Hi guys, I just got my Umi X2 Turbo a few days back and Iโve spent some time on the device and Iโm finally ready to give my humble 2 cents regarding the phone. Initially I was more inclined to get the Neo N003, but when they announced the launch date would be on the 25th of June and kept their plans to upgrade their processor a secret, I turned my attention to the UMI X2 Turbo
UMi X2 Turbo Review
What you Get in The box
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The package includes the box (obviously), 2 screen protectors , a USB to micro-USBย cable and the charger head. โจโจUpon opening the box, the first thing that greets you are two pages highlighting some features such as the Full HD, OGS Gorilla Glass 2 Screen. The 13 mega-pixel camera and the hardware under the hood.
๏ฟผโจโจThe third Page shows the phone specs in detail.
UMi X2 Turbo Specifications
- โจAndroid Jelly bean 4.2,
- Dimensions of the phone are 141*70*8 at 9mm.
- 5.0 IPS 441ppi FullHD screen, โจOGS Gorilla glass 2.
- MT6589T quad-core processor running at 1.5ghz, โจSGX544MP Gpu.
- โจ32GB ROM+2GB ram, โจSupport up to 64GB memory using a micro SD card.
- โจFront Camera 2.0mp and rear at 13 mega-pixelย with aperture 2.0.
- Battery size at 2430~2520MAh.
- Sensors, Proximity Sensor, Gravity Sensor, Light sensors, 3-axis gyro meter,
- GPS/AGPSโจDual Simโจ2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900โจ3G: WCDMA 900/2100MhzโจConnectivity: GPRS, EDGE, 3G, Wifi, HSDPA, Bluetooth 4.0โจ3.5mm Audio Jack.
If you canโt read Chinese itโs the exact same specs that Andi posted on Gizchina =)
๏ฟผJust to show you guys that it says 1.5ghz, 32GB ROM + 2GB RAM version.
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Build quality
Having opened it for the first time, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised at its design and quality. I was ready for a plastic flimsy Samsung rip-off but what greeted me was far from it. At first glance, the layout of the front camera and headpiece does resemble Samsungโs Galaxy series. However, due to the absence of the home button, I believe that it does in fact have greater similarities with Googleโs own Nexus 4 baby. Overall however, I believe Umi has managed to put together a solid design that may appeal very well to the general population.
๏ฟผFlipping over to take a look at the back, youโll find the 13mp Camera and rear speakers at the bottom.
โจโจ๏ฟผAnd just to let you guys see how โthinโ the phone really is, Iโve placed it beside a Kingston pen drive as well as a coin for comparisonโs sake.
๏ฟผ๏ฟผOn the right side youโll find the volume rocker as well as the screen lock button. The Micro-USBย port is located at the bottom and the 3.5mm headphone jack is on the top left corner. All the physical buttons are located on the right side of the phone, So itโs extremely great for one-handed operation.
Gizchina News of the week
The Screen is quite bright. But itโs not as bright as the Amoledโs of the Galaxy S series of Samsungโs. Having said that, the Full HD screen is just pure eye candy. (itโs got me eyes drooling)
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Overall, I believe that Umi has pieced together a total beauty =)
Hands on with Vanilla Android
First up, Some benchmarks and screenshots of the hardware Specs.โจ๏ฟผ๏ฟผ
๏ฟผ๏ฟผ๏ฟผ๏ฟผโจโจI ran Antutu and Cpu-z and got what I expected, the scores and screenshots speak for themselves. Performance is snappy and responsive. Honestly I was worried that the hardware would not be up to par to support full HD screens but so far, Iโve been proven wrong. DEAD wrong. The phone is running stock android with some minor UI changes. Which is just the home screen app button that says UMi. Iโve changed that by installing nova launcher because in all honesty, the stock launcher was choppy at first swipe.
Following swipes were of course buttery smooth but the initial swipe was always met with some delay. But other than that, the phone runs blazing fast with no hint of lag. Having said that, UMI turned off the animations as well, which I found quite odd. But itโs easily enabled back at developerโs options. By The Way, Play store was already there when I got it, but the other google apps were not there, such as Gmail, Youtube, Maps.
