The Vernee Apollo being a much awaited device and the Chinese manufacturer’s first real flagship smartphone, I thought I’d give you guys my first impressions on the phone. With the full in-depth review coming in the following weeks!
But before that, let’s recap the main specs of the smartphone!
Vernee Apollo: Specifications
| Processor | MediaTek Helio X25 (MT6797T) |
| Display | 5.5″ 1440 x 2560 px, LCD IPS Sharp IGZO |
| RAM | 4GB |
| Storage | 64GB |
| Operating System | Android 6.0 |
| Cameras | 21MP + 8MP Camera |
| Battery | 3180mAh |
| Physical Properties | 188g, 75.6 mm x 152.0 mm x 9.3 mm |
The Apollo costs around the $290 mark for now.
Vernee Apollo: Unboxing
What you see once you open the box is quite unusual. The phone is indeed strapped onto the VR headset, this is both to save space and more so to remind you of the VR capabilities of this smartphone thanks to its 2K resolution display.
The phone comes with an already applied screen protector which might be made of tempered glass, but it’s hard to say without removing it so take that with a grain of salt. Inside the box you find the VR box, a SIM removal pin, a 9V 2A USB charger and a USB Type-C charging cable that is a bit thicker than needed and somewhat hard to plug-in.
Here’s the unfolded VR box!
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Vernee Apollo: Hands On
The Vernee Apollo feels amazing in hands; the aluminum body feels premium and solid. I really like its design, although the camera protrudes quite a bit, it’s still protected by a very thin metal lip.
As many other phones with such all-metal build, the device is relatively heavy. Because of that I also wish they had included a case, not being super easy to handle makes me worry I could drop it pretty much all the time.
The 2K 1440 x 2560px LCD IPS Sharp IGZO display is also stunning, everything is sharp and it really does look better than a Full HD screen, now I’m not sure 100% if it’s because of the resolution, the high quality panel or it’s just my mind telling me it MUST look better. That said, the display isn’t super bright but still usable outdoors.
Vernee Apollo: First Impressions
I’m really liking the phone so far, it’s maybe a little bit heavier than what I prefer but it’s a good trade off for the amazing build quality the Apollo has. Boasting a MediaTek Helio X25 the handset is also really fast and apps open up quickly. I’ll see you back (hopefully) in the following weeks for the in-depth review of the phone.
In the meanwhile, leave some comments below and tell me what you want me to check over on the Vernee Apollo! The phone can be bought here.
Here, another “flagship” with no flagship camera and 2.5 hours of sot… I’ll look foward to the review, however!
By the way, imho the screen looks good because of the screen quality itself: my brother had a lg g2, 5.2″ sharp fhd screen, while I have a 5.5″ fhd screen of unknown build. My brother’s screen in comparison was better by miles, and it wasn’t due to the 22 extra ppi: it was simply better.
The camera components are rather good.
Yeah, but mediatek’s sw isn’t, not to mention lenses quality and such… Just look at all the imx214 equipped phones launched during the past 2 years: still no one has come close to vivo xshot’s camera…
If there’s a company that can push Mediatek, it’s Vernee.
Sadly, mediatek should push itself with its sw policy… Right now, their code is basically jelly bean with some add here and there from newer releases, that’s everything but the right way to squeeze the best out of their chipsets!
Agreed
Yo what’s up. My comments are based on all of the forum reviews AMD comments BTW. Vermeer’s software updates have for the most part been useless. There are numerous people reporting that the major issues like battery drain and etc have not been addressed. As far as aftermarket support goes. The Apollo lite and Thor both have support from team M.A.D. Both of these phones have stable android nougat builds for them that are already better than what Vernee has to offer. That said, there are still issues. Namely battery drain. Based on what I’ve seem, they are a middle of the road company. They aren’t as good as xiaomi or the 1+, but they are damn sire better than the likes of elephone/ulefone.
Anything is better than Elephone. haha.
Things in the code go down to ICS, not only JellyBean. It’s just a big mess.
The whole thing needs to be rewritten on top of clean AOSP.
I have to disagree tho. I’ve been following up with their official forum cause I was thinking of getting one but decided not to. They are rather slow with progress and and the developers are just not biting it. Probably because it’s Mediatek so it’s hard to convince developers otherwise. Bad business decisions probably in play too. Vernee is not up for it, in my opinion. A brand from the UK called Wileyfox has a better chance but unfortunately, limited availability. I don’t think they have plans to expand.
http://www.needrom.com/category/others/u-v-w-x-y-z/vernee/ I added this link to show that CM13 is available for the Apollo Lite already.
The best on offer from Wileyfox is the Swift 2 Plus, which is a little stale for the price. Nice phone though for local purchase.
I know of that and it’s still buggy and trust me since that ROM was based from a developer like deepflex who also worked on bringing CM to Elephone, don’t expect much from it. The codes are messy. They don’t have good developers working on their phone, simple as that. Developers are already working on CM14 or should I say LAOS14.
Yeah, I’m tempted to get a Wileyfox to play around with. Their Development over at XDA is pretty active too.
Yep you’re right it’s lacking FM Radio and some sensors.
Cm 13 is old 6.0 anyway. If they were smart, they would try and get team M.A.D. to work for them. They ported 7.0 to the Apollo lite within 2 weeks of having the phone and its still on par if not better than what Vernee have done after months and 4 updates.
tbh, team MAD is better than deepflex but they are still not good enough. All they do is bring famous ROMS to Mediatek devices. They don’t really develop softwares or a full custom rom with it’s own unique features from scratch. If Vernee really wants to go somewhere they should hire guys from the likes of CM, Slim, AOSPA, AOKP, PACMAN, Omni, those kinda guys.
