Today, budget smartphones are very actively beginning to gain popularity. And this is understandable, because in appearance they practically do not differ from the flagships and at the same time they are much cheaper. Naturally, for the sake of price, you need to sacrifice some characteristics, but all these are trifles if you get a smartphone with excellent functionality as a result. Explay has a very active policy in the budget segment. It produces high-quality and inexpensive products that are in strong competition with other, more well-known manufacturers. Five-inch models are no exception, where Explay presents the Rio model.
Users who have already experienced Explore Rio have mixed reviews. The fact is that each of them acquired this gadget for different purposes. Let's look at the main indicators of the Rio smartphone from Explay today and, focusing on user reviews, draw a conclusion on convenience and its main purpose.
Specifications
Specifications may vary depending onfirst of all, tell the user about the capabilities of the smartphone and the presence of additional functions in it. So, the Explay Rio phone has the following indicators:
- Operating system: Android OS version 4.2.
- Display: 5 inches, multi-touch, 480x854 dots.
- Processor: 2 cores, MediaTek MT6572, ARM Cortex-A7, frequency 1300 MHz.
- Built-in memory: 512 MB.
- RAM: 512 MB.
- Memory expansion: microSD cards up to 32 GB.
- Communications: GSM, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB.
- Camera: main 2 MP, front 0.3 MP.
- Battery: 1800 mAh.
- Dimensions 73x145x9, 7mm.
- Weight: 175 grams.
What becomes clear at the first glance at the "Explay Rio" - the characteristics here are rather weak. Particularly depressing is the presence of only 512 MB of internal memory, which is catastrophically insufficient for normal operation. So when buying, users immediately order a USB flash drive.
Packaging and equipment
The packaging of the smartphone is standard and made from recycled cardboard. I was especially surprised by the presence of a color print, which is not typical for Explay. Opening the lid, you can immediately see the gadget, which completely occupies the entire space around the perimeter. Taking it out and lifting the lid, you can see the standard set: a headset, a USB cable, instructions, a battery and a warranty. Unfortunately, the manufacturer did not include replaceable panels for the "Experiment Rio", covers and other little things in the kit. But it's not scary, because they can be purchased separately at a low cost.
Display
The screen at "Experiment Rio" received good reviews from users. Most do not immediately believe that for such a cost (about 4 thousand rubles) you can get as much as 5” of sensory space. But the screen resolution is a little frustrating. Here it is only 854x480 pixels, which is certainly not enough to work with small fonts. Users would also like to see an IPS-matrix as a display body, and not the old TN version. But even with these parameters, the image on the display is easy to read at medium brightness on a bright sunny day, which is rare in budget smartphones.
The screen has average performance, which is typical for state employees. Viewing angles are small here and something wild happens with colors when tilted. All of them become initially negative, then the display simply turns white, leaving only dark traces. But for normal work with a smartphone, the provided angles are enough.
Cameras
Smartphone "Explay Rio" has two cameras: front and external. The first produces an image thanks to a matrix of 0.3 megapixels. This is very small for creating normal pictures, but quite enough for video communication. The external camera is more powerful and has a 2 MP matrix. Its resolution is 1600x1200 pixels. At first glance, she does not pull on her parameters and it seems that the declared parameters are a simple deception.
Users are very pleased with the LED flash, but the lack of autofocus is a little frustrating. Shooting videocan be run at a resolution of 1280x720 pixels, which is a pretty good indicator. And as soon as there was a hope that even though this indicator is a virtue, the frame rate of shooting - 10, hits the eye. And this is with a standard 30 frames!
Concluding the cameras, we can say that they are located here just for show and will suit only unpretentious users.
Stuffing and performance
Like all state employees, the smartphone in question uses the same base - MediaTek MT6572. There are two cores with a frequency of 1.3 GHz. RAM is only 512 MB, which is hardly enough for large applications. All popular benchmarks give the same assessment of overall performance - below average. This was the reason that the reviews began to appear not too good for Explore Rio. Concluding, we can say that performance is not the strong point of this smartphone, it will not suit lovers of powerful games. But simple toys and resource-intensive applications will "fly" here.
Memory
All users are very upset by the presence of only 512 MB of internal memory. This allows you to safely say that the cost of a flash drive should immediately be added to the cost of the gadget. Also, to install applications, you will need to get ROOT rights and remap all memory.
As a removable storage medium, a microSD card with a maximum allowable capacity of 32 GB is used here. It will be enough to store games and other important things inphoto and video footage.
Design features initially allow us to talk about the possibility of hot-swap flash drives. In this case, you can not turn off the smartphone. But the fact is that when you take out the card, you will certainly run into the battery. So it is imperative to get the power supply here.
Battery
The "Experiment Rio" gadget, which we are currently reviewing, has a 1800 mAh battery as a power source. Users speak very well about the battery life of this smartphone. Very interesting are the test results, which are practically not inferior to the average and flagship models of well-known manufacturers.
So, in the HD-quality movie mode with maximum brightness, you can put the battery in almost 4 hours. Well, listening to music will be a pleasure for as long as 36 hours, which is quite enough for such a low cost of the smartphone itself.
Software and installed software
The Explay Rio smartphone uses "Google" Android version 4.2 as the basis. The core is standard here, the shell has not changed much either. But in the pre-installed software, you can no longer find all the usual applications and stores. Here everything is replaced by services from "Yandex". But removing them will not be a problem if you have access rights (in any case, you need to open them to install applications on a USB flash drive). Yes, and you can also download the desired options, you just need to connect to the Internet.
User reviews andconclusions
Users who managed to try out "Exply Rio" leave mixed reviews. On the one hand, everyone admires that for such a price they got a fully functional smartphone. It is comfortable, practical, light and beautiful in appearance. At the same time, the sensor responds to touch adequately. But the lack of 3G, the main standard applications, a very weak camera that does not match 2 megapixels, and small memory (both RAM and built-in) are very repulsive. But wanting more for such a relatively meager cost is not worth it. The main thing is that the gadget works and at the same time shows good results both in terms of performance and battery life.
In the end, what do we get by purchasing Explay Rio? A state employee with a very low cost, but having indicators close to the middle class, falls into the hands. If you are not a photographer and do not play too “heavy” games, then this gadget will suit you perfectly.
