Update: After posting the review I have tried the SIM again and now it works! I performed a couple of factory resets and now the Sege (XYZ-X1) actually works as a phone. As such I have updated the review.
Full in-depth hands on review of the quad-core Sege (XYZ-X1) Android smartphone! Is this affordable Chinese phone worth buying? Find out after the below!
According to the company which say they custom manufacture the Sege (XYZ X1), this $159.99 quad-core Android smartphone is “very popular with our customers” and “it is a very good phone”. After reading over the specification sheet I felt inclined to agree, but what looks great on paper isn’t always the case in real life so a full review was arranged.
Sege (XYZ-X1) Design – You get what you pay for.
The phone which we have been sent is a loaner, meaning that once we have finished with it we will send it back. We originally asked to review the orange or yellow version of the Sege, but we ended up with the black and white version.
Upon opening the box and taking the phone out I was not surprised by what I found. You can read this as good or bad news. The Sege (XYZ-X1) is exactly what I expect from a phone costing this much, it is no where near the quality of the JiaYu G4, but then again it is also no where near the (international reseller) price either.
The functional design get the job done but in a rather bland and unispriring way. The front is taken up mostly by the 4.5-inch display with very thick borders, front facing camera and capitative navigation buttons.
For those of you unhappy with JiaYu’s decision not to give the G4 backlit buttons you will be happy to see that the Sege (XYZ-X1) does in fact have them. Sege have gone for a Meizu MX2 style arrangement with the ‘home’ button featuring a ring icon.
There is a physical volume rocker and the left side of the phone and the power button, 3.5mm headphone jack and Micro-USB are all located at the top of the phone.
A glossy white, removable plastic back covers the rear and features a small cut away in the corner making it easy to remove with your fingernail (something I wish Xiaomi have on their phones!).
We can also see the rear camera, dual LED flash, external speaker and XYZ logo.
Despite the generic design the Sege (XYZ-X1) does seem to be put together well, and actually feels a little better in your hand than Zopo’s entry level phones.
Sege (XYZ-X1) specification – Great package on paper
If you were in the market for a low-cost Android phone then it is easy to see why you might be attracted by the Sege (XYZ-X1) from the specifications on the box and those listed online it looks like a great package!
The official specifications state the phone has a 4.5-inch 1280 x 720 display, dual SIM support, quad-core MT6589 processor, 2 mega-pixel front camera and 8 mega-pixel rear with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean as standard! Not at all bad for a phone which costs just $159.99!
I wanted to ensure that these specifications are genuine so I installed Antutu and Mobile Uncle Tool to see what that came up with. Everything checked out, well except the cameras which were listed as 4.9MP front and 12.6MP rear, don’t get to excited though this is a software tweak on the phone designed to improve the quality of photos rather than surprise hardware update.
Screen – Budget 720p panel
As stated in the above specifications the screen on the Sege (XYZ-X1) is a 4.5-inch 720p unit, but it is a budget panel so don’t expect the same level of brightness or clarity as you would find on a Xiaomi, JiaYu G3 or even UMi X1s.
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Over the past few reviews I’ve been impressed by the screen brightness of most Chinese phones we have reviewed over the past few months, and although the Sege can be seen in most bright conditions I really wish there was a little bit more brightness on tap.
Performance – Surprisingly high Antutu score!
With a 1.2Ghz quad-core processor and 1GB RAM with a compact 4-inch display we were expecting to get a fairly decent Antutu score. Running Antutu v3.3 the Sege (XYZ-X1) scored an impressive 13,096!
I also ran Quadrant on the phone too and it got 3981.
When running Antutu I did notice that the frame rates while rendering graphics wasn’t particularly high, and that things got a little jumpy and choppy when there was a lot of action on the screen. After seeing this I wanted to try out some actual games and perform more benchmarks, but that’s when I hit my first major hurdle!
No Google Play Store!
I remember back when we started GizChina and we would test the latest Android tablets and phones. Back then the quality was bad and performance was terrible, but what made us madder than anything was that all those early Chinese phones and tablets lacked the then Android App Store!
In 2013 (and even in 2012) this hasn’t been an issue as most Chinese phones have the Google Play Store on them as standard. The Sege (XYZ-X1) does not have the Play Store, which is going to be a major problem for a lot of potential customers who don’t have the technical nohow to do so.
So how easy is it to install Google Play on the Sege (XYZ-X1)? I don’t know, I didn’t try as I deemed the time trying would be a waste because here is the second big problem with the Sege (XYZ-X1).
UPDATE! Connectivity and Calling – Weak WIFI review phone could not see SIM cards to test calling!
