We Get
Hands-on With The Super-Value UMiDigi A5 Pro
Super Budget, Super Camera, Super Good Looking! The
UMiDigi A5 Pro is here!
Yes
that’s right, UMiDigi have squeezed in 3 rear cameras into the A5 Pro, with the
2nd being a 120-degree 8MP wide-angle snapper. And it’s not just the cameras
that are pushing boundaries, as this is one brilliant all-round budget phone.
With a vivid full HD
display, excellent screen-to-body-ratio, 4GBs of RAM and a sleek glass sandwich
design, you’d expect the UMiDigi A5 Pro to cost twice as much.
Which I’m why I’m super
excited to get hands-on in this full A5 Pro review. And also why the
competition should be shaking in their boots.
So what’s the catch? Let’s find out as we
explore the Pros & Cons of this sub £90 | $99 smartphone.
If
there was one reason to go grab yourself the A5 Pro right now, it’s the crisp,
bright & vivid full HD display. With an impressive 92% screen-to-body-ratio
and a tiny waterdrop notch, the A5 Pro has the wow factor.
Viewing angles are good,
the white balance is a little warm and the black levels are excellent. With the
brightness set to 75%, the black bezels easily blend into the display borders
giving the A5 Pro a very premium look.
The 19:9 aspect ratio makes
it easier to hold one-handed, but the real plus is the slim 8.2mm chassis.
While it is heavy at 203g the slim & solid feeling body helps to combats
this.
I’ve
always loved the premium feel of dual glass phones since my iPhone 4, so for me
anyway, the A5 Pro feels great. But if prone to dropping your phone, this could
be a negative.
The frame is made of
aluminium and curves around the phone for a very comfortable grip. Although
there is a camera notch on the back, it’s tiny compared something like the Xiaomi’s Mi 9 camera hump.
Performance-wise, we see
the ever-popular Helio P23 from MediaTek. In day-to-day
usage, the 8-core chip performed well with the Android 9 OS not suffering from
any slowdowns or long app load times.
While not the fastest
processor, UMiDigi has paired it up with 4GB’s of RAM which is pretty unheard
of in this budget section of the Android market. If you’re a gamer, you might
want to opt for a top-tier MediaTek chip or go for a
Snapdragon chip as these have higher performance for 3D games like PUBG.
Summing up, you can’t do
any better in this price-range for these specs and this level of display
quality.
While it’s not competing against flagship phones in terms of low-light
performance and quality. In bright sunny conditions, you can now get super-wide
shots without having to mess about in panorama mode.
The main camera isn’t to be
sniffed at either with a 16MP Sony IMX398 lens that captures plenty of detail
with a natural colour profile. You can always bump the saturation up
post-editing if you prefer the vivid HDR look.
And finally, we have the
third lens which is a 5MP depth-sensing lens which creates the bokeh effect. In
practice, this does work, but, it leaves photos looking a little artificial.
Video
The
video quality isn’t bad, but video stabilisation is lacking. This makes the
lens wobble which creates jerky footage if you are doing anything more than a
smooth walk.
Rear Camera:
·16MP
Sony IMX398 (f/1.8)
·8MP
Wide Angle Lens (120°)
·5MP
Depth Lens
·Dual
LED Flash
·HDR,
Portrait
Front
Camera (Selfie time):
·16MP
Selfie
Battery Life
While
the 4150mAh battery sounds impressive, it’s actually one of the smallest from UMiDigi’s 2019 smartphone lineup.During testing, the UMiDigi lasted a full days use with web browsing, light
gaming, YouTube and social media. During gaming, the battery drained fastest,
but still lasted a full day. If you’re a light user, you can easily expect to
get 1.5 to 2 days of use in-between charges.
Included in the box is a
10w fast charger. Although, this is a step down from the 15w fast charge
offered by other UMiDigi phones, but again, it does help to keep the cost down.Battery Specs: 4150mAh
(10w fast charging)
Connectivity
Connectivity
is good, but not excellent.The A5 Pro is a true dual SIM smartphone which
means that you can have 2 SIM cards and an SD Card all inside the phone at
once. Something you’ll appreciate as the A5 Pro has only 32GB’s onboard
storage.
As a cost saving measure, we don’t see the faster
AC WiFi standard or NFC. I can forgive these, price considered, but the lack of
USB Type-C is disappointing.
On the plus side, there’s a
Gyroscope sensor included for games like Pokemon Go and Harry Potter Wizards Unite. This is a
feature that’s mostly forgotten with other budget Android devices.
Face
ID Unlock & Fingerprint Unlock
Neither the Face Unlock or
the rear fingerprint reader is very fast, but, they are both reliable. There is
a noticeable delay before the screen turns on and unlocks.
Loudspeaker
Now the loudspeaker is an
area that UMiDigi has struggled with in the past.
The
good news is that they’ve taken on board previous feedback, as this time the
single-speaker is loud! Quality-wise, there’s plenty of treble but little bass.
you’ll want to add a pair of headphones for anything but the occasional video
call and YouTube video.
Call Quality
Making a few tests calls on the A5 Pro revealed no
issues. Voices could be heard clearly on both ends of the call. Testing with an
S9, there was noticeably more depth of voice through the Samsung device, but in
terms of clarity, both phones are equal.
If
you’re planning on grabbing the A5 Pro, then do so quickly as the price will be
going up soon. UMiDigi often releases their phones at a discount, after which
the prices rise.
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While there are some cons
to consider, the pros far outweigh these. Having a Full HD display, premium
build materials, decent performance, awesome battery life and a triple camera
setup… has certainly set the bar high.
Do
we recommend the UMiDigi A5 Pro? Absolutely, it’s currently the best value
Android phone available for under £90 | $99
Read on for the full
UMiDigi A5 Pro tech specs, What’s in the box and also to
ask any of your questions in the comments.
What’s in the box?
I’m
a fan of how UMiDigi package their phones. You always get a case, this time one
of their textured versions, and a screen protector pre-applied. You also get a
2-pin charger, quick guide, red USB cable and a SIM pin.
Often sellers from Amazon
will also include a regional adapter for your location in the box.
