THL W200S Review Conclusion!

THL W200SWe recently posted some of our battery results with the THL W200S. There was also a preview and an unboxing. Now that we’ve had a few days with the phone, it’s time for the review.

The THL W200S is a 5.0″ 720p MT6592 phone. The RAM is 1GB, storage is 32GB.

THL W200S physical build and feel

The W200S feels awesome in the hand. We really like the design of this phone. The front is relatively unassuming, but the curved back, slanted top and bottom and sliver of silver on the sides really add some character to the phone.

In addition, the back piece is of a unique material that feels, looks and behaves as magnesium alloy. All of this adds up to a very classy looking phone. We wish they’d get rid of the ‘Technology Happy Life’ as we find it a bit strange and corny, but otherwise this is a great looking phone.

The volume and power buttons give a satisfying click when pressed and the USB port is a firm fit.

There are zero creaks and the back piece snaps firmly and cleanly into place.

THL W200S LCD

The LCD on the W200S is bright and clear. It could perhaps be a step crisper, but we have no complaints regarding clarity. The viewing angles are excellent as it should be with IPS LCDs. Colors and contrast remained true at extreme angles from all four sides.

On our review unit, there was a slim area of minor ‘greying’ in the top-left corner. At higher brightness levels, the greying was less obvious. This is not abnormal with LCDs to have some slight unevenness regarding lighting. Our ZP980+ and H9008 displayed similar aberrations. Most people may not even notice, but it still bears mentioning.

THL W200S battery

With the SIMs disengaged, we scored an excellent 6.5 hours on the W200S. With dual SIMs in we reached 5+ hours over a 20 hour period. The battery was charged in phone.

The battery life of the W200S was a huge breath of fresh air compared to our recent experiences with Zopo ZP980+ and H9008.

Keep in mind that this was with the LCD on auto and mostly indoors. Using internet over SIM (2G/3G), playing intensive 3D games, or using high screen brightness may significantly reduce results.

THL W200S WiFi

The WiFi signal strength on the THL W200S can be classified as good. It could be a tad stronger, but for our uses it was fine. Users who will be using the W200S regularly very far from the router may find this an issue however.

Internet remained connected and we never experienced any connection loses.

THL W200S external speaker, mic, earpiece

The external speaker can be classified as great. Clear and loud.

The microphone was very good. We had no issues with parties on the other side hearing us loud and clear. The same with the earpiece. We could hear the other party perfectly and clearly.

THL W200S OTG

OTG worked great out of the box. We tested a mouse and keyboard and they both connected easily and quickly with no extra messing about required.

THL W200S GPS

The GPS on the W200S was excellent. We received a cold lock in airplane mode in <40 seconds. The warm lock was <5 seconds.

THL W200S Performance

The firmware on this phone is extremely smooth and stable. We haven’t experienced any shutdowns that some MediaTek devices are known for. There were no errors or bugs that we’ve come across as of yet.

The touch was perfect. There were no finicky touch issues as with the Zopo ZP980+.

We also experienced lower Antutu scores than we expected the Mali-450 MP4 to achieve, but it’s of minor consideration unless you’re an intensive 3D gamer. Whether this is due to firmware, underclocking of the GPU, or both, the phone has more than enough power to push Android smoothly and will be able to handle most all 3D gaming.

THL W200S conclusion

While the W200S LCD and WiFi could stand one more step of improvement, the W200S is a big winner. The very good battery life, super stable firmware, very good components and exemplary build and design of the phone should put this at the top of anyone’s list who’s currently looking for a phone of this size and price range.

Further viewing and reading

– This THL W200S acquired by 1949deal. They are currently offering a $10 discount with code ‘thlw200s310′

Comments

39 responses to “THL W200S Review Conclusion!”

  1. Martyn Bullimore Avatar
    Martyn Bullimore

    Thank you Damian for review.
    This phone caught my eye when you did the first review, the spec’s and price seemed just right for me so I have been following your other reviews with keen interest. Just one thing seem to be missing and that is the performance of the camera. Could you please give us your expert opinion of the camera compared to the many phones you review?

    1. Damian Parsons Avatar
      Damian Parsons

      The photos were quite good. You can see this post for some samples

  2. farid Avatar
    farid

    Hi Damian,

    Nice to hear a positive review. One question though: how is the camera?
    I can’t find anything on it.

  3. Rui Iria Avatar
    Rui Iria

    hi gizbeat.

    Have you tested the 3G on both SIM slots? Do i need to change physically the Sim cards of slot?

    1. Damian Parsons Avatar
      Damian Parsons

      You can change the 3G enabled SIM within Android. Just a couple of taps within settings. You don’t need to physically swap them.

  4. Chetan Avatar
    Chetan

    Does it really have Gorilla Glass?

    1. Mon Avatar
      Mon

      Yes! Its actually Gorilla Glass 3, i have one and its a fantastic phone :)

  5. iFX Avatar
    iFX

    Do you not have the bluetooth + gps problem?

