Review: 60 days with the Siswoo Cooper i7, one of the best 5″ MT6752 phones


I’m pretty certain you haven’t heard of this new phone company on the block that calls itself ‘Siswoo’, but what you will be pleased to know is that the company’s first phone itself is a winner. We’re talking about the Siswoo Cooper i7, with which we spent some hands on time a while back.

The device has one of the most ergonomic designs I’ve seen in the past few months, and it also comes with a better than average processor for the money. There’s a lot of good things about the phone that I have to say, along with some bad ones; so let’s get it all out of the way in this Siswoo Cooper i7 review!

MediaTek MT6752 rules the roost

MediaTek have started this year with a bang. First with the 64-bit quad-core MT6732 (as seen on the Elephone P6000), and then with the more powerful 64-bit octa-core MT6752, which is also the SoC that powers the Siswoo Cooper i7. The Cooper i7 is however more ‘mid-range’ than other phones that are powered by the MT6752 because it has 2GB of RAM, while others seem to ship with 3GB.

Siswoo Cooper i7 Review: Design and Build

Siswoo Cooper i7 (6)

The Meizu MX4 was one of the most user-friendly phones in terms of design back in late 2014, and so is the Cooper i7. You must be wondering why I’m mentioning the MX4 in a Cooper i7 review; that’s because the Cooper i7 takes the design of the MX4, and doesn’t change it enough so it clearly reminds you of the Meizu phone. The Siswoo Cooper i7 in fact, also comes with the glowing halo (which certainly seems to be a VERY popular addition on Chinese phones) to top off the MX4 doppelganger look.

The phone per se is perhaps the most comfortable 5-inch phone you’ll ever hold; it certainly was the case for me. So much so that I even contemplated retiring my trusty old Mi 4 for this!

Siswoo Cooper i7 (9)

There isn’t a lot of metal on the phone, but whatever Siswoo have used (and it’s certainly not some aircraft grade material) works surprisingly well for them, and then the user. The phone is fairly lightweight too, but has just enough heft to feel like a well put-together piece of kit. A chrome plated lip does run around the screen, but I’m not sure if its metal or plastic… would like to assume the former, though.

The curved edges really make the phone a pleasure to hold, and use. In other words, the form factor of the Siswoo Cooper i7 is a delight for users that find it hard to get used to larger (>5-inch) screen phones. All corners of the phone are reachable with your thumb when you’re using the phone in one hand, and that isn’t something you get to hear very often these days.

The front of the frame is very recognizable thanks to some iconic phones (iConic?), and some that we discussed before such as the Meizu MX4. Even then, the device is a pleasure to look at with the glowing holo on the bottom. The bezels around the screen aren’t the narrowest, but also not so wide to make the phone look ugly.

Both sides of the phone are fairly minimalistic in design, and curve to blend with the rear. The right edge also makes home for the power and volume buttons, both of which are plated in the same chrome-ish material as the lip around the screen… but this time, its definitely plastic.

On the rear of the phone, you find the Siswoo logo which sits below the camera module, printed in italics. Not much else on the rear besides the company logo (and a little mention of 4G-LTE on the bottom). A flash module sits right below the camera sensor, which might look like it makes home for dual LEDs, but in fact it has just one. This is something I’ve seen on a lot of Chinese phones in the recent months.

There’s nothing at all on the bottom (aka the chin) of the phone, while the top edge of the Cooper i7 makes space for a micro USB port and a 3.5mm headset jack.

Beneath the rear cover, there’s the familiar sight of two SIM slots (1x mini SIM, 1x micro SIM) and a microSD card slot. The Cooper i7 uses a 2100mAh battery, which does sound under-par for a phone of today, but in real life does perform well enough, as you shall read through the course of this review. Around the aforementioned, you can also see the 3D printed antennas which unfortunately aren’t the best, at least as far as WiFi is concerned. A mono speaker too is seen right near the edge of the phone.

