LeEco Le S3 Review
The LeEco Le S3 X626, including company other lower and high-end models, is no doubt one of the most popular and successful phone brands came out from China in recent years, offering great specifications and probably the best buy value ratio. This smartphone has it all.
The S3 comes with a beautiful Aluminum alloy shell body. 5.5-inch Full HD display with a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. Powered by MediaTek MTK6797 Helio X20 Deca Core (10 Core) processor. It has 4GB RAM / 32GB internal storage. High capacity 3000 mAh battery, fingerprint id scanner, excellent GPS and other great features to meet above-average users on a daily basis and beyond.
In the photography arena. The LeEco Le S3 X626 is equipped with a rear 20.0MP camera along with a Dual LED flash and a selfie 8.0MP shooter located in the front of the device. Another point worth mentioning out is that this phone also comes installed with international ROM, which makes life more easier without a need to search a proper ROM and manually installing unofficial customized ROMs to make the device compatible with local languages.
LeEco Le S3 X626 Review | Silver Edition
LeEco Le S3 X626 | Gold Edition
LeEco Le S3 X626 Review Focus:
- Product introduction
- Specs & Features
- Package
- Unboxing
- Accessories
- Package Content
- Build Quality & Appearance
- Hardware, Software, Display, Cameras, Sound, Microphone, Navigation, Battery.
- Pros & Cons
- Final Verdict
- LeEco Le S3 Review Summary
Product Highlights:
- Color: Gold, Pink (Rose), Gray
- SoC: MTK Helio X20
- CPU: MTK6797 Deca Core (10 Core) 2x 2.31GHz + 4x 1.85GHz + 4x 1.85GHz
- GPU: Mali T880
- Memory & Storage: 4GB RAM / 32GB ROM
- Display: 5.5 inch, 1080P 1920 x 1080 pixels
- System: Android 6.0 (Global ROM)
- Battery: 3000mAh (Built-in) with Quick Charge 3.0 Support
- Fingerprint Scanner (Touch ID) – Yes
- Sensors: Gravity Sensor, Fingerprint Touch Sensor, Magneitcfiled
- Camera – 8.0MP front camera + 20.0MP rear camera with dual-LED Flash
- Navigation: A-GPS, Beidou, GLONASS, GPS
- Type-C USB Interface – Yes
- 4K Video Recording – Yes
Network & Connectivity:
- Bluetooth: 4.2
- FDD-LTE B1/B3/B7
- TD-LTE B38/B39/B40/B41
- GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz CDMA EVDO BC0/BC1
- WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz TD-SCDMA B34/B39
- 2.4G/5G, WLAN 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, support Wi-Fi Display, Wi-Fi direct, AP host.
- SIM Card: Dual SIM Dual Standby (Nano SIM + Nano SIM)
LeEco Le S3 X626 | Package
LeEco Le S3 X626 | Package 1 of 6
LeEco Le S3 X626 | Unboxing
- LeEco Le S3 Phone Unboxing | 1 of 7
LeEco Le S3 X626 | Accessories
- LeEco Le S3 Accessories | All Items
LeEco Le S3 X626 | Package Content:
- 1x LE S3 X626 Smartphone
- 1x Case (for Back Cover)
- 1x Card Pin [SIM Tray tool + Service Guides (In Chinese Language]
- 1x Charger
- 1x US to European Plug Adapter
- 1x USB-Type-C Audio Adapter
- 1x USB Type-C Cable
Build Quality & Appearance
In both areas, I have zero complaints. LeEco designed an excellent product with a strong focus on quality and superb build design. The body of the phone is composed of both metal and plastic parts weighing just 158 g ( Note: with a Nano Sim Card).
LeEco Le S3 X626 | Full View
LeEco Le S3 X626 | Hands View
LeEco Le S3 X626 Weight
Hardware
This phone is very speedy and high-performance thanks to its powerful Deca processor based on the Helio X20 SoC and the Mali T880 GPU. If we compare it to the previously reviewed Huawei Honor 6X based on the Hisilicon Kirin 655 Octa-Core (8 cores) processor, the gap between both devices is almost double in favor of the LeEco Le S3 Device. In this phone you have a total of 32GB ROM (internal storage), from that 6GB is used for system files. The downside of this device is that you can’t add an external Micro-SD Card since the phone has only two sockets suitable for dual Nano SIM Cards arrangement.