    On my W200S (and from many others with the same phone), Bluetooth only works properly if the GPS is OFF… if you try to use Bluetooth and the GPS at the same time (which is the main time I would use bluetooth – ie. when I drive using bluetooth audio to answer calls and GPS for navigation)… but on this phone it starts distorting the audio to the point of being unusable – plus the phone seems to slow right down and stutter until I turn off either bluetooth or GPS. Very annoying :(

    Or was there maybe a bad batch of these phones?

  6. motan Avatar
    motan

    I bought this phone after reading your review, I just want to say I love it. Thanks for your recommendation

    1. Damian Parsons Avatar
      Damian Parsons

      Excellent. Thanks for the feedback Motan. It’s much appreciated.

  7. motan Avatar
    motan

    It’s well understood that everyone has to buy headphones with previously testing.

  8. RamG Avatar
    RamG

    Hi Damien,

    I received my W200S this morning. But I am able get this powered on or charged. I connected to the charger but I did not see LED indication on Bon screen indication.

    Looks like dead on arrival !!!!!.

    I have tried calling 1949deal but they don’t seem to be answering the Skype voice call or Skype message

    Any suggestions ?

    1. RamG Avatar
      RamG

      Sorry Damien. Just figured this out. The battery is connection is masked by a tape .. It would have been good if there some ingratiation to remove this in the box or on the phone.

      Sorry to have troubled you.. But being my first China phone purchase, I was kind of worried.

      Rgds

      1. Damian Parsons Avatar
        Damian Parsons

        That is standard procedure Ram. All batteries inside phones must be shipped with tape on the contacts.

  9. Lynne Avatar
    Lynne

    Could you please tell me if the phone thl w200s has a very large font size option. As my husband has the thl w100, when we put it on “extra large font size” it is not very large, just ordinary size and I struggle to see it. Where as my old LG when I put it on extra large I get Extra Large and I do not have to put my glasses on to read my phone txt. I would really love to buy a thl w200s but if I can’t read the writing on the screen it will be no use to me.
    Thanks for your help

    1. motanbigcat Avatar
      motanbigcat

      I read smoothly with extra large font option without glasses, but naturally all eyes are not in same condition, it could be better if you can check it first before buying. I would recommend to watch some video reviews about W200S to see how big the fonts are, that can be useful..

      1. Lynne Avatar
        Lynne

        Thanks, I can’t buy it in the store in Australia. We have to buy it over the internet therefore I can’t try it out first. Hence my question.

        1. Damian Parsons Avatar
          Damian Parsons

          I believe he was suggesting you look at video reviews of the phone over the net.

          In my opinion, the font size is too large even when set to smallest. It will also depend on what app you are using. If you want to suggest a common app you use, I can catch a screenshot with my w200s so you can get an idea.

          For web browsing and such, you can easily double-tap to zoom. The w200s also supports magnification gestures which should work in any app by turning it on in accessibility options and triple-tapping to magnify.

  10. Izzy Avatar
    Izzy

    Hi Damian. Thanks for the review.
    Sorry if I missed it, but does the W200s have apps-to-SD functionality?

    1. Damian Parsons Avatar
      Damian Parsons

      Yes, app2sd should be no problem. The storage is quite huge though. If I remember correctly, 6-8gb internal, 22gb phone storage. It should be more than enough for anyone.

      1. Izzy Avatar
        Izzy

        Cool, thanks.
        ta

  11. RamG Avatar
    RamG

    Hi Damien,

    I have been using the W200S for a few months now. Now my company requires us to encrypt the phone and I find that THL phone do not seem to have the encrypt option?

    How do we get the encrypt option for THL W200S?

    Rgds
    RamG

  12. RamG Avatar
    RamG

    I see blank SMSs in my message folder and these were not created or sent by anybody. And I am not able to delete them.

    Is this a problem of stock Android messaging app or the THL specific implementation. I use the W200S.

    Also in spite of Octa Core, often it takes visible time to switch to another program.. Is this due to the limitation of 1 GB phone memory.

    Can you recommend a good lockscreen app for Android to see lock screen notifications from SMS and Whatsapp? I currently use LockerPro free but cannot see text message notification/alerts? Note that I use a PIN for screen unlock .

    1. Motanbigcat Avatar
      Motanbigcat

      “Start” app is the best, you can do anything about sms, e mail, what’s up, viber, phone calls etc. by the lock screen without opening the phone.

  13. Lynne Avatar
    Lynne

    Thanks to all who replied to my my questions. I have had the phone a few month now and I am overall happy with it. My husband and daughter have the same phone so when I don’t know how to do something I ask my 13 year old. I do fine that the font size is a little small – even set on extra large.

  14. Ian Jasper Avatar
    Ian Jasper

    I actually bought the phone even before I read this post, and I have been using this for about 6 months, everything is great, my only problem was with the battery, it became bloated, maybe its my fault cause I often overcharge it, or while charging, playing with it. Good thing it came with a spare battery, but I think I also need to buy an extra again, just in case. I’ve installed a lot, and when I say a lot, meaning not 10, not 20, but more than 40 apps in my phone, I gave it a 32GB SDCard for storage, so that my files (videos,music, and images) won’t take the space for the apps. And all I can say is that It’s been worth each cent I spent..

    1. motan Avatar
      motan

      Agree, phone is really great except it’s battery, must have any time a second battery as spare..

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