Jiayu F2 is a great smartphone at a nice price. Jiayu F2 - a review of a budget smartphone from a well-known Chinese brand

Detailed testing of the budget device of a brand popular in China

The new Jiayu G2F smartphone is notable, first of all, for the combination of very good hardware characteristics with a surprisingly low price: now this smartphone with a quad-core processor can be ordered at a price of about $150 or even less. The device was released by the Chinese company Jiayu, which does not officially supply its products to the Russian market, however, in the local market, smartphones of this company, which is quite young by the standards of other manufacturers, have already gained sufficient popularity. Jiayu is one of the so-called “new wave” manufacturers, which appeared later than others, but over the past few years have managed to offer the market devices whose characteristics (at least on paper) look no worse than similar devices from experienced manufacturers of the first magnitude, but with these are much cheaper. True, in reality, the quality of components in such devices, and the general level of bringing to mind the coordinated work of all components, leaves much to be desired, but the extremely low prices that these small Chinese developers manage to offer the market still continue to attract more and more people who want to check what can be obtained in reality for such little money. Despite the fact that Jiayu products are not officially represented on our market, we still test smartphones from this company from time to time, which are popular in the Asian market and have managed to arouse interest among domestic users. We have already tested the most famous last year models of this brand, such as Jiayu G3 and Jiayu G4, which can not rightly be called really budget. And today the turn has come to the model, the cost of which is at the $100 mark, so it will be really interesting what Chinese craftsmen can actually offer for that kind of money.

Key Features of Jiayu G2F (Model JY_G2F)

• SoC MediaTek MT6582, 1.3 GHz, 4 cores ARM Cortex-A7
• GPU Mali400-MP2, 500 MHz
• Operating system Android 4.2.2
• IPS touch display, 4.3″, 1280×720, 341 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 1 GB, internal memory 4 GB
• GSM communication, TD-SCDMA
• Bluetooth
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot
• GPS/A-GPS
• Camera 8 MP BSI CMOS, autofocus, LED flash
• Camera 2 MP (front)
• Battery 2200 mAh
• Dimensions 125×62×9.9 mm
• Weight 135 g

Contents of delivery

The manufacturing company does not bother to maintain uniformity in the packaging of its products: boxes tested by us Jiayu G3 , Jiayu G4 and now Jiayu G2F are radically different from each other. But if the packaging of the Jiayu G3 and Jiayu G4 are quite consistent with the usual ideas about what “decent” smartphones should be on store shelves, then the packaging of the budget Jiayu G2F is out of the scope of these generally accepted norms. The smartphone is sold in a deliberately simple, sloppy utilitarian-looking roughly folded box made of unpainted and unglued cardboard, which the language does not dare to call packaging. Perhaps, in this way, the manufacturers wanted to emphasize that nothing "extra" is included in the cost of this inexpensive device.

Accordingly, do not expect a rich configuration. In a nondescript cardboard box, there was only the most necessary: ​​a charger (output current 1 A), a USB-Micro-USB connecting cord and a paper book. No headphones, not to mention additional accessories, were found in this box.

Appearance and usability

Appearance smartphone Jiayu G2F unremarkable. In appearance, this is an ordinary inexpressive candy bar of a classic look: most of the body here is made up of a plastic cover that covers not only the back surface, but also all the side faces of the device. The lid has a hard matte finish without a rubberized soft-touch effect. The only notable feature of the Jiayu G2F case is its very small size, in which the smartphone is close to the Apple iPhone models. Jiayu G2F is much thicker, but still lies comfortably in the hand due to its small size.

The smartphone case is a classic "boat" with a flat front surface, completely covered with protective glass, and a sloping back, all corners, edges and edges of which are rounded and bevelled. The back cover is removable - traditionally it is mounted on several plastic latches and holds quite tenaciously in its place. The assembly of all the details does not give rise to nit-picking: no cracks, bumps, crunches or rattles - the smartphone feels like a small monolithic block in the hand without the slightest hint of backlash and squeaks.