Android smartphones now have so many features and functions on them it can be easy to forget that they are still in fact phones. Obviously the call strength, speaker and other items need to be tested for a full review.
Unfortunately the test unit which we sent didn’t want to see any SIM card we placed in it! Try as we might the Sege (XYZ-X1) just would not see any SIM. We can be sure that the SIM’s worked as they had no problem in the JiaYu G4, Xiaomi Mi2 and Mi2a we had with us.
Since posting this article I performed a few factory resets and the Sege is now recognising my China Unicom SIM! I’ve made a video to show that the phone in fact works now, including streaming video over 3G and browsing the web, which is actually quite fast. There are issues with the internet here so I may not be able to upload the video to YouTube but I will try to post it on Facebook or somewhere later today.
Camera – Actually surprisingly good!
By this point I was not expecting the camera to be all that special, happily I was wrong! The 8 mega-pixel rear camera is fast, focuses well and manages to capture some rather nice photos!
Conclusion – It has a good camera
The Sege (XYZ-X1) is marketed as the most powerful phone for the money with the highest specifications, but is it the best value? I would have to say no it is not.
Yes the phone gives you a quad-core CPU, 1GB RAM with Antutu benchmarks you can brag to your friends about, but you can’t make calls with it, and WIFI is so weak you would have to sit on your router to get a signal.
The Sege (XYZ-X1) costs $160 which isn’t all that much for an Android smartphone, but a quick Google search shows me the quad-core JiaYu G3S, which has a beautiful screen, can be found from between $140 – $170, the quad-core UMi X1s is on sale from $125 – $165 and the Newman K1 can be had for $140 – $170 and I would be much happier with any one of those.
Well, having changed the name Men Poo is not a bad decision! Mi2A has thick bezels too, but finally it is not big problem, and it should better protect the screen.
Nice honest review Andi. At least we know what is the quality coming from this company now n ur right, I would rather get a Jiayu/Newman/Umi than this.
I prefer the name Menpoo
Men Poor.. 😀
Just managed to get the SIM working! Finally! And have updated the review.
Just to warn people further.
I ordered one. They took my money. No phone has been delivered.
I emailed them … No response.
I cancelled the order… No response.
And now
The website does not exist.
RIP OFF ALERT. RIP OFF ALERT
This company has now had a chunk of money I can ill afford to lose and has RIPPED ME OFF.
What is the website ?
menpoo.com
There was another site called mentoo.com before that which looked identical and both closed
Now they call themselves dygaga….
You can dispute on paypal
Andi please add a couple of lines about GPS on your reviews.
I know for most people GPS is not a major feature but it’s not a very time consuming test.
Thanks for the review Andi! I contemplated to buy one via Dealextreme, but since it got quite some thick bezels I rather would buy the Faea F1 penguin phone. Speaking of which, Andi could you by any chance get your hands on that one as loaner? I see Merimobiles, Android-sale & Android-inside selling the Faea F1 penguin. Would be interested to see if it could stand against this Sege XYZ X1!
We have actually been contacted by them and will review FAEA F1 and F2 soon
Yes! Can’t wait for this!
Also, the F2 should be launching tomorrow right?
Great news, looking forward to the FAEA F1. If you need someone to test it for a longer time (say a few months) you may send it to me after you are done, I won’t complain 😉
Andi, could you please tell us where we could get the jiayu g3s with $140 – $170 price tag (the reliable ones). Because when I did dig the google for that, at least $203 is the price i need to pay for that phone. thanks
Sold on AliExpress for $184 with shipping..
Wish there was a reseller that don’t take as much profit as AliExpress sellers or FastCardTech..
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/In-stock-Free-shipping-Jiayu-G3s-Google-Android-
4-2-Smart-Phone-MTK6589-Quad-core/961009490.html
Well, having changed the name Men Poo is not a bad decision! Mi2A has thick bezels too, but finally it is not big problem, and it should better protect the screen.
Nice honest review Andi. At least we know what is the quality coming from this company now n ur right, I would rather get a Jiayu/Newman/Umi than this.
I prefer the name Menpoo
Men Poor.. 😀
Just managed to get the SIM working! Finally! And have updated the review.
Just to warn people further.
I ordered one. They took my money. No phone has been delivered.
I emailed them … No response.
I cancelled the order… No response.
And now
The website does not exist.
RIP OFF ALERT. RIP OFF ALERT
This company has now had a chunk of money I can ill afford to lose and has RIPPED ME OFF.
What is the website ?
menpoo.com
There was another site called mentoo.com before that which looked identical and both closed
Now they call themselves dygaga….
