Sorry but we are a wee bit late on this one guys, however as the phone is not destined for our shores (at least through the normal channels), I’m sure you will let me off.
There was a big announcement in San Francisco on Wednesday from the Chinese megacorp LeEco. This was kicking of the official launch of the brand in the US market and is one more step to them being available in Europe. They had two handsets to launch the LePro 3 and the Le S3. They also announced a stack of other electronic consumables.
The Le S3 is the lower spec of the two devices. It will be sporting the Qualcomm 652 chipset, which has worked admirably on other devices we have seen so far. The phone also sports a 5.5″ screen with full HD display. It has a 16 megapixel camera on the rear and a front 8 megapixel unit. Memory-wise we have 32GB of onboard storage and 3GB of RAM. As far as colours go, it will come in “Grey Gold” and “Rose Gold”. The back.of the phone will be finished in Matt metal.
The phone will also has a rear-mounted fingerprint reader. Like most of the phones from LeEco this phone and the Le Pro 3 are missing the 3.5mm headset jack, having replaced it with USB Type C that supports audio output. Thankfully they have included a headset and also a 3.5mm adapter.
Here are either specs if the Le S3
Display – 5.5” Full HD (1080 x 1920 px)
Pixels Per Inch (PPI) – 403
Processor – Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 652
Wi-Fi – 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4G+5GHz)
Bluetooth® – v4.1
Network/Connectivity LTE-A, LTE, HSPA+, HSPA, GSM
Main Camera 16 MP
Front Camera 8 MP
Battery 3000mAh
Quick Charge™ 3.0
Memory & Storage 3 GB RAM // 32 GB ROM
Sim Dual Nano-SIM
Dimensions 5.95 x 2.02 x 0.29 inches
Weight 5.40 ounces
In-Box Accessories Type-C CDLA Earphones + 3.5mm Audio Adapter + Phone Cover
Available colours Rose Gold, Gray, and Gold
Moving on from the Le S3, we jave the new flagship which comes in the form of the LePro 3. This comes with the same specs as a phone release in LeEco’s native market. This is a a big deal for LeEco as it is them trying to make a statement in the US. So what have they brought to the party?
Nestled in the LePro 3 we will find the new Snapdragon 821 – the same as being used in the newly announced Pixel from Google. Backing this up is a 4GB RAM module and 64GB of storage. Around the front is a Full HD panel measuring at 5.5″. This is a step down in both screen size and resolution over the previous flagship, the Le Max2. I reviewed that earlier this year.
The cameras are the same as the Le S3 – with a 16 megapixel rear and an 8 megapixel front. However this phone is packing a beast of a battery into the chassis – a 4070mAh unit. This can be charged via USB Type C. Again, like the lower tier version, we find a fingerprint reader on the rear which uses ultrasonic technology to allow for better accuracy when scanning you finger. As you can see below it is also pretty damn skinny given that battery capacity!
As you can see above, these phones be have got some pretty impressive specs – especially the Le Pro3. The pricing from the US seems to be around about OnePlus 3 territory, and this is where the company is aiming their phones. Like their Chinese counterparts, the phones will come with access to all of LeEco’s behind the scenes services in the way of TV and Media. It will be interesting to see what this looks and feels like as although I have seen it on my Le Max 2 it was in Chinese!
Specs of Le Pro3
Display – 5.5” Full HD (1080 x 1920 px)
Pixels Per Inch (PPI) – 403
Processor – Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 821
Wi-Fi – 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4G+5GHz)
Bluetooth® – v4.1
Network/Connectivity – LTE-A, LTE, HSPA+, HSPA, GSM 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 29, 30, 38
Main Camera – 16 MP, AF, PDAF
Front Camera – 8 MP, 1.4µm pixel size
Battery – 4070mAh
Quick Charge™ 3.0
Memory & Storage – 4 GB RAM // 64 GB ROM
Sim – Dual Nano-SIM
Dimensions – 5.96 x 2.90 x 0.29 inches
Weight – 6.24 ounces
In-Box Accessories – Type-C CDLA Earphones + 3.5mm Audio Adapter + Phone Cover
Available colours – Gray, and Gold
So this brings me to the good news bit of this article. I have managed to secure a LeEco Le Pro 3 to review and it should be arriving later this week. I am quite excited by the phone and it will be great to see how it stacks up against its rival the OnePlus 3 and also against its fore bear the Le Max 2. Watch this space for more details as they come to me.