereo audio transmission), GPS - in general, the set is standard. It is difficult to find a smartphone now without any of the above. The camera is, or rather, two whole: at 8 and 1.3 megapixels. Take frames and videos. Better to characterize them will not work, unfortunately, you want a photo flagship - spend more than 160 bucks.
The performance of this system naturally does not set records: the test results are clearly visible in the screenshots. Purely for comparison - Nexus 4, last year’s Google flagship with a good quad-core and two gigabytes of RAM is gaining 18-19 thousand in Antutu , depending on the firmware and testing conditions.
The results of benchmarks are displayed on the IPS display with a resolution of 960x540 pixels. I can’t call a record holder, but you can use it quite tolerably, at least I didn’t feel any discomfort like “tear my eyes” even after the Nexus 5 FullHD screen: there is a margin of brightness, albeit small (the screen fades considerably in the sun), the resolution allows show more or less decent results in games, still the video core is old. For six to seven thousand rubles - quite a performance.
All this “wealth” is fed from the battery with a capacity of 2000 mAh. Again, this is not a record figure, but considering the total cost of the device in retail, as well as considering the chipset and screen that are not the most greedy for consumption, this is quite a working volume. By the way, the devices have been fully certified and imported in white, which adds a couple of confidence points to the manufacturer, but, unfortunately, affects the cost of the device in the Russian Federation. One and a half days in the “be in touch” mode - no problem. And on the Internet, and chat, and the device is constantly transmitting data.
Software Localization and Update
Localization of the smartphone thoroughly engaged. In addition to the translation (which, of course, was taken care of by Google itself), the manufacturer supplemented the translation of the Dual-Sim functionality and took care of good packaging. A nice box of white cardboard is packed in a “slider”, on a short the main characteristics of the device are covered in sufficient detail. As far as I know, the local office of Terminal Equipment Company, an official representative of Haier-Telecom, has its own staff of engineers who helps to send bug reports and localize updates.
By the way, about the updates: closer to the fall on devices with the MTK6582 chipset, Haier promises to release Android 4.4, because knocked out the necessary drivers and components from MTK. Not the most pleasant update dates, but better than nothing; in addition, this patch will close the vulnerability with OpenSSL quite relevant. There is no information about L, but here, as in the case of 4.4, the question is rather not about reluctance to update Haier devices, but about the availability: it will give MTK drivers for the new version of the Android kernel - there will be an update (the pieces of iron will be pulled without problems ) Will not give…
Savings and Competition
In search of “what the manufacturer saved”, I looked even under the plastic. The back cover is mounted on 11 identical screws and can be easily removed. Just in case, we sign a screw and an angle (there are few screws of different lengths inside), we begin to unscrew in a circle and consult the prompt. This time, lucky, all the screws are identical. Sometimes there are 3, or even 4 sets of hardware of different lengths.
Next, gently pry the plastic (after removing the SIM card), unhook it around the perimeter from the "latches" and simply remove the protective "casing" without sudden movements - antenna cables can be attached to it. In this case, there were no loops, all antennas are on spring-loaded contacts. What awaited us under the lid?
Under the cover was a very decent size motherboard: green, quite "simple" in appearance. Again, the loops of the buttons and the screen are inserted neatly and without distortions, there are no traces of the manual assembly curve, the soldering is decent. The external speaker surprised me with its size (compared to that on the Meizu and LG devices it is simply gigantic), but, unfortunately, it does not please either the quality or the maximum volume. Before packing density of parts like the Meizu , of course, far away, but the price is different almost doubled.
A smartphone is hard to hear “out of pocket”, from another room or ten meters away, and even worse. However, recently people have not been letting their smartphones out of their hands, so the problem can hardly be called the biggest disappointment in the world. What I definitely DO NOT like about this “Chinese” is the vibration. She is sluggish, is very “late”, short pulses are generally better heard than “seen”. The motor obviously needs time to unwind, and the weight is either small or the “vibration” itself is in poor contact with the body.
What did the manufacturer save on if a phablet with, in principle, good performance characteristics (comparable with the flagship devices of 2012) costs less than 200 bucks?
