PREVIEW REVIEW: Vernee Apollo X - Every promise is a debt
Il Vernee Apollo X was announced during the Mobile World Congress 2017 and if it had to bring a new wave of innovation, as it would be the first model of the Chinese company to adopt the new VOS interface (Vernee OS) on Android 7.0 Nougat.
Undoubtedly, we will not expect a completely renewed interface compared to the old MediaTek user interface, so use experience will not be much different from Android Stock but the real news is called OXI. A new Android application that lets you use the smartphone and the applications installed on it directly on the PC screen, to be considered a sort of Samsung DEX, without a physical bracket but still an interesting solution.
And after this premise that have just aroused the interest of users who love the cinafonini, unfortunately I have to proceed with the review damping all the positive expectations that I had as the company began to market the Apollo X based on the Android version 6.0 with level security patch 5 July 2016 but above all without any customization and trace of the promised VOS nor even of OXI.
I personally contacted the company who told me that towards the end of May or at the very most in early June an important OTA update should be released featuring the promised features. But that does not mean that I can tell you about Apollo X and find out if it's worth buying even in anticipation of the expected update. I thank you right away Gearbest.com which has turned out, and never refutes me, one of them more reliable international online stores to which you should contact for the purchase of Chinese devices but also for others.
CONFEZIONE
Black has always been synonymous with elegance and Vernee for its Apollo X adopts just a box of black color without any unnecessary decoration with the exception of the name of the company and the smartphone model written with glossy varnish to highlight the eye of the eye 'user. Within simplicity remains the central theme since we find beyond the Apollo X also one small manual multilingual, including Italian, one sheet with a QR Code who will address us on Vernee's official website, the USB Type-C cable for charging and transferring data, the needle for removal of SIM carts and finally a full body network charger with European attack and output 5V / 7 V / 9V to 2A and 12V to 1.5A which allows the fast charging of the smartphone. There are no earphones, films or protective covers.
DESIGN AND MATERIALS
At first impact the Apollo X design does not transmit nothing new resulting in a mix of old designs adopted by HTC and Huawei (Mate series) while the constructive quality you immediately appreciate it with its strengths and weaknesses. Good is the adoption of one shell made of brushed metal with the exception of the upper and lower band for antennas that are instead made of plastic.
On the front we have a comfortable one display from 5,5 inches embedded in two generous black bands of which the upper one hosts the front camera with 5 megapixels, the system speaker, the notification led (blue light for notifications, red light to indicate low battery or yellow light for charging) and various sensors. The lower band could also be resized since the buttons are on screen and not touch but perhaps the company preferred to maintain a kind of symmetry in the overall design of the smartphone.
Ergonomics is very good thanks to the slightly profiled profiles and therefore despite the dimensions equal to 15,18 x 0,95 x 7,56 cm the Apollo X is pleasantly handy albeit the weight of 179 grams not really a strong point on the device. On the right profile we find the on / off button and volume balance are also made of metal just as they are two slots present on the left profile that allow you to insert 2 SIM cards one in Micro format and the other in Nano format or by renouncing the possibility of Dual Sim Expand the available memory via Micro SD card up to 128 GB.
Vernee for his Apollo X does not follow the fashion launched by Apple and then on top of the smartphone keeps the input from 3,5 mm for earphones while at the bottom we find the input for charging USB Type C and 2 grids whose left hand is dedicated to the main microphone and the right one to the system speaker.
Finally on the back, besides the company logo engraved with the smartphone model, we also find the sensor for unlocking by fingerprint, 13 megapixel camera and LED flash, but unfortunately we notice the absence of a second microphone for reducing environmental noise. Unfortunately, the symmetry that the company decided to adopt for the front of the smartphone has not been replicated to the back because the misalignment between the rear camera and the fingerprint sensor is noticed.
DISPLAY
The mounted Apollo X panel is a drive from 5,5 IPS type inches with resolution Full HD 1080p and density of 401 dpi protected by a glass Corning Gorilla Glass 3 which returns well balanced colors and deep blacks albeit tending to the gray with a very pronounced viewing angle. Good display performance is due to the implementation of the Sharp's IGZO technology but in any case the function is present at the software level Miravision with which to further calibrate contrasts, color temperature, saturation, brightness etc. but above all it is also possible to set the blue light filter.
The display is structured for touch 5 touch points but nevertheless the reactivity of the panel was always excellent and I have never had any improvisation or indecision. The display is also built with 2.5D machining and I found it visibility under the direct sunlight more than satisfactory given the 450 nits of brightness offered, although the scissor between the minimum and maximum brightness of the display is not so high. Deficiencies, however, are the oleophobic treatment that makes the Apollo X display look like a real serial fingerprint accumulator.
HARDWARE
To animate the Apollo X thinks about the processor MediaTek MT6797M better known as Helio X20 un 64-bit decacore and maximum clock frequency of 2.5 GHz divided into three different classes of cores capable of working together for maximum performance or individually depending on workload. 4 core with Cortex A53 architecture and 1.4 GHz clock frequency for basic operations, additional 4 core with Cortex A53 architecture and 2.0 GHz clock frequency for medium loads and finally 2 core with Cortex A72 architecture who do dirty work by adopting the maximum clocked clock frequency, that is, when the device is really under stress, perhaps on much more challenging games than Real Racing.
In addition the Helio X20 should guarantee a 30% consumes less than the standard. Perhaps due to poor software-level optimization GPU Mali T880 to 780MHz coupled with the processor, just with the Real Racing game does not give you a perfect gameplay as sometimes you can see the loss of frame rate and some shots in overall gameplay.
