If you’re looking for the king of the budget phones, Oukitel would like to crown their Oukitel U15S. The phone is just about to hit the market, and we were lucky enough to get a chance to preview it. There are plenty of affordable phones that offer premium design and hardware. But at a price of $140, we’ve never seen it so affordable. Did they have to cut corners, or is this really as good a deal as it looks? Let’s take a peek and find out.
First Impression
Design
Performance
Of course, the CPU isn’t the only component to take into consideration. You also need to have a lot of memory to support the rich multi-media interfaces used in today applications. Fortunately, with 4GB of onboard RAM, you’ll never run out. As for local storage, the 32GB of included SSD storage space is plenty fast and can fit all the media you need.
Display
Another benefit of IPS displays is that the colors are much more accurate. An image on this display looks just as vibrant as a professional print. Combined with the incredible photography features of this phone (which we’ll get into in a moment,) the screen really is an excellent choice.
What about the resolution? On paper, 1080p doesn’t seem that high. It’s important to consider how much detail your eyes are able to make out. Remember, just a few years ago it was considered pointless to choose 1080p over 720p if your screen was less than 40 inches. It’s true that these high-resolution displays have a very ‘sharp’ look, but the more pixels your phone has to push, the more of a performance impact your applications have. In our opinion, 1080p displays are the perfect balance between clarity and performance. The image still looks great, but this somewhat modest phone is able to perform quite well.
Camera
One of the areas the Oukitel U15S really shines is the camera. The rear image sensor is a 16MP Panasonic model, which produces stunning images. It works best in the day, where the photos are clean and clear enough to use even for prints. The front camera isn’t anything to scoff at either, with its 8MP sensor. Whether you’re taking selfies or framing the perfect shot, this phone has everything you need.
It’s also capable of taking full 1080p video. We’re used to seeing cameras that suffer from poor compression, leaving artifacts and distortion all over your movie. Fortunately, the Panasonic sensor does a really good job of taking full-motion video. We found that was free from jitter, and playback was both smooth and clear. The front-facing camera wasn’t quite as impressive, but more than adequate for Skype or other video chat applications.
Durability
This phone is definitely more geared towards people who prefer looks over durability. But that doesn’t mean that you’ll accidentally break it. The screen has a Gorilla Glass coating, preventing it from cracking or getting scratched. Because it’s rounded, it’s much less susceptible to damage. Although it’s just as durable as any mid-level phone on the market, we do recommend some protection. Fortunately, they’re throwing in a free case if you pre-order. We’d highly recommend taking advantage of it.
Who Should Get the Oukitel U15S?
We recommend this phone for anyone who’s looking for an affordable device that can handle all of their social media needs. Obviously, it handles standard web-browsing and communication quite well. But one added bonus is its impressive multimedia features.
With a color-accurate 1080p display and 32GB of internal storage, this phone is perfect for watching movies. But if you’re more into creating media, then you’ll be incredibly impressed with its 16MP Panasonic image sensor.
Six months ago, we would have considered this a high-end phone. But new technologies are coming out, offering users a small boost in performance. For you, this means you can get a great deal. Unless you’re playing demanding games, you’ll never notice lag or disappointing performance. Without making any sacrifices, you’re able to score a competent phone for nearly half the price of competing models.