The body of Jiayu G2F is completely made of plastic - there is no metal in it. For the umpteenth time we meet with a strange decision of the developers, when the excellent ergonomics of the matte and rough back surface are leveled by the slippery glossy side faces of the device. Perhaps the rough back surface allows the device to be held more securely in the palm of your hand, but you have to lift it from the table precisely by these slippery side edges, which slightly spoils the impression of getting to know the smartphone.

Removing the back cover gives full access to everything under it: the battery is removable here, and there is a slot for a memory card. In addition, two SIM-cards of the Mini-SIM format can be installed here, which adds to the attractiveness of the device in the eyes of a certain part of users who prefer versatility.

SIM cards are inserted one on top of the other, all cards are held in their slots by friction - there are no spring-loaded gripping mechanisms here. Hot-swapping is not supported, as all cards are supported from below by the battery after insertion and cannot be dismantled without removing the battery.

If you return the back cover to its rightful place, then a completely familiar picture will emerge: on the back surface of the smartphone, there are camera and flash windows next to each other, as well as a ringing speaker grille. The camera window is framed by a chrome rim, a single-section LED flash is initially ready to work as a flashlight (the corresponding software is preinstalled in the smartphone's memory).

The speaker grill hole is two longitudinal holes made in the cover for sound output. When the smartphone is on the table, the sound is greatly muffled by its surface.

The entire front panel is completely covered from the outside with Corning Gorilla Glass 2, which is resistant to scratches and chips. Under it, you can see the peephole of the front camera and sensors, as well as a longitudinal slot for the earpiece grille - they are all located in the upper part above the screen.

At the bottom, under the screen, there is a row of familiar hardware buttons, naturally touch-sensitive. The buttons have pictograms made in silver paint, but do not have any backlighting. This is extremely inconvenient in poor lighting conditions, but these are costs associated with the budget level of devices in this class.

As for the rest of the controls, they are traditionally located on the side faces of the device. There is a lock key located on the top end, and a volume rocker located on the left side. The buttons are large, chrome-plated, protrude quite noticeably outside the body and therefore are easy to touch blindly - there are no problems with this. The key travel is quite elastic, pressing is distinct, but the fact that the lock key is located here not on the side, but on top, is a significant disadvantage.

In addition, on the upper and lower faces of the case, you can see the standard headphone / headset jack (3.5 mm minijack) and the Micro-USB connector, respectively. There are no additional elements on the Jiayu G2F case, as there are no protective covers covering the connectors from water and dust, and an eyelet for hooking the strap. As for the color options of the case, the smartphone comes in two classic colors: black and white. In a white smartphone, the front panel under the glass is also white.

Screen

The Jiayu G2F smartphone is equipped with an IPS touch matrix covered with Corning Gorilla Glass 2 protective glass. The physical dimensions of the display are 54 × 95 mm, the diagonal is 4.3 inches (110 mm). The screen resolution in dots is 1280×720 (HD), the dpi density index reaches a high value of 341 ppi.

The brightness of the display has both manual and automatic adjustment, the latter based on the operation of the light sensor. The smartphone also has a proximity sensor that blocks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear. Multi-touch technology allows you to handle 5 simultaneous touches. The screen of the Jiayu G2F smartphone is not sensitive to touch with gloves or wet fingers. In bright sunlight, the screen remains readable.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the sections " Monitors" and " Projectors and TV» Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the test sample.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface, resistant to scratches. Judging by the reflection of objects, there is some kind of anti-glare filter, which, in terms of reducing the brightness of the reflection, is noticeably worse than Google Nexus 7 (2013)(hereinafter simply Nexus 7). The surface of the matrix itself under the glass is slightly matte, so the screen reflects both direct light sources (by the outer surface) and diffused light (by the surface of the matrix), which reduces readability in conditions of strong ambient light. For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the off screens (on the left is Nexus 7, on the right is JiaYu G2F, then they can be distinguished by size):

The light gray surface of the JiaYu G2F screen against the almost black screen of the Nexus 7 confirms what was written above. Reflection in the screen doubles, which suggests the presence of an air gap between the surface of the matrix and the outer glass. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (much worse than the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed a little easier, and appear at a slightly slower rate than in the case of ordinary glass.

