Amoi N828

In comparison to its predecessor, the case was only changed in details: It has grown slightly in all dimensions. This is rather uncommon since successors of smartphones usually try to be at least thinner than their predecessor. Apart from that, the established chassis with its removable and rubberized back and very good case stability stayed the same: Pressure on the back cannot be detected on the display and the phone cannot be twisted. The slightly roughened back is very handy and resistant to fingerprints.

Only a few optical highlights can be found: Rounded edges, a thin chrome strip around the case and the angular layout of the camera sensor, which is strongly reminiscent of Samsung smartphones. All in all the design is not very conspicuous, which should not be a problem for anybody, though.

Connectivity

The installed SoC from Mediatek bears the name MT 6589 and performs in the upper mid-range. Due to its four Cortex A7 cores and a clock rate of 1.2 GHz it should be fast enough for every common task. In addition to that is the PowerVR SGX544, a graphics card that should provide enough power for most of the applications. Like its predecessor, it was fitted with 1 GB RAM. Data can be saved on the 4 GB flash memory now and the storage capacity can be extended up to 32 GB via micro-SD.

The USB-port was placed in a very unusual spot at the top. If the device is connected to a computer or the power grid, the cable can get in the way because it is right next to the standby key. Besides that, it has a 3.5 millimeter audio output and, as mentioned before, the possibility to install two SIM-cards simultaneously and to switch between the two. This works without turning the device off.

The management of the SIM-cards is fast and simple via a menu in Android's settings, from where you can also assign contacts to certain SIM-cards by deactivating the SIM-cards individually and so on. The telephone-app allows fast and easy switching between the two SIM-cards in the notification bar. The active card is underlined.

Software

The Amoi N828 ships with the most current version of Google's Android operating system: 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. The changes compared to its previous version are only small. It now offers a quick access to the often used functions in the pull-down menu at the top of the screen and also has a few new features like "turning on and off via schedule". Not much has changed on the whole, though. At least the user interface is in English so you do not have to rummage through the Chinese menu first to finally reach the language settings.

Only a few additional apps are installed: One app is in Chinese, which does not make much sense for Western users. Apart from that, it has a notebook-app and an equalizer as well as sound improvements for the speaker and headset.

Communication & GPS

Quad-band-GSM and Dual-Band-UMTS are common for mid-range smartphones. The Amoi N828 offers both. The manufacturer also installed WLAN 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0. The WLAN module only reaches average values in the range test: At a distance of 10 meters (~33 feet) and through 3 walls only 3/4 of the reception power are still available. If a fourth wall is added, it only has half of the reception power.

A GPS-module is also installed. Even though it receives the satellite signals less clearly than other devices, it still determines the location surprisingly precisely: The discrepancy was only a little less than four meters (~13 feet). Even in enclosed spaces, a determination is possible up to a few meters.

Telephone functions

Amoi does not change the integrated telephone-app by Google. This is not necessary since it works quite intuitively and reliably. Merely one error has slipped in; Even in German language settings, the message, if you want to add a number to the contacts, is displayed in English.

Cameras & Multimedia

Concerning the camera, the Amoi N828 can keep up with current top models thanks to its 8-megapixel camera (3264x2488 pixels resolution) at the back. At the front is a 3-megapixel camera(2016x1512 pixels resolution). None of the reference devices is equally equipped, even the front camera of the Google Nexus 4 has a lower resolution.

What it comes down to though is the image quality. Both of the cameras of the Amoi N828 do a pretty good job: The rear camera delivers sharp images with strong colors. However, smaller details, like the blossoms in our example image, seem a little bit mushy. Even the front camera takes decent pictures, although the contrast is too high and the colors seem unnatural.

Speech quality

The sound on our end is a little bit dull. The call partner confirmed a very good speech quality, though. There were no background noises during the test call. The sound quality of the built-in loudspeaker of the Amoi N828 is very good, but could be slightly higher.

