Oukitel K4000 Lite
Oukitel is one of many companies producing affordable smartphones for the Chinese market. While their previous smartphones have had favourable reviews, the Oukitel K4000 Lite is the first of their new platform to hit the market, with the K6000 expected to be released soon. In the international market, the phone retails for around $80. With a price this low, can the phone handle the demands of everyday use? Or has Oukitel cut too many corners to keep the price so low?
Design
Coming in at 208 grams, the heft of the Oukitel K4000 Lite is the first thing you notice when picking it up. Combining a solid build quality with a huge 4000mAh battery, it’s no surprise where the weight comes from. Fortunately, the phone doesn’t feel unreasonably heavy, just solid and well made in the hand. Even compared to the popular American phones, the build quality of this device is top notch. Since there are often not many cases available for these phones, the build quality is a huge asset. Visually, the phone is quite pleasing to the eye. The front glass panel is rounded, giving the illusion of having a curved screen even though it is just a standard unit.
Performance
The Oukitel K4000 Lite has a 64-bit MediaTek quad-core CPU running at 1.0ghz. Although not the fastest CPU on the market, quad core means you’ll be able to keep some apps running in the background without experiencing lag. 2gb of ram and 16gb internal storage are pretty mid-range features, and should work well with for communication and informational purposes. Music and video lovers can expand the internal memory with an additional 32gb of storage space via the SD card slot. Although this phone is clearly not designed for gaming or intense apps, I experienced absolutely no lag or performance issues. To really put this phone to the test I tried a few games, and surprisingly the phone did quite well. The soccer zombie game and dead trigger 2 performed well, although these are not the most demanding games. Modern combat 5 ran well with the settings turned down, so safe to say I was pleasantly surprised. The fact that this phone runs some of the more demanding apps indicates that it is well optimized, and will continue to function smoothly even as our day-to-day applications become more complicated and demanding.
Display & Camera
The Oukitel K4000 Lites display is a 5” 720p model. Due to its somewhat limited processing power, 720p was a great choice. Fewer pixels for the GPU to push means smoother performance, while still providing the user with crisp high-def visuals. Supposedly this display is extremely durable, and the thick curved glass on the front backs up this claim. The manufacturer even released promotional videos of the phone being used as a hammer, dropped and generally abused. I was impressed to see that touch sensitivity was not affected with the durable glass front, as I’ve seen several Chinese phones that were difficult to use. The rear facing camera is a 13-megapixel model that performs pretty decently. It’s not the best camera on the market, but the pictures are clear, accurate and full of color. The 5-megapixel front camera, on the other hand, was incredibly average. It might be alright for a video chat, but I would not plan on taking any photos with the front camera, not even a selfie.
Connectivity
Wi-Fi, 4g data, Bluetooth all worked really well in the Oukitel K4000 Lite. The performance was just as good as most of the other phones I’ve tried. The only small issue I noticed was signal quality. The phone is built quite rigidly, and all the extra casing material seems to reduce the signal strength a little bit. While it worked fine everywhere I used it in the city, users who live in a very rural area or generally get poor reception might want to try a different device.
Battery Life
With the low power CPU, 720p screen, and 4000mAh Battery, the battery life of the Oukitel K4000 Lite is incredible. While testing the phone, I was constantly browsing the web, messaging, playing games, and generally using the phone virtually full time. Even under these conditions, it still had 25% battery life remaining when I went to bed.
Final Verdict
While this phone isn’t perfect, it is extremely affordable. Every phone in this price range is going to have some drawbacks, but Oukitel did a great job of choosing their target market. If you need a decent phone for day-to-day communication that is extremely durable and has a long battery life, this phone is for you. If you want a mobile powerhouse for playing games and using dozens of apps simultaneously, you’ll need to spend a bit more to meet your needs.