With manual brightness control and with a white field displayed in full screen, the maximum brightness value was about 370 cd/m², the minimum was 45 cd/m². The maximum value is not very high, and, given the weak anti-glare properties and the matte surface of the matrix, in bright daylight, the image on the screen is unlikely to be clearly distinguishable. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable level. There is an automatic brightness control by light sensor (located to the right of the front speaker slot). In automatic mode, when the ambient light conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. In complete darkness in automatic mode, the brightness is reduced to 16 cd / m² (you can read from the screen), in an office lit by artificial light (approximately 400 lux), the brightness is set to 155 cd / m² (just right), in a brightly lit environment (corresponds to on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) rises to 370 cd/m² (to the maximum, as expected). As a result, the auto-brightness function works quite adequately. At any brightness level, there is virtually no backlight modulation, so there is no screen flicker.

This smartphone uses an IPS type matrix. Micrographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:

For comparison, see microphoto gallery screens used in mobile technology.

At the same time, here is another micrograph with a different resolution and with focus on the film covering the matrix:

Visible dots are artificially created surface defects that create the effect of a matte finish. By the way, because of this haze, the screen has a slight “crystal” effect, when, with a slight change in the viewing angle, the image on the screen shimmers with tiny dots with different brightness and color. As seen in the photomicrograph above, a white subpixel has been added to the triad of red, green, and blue subpixels. This solution allows you to increase the brightness of the white field without increasing the cost of backlighting. Of course, there are also side effects - the brightness of the color image in this case may be disproportionately lower than the brightness of the white areas. In some cases, artifacts are very noticeable, for example, when displaying small yellow fragments against a white background.

The screen has good viewing angles without significant color shift even at large deviations of the gaze from the perpendicular to the screen and without inverting shades. For comparison, here are photos in which the same images are displayed on the screens of JiaYu G2F and Nexus 7, while the brightness of the screens was initially set to about 200 cd / m². White field perpendicular to the screens:

We note a good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field (when photographing, the color balance is forcibly set to 6500 K). And a test picture:

Color reproduction is good and colors are saturated on both screens. However, in the case of the JiaYu G2F screen, the exposure is set to a white area that is disproportionately brighter than the color image, so the colors are dull in this photo. Human vision has the ability to adjust to the average brightness, therefore, in this image, the dullness of colors is almost not visually manifested, but when displaying images with large areas of a white field, dull colors are also visible to the eye. Now at an angle of about 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors did not change much on both screens, but the contrast at an angle in the case of the JiaYu G2F decreased due to a significant increase in the black level. And the white box:

The brightness at an angle on the screens has decreased (at least 5 times, based on the difference in shutter speed), but in the case of JiaYu G2F, the brightness drop is noticeably greater than that of the Nexus 7. The black field, when deviated diagonally, is highlighted strongly and becomes purple or red-violet shade. A photo from the Nexus 7 for comparison shows this (the brightness of the white areas in the perpendicular direction of the screens is the same!):

And from another angle:

With a perpendicular view, the uniformity of the black field is average, since there are several areas with increased black brightness along the edge:

Contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is low - about 455:1. The response time for the black-white-black transition is 26 ms (17 ms on + 9 ms off). The transition between 25% and 75% grayscale (according to the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 36 ms. The gamma curve built on 32 points did not reveal a blockage either in the highlights or in the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 1.91, which is lower than the standard value of 2.2, while the real gamma curve strongly deviates from the power dependence:

Color gamut close to sRGB:

The spectra show that the matrix filters moderately mix the components to each other:

As a result, visually the colors have a natural saturation. This spectrum also shows that the brightness of the white field is higher than the total color brightness, due to the influence of the white pixel in the matrix. The balance of shades on the gray scale is far from ideal, since the color temperature is above the standard 6500 K, while the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) is less than 10, which is considered an acceptable indicator for a consumer device, however, ΔE and color temperature vary significantly from hue to hue - this negatively affects the visual assessment of color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since the color balance does not matter much there, and the measurement error of color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

Screen quality is below average (modern) level. The maximum brightness is not very high, the surface of the matrix is ​​slightly matte and the anti-glare properties are weak, as a result, the comfort of using it on a clear day outside is highly questionable. The advantages of the screen include adequate work of automatic brightness adjustment, flicker-free and color gamut, almost equal to sRGB. The main disadvantages that have not yet been noted are a weak oleophobic coating, low contrast ratio, low black stability to deviation of the gaze from the perpendicular to the screen plane, a noticeable uneven black field and mediocre color balance.

