I’m really staggered by the low-cost Android devices hitting the market at the moment and Vodafone’s Smart Ultra 6 has to be one of the best examples I have seen/used so far!
Considering you can now get this phone at £115 on PAYG the price to spec ratio is impressive! For example you get Android 5.0.2 (which I upgraded to 5.1.1) a 5.5” Full HD display, 16GB Internal Storage (expandable up to 64GB via microSD), 2GB RAM, a Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & quad-core 1.0 GHz Cortex-A53 CPU, an Adreno 405 GPU and a 13MP camera. It also packs in 4G support, NFC, Miracast, and a 3000mAh battery! Now this is what you call a budget device!
On top of this it offers a relatively slim profile that reminds me of the iPhone 6 range and it feels surprisingly good to hold despite its girth. OK so you may be thinking what’s the catch? Well from my initial impressions very little in fact!
Granted the phone is locked to Vodafone and you get the logo on the back and the usually array of Vodafone supplied apps inside, but in fairness the amount of bloat-ware is kept to a minimum and for the most part a lot of this can be un-installed.
Design & In the box
As mentioned earlier the handset is large but it feels comfortable to hold in the hand thanks to the rounded edges and relatively thin profile.
Some could argue the grey backing is a little on the boring side, but as you don’t really see this when you hold the phone in front of you its not a major design fault.
Speaking of fronts the top part of the handset is adorned with the 5MP front facing camera lens and the ear piece is placed - for the voice calls - adjacent to this.
At the base you have touch-sensitive Android controls which light-up in blue when the on/standby button is pressed. So for example you have your back button, Home and recently used App list.
Underneath the front-edge you will also find your microUSB port and to the left side of the phone's casing the microSD card slot. Now this is held underneath a protective cover and similar to the sim card you need to utilise the supplied tool, in order to gain access to the slot.
Granted this is not as accessible as some phones, but it at least prevents dust from getting into the back and in some ways you won't get annoyed by those flappy covers which a lot of providers tap into on their handsets.
To the opposite side edge you will find the aforemention sim slot and below this the volume controls and power button.
Directly at the top you have the 3.5mm headphone port, while finally at the back you'll discover the 13MP camera lens with led flash. Additionally you have the subtle Vodafone logo and 4G logo at the base.
From an accessories point of view you get in the box a pair of headphones with a call/answer button. To me these look remarkably similar to the original in-the-ear iPhone headphones. Alongside this you have a white USB cable, a USB mains charger, the usual pamphlets and the small tool to access the sim and microSD card slot.
Interface & Supplied Software
Once I setup the phone it quickly prompted me to install the latest Vodafone update which basically added Android 5.1.1 to the handset. After this was done you will find the usual help prompts informing you how the interface works and then you can discover what's supplied on the phone. For example in this case you will find a few Vodafone apps installed, mainly these offer Smart wallpaper and a different way of making calls/texting. Plus you get access to an accessories store for Vodafone products.
Surprisingly most of the supplied apps can be un-installed which leaves you, for the most part, with the standard Google Apps, such as Google Music, Goolge Now etc.
However for me the supplied video player was pretty good as it supported PiP (Picture in picture) so I could watch a film in a thumbnail format while doing another task such as browsing the web. Incidentally the standard Google Chrome browser paired nicely with the 4G support, so I had no issues browsing for content whatsoever.
In fact for the most part the interface's scroll speed was smooth, I also had no issues switching between apps either. You see the latter in action in the video below where I switch between two open games and they switch pretty smoothly.
Finally as with most Android devices you can bring down the notification bar at the top and in this case gain quick access to mobile data, NFC, Cast Screen (for casting the device to compatible Miracast displays - I paired this with the Xbox One via its Wireless App and this worked a treat). You can also turn on the wireless antenna; which I found worked pretty well. So on the whole the Android experience was great!
Screen quality
The 5.5" Full HD display I would say is impressive for a budget phone, but the colour vibrancy is still not on par with the high-end devices. Then again its not bad either and with the IPS panel the viewing angles are good and when I think about how much this handset costs I can't be too critical here.
Likewise you notice the lack of vibrancy when watching films, but when paired with the internal speaker (which is pretty loud) the experience is still enjoyable!
Camera
The 13MP camera is not the best camera I've used on a phone, but then its not the worst either. Its interface (which is viewable outdoors in natural light) is intuitive enough to use and provides quick access to modes such as providing filters, a panoramic option, HDR, smile detection and so forth. This is coupled with a Full HD video mode (which supports auto/fixed focus) and a standard Auto mode for quick shots.
Additionally you can get a manual mode. The latter allows you to adjust white balance and ISO (goes up to 1600). So the standard crops is there, but its not overflowing with features.
In reality the exposure and focus need attention, especially with the latter as I found it better to tap the screen - even once the main autofocus kicks in - just to set the focus more accurately. However once the focus is set and the exposure level behaves itself then you can get some pretty good results!
Shot times are quick, with the exception of HDR which does take a little longer and the photos - when viewed back on the PC - don't look too bad once the above tweaks have been made. However for quick photos to social media I would say the camera is better suited to this role and you would be pretty happy with the results.
Performance
For performance from a standard use I can't really fault it, as I said browsing speed is good, steaming films likewise. Games also run well enough, though in Angry Birds 2 I did notice the odd frame drop, but this could be the game itself as other titles such as 'Rayman Adventures' ran fine. On the whole there is nothing major to worry about, even 'Dead Trigger 2' ran quick enough with max settings.
Synthetically the CPU/GPU do lag behind some of the top end handsets - which of course cost a lot more. You can see the results I used below when testing the phone in 3D Mark (Sling Shot/Ice Storm), PC Mark, Antutu, Vellamo, Quadrant Standard and CF-Bench. Additionally I have posted some of the screen-grabs below, to give you more of a visual representation. In reality though I have really enjoyed using this handset so I would still not hesitate to recommend it to anyone on a budget.
Benchmark Results
3D Mark Score: Sling Shot ES 3.0 = 128 (Not Compatible with ES 3.1)
Ice Storm: 8825
Ice Storm Extreme: 5427
Ice Storm Unlimited: 7588
PC Mark Work Performance: 3190
Antutu v6.0: 29285 (placed 14th)
Quadrant Standard: 3032
Vellamo Browser: 2224
Vellamo Metal: 1033
Vellamo Multicore: 1051
CF-Bench: 17259
Battery Life
The 3000mAh battery does perform pretty well I have to admit. In the PC Mark synthetic test I ramped up the back light to max and turned the WiFi on and it reported 5hours and 5 minutes of productivity. Which, with the back light being throttled back to normal levels, should mean a full days use out of the handset.
From a video playback point of view I noted approximately a 20% drop in battery life after a 2 hour and 3 minute film which again is not bad considering the back light was on full and the Wireless was left on. So you should get 4-5 films out of the handset.
I also ran a general real-world test with the handset i.e playing games, browsing and so forth and after multiple hours of gaming I still had battery left at the end of play. Granted it was not a lot, but I think for the price tag it was not too bad either.
Summary
It's really rare these days for me to be surprised by a handset, as I have used and tested hundreds of smartphone related products in my time. However I was pleasantly surprised by the Vodafone Smart Ultra 6 at just how well it performed for a relatively low price tag. I would go as far as saying its the best handset I have ever used in this price bracket - heck more expensive products don't do as well. Granted its not perfection, but for those on a budget looking for a second handset or one that won't break the bank, then the Vodafone Smart Ultra 6 is ideal!