Accessories

Apart from a power supply and the appropriate USB-cable, the Amoi N828 is shipped with a rather simple headset. The packaging of other mobile phone manufacturers does not include more. Those who speak Chinese can order additional official accessories from the website of Amoi, for example, colorful batteries or a practical battery charging station, which increases the flexibility during travels significantly when combined with a second battery.

Warranty

The warranty of Chinese producers, which do not have a branch in your country, is heavily dependent on the seller. However, the legal warranty for manufacturing defects always applies, for example 24 months when purchased in Germany. Additionally, shops like http://www.cect-shop.com, which provided us with the test device, grant a one-year guarantee. The phone is repaired at the manufacturer and therefore has to be sent to China and back to you, which can take a long time and cause additional costs at customs.

Input Devices & Operation

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The built-in capacitive touchscreen can handle the input of up to five fingers simultaneously. The surface of the monitor has very low friction and the smartphone can be operated reliably in nearly every situation.

For text input, the Amoi N828 completely relies on the standard Android keyboard. Apart from auto-correct and the suggestion of words, the Amoi N828 comes with a dictation function, which works very reliably. As usual, the input via touchscreen also works very well. Those who are used to writing on a smartphone should only rarely mistype. The Google Play Store provides numerous alternatives for those who dislike the keyboard.

Display

In the price range of the Amoi N828, a resolution of 960x540 pixels is quite a statement. Even the more expensive Samsung Galaxy Express has a lower resolution of 800x480 pixels, and the Xperia E dual with only 480x320 pixels is significantly lower. The Jiayu G3 provides a higher resolution in this price range, namely 1280x720 pixels.

In terms of maximum brightness, the phone is a sensation. The Amoi N828 has one of the brightest smartphone displays we have ever tested: The screen has a brightness of up to 540 cd/m² and 501.4 cd/m² on average. These values even beat high-end devices, like the iPhone 5 or the Samsung Galaxy S4. On maximum brightness the white areas so dazzle the user we recommend using the automatic brightness settings or choosing a medium level.

The illumination of the display is at 85%, less consistent than those of the competitors. Darkening in big white areas is quite possible due to a difference in brightness of 80 cd/m² between the brightest and the darkest spot.

The black value is mediocre: 0.41 cd/m². Some of the competitors are better, some are worse. Due to its high brightness, the contrast of the display is at 1,317:1, which is still higher than the brightness of most of the devices in this price range. Only the AMOLED-display of the Samsung Galaxy Express can exceed it. In practice the color black seems rather grayish depending on the level of brightness and white, as described above, is sometimes so bright that it dazzles the user. Colors are displayed vibrantly. The image sharpness is acceptable, but because of the 720p or even Full HD displays of superior smartphones we are used to better by now.

Via the software CalMAN and the colorimeter, we have a look at more measurements of the display. You find the screenshots below. The color accuracy and color saturation have a blue cast, which is very common for LCD-displays. The gray shades have a light blue cast, as well. In practice, this should only be visible to the trained eye, though.

Under bright, direct sunlight, it is difficult to recognize something on the bright display of the Amoi N828. On cloudy days, in the shade, or inside it is no problem to detect the content of the screen at any time.

The viewing angles of the IPS-display are very good, to the left and right - when used upright - but slightly lower upwards and downwards. However the viewing angles to the sides without change in brightness is still above 70 degrees, which is considerably more than for other devices with LCD-TFT-displays, for example the Sony Xperia E dual.

Performance

The one-chip system Mediatek MT6589, which has a CPU with four Cortex-A7-cores and a clock rate of 1.2 GHz, is supposed to deliver high performance in the mid-range smartphone N828. Moreover, a GPU called PowerVR SGX544 with 2 cores and 2,048 MB RAM is built in.

Indeed, the specifications suffice to position the smartphone at one of the top places in our synthetic benchmarks: Only the Samsung Galaxy Express and the Google Nexus 4 are far ahead in most of the benchmarks. All other reference devices have to admit defeat.

