LeEco, rebranded from Letv, has finally launched two smartphones in India. The smartphone maker had been teasing its phones for a while, and we had previously tried out its devices back in 2015, when the Le1s, Le1 Pro and the Le Max were launched in China. Since then, the company has been busy increasing its international presence — from announcing a partnership with Aston Martin to launching a rather expensive electric cycle. On January 20, LeEco launched the Le 1s and Le Max in India. While we have already reviewed the Le1s smartphone, here is our first look at the more expensive Le Max.
The first thing you will notice is that the Le Max is a very large device. With a 6.33-inch display, the Le Max is as big as the Nexus 6. The all-metal construction reminded us of HTC's flagship smartphones, and it looked and felt quite premium. The large 6.33-inch display with 1440×2560 pixels (2K) resolution looked sharp, in the short span we spent with the phone. The colour balance was likeable, and viewing angles looked good. However, even at full brightness, the display looked dimmer than what it ideally should have been. The touch response of the display was one of the best that we have seen.
With the new phones, LeEco has introduced its new custom interface, eUI, which seemed responsive. The Le Max felt smooth and fast, while navigating across home screens and toggling through settings. LeEco also told us that it is aware of the heating issues of the Snapdragon 810 SoC, and claimed that there is no such issue with the Le Max. While the claim needs to be tested further, we did not experience any sign of the device heating. Moreover, the phone comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB storage, which should be enough for all kinds of usage and users.
The Le Max comes with a 21MP rear camera which seemed fast enough while clicking pictures, and images clicked by it looked good upon initial impression. The phone also comes with a 4MP Ultrapixel camera. This is the first time that we have seen an Ultrapixel camera on a non-HTC smartphone. The fingerprint sensor below the rear camera worked well. Another aspect of the phone that LeEco boasted of was the audio quality. The company has partnered with AKG, to provide Hi-Fi audio from the native speakers. We saw a small video clip on the Le Max via earphones, and the audio sounded louder than the usual. Await our final verdict in the full review.
LeEco had started off as a media streaming service, and isn't skipping the streaming part in India. The company has partnered with Eros and YuppTV to offer free content. Buyers will be able to stream movies for free on the Eros Now app, for a year. However, these services will only be accessible by Q2 2016.
While all of this sounds good, LeEco has priced the Le Max at Rs. 32,999, which seems a bit on the higher side when you compare it to the similar-powered OnePlus 2. The two phones are not exactly the same, but if you consider the value-for-money aspect, the price of the Le Max does not seem as disruptive as the Le 1s, which was launched alongside. LeEco’s Le Max ticks all the right boxes, but will it be able to defend itself against the fierce competition that the Indian smartphone market presents to any company? We will wait and see.
Watch LeEco Le Max First Impressions Video