You can dispute on paypal
How weak is the WiFi reception? Could you please download Wifi Analyzer or some other app and tell us the dBm this phone gets comparing to some other smartphones (preferably something mainstream, samsung or something)?
And how bad is the screen?
This phone looks very good in specs but then there’s your opinion which has put me off now… What phone can you recommend in this price range? I can wait till september for prices to fall / new phones to come out. I’m intrested in best value for money, and the highest I’m willing to pay is around 185$ (including postage)… Screen size – anything between 4 and 4.8 inches, resolution – has to calculate for the DPI, which must be around or higher than 250. Also the brightness is important to me, I want to be able to see something in the sun… Some good GPU needed as well, and quad core CPU preferably. LED on the back would be a nice feature.
Lenovo A820 fits nice but doesn’t have a LED, what other phones can you think of?
Sorry the company who lent the phone to us for review have demanded it back as they weren’t very happy with the review!
Couple questions:
Was the WiFi bad on both the models you got?
How bad was the screen?
How bad was the reception?
Would you really recommend against this phone, even knowing you can get Google Play on it?
I have two questions: What was your impression of the battery life?
And more importantly: was the device rooted out of the box?
And I would really be curious to know if you could manage to get google play working on it since without that, the device is essentially a dumbphone (and a very expensive one at that).
Andi please add a couple of lines about GPS on your reviews.
I know for most people GPS is not a major feature but it’s not a very time consuming test.
Thanks for the review Andi! I contemplated to buy one via Dealextreme, but since it got quite some thick bezels I rather would buy the Faea F1 penguin phone. Speaking of which, Andi could you by any chance get your hands on that one as loaner? I see Merimobiles, Android-sale & Android-inside selling the Faea F1 penguin. Would be interested to see if it could stand against this Sege XYZ X1!
We have actually been contacted by them and will review FAEA F1 and F2 soon
Yes! Can’t wait for this!
Also, the F2 should be launching tomorrow right?
Great news, looking forward to the FAEA F1. If you need someone to test it for a longer time (say a few months) you may send it to me after you are done, I won’t complain 😉
Nice honest review..Just what we expect from gizchina!
Andi, From now on can you list the phones u’d be reviewing next? We’d like to see you review a HTC Butterfly clone or S4 Clone or any of the other famous MTK based phones like Feiting or Xiaocai..!
Coz this is the only source for honest reviews! 😀
Yes, I was thinking about this. FYI Zopo ZP980 is next, and FAEA F1 and F2 are coming ASAP
Great..cant wait for ZP980 review! 😀
Also couple of suggestions for gizchina..
Plz make the unique links “sticky”,i.e. the links which make gizchina unique..like the link for “MTK6589 phone currently available in market”
Also a section for announcements(like upcoming reviews)..Separate section for reviews..
And 1 query.I might have seen this question 100 times in the comments thread.. What are the differences between Zopo C2 and Zopo ZP980?? A reply from someone like you can help clarify all doubts!
Cheers!
Andi, could you please tell us where we could get the jiayu g3s with $140 – $170 price tag (the reliable ones). Because when I did dig the google for that, at least $203 is the price i need to pay for that phone. thanks
Sold on AliExpress for $184 with shipping..
Wish there was a reseller that don’t take as much profit as AliExpress sellers or FastCardTech..
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/In-stock-Free-shipping-Jiayu-G3s-Google-Android-
4-2-Smart-Phone-MTK6589-Quad-core/961009490.html
I am getting this phone of DX with really good warranty support. One of the major thing that sold on this phone. I really don’t like buying phones from other sites because they expect you to ship the product back on your own dime all the way to china which is pretty much impossible from Canada. It’s something to consider before giving up on this phone. Are you sure there isn’t just an issue with the X1 you received?
Couple other thing that I wanted to leave. I managed to track down X1s site for people who still want to get this phone (get it from DX $160, they wont ship it fast but you’ll get peace of mind on warranty).
Note you’ll need to use google translate as the whole site is in chinese.
xyzshouji.com
You can see more videos and evaluation under this subforum
http://bbs.xyzshouji.com/forum-44-1.html
How to get Google Play store (inturn show how to root).
http://bbs.xyzshouji.com/thread-5438-1-1.html
FAQ thread
http://bbs.xyzshouji.com/thread-6063-1-1.html
Also another thing. Under the X1 forum I found a thread (via google translate) that asked about google 5 rom coming to this phone and the mods confirmed that.
http://bbs.xyzshouji.com/thread-9402-1-2.html
Just some food for thought for people who want to get this phone.
