Vertex Impress Play review: slim case + 5,000 mAh battery + good 16 megapixel cameras
Hello! Today I will talk about another model Vertex, more expensive and, as a result, more sophisticated. Meet Vertex Impress Play.
So, about Vertex Impress Play .
The device costs about 11 thousand rubles - not so straightforwardly cheap for a smartphone of a local Russian brand. On the other hand, this model has a number of features that are not peculiar to smartphones for such money. For starters, I will say that these are, for example, separate slots for SIM-cards and memory cards. Or a 5000 mAh battery. Which, moreover, lives in a housing with a thickness of 8.9 mm. Thus, Vertex Impress Play is a smartphone of a rare category “big battery + very elegant case”.
Vertex Impress Play - a monoblock with a 5.5-inch 16: 9 screen. That is, not "long", but the usual, from which the manufacturers of smartphones are gradually moving away. On the other hand, using a 16: 9 aspect ratio display left room for the fingerprint scanner on the front panel. In smartphones with 18: 9 screens, there is usually no space left for the fingerprint sensor, and it is transferred back. What I personally (personally) do not like much.
Certain questions arose about the design of the Vertex Impress Play case. More precisely, one question. Recall the Vertex Impress Nero with its price of 6,900 rubles: the back panel was plastic. But the more expensive Vertex Impress Play has a metal “back”.
The thickness of the case is quite small - 8.9 mm. This figure is far from the records, of course. And yet, a smartphone with a 5000 mAh battery could have been thicker than a millimeter by a half or two. In general, Impress Play is quite elegant and does not feel like a brick in hand. Normal completely apparatus in size.
I will not go into details about the controls - see the photo below, everything is standard and without obvious jambs, including the location of sensors, ports, buttons (turning on and adjusting the volume are on the right side). I will note only the most interesting and fundamentally important points.
I have already mentioned the first moment above. The fingerprint scanner is located in Impress Play on the panel below the display. It is built into the central mechanical button. Dactyloscopy works quickly and fairly accurately (for example, in 9 cases out of 10 the finger is recognized), there are no differences from analogs here. To the left and right of the central key there are two more keys, they are sensory and have a white backlight.
Above the screen, in addition to standard elements (sensors, camera, speaker), there is also an LED flash. Not a big rarity, and yet the number of devices without it still exceeds the number of smartphones with it.
MicroUSB port - he rather once again made us think about the topic “well, when manufacturers have already completely and completely switched to USB Type-C”, than it pleased me.
But the card slots, on the contrary, pleased. It is extremely rare in non-separable smartphones slots are separate, and not combined. Usually you have to choose - either insert the second SIM card, or MicroSD. Impress Play has three slots. Two - for NanoSIM cards, the third - for microSD capacity up to 64 GB. Cards are inserted into the holder, which is removed from the case using a so-called paper clip.
To build quality - no questions. I will repeat the idea voiced in the Impress Nero review: it is crooked to assemble a smartphone with a non-removable back cover so that it has something to dangle - this should be especially “tried”. In general, Impress Play is quite solid, and the squeaks and play of the parts do not annoy.
What else to add? I will say about the sound: the voice speaker is normal, there is only one microphone (so there is no noise cancellation), the multimedia speaker plays clear, but not as loud as we would like. In headphones, for which there is a 3.5-mm jack, the typical sound for such inexpensive devices. Loud but rather flat. He is not satisfied with people with the beginnings of audiophilia, but a typical user is completely.
Impress Play uses a Full HD IPS display (1920 x 1080 pixels) without an air gap. As I mentioned above, the diagonal is 5.5 inches.
The image is saturated, the viewing angles are wide. In the blue or yellow, as is often the case with inexpensive IPS-matrices, does not go away. To praise the display should be mainly for the resolution. Often in smartphones with similar price tags (about 11 thousand rubles) there are HD screens, whereas the hero of this post has Full HD. However, this is not a unique chip.
The Impress Play screen is covered with curved glass around the edges - this is the so-called 2.5D glass. It is smooth, pleasant to the finger, but there is no oleophobic coating. As a result, the surface must be periodically cleaned, say, once a day, removing fingerprints and dirt collected from it during this period.
Ten-point multitouch, which is the maximum for smartphones today.
Well, add that in the settings there is a standard set of tools for adjusting the image called MiraVision for smartphones on MediaTek chipsets. If suddenly the picture on the screen does not suit something, it can be adjusted. I myself did not use these tools - and without them everything is OK.
Like many other users, in smartphones I prefer Qualcomm chipsets. In the line of Vertex there are devices with such iron, for example, protected by Impress Grip and Tor . However, MediaTek is used in Impress Play. I can’t say that it does immediately guarantee some shortcomings, but, for example, where Qualcomm models find a dozen and a half GPS satellites, MediaTek smartphones (including Vertex Play) find two times less. Is it minus? Subjectively, of course, unpleasant. Objectively - so many satellites are enough for navigation, and in general there are no questions to Impress Play.
