LeEco Le 2 & Le Max2 Superphones Launched; LeMall.com Officially Unveiled

LeEco, the Chinese technology company, had launched its two superphones in Beijing early this year. India, in a very short period of time, has now become a an important destination for the company, amongst the likes of Hong Kong and Silicon Valley.

In a media event held in Delhi on 8th June, LeEco announced the launch of its two smartphones, Le 2 and Le Max 2, successors to Le 1S and Le Max. The smartphones boast of high-end innovative specs at disrupting prices, complementing the motto of the company.

Attended by nearly 2,000 media persons and ‘superfans’, the event saw the launch of the much awaited second generation smartphones. Atul Jain, COO of Smart Electronics Business at LeEco, and Debashish Ghosh, India Content Business at LeEco, focussed on CDLA technology and how it will completely revolutionize the way we listen to music.

About the smartphones

At the event, Atul Jain said, “LeEco is ushering into the ET Era, or what we call Ecosystem Technology Era. It’s time to end the practice of taking the consumers a ride and put an end to profit-oriented business models, but actually redefine product value. We are focusing on the Eco Model, an integration of software, content, services, applications and hardware.”

Completely true to the vision, the smartphones Le 2 and Le Max 2 have specifications that match the premium smartphones from Samsung and LG, and cost nearly 1/3rd their value.

The cheaper of the two phones, Le 2 comes with the following specifications –

• 5.5-inch in-cell display that claims to reduce eye fatigue with minimum bezels
• Dual 4G SIM compatible
• Powered by octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor, making it the first smartphone in India to run on this chipset
• 3GB RAM coupled with 32GB ROM
• 16MP rear primary camera that hosts technology like phase detection autofocus, f/2.0 large aperture and dual-tone flash
• 8MP front-facing camera
• 3000 mAh battery
• The smartphone is equipped with VoLTE and supports all Indian 4G LTE bands
• Comes in Gold, Silver, Grey and a new colour, Rose Gold

The larger phone, Le Max 2, comes with the following specs –

• 5.7-inch 2K super retina bezel less display, complementing its VR technology
• Dual 4G SIM compatible
• Powered by 2.15 Ghz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor coupled with Qualcomm Adreno 530 GPU
• Two options of RAM & ROM – 4GB RAM + 32GB ROM and 6GB RAM + 64GB ROM
• 21MP rear primary camera that hosts technology like phase detection autofocus, OIS, f/2.0 large aperture, new and improved 6P lens, Dual HDR and dual-tone flash
• 8MP front-facing camera
• 3100 mAh battery with a fingerprint sensor ‘Sense ID’
• The smartphone is equipped with VoLTE and supports all Indian 4G LTE bands
• Comes in Gold, Silver, Grey and a new colour, Rose Gold

What’s special in the smartphones?

The smartphones might look like other budget-friendly smartphones from OnePlus and Xiaomi, but they actually have a lot of innovative technology embedded in them.

Firstly, LeEco has done away with 3.5mm headphone jack. Audio can be streamed through the USB Type C port with increased sound clarity through technology called Continual Digital Lossless Audio(CDLA) which the company must have talked about a thousand times during the event.

With the CDLA technology, the company has added a custom chip along with a customized decoder, unlike only one decoder in a normal Hi-Fi audio system. This gives the company a nearly zero loss in decibels when compared to a loss of nearly 40% in a 3.5mm jack headset.

The USB Type C port also offers quick charging and LeEco claims that the phones can give 3.5 hours of talktime with 5 minutes of charge.

Le 2 scores 79636 on AnTuTu benchmark, which made the crowd go ‘whoa’, and naturally impressed every critic. On the other hand, Le Max 2 scored 143408 on AnTuTu, which is not just impressive, but also one of the highest in the industry.

Le 2 weighs at 153 gms, 16 gms lesser than its predecessor, Le 1S, and a substantial 39 gms lesser than the iPhone 6S Plus. Le Max 2 is smaller than iPhone 6S Plus, even with a larger screen, thanks to nearly zero bezels and higher screen to body ratio.

Le 2 has been priced at Rs. 11,999 only, which includes free one year LeEco membership and goes head-on with Moto G4 and OnePlus X. The phone’s final launch date has not been confirmed by LeEco yet, but we hope to see it in July.

Le Max 2 has been priced at Rs. 22,999 for the 4GB variant, and 29,999 for the 6GB variant, which includes the LeEco membership for one year. A fantastic deal for the specifications and LeEco ecosystem. The phone will be available exclusively on LeMall.com and Flipkart starting 28th June 2016, while the registration for the phone starts on 20th June 2016.

Official launch of LeMall.com in India

LeEco’s own online marketplace, LeMall, saw a soft launch in April this year and seeing the reviews, the company has launched the website for full fledged-use. We will start seeing LeEco super products on the website going forward.

Brian Hui, SVP – LeMall Global at LeEco, introduced everyone to the features of LeMall. LeMall globally has broken a lot of records in terms of sales and connect between consumers and business.

The Type-C earphones will also be available on LeMall India exclusively for Rs. 1,990, specifically in white colour. Atul Jain also mentioned that the company does not believe in setting high margins for hardware, and intends to offer better software and features for consumers to like the product.

Our impressions of the smartphones

No doubt the smartphones are extremely impressive and have some features not heard of in premium smartphones like Google Nexus 6P, Samsung Galaxy S7 and iPhone 6S, but the fact remains that the audio jack has been replaced by a USB port, which limits the capability of the phone.

One cannot listen to music while charging the phone and vice versa. A lot of youth listens to music on the go with the portable charger plugged in at the same time. We hope LeEco comes out with an accessory to plug in a USB type C extension for multiple use.

Other than that, the phone seems flawless. The UI looks great and intuitive, the phones are blazing fast and look gorgeous. Bezel less display adds to the aesthetics of the phones and large display gives a good multimedia experience.

We think the phones are amazing for the specifications, and the LeEco subscription is like an icing on the cake. Definitely worth the price and we’re very sure the smartphones will sell like hotcakes.