Vkworld Discovery S1
Vkworld Discovery S1 Review: The smartphone with a 3D display for the ultimate Android computing experience
While most Android smartphones offer a handful of cool features such as a fingerprint scanner and impressive hardware configurations, Vkworld Discovery S1 offers something very new to the consumer. It is the world’s first smartphone with a glasses-free 3D display in HD. Let us see how the device performs in our tests, and we will also take a look at this really cool feature while we are at it.
Vkworld Discovery S1: Design and appearance
Appearance-wise, Vkworld Discovery S1 happens to be a very beautiful smartphone, although we were under the impression that the front side resembled the design of what HTC uses for its handsets, while the rear side looked more like it had been taken from Huawei’s mobile devices. Regardless, when it comes to be cosmetics of the smartphone, we could not be more impressed with what we received to play around with. Hopefully, the company will continue to adopt this approach when it begins to roll out more smartphones.
Vkworld Discovery S1: Button placement
There is nothing out of the ordinary here. A small power button is located on the right side of the device, along with physical volume buttons present on the left. In our opinion, this approach is something that should be continued since it presents flexibility to those who are both left and right handed. Additionally, the microUSB charging port and 3.5mm jack are both located on the top of the smartphone, and with the ample distance separating these two ports, you will never have your wires entangled in between them.
Keep in mind that the rear side of Vkworld Discovery S1 is removable so you will be able to upgrade the memory card (up to 32GB) and accommodate two SIM card slots comfortably. You will also be pleased to know that the handset supports USB OTG so you will not be required to unnecessarily root your phone, which will definitely void its warranty.
Vkworld Discovery S1: Display and resolution
Despite its large form factor, the company only managed to incorporate a 720p display on its 5.5 inch frame. This is really disappointing to see, because if you will be spending a large sum on money for Vkworld Discovery S1, then it also important that you get your money’s worth too. Regardless, the 720p display still looks quite stunning, and we are sure about the fact that if the screen size was a bit smaller, it would look even better to the eyes.
However, there were some plus points of the device as well. Several readers over here must be thinking that while viewing content in the dark would be very discomforting to our eyes, we have to say that the experience is far more pleasant than anything that we have ever seen before. The visibility of the content was exceptional, and the display was extremely vibrant. Image quality would not decay if we tilted the screen, which shows that the company invested a great deal of effort in incorporating a very high quality display, just so we get the best possible viewing experience according to the price we pay.
Vkworld Discovery S1: Interface impressions
While the display might not look so vibrant as compared to a 1080p resolution, we were thrilled to see that Vkworld Discovery S1 is running Android Lollipop 5.1 out of the box. This means that the company could roll out a compatible update for the device to be upgraded to Android Marshmallow, but we are going to have to see how this plays along. Coming to the interface of the handset, we have to say that we were really impressed. Since the company invested some extra attention in to the design and aesthetics of Vkworld Discovery S1, we were extra happy when we started swiping our fingers on the screen.
The stock interface is by far, much better in functionality as compared to what you normally get to see in Android handsets. Starting off, the interface is very simple in aesthetics and design and in order to deliver the most amount of performance, it features a flat design, with strong yet ‘not too flashy’ app icons that make the interface as smooth as butter and looks good on the eyes as well. This is the magic of Google’s latest Android platform, and we expect that the upcoming update will provide even more performance to the handset.
Vkworld Discovery S1: Camera performance
For most consumers, having a smartphone that sports a very capable rear and front camera sensor is always a welcome feature. Despite the fact that the rear camera is only 13MP, it is still quite impressive in terms of the quality of images being snapped. The only thing that we missed having from the front camera sensor was that it was void of a LED flash, which would make images appear brighter in low light conditions.
Coming to the image results of the primary camera sensor, we were amazed to see the image quality of the rear shooter, even after we decided to see how the images would turn up if we decided to zoom in on an object. The results were quite impressive, as you will see from the images that have been posted below. While these is not DSLR quality images, we still got to experience the next best thing.
Camera samples have been given below:
Vkworld Discovery S1: Performance (Processing and connectivity)
Now let us come to the core segment as to why consumers want to purchase a smartphone in the first place? Raw performance. We fired up AnTuTu to see how the device would fare when pitted against the remaining competition and we have to say that the smartphone might have missed its mark, but it is still able to achieve a satisfactory score, as you can see in the image below.
One of the reasons why the device is able to obtain a high score despite its mediocre hardware specifications is because the custom interface features a flat design, and has been optimized for performance and gave us the extra bit of kick that we needed. Since the device is also running an updated mobile platform, it contributed to the score quite a bit.
Coming to the connectivity side of things, we fired up the 4G connection and immediately ran a speed test to see what kind of results we would get. Since China Telecom is known for its blistering speeds, particular on the 4G network, given below is the speed that we got after successfully running the test.
Vkworld Discovery S1: Battery life measurement
Let us come to second most important aspect of a smartphone after performance; total battery life. There are very few handsets that possess large battery capacities, and it appears that the company had invested all of its financial resources in a 3,050mAh battery. The most impressive thing about the battery is that it is as large as a power bank, and the smartphone is able to last us a little over one and a half day. Now that is something that we truly need from a mobile device. When we made the smartphone go through a battery test with the 4G modem still running, we got slightly less than 24 hours of battery life, which is still impressive in its own right.
Hardware specifications
- Chipset: MediaTek MT6735
- Processor: Quad-core Cortex-A53 at 1.5GHz
- RAM: 2GB
- Memory: 16GB (supports a microSD storage card up to 32GB)
- Battery: 3,050mAh
- Display size: 5.5 inch IPS panel
- Screen resolution: 1280 x 720
- Charging port type: microUSB
Final Verdict
- Build Quality: 10 out of 10
- Appearance: 10 out of 10
- Button placement: 10 out of 10
- Interface experience: 10 out of 10
- Display quality: 6 out of 10
- Price/performance ratio: 5 out of 10
- Camera performance: 8 out of 10
- Battery performance: 8 out of 10
No doubt the appearance alone of Vkworld Discovery S1 blew us away, but when you are purchasing a smartphone, looks are not enough to give you the ideal balance between price and performance. The device lacked in hardware specifications, but it made up quite a bit of that limitation in the design, and of course the 3D display tech. However, we do feel that the handset should have sported something much more powerful other than an MT6735 SoC.
The smartphone is available to purchase for $219.99 from Gear Best, so if you want impressive battery life, camera performance, and one unique feature that is not present on any Android smartphone as yet, then Vkworld Discovery S1 is the ideal smartphone for you.
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