The chipset - and this is MediaTek MT6753 (four Cortex-A53 cores with a frequency of up to 1.5 GHz, four with a frequency of up to 1.3 GHz, plus the Mali-T720 MP3 graphics) - gives you a performance that is not phenomenal, but sufficient for games. The amount of RAM is slightly more than the average for the hospital for such money - 3 GB. The storage capacity is 32 GB.
Results in benchmarks:
I played in Asphalt 8 (you can set the maximum settings) and WoT Blitz. In the latter case, with low graphics settings, we managed to get a stable 50-60 frames per second, with averages - about 30 frames. Both indicators are quite enough for gaming without slowdowns.
With a connection, everything is more than standard: LTE Cat. 4 (Russian bands supported), Wi-Fi 802.11n in one band, Bluetooth 4.0. All this stuff works quite stably. There is perhaps no NFC chip, which, however, is absent in the vast majority of inexpensive smartphones. On the other hand, the same Vertex Impress Frost for 7 thousand rubles supports NFC, and, as a result, Google Pay.
Cameras, in my opinion, are the strength of Vertex Impress Play. B in front and 16 megapixels in the back. Judging by the quality of the images, not the cheapest modules were taken. In addition, I remind you that there are LED-flash and the back of the smartphone, and on the front.
For a start - about the main (i.e. rear) camera. Of the unusual note option shooting in RAW, which in smartphones of this price level, I had never seen before. I admit that in some models something like that, of course, is, but - vanishingly rare. And maybe not at all.
Day to the quality of the photo there are no questions at all - excellent detail, no distortion, natural color reproduction. With a decrease in the level of illumination - read, in the evening and at night - the picture deteriorates as expected. And yet I saw a smartphone with a much lower quality of shooting in the dark.
The video is recorded in the format of Full HD 1080p, it is normal for such smartphones (that is, smartphones cost around 10-11 thousand rubles). Do not praise, but do not scold.
The front camera is also very pleased. The high resolution (16 megapixels) in theory does not mean anything, well, except that it hints that the module was not taken from cheap ones. And indeed, the photos are clear and without idiotic software improvements, as in some Chinese smartphones. Faces look natural, exactly as in real life, no one tries to remove wrinkles and moles without asking.
The shooting interface is logical and quite convenient. There are a bunch of different settings.
As in the case of Impress Nero, I tested Impress Play in a couple of specific modes. It is clear that they are basic only for me, but readers will be able to interpolate this data to their needs.
So, the video in Full HD in the MX Player application (screen brightness by 75%, the sound is output to the headphones, Wi-Fi is turned off, work in 4G networks) was played around 12 hours. Chop in WoT Blitz with the same parameters managed around 8 hours. Not in a row, of course, but according to the following method: I played, turned off the smartphone, then turned it on, played again, and so on. In total, the same 8 hours came.
In my opinion, the performance is normal for a smartphone with a 5000 mAh battery and quite good for devices priced at around 11 thousand rubles. On average, they usually have a battery with a capacity of around 3000 mAh and, as a result, they work one and a half times less in the modes described above.
As for the mixed mode (calls, Internet, photos, social networks, occasionally games), the smartphone lasted for almost four days. Not bad, though, of course, not the cherished week, which I was counting on in my heart.
Impress Play comes with almost naked Android 7.1 Nougat, to talk about which, perhaps, there is nothing. I will only add that it would be time for manufacturers of smartphones (including inexpensive ones) to switch to Oreo. This is sure to happen in the foreseeable future, but Impress Play comes with Nougat.
Options
Briefly and list:
Vertex Impress Play is usually an inexpensive smartphone with its own advantages and disadvantages. To the pluses, I would take a powerful battery (5,000 mAh), which was packed in a rather elegant case, which is not possible for all manufacturers. The screen is good. Slots for SIM-cards and memory cards are separate (here are special thanks for this). The cameras, if not smart, for a smartphone for 11 thousand rubles, are just very decent. The minuses are clear too: not very fresh Android, I would like a full metal case, no NFC. Well, I would like to express the hope that sooner or later local Russian brands will begin to produce such expensive smartphones with Qualcomm chipsets.
In my particular case, the advantages of Impress Play outweigh the disadvantages, but, I repeat, this is only in mine. Perhaps someone more important moments, credited me to the disadvantages.
And yet: in general, the smartphone left a pleasant impression.
A couple of weeks ago, my review of the Vertex Impress Nero smartphone was published on “Habré” ...
Обзор смартфона Vertex Impress Nero, модели среднего уровня с металлической задней панелью и экраном формата 18:9. Модель в целом понравилась, хотя и придраться тоже было к чему. А заодно рекомендую ознакомиться и с постом о бренде Vertex в целом, его подходе к контролю качества продукции, отношению к дизайну и так далее.