Forgot to mention, for people who don’t know what the DX warranty is they have 3 (or 4) different shipping locations (The ones I know of from the top of my head are US, UK and Hong Kong) and withing 90 days if something breaks they will pay $40 or 35% of the product price (in this case you’ll get 40 since it’s cheaper) to ship the product back to them. You can read the full policy here.
http://dx.com/Page-Conditions#return-policy
I know I sound like a total shrill but honestly, if it wasn’t for that policy I would not get a phone from china. It costs ridiculous amount of money to send something to china, like $70-$100.
Can you show a comparison of the screens with the same image on them? It’s kinda hard to judge between a very bright background and a very dark background of what the clarity/brightness is.
How weak is the WiFi reception? Could you please download Wifi Analyzer or some other app and tell us the dBm this phone gets comparing to some other smartphones (preferably something mainstream, samsung or something)?
And how bad is the screen?
This phone looks very good in specs but then there’s your opinion which has put me off now… What phone can you recommend in this price range? I can wait till september for prices to fall / new phones to come out. I’m intrested in best value for money, and the highest I’m willing to pay is around 185$ (including postage)… Screen size – anything between 4 and 4.8 inches, resolution – has to calculate for the DPI, which must be around or higher than 250. Also the brightness is important to me, I want to be able to see something in the sun… Some good GPU needed as well, and quad core CPU preferably. LED on the back would be a nice feature.
Lenovo A820 fits nice but doesn’t have a LED, what other phones can you think of?
Sorry the company who lent the phone to us for review have demanded it back as they weren’t very happy with the review!
Couple questions:
Was the WiFi bad on both the models you got?
How bad was the screen?
How bad was the reception?
Would you really recommend against this phone, even knowing you can get Google Play on it?
I have two questions: What was your impression of the battery life?
And more importantly: was the device rooted out of the box?
And I would really be curious to know if you could manage to get google play working on it since without that, the device is essentially a dumbphone (and a very expensive one at that).
Nice honest review..Just what we expect from gizchina!
Andi, From now on can you list the phones u’d be reviewing next? We’d like to see you review a HTC Butterfly clone or S4 Clone or any of the other famous MTK based phones like Feiting or Xiaocai..!
Coz this is the only source for honest reviews! 😀
Yes, I was thinking about this. FYI Zopo ZP980 is next, and FAEA F1 and F2 are coming ASAP
Great..cant wait for ZP980 review! 😀
Also couple of suggestions for gizchina..
Plz make the unique links “sticky”,i.e. the links which make gizchina unique..like the link for “MTK6589 phone currently available in market”
Also a section for announcements(like upcoming reviews)..Separate section for reviews..
And 1 query.I might have seen this question 100 times in the comments thread.. What are the differences between Zopo C2 and Zopo ZP980?? A reply from someone like you can help clarify all doubts!
Cheers!
Andi, just one question. Have Faea launched the Penguin F2 yet? And when are you getting a review unit? The Faea f1 felt nice and solid to me, would like to know you’re opinion.
I can’t remember the date off my head should be soon though. As for the review unit, just have to wait for them to send them. I’ll chase them up on Monday.
Ok. Thanks Andi!
I am getting this phone of DX with really good warranty support. One of the major thing that sold on this phone. I really don’t like buying phones from other sites because they expect you to ship the product back on your own dime all the way to china which is pretty much impossible from Canada. It’s something to consider before giving up on this phone. Are you sure there isn’t just an issue with the X1 you received?
Couple other thing that I wanted to leave. I managed to track down X1s site for people who still want to get this phone (get it from DX $160, they wont ship it fast but you’ll get peace of mind on warranty).
Note you’ll need to use google translate as the whole site is in chinese.
xyzshouji.com
You can see more videos and evaluation under this subforum
http://bbs.xyzshouji.com/forum-44-1.html
How to get Google Play store (inturn show how to root).
http://bbs.xyzshouji.com/thread-5438-1-1.html
FAQ thread
http://bbs.xyzshouji.com/thread-6063-1-1.html
Also another thing. Under the X1 forum I found a thread (via google translate) that asked about google 5 rom coming to this phone and the mods confirmed that.
http://bbs.xyzshouji.com/thread-9402-1-2.html
Just some food for thought for people who want to get this phone.
Forgot to mention, for people who don’t know what the DX warranty is they have 3 (or 4) different shipping locations (The ones I know of from the top of my head are US, UK and Hong Kong) and withing 90 days if something breaks they will pay $40 or 35% of the product price (in this case you’ll get 40 since it’s cheaper) to ship the product back to them. You can read the full policy here.
http://dx.com/Page-Conditions#return-policy
I know I sound like a total shrill but honestly, if it wasn’t for that policy I would not get a phone from china. It costs ridiculous amount of money to send something to china, like $70-$100.
