Well, whoever purchases phone, they do a research for sure. I am a tech geek and so did I. The difference is, I did it for 2 months.
I read many articles, forum posts, reviews.
My shortlisted phones were Moto X Play, Lenovo Vibe X3, Huawei Honor 7 and Oneplus 2.
Why I opted for this phone?
1) I had a budget of maximum 20K.
2) Specifications said that it has two dedicated DAC chips(For those who don’t know, DAC stands for Dedicated Audio Chip. In short, they are dedicated ICs for audio decoding and results in supreme audio quality. The cheapest audio player with a DAC chip is "FiiO X1" priced at almost 8K. Now you can relate why is DAC important.). I am an addicted music listener and I couldn’t resist that. Plus there was Dolby Atmos too.
3) 21 MP camera. Although reviews said that it slightly less in performance than Moto X play’s 21 MP camera, but I didn’t care. Since phone camera cannot replace a DSLR anyway. So I will manage with "slightly less" performance.
4) Dual Sim(4G standby+ Hybrid Slot) -: We Indians can relate why we want 2 sims. no need to explain that:P That’s where Huawei honor 7 lost. Since it had only single sim(I don’t know why the hell they have disabled one sim slot in Indian version. Shame!)
5) 3500 mAH battery -: For me its simple, if I am gonna have any android phone, the battery must be 3200mAH+ only. I just cannot tolerate on battery less than that at all.
6) Well why not OnePlus2? I don’t know, I just didn’t like the fact that it is not a big upgrade on OnePlus1. Moreover, Snapdragon 810 chip is famous for its heating problems.
7) Hexa Core processor & 3 GB RAM-: It doesn’t have an octa core processor. And honestly, I didn’t care. Since all the octa core versions used to use Snapdragon 810, it’s heating would have resulted in battery loss. I am happy with a slightly less performance than killing the battery life.
And 3 GB RAM can handle almost everything what I want.
9) TheaterMax -: They say we can convert any video/audio to VR format via this. Cool! Worth trying for sure.
Guys see, budget segment is all about buying according to your needs. If I wanted best camera, I would have gone for Honor 7 since it has the best camera in its range.(Performs even better than Moto X Style’s camera(30K+). So the point is, you have to sacrifice some specs for the things you want. In this way, Vibe X3 was fit perfectly for me.
So after a long time, the phone was back in stock again. I didn’t want to wait for black colored version since my previous phone was also white and it looked quite decent. So I didn’t wait and ordered it straight away COD(One day delivery).
Delivery -:
The delivery was damn fast. It was saying it will be delivered day after tomorrow, but it just got delivered in 28 hours. Amazing!
First Impressions -:
I assure you, the packing is totally breathtaking. I have not seen such a fine product packaging in a while. Unboxing it was a great experience.
Detailed Review -:
1) Feel -: Quite handy. They supplied a back-cover and screen guard too. The phone seems comfortable in hands and has a good grip. It is a bit on heavier side for sure. The back-cover has a great grip.
2) Looks -: Premium looks! Nothing else to say. That "Dolby Atmos" logo on back side just envies every person whom I show the phone:P
3) Screen Quality -: Amazing! One of the best screens I have ever seen. The color balance and contrast is up to the mark. No problem in outdoor usage too. I generally keep the brightness on Auto mode and it works well.
4) UI -: Fluid and no lags at all. Decent interface. A few pre-installed apps are there but I uninstalled them. I absolutely don’t want anything in my phone which I don’t use.
4) Audio -: This is the point where it surpasses all other mobiles in its range. The loudspeakers are truly Amazing! You have to experience that yourself what I am talking about. While using headsets, the major difference I found was in Call quality! The chips really filter out the noise and you get perfectly audible and crisp sound. The music listening experience is also cool! But since I don’t have a concrete headphone like Bose, I cannot say about it’s maximum performance. In my Sennheiser CX275 earbuds, it sounds quite decent. Mind the equalizer settings for best performance.
5) Performance -: It generally takes around 1-6 seconds for installing any app(Installing here refers to the time taken after downloading the app to the point it shows app installed. Varies on app size). I have installed around 30 Apps and I didn’t find any noticable difference in its performance.
6) Graphics performance -: Well, I played Asphalt 8. It lagged for like half a second two-three times at the starting.After that it was without any lags. I think they should have given Adreno 430 instead of Adreno 418 graphics.
7) Video -: It was fluid while playing full HD 1080p video. Sometimes it lagged just like Asphalt 8 in my previous point, but after that it was fine. Same issue is due to Adreno 418.
8) VR -: Didn’t try it since I don’t have a VR headset. But What it does is it splits the screen into two identical parts.
9) Network -: Found no issue till right now.
10) Battery Life -: Too soon to judge. But till now it is great. More details on that after 2-3 months.
11) Fingerprint sensor -: Works beautifully. Takes less than half a second to unlock.
Verdict -:
Well, people who were saying "Low Call Volume" in their reviews, I didn’t find any like that. Infact I found the call quality as one of the best aspects of this phone. I absolutely love the choice I have made and I will surely recommend it to the person who is buying it.
PROs I have already mentioned. But I will mention the CONs so that it will help you guys -:
CONs -:
1) A bit on heavier side.
2) Graphics performance slightly less since it is having Adreno 418 instead of Adreno 430. But its totally manageable.
3) Camera quality is slightly less than Moto X Play. But as I said. it’s "slightly" less.
4) Sim 2 slot is hybrid. Therefore you have to choose whether to use a microSD card or a Sim.