Introduction
Have you heard about Neffos before? I’m sure you’re not. Neffos is a smartphone brand of TP-LINK, which is a Chinese manufacturer of computer networking products. The company brought the C5 to Malaysia not long ago — an affordable FDD-LTE smartphone. We’ve been testing the device for a few weeks, and here’s the full review.
A Rather Familiar Look
Okay, let’s be honest, the Neffos C5 looks indeed like the LG G3. The entire phone is built by plastic, and it’s not as slippery as a metal phone.
The phone is pretty comfortable to hold thanks to its small size display (5-inch), using it with one hand is not a problem at all.
I actually like the design a lot, but man, I really hope that the “TP-LINK” logo could replace with the “Neffos” logo. No offense!
HD Display, Good Enough
The Neffos C5 sports a 5-inch HD IPS display, which is pretty normal for smartphones at this price tag nowadays. The colors are well-saturated, but don’t expect it to be as good as the AMOLED display. Outdoor visibility is good enough, however you may need some time to read the information from the screen.
Not A Performance Beast
Powering the device is a 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6735 processor with 2GB of RAM. The performance is just normal, not too good nor not too bad. The device handles pretty well on performing simple tasks such as browsing the web, using social media apps and even play mini games. That’s been said, you can’t really play demanding games with the C5.
No App Drawer
The Neffos C5 is running on Android 5.1 Lollipop with its own user interface on top. First of all, like other Chinese ROMs, the interface doesn’t come with an app drawer. What I really don’t like about its software is there’s a menu button next to the recent apps button, it somehow reminds me about the old Android Gingerbread days.
The recent apps interface of the C5 has a clear all button at the bottom, swiping the app to the left will lock the app to avoid being cleared, and swiping to the right will clear the app.
There’s a dedicated theme store as well, which allows you to change the theme. Additionally, you can swipe down on the homescreen to lock the device if you turn on the “One key lock screen” feature.
Okay Camera
The C5 packs an 8MP rear camera with dual LED flash and a 5MP selfie shooter. The camera interface is pretty simple and straight forward, and the camera capture speed is just normal.
Image quality generally is average, you get to capture a decent amount of detail in close-up shots. The color is a bit flat with low contrast and saturation. It also comes with intelligent mode and food mode, which basically turns the photos into more yellowish and warmer temperature.
Average Battery Life
Juicing up the device is a 2,200mAh removable battery. The C5 uses stock original power saving mode, and there’s also a “One key power saved” feature. The battery life is average, you will need to charge it everyday even with moderate usage.
Final Words
Pricing at RM 539, the Neffos C5 is now available on Lazada. It is a pretty average mid-range smartphone with many things more to improve. At least it doesn’t have the same design as most of the Chinese smartphones, and it has its own unique software. Consider it as a newcomer, the company did really well already. I’m kind of looking forward to the future devices from the company.
Yay
- Decent display
- LTE-enabled
Nay
- Software needs to improve
- Price could be lower