Some people mistakenly think that all
Android phones
that come out of China are white-label devices with no support and no
hope of future upgrades. That is true of some phones, but not all. China
has several popular international brands including ZTE, Huawei and
Lenovo. ThL is another brand that is popular in China where it has over
340 stores across the country. Its phones are also for sale
internationally from places like Chinavasion. The
ThL W100
is its latest smartphone and it was launched only this week. Not only
does this phone have a 4.5 inch IPS display, sport a quad-core Cortex A7
based processor, include an 8MP rear camera along with an amazing 5MP
front-facing camera, it only costs $169! That makes it the first branded
quad-core Android smartphone to be offered internationally for less
than $200.
Hardware
At the heart of the W100 is the MTK6589, a quad-core A7 processor
designed for low power but yet quad-core performance. A7 cores are
becoming increasingly popular and are starting to replace the Cortex A9
cores that were popular in dual-core phones. By using the A7 core
the MTK6589 is able to reduce its energy needs, but at the same time
offer quad-core performance. Here are the full specs of the ThL W100:
- 4.5 inch, 960 x 540, 5 point multi-touch IPS display
- Android 4.2
- 1.2GHz MTK6589 quad-core CPU
- PowerVR SGX 544MP GPU
- 8MP Rear Camera + 5MP Front-Facing Camera
- RAM: 1GB
- Dual-SIM
- 3G: WCDMA: 850/2100MHz
- 2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
- WiFi: 802.11 b/g/n
- GPS
- Bluetooth
- Full support for Google Play
- Micro SD Card Slot
- Proximity Sensor
- Accelerometer Sensor
- Light Sensor
- Magnetic Field Sensor
The device is 134 mm long, 70 mm wide and 9 mm thick which is
reasonable considering the 4.5 inch display. However the phone
is amazingly light. It weighs just 102 grams and when I first picked it
up I thought I had forgotten to put the battery in! Much of
this lightness is achieved by using lots of plastic, so no
aluminum uni-body designs here, but still it is pleasure to hold.
The phone only comes with 4GB of internal storage that is divided
into 1GB phone storage and 3GB external storage. This can be a problem
for larger apps or games as they simply won't fit into the 1GB of phone
storage. However the good news is that a microSD card can be added and
in the settings the microSD card can be set as the default write
location. This helps keep the price down but doesn't leave the
user frustrated with no hope of expanding the storage.
Although the resolution of the screen is “only” 960 x 540 the display
is remarkably high quality. The IPS screen has excellent viewing
angles, the colors are vibrant and when on full brightness the screen
doesn't look washed-out. Below is a photo comparing the same image on a
HTC One S, a Nexus 7 and the ThL W100. Although the HTC One S offers
deeper coloring, I think the W100 is actually the best of the three
displays (in terms of color at least).
Connectivity
The phone has all the standard connectivity options like Wi-Fi
( 802.11 b/g/n), Bluetooth, 2G GSM and 3G. It doesn't have NFC nor does
it support LTE but for only $169 that isn't a problem!
There are two SIM card slots both of which can be used for normal GSM
services and messaging but only one of which can be used for 3G. It
doesn't matter which slot is used for 3G as everything
is configurable via the settings. Which SIM is used by default to make
calls, which SIM is the default for SMS and which SIM should be used for
3G can all be set accordingly. Both slots are unlocked and will work
with any SIM card, contract free.
For 3G the phone only supports 850 and 2100MHz. The latter number is
the “normal” 3G frequency and should work in most places around the
world, however a lot of carriers also use a secondary 3G spectrum range.
In Asia this tends to be 850MHz, as supported by the W100, while in
Europe it tends to be 900MHz. I tested the 3G slot with a local carrier
which uses 2100MHz and 900MHz networks. The 3G worked fine but the range
and effectiveness wasn't as good as a phone that also supports 900MHz.
The 3G connectivity will be optimal in areas with only a 2100MHz network
or with a 850MHz/2100MHz network.