Siswoo Cooper i7 Review: Components and Performance

The Cooper i7 smartphone, and Siswoo itself, came out of nowhere to produce a phone that’s actually one of the best in its range. While you may not have heard of the company name before, you will certainly know a bit about the components the phone uses. It comes with a 5-inch 1280 x 720 pixel display (which is actually pretty good), an octa-core, 64-bit MediaTek MT6752 processor that impresses beyond expectations, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of on-board storage, an 8 mega-pixel rear camera and a 5 mega-pixel front camera along with a 2100mAh removable battery.

Gizchina News of the week


The display itself is as impressive as the rest of the phone. It isn’t a QHD display, or not even a full HD panel; but the experience of using the phone is pretty much beats that of using any other phone in its range, at least display wise. Its an IPS panel as you would expect, and thanks to MediaTek’s Miravision technology, the display can be tuned to your taste without much hassle. In all, I’d say that the display is top notch and doesn’t leave anything to complain about.

Read Also:  MediaTek Dimensity 8200 has been detailed, to be a minor upgrade

Blacks though, could get a bit darker. This isn’t a gripe per se, but rather something that could make the package, that is the Cooper i7, look better.

Siswoo Cooper i7 (16)

Moving on, there’s not a lot that’s left to be said about the MediaTek MT6752 octa-core processor. The SoC was used in the current JiaYu flagship, the JiaYu S3, and has impressed one and all. The MT6752 is one from the new breed of MediaTek SoCs that don’t aim to follow the competition, but beat it. And from my usage of the Cooper i7, I have to say I’m more than just impressed. I can foresee MT6752 phones such as the Cooper i7 sell for around US$150 in the coming months; and that’s something that will really redefine the market. The MT6732 beats the Snapdragon 615 in my book, at least as far as general usage is concerned; the MT6752 does miles better.

2GB of RAM means the phone is more than just decent at multitasking. As far as I’m concerned, the quality of multitasking depends more on the CPU than one usually assumes; it is a common idea to base a phone’s ability on the amount of RAM is has, which isn’t entirely accurate. Think of it this way: you have a 20 litre bucket full of water (RAM on phone) and various smaller mugs (apps) that take up water from the 20 litre bucket. How soon you switch from 1litre mug A to 1 litre mug B completely depends on how fast YOU (CPU) can transfer the water, and not just the capacity of the 20 litre bucket.

The phone charges up at a nominal rate, which isn’t the fastest. Personally, I don’t like fast chargers too much (unless they’re the VOOC kind which really make a difference), because it also means that you’re hurting your phone’s battery. Which is why I tend to stick to 1A chargers when I’m not in a hurry. (The test on the Cooper i7 was, of course, conducted using a 2A unit)

Battery life itself is pretty good on the phone. It’ll take you through one day of usage, but not a lot more. What’s interesting is, if you happen to have a busy day with a lot of phone use, the Cooper i7 will probably not let you down.

Another area where the Cooper i7 doesn’t score too highly is WiFi reception. In areas in my house where the Xiaomi Mi 4 and Yu Yureka easily latch on to my WiFi network, the Cooper i7 finds it tough to even stay connected when coming from an area with greater strength, let alone discovering the network. This is something that Siswoo can certainly work upon.

The vibration motor on the phone too is something to complain about. After 1-2 motions, the motor will simply stop working; it’s working is sporadic in nature, in other words. This is certainly a massive let down on a phone that has otherwise proven to be a gem. Makes you wonder about the quality of components used inside the pretty exterior.

What’s also not great about the Siswoo Cooper i7 (although I faced this issue only twice in the two months of usage) is that the speaker went off for no apparent reason a couple of times. I had to restart the phone to get audio back, so its certainly not a hardware issue but something to do with poor software implementation.

Unfortunately for you shutterbugs, the Cooper i7 isn’t really a very good camera phone. The photos that it takes have a pinkish tint to them, and lack detail. Not only that, they’re also not as sharp as you would like. It isn’t the worst camera phone ever, but I’ve certainly seen better.

Conclusion

Pros

  • Ergonomics
  • Battery
  • Performance

Cons

  • Vibration motor turns off
  • Camera
  • WiFi

Having used the phone for a couple of months, I can vouch for the fact that the device is certainly blazing fast and doesn’t get slow with time. The fact that it comes with a near stock ROM helps the issue also. The few niggles — poor WiFi, vibration motor functions sporadically, audio goes off — can’t be overlooked certainly, but the phone itself despite the issues has a lot of potential.

