The LEAGOO Alfa 4 is LEAGOO’s entry level smartphone with an extremely affordable price for RM199 only. One might think why would anyone get their hands on a entry level smartphone wannabe, but sometimes we forget that there ARE some people out there who actually don’t want to spend so much cash and could care less of the tech specs. So after weeks of spending some time with it, here’s my review of the Alfa 4.
Design, Tech Specs and Features - Like the old days of Nokia, but better
The size of the Alfa 4 is actually slightly bigger to the Apple iPhone 5, what’s more, because it’s an entry level phone class the device is pretty lightweight and compact. The body cover is quite solid, so you barely have to be worried if it knocks into something thanks to its good plastic material. It really brings back memories of the Nokia-era, when I can just roughly throw my phone onto a table from time to time.
Anyway, the 3.5mm headphone jack and charging port is located at the top, power and volume button on the right, and the speaker, rear camera and a LED flash is at the back. Also, do keep in mind that this is an entry level phone, so it’s best to keep our expectations low.
The front
3MP camera , LED Flash and speaker (bottom) at the back
The power and volume button on the right
The 3.5mm headphone jack and charging port on the top
Inside the hood
The LEAGOO Alfa 4 tech specs are as follows:
- Quad Core Processor with 1.2 GHz
- 512 RAM
- 4GB ROM with expandable storage up to 32GB
- 4-inch display with 400x800-pixel resolution
- 3MP rear shooter and a 2MP front shooter
- Dual SIM slots
- LEAGOO Xender
- Android 4.4.2 (KitKat)
- 1600mAh battery
The Alfa 4 features are alright I guess, the first thing that I like is the LEAGOO UI 3.0 System that gives users a quick access to either messages (swipe up), camera (swipe left), phone call (swipe down) and finally swiping right to unlock. Upon entering, you are greeted by the familiar Android interface layout. Again from there, if you swipe left it will bring you to the music player which has a cool virtual turntable and moving the stick to the disc actually plays the songs you’ve inserted in. LEAGOO was also kind enough to put in a pair of free earphones inside the box too, but the earphone quality...is really underwhelming; so you’re better off using other earphones or headphones for it.
The LEAGOO UI 3.0 System
The music player
If you go to the camera page, you will notice that there are two parts - One which are the pictures you’ve taken before at the bottom, and the top that gives you another quick access to shooting pictures (see pic).I guess it’s for like a quickie when you’re in a rush, that camera feature takes a pretty quick shot but it doesn’t have auto-focus. Speaking of auto focus, the main camera app’s one is pretty weak and I always can’t seem to get decent close up shots (more on that later). And you have the typical camera features of colour effect, panorama and video record which is capable of recording HD 1080p, but being an entry level phone there’s nothing amazing about it.
The camera page
Managing the Alfa 4 is quite simple too, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the settings. Changing the theme will change the icons which is nice, and the settings are separated into four sections to avoid a cluttering menu. Thumbs up for LEAGOO on that.
The notification centre
Performance - Pretty smooth, except 3D
Now here comes the kicker, the Alfa 4 is actually incapable of running a 3D test during the AnTuTu benchmark test (it crashed before it can finish), let alone playing a 3D game. But that’s not the baffling part though, because for some reason it’s also incapable of downloading big size apps such as Plants vs Zombies with no internet interference (it was still downloading after 3 hours, you have to take my word for it). Oh well...that’s an entry level smartphone for you, since it only has 512 RAM and a 4-inch display with 400 x 800 resolution. Users will have to compromise playing 3D games, but they still can play 2D games which surprisingly runs as smooth as butter.
The results
Web surfing is pleasantly nice
YouTube viewing is quite good too, but can only watch at 360p maximum
Siege Hero
Punch Quest
Battery usage after 2 hours of heavy usage
Now to the camera performance, as mentioned earlier the Alfa 4 is not suitable for close up shots (auto focus barely does anything). But other than that, the camera does alright even though it’s only 3MP (back) and 2MP (front). I was actually quite surprised on how well the picture came out after taking some selfie and normal distance shots, didn’t turn out as bad as I thought, but of course not fantastic either.
Close up shot of no HDR (left) and HDR mode (right)
Normal distance shot does better
Panorama shot
Selfie
A low light shot sample
LED Flash mode on
Conclusion - It's value for money for those who are looking for below RM200
So like I said in the introduction, if there are people who are crazy about tech specs performance; then there are also people who just need a smartphone to connect to the world. I think these type of devices suits users who just have different needs for their smartphone, build quality is certainly tough and above average while specifications are just enough for performing the basic needs, but for only RM199, the Alfa 4 is more than enough for the job. I never thought I’d say this, but this smartphone is indeed value for money so if you're one of those users then the Alfa 4 should be worth your while.
*TechNave.com would like to thank LEAGOO for providing us with the LEAGOO Alfa 4 smartphone for this review. It allowed us to do a more in-depth review and highlight more features.
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