Sound

I liked the sound of the Jiayu G2F (more precisely, its external ringing speaker): the sound is quite loud, bassy, ​​and at the same time remains clear throughout the entire frequency spectrum. There are no complaints about the way the ringing speaker sounds. But the sound of the earpiece is not entirely satisfactory: the timbre of the voice, the intonation of a familiar interlocutor remains recognizable, but the sound is weak, faded, colorless and quite quiet - making telephone conversations on Jiayu G2F is not as pleasant as it could be ideally. In the sound settings, there is a standard Android option to use the equalizer with several preset values ​​and add virtual surround effects.

FM radio is standard on the smartphone. The radio cannot record programs and will not work without headphones connected as an external antenna. But the voice recorder as standard has a built-in ability to record telephone conversations from the line, for this you just need to press the corresponding button in the telephone menu during a call.

Camera

Jiayu G2F is equipped with two digital camera modules. The front camera here is equipped with a 2-megapixel module, shoots with a maximum resolution of 1792 × 1008. The quality of the resulting photos can be judged by the test shot below.

The main, rear 8-megapixel camera shoots with a maximum resolution of 3840 × 2160. This camera can shoot video at a resolution of 1920 × 1080. The video quality can be judged by the test video below.

• Roller #1(58 MB, 1920×1080)

The list of camera options is classic: a menu consisting of three tabs pops up by clicking on a special icon right on top of the viewfinder screen. The drawing of the inscriptions is clear and understandable, the menu has both horizontal and vertical display. The hardware volume button on the side in shooting mode continues to be responsible for the sound, so the shutter release here can only be done by touching the screen with your finger.

	The sharpness is quite good, it drops a little towards distant plans.
	Good sharpness throughout the field of the frame and on all visible plans. However, the nearest inscriptions are poorly distinguishable, but the nearest numbers are good.
	With the removal of the plan, the sharpness drops slightly.
	Noise in the shadows is processed well, although the noise reduction at the edges of objects is noticeable.
	Shumodavu clearly lacks smoothness in work.
	Macro works well enough for the camera.
	The text is worked out well and is practically not damaged.

Unlike many other "Chinese", the camera at Jiayu G2F turned out to be extremely good. In some places, it abuses sharping a little, and the noise reduction leaves unpleasant traces, but otherwise the camera looks much more balanced than some cameras of Chinese smartphones with a 13 MP sensor.

The sharpness of the optics and the resolution of the matrix quite well work out the declared 8 megapixels. It is especially pleasant to note good optics, which few can boast of lately. Of course, the picture does not look so good in the background, but the front and middle ones are worked out very well.

Perhaps the camera is suitable for most documentaries, especially if you do not require it to resolve very small details that noise reduction can ruin.

Telephone part and communications

The smartphone works in modern 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks as standard, but the modification sent for testing instead of the usual WCDMA networks supports TD-SCDMA networks, which is useless in our area. Thus, modification without WCDMA support will be limited only by the data rate of 2G. So when ordering a smartphone from abroad, it makes sense to check whether the purchased device supports 3G in the WCDMA network.

Working with two SIM-cards in the menu is organized according to a familiar principle: you can assign any of the SIM-cards as the main one for organizing voice calls, data transfer or sending SMS messages; while dialing, you can also select the desired card in the context submenu. Working with two SIM-cards is organized according to the usual Dual SIM Dual Standby standard, when both cards can be in active standby mode, but cannot work at the same time - there is only one radio module.

Spontaneous reboots / shutdowns during testing were not observed, as well as slowdowns or system freezes. However, from time to time there is some strange problem with the twitching of the image on the screen, while the backlight of the screen constantly blinks and changes its color from blue to green. It goes away on its own when the machine goes to sleep and wakes up again. By the way, it is often problematic to unlock the screen by shifting a special icon on the screen: it does not want to move to the end, and the screen remains locked, which is very annoying. Once again, we are faced with the shortcomings of Chinese developers who do not want to fully bring the smartphone to mind and release such “buggy” products on the market, hoping that they will be bought at such a low price anyway.