The design is pretty much a ripoff of the MX4 which is another thing that might bother a lot of potential buyers. Despite that, the Cooper i7 is THE most ergonomic phone I’ve used in… ever. Especially since I’m a one-handed phone user kind of a guy.

In any case, Siswoo as a manufacturer has certainly done exceedingly well to make their first phone as good as the Cooper i7. With more time and experience in the market, combined with user reviews, I can foresee them making some killer phones in the next year or so.

The Cooper i7 can be bought from Chinavasion for $199. At the time of writing this article, Chinavasion is also giving a free 32GB microSD card.

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68 Comments

  1. mf1gt3r
    May 12, 2015

    That’s a very non-biased viewpoint. At least. Someone recognizes that mt6732 is better than sd615.

    • Ricardo
      May 13, 2015

      I think he meant 6752 😉

    • Lazar Prodanovic
      May 13, 2015

      MT6732 is best engendered SoC of the year so far. MTK actually more like slip up than did it on purpose. ?

  2. Sere83
    May 12, 2015

    Sadly this is almost always the case with low end Chinese phones, from smaller brands, they simply cant implement cameras properly, was exactly the same with my vowney v5. Can only trust bigger brands at the low end of the market if you want decent camera performance, This is why i am so disappointed that meizu refuse to release an FDD-LTE M1 mini. It is the perfect low end phone in my eyes and should perform better than xiaomi redmi 2 with all its memory management and heat issues.How you getting notifications on home screen by the way? That a dashclock widget?

    • balcobomber25
      May 13, 2015

      I would say it depends on the brand/camera used. Elephone has had some good cameras so far.

    • paul
      May 13, 2015

      Let us hope for a FDD-LTE M2 mini this summer. 😉

  3. Venci
    May 12, 2015

    200$ for 5 inch 6752 phone ???

    meizu m1 note is 200$ way better and the new Mi4i is also better
    there are like 5 phones out there with 5.5 inch FHD display for less than 200$. The lenovo k3 is 167$ and has 2gb, 6752 and FHD 5.5 inch display. Just no way for the price, maybe if it was 140$ , but still better phones out there.

    Really strange review “one of the best 5″ 6752 phones” ??? Kind of disappointed actually

    • Riccardo Benzoni
      May 12, 2015

      not everyone wants bigger than 5 inch phones, nowadays it seems chinese phone makers only make “mini” versions with this size (meaning dumb specs), so actually having a decent phone with that screen ratio is a plus for sure. If you prefer 5.5″phones, doesn’t mean everyone else wants the same!

    • balcobomber25
      May 13, 2015

      None of those phones you mentioned are competition for the i7. A lot of people don’t want a phone bigger than 5 inches, and phones 5 inches or under with the newest MTK SoC’s are hard to come by. The THL 2015 would be a competitor it too has the 6752, 5 inch screen, and 2GB RAM, it sells for $226.99 on 1949deal right now. The major difference between the two is the THL has an FHD display. Also if you shop around I found the I7 for as low as $178 on 1949deal and $169 on Merimobiles.

      • Venci
        May 15, 2015

        Mi4i is 5″ phone as i have stated, also 200$ and better in many ways. Not saying i7 is bad phone just for the price you can get much better device.

        • balcobomber25
          May 15, 2015

          The Mi4i is great if you live in one of 3 countries it is/will soon be officially sold in. If you don’t you will pay well over $200 to get one. Resellers will probably have it for between $250-280 once it is available to them.

      • Venci
        May 17, 2015

        well for 150$ is a whole different story

        • July 8, 2015

          comebuy is $143.69 now

          • lol
            July 28, 2015

            gearbest $129 now

    • Ivor G
      November 18, 2015

      I found the Siswoo i7 ideal as a second cheap phone. 5.5″ is too big and as I am in the UK I wanted LTE Ch20 which Meizu and a host of other smaller brands do not have.

  4. Robert Dennis
    May 12, 2015

    its only 149 on geekbuying on the second tier of their sale. was 139 on first tier.

