When you think of a smartphone that costs just $169 USD, you probably think of something that feels “cheap”, with low specs, and likely a hint of lag. With the Ulefone Vienna, you get none of that. It’s a smartphone coming out of China that will cost you just $169 USD and brings some pretty respectable specs.
Performance
When it comes to the internals, the Ulefone Vienna packs a MediaTek MT6753 processor, this is a 64-bit octa-core chip clocked at 1.3GHz. That is paired with the Mali-T720 GPU along with 3GB of RAM. This leads to some pretty amazing performance as well as gameplay. This processor is more of a high-end, mid-range processor. More on the level of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 600-series of processors.During our time with the Vienna, we played a slew of games on the device. Some were graphic-intensive while others were pretty simple. Like Stack and Crossy Road. All of them played quite well on the Vienna. Additionally, we never felt the need to clear out the apps in memory, due to the phone slowing down. The Vienna handled apps in memory quite well, allowing the experience to be quick and speedy.However, the phone does get a bit warm. We mostly noticed the phone getting warm on the back, near the camera. It typically got warm during long periods of gameplay, benchmarking, and watching videos on full brightness for an extended amount time. This is pretty understandable, and happens with most smartphones. So it’s not really that big of a surprise.
Display
Many may question the reasoning behind Ulefone using a full HD display here instead of a QHD display. However, remember that a full HD or 1080p display, uses less power compared to a QHD display. This means that there is more power from the processor and GPU set aside for running apps and games on the phone, as well as saving battery life. This display is made by Sharp, and it’s actually pretty sharp, no pun intended. The 1080p display here is pretty bright, great for using it outdoors. It does get dark, but not as dark as we’d like it to be, at night.The 5.5-inch display here includes Gorilla Glass 3. Which is here to keep the display fresh without getting scratched up when in your pocket (or purse for the Ladies) with keys and such. Viewing angles on this display are pretty good as well. The Vienna doesn’t suffer the terrible viewing angles that some of the early Sony Xperia Z smartphones suffered from. Definitely a great thing for a smartphone this cheap.
Fingerprint Reader
The fingerprint reader has a bit of an issue with this device. When I first set up the Vienna, I set up the fingerprint sensor using my index finger – seeing as it’s on the back of the device. That went fine and all, however, a few hours later the phone’s SystemUI crashed repeatedly and was unable to get back into the device. I was forced to go into recovery and wipe everything and set it up again. This time around I didn’t set up the fingerprint sensor in the setup process, and everything went fine. However, going into the fingerprint settings results in a force close. Which means we weren’t really able to test the sensor. A bit unfortunate, and it definitely looks like Ulefone has some software issues to figure out here with the Vienna’s fingerprint sensor. Hopefully that will be taken care of in a future software update.
Speaker
The Ulefone Vienna is quietly an amazing device with HiFi audio. Ulefone has put in a pretty impressive DAC and amplifier that provides some amazing sounding audio. If you plug in a good set of headphones, and play some high-resolution audio, you’ll be able to definitely see how good the audio is on the Vienna. It’s pretty tough to put into words. But if you’re an audiophile, then this alone is a reason to pick up the Vienna.
Battery
Inside we have a 3250mAh battery. That’s plenty of battery to keep the Vienna going all day long. You should be able to get at least around 4-5 hours of on screen time out of this battery. Which is quite respectable, to say the least. Of course, if you’re a heavy user, you may not get the same results. Remember battery life is subjective as always, and everyone won’t have the same experience, unfortunately.While the battery is a fairly large 3250mAh battery, it doesn’t sport any type of quick charge technology. So you’re stuck with the normal 1.5A charging, which is quite slow in this day and age. Fortunately, the battery can last you all day long, so you can just charge at night. Then the charging speed won’t really bother you that much.
CameraThe camera experience here is pretty plain. There’s not a whole lot going on here in the camera UI. Within the app, you can have it auto-detect the scene. Making it easy for you to just open the camera and take your shot. Without worrying about needing to get the ISO, white balance and such correct. As far as modes go, we have the auto mode, along with live photo, motion tracking, Panorama and Multi-Angle Mode. Pretty simple, and all of these are rather self-explanatory. Vienna does also support burst mode, up to 40 pictures.As far as the pictures coming out of the camera, they are actually quite good. Now they aren’t perfect, nor will this replace your DSLR, but the pictures will definitely work well on social media. We found that in close ups – or macro shots – the camera did quite well at getting in all of the detail. There were some bits of noise that we weren’t fans of, however. Some outdoor shots had blown out areas, which we’ve found to be the case on most of these sub-$200 smartphones as of late. Indoors, and in low-light, the camera also performed pretty well. In some pictures, it performed better than it did outside.We’ve uploaded all of our shots from the Vienna into the Flickr album linked below. Allowing you to view the shots in high-resolution.The Good
Display: While it is just a 1080p panel, it still looks nice and vivid, without being able to see individual pixels. It won’t be good enough for VR, but you shouldn’t be buying a phone this cheap for virtual reality.Processor: We’ve tested many smartphones with the MediaTek MT6753 (seems to be a favorite among OEMs), and it lives up to past experience. Speedy, smooth and without lag.Build Quality: I am really blown away by how good the build quality is here, especially given the price. I’d say it even feels higher quality than my LG G5, which cost around 3-4 times as much money.Battery Life: The battery is pretty good, it’s not the most amazing battery out there, but for the size, it performed past our expectations.
The Bad
Camera: It’s a pretty bland experience. We didn’t really expect a ton from the camera here, given that it’s a Panasonic sensor (one that isn’t used often at all) and that there’s not much software here to make images look even better than normal.Fingerprint Sensor: As we’ve mentioned before, we hope that our issues were either isolated, or able to be fixed with an update. But it definitely wasn’t a good look for Ulefone with the Vienna.Capacitive Keys: My gripe isn’t actually the capacitive keys, but the fact that the menu button is designed to look like a recents key. Make that look like a menu button, and we’ll be all good.
Specs |
Ulefone Vienna |
Processor |
Mediatek MT6753 Octa Core GPU: Mali-T720 |
Memory |
RAM: 3 GB LPDDR3 ROM: 32 GB eMMC MicroSD support up to 64 GB maximum |
OS |
Android 5.1 Lollipop (U-Launcher) |
Display |
5.5", Sharp, IPS, LTPS, 2.5D 1920 x 1080 pixels, Corning Gorilla Glass 3, Oleophobic Coating |
Rear Camera |
13 MP Panasonic MN34172, f/2.0 Aperture |
Front Camera |
5.0 MP OV5648 |
Network |
Hybrid Dual SIM (Micro+Nano) SIM 2 (also MicroSD slot) 2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz 3G: WCDMA 900/2100MHz 4G: FDD-LTE 800/900/1800/2100/2600MHz |
Connectivity |
Bluetooth 4.0 WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, WiFi 2.4GHz MicroUSB 2.0 (USB-OTG) |
Features |
Fingerprint (0.1s Touch ID), Infrared Sensor (Remote), Smart Key, FM Radio |
GPS |
A-GPS, GLONASS |
Sensors |
Fingerprint, Infrared, Proximity, Ambient Light, E-Compass, Hall |
Audio |
NXP Smart Audio PA Amplifier |
Dimensions |
153.5 x 77.9 x 8.6 mm Weight: 156g |
Battery |
Sony Li-Po 3250mAh (Quick Charge) |
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