The smartphone has an LED sensor for notification of charging status and incoming events, it is located in the upper part above the screen and shines very brightly and is not too comfortable for the eyes.

The layout and layout of the keys are standard: switching languages ​​here is done by pressing a special button with the image of a globe, there is no dedicated top row with numbers - you need to switch the layout every time. The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, while dialing a phone number, a search is also carried out immediately by the first letters in contacts. A very convenient functionality that you instantly get used to, but which is sometimes absent initially in some smartphones.

OS and software

Jiayu G2F is currently running on the Google Android software platform, which is not the most recent version 4.2.2. The manufacturer installed an alternative graphical user interface on top of it, but not of its own production, but of a “third party”. It is called LeWa OS and is produced by Lewa Technology, also Chinese, of course. This third-party skin has already gained enough popularity in the Asian market, which is highly developed in terms of Android OS customization, where by mid-2012 it took the third place in popularity, after MIUI and DianXin OS (also known as Tapas OS). This program has a rather long history: the Lewa team began the first work on their own customization of Android 1.5 Cupcake back in August 2009, even before Lewa Technology itself was formed in April 2011. One of the most notable distinguishing features of the LeWa OS shell is that it is the world's first customized version of Android that fully supports all the functions of working with two SIM cards (Dual SIM Standby).

As for the internal arrangement of this interface, one of the most convenient functions here is an additional pop-up menu that can be called up on the home screen with a side swipe from left to right. In this handy menu, in addition to the traditional list of recent programs that can be cleared at the touch of a button, there are also several dedicated indicators for quick access to alarm functions, power saving modes, and even a flashlight. This menu can also be called up in a more "traditional" way - by long pressing the central hardware button below the screen.

Another notable feature of this customized shell is the complete absence of a separate application menu: the icons of all installed programs are automatically thrown directly onto desktops. This is a hallmark of all Chinese customized shells, the same absence of an application menu is observed in the most popular Miui shell.

It does not make much sense to describe in detail the set of pre-installed applications, since most of them are intended for the Chinese market and often have an interface only in Chinese. However, the Google Play Store is pre-installed here, so you can customize your smartphone to your taste without the need for root rights (although they may be needed to remove the mass of unnecessary applications pre-installed on the system partition).

Performance

The Jiayu G2F hardware platform is based on the single-chip system (SoC) MediaTek MT6582. The CPU here has 4 ARM Cortex-A7 cores running at 1.3GHz. The device has 1 GB of RAM, and free system memory is about 2 GB of the nominally designated 4 GB. It is curious that all the built-in memory is formatted as a single system partition, so it is not available to the user without root rights. That is, if you do not insert a microSD memory card into the device, the device will refuse to save even a simple screenshot - it simply has nowhere to go. So without an inserted memory card, the Jiayu G2F smartphone is completely useless. If you connect the device to a computer, the file manager will also see only the memory of the inserted card (if it is inserted) as the device's flash memory.

As for the GPU (graphics subsystem), everything is not simple with it either: at the moment when the MT6582 platform was just announced, the developers promised that it would have PowerVR SGX544MP video subsystems, in this respect there is even a corresponding diagram in which this particular video accelerator is clearly indicated. However, at the last moment, the developers apparently changed their mind, because as a result, another GPU model, ARM Mali400-MP2 (500 MHz), ended up in the SoC MediaTek MT6582.

To get an idea of ​​the platform performance of the tested smartphone, let's run a standard set of tests.

For convenience, we have summarized all the results obtained by us when testing a smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks in tables. Several other devices from different segments are usually added to the table, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the received dry numbers). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison, it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” due to the fact that they once passed their “obstacle courses” on previous versions of test programs.

Here's what I found out after all the testing was done. As for the hardware platform MediaTek MT6582, presented in the tested smartphone, the system from Qualcomm (Snapdragon 400) is the most suitable for it now as a competitor - here are the same 4 ARM Cortex-A7 cores with a similar frequency (1.3 GHz versus 1.2 GHz for Snapdragon 400). Processor and complex tests showed almost identical results. In terms of graphics, the Adreno 305 GPU in the Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 clearly outperformed the ARM Mali400-MP2 video subsystem in all graphics tests, albeit not by much.