So, about Vertex Impress Play .
The device costs about 11 thousand rubles - not so straightforwardly cheap for a smartphone of a local Russian brand. On the other hand, this model has a number of features that are not peculiar to smartphones for such money. For starters, I will say that these are, for example, separate slots for SIM-cards and memory cards. Or a 5000 mAh battery. Which, moreover, lives in a housing with a thickness of 8.9 mm. Thus, Vertex Impress Play is a smartphone of a rare category “big battery + very elegant case”.
Case, buttons, design, assembly
Vertex Impress Play - a monoblock with a 5.5-inch 16: 9 screen. That is, not "long", but the usual, from which the manufacturers of smartphones are gradually moving away. On the other hand, using a 16: 9 aspect ratio display left room for the fingerprint scanner on the front panel. In smartphones with 18: 9 screens, there is usually no space left for the fingerprint sensor, and it is transferred back. What I personally (personally) do not like much.
Certain questions arose about the design of the Vertex Impress Play case. More precisely, one question. Recall the Vertex Impress Nero with its price of 6,900 rubles: the back panel was plastic. But the more expensive Vertex Impress Play has a metal “back”.
The thickness of the case is quite small - 8.9 mm. This figure is far from the records, of course. And yet, a smartphone with a 5000 mAh battery could have been thicker than a millimeter by a half or two. In general, Impress Play is quite elegant and does not feel like a brick in hand. Normal completely apparatus in size.
I will not go into details about the controls - see the photo below, everything is standard and without obvious jambs, including the location of sensors, ports, buttons (turning on and adjusting the volume are on the right side). I will note only the most interesting and fundamentally important points.
I have already mentioned the first moment above. The fingerprint scanner is located in Impress Play on the panel below the display. It is built into the central mechanical button. Dactyloscopy works quickly and fairly accurately (for example, in 9 cases out of 10 the finger is recognized), there are no differences from analogs here. To the left and right of the central key there are two more keys, they are sensory and have a white backlight.
Above the screen, in addition to standard elements (sensors, camera, speaker), there is also an LED flash. Not a big rarity, and yet the number of devices without it still exceeds the number of smartphones with it.
MicroUSB port - he rather once again made us think about the topic “well, when manufacturers have already completely and completely switched to USB Type-C”, than it pleased me.
But the card slots, on the contrary, pleased. It is extremely rare in non-separable smartphones slots are separate, and not combined. Usually you have to choose - either insert the second SIM card, or MicroSD. Impress Play has three slots. Two - for NanoSIM cards, the third - for microSD capacity up to 64 GB. Cards are inserted into the holder, which is removed from the case using a so-called paper clip.
To build quality - no questions. I will repeat the idea voiced in the Impress Nero review: it is crooked to assemble a smartphone with a non-removable back cover so that it has something to dangle - this should be especially “tried”. In general, Impress Play is quite solid, and the squeaks and play of the parts do not annoy.
What else to add? I will say about the sound: the voice speaker is normal, there is only one microphone (so there is no noise cancellation), the multimedia speaker plays clear, but not as loud as we would like. In headphones, for which there is a 3.5-mm jack, the typical sound for such inexpensive devices. Loud but rather flat. He is not satisfied with people with the beginnings of audiophilia, but a typical user is completely.
Screen, image, picture settings
Impress Play uses a Full HD IPS display (1920 x 1080 pixels) without an air gap. As I mentioned above, the diagonal is 5.5 inches.
The image is saturated, the viewing angles are wide. In the blue or yellow, as is often the case with inexpensive IPS-matrices, does not go away. To praise the display should be mainly for the resolution. Often in smartphones with similar price tags (about 11 thousand rubles) there are HD screens, whereas the hero of this post has Full HD. However, this is not a unique chip.
The Impress Play screen is covered with curved glass around the edges - this is the so-called 2.5D glass. It is smooth, pleasant to the finger, but there is no oleophobic coating. As a result, the surface must be periodically cleaned, say, once a day, removing fingerprints and dirt collected from it during this period.
Ten-point multitouch, which is the maximum for smartphones today.
Well, add that in the settings there is a standard set of tools for adjusting the image called MiraVision for smartphones on MediaTek chipsets. If suddenly the picture on the screen does not suit something, it can be adjusted. I myself did not use these tools - and without them everything is OK.
Iron, communication, wireless modules
Like many other users, in smartphones I prefer Qualcomm chipsets. In the line of Vertex there are devices with such iron, for example, protected by Impress Grip and Tor . However, MediaTek is used in Impress Play. I can’t say that it does immediately guarantee some shortcomings, but, for example, where Qualcomm models find a dozen and a half GPS satellites, MediaTek smartphones (including Vertex Play) find two times less. Is it minus? Subjectively, of course, unpleasant. Objectively - so many satellites are enough for navigation, and in general there are no questions to Impress Play.