Camera
The standard camera app was absolutely hopeless. It lags and takes some time to focus. (Especially in low light conditions). Having said that, installing 3rd party camera apps solved the issue. Personally I installed Camera MX. Here are some photoโs capture with the 13mp camera.
๏ฟผ๏ฟผConnectivity
Iโm from Malaysia and I use two sim cards from 2 networks. Signal Strength is excellent, at times I have signal whereas my Dadโs Iphone 4s does not. Mumโs got a Blackberry Z10 and Iโd say that signal wise, itโs better than both. 3G is lightning fast but somehow the Z10 still comes out on top. However, I must mention that the wi-fi range is just horrible. Iโd have to be within a 5m radius of my router to get it. Whatโs funny is that when it does detect my house wi-fi, itโs full. But as soon as I move out of the 5-7m range. It just disappears off completely. Thatโs something to work on and hopefully (I pray) UMI will get a fix for this. Donโt know if itโs the hardware or ROM thatโs causing this.
Bluetooth is available as well, and itโs working great.
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Battery life
Iโm a heavy social user. If Iโm not on wifi, youโd be sure Iโd be on 3g. FB, WeChat, Whatsapp and Line. All the time (that rhymes =D). 3G is a battery killer. Thatโs one thing everyone knows. Even the 2500mAh battery UMI provided ainโt enough. On 3G with the screen on. Itโs safe to say that for every 3-5mins, 1 percent goes down. Wi-Fi is less draining and is able to get me through the day with it constantly on. But if youโre a casual user who games/surfs and calls on the average. I believe that this phone has the stamina to last the day.
Conclusion
The UMI X2 Turbo is a great phone. Itโs my first personally owned smartphone, but have thoroughly played with the Samsungs, iPhones, xperiaโs and nokiaโs. Build quality is great, people stare and their eyes pop out of their sockets when I tell them itโs from China. Being a Malaysian Chinese myself, itโs no secret that China used to pump out worthless rip-offs that could be a ticking time bomb in your pocket. Friendโs poked fun at me before the phone arrived, and now, all I hear are ooohs and ahhs. Great design, smooth buttery interface, good connectivity and a 13mp shooter that shoots pictures that make people drool. UMI has made this phone worth the wait. Big Thumbs Up.
[templatic_contentbox type=”author” title=”About the Author”] Oon Tjoe (pronounced Joe), 21 year old university student studying engineering in Malaysia. Technology enthusiast and singer. Love the outdoors. Ever since I stumbled upon Gizchina, my interest in China phones grew and I finally purchased my first china phone after being convinced that getting a China phone does not mean that I’m purchasing a ticking time bomb. [/templatic_contentbox]
Dude. I’m from Malaysia too. May I know where you ordered this phone?
I purchased it from lowyat forums. Look for a guy named luna121415 selling chinaphones. It took 2months to arrive after pre-order. Mainly due to umi themselves
Hey Bro! Nice to see more lowyatians around here.
Yes, i am pleasantly surprised at the amount of lowyatians here.
Sorry should be luna121245
Thanks you so much for the info! i was looking seller in MY… directly buy from other country may get block at custom and need us pay for SIRIM fees.. which not cheap..
may be you can go to 1949deal to find this phone!!!
I got it from Panda will. Free plane shipping to Argentina (18500 km away)
How about OTG? Cause i am thinking of upgrading to something which has OTG+Gorilla Glass+2GB Ram, and so far nothing comes up which would feature all 3… or at least work like a charm.
Then u should wait for neo. Havent got a chance to try otg as i dun have the cable with me. Will update as soon as i get the chance
Great review Tjoe!! That wifi debugging should be done, it seems to be a problem with MTK chips! But though the reviews are great but I have taken off from UMI X2 as they have made many fake promises and are facing delivery problems too! Now waiting for NEO N003!