I compared the Wi-Fi signals strengths of the W100 with a HTC One S
and a Nexus 7 using the free “Wifi Analyzer” app from the Google Play
Store. The W100 performed just as well as those two devices and I was
able to access the Internet from all around the house and outside
without any problems.
Software
The phone runs Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean and includes Google Play and
Google Now. The phone is running a slightly tweaked version of stock
Android. The most noticeable difference is the transparency of the app
draw. When the app draw is opened the background (but not the desktop)
can still be seen. It is visually pleasing and a nice touch from ThL.
The other thing I noticed was that the settings app uses color icons.
Other than that, everything looks to be stock Android.
The device supports Google Play and although not all
the official Google apps like YouTube etc are pre-loaded, it is a simple
matter to install them via the Play Store. Using Google Play was simple
and I didn't encounter any “incompatible” apps. All the top free, paid
and essential apps like Twitter, Yahoo! and Facebook all
reported compatibility with the W100. For those who like customization
it is worth noting that the phone isn't rooted by default.
Performance
The MediaTek MT6589 is becoming increasingly popular at the lower end
of the quad-core smartphone market and since it uses one of the the
latest core architectures from ARM, it is a good choice for this phone
(and other in the range).
I previously tested the
5.8 inch, 720p Mithril
phone which uses the same processor and the results are very similar
with the W100 getting slightly higher benchmark results mainly due to
its smaller screen (and hence less effort needed by the CPU/GPU).
The phone scores 13,041 on AnTuTu (compared to the Mithril's 12,737).
Putting that into some context it means that AnTuTu rates the W100 as
being faster than the Google Nexus 7, the Asus Transformer Prime (both
of which are Tegra 3 quad-core devices) and faster than the Samsung
Galaxy Note. Similarly the W100 scores 4006 on Quadrant putting it on
par with the Asus Transformer Prime. For further comparison the
ThL W1,
which is powered by a 1GHz dual-core Cortex A9 based MT6577,
scored 6436 on AnTuTu and 2737 on Quadrant. Older dual core phones like
the HTC One score just under 7000 on AnTuTu. Overall the phone performed
well and there was no lags or annoying pauses. It felt as fluid and
usable as any of the Android devices I have at hand, maybe even better.
A quick test using Epic Citadel showed that the W100 can manage an
average of 47.4 frames per second at 960 x 544 using the high resolution
mode. The Tegra 3 based Asus Transformer TF300 manages 46.5 FPS and the
Nexus 7 53.7 FPS.
Camera
The W100 includes an 8MP camera which takes vibrant pictures and is
certainly well beyond what to expect in this price range. Also the
inclusion of a 5MP front facing camera is remarkable. The built-in
camera app includes features like face detection,
HDR, continuous shooting and panorama. The camera works well for
quasi-macros shots and I was able to get a good focus lock on objects
even when quite close. The dandelion picture below demonstrates this the
best.
Battery
In the box ThL provide two 1800 mAh batteries. The advantage of two
batteries is that you can leave home with both fully charged and know
that you will get double the battery life during long journeys or times
away from a mains socket! The device includes a fairly standard USB
mains charging adapter and the phone can also be charged from a laptop
or PC since charging only requires 500mA. My battery tests revealed that
the ThL W100 can play video for about six hours on one charge. In
another test I found that a full battery will allow you to watch YouTube
videos over Wi-Fi for about five hours or play heavy 3D games for about
three hours.
Conclusion
For those with questions about buying
electronics online from China, see our guide (
part one,
part two)
– it isn't as difficult as you might imagine. For $169 this phone could
be missing half the features it has an I would still recommend it! OK,
this isn't a Samsung Galaxy S4 or a HTC One, but it costs a lot less
than they do. The W100 has a quad core processor based on ARM's low
power consumption Cortex A7, a vibrant IPS display, good connectivity
options, reasonable battery life and a nice 8MP camera. The support for
only 850MHz and 2100MHz on the 3G side could be limiting to some, but
there are other advantages like dual-SIM support plus features like GPS
and a compass. All that from a branded Chinese company for just $169.
