MTK 6575 The next gen Android China phone a short review

hotboxx · **Joined:** Wed Sep 26, 2007 7:14 am **Posts:** 638

China phones don't have a good reputation, usualy they are copycats of popular models but with crappy hardware specs and poor build quality. Did things get better? A few weeks ago I ordered online the latest generation of the China phones, and here's a short review and photoshoot.

SPECS (the most important ones):

1 GHz MTK 6575 CPU
ROM 4GB
RAM 512MB
Android 2.3.6
2 SIM 2 Standby
3G connectivity
4.3" capacitive display, 5-point multitouch
qHD resolution 540x960 pixels
GPS
WiFi
Bluetooth 2.0
8 (?) Megapixel camera

PRICE AND DELIVERY

The price I paid was 155 Euro shipping included, this price can vary and will probably drop once the MTK 6575 phones become more common. Delivery took 2 1/2 weeks, no problems with customs, it slipped trough their hands :-)

IN THE BOX

Inside the wanabee HTC box you will find the phone, a wanabee HTC charger, a crappy headset, a wanabee HTC manual, USB data/sync cable, screen protector and 2 batteries. The batteries are rated at 1950 mAh, but Chinese mAh's are more generous then they really are. The good thing about the batteries is that they are the same as the HTC BG86100 models, so buying replacement batteries is no problem.

LOOK AND FEEL

This phone is really nice designed and feel good in the hand. The battery cover has a nice dotted structure to avoid slipping and finger prints. The power button and volume control, both have a nice touch to use. Fit and finish is perfect. Weight including battery is 148 gr. Overall his is a really good looking phone

SPEED AND USE

The new MTK 6575 CPU is clocked at 1 GHz, and they did a good job with this CPU, the Android 2.3.6 OS runs extremely smooth and snappy. RAM is 512MB and internal storage is 4GB, it can be expanded with a TF card up to 16GB. Application open fast, I installed LauncherPro with GO weather widget and the HTC one wallpaper. No complains at all about the speed of this new MTK CPU.

BATTERY LIFE

This is a major problem for China phones and for most branded Android phones. The powerfull CPU's are hungry for juice and this results in poor battery life. However to my surprise the standby time is good, after two days standby with some text messaging, some phone calls, a few pics taken and bluetooth connected in my car, there is still 35% juice left over. Sure that time will be much shorter when 3G, GPS or WiFi is on.

SOFTWARE

The phone comes with a vanilla Android 2.3 version. There is some Chinese language bloatware installed. On the homsecreen is a floating widget that shows the memory status, when pushed on the widget it expands to open a taskkiller and free up some memory. There is full acces to the Google Play marketplace to download more apps. For GPS use I installed Sygic, and it works perfect.

DISPLAY

The display is 4.3" and has a qHD resolution of 540x960 pixels, another good evolution for the China phones. Viewing angles are good, colors are vibrant and the display is bright. No super AMOLED here, but for the price a very good display. Touch response is good, pinch to zoom works perfect. Under the display are the four backlit touch sensitive control button.

CAMERA

Again, a big minus for most China phones, so my expectations were not very high. The camera is listed as 8 mpx but I think it has been interpolated from 5 mpx. In the camera setting I can choose 8 mpx anyway. The camera startup is fast and it has many settings, even "instagram-esque" effect are possible. It is autofocus, face detection, marco mode, continious focus and dual LED flash. Front camera is 0.3 mpx, good enough for videocalling. The is no dedicated camera button. Most important is the picture quality, and that is more than acceptable, it can not replace a real digital camera, but it is very good for occasional photo shooting.. I included some sample pics below.

CONCLUSION

Considering the price of 155 Euro, this is a very good phone, build quality is very good, design is very nice, it is fast, it has a very nice qHD display, a descent camera and good battery life. Most branded phones with the same specs will cost 2-3 times more. Value for money is prefect.

Here are some pics from the phone and box:

SAMPLE PICS FROM THE CAMERA:

TroyNation · **Posted:** Sun May 06, 2012 3:46 am

Thanks for the review. I've never heard of this brand of Android phone. Does this work with Virgin or T-Mobile sims?

hotboxx · **Joined:** Wed Sep 26, 2007 7:14 am **Posts:** 638

It is quadband and SIMlock free, should work anywhere.

rowwor · **Posted:** Sun May 06, 2012 10:22 am

looks pretty nice. Thanks for the review.

chengdude · **Joined:** Sat Dec 08, 2007 6:24 pm **Posts:** 1065

Nice M3...hope you're hanging on to that one!

MTK is just like Rockchip or Allwinner, but much bigger and, for the consumer, focused on mobile phones & DVD. They are credited with making the whole clone phone industry possible with their solutions...again similar to RK & Allwinner with their reference designs. Their chips also power tons and tons of DVD players/drives/burners.

There's an ongoing rumor about Xiaomi building a dirt cheap phone around a MediaTek solution. An original design + an optimized MIUI could finally prove exactly how good the latest MediaTek chip can be.

By the way, "wannabe" ...I like that

sere83 · **Posted:** Thu May 10, 2012 8:50 am

Thanks for the review man, looks pretty good. Haha havn't seen an M3 in a long time!

I'm waiting to see what the Hyundai Brilliant H950 turns out like, it's MTK6575 but from what I have read and seen it might turn out be one of the better MTK6575 phones around, although judging by the price of Hyundai's MTK6573 phones it may also be a bit more expensive too.

Their 7 inch A7HD tablet actually looks well built although at the same time has had some serious issues with screen flickering at max brightness amongst other things. Check the Charbux hands on with the Brilliant H950 at the china sourcing fair if you haven't already...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiQJpYnz8JY

In the video you also see that the factory produces for Philips too.

However saying that we have a new budget android champion over here in the UK which is getting crazy hype at the moment. The Huawei ascend G300....

http://www.electricpig.co.uk/2012/05/01 ... rgain-bin/

Uses the newer Cortex A5 architecture, which in some ways is actually superior to both the A8 and A9 (although I'm doubtful it could outperform the MTK6575). Also gets scores over 2000 in quadrant and is expecting an ICS update soon. And the best part...it's only £100!

Raz · **Joined:** Fri Jul 25, 2003 5:53 am **Posts:** 22220

I found my M3 the other day and the battery had expanded and the the screen cracked, i was not happy at all. Keep your M3 safe they're on their way to being a collectable.

I have a few samples of two different MTK phones coming in, one of them the same as the one you have, hopefully without the HTC branding on it, haha.

How is reception on this phone and hows the earpiece speaker, is it clear, this was a big draw back i saw on many China phones, the earpiece speaker was horrible and made voices sound very unclear and muffled.

J@ck · **Joined:** Wed Jun 23, 2010 4:43 pm **Posts:** 178

IMHO THL is the best china phone brand in middle class. I've even heard rumors that they have local shops and the Chinese people are buying them for himself

P.S. Just bought THL V9

hotboxx · **Joined:** Wed Sep 26, 2007 7:14 am **Posts:** 638

admin wrote:

How is reception on this phone and hows the earpiece speaker, is it clear, this was a big draw back i saw on many China phones, the earpiece speaker was horrible and made voices sound very unclear and muffled.

Everything sound normal and clear, no problems so far.

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