Can you show a comparison of the screens with the same image on them? It’s kinda hard to judge between a very bright background and a very dark background of what the clarity/brightness is.
Andi, just one question. Have Faea launched the Penguin F2 yet? And when are you getting a review unit? The Faea f1 felt nice and solid to me, would like to know you’re opinion.
I can’t remember the date off my head should be soon though. As for the review unit, just have to wait for them to send them. I’ll chase them up on Monday.
Ok. Thanks Andi!
Found a potential fix for the wifi on the forums.
http://bbs.xyzshouji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=271
I am really skeptical about keeping my order though. On one hand, there is pretty much no other phone at this price point with these specs on dx or priceangel on another there is potential wifi problem and you don’t even have the phone anymore to post if this fix works.
Andy how you gonna know where to send phone back to they change their name like the British weather best to avoid dygaga menpoo or mentoo if you ask me guys
Agreed
Any idea when the video review will be out? I really want to watch it so I can decide if I want to cancel my order.
What is this “Brand: alps” company showing in Antutu? I have seen that this phone is EXACTLY the same as CUBOT GT99 and have the same specs:
http://www.cubot.net/Mobilephone.aspx?id=60
We have asked Cubot about the specs to know if this model has 8mpx/2mpx cameras & 1800mAh battery and they said they’re REAL 12mpx/5mpx cameras & 2200mAh battery… In fact, they have changed the specs on the web. Are both models clones? Were they lying about the specs? Somebody get any of them?
just informative
http://www.Cubot.net is registered in United States / Arizona
Cubot GT99 has the same layout but with bigger battery (2200mah)
i have ordered the cubot
http://www.cubot.net/Mobilephone.aspx?id=60
hopefully it will have the same camera becouse the pictures looks great
And I ordered two, that’s why I’m asking! (to cancel the order or not hehe)
Found a potential fix for the wifi on the forums.
http://bbs.xyzshouji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=271
I am really skeptical about keeping my order though. On one hand, there is pretty much no other phone at this price point with these specs on dx or priceangel on another there is potential wifi problem and you don’t even have the phone anymore to post if this fix works.
Andy how you gonna know where to send phone back to they change their name like the British weather best to avoid dygaga menpoo or mentoo if you ask me guys
Agreed
Any idea when the video review will be out? I really want to watch it so I can decide if I want to cancel my order.
What is this “Brand: alps” company showing in Antutu? I have seen that this phone is EXACTLY the same as CUBOT GT99 and have the same specs:
http://www.cubot.net/Mobilephone.aspx?id=60
We have asked Cubot about the specs to know if this model has 8mpx/2mpx cameras & 1800mAh battery and they said they’re REAL 12mpx/5mpx cameras & 2200mAh battery… In fact, they have changed the specs on the web. Are both models clones? Were they lying about the specs? Somebody get any of them?
just informative
http://www.Cubot.net is registered in United States / Arizona
Cubot GT99 has the same layout but with bigger battery (2200mah)
i have ordered the cubot
http://www.cubot.net/Mobilephone.aspx?id=60
hopefully it will have the same camera becouse the pictures looks great
And I ordered two, that’s why I’m asking! (to cancel the order or not hehe)
Nice review.
Thanks..
But please tell me where to buy the Jiayu G3S for $140?
I can’t find it anywhere.
I just googled Jiayu G3s and a few popped up on Aliexpress
Hi Andi, are you planning to do the Cubot gt99 review??
Nice review.
Thanks..
But please tell me where to buy the Jiayu G3S for $140?
I can’t find it anywhere.
I just googled Jiayu G3s and a few popped up on Aliexpress
Hi Andi, are you planning to do the Cubot gt99 review??
anybody has feedback on the LTE capabilities?
No LTE as with current Chinese android phones. I believe early 2014 is when LTE becomes more widespread in these kind of phones.
Just to add I have a Cubot GT99 and haven’t found an issue with weak WiFi so I’m quite happy with it. Also phone calls have been fine.
Nubia Z5 is the only one with LTE
anybody has feedback on the LTE capabilities?
No LTE as with current Chinese android phones. I believe early 2014 is when LTE becomes more widespread in these kind of phones.
Just to add I have a Cubot GT99 and haven’t found an issue with weak WiFi so I’m quite happy with it. Also phone calls have been fine.
Nubia Z5 is the only one with LTE