Little by little: on pieces of iron that do not set records, on a screen that will surrender under the sun at its zenith, on an external speaker and a vibration motor. But they did not save on the quality of assembly and soldering of elements, the delivery set and the general level: the smartphone does not produce results that surprise, but also does not disappoint. For such money, finding a “white” alternative (and for gray you can get problems ) is quite difficult. Either the old models of decent manufacturers, or significantly less opportunities in the face of the old MTK dual-core, a smaller screen and battery. Here is a comparison of the models in this price segment and the form factor on the Yandex market:
The closest in all characteristics to the LG G Pro Lite DualSim is two thousand more expensive, it has a dull dual core from MTK, however, a slightly more interesting GPU. It looks a little better and more pleasant in terms of built-in software, but it is not at all promising in terms of hardware: updates for this junk will not be released. :( Samsung Galaxy Grand is worse in all glands, except maybe the camera. And more expensive by three thousand on average. Among the "Chinese" you can look at the "French" Fly Evo Chick 2, which costs "luxurious" for 7500 rubles HD Unfortunately, the case materials and build quality of the last Fly leave much to be desired, but you can’t get far on the same HD screen, besides, it has problems with viewing angles and batteries too. Lenovo also has interesting models. but I honestly did not hold them in my hands and personally I can’t comment on them at all.
No one has canceled the second-hand version of branded smartphones, but you can be sure of a purchase only if you take the “body” from good friends: every Avito has a lot of cats in a bag: drowned people, gluconauts with a drained battery or a bad memory, and trivially stolen smartphones.
The Chinese are similar in glands with screens 800x480 and 960x540, but with a smaller diagonal - a dime a dozen, for the same 6.5-7 thousand you will get about the same set of iron. So if the diagonal of the screen is critical, and you really want a shovel, there is a choice, but ... the question comes into play here: do the devices have a normal support and a normal guarantee? The situation with gray smartphones and potential problems with their crossing the borderI mentioned that there are not so many “white” Chinese, but brands that are not just “imported and cleared,” but also have their own department for customizing firmware and adapting it — even less. The issue of updating some manufacturers of similar iron models to Android 4.4 also remains open.
Nice bonus
In the box, in addition to the standard headphones, which are unsuitable for the nominal playback of music (as with all smartphones with the rare exception, actually), the charging turned out to be an ordinary-looking box with ... a cover. The cover itself is put in place of the back cover, slightly thickening the device.
Actually, it opens with a "book" to the left, has a magnetic tail that allows you to fix the cover in two positions, it looks "usual". Of the minuses, I can note the inconvenience of communicating with the camera when wearing a case: either you need to hold it with your hand, or shoot horizontally. Well, the upper / lower ends look somewhat unfinished. Included with the cover was a protective film on the display. Both that and that - trifles, but add weight to a complete set. Some people of the older generation could not refuse to use phones in a case (my grandmother walks with HD2;)), and finding a protective peel for non-Samsung-eichtisi-skiing or non-iPhones can be extremely problematic. Well, a film in the absence of any decent glass (of course, Gorilla Glass does not smell here) will extend the life of the screen without wrinkles and scratches for several months. Anyway, to buy it in retail for 500-1000 rubles would not be interesting at all, but it’s nice that the manufacturer took care of the accessories and put them into the standard equipment. For some reason, I recall those days when the phones came with an additional removable panel of a different color from the box.
In the dry residue
It is difficult to praise a device that is inferior in all respects to the smartphone that you use every day. It is slower than the nexus, it has a worse screen, a frankly weak camera. With all this, I can’t scold the W867 either: it’s well assembled, lives on a single charge for a relatively long time, costs a ridiculous 6,500 rubles and does not seem like a frank slopock. Everything works, I can hear the interlocutor almost better than in my Nexus 5, the screen does not cause bleeding from the eyes, despite the seemingly funny 960x540 pixels for a 5.5-inch shovel. Solid inexpensive smartphone. Well-assembled, will receive updates, imported legally, has a live Russian support, and they ask for it not very much. What is there to blame? For the vibro motor, perhaps. And let the creators cut it piece by piece from everywhere - uniform savings and balanced characteristics, IMHO,