Leagoooooo Shark!!!!

[Review]

I had always been a laggard in lots of stuff, be it new places of interests, food or gadgets. Usually for practical reasons because the latest stuff usually attracts a lot of people and of course in the case of gadgets, the prices are usually much higher at launch! having said that I do remember changing quite a fair number of phones back in those days when Motorola and Nokia was all the rage and comes in different shapes and sizes. My personal favourite was the Nokia "banana" phone which fitted nicely to the curve of my butt when place in the back pocket. But these days, all the phones had the same rectangular shape, to maximise the screen size.
 

It took me a long struggle before I finally switched over to the "Smart" phone era and I started with the iPhone 4. You should know how hard it is sometimes to get used to another system, such as between Motorola and Nokia or between Apple and Android these days. I for one can't figure out the different functions for android phones and tada, I was handed a review set of Leagoo Shark 1. Steady la!

The selling point for Leagoo Shark 1, would have to be its 6" LG Full-HD screen (which is much bigger than my current phone), the 6,300mAh battery and very importantly, it's low price of $399sgd. At this price range, I am surprised that it even came with a fingerprint sensor. 

Unboxing The Phone

The set came with the standard charging cables, ear-piece, pin and a quick charger. 

Gaming Performance

I am seriously no techie, and my review is going to be from the normal consumer's point of view. The first thing that I loved about the phone, had to be the big screen which would really come in handy for me as I play my favourite games on the phone. but unfortunately when I tried playing my favourite action game "Marvel Contest of Champions", it seemed to lag a little as compared to my existing iPhone 6 on the same WiFi network. Could it be the operating system or some setting that was not configured properly?

I was playing my favorite game on the phone but it wasn't running as smooth;y as I had anticipated. Just felt a little lag.

Battery Life

Playing a full round of battles on my existing phone will usually drain the battery life out of it. Usually going below 50% in as little as 45mins game time, even though I always ensured that the screen brightness is adjusted to the lowest possible. On the other hand I reckon the freaking 6,300mAh battery would easily last me at least a full day of continuous playing excluding the occasional break and sleep at the rate I was going with the Leagoo Shark 1! Gone are the days that I need to bring along TWO power banks whenever I go out,

Look and Feel

To be absolutely honest, it looked just like any other smartphone to me. I mean, how different can a smartphone look these days? It felt heavy in my hands with its solid metal body, while the polished glass with rounded edges gave it a look of elegance. However I think the chances of the screen cracking under my careless handling is quite high, as the big surface area of the screen = higher chance of it hitting against something. Hence I will always need a case that covers the phone fully, in case of any accidental dropping of the phone.

Cameras

Like most phone, Leagoo Shark 1 has a front-facing camera (5MP) and a higher resolution back camera (11MP). The notable difference for me, would be that both sides has built-in flash. We all know how the lighting affects the photo quality greatly so having flash at the front for selfies are great! Although I wasn't too impressed with the quality of its front-facing camera, my current phone's front-facing camera ain't any better too! The photos turned out to be quite pixelated unfortunately, regardless of the lighting condition. It seemed to lag a split second after my pressing the shutter button before capturing the shot. The quality of the photos taken with the back camera are just decent though, check out our unedited test shots -

Outdoor shot under bright natural light.

Outdoor shot at night with flash. It looked quite good on the phone but lost its color vividness when downloaded. Could use a little enhancement with photo-editing apps.

Trying to take a close-up of the post box at Pulau Ubin.

The seafood that we see no eat.

Verdict

At the price of $399sgd without any need for a contract, I would say that Leagoo Shark 1 does sound rather attractive, especially for those doesn't like the idea of having to be tied down to any Telcos.

I can imagine it to be a really awesome handheld entertainment device for the family at a great price point. A device on which my wife can catch her Korean dramas, one from which the kiddos can watch their favourite YouTube channels or MTVs (the AWINiC K6 Amplifier is great!) from, and one that I can play my games on or browse the web with, without any fear of the device blowing up in my face! Reason being I often had to keep the charging cable connected to my existing phone just to keep it running!

Having said all that, I am definitely hoping that the operating system can be improved further, to reduce the chances of lags and to improve user experience.

Check out Leagoo website for detailed product specifications or click here for the list of official retailers you can get the phone from!