So far all they’ve done is bring AOSP ROMs with custom options in them. That’s basically what Vernee is doing now. Stock Android with a couple of tweaks. Then they can focus on design and build quality.
According to the Vernee website they planning for Qualcomm device later in 2017 to.
I dont think a UK brand like Wileyfox got the same resources that a Chinese brand like Vernee that are located in Shenzhen. Often called “The Silicon Walley Of Hardware” One of Chinas most important places in high tech.
There’s no point talking about a phone that’s not even out yet. You don’t think is not the same as you knowing. Even if you “assume” that Wileyfox does not have the resources, they already have a better track record than Vernee. Phones like Elephone is from China and that didn’t stop them from being bad. So your point makes no sense tbh.
Vernee have been good on software updates on all of their devices. Their first modell Thor have recived 5 or 6 “over the air updates” so far. I call that a good track record. They also got official dealers/sellers in Germany, Spain and Romania.
Overall not bad for a new brand that been in this game for only about one year.
Having updates is one thing and quality updates another. Some users are even reporting touchscreen issue on the latest updates btw. Wileyfox is since 2015 fyi. Having official dealers does not make the phone any bad or good. Just makes it convenient.
I have no issues with my apollo lite, they using basicly a stock android version with no modifications. But maybe I have been lucky with my device.
Wileyfox will now have a hard time since they using Cyanogen OS that now have collapsed and not will be reciving any future updates. Will be interesting to see their strategy to get Android N to their phones now.
They are already working on their own OS to replace CM. Like what OP did when their relation with CM went under. And Cynogenmod didnt die btw, it continues on as Lineage OS. This is what the lil China phone label guys just don’t get. The reason why OP was a success even with thier 1st phone is because they know what to prioritise. They know the importance of a quality software, a good developer team. When they were on bad terms with CM they were quick to head hunt the developers from Paranoid Android and brought then to China to work for them. Hence came Oxygen OS now.
I wouldn’t buy any 5.5 inch phone that weighed over 165 grams. This one is a brick at 188 grams, no thanks. I like my phones to be as compact as possible, both in weight and dimensions. Ideally, a 5.5 inch phone should be 150 to 160 grams to get my attention. The LG G3 is my benchmark in this area. It weighed only 149 grams.
Same here. My OP3 is 158 or so, and that is pretty much the limit for me weight-wise. Esp. considering I’ve got a case around it that puts the weight to 180+.
Well, I’ve been using the Cubot Cheetah 2 for the past month and I got used to the heavy weight (it’s heavier than the Vernee Apollo), mostly because it came with a case I felt more confident holding it.
Arrr if you have a 2K screen then you do want some size to appreciate it, especially for VR.
Wanted to know if youtube 360 ° function works choreographically.
Congratulations on the presentation of this long awaited model, but I still have my doubts regarding the seriousness of the brand and its commitment to the user.
hey pierre, am really curious about this phone as an upgrade to my Redmi note 3 pro but am a bit skeptical, I play games alot, modern combat, fifa, nfs.. big titles on my phone but I want this for the VR experience while am not willing to sacrifice my gaming. Am especially woried about regular hard 3D gaming on 2K using mali T880, especially considering am coming from a more powerful adreno 510 @1080p, Also the battery is another concern, hiw long does it really last and does the high res screen drain it as fast as people say it does? just curious as samsung has incredible battery even @ that high resolution. Also in your full review, tell us how good, compared to maybe gear VR on sumsung the VR experience is. So is this phone a worthy upgrade from my xiaomi… nb, am not a big fan of custom roms or rom upgrades so telling me to stick to xiaomi for the SD upgradalbe and available roms is not such a strong case.
2K LCD screens wont drain your battery much over a 1080p screen. The lighting is much the same and the space is similar too if you want to consider the components used to make the pixel matrix, like transistors. As the components get small the power drop is smaller. Smaller transistors but more of them. It’s probably about loses in more tracks. Best to compare screen-component data sheets.
Yeah I agree the Apollo needs a bigger battery. Vernee leans too much on aesthetics rather than functionality. They’d prefer a metal back and luxury, then to have the phone work all day hard or have NFC. Usually what heats up a phone is filming, so if you do a lot and don’t want to carry battery packs, then maybe consider an alternative phone.
If you’re seeking VR certified phone (not sure if Google has certified this phone but it may meet VR categorisation) then this Apollo is your cheapest bet. Vernee is an excellent company for quality and support so you can expect things to work or get speedy repair. There isn’t much VR software but it maybe good for watching movies if you want that cinema feel in a confined area, like resting on a bed with the VR goggles on.
I probably would buy one if they made a fat-boy version with a bigger battery. Would love Vernee to release Ubuntu Touch. It would spur on large sales.
I actually purchased one. Sorry guys I failed to use your link as I was already at GearBest getting a mouse and decided to check out the Apollo.
Battery life?
battery life suck.
Umi Z better than vernee apollo
I bought one Vernee Apollo and I don’t how they could sell a such phone after the Apollo lite which seems better in anyway. The lite version has already nougat and it’s not even close for the non lite version. Everything is worst even the camera software which is a joke and the best part is you lose the celluar and data connection when making or receiving a call. The first thing Vernee improves is the fingerprint sensor which I say was already good and had no knowing issue. Yeah we have updates but update solve none of the current issue which make the phone useless except to play with it.