Phone Tablet Holder Clamp Bracket for DJI Mavic Pro
Xiaomi Redmi 4 Smartphone - 5 Inch Display, 2GB RAM, 4100mAh Battery, Octa-Core CPU, Fingerprint Sensor, Android 6.0 (Silver) - $129.98
Retail Price: $152.08
You Save: $22.10
from: Chinavasion Wholesale Electronics & Gadgets
Geotel A1 Rugged Smartphone - Quad-Core CPU, Android 7.0, Dual-IMEI, 3400mAh, IP67, 4.5 Inch Display, 8MP Camera (Yellow) - $69.87
Retail Price: $87.34
You Save: $17.47
from: Chinavasion Wholesale Electronics & Gadgets
Conquest S6FP Rugged Android Phone - IP68, Quad-Core CPU, 3GB RAM, Gorilla Glass, 5 Inch Display, OTG, NFC (Black / Silver) - $417.09
Retail Price: $462.97
You Save: $45.88
Up to 38% OFF for PS3 PS4 & PSV Game Accessories
Join our list Subscribe to our mailing list and get interesting stuff and updates to your email inbox. Thank you for subscribing. Something went wrong. We respect your privacy and take protecting it seriouslyGone are the days when having a fingerprint reader on your phone meant you’d splashed out the big bucks.
The idea of people using swipes codes to unlock their phones is slowly but surely entering the history books. Soon we’ll all have demoted pass codes to a dusty part of our memory along with VHS floppy disks.
The Xfire 2 has its pro’s and con’s with the finger print reader definitely being a pro. It’s reasonable fast is accurate to around 1 in 20 touches. You can see the full Pro’s Con’s of the Xfire 2 below before I go in-depth hands-on looking at the Design, Screen, Hardware, Software, Camera, Battery, Speakers Connectivity.
The first thing you notice when unboxing the Xfire 2 is how light and premium the device feels especially knowing that you only forked out a little over £50. Most smartphones in this price range are an all plastic affair so it’s refreshing to see Xfire 2 featuring a solid metal back plate although the top bottom sections are made from plastic (presumably to improve signal). Both the volume rocker and lock switch are located to the left side of the device and are also made from metal with the dual sim tray + memory tray being located on the right. One design flaw I found is that if you shake the phone both buttons rattle slightly.
The finger-print sensor on the back is well thought out and easy to reach when you are on the move. I personally prefer a front facing sensor but that’s just because I’m a bit of a desk monkey with my phone lying face up.The screen looks okay with a medium sized bezel but lacks brightness and vibrancy compared to the recently tested Cubot Note S. This isn’t a problem indoors but the screen is can be a little difficult to see in sunny conditions. I spent 99% of the time testing this phone with the brightness set to maximum as this felt right.
The Bluboo Xfire 2 comes with Android 5.1 lollipop and at this price range isn’t likely to see any updates to Android 6, so bare this in mind. Straight out of the box it comes with a custom launcher that lets you choose from multiple themes, wallpapers, screen transitions and live weather widget.The good news is that the phone feels fast and responsive and I didn’t experience any jitters or slowdowns when using the phone. It does only have 1GB of RAM but seems to manage this effectively.
In the settings, you’ll find an option to tweak and add your chosen finger prints. As well as using your finger to unlock the Xfire 2 you can also set up finger print locks on any apps that you want to keep private.
Other options include using the fingerprint reader to take photos and answer calls.If you’d had asked me what I thought of the hardware 3 months ago I would have said it’s pretty good for a £50 phone. That was before I reviewed the Cubot Note S which has double the RAM, double the storage and nearly double the battery.
Even with the slightly inferior specs the Xfire 2 does benefit from a being lighter whilst looking and feeling much more premium with the added finger print sensor.Still the option to add an extra memory card without sacrificing the dual SIM functionality is a good choice from Bluboo. You’ll definitely want to add a memory card to the Xfire 2 as you’re only left with around 5.2GB of usable memory.
CPU: Quad-Core 1.3GHz GPU: MediaTek MT6580A Quad-core 1.3Ghz RAM: 1GB Storage: 8GB (5.2GB left) (Read speed: 101MBs, write speed: 13MBs ) Expandable: 32-64GBIn our gaming benchmarks having only the 1GB of RAM didn’t seem to affect the results very much. You can see the results below which are quite similar to the Cubot Note S which has the same CPU but 2GB of RAM.External Out of the box, the speakers sounds awful. Head to Settings Sound enhancement BesSurround Turn on Movie Mode. This takes the speakers from ‘awful’ to ‘bad’. The speaker has to much treble and sounds cheap.
Battery life on the Bluboo Xfire 2 isn’t very impressive. Having only a 2150mAh battery has kept the phone lightweight but has sacrificed usage time in doing so.I wasn’t expecting great things in the camera department from the Xfire 2. Images look okay but soon deteriorate when you zoom in. One weak area is the rear flash, only being able to light up close objects. Although only 3G the Xfire 2 will support all UK carriers.
It has the basic sensors although on the model I received the light sensor wasn’t giving off any data during testing.What shines about the Xfire 2 is the finger print reader. It works well and adds an extra layer of security to apps. It also supports the 5GHz WiFi spectrum although I wasn’t able to test and confirm this.The Xfire 2 picked the same amount of satellites as my tried and tested Nexus 5 slightly weaker signal but a decent lock distance of 3-5m. Tested inside by a window.
Frequencies Supported: – 2G: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900MHz | 3G: WCDMA 850 / 2100MHz 3G: YES 4G: NO Bluetooth: 4.0 GPS: GPS, A-GPS Sensors: Accelerometer, Light sensor, Proximity Sensor, Fingerprint Sensor USB OTG: NO USB Type: Micro-USB SIM support: Micro SIM + Nano SIM WiFi: 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 5GhzInside the Bluboo Xfire 2 box, you get some basic accessories including 2-Pronged Wall Charger, 1 Screen protector already applied, USB Cable, Quick Start Guide. I’m in two minds about the Bluboo Xfire 2, I want to love it but the rattly buttons okay screen are stopping me. On the other hand having an accurate finger print scanner on a £50 phone is amazing value.
Technology Researcher / Avid Nerd. When I'm not hacking my home entertainment system or importing phones you can find me drinking copious amount of Coffee in Manchester, UK. Feel free to get in touch. We love reviewing and reporting on the not-so-well-known technology brands.
All our reviews are honest and are in no way paid for. We do this because we love it!