For anybody not a secret that the “Apple” smartphones sometimes don’t buy because of elegant design, stable, operating system and corporate services, and because of the influential and fashionable brand. Show others that you are the owner of a new Apple flagship is almost priceless. On the background of the great popularity that did not in Cupertino – it will be copied by other market players. And ahead of the rest, as usual, Chinese manufacturers of smartphones.
Not so long ago went on sale announced in the fall of 2015 clone iPhone 6 Plus – the Blackview Ultra Plus. About it will be discussed in this article.
Package contents
Let’s be honest: no one surpassed the quality of packaging of Cupertino. In this regard, the company Blackview has also failed to impress. Smartphone sealed in a neat white box of a square shape, separated by a gasket between the unit and the supplied accessories.
In the box you will find charger, headset, micro-USB cable, USB OTG adapter, “clip” for the SIM card tray and few “bonuses”, such as a protective film for screen, silicone case and a metal bumper to protect the machine. A somewhat unusual set, agree.
Nevertheless we should not deceive ourselves. Silicone cover and bumper is not in perfect quality. First too strongly enough increases the phone thickness, and the second is not the most comfortable fit. Use them together with each other not to turn out.
Appearance
Remember the saying about the two designers of Samsung, one of which is holding an iPhone, and second it encircles? Their Chinese colleagues have succeeded much better! Blackview Ultra Plus looks almost like a twin brother of this iPhone. If you put the devices near each other – the average user will not notice the difference. Moreover, even a fan of smartphones from Apple did not immediately recognize the trick. The difference between the gadgets visible only on the reverse side, where the logo of the smartphone manufacturer from China immediately puts all points over “i”.
Blackview Ultra Plus comes in the same color options as the iPhone. Moreover, these colors have suspiciously similar names: Rose Gold, Champagne Gold, Space Grey and Silver Stardust. All smartphones have a white faceplate, in addition to Stardust Grey, which by analogy with devices of Cupertino made in black. The main difference from the original only in the material of the shell itself. Unlike Apple, it is made of plastic.
Not to mention, one of the hallmarks of Apple products from their competitors is the Home button. In Blackview don’t have to reinvent the wheel and just “copied” it from Apple. It works almost the same way as on iOS devices: a single tap will return you to the home screen and holding the button will bring up a menu of multitasking. Fingerprint scanner fingerprint is not provided.
The location of other elements such as proximity sensors, ambient light and front camera are somewhat different from the original, but does not catch the eye by its fussiness than the sin of many Chinese products. All looks quite decent.
But what is done is not very convenient is the location of the 3.5 mm headphone Jack that has moved from the bottom of the hull at the top. You might think that it is the cost of stereo speakers located on the sides of the micro-USB connector, in the lower part of the body. But no. Though holes and is made in two times more than the iPhone – one part of the lattice plays a decorative role. The sound comes exclusively from the right side, no stereo effect is absent.
Volume keys and power button are on familiar ground – the left and right, respectively. And on the back flaunts a slightly protruding camera lens, flash and a second microphone. Typical plastic insert in place.
The screen is in “Apple” style with a screen size of 5.5 inches, curved on edges 2,5 D-glass and IPS matrix, but with lower resolution – 1280 x 720 pixels (267 ppi).
The build quality is on par. The smartphone did not play, does not emit unnecessary squeaks and has no large gaps between the buttons and the housing of the device itself.
iDroidOS
Of course, manages all this wealth operating system from Google has the latest version of Android 5.1. However, the developers have tried to make the interface as close as possible to the OS development from Apple. All app icons carefully placed on the desktop, just like on iOS.
Interaction with the interface of the system is somewhat complicated because of the symbiosis of the virtual buttons of Android on the smartphone display and physical Home button at the bottom of the enclosure. Why not virtual buttons placed along the edges from a physical mystery, but to get used to for a long time. Especially if you decide, for whatever reason, to change your iPhone into a gadget from Blackview.
Of course, Android wouldn’t be myself if each developer tried to implement in their devices unique chips. And here, the already familiar solutions combined with its own, unique. Double tap on the lock screen displays the smartphone from standby. Swiping up will unlock the device and flick left-to-right – open up the app for SMS/MMS messages.
All actions are pre-installed in the system and cannot be replaced, only to disable or enable.
Performance
In the Blackview Ultra Plus installed SoC MediaTek MT6735 includes a 4-core processor with a clock frequency of 1 GHz and graphics Mali-T720. RAM 2 GB, internal – 16 GB expandable up to 32 GB cards microSDХC. But real performance is not much to say, so it’s best to describe the sensation from the phone.
If we consider solely the shell, then there are some claims. Smooth switching between desktops is not perfect, and from time to time a slight delay in the animation, as in run or turn programs. However, when working with their applications no questions. Video resolution 1920 x 1080 pixels is played without jerks, the photos in the gallery turns instantly, in your browser when zooming or scrolling behave adequately.
The problems start only in games. Simple puzzles and do not require a powerful iron toys work perfectly, but more “weighty” in terms of graphics projects, can significantly lose in FPS. Comfortable gaming GTA 3 on maximum settings, unfortunately, should not be expected.
Camera
In the Blackview Ultra Plus has two cameras: the main 13 megapixel shoots photos in a maximum resolution of 4160 x 3120 and video at Full HD front-facing and 5 megapixels. Of the different camera settings the situation is standard: options and possibilities a lot, but to understand why each of them should, perhaps, only fans of poking around in the settings. Plus, the Chinese favorite “features” such as increasing the size of the eyes and skin lightening.
But in the real conditions, camera can not boast anything outstanding. Sometimes autofocus does not work, sometimes flash decides that no, you may not be in the picture and to do, or even takes a picture after a second or two. In General, if going around the city to see something interesting and want to capture it quickly – from the first time you are likely to fail. But the second, unfortunately, might not be.
But for General shooting static objects or panoramic images – is quite good. At least, not worse than peers in the same price category.
Price
And now for the fun part – the cost of the device. At the moment, the Blackview Ultra Plus can be purchased at a price of about 8 000 rubles in the online store AliExpress. Agree that for the price, the appearance, though not enough stars in the sky “stuffing” and the Assembly – this is a great price.
The current Android models with similar characteristics (and appearance) has already sold at least 12 000 rubles.
Yes, Blackview Ultra Plus will not replace a real iPhone, but perfectly cope with the tasks assigned to it. For the price it can be purchased, for example, a child and to be a little more calm for the fact that the device may be lost (although, of course, be sorry and the money). Not perfect, but worth the money.
