In pursuit of the new trend of “frameless” design, many smartphone manufacturers do not pay enough attention to the issue of battery life of their devices. Perhaps with the release of UMIDIGI S2 the situation will change for the better: UMIDIGI presented a 6-inch smartphone with minimal frames and a capacious 5100 mAh battery. In addition, the phablet supports fast charging via USB-C and is equipped with a dual main module cameras, a fast fingerprint scanner, a fairly powerful chipset and fairly large volumes memory.
Equipment
UMIDIGI S2 comes in a rectangular, durable black packaging that opens up like a notepad. The smartphone, like the entire complete set, is additionally placed in individual small cardboard boxes, which are folded evenly inside the main package.
Contents of delivery:
- USB-C cable;
- power unit;
- adapter for connecting standard headphones;
- protective case for the rear panel;
- protective film for the screen;
- SIM tray removal tool;
- User manual in English.
Appearance
The smartphone has an all-metal body, which can be painted black or red. In the red color version, the device looks more impressive and attractive, however, on the black panel the antenna inserts are less noticeable.
The front part is covered with Gorilla Glass 4 curved at the edges, which has an increased degree of protection against scratches and abrasions.
The manufacturer focuses on the fact that in terms of its dimensions, the UMIDIGI S2 case with a 6” screen is comparable to 5.5-inch smartphones, the display of which is surrounded by regular-sized frames. In addition, despite the fairly high capacity of the built-in battery, the thickness of the device’s body is only 8.8 mm.
The power and volume control buttons are traditionally located on the right side. On the left side there is a tray that can simultaneously accommodate two SIM cards, or an external drive in combination with one SIM. There is no standard headphone jack. To connect a headset and headphones, you can use the symmetrical universal USB Type-C 2.0 connector, located on the bottom edge, next to the main speaker and microphone.
On the back side above the dual camera you can find an additional microphone, which ensures the noise reduction system. Below the flash LED is a fingerprint sensor that supports Live Fingerprint Detection technology. This technology uses preset patterns and also uses machine learning methods, so the sensor can easily distinguish fake fingerprints from real ones.
Display
The phablet received a 6-inch TDDI In-cell screen manufactured by SHARP, with a resolution of 1440 x 720, which occupies 90% of the entire front panel area. The display features rounded corners and an 18:9 aspect ratio, which has become the standard for 2017's top flagships such as the Samsung S8, iPhone X and LG V30. The quality of the transmitted image is at the highest level, and this is not surprising since SHARP produces some of the best screens on the market.
Performance, memory
The smartphone is equipped with a 64-bit MediaTek Helio P20 chipset, the maximum frequency of which 8 cores can reach 2.3 GHz. The integrated Mali-T880MP2 video chip, with a maximum frequency of 900 MHz, is responsible for graphics processing. In short, Helio P20 is a fairly powerful and at the same time energy efficient chipset. Its performance is sufficient to play 4k video and run resource-intensive games (for example, World of Tanks Blitz). In the AnTuTu test, the smartphone scores about 63 thousand. points. In Geekbench 4, the device gets 889 and 3828 points, respectively, in single-core and multi-core testing modes.
Thanks to the fast 4 GB RAM operating in dual-channel mode, the device provides high speed and excellent multitasking performance. The amount of permanent memory is 64 GB - this is more than enough for most mobile device users. In addition, if necessary, the storage capacity can be expanded by installing an external microSD memory card, the maximum capacity of which can be 256 GB.
Cameras
The UMIDIGI S2 has a dual camera module, which is complemented by a flash and phase-detection PDAF autofocus. The main sensor is the same as in Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X and OnePlus X: 13-megapixel Sony IMX258 with f/2.0 aperture. To obtain the bokeh effect, an auxiliary sensor with a resolution of 5 MP is provided. The main camera is capable of recording FullHD and 4K video. A front 5-megapixel module is provided for taking selfies, as well as for making video calls.
The appearance of the shooting application resembles the camera interface in smartphones with the MIUI shell. In addition to various settings, modes and filters in the interface, you can find a Pro mode, the activation of which will provide access to an expanded menu of manual settings.
During the day outside, the white balance is determined correctly, and the pictures turn out bright, with a sufficient level of sharpness.
It is also worth noting the good detailing of even those objects that are in the background.
With the camera of this smartphone you can count on getting high-quality landscape and portrait photos.
During product photography, the camera quickly focuses and demonstrates good results.
In artificial lighting conditions, for example indoors, it is advisable to take care of fixing the smartphone to avoid blurry frames.
In addition, in photographs taken under insufficient lighting levels, you can observe what is typical of the camera in any inexpensive smartphone: loss of detail in objects, as well as the presence of noise.
However, considering the price category of the device, the quality of the resulting photos and videos can be considered very satisfactory.
Battery
At the time of the smartphone’s release, among “frameless” competitors with an identical aspect ratio of a 6-inch screen, UMIDIGI S2 became the owner of the most capacious battery - 5100 mAh. And just as important, without sacrificing design: the thickness of the device’s body is only 8.8 mm.
The battery life test results are impressive: on a single charge, the smartphone runs up to 10 hours in game mode, or 34 hours in Full HD video viewing mode. During both tests, any network connections were deactivated and the backlight brightness was screen did not exceed the minimum level necessary to ensure comfortable visibility in indoors. In mixed operating mode under moderately intense loads, the built-in battery can provide energy to the smartphone for 2 days.
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The phablet supports Pump Express+ 2.0 fast charging technology using a powerful included power supply. Even a short morning recharge of 30 minutes is enough for the user to stay connected throughout the working day. It will take approximately 2.5 hours to fully replenish the battery level.
operating system
The first batches of UMIDIGI S2 will be supplied with proprietary UMI OS firmware based on Android 6.0. Later the model will receive an update, and as a basis for a new The firmware version will use Android 7.0 OS, which supports multi-window mode, allowing you to split the screen into two applications and change the size of these windows
Wireless interfaces
Like most modern smartphones, UMIDIGI S2 can simultaneously accommodate 2 Nano SIM cards. The device is compatible with 2G, 3G and 4G mobile networks. List of supported frequency bands for FDD-LTE: 800/1800/2100/2600 (B20, B3, B1, B7). Interfaces such as Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n) are responsible for the wireless connection. UMIDIGI S2 can act as a mobile navigator, thanks to the support of satellite navigation systems GPS (A-GPS), GLONASS, as well as the presence of a built-in digital compass.
Advantages and disadvantages
Main advantages:
- compact body, as for a 6-inch model;
- nice modern design with minimal frames;
- high-quality case materials and good assembly;
- high performance, fairly powerful processor;
- substantial amounts of RAM and built-in memory;
- high-quality display with a large diagonal;
- capacious battery and excellent autonomy;
- Fast charging support.
Disadvantages found:
- no NFC module;
- The manufacturer has removed the standard headphone jack.
Review results
UMIDIGI S2 is a device for those who are looking for a stylish modern phablet with a large screen and minimal frames, for which you do not have to carry a Power Bank or charger. Thanks to a 6-inch display, a 5100 mAh battery, as well as a fairly powerful hardware in the form of an 8-core Helio P20 chipset with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB storage, UMIDIGI S2 will be an excellent option for gaming, consuming multimedia content and active web surfing. In addition, the affordable price combined with the wide capabilities of the device is another strong argument in favor of this model. Right now, both black and red UMIDIGI S2 can be purchased for just $218 - a great price for a great smartphone.
