Umidigi A5 pro? Something comparable or a better budget option?

[Marzipan]

I'll add my 2 cents (CDN). I received the phone on Friday. The phone had around 45% charge so I hooked it up and charged it a bit while I prepped to change over. I did a full backup on my old phone, to the Google Cloud, and then shut the old phone down. I removed my SIM card and realized that I have a microSIM and needed a nanoSIM. No problem, I found a site with a template and just cut it down myself. I thought the worst that would happen is that I would have to go in if I screwed it up, but no, it worked. After about an hour on a standard USB 3.0 port on the computer it had charged about 10%. I put in a fresh 64GB SD card and the SIM and flashed it up. The process to recover the backup was smooth, and it took a little while to install the apps but I was up and running. During setup it asked me what to do with the SD card, so I had it just add to the internal pool instead of use it as a separate "drive". I don't plan on moving it out so I thought that was a nice touch.

The phone sits comfortable in my hand. The display looks pretty darn good, to me. It seems responsive and runs pretty well. I was a little disappointed with the fact it only has 802.11n, not ac. The Speedtest was fine, for an n device though. The bluetooth had no trouble connecting to my Fitbit, about the only bluetooth device I use, so that was good. The fingerprint sensor is on the back and works great. Also, I didn't see any NFC, so if you want to use a digital wallet, don't get this phone. Not an issue for me though.

I am not a big picture taker with the phone, but the couple of test shots look fine to me. The wide angle is impressive, and the bokeh mode is nice, if you like that sort of thing. I have no idea how good the front facing camera is as I haven't used it yet, and might never since I don't do selfie stuff.

Overall impression, for $131 bucks, it is just fine. I'm not a game player with the phone, it is more of a text device and fall back emergency/travel thing, so I expect it will be fine for a few years.

Edit add: Forgot to add, I am on Fido, no problem recognizing the network. I should try voice sometime and will get back and edit again after I try a call or two.

good to hear no issues with Fido, being I'm with them too.

can you try testing a game, just for the gits n shiggles of it?

also, I find it funny how we get upset that we've not got the latest WiFi standard...when the bandwidth N has is still pretty darned fast...more than any Gb wired connection would give you, which is really where you need it, usually. LoL!

 

[Dwayne]

good to hear no issues with Fido, being I'm with them too.

can you try testing a game, just for the gits n shiggles of it?

also, I find it funny how we get upset that we've not got the latest WiFi standard...when the bandwidth N has is still pretty darned fast...more than any Gb wired connection would give you, which is really where you need it, usually. LoL!

Do you have a game request? I don't have any, so make it a free one

I was not really upset about the N wifi, but I thought I should throw that in, just in case someone didn't double check the specs and miss it. I find the speed adequate, about the same Speedtest result that my 4G (wifi off) got on the phone in case anyone wondered.

 

[Marzipan]

Do you have a game request? I don't have any, so make it a free one

I was not really upset about the N wifi, but I thought I should throw that in, just in case someone didn't double check the specs and miss it. I find the speed adequate, about the same Speedtest result that my 4G (wifi off) got on the phone in case anyone wondered.

well, if you have a Nintendo account, the new MarioKart?

 

[Marzipan]

also, it's interesting that Umidigi isn't listed or spec'd out on GMSArena's website. they've been around long enough that they should be, so I wonder why they aren't.

 

[Cannon Fodder]

As has been mentioned in another thread, anybody that has one of these, could you please post your results with the incoming call volume, using the earpiece, rather than on speaker phone, since at least one other member has mentioned this is a problem.

And yeah, I too was curious about that same thing Friendly - stuck me as rather odd they're not on GSMArena.....

 

[Dwayne]

well, if you have a Nintendo account, the new MarioKart?

Don't have a Nintendo account. I'll try and figure something out.

 

[Marzipan]

As has been mentioned in another thread, anybody that has one of these, could you please post your results with the incoming call volume, using the earpiece, rather than on speaker phone, since at least one other member has mentioned this is a problem.

And yeah, I too was curious about that same thing Friendly - stuck me as rather odd they're not on GSMArena.....

seems it is a complaint, but not everyone suffers it. someone did post a fix though on their forums:

"My 2 cents to A5pro community: many users complaint about low volume level on calls and they are right. In fact this volume is not comfortable mainly on noisy environments.

I found on Play store a small app (8.6 MB) called "GOODEV volume booster" that increases notably the volume of ALL sounds in the phone (except FM radio).

Be careful not to amplify too much or you can get sound distortion and eventually blow up the earpiece and/or earbuds. I put 12 or 13% and the result is remarkable.

Activate it on DuraSpeed and disable battery optimization in order to have the app always available in memory. "

 

[Dwayne]

Tried the phone, in the house, but the volume seemed okay. maybe in a loud environment it would have seemed quiet. the phone has the 1.5 October update.

 

[sswilson]

One thing some folks might miss that this phone doesn't have is a notification led.

edit: Oh, and the breathing crystal colour is an absolute fingerprint magnet....

edit2: and while the pre-applied plastic screen protector seems fine, there have also been some complaints about the glass they use not having a good "oleophobic" coating so if a person wanted to go "naked", they might need to apply something like liquid armor for a smooth touchscreen experience.

 

[Marzipan]

One thing some folks might miss that this phone doesn't have is a notification led.

edit: Oh, and the breathing crystal colour is an absolute fingerprint magnet....

edit2: and while the pre-applied plastic screen protector seems fine, there have also been some complaints about the glass they use not having a good "oleophobic" coating so if a person wanted to go "naked", they might need to apply something like liquid armor for a smooth touchscreen experience.

what case options exist for this phone?