Those problems dont seem to plague china actually. Since my sellar had connections with his supplier in Beijing
Owh. And i do hope that they fix the wifi soon. Real soon
Great Review Thanks…Camera MX sounds interesting will try it on my Jiayu G4 as its doesnt seem to be getting the white balance/apeture right on bright sunlit photos
Yeah. I believe that bad photos come from software issues. Keep experimenting with other cameta apps to see what works for u. I tried at least 8
Great review ! Where did you buy the phone ? I am asking because your packaging shows WCDMA at 900 MHz, whereas the specs at all of the webshops list the phones as having WCDMA at 850 MHz.
I bougt mine from malaysia. But he got the stock directly from china
Hello Tjoe Great review. in regard to 3G WCDMA support I too seek clarification
As Patrick pointed out all the websites selling the UMI X2 Turbo state 3G WCDMA is 850/2100 as too Andi ‘s Specification comparison on June 6 as 850/2100
https://www.gizchina.com/umi-x2-turbo-specification/
Actually I want 900/2100 NOT 850/2100
Does the mobile you have a special version suitable for Malaysia?
as the spec sheet in your review clearly states 900/2100 But contradicts Andi’s spec comparison
You can buy 3G 900/2100 version from Merimobiles or banggood sites.
Nice review! Thx!
Glad u liked it. You’re welcome
Thanks for the review ๐ well done and instructive.
Haha.. first time writing a review. Feel free to ask if u have any questions
Excellent review. Had a look for luna121415 could not find him.How much did you pay in US$ TJOE
Uh about 300usd
Sorry should be luna121245
Great review Tjoe!! Mine is due in about a week. So I hope I can share your experiences with this phone. Haven’t read about the WiFi issue though.
Have you rooted youre phone? And if so, can you point me to a procedure for rooting this phone?
No i didnt root mine. However it does come ready with superuser access.
*Update, It is already rooted. no need for you to go and root it yourself =)
Good to know Tjoe. Saves me some work to get it rooted. Now I’m able to use Titanium Backup Pro to transfer my apps and user data from my old phone to the X2.
Hopefully they update soon =P or someone comes up with pure vanilla stock android ROM.
Great review thanks.
It is worrying that their seems to be many issues with mediatek SoC regarding wifi and GPS or manufacturers of these cheaper phones just don’t seem to be able to make phones with good antennas!
Have you tried the wifi on other routers and get the same issue?
Also can you test GPS and let us know if this is also any issue (cold and warm start GPS fix times would be great).
With these wifi/GPS issues I would not have much confidence buying any of these cheaper phones as these two features for me are very important (and would of thought wifi is very important for the majority of consumers).
many thanks again.
Yeah wifi on all routers having same issues. Testing out gps
GPS is a no go. Until they send out an update. This is not the phone for you. I checked online people are complaining that the GPS chip is not working and needs to be fixed. Funnily, i managed to sort of “test” the GPS chip and my phone software can detect that it’s there and supposedly working. Don’t know why it isn’t though. Having said that, for some reason, Wi-Fi seems to have improved a lot. Don’t know why. But it’s better now. At times when my friends note 2 can’t get anything, The UMI can. o.O which i think is fairly good then,
Try using “fastergps” app (you have root don’t you?) – this amends your gps.conf file and uses web based NTP (time servers) local to you to sync time and do a more accurate triangulation – the app walks you thorugh setting this up – reboot and see if it’s any better.
Also use “GPS test” app to and stand outside and see how many satellites the phone sees and check lock time.
Also “wifi analyzer| app is good to check local wifi routers don’t have conflicting channels – wifi in same area with same channel causes issues.
All apps in play store for free.
Cheers
I thought of buying it from lowyat forum before, but my friend did not recommend me to do so since he had experienced some problems with some dealers previously. most of the dealers ensure that the phone you purchase from them will be delivered to you within 2 -3 weeks maximum, but in fact it takes way longer than that. Another thing is that the prices are really high, for UMI X2 Turbo its RM1199 (approximately $ 400 USD).