  5. mf1gt3r
    May 12, 2015

    That’s a very non-biased viewpoint. At least. Someone recognizes that mt6732 is better than sd615.

    • Lazar Prodanovic
      May 13, 2015

      MT6732 is best engendered SoC of the year so far. MTK actually more like slip up than did it on purpose. 😆

  6. Sere83
    May 12, 2015

    Sadly this is almost always the case with low end Chinese phones, from smaller brands, they simply cant implement cameras properly, was exactly the same with my vowney v5. Can only trust bigger brands at the low end of the market if you want decent camera performance, This is why i am so disappointed that meizu refuse to release an FDD-LTE M1 mini. It is the perfect low end phone in my eyes and should perform better than xiaomi redmi 2 with all its memory management and heat issues.How you getting notifications on home screen by the way? That a dashclock widget?

    • balcobomber25
      May 13, 2015

      I would say it depends on the brand/camera used. Elephone has had some good cameras so far.

    • Guest
      May 13, 2015

      Let us hope for a FDD-LTE M2 mini this summer. 😉

  7. Venci
    May 12, 2015

    200$ for 5 inch 6752 phone ???

    meizu m1 note is 200$ way better and the new Mi4i is also better
    there are like 5 phones out there with 5.5 inch FHD display for less than 200$. The lenovo k3 is 167$ and has 2gb, 6752 and FHD 5.5 inch display. Just no way for the price, maybe if it was 140$ , but still better phones out there.

    Really strange review “one of the best 5″ 6752 phones” ??? Kind of disappointed actually

    • Riccardo Benzoni
      May 12, 2015

      not everyone wants bigger than 5 inch phones, nowadays it seems chinese phone makers only make “mini” versions with this size (meaning dumb specs), so actually having a decent phone with that screen ratio is a plus for sure. If you prefer 5.5″phones, doesn’t mean everyone else wants the same!

    • balcobomber25
      May 13, 2015

      None of those phones you mentioned are competition for the i7. A lot of people don’t want a phone bigger than 5 inches, and phones 5 inches or under with the newest MTK SoC’s are hard to come by. The THL 2015 would be a competitor it too has the 6752, 5 inch screen, and 2GB RAM, it sells for $226.99 on 1949deal right now. The major difference between the two is the THL has an FHD display. Also if you shop around I found the I7 for as low as $178 on 1949deal and $169 on Merimobiles.

    • Venci
      May 15, 2015

      Mi4i is 5″ phone as i have stated, also 200$ and better in many ways. Not saying i7 is bad phone just for the price you can get much better device.

    • balcobomber25
      May 15, 2015

      The Mi4i is great if you live in one of 3 countries it is/will soon be officially sold in. If you don’t you will pay well over $200 to get one. Resellers will probably have it for between $250-280 once it is available to them.

    • Elégedetlen_Állampolgár@SZBKTY
      May 17, 2015
    • Venci
      May 17, 2015

      well for 150$ is a whole different story

    • Fred
      July 9, 2015

      comebuy is $143.69 now

    • Guest
      July 28, 2015

      gearbest $129 now

    • Ivor G
      November 18, 2015

      I found the Siswoo i7 ideal as a second cheap phone. 5.5″ is too big and as I am in the UK I wanted LTE Ch20 which Meizu and a host of other smaller brands do not have.

  8. Robert Dennis
    May 12, 2015

    its only 149 on geekbuying on the second tier of their sale. was 139 on first tier.

  9. bojan radovanovic
    May 13, 2015

    Peace of crap, it’s enough to se cons in artikle, add BAD battery life (to be real) and very bad camera and say honestly that it’s just too much problems with Phone just month or two old

    • balcobomber25
      May 13, 2015

      He said the battery life was good…

      • bojan radovanovic
        May 13, 2015

        Yes, he did… And “good” he say, is where working day. For me, it’s bad.. Very bad

  10. bojan radovanovic
    May 13, 2015

    Peace of crap, it’s enough to se cons in artikle, add BAD battery life (to be real) and very bad camera and say honestly that it’s just too much problems with Phone just month or two old

    • balcobomber25
      May 13, 2015

      He said the battery life was good…

    • bojan radovanovic
      May 13, 2015

      Yes, he did… And “good” he say, is where working day. For me, it’s bad.. Very bad

  11. Ricardo
    May 13, 2015

    The MT6732** beats the Snapdragon 615 in my book, at least as far as general usage is concerned; the MT6752 does miles better.

