IUNI U2 Review – Snapdragon 800@Budget Prices

If you haven’t heard of IUNI, it’s not surprising. IUNI initially started out as an OS maker, but have recently come into the hardware market for a piece of the pie. The IUNI uses it’s own customized Android OS.iuni-os

IUNI review hardware

The IUNI U2 comes with Snapdragon 800 SoC, 2GB/16GB or a high version of 3GB/32GB. The ‘low’ version for lack of a better term is currently running $290.

The LCD is 4.7″. We find this an interesting choice given that many handset makers are going with a standard of 5.0″, but it’s often said that 4.5″-4.7″ is the ideal size for single-handed operation. Anything bigger and you risk your mobile taking a tumble unless using two-hands.

The resolution is 1080p. On a 4.7″ LCD, this gives the IUNI U2 a PPI of 469. That’s as retina as retina gets.

The battery is 2200mA, which for a 4.7″ should be more than fine. Though the phone being 1080p could hurt battery life some, the Snapdragon 800 seems to handle 1080p a bit better in terms of battery life than MT6592.

IUNI review camera

iuni-camera-2 iuni-camera

The images are fine. Not much better or worse than what most decent phones will put out. People expecting SLR or high-end point-and-shoot results are going to be disappointed, but these are more than adequate for digital sharing and printing. Interestingly, the camera on the IUNI U2 is reportedly 16MP.

IUNI review benchmarks

iuni-nena-2 iuni-antutu-2 iuni-antutu As you can see, the IUNI U2 is right on par with the Note 3. Not surprising since it uses the same SoC and LCD resolution as the Samsung.

IUNI U2 review design and style
iuni-u2-010

The phone is stunning looking. Aluminum instead of plastic, beautiful lines and slick colors with otherwise awesome hardware at sub-$300 prices makes the phone a very tempting purchase.IUNI-U2-36

Check out the packaging. This is awesome and shows IUNI has their thinking caps on. The triangular box may not be so conducive to shipping, but immediately gives an impression of class.

The body is machined uni-body aluminum and unfortunately the battery is sealed inside. That means battery-swappers beware. As well there is no SD slot for expanding memory. The other unfortunate hardware spec is that the U2 is single-SIM only. These negative qualities may not affect a large portion of users, but despite the otherwise beautiful looks and powerful hardware, the 3 detractors automatically send the IUNI U2 phone to the bottom of the list.

Conclusion

Though beautiful and with powerful hardware, it’s difficult to recommend a phone with single-SIM, sealed battery and no SD expansion slot. If these 3 things are of no consequence to you, the phone may be worth a hard look.

Note: Benchmark results, photo samples and OS photo acquired from MyDrivers.com

Comments

5 responses to “IUNI U2 Review – Snapdragon 800@Budget Prices”

  1. Rdmkr Avatar
    Rdmkr

    the ZTE nubia series has pretty cheap high-end snapdragons to offer too, but this takes it up another notch. I like that it’s 4.7 inch, but the bezels would have to be thin for me to really want to buy it. If it’s a 4.7 inch screen in the body of a 5 inch phone, forget it.

  2. Rdmkr Avatar
    Rdmkr

    Apparently it’s 65mm wide, which is 3mm thinner than the 4.7 inch HTC One and the same width as the 4.3 inch XPeria Z1 Compact. Nice.

  3. CrownSA Avatar
    CrownSA

    Wow, now this phone looks greaat,and teh 2200mA battery should be plenty enough for the phone regardless of the 1080p if you’r not such a heavy user imo, and the phone looks like one of the best chinaphones i have ever seen, the fact that its really aluminium is another major plus, and the snapdragon is the icing on the cake, for <300 i dont think you can really get much better than this if you dont need the extra memory or dual sim

    1. Damian Parsons Avatar
      Damian Parsons

      If the detractors aren’t a concern for you, I think it’s a good choice. The Snapdragon 800 and awesome looks don’t hurt.

      1. Tom Avatar
        Tom

        Hi, there is a price cut at the moment for that phone. I was wondering if you could give me your opinion about its battery capacity for a normal usage (phone calls, internet, I am not a gamer). Maybe I should buy a power bank. Thanks in advance! Tom

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *