MOST UNDERRATED SMARTPHONES OF 2016

Did you know that the HTC 10 has great specs? Yes of course. Did you know that the S8 has been released? Yes,definitely! How about the 10th anniversary iPhone? We probably are all just waiting for the specs to be told to us. But how about the Vivo V5+? No? You didn't hear of its release? Of course you didn't! Why? Cause here in Nigeria,we tend to put our focus(es) on the big boss brands rather than giving equal focus to all brands. In all my years of living,I have never seen anyone in Nigeria with an Elephone,or a Meizu phone,but these phones can easily cast the iPhone out of the water,both in design and software. Okay ,back to the matter.

In no particular order,here are the most underrated smartphones of 2016.

1. Vivo V5+

 Seriously,this phone has to be first on the list,because NO you have not heard of it. I saw a friend of mine with it,and couldn't help but ask of the brand. When he told me Vivo,I didn't believe cause I always thought Chinese phones were Apple ripoffs. Well notwithstanding, this one us also an Apple ripoff,both in hardware and software. For one,it looks very similar to my Mom's iPhone 7.

Erase the brandings,and you can't tell the difference.

I was like"come on, even the antenna lines?"

Well,the phone has very nice specs. Annnnd it's meant for selfie addicts. Not like you and I,I mean REAL selfue addicts. Those that will literally DIE if their selfie phones are taken away. This thing has a 20MP main camera for selfies. Yes 20MP! Did you see why I said in the opening part of this post,that Chinese phones can blow out Apple from the race? This is how. No Apple offering has more than 7MP selfie cams. Not even the overly expensive iPhone 7 plus(and 7 also)

It also has an 8MP secondary sensor for wide angle and bikeh selfies. Yes,bokeh! The one where the background is blurred out. You must have seen some of those pics in my recent posts. That's cause I just got a new DSLR. But,back to the matter,the phone really takes great selfies. Really wide angle. And of course,the beloved bokeh.

That doesn't mean that the rear camera suffers a bad fate. It had a 16MP IMX230 EXMOR® sensor from
Sony with f1.8 arpeture. This means great shots and awesome night time shots. Four flashes are present,in similarity with the iPhone 7.

 The software looks a lot like iOS,and this is usual with Chinese offerings. This is because it is a tested and loved OS. But really,this one just shamelessly rips off iOS icons and features,including the control center.

You can easily import this phone from China from Aliexpress. Total fees(shipping included) come to 130000 naira. Don't forget that it has a Quallcomm SD 820 chip,Adreno 530 graphics,4GB RAM and the best Audio chip in the world as at July 2016.

So,should this be underrated?

2. 

XIAOMI MI NOTE 2

This is for those who are still vexing over the Note 7 fiasco. Tycoontech covered all that in a post. See it here or use the search bar up above.

The Mi Note 2 looks a lot like the Note 7,has similar specs and an even better 22.56MP rear sensor made by Sony. Its 8MP front sensor does not disappoint either. I have a unit here,so expect a review soonest.

Instead of using a QHD screen like the Note 7,they used a 1080p one,which on a 5.7"  phone,gives about 346ppi(Apple's sweet spot. See more of that phrase in my iPhone SE review coming soon!)

Its AMOLED,so you don't have to worry about colors and blacks,as that are near prefect

MI UI is also present and as stated above,copies Apple's iOS. I also stated the reason above. All in all,packed full with a 4000mAh battery this phone is a cool buy. You don't have to ship it in,'cause it's available on Jumia for 185000 naira. Not forgetting its SD 821 chip,Adreno 530 graphics,6GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 64GB of internals.

Bottom mounted speakers work like a charm.

Should this phone be underrated?



Up next,and finally is....

MEUZU M6 PRO

I don't have much to say about this one,cause I've never used it before. The photo I have here is from a blogger I know,who snapped it specially for me. It has a 21MP rear camera and as you've guessed,looks a lot like Apple in terms of design and software.

 It runs Meizu's own Flyme skin,which looks a lot like Apple's iOS. Hardware wise,Exynos 8890 octa,Mali T880,4GB RAM ,64GB of internals and a 5.5 FHD AMOLED screen . These are too good to be overlooked by me.
Shipping this phone in from Aliexpress makes it the most expensive phone on this list. All fees and duties(taxes and  phone's actual cost included) come to about 210000 naira,so it's premium,but better than wasting that 350000 naira on an iPhone 7. Believe me,I've used it. It's not much better than the iPhone 6s+.


So there you have it. Should these phones really be underrated? Use the comments section below,and kindly wait for the MI Note 2 review. Peace!