LEAGOO (pronounced as lee-goo) is a smartphone brand owned by Shenzhen OTEDA Technology Co., Ltd back in April 2014. In 2016 this year, OTEDA is taking up the lead with their new Android 5.1 ’phablet’ smartphone known as the LEAGOO Shark 1. Engineered with the primarily focus on battery life, Shark 1 is targeted to heavy mobile phone users who enjoys watching long hours of videos, playing of graphic intensive games and switching background apps back and forth. So, has the LEAGOO team met their objective on conserving battery life and enjoying long hours of phone usage? Let’s check it out.
Hardware Specifications Of LEAGOO Shark 1
Measuring 158.6mm high, 82.80mm wide and 8.5mm thick, this latest ‘phablet’ fits well in my pocket. Weighing 240 grams, the LEAGOO Shark 1 is much heavier as compared to other smartphones of it’s same size. Considering the massive built-in battery and metal unibody chassis, the weight seems reasonable to me. The LEAGOO Shark 1 supports dual micro-SIMs up to 4G network. However, if you are planning to use a microSD card for extra storage, the LEAGOO Shark 1 will only support 1 micro-SIM.
The LEAGOO Shark 1 is equipped with MediaTek MT6753 octa-core processor, which runs at a frequency of 1.3Ghz. This is the latest 64-bit processor which offers a stable and powerful mobile ecosystem for everyone. If you are like me who often switches background running apps, you will be totally impress with the Shark 1’s multi-tasking capability. With built-in DDR 3GB RAM, I realized that the switching of apps is so much smoother as I will always have another 1GB RAM unused.
The LEAGOO Shark 1 has an internal storage of 16GB, which is more suitable for the storage of your photographs, emails and apps. Alternatively, you can cheaply upgrade your storage space by using a 64GB microSD card to store your favourite music and videos.
An addition hardware which might be useful to LEAGOO Shark 1 users is the IR sensor. With a huge list of entertainment devices to choose from, this IR sensor is used to control devices such as Android TV box, sound bar and television. Other hardware includes the 3.5mm stereo jack and microUSB port for charging purposes.
What’s On The Front
Packed in a black box with minimal design, the LEAGOO Shark 1 looks strikingly beautiful with it’s 6 inches Full HD display panel manufactured by LG. By using the LTPS technology, this display has a pixel density up to 368ppi which conserves energy by 20% and achieve brightness by 30%. Using the Corning 3rd Generation Gorilla Glass with 2.5D technology makes the LEAGOO Shark 1 more durable and distinctly stylish. The reason why the LEAGOO Shark 1 is so thin is because of the usage of Corning Gorilla Glass. Besides the front panel display, there is also a 5 megapixels front camera with flashlight to capture the perfect selfie every time.
What’s On The Back
The metallic unibody design for the Shark 1 provides an elegant appearance and comfortable hand feeling. The curves on the back makes it easier to hold onto this ‘phablet’ size device. Right on the back of the LEAGOO Shark 1 is the Sony 13 megapixels BSI sensor camera with a F2.0 aperture. The two-tone flash comes in handy during any low light situations.
The Shark 1 also includes the latest fingerprint scanner, the Fingerprint ID 3.0. This new generation fingerprint scanner has a recognition speed of 0.39 seconds, 360 degree recognition angle, 568 recognition resolution and provides maximum security.
Located at the lower section of the LEAGOO Shark 1 is the audio speaker. The audio quality is decent enough for casual listening.
The Beast In LEAGOO Shark 1: Battery
The Leagoo Shark 1 is equipped with 6300mAh Li-Polymer battery in it’s 8.5mm thick design. With such high capacity, the Shark 1 provides up to 770 hours of standby, 49 hours of music, 25 hours of video and 75 hours of general usage. LEAGOO do not want their mobile users to spend long hours to wait for their Shark 1 to be fully charge. Therefore, this smartphone supports LQC v3.0 technology power management system. With the original 3A charger and cable supplied in the box, the Shark 1 can be fully charge from less than 10% in 3 hours. If you are rushing for time, simply charge your Shark 1 for at least 30 minutes and you can use it for the whole day!
Besides a great battery capacity, LEAGOO also includes a new smart power saving application in the Shark 1 to scan and remove unnecessary power consuming background apps and optimise the phone’s performances. This is hardware and software integration together.
Using an OTG cable, the LEAGOO Shark 1 maximises it’s potential to be a power bank to charge other portable devices such as tablets and phones.
LEAGOO OS 1.2 (Android 5.1 Lollipop)
The LEAGOO Shark 1 operates on OS 1.2, which is the skin for Android 5.1 Lollipop. Upon powering up the Shark 1, the user interface looks vibrant and easy to navigate around. The OS 2.1 has shortcuts such as swiping up the screen to browse for themes and effects, press and hold the Circle button to remove any background apps and simply hide the navigation keys by pressing the down arrow button. The OS 2.1 also offers gesture based activation called Smart Wake such as drawing a C to activate the Camera and drawing a S to activate Settings. I hope that the LEAGOO Shark 1’s firmware is upgradable to Android 6.0 Marshmallow for more great features.
Final Thoughts Of The LEAGOO Shark 1
The LEAGOO Shark 1 is now on sale at suggested retail price of $399. At this price, this entry-level smartphone surely knocks off many mid-level smartphones with it’s fantastic hardware specifications, features and it’s friendly price tag. Not everything is perfect for the LEAGOO Shark 1. My smartphone tends to get heated up to nearly 40 degree Celsius when using it on both mobile network and wireless connection. I am not sure what could have caused the problem, but I hope it is fixable through LEAGOO’s next software update.