Apart from this small negative parenthesis, which absolutely does not affect the general usability of Apollo X, it also integrates 4 GB of RAM LPDDR3 to 933MHz and 64 GB of internal storage of type eMMC 5.1 with support OTG, which make it the result smartphone always responsive and fluid. Do not miss the form Bluetooth 4.0 with which I quietly connected smartband and earphones without any problems and module Double Bandwidth WiFi (2.4 / 5 Ghz) which was very powerful by hooking up the signal even at home where other devices were struggling in the company. But I personally found it really great Integrated GPS which made the first FIX of the satellites in a very short time, but above all it proved to be reliable and accurate without detecting disconnections.
On the back of the Apollo X there is also the sensor for unlocking with fingerprint which should be in 0,1 seconds at least as stated by the company. Actually though easily accessible and recognizable compared to the body, I found the sensor somewhat lazy in recognizing the impression that on average only 7 times on 10 succeeds to detect it immediately. This happens when we hastily try to unlock the smartphone but personally I think it is a problem due to the little software optimization and that therefore with the upgrade expected that problem could be solved.
CAMERA
Unfortunately, the interface of the camera is the one we're used to with the MediaTek processor mounts, which are now obsolete and poor in features. However, it should be signaled the possibility of take photos in RAW format useful for processing with photo editing programs. The frontal chamber is a drive from 5 megapixel Samsung S5K5E2 which returns good shots to be used for sharing on various social networks as long as they are carried out in conditions of good brightness while the rear camera is entrusted to a sensor from 13 megapixel Sony IMX258 with aperture ffinal match., flash LED e autofocus PDAF resulting very fast but only present in shooting mode and not in the videos we should tap on the screen to focus on the framed subject.
Photographic yield unfortunately is disappointing compared to the devices in the same market range, in fact the photos taken have a dominant background noise that is getting worse with the decrease in brightness and the LED flash does not help as it returns photos with a dominant yellow color. Sometimes the few functions made available as the 'HDR or the stabilizer, which in reality is only a function that helps over-expose the photos, can mislead the user further deteriorating the photos as the above examples. Videos are shot at 1080p at 30fps and in this case the quality does not improve much more than the photos while captured audio seems to be of fair quality. The lack of autofocus in this case feels because in the focal changes we should continually tap on the screen, which is very unpleasant as it is format in which they are saved, the old one 3GP. But I think all of these issues are at software level as the company has repeatedly emphasized the merits of the device and also of the camera.
AUDIO AND RECEPTION
The Apollo X offers connectivity Dual SIM Dual Standby provided you waive memory expansion since the 64 GB of internal storage available may not be a problem. Connection is present 4G LTE category 6 20 bandwidth to 800 MHz, which is available on both SIM slots with hot switch capability. I've never noticed signal leakage and where available, the 4G signal has always been hooked fast. In addition, the integrated LTE module promises a download speed equal to 300 Mbps which can also be paired with the function Turbo Download which allows us to download files while using WiFi and 4G / 3G networks simultaneously.
In call, the audio returned by the ear capsule is quite crystal clear and free of smudges while if we activate the speakerphone the audio is low in volume while maintaining the quality already described. poco before. On the other hand, it is different if we listen to music that is very loud but unbalanced in the high tones compared to low ones that are a little poor. It should be noted that through the USB Type-C input you can connect headphones equipped with this connection for listening to digital music without loss of quality.
BENCHMARK
SOFTWARE
I will not dwell much on this topic, as although the Android 6.0 version aboard the Apollo X is poorly optimized and without any additional functionality compared to the Stock use experience, it has never given signs of failure or general errors except of the multimedia sector as I was unable to view files in MKV, 4K and UHD format if not in jerks which instead should be supported by the device hardware as stated by Vernee. I won't stop because as soon as the OTA update promised by Vernee is ready then we will do a deepening right on Vernee OS and any OXI application that will be integrated into the system.
BATTERY
Apollo X integrates one non removable battery from 3500 mAh with support for fast charging technology VCHARGE. In fact, with the supplied power supply we have one charge to 50% in only 30 minutes. But if charging is fast enough, the battery discharge is as fast as possible in standby mode the consumption is almost zero but as soon as we begin to stress our Apollo X battery does not guarantee a full day while in normal use the situation tends to improve.
For example by turning on the device poco before 08.00 I arrived with a 2% of remaining charge at 19.35 getting only 2 hours and 43 minutes of active screen. It should be noted that in the last 2 hours I have practically left the device in standby, checking from time to time if I had received notifications and this is definitely poco in line with what was promised. It is true that in just 30 minutes we return to 50% of total charge while in about 1 hour 30 minutes we have all the energy capacity available but the company had given us hope for something else.
PRICE AND CONCLUSIONS
During each chapter of this review we have unfortunately noticed a number of defects that literally contrast with what the company promised and the expectations we had for the Vernee Apollo X. The thing that puzzles me is that the hardware is not among the worst, indeed, but it looks as if the company wanted to push the marketing of the device by adopting the proverb "The haughty cat made the blind children". At present I have to postpone the Apollo X waiting for the OTA update to bring substantial improvements.
Vernee Apollo X is available at the online store Gearbest.com at the price of 161 euro incl. Shipping ItalyExpress (10 days - no customs), which is definitely a good price at least as much as the device could offer. So far, maybe I have discouraged you, but it is also worth considering ments is one of those Chinese smartphone makers who constantly keeps updating your device, becoming in poco time from series B to series A brands e which will surely be used for repairs for the Apollo X, which is to date a bet on which I would bet.
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