    **Shouldn’t it be MT6752? Or you really meant the 6732?

    • Jason45
      May 13, 2015

      Most likely, he meant the 6732 chipset. Based on benchmark tests, I believe the MT6732 chipset has a similar score compared to SD 615 chipset.

      MT6752 chipset has generally much better scores on benchmark tests compared to SD 615.

    • May 13, 2015

      MT6732 is what I meant.

      • Ricardo
        May 13, 2015

        😮
        Ok :). I haven’t used MT6732 that’s why I asked.

  12. Cpaun
    May 13, 2015

    This article should be named “another mediocre 5″ MT6752 phone”. The rear camera pictures are very bad. You admitted that WI-FI is weak. To be honest, the screen doesn’t impress me either (judging from the pictures). Why should we be impressed by this phone? Please do not retire your Xiaomi Mi4, I’m sure it’s a much better phone in every possible aspect. Saying that you’d retire your Mi4 over this phone, makes many people think that Siswoo it’s as good as Mi4, and that’s obviously not true.
    I would add that many people (me included) rely on these reviews, when buying a phone. We don’t live in China after all, and some objective reviews are the only way we can get in touch with Chinese technology, before buying. There are plenty Chinese brands that deserve real credits (Xiaomi, Meizu, Jiayu, Huawei, Lenovo, Zte, etc), not to mention some Indian phones. I don’t think it’s fair that ANY new-comer should be automatically considered at the same rank, just for its effort to release a new phone. The effort should be appreciated, but the (many) faults MUST be criticized.
    In my personal opinion, most of these “new brand phones” are pretty much mediocre. Not to mention fake specs, a practice that really should disappear from ANY Chinese manufacturer.

    • May 13, 2015

      Screen is OK (like mentioned in the review — I never said its great). If I were to stay with the Siswoo, one thing from the Mi 4 that I would miss would be the camera, but fortunately not a lot more.

      • Max
        May 26, 2015

        Great review, i myself enjoy the phone a lot. Just bot one major downside, maybe you can help me out: the battery, while not Bad, doesn’t last as long as i wanted it to. And i have a HUGE 30% cell standby, which i didn’t have on any phone ever. Do you too?

    • Airyl
      May 15, 2015

      So you’re trying to say you be can’t have his opinions?

      • Cpaun
        May 19, 2015

        Of course I respect his opinion. I just think the title is uninspired. When I first saw the title, I honestly expected much more from the phone. But it’s actually mediocre at its best. Seeing what other people commented, I’m sure that I’m not the only one. I would kindly challenge you to name one feature that you consider great about this phone.
        I never saw the phone (and hopefully never will), but I would honestly not recommend it to any of my friends. I’m sure there are way better options out there.

  13. balcobomber25
    May 13, 2015

    Seems like a good starting point for Siswoo, a bigger battery and better camera and I would be interested. Overall though I have heard nothing but good things from people who have one.

  14. Ricardo
    May 13, 2015

    The MT6732** beats the Snapdragon 615 in my book, at least as far as general usage is concerned; the MT6752 does miles better.

    **Shouldn’t it be MT6752? Or you really meant the 6732?

    • Jason45
      May 13, 2015

      Most likely, he meant the 6732 chipset. Based on benchmark tests, I believe the MT6732 chipset has a similar score compared to SD 615 chipset.

      MT6752 chipset has generally much better scores on benchmark tests compared to SD 615.

    • Yash Garg
      May 13, 2015

      MT6732 is what I meant.

    • Ricardo
      May 13, 2015

      😮
      Ok :). I haven’t used MT6732 that’s why I asked.