True. Bt i still got it. It is a bit pricey, but he was extremely patient with me. Believe me, i literally bugged him every single day. And he guaranteed that he will solve the warranty issues for me should the need arise. For that im willing to pay an extra 150 ringgi
its only 299.99 usd !!!
very easy to read review
no wi-fi issue with my lenovo A830 using mediatek mt6589 (antutu 13xxx already)
but using โulysseโ and ‘speedy’ speedometer/odometer when i travel a short distance, they would put few km!
Thanks, glad ur wifi is working well for u. If i didnt have 3g data. Id.be ripping my hair out now
As a fellow Malaysian, I approve of this review :3
I am however very afraid of buying China phones, mostly for their weak Wifi signals. It’s one of the things that have been completely turning me off them.
I’m considering the TCL Idol X or the Zopo ZP980 Ultimate. As reference, can I know how much you got the Umi X2 for?
I purchased mine from luna121245 on lowyat. Refer to him for pricing as it might chaNge. In my opinion. The zopo and tcl is going to be more expensive regardless of who you buy it from. Zopo is china’ premium brand. And tcl has connections with alcatel. Btw. I sincery doubt that tcl’s battery is sufficient
I have my reservations about the 2000 mAH as well. How’s the battery life on normal usage on your Umi X2?
Actually, i should have been a little more specific on my usage. For my umi, I charge my phone from the previous day 10pm-12am+. Then i plug it out and go to sleep. Leaving the wifi off and 3g off. So basically it’s just a phone sitting there with calls. When i wake up at 9. It’s consumed about 2% battery life. So effectively, i start my day with 98%. Then i use wi-fi for about an hour, before leaving home and accessing 3g throughout the day. FB/wechat/whatsapp comes in occasionally and about 5-10 calls. I don’t really game, but i’ll take yesterday’s 2 hour train ride for an example. I played games for about an hour and a half. Before finally reaching home at 9pm with 18% battery life. 3g off, wifi on. Then i charge it at 10pm again. There, enough details?XD
A good amount thats useful ahahaha. Thanks XD
by your stats I’m just that little bit worried about 2000mAH, though for the most part I won’t be using the full dual Sim capabilities.
I’m under the assumption then that since you’re using dual sim, the battery drain can be much higher.
That is true, i did consider cancelling one out to see how it affects battery life, but it’s too much of a hassle to do that =( i need my sim’s active. And i definitely don’t wanna be carrying around 2 phones everywhere =P
Out of curiousity, what two sims do you use at all times and why?
One for calls and one for data?
I’m hoping to give this whole china phone thing a test run myself soon haha
Naw, i used to own 1 number, but that was only good for sms. So most of my friends know that number. But the signal was weak then (a few years ago) so i went ahead with a more established network provider to compensate. During that period, i carried 2 nokia 1200’s It was a student edition package which allowed me to stay connected for 4 years on prepaid, without reloading. And the rates were awesome. So now 1’s for data, another is simply maintenance since everyone calls that number. Either way, both numbers still receive calls
my x2 bought in china has no label X2 on the upper right corner.
btw, i am using the white one.
Hi the logo is actually from the screen protector
wow, i see. i havent use the screen protector coz when it was delivered it already have screen protector on it.
yeah, i applied another one straight away.
sir can i ask if your siller is trusted ?? and honest!!
yes he is. But don’t expect him to work miracles. He can only deliver what Umi can deliver to him.
Tjoe can u pls tell me what languages your phone support ?
What do u need to know? Lemme know and i’ll tell you. Too many to list down.
hi i am also from Malaysia… i am looking a chinese smartphone, either Dakele 2 or Xioami 2S 32gb… which one you think is better?
Personally id go for xiaomi. But thats just my opinion
I’d 2nd Xiaomi too. Ordered a Xiaomi 2S and expecting it to arrive in a day or 2. From my research it seems like that best I can get for my budget.
