04-09-2016, 10:23 AM
Time for another review of an off-brand Android device. Today, it's the Kphone K5, sold in the USA through the QVC TV network and on their website. It also received an on air presentation, which for QVC is a bit surprising as they tend to stick to name brand electronics, at least on air. HSN is the one that [strike]shills[/strike] sells off brand electronics.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHyybGxYZLI[/youtube]
Unlocked phones are still a foreign concept in the USA thanks to the contract business model that has been the status quo since cellphones became standard. But stores are starting to advertise unlocked phones that you can use with GSM based carriers, and there are now "bring your own phone" kits from prepaid wireless firms like Tracfone.
The Kphone K5 is a dual-sim unlocked smartphone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon quad-core CPU with Adreno 306 GPU, 2GB RAM and 16GB of storage. There is no expandable storage option available. The screen is a high quality IPS 1280x720 display with very sharp clarity and good colors. There is a 13mp rear camera and 5mp front camera. Android is a customized Lollipop 5.1.
Kphone really wanted to emulate the iPhone as much as legally possible, and perhaps even pushing that boundary as well. The UI of the Android build has been thorougly customized to mimic the look of iOS as much as possible, right down to the "hold the screen until the icons jiggle" way of moving or removing apps. The settings menu also seems to be watered down at first, but a quick right swipe will reveal a standard Android settings menu. You can also enable developer options by hitting the build number seven times, and through this, you can unlock the bootloader and enable USB debugging among other things. Because of this, there is no dedicated app drawer for the home screen like every other Android device.
The OS performs rather well, and is quite responsive. The included apps load quickly and installing more apps from Google Play was a breeze. The Antutu Benchmark score is 26151, with 3D coming in at 296. By comparison, Poppy (Alcatel Pixi) gets a lower 12603 with no 3D score due to being "unsupported". Pumpkin (RCA 11' tablet) gets a 18472 and no 3D score again due to being "unsupported". Maybe later if I have the time I will test out additional benchmark apps.
There really isn't much in the way of bloatware on the Kphone aside from the standard Google apps. It's basic stuff like a clock, notepad, calculator, etc. There is an FM tuner chip, which is the primary reason why I got the Kphone. FM reception is rather good, but for weaker signals, it's best to be outdoors. It can record FM broadcasts as much as space allows and they are encoded in MPEG-4 AAC using the .aac container. I have to change the container to M4A to get them to play in Winamp. In comparison, a typical Chinese MP4 player records to MP3 or WAV, and Poppy records FM broadcasts in Ogg Vorbis.
Hardware wise, the build quality is rather stunning for an unlocked Chinese Android. QVC and the manufacturer claim that the screen is Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Judging by the weight of the phone, I'd say they may be right. The iPhone-esque design continues to the phones casing, consisting of a piano black rear with the Kphone logo and the all glass front display. Stereo speakers adorn the bottom along with the Micro USB port. The only buttons are the power and volume keys. There is a SIM slot on the right that holds two cards, and a small metal key is included to open this slot should you want a SIM or two.
One thing I can't test at the moment is phone functionality. I don't have SIM cards at the moment, and Poppy serves my needs well as my prepaid phone. There is another reason... a suspicous APK preinstalled on the device is flagged as malware by a few mobile AntiVirus apps, such as Malwarebytes. Those apps classify the APK as a member of the "SmsSend" trojan family. I pulled the APK and analyzed it the best I could, but I notified QVC of the potential issue and sent off a sample to Malwarebytes. I'm still waiting to hear from them, but it might be a few days.
