Ulefone Tiger Review – unbeatable value and competent performance

A review of the Ulefone Tiger

Ulefone is a company that we’ve reviewed many times before. They tend to make very high-quality phones, and sell them at a price well below the current market trend. Looking at the Ulefone tiger, it’s a premium phablet with all of the hottest technologies. They’ve hit it out of the park with many of their previous releases, so we were excited to see how their latest offering would stand up.

Ulefone Tiger at first glance

When we first picked up the Ulefone Tiger, we thought they had sent us the wrong phone. Having reviewed plenty of Chinese phones, we’re used to seeing affordable models. Usually, those phones have to make compromises in order to get the price down to a reasonable point. As soon as we held it in our hands we could tell that this one was different. The luxurious brushed metal back feels distinctly premium, and the phone has a solid feel that is unexpected at this price point. After turning on the phone we were shocked by the brilliant, crystal clear display. It’s clear that Ulefone took their time with the Ulefone Tiger, so we couldn’t wait to put it to the test.

Design

With so many phones on the market, it can be challenging to stand out. What separates the Ulefone Tiger from the competition is subtle design elements. Both the glass front and the metal back are gently sloped at similar angles, giving the phone a well-balanced look that contrasts nicely. The same goes for the beveled edge that surrounds the camera, the fingerprint sensor, and the flash. The metal has a mirror-like polish, adding a little highlight to elements which are often ignored. Around the face of the camera, you’ll see a circular ring pattern. It’s so simple, but it simply makes the Ulefone Tiger feel well thought out. These small highlights combined with the executive level brushed aluminum back make this, overall, one of the most attractive phones on the market.

Build Quality

Within moments of picking up this phone, you’ll realize how well put together the Ulefone Tiger is. Even when applying pressure, it doesn’t creak or bend. Brushed aluminum is our favorite material for the case to be made out of, as it doesn’t show fingerprints or scratch easily. Each button can be depressed with a firm but tactile click, highlighting the impressive components inside.

When a phone is dropped, often one of the sharp edges makes contact with the ground causing it to crack or chip. Because both the glass and back are rounded, any impacts will be softened to a point where damage is less likely to occur. This is important since the display is coated with standard glass. Although it’s not the hardest screen on the market, the rounded edges should give it an edge against other phones in the same price bracket.

Ulefone Tiger’s Performance

How well this phone will perform depends on the types of tasks you are doing with it. For example, if you are doing nothing but sending texts and checking your email, even an economical phone will feel just as fast as a premium model. If you’re playing the latest games, the most powerful phone on the market will still feel a little sluggish at times. The Ulefone Tiger is designed for the average user. We found that messaging, browsing the internet, accessing social media, and playing videos all worked very well with this phone. Performance was smooth, apps loaded quickly, and everything felt snappy and responsive. Even when we had a few apps open at the same time, the speed remained consistent without any additional lag.

The performance is due in part to the MediaTek processor. It’s a 64-bit quad-core model running at 1.3 GHZ. It’s not the fastest on the market, but it can competently handle almost every standard app on the market. With 2GB of ram, you’re able to have all of your basic applications open and still have space for a demanding program. With 16GB of included storage, you’ve got a pretty decent amount of space for all of your applications and media. If that isn’t enough, we’d suggest you purchase an inexpensive SD card, as the phone can take up to 128GB of additional storage.

Display

Ask almost any Phablet user. Once you get used to a 5.5” display, you’ll never want to go back. Text is large, navigation is easy to perform, and video looks absolutely brilliant. The Ulefone Tiger uses an LED screen. Although IPS is commonly recommended due to its accurate color reproduction, accuracy isn’t always the best. What would you prefer, a display that can show the exact shade of green found on a leaf? Or a display that is full of color so vibrant that it almost pops out of the phone. That’s what you get with this display. Everything from media to photos looks rich and enjoyable. This may not be the best phone for serious photographers who need an analytical display. But if you are simply enjoying photos and movies, you’ll find them to be twice as enjoyable on this display.

The screen has a 720p resolution. It’s not exactly as crisp as 1080p, but still much sharper than your television. The main benefit of a 720p screen is that there are less pixels to draw, so even on this affordable model games and movies will be just as smooth as more expensive phones.

Camera

If you’re a fan of snapping photos, you’ll love the Ulefone Tiger. Its camera has a high-quality lens and a high-quality 8MP image sensor. The photos are bright, colorful, clear, and certainly sharp. In outdoor conditions, the pictures are camera grade. The low light performance isn’t quite as good. In really tough conditions, the photos will look slightly noisy. But this is still pretty impressive for the price point. You can also take videos at 720p. They’ll be smooth and clear, so you can share them with your friends easily. The front camera isn’t quite as impressive. It’s good enough for video chat and Skype, but not something you’d want to use full time.

Ulefone Tiger’s Battery Life

This is one of the strongest points of the phone. Due to its larger size, Ulefone was able to cram an impressive 4000mAh battery into it. Combined with the power efficient hardware, this battery is large enough to last two days.

The use does depend on your use, however. If you’ve constantly surfing the internet and using apps, you’ll get about 16 hours of straight use. If you never pick it up, you’ll be good for 6 days of standby time. For average use, we think that you’ll find the 2-day estimate to be pretty accurate.

Who Should Buy the Ulefone Tiger?

The average user will absolutely love the Ulefone Tiger. It’s a very well designed phone. Obviously, to get this phone down to $99 they had to make some compromises. But every compromise they made wound up doing it a favor. For example, the affordable processor uses very little power but is still capable of running your everyday apps. This allows it to have a long battery life. The camera isn’t the highest resolution on the market, but combined with the high-quality lens you’ll find that your images are still sharp and clear.

Sure, those of us who are on our phones 24/7 or play demanding games might want something a little more powerful. But for most users, you’ll find that the Ulefone Tiger offers unbeatable value and competent performance. Grab it at a discount from GearBest.