Test results in MobileXPRT, as well as the latest versions of AnTuTu 4.x and GeekBench 3:

When testing the graphics subsystem in the cross-platform 3DMark test for the most productive smartphones, it is now possible to run 3DMark in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).

The results of testing the graphics subsystem in the Epic Citadel gaming test, as well as Basemark X and Bonsai Benchmark:

Video playback

We used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the web. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern versions using processor cores alone. Also, do not expect everything from a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a single table.

¹ Audio in MX Video Player only played after switching to software decoding or Hardware+; The regular player does not have such a setting.

To test the display of video files on the screen of the device itself, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see " Methodology for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)"). Screen shots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped to determine the nature of the output frames of video files with different parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p) and 1920 by 1080 (1080p) pixels) and the frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps / with). In tests, we used the MX Player video player in Hardware mode, as there were a lot of artifacts in Hardware+ mode. The test results are summarized in the table:

Note: If both columns Uniformity and Passes green ratings are set, this means that, most likely, when watching movies, artifacts caused by uneven interleaving and dropping frames will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems with the playback of the respective files.

The intervals between frames (or groups of frames) alternate slightly unevenly, and in the case of files with 50 and 60 fps, some frames are always skipped. When playing 720p and 1080p video files, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly on the border of the screen. The range of brightness displayed on the screen slightly does not correspond to the standard range (that is, the range of 16-235) - in the shadows, a couple of shades are indistinguishable in brightness from black, but in the highlights all gradations of shades are distinguished. In the case of 720p video files, the original resolution is technically preserved both horizontally and vertically. However, the influence of the white pixel is taking its toll: the vertical lines on the worlds are slightly jagged, and the horizontal lines are poorly separated. Recall that the manufacturer indicates the screen resolution, considering the white pixel and the triad of colored subpixels to be equivalent, which, in general, is not entirely true.

Battery Life

The capacity of the lithium-ion battery installed in the Jiayu G2F is 2200 mAh. According to the test results, the test subject showed very deplorable results in battery life - much worse than any other devices of similar characteristics with a similar battery capacity. Quite clearly, there were some problems with the software, because the result simply cannot be so bad: the smartphone’s battery is melting right before our eyes, and our tested copy categorically did not live until the end of daylight hours without additional recharging. Most likely, with the firmware update, something is simply bound to change for the better, because “you can’t live like this.”

Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme) at the minimum comfortable brightness level (the brightness was set to 100 cd / m²) lasted 6.5 hours until the battery was completely discharged. When continuously watching YouTube videos in high quality (HQ) with the same brightness level via a home Wi-Fi network, the device lasted less than 3.5 hours, and in 3D gaming mode, about 2.5 hours. These are absolutely disastrous results.

Outcome

As for the cost of the device under consideration today, it, as mentioned at the beginning of the article, is very small and amounts to only about $100-150. But, to be honest, after rigorous testing, this particular model does not want to be praised at all, even considering its attractive price. The smartphone, in principle, has good performance for its class (however, it is this characteristic that practically no longer worries anyone - performance for basic needs is now enough for any mid-range smartphone and above), plus a good camera, but the pluses end there. The quality of the screen leaves much to be desired, in order to make the GPS module work, you need to take some additional steps (read: “dancing with a tambourine”), and the power consumption is simply depressing. It seems that the customized LeWa OS firmware implies an easy update of versions over the air (OTA), which could quickly fix a number of shortcomings, however, the Jiayu G2F software interface of this module is represented only by Chinese characters, and there is no way to force the firmware to be updated in the usual way. As a result, the smartphone turns into a kind of do-it-yourself constructor - everything needs to be “finished” and “finished”, and not everyone will be interested in doing this. With very good declared characteristics, working with this device is sometimes just annoying: a lot of unexpected problems that arise where they should not be, makes you remember that sometimes it’s better to overpay a little, being sure that the manufacturer will spend his time not only on production , but also for finalizing and polishing its product, and will not throw it out for sale as “raw”, as happened with Jiayu G2F.

The gadget, like the company's brand itself, turned out to be somehow ambiguous.

