A couple of months ago I reviewed the THL 5000 and was left very unimpressed. Among other more minor issues, the screen came set crooked.
THL now has an opportunity to redeem themselves with the THL 4000.
For the price of the phone at the time, it was impossible to recommend. Since then they may have come with updates to address these issues, but it’s not possible to fix a crooked display with a software update. This was likely a rare issue, but it was still disturbing to see this make it through QC, and especially from such a fairly esteemed name in China brand phones.
For a limited time with coupon code “4000LM”, the THL 4000 now available for only $84.99 from www.gearbest.com
THL now has an opportunity to redeem themselves with the THL 4000.
THL review design style
You wouldn’t use words such as “slick” or “modern” to describe the THL 4000
There’s no getting around this, the THL 4000 is a fat phone. You wouldn’t use words such as “slick” or “modern” to describe the looks — not so much because of the style but simply because it looks so… chubby.
The battery is a monster, and judging from my battery tests and it’s size, is a true 4000mA. It makes standard 2000mA batteries look like wafers in comparison.
The phone isn’t too much thicker than the iNew V8, but the fact that it’s 4.7″ makes it seem decidedly pudgy.
We won’t blame him, as it really is a very impressive job.
That’s not to say there isn’t a lot to like about the THL 4000 style. The brushed silver-grey plastic that surrounds the phone looks very much like aluminum/metal. So much so, that when a very successful local iPhone app programmer held it in his hand he announced “Wow, it’s aluminum”. Upon letting him know that in fact it wasn’t, he took a very close look and wouldn’t let go of the observation until I showed him the small seem marks at the corners. We won’t blame him, as it is an impressive job by THL here.
The backpiece has a fine textured crisscross pattern similar to the MPIE G7 and Oppo Find 7. Both the backpiece and the side borders seem very durable and resistant to scratches.
The hardcase included in in the box is opaque and matte textured, and interestingly clear at the sides where the border of the phone shows through. A thoughtful move from whoever designed the hardcase.
There is a small notification light which so far has only shown one color – red. I’m not a big fan of notification lights in general, but if it’s going to be there, I prefer it small and unobtrusive as it is on the THL 4000.
I like what THL has done here and it would be good to see other phones follow suit
The capacitive button lights are evenly lit and very dim, similar to the THL W200S button lights. I like what THL has done here and it would be good to see other phones follow suit. The capacitive button lights simply don’t need to be bright if there’s enough light to see the icons, and if it’s dark enough to not be able to see them, the dimly lit buttons will easily be seen yet not ruin your adjusted vision.
The backpiece snaps on solid and sure and there are zero creaks or loose points. The power button and volume rocker are solid and give off tactile clicks when pressed.
THL 4000 review GPS
The GPS on the THL 4000 was above average and could be rated as very good. Making connections to satellites across the board, with many of them reaching into the 30’s and some into the 40’s. A cold lock with no internet connection took less than a minute.
THL 4000 review OS
The OS on the THL 4000 is KitKat 4.4.2. This is fairly standard for most phones worth mentioning in this half of 2014.
I found it happening often when indoors.
In my copy of the THL 4000, the auto-brightness is somewhat wonky. Sitting in unsure indoor lighting, the phone can disturbingly fluctuate between brightness levels. This could be due to my particular lightning situation, but I found it happening often when indoors.
this is a minor issue easily overcome.
There are a couple of ways this can easily be fixed. The most obvious is, not using auto-brightness, but some will find that an unsavory option.
The way I’ve overcome it is by using Velis and setting the smoothing override to 70% (this may be different for you depending on what brightness settings you use on Velis), and changing the smoothing uptime to 10 seconds. The other way to fix the issue is to remove one of the brightness settings altogether. I’ve found the former to be fine and this is a minor issue easily overcome. You can see the settings I’ve used in the gallery below. Note this was just a quick setup and more fine tuning could be beneficial.
I can’t stress enough how minor an issue this is in the face of all that’s right with the THL 4000. The only reason I’ve spent time on it here is to give any easy fix to those who find it to be an issue.
In my time with the phone, I found the OS to be very stable
In my time with the phone, I found the OS to be very stable. I installed the “Gizbeat suite” (standard array of popular apps + benchmarking apps) and they all performed flawlessly. There were no force closes and they all ran smoothly and without issue.
Official Google Zhuyin and Pinyin keyboards were installed and these could be considered Chinaware, but were easily uninstalled.
Rapid typing went off without a hitch. Typing was smooth and sure and there were no double taps required or ghost touches experienced.
For a limited time with coupon code “4000lm”, the THL 4000 now available for only $84.99 from www.gearbest.com
Worthy of note is that the THL 4000 root was a relatively simple process. Xposed and GravityBox were also easily installed and are working fine.
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