LeEco Le S3 X626 | AnTuTu Benchmark
Huawei Honor 6X vs. LeEco Le S3 X626 (AnTuTu Results)
LeEco Le S3 X626 | CPU-Z (System Information)
Software
LeEco Le S3 X626 comes with Global ROM called EUI 5.8.018S. A very user-friendly system based on the Android 6.0 marshmallow operating system. It came pre-installed with all Google services including play store and few others, such as the electronic ‘Compass‘, ‘My LeEco‘ cloud app and LeEco’s universal IR remote control Application. Overall, my general impression of playing with it was nothing but good.
Display
Outstanding quality. Very bright, readable with excellent viewing angles.
Cameras
The pictures produced by the 20.0MP main camera were relatively sharp and not grainy. It worked great under optimal, and low light conditions. Another feature worth mentioning is the built-in 4K resolution recording function that you normally can’t find in $100-150 phones that worked very well producing high-quality videos.
Indoors Photos (Rear / Main Camera)
Outdoor Photos (Rear / Main Camera)
Sound
One of the main highlights this phone has to offer is superb sound quality. LeEco added Dolby Atmos is a surround sound technology that greatly enhances sound quality. You can select different equalizer settings according to content, like movies, music, etc. The Speaker was loud with rich and clear sounds. LeEco didn’t add an audio jack in this device .instead the company added the IR remote sensor.
If you want to connect earphones/headphones you will have two options. Doing it wirelessly with the use of a Bluetooth device, or connect with a wired type through the USB Type C port using the USB-Type C Audio adapter included in the package.
LeEco Le S3 X626 | USB-Type C Audio Adapter
IR Remote Control (Universal Remote)
LeEco integrated an interesting remote control functionality within the S3 phone. A function you don’t normally find in a low budget phone in this price range. To start operating and controlling appliances you will first have to pick the right one from a list of a wide section of vendors compatible with the remote. The next step is turning the appliance off. After, you will need to power it using the power button inside the remote control Application. If the appliance responses and turns on you will be asked if it worked. And that’s it if all goes well you’re ready to use the phone as a remote control unit. Based on my personal tests the remote worked well with HiMedia Q10 Pro Android Set-Top Box and a Toshiba TV Model 42SL863.
LeEco Le S3 X626 | Remote Application
Microphone
Tested with ‘Recorder‘ App – Performed well very good and was sensitive enough in picking low environment sounds.
Navigation
GPS worked ‘out of the box’ and tested with ‘GPS Test‘ Application including ‘Here Maps‘ in offline mode without an Internet connection.
Battery
Powered MediaTek MTK6797 Deca Core processor, power consumption, and battery life weren’t too bad, but not so great. with light usage, you can “squeeze” about 5+ hours of screen time. Again. it depends on If you are using functions you’re enabling, for example, GPS, Camera, setting screen brightness to the maximum and so forth. For a Deca (10 core) processor, a 3000 mAh battery is not sufficient, especially without an audio jack connection if you need a Bluetooth earphone that also consumes additional battery power. At this point, LeEco could have picked a slightly higher-capacity battery between 3500 mAh – 4000 mAh.
LeEco Le S3 X626 | Battery Usage
How to Tweak Battery Performance
As a first step, It’s highly recommended setting the display brightness to %50 and enabling the ‘adaptive brightness‘ function. If the ‘Color Mode‘ is also enabled it’s also best disabling it. As a final step, under ‘System settings‘ -> ‘Battery‘ -> ‘Power-saving management‘ enabling all power-saving features.
Battery Charging
LeEco Le S3 supports MediaTek Pump Express Fast Charging technology and included a suitable fast charger amongst the phone accessories. According to my test, after discharging the battery completely it took 1 hour: 15 min to fully charge the phone 3000 mAh battery, which is considered to be a short time and a pretty good result.
LeEco Le S3 X626 | Battery Charging Test
Final Verdict
The LeEco Le S3 X626 is a fantastic phone. The battery life could have been a lot better. Taking into consideration this phone costs $140, this is maybe the best affordable high-quality phone you can get for this price range and it’s definitely worth the money. If you still not convinced It’s a right pick, I suggest checking the Letv LeEco Le 2 X520 Model based on the more power officiant Snapdragon 652 64 bit Octa-core processor.