Let's start our Jiayu F2 review with the main features

After viewing the characteristics, questions immediately arise: why such a restyling and why such an old mtk 6582 processor with 2Gb of memory?
This is very difficult to understand, and the logic of Chinese manufacturers is very difficult to understand.
But do not panic, not everything is so sad - there are positive aspects in the new Jiayu F2.
The appearance and design of the Jiayu F2 smartphone has not changed much, but still the engineers tried a little and made adjustments - first of all, there were no completely unnecessary metal inserts in the device frame.

The structure of the back panel of Jiayu F2 is now decorated with a small notch, of course, there is no special effect from it, but the view has become more attractive. The device itself has become more elegant and elegant.

On the rear panel of the smartphone there is an 8mp camera, a Sony IMX179 BSI module, to the right of it there is a flash with an average brightness margin.
At the bottom of the device on the back side is the logo of the manufacturer Jiayu, there is also a grille, under which there is a hidden good powerful speaker. At least for such a budget device, it's just great. Similar sound can be found in devices of more expensive brands, such as or.
The speaker is quite loud, the bottoms are clearly audible, it is clear that the Jiayu F2 has surpassed its predecessor Jiayu S3 in terms of sound quality.
On the right side of the device are two hardware buttons to turn the device on and off, slightly higher are the volume keys.

On the top panel of Jiayu F2 there is a headphone jack and a charging jack, next to it there is a barely noticeable micro-hole, under which there is a hidden microphone designed for video recording.

On the front side of Jiayu F2 is a speaker for listening. The speaker in terms of quality and volume is the most ordinary, nothing special.
To the right is the front camera, the manufacturer claims that it is 5mp, which is actually very doubtful.
The device is equipped with a standard set of sensors: proximity, illumination and a gyroscope. There is a light indication, which remains a positive priority for Jiayu, which cannot be said about the keys below.
At one time, Jiayu G4 introduced the lack of backlighting of the lower buttons into fashion, which you can put up with.

Let's look inside, under the cover of Jiayu F2.

Everything is standard here - the presence of two slots for SIM cards of a standard size. Given the fact that Jiayu F2 was awarded the old mtk 6582 processor, the new product may pleasantly surprise you with the presence of 4G LTE networks.
The processor of the device does not need to be introduced, it is ordinary without unnecessary bells and whistles, with it you cannot count on high performance.
The battery, indicated by the manufacturer at 2880-3000mah, during the verification process found that the battery also absorbed 3052mah, which is pretty good.

The build quality of the gadget is at a good level, here you can even put an “excellent” mark. The display has HD resolution, oleophobic coating, also an attribute of chewing displays.
Jiayu F2 has a very high margin of brightness, while the gamma is twisted. In normal everyday use, even 50% of the possible brightness would be praised, here the manufacturers went too far with gamma and contrast.
At 50% brightness, the display was active for 5.1 hours - the result is not bad. A day of active use of a smartphone is enough, if you use the device in a more gentle mode, then the charge can be stretched for three days.

Now about the real disadvantages of Jiayu F2
The camera is really not bad - it's 8 MP without interpolation. But the Jiayu F2 review showed that macro shooting does not work. The focus correctly catches from 30 cm. As can be seen from the reviews, this problem is global in nature and almost every owner of this device has it. Which is a significant downside. The quality of the camera can be called below average. Of course, for a budget smartphone it's forgivable, but for an objective look - a categorical minus.
The launcher lags a lot, and despite the fact that we have 2Gb of memory, the interface sometimes manages to slow down.
Probably not all manufacturers understand that design and assembly are good, but the mobile part is no less important.

And so, let's summarize.
The positive aspects of Jiayu F2 after the review include: loud and high-quality sound, good sound quality even when listening through headphones, decent design, 2Gb memory and 16Gb storage, the presence of all modern frequencies, up to 4G LTE.
The disadvantages include: "old" mtk 6582, small glitches and lags, Google services not installed, non-working macro photography and other comments.
Installing Google services, in fact, takes very little time and effort, why manufacturers don’t install them remains a question, because it’s a couple of trifles to flash a TWRP smartphone and upload a standard set of necessary files.

Draw your own conclusions. The decision to buy this device or not is yours. The price of Jiayu F2 