iOcean X7 first hands on!

iOcean are set to begin the pre-sales launch of the iOcean X7 youth on the 6th March, and engineering samples have already arrived with some reviewers for a early hands on.

If iOcean keep to their timetable, the iOcean X7 youth will be one of the first MT6589 1080HD phones available from a Chinese manufacturer. Being the first isn't always a wise move, but iOcean seem to have done a great job, and the X7 looks great value for money!

The design is very close in style to the Oppo Find 5, which itself is similar to Sony's range of Android phones. Like the Find 5 the X7 has a 5-inch display, and all black front on top of a bright white rear (black is also available).

The front of the phone is taken up exclusively by the 1080 HD display, with a front 3 mega-pixel camera perched at the top, and capitative Android navigation buttons not the chin. Turning the phone around we can find a micro USB port and microphone on the base of the phone, power/lockscreen button on the left, volume rocker on the right and 3.5mm headphone jack at the top.

The plastic rear shell has subtle iOcean branding, while the 8 mega-pixel camera (13 mega-pixel on the premium model) sits toward the top with LED flash to the right. The camera isn't flush on the X7, but doesn't protrude too much.

Obviously the phone runs Android, but it's a nice surprise to find that iOcean's engineers have left the system alone and it appears to be running a stock install. Best of all though is the use of the latest version of Jelly Bean 4.2, which is a great plus!

Running the vanilla build of Jelly Bean 4.2.1 isn't a problem for the 1.2Ghz quad-core MT6589 processor, even with 1GB RAM on the youth model and 5-inch 1080 display (2GB RAM will be available on the premium phone), and as such Antutu benchmarks are spot on reaching a respectable 12,284! In comparison the JiaYu G4 scores slightly higher, but it is only running a 720 display.

The youth model of the iOcean X7 uses an 8 mega-pixel rear camera with 8000005 BSI lens which is capable of capturing great photos, and fast too thanks to the power of the quad-core CPU and the optimised Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean camera UI.

Like most high quality Android phones, the X7 supports HDR, smile recognition , panorama, and fast auto-focus.

The samples below were taken with an iOcean X7, but unfortunately have been compressed, we'll try to find some full size images to upload.

Full reviews of the iOcean X7 are currently in the works, and we hope to receive a test model soon, so keep posted for updates.

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