Its the best at any budget ๐
Thanks for the review. I’m very interested in the GPS lock times. I’ve got a Qualcomm and it manages to get a fix in 5-10s even without any network assistance.
It’s this efficient if it already had a lock in that same area though and with not obstacles.
Could you please try to see how fast the Mediatek can get a lock ?
Gps is not working. Tempted to try fixing t by instalig another rom. But only one available is by lewa os now. So i’ll try it later
mine also did not work well even i am outside. there were 10-12 available connections but never get connected.
I don’t care much because I am not into GPS, but of course it will be better if umi can fix it. I guess some hardware problems, if you check their forum, some people applied some foils to improve gps signals.
Does this phone have 802.11 n or g only?
not sure how to check that. any ideas? o.O i reach speeds up to 80mbps+ on wifi though. (LAN)
Nice review ! Can we have a phone with on-screen buttons? I really like them and i can’t find any phone like that ๐
Beidou Hot Pepper LA-Q1
http://mobile.139shop.com/xlj/goods/26233_1.htm#detail
Great review. Can Malaysians read Chinese?
O.O… we’re a multi racial nation. We all learn our original languages and our nations official language which is bahasa. And needless to say. English is just essential
Tjoe,
Nice review. I too am loving my UMI x2 TURBO. Did u manage to take full ROM backup ? or managed to install CWM ?
Directions how to install CMW: http://gnum.forumotion.com/t25-install-cwm-recovery-using-mobile-uncle-tool
It’s already rooted mind you. Switch of your phone Just connect it to your pc. Then hold volume + and the Power button.. You will reach the screen with the android robot logo. Feel free to install any Rom you want =) However, i’ve been looking around and the only ROM that seems to be having good reviews is the LEWA OS (happy frog in chinese) Which doesn’t appeal to me. Hopefully a stock, pure android ROM or cyogen will do something
Hi Tjoe,
I can access the recovery screen by pressing VOL+ & POWER. But in the recovery menu, i can see other options except Backup and recovery option like you see in CWM.
I have also installed MTK droid root & tools & took complete factory ROM backup of my X2 TURBO… it came out to 3gb size
The factory ROM is stable but lacks features compared to custom ROM….wht you say..?
phone without buttons (with backlight) see quite strange to me, the saving of battery are close to zero and usablity seem highly decreased or am I wrong and you can actually see phone’s buttons in the dark?
Well, i know exactly what the capacitive buttons do. So, It doesn’t affect me one bit.
honestly, Between these phones, which one you would really think of as the best one in total or in details:
1-inew i6000 advance version(2/32GB)
2-zopo zp980+(2gb/32Gb) / zopo c2 platinum
3-ThL beyond w9 / w8 (32GB)
Thnks by the way, for review, Thats one hell of review,really come from “gizchina” stuff
Waiting for your response
A little too late, but Zopo’s good. Sorry for the extremely extremely late reply
Pls pls do the nenamark benchmark of umi x2 turbo. i count find it anywhere on net. plssss.. thnx in advance
My TURBO gives me 33.9fps on NENA 2
any place that i could buy honestly the umi x2 turbo i being trying to hunted for around 2 months and nothing.
i think some of the chnese phones are greats but still really dificult to get one.
i got a zopo zp980 and it was easy with the zoposhop.
it someone know where i can buy the umi please send me a link and your feedback if you already got it with you,
I’m about to post a $20 coupon hold on ๐
what you mean you know the correct one i can order it?
Use these sellers in aliexpress, all trustable and I am trading with them out of escrow by bank trasnsfer(to avoid 5% commission of ali)
Grace compnany
Nitro Company
Dandan wu
Tian Tovey
their prices are the best too
which sellers?
i being trying to contact online chat where they are online and they don’t even answer.
give a link the one you thing is trustable and will make my research.
regards
Hi I was just wondering if anyone could tell me how I can get those two signal meters in my status bar? It would be great to see the 1X signal as well as the 3G signal. Thanks!