The chipset - and this is MediaTek MT6753 (four Cortex-A53 cores with a frequency of up to 1.5 GHz, four with a frequency of up to 1.3 GHz, plus the Mali-T720 MP3 graphics) - gives you a performance that is not phenomenal, but sufficient for games. The amount of RAM is slightly more than the average for the hospital for such money - 3 GB. The storage capacity is 32 GB.
Results in benchmarks:
I played in Asphalt 8 (you can set the maximum settings) and WoT Blitz. In the latter case, with low graphics settings, we managed to get a stable 50-60 frames per second, with averages - about 30 frames. Both indicators are quite enough for gaming without slowdowns.
With a connection, everything is more than standard: LTE Cat. 4 (Russian bands supported), Wi-Fi 802.11n in one band, Bluetooth 4.0. All this stuff works quite stably. There is perhaps no NFC chip, which, however, is absent in the vast majority of inexpensive smartphones. On the other hand, the same Vertex Impress Frost for 7 thousand rubles supports NFC, and, as a result, Google Pay.
Cameras, photo and video
Cameras, in my opinion, are the strength of Vertex Impress Play. B in front and 16 megapixels in the back. Judging by the quality of the images, not the cheapest modules were taken. In addition, I remind you that there are LED-flash and the back of the smartphone, and on the front.
For a start - about the main (i.e. rear) camera. Of the unusual note option shooting in RAW, which in smartphones of this price level, I had never seen before. I admit that in some models something like that, of course, is, but - vanishingly rare. And maybe not at all.
Day to the quality of the photo there are no questions at all - excellent detail, no distortion, natural color reproduction. With a decrease in the level of illumination - read, in the evening and at night - the picture deteriorates as expected. And yet I saw a smartphone with a much lower quality of shooting in the dark.
Shooting examples
The video is recorded in the format of Full HD 1080p, it is normal for such smartphones (that is, smartphones cost around 10-11 thousand rubles). Do not praise, but do not scold.
The front camera is also very pleased. The high resolution (16 megapixels) in theory does not mean anything, well, except that it hints that the module was not taken from cheap ones. And indeed, the photos are clear and without idiotic software improvements, as in some Chinese smartphones. Faces look natural, exactly as in real life, no one tries to remove wrinkles and moles without asking.
The shooting interface is logical and quite convenient. There are a bunch of different settings.
Battery and battery life
As in the case of Impress Nero, I tested Impress Play in a couple of specific modes. It is clear that they are basic only for me, but readers will be able to interpolate this data to their needs.
So, the video in Full HD in the MX Player application (screen brightness by 75%, the sound is output to the headphones, Wi-Fi is turned off, work in 4G networks) was played around 12 hours. Chop in WoT Blitz with the same parameters managed around 8 hours. Not in a row, of course, but according to the following method: I played, turned off the smartphone, then turned it on, played again, and so on. In total, the same 8 hours came.
In my opinion, the performance is normal for a smartphone with a 5000 mAh battery and quite good for devices priced at around 11 thousand rubles. On average, they usually have a battery with a capacity of around 3000 mAh and, as a result, they work one and a half times less in the modes described above.
As for the mixed mode (calls, Internet, photos, social networks, occasionally games), the smartphone lasted for almost four days. Not bad, though, of course, not the cherished week, which I was counting on in my heart.
Software
Impress Play comes with almost naked Android 7.1 Nougat, to talk about which, perhaps, there is nothing. I will only add that it would be time for manufacturers of smartphones (including inexpensive ones) to switch to Oreo. This is sure to happen in the foreseeable future, but Impress Play comes with Nougat.
Options
Briefly and list:
- instruction;
- warranty card;
- USB-MicroUSB cable of quite good quality;
- Charging unit for 2 A. From it, a smartphone with its 5000 mAh is charged from 0 to 100% for more than three hours.
Total
Vertex Impress Play is usually an inexpensive smartphone with its own advantages and disadvantages. To the pluses, I would take a powerful battery (5,000 mAh), which was packed in a rather elegant case, which is not possible for all manufacturers. The screen is good. Slots for SIM-cards and memory cards are separate (here are special thanks for this). The cameras, if not smart, for a smartphone for 11 thousand rubles, are just very decent. The minuses are clear too: not very fresh Android, I would like a full metal case, no NFC. Well, I would like to express the hope that sooner or later local Russian brands will begin to produce such expensive smartphones with Qualcomm chipsets.
In my particular case, the advantages of Impress Play outweigh the disadvantages, but, I repeat, this is only in mine. Perhaps someone more important moments, credited me to the disadvantages.
And yet: in general, the smartphone left a pleasant impression.