It would be a shame if that APK is indeed a trojan. QVC promoted this on air a few weeks ago at a special price, so no doubt people bought it. It led me to buy it too with their ValuePay. Unlike HSN, QVC was far more honest in the devices presentation. The camera is excellent, and the performance is excellent. If that APK is indeed a trojan, the best course of action would be to issue a firmware update that removes the offending APK, or at worst, a recall of the phone. That would upset a lot of people. Me, I would have to unlock the phone and delete the APK myself since antivirus tools can't remove it. I'm waiting to see the outcome of the email requests.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHyybGxYZLI[/youtube]
Unlocked phones are still a foreign concept in the USA thanks to the contract business model that has been the status quo since cellphones became standard. But stores are starting to advertise unlocked phones that you can use with GSM based carriers, and there are now "bring your own phone" kits from prepaid wireless firms like Tracfone.
The Kphone K5 is a dual-sim unlocked smartphone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon quad-core CPU with Adreno 306 GPU, 2GB RAM and 16GB of storage. There is no expandable storage option available. The screen is a high quality IPS 1280x720 display with very sharp clarity and good colors. There is a 13mp rear camera and 5mp front camera. Android is a customized Lollipop 5.1.
Kphone really wanted to emulate the iPhone as much as legally possible, and perhaps even pushing that boundary as well. The UI of the Android build has been thorougly customized to mimic the look of iOS as much as possible, right down to the "hold the screen until the icons jiggle" way of moving or removing apps. The settings menu also seems to be watered down at first, but a quick right swipe will reveal a standard Android settings menu. You can also enable developer options by hitting the build number seven times, and through this, you can unlock the bootloader and enable USB debugging among other things. Because of this, there is no dedicated app drawer for the home screen like every other Android device.
The OS performs rather well, and is quite responsive. The included apps load quickly and installing more apps from Google Play was a breeze. The Antutu Benchmark score is 26151, with 3D coming in at 296. By comparison, Poppy (Alcatel Pixi) gets a lower 12603 with no 3D score due to being "unsupported". Pumpkin (RCA 11' tablet) gets a 18472 and no 3D score again due to being "unsupported". Maybe later if I have the time I will test out additional benchmark apps.
There really isn't much in the way of bloatware on the Kphone aside from the standard Google apps. It's basic stuff like a clock, notepad, calculator, etc. There is an FM tuner chip, which is the primary reason why I got the Kphone. FM reception is rather good, but for weaker signals, it's best to be outdoors. It can record FM broadcasts as much as space allows and they are encoded in MPEG-4 AAC using the .aac container. I have to change the container to M4A to get them to play in Winamp. In comparison, a typical Chinese MP4 player records to MP3 or WAV, and Poppy records FM broadcasts in Ogg Vorbis.
Hardware wise, the build quality is rather stunning for an unlocked Chinese Android. QVC and the manufacturer claim that the screen is Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Judging by the weight of the phone, I'd say they may be right. The iPhone-esque design continues to the phones casing, consisting of a piano black rear with the Kphone logo and the all glass front display. Stereo speakers adorn the bottom along with the Micro USB port. The only buttons are the power and volume keys. There is a SIM slot on the right that holds two cards, and a small metal key is included to open this slot should you want a SIM or two.
One thing I can't test at the moment is phone functionality. I don't have SIM cards at the moment, and Poppy serves my needs well as my prepaid phone. There is another reason... a suspicous APK preinstalled on the device is flagged as malware by a few mobile AntiVirus apps, such as Malwarebytes. Those apps classify the APK as a member of the "SmsSend" trojan family. I pulled the APK and analyzed it the best I could, but I notified QVC of the potential issue and sent off a sample to Malwarebytes. I'm still waiting to hear from them, but it might be a few days.
It would be a shame if that APK is indeed a trojan. QVC promoted this on air a few weeks ago at a special price, so no doubt people bought it. It led me to buy it too with their ValuePay. Unlike HSN, QVC was far more honest in the devices presentation. The camera is excellent, and the performance is excellent. If that APK is indeed a trojan, the best course of action would be to issue a firmware update that removes the offending APK, or at worst, a recall of the phone. That would upset a lot of people. Me, I would have to unlock the phone and delete the APK myself since antivirus tools can't remove it. I'm waiting to see the outcome of the email requests.