Hey =)
I have 2 sim cards, hence 2 bars. =)
hi im zaffar fr malaysia & lowyatian oso
wanna share my china phone story
own a zopo zp950+ for nearly 2 months now
superb quad core for the price
get it from http://www.lelong.com.my/merchant/leonjunyin-Android.Smart.Phone-C1-91689-1.htm
have physical store @ cheras
reasonable price
got ready stock
oso sell umi, iocean, jiayu etc
cod is best method of dealing..
as for mtk gps fix, try this..
activate gps then
go to setting\location access\gps satellites
enable GPS EPO assistance
go to epo setting & download latest epo file info… done
activate agps oso..
using this method, my zopo cold sat fix is around 20 secs
hot fix 5 secs..
accurate to 2 meter!
hope it helps..
Hahaha..(that getting a China phone does not mean that Iโm purchasing a ticking time bomb.)..Well I hope not ๐ I just bought this same phone as you from dhgate.com .I bought it last night and I got a shipping notice today..so far so good. And you know I cant wait for the phone to get here..(USA).
great =) enjoy your phone. Mine’s still working wonderfully with no lag. Do go to developer’s option and force GPU for 2D drawing. It really helps.
i got mine too but from taobado in china i got a friend living there and he will receive on tuesday so i will have it by friday after his other friend come back from holidays, good news is that is really out now ๐
post if you got it first and comment, goods and bads points.
Sure..will do.
I broke the glass of UMI x2 does anyone know where I can find spare link? thanks
UMI X2 case/cover in india: http://wowemall.com/mobile-tablet
How can this phone be a great phone when the buit-in camera application is hopeless and the WiFi is horrible? Sorry, maybe I miss something here, yet this does not seem to be such a great phone to me.
I strongly agree, please dont buy this phone (maybe not even more umi phone)
Hey there =)
I did mention in my review that the stock camera was laggy and hopeless and i installed camera MX to solve the issue, still using it btw.
Wi-fi is also bad, but if you get a data package, you don’t have to worry bout that. Having said that though, their newest ROM can be downloaded here
http://www.needrom.com/phone-roms/umi/umi-x2/
and that should solve some issues there, also camera performance has improved and wi-fi too. =) Android is all about customizing, do it and you’ll learn to enjoy the phone.
has anybody tried to play stereo music via Bluetooth on the UMI X2 ? I thght UMI had the a2dp Bluetooth profile to stream music to Bluetooth earse
I’m from Australia, I am on the optus network and can’t access the 3G network. Any suggestions how to fix this?
Go to Settings,…..Wireless & Networks…..More….Mobile Networks….& manually add the APN settings related to your OPTUS network.
Then restart mobile & enable 3G service
thanks for the help but it didn’t work =( any other ideas?
Hi guys. I received mine umi with 2Gb ram and 32GB rom. Mobile is amazing, and all works perfect except gps. I am buying external gps and i wanted to install navigon but i have connectivity errors. As i researched a bit it is due to dual sim. Does somebody know solution? Please help.
install bluetooth gps from play store.bye
do not buy this phone because it does not guarantee there had a problem with my 32 gb UMI X2 LCD screen display, was sent to china for resolution and he combraram $ 100.00 to fix the problem. the phone eh eh bozinho but not buy paper
I will make a marketing year compared UMI X2
shit
I have bought two X2 three months ago. The one after ten days was completely in NO SERVICE mode in my house and my work, no GSM. Since two days the other one has started to behave the same. It seems there is a bug or something with the software not the ROM as I have load to the one another ROM with no results, a chinese virus or something. I have given them to three services and they were not able to repair them. I would appreciate a lot any suggestion.I live in Athens Greece.
Hi,
recently I bought this phone. i am having the problem that I can not receive SMS allthough all the settings with my local provider are ok. Any clue how to solve this?
hi , i dropped my umi x2 on the cement, the face didnt break but i now have cloudy lines of color all across the screen, when i first power up they are not on screen ,then slowly the lines cross the screen, it is very cloudy, i have a photo of the screen, any ideas who/what it needs to repair thanks jukijuju