In practice, this means that with the Amoi N828 you can navigate smoothly through the Android interface and most of the apps. For example, simple image editing in the "Gallery"-app works smoothly and without latency.

Games

The dual-core graphics card of the Amoi N828 manages to display most of the games from the Google Play Store effortlessly. Graphically complex games like Real Racing 3 or Iron Man 3 run just as smoothly as casual games à la Angry Birds: Star Wars.

The position sensor, which is used to play games like Real Racing 3, works impeccably and converts the tilt of the phone flawlessly and quickly into car movements.

Emissions

Temperature

The surface temperature does not suffer from the performance of the smartphone: Under load, the Amoi N828 stays cooler than the Samsung Galaxy S Duos or the Jiayu G3. Although there are smartphones that stay even cooler, for example the Huawei Ascend W1, the Amoi N828 ranks at the top concerning heat.

In detail the maximum heating amounts to only 36.1 degrees Celsius (96.98 Fahrenheit), during idle it is only 33 degrees (91.4 Fahrenheit). Our overall assessment of the heat generation is "Very good".

Speakers

The speaker of the Amoi N828 is located at the bottom of the back of the device. Although the positioning appears suboptimal, the sound is very convincing: The sound is very loud, very full and well balanced. The case of the body is designed to amplify the sound.

The maximum volume even suffices to fill a medium-sized room with sound. The sound is not distorted but clear and well differentiated. It is possible to get more out of it via headphones or a sound system, but considering the low price of the speakers, they are of surprisingly high quality.

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Energy Management

Power Consumption

The power consumption of the Amoi N828 is exemplary during standby or when turned off: A consumption of 0 to 0.1 Watts is very good. However, the power consumption during idle rises unnaturally strongly: We measure a maximum of 2.4 Watts, twice as much as what the Huawei Ascend W1 consumes.

An average consumption of 2.5 Watts under load is in the standard range, but other devices like the Sony Xperia E dual and the Huawei Ascend W1 need considerably less energy.

Battery Life

Despite its generously dimensioned 7.6 Watt-hour battery, the Amoi N828 can in fact only reach moderate runtimes in the practical WLAN-test: 5:26 hours are nearly doubled by the Sony Xperia E. The powerful battery can only reveal its potential under full load and achieves a good runtime of 4:05 hours.

What especially caught our eye during the test was that the Amoi N828 needs so little energy during standby: Thus lasting up to a week when it is not in use. In real-life operation the battery runs out of juice all the quicker though. Due to the long standby time and the good runtime under load, we rate it as "very good" concerning battery runtimes.

Verdict

Those who decide to get a rather exotic device like the Amoi N828 should know what they are in for: In a warranty case, the device possibly has to be sent back to China, after doing a reset you have to deal with a Chinese user interface, which makes it difficult to find the language settings, in addition to it not being very prestigious.

Additionally, there is the memory problem:

• Even though it was possible to connect the device as a USB memory to a computer, the computer does not display a folder without a micro-SD card
• Numerous, especially big apps cannot be installed without a micro-SD card
• Screenshots are not saved without a micro-SD card
• The data manager does not display any directories without a micro-SD card

These problems could not be fixed by resetting the phone. Thus, we depreciate the impression rating by 20%, because we experienced considerable restrictions for everyday use without a micro-SD card and there is no mention of it anywhere. If you use the device with a micro-SD card, you can add two percentage points to the overall rating.

Why should you even want to accept those restrictions, anyway? Apart from those weaknesses, the Amoi N828 is a really good device. For its features and quality, you can easily spend twice the amount for a smartphone from the established brands: A system performance that is typical for mid-range smartphones, a bright screen with high viewing angle stability, solid processing, a pleasant look and feel, good battery runtimes, and a dual-SIM option.

For 180 Euros (~$234) the Amoi N828 is a real bargain, whose weaknesses can be overlooked. Those who are looking for a prestigious device that is flawless right down to the last detail should look for something else.