  15. Cpaun
    May 13, 2015

    This article should be named “another mediocre 5″ MT6752 phone”. The rear camera pictures are very bad. You admitted that WI-FI is weak. To be honest, the screen doesn’t impress me either (judging from the pictures). Why should we be impressed by this phone? Please do not retire your Xiaomi Mi4, I’m sure it’s a much better phone in every possible aspect. Saying that you’d retire your Mi4 over this phone, makes many people think that Siswoo it’s as good as Mi4, and that’s obviously not true.
    I would add that many people (me included) rely on these reviews, when buying a phone. We don’t live in China after all, and some objective reviews are the only way we can get in touch with Chinese technology, before buying. There are plenty Chinese brands that deserve real credits (Xiaomi, Meizu, Jiayu, Huawei, Lenovo, Zte, etc), not to mention some Indian phones. I don’t think it’s fair that ANY new-comer should be automatically considered at the same rank, just for its effort to release a new phone. The effort should be appreciated, but the (many) faults MUST be criticized.
    In my personal opinion, most of these “new brand phones” are pretty much mediocre. Not to mention fake specs, a practice that really should disappear from ANY Chinese manufacturer.

    • Yash Garg
      May 13, 2015

      Screen is OK (like mentioned in the review — I never said its great). If I were to stay with the Siswoo, one thing from the Mi 4 that I would miss would be the camera, but fortunately not a lot more.

    • Airyl
      May 15, 2015

      So you’re trying to say you be can’t have his opinions?

    • Cpaun
      May 19, 2015

      Of course I respect his opinion. I just think the title is uninspired. When I first saw the title, I honestly expected much more from the phone. But it’s actually mediocre at its best. Seeing what other people commented, I’m sure that I’m not the only one. I would kindly challenge you to name one feature that you consider great about this phone.
      I never saw the phone (and hopefully never will), but I would honestly not recommend it to any of my friends. I’m sure there are way better options out there.

    • Guest
      May 26, 2015

      Great review, i myself enjoy the phone a lot. Just bot one major downside, maybe you can help me out: the battery, while not Bad, doesn’t last as long as i wanted it to. And i have a HUGE 30% cell standby, which i didn’t have on any phone ever. Do you too?

  16. balcobomber25
    May 13, 2015

    Seems like a good starting point for Siswoo, a bigger battery and better camera and I would be interested. Overall though I have heard nothing but good things from people who have one.

  17. Noname1919
    May 13, 2015

    I would guess p3000s 64 3gb fhd is better (175usd on gearbest)

  18. Ace Maguire
    May 14, 2015

    is this affiliate marketing? How can you contradict your own review and score! this is at best a medicore phone, the only thing going in its favor, is that its among the rare category of 5″ phone with 6752, which doesn’t mean consumer have to pay more for a smaller screen. I would prefer a processor downgrade for a better camera (Meizu M1). Not disappointed by the phone, but disappointed by the review

    • balcobomber25
      May 15, 2015

      So because it is a mediocre phone in your eyes, he is not allowed to think otherwise? Consumers aren’t paying more for a smaller screen, you can find this phone as cheap as $160.

  19. Ace Maguire
    May 14, 2015

    is this affiliate marketing? How can you contradict your own review and score! this is at best a medicore phone, the only thing going in its favor, is that its among the rare category of 5″ phone with 6752, which doesn’t mean consumer have to pay more for a smaller screen. I would prefer a processor downgrade for a better camera (Meizu M1). Not disappointed by the phone, but disappointed by the review

    • balcobomber25
      May 15, 2015

      So because it is a mediocre phone in your eyes, he is not allowed to think otherwise? Consumers aren’t paying more for a smaller screen, you can find this phone as cheap as $160.

  20. Frank Andwendy
    July 8, 2015

    Only $139.99 For SISWOO I7, MTK6752 1.7GHz Octa Core 4G Smartphone

    SISWOO I7: http://www.coolicool.com/siswoo-cooper-i7-mtk6752-17ghz-octa-core-50-inch-hd-screen-android-44-4g-lte-smartphone-g-39108

  21. frankandwendy
    July 8, 2015

    Only $139.99 For SISWOO I7, MTK6752 1.7GHz Octa Core 4G Smartphone

    SISWOO I7: http://www.coolicool.com/siswoo-cooper-i7-mtk6752-17ghz-octa-core-50-inch-hd-screen-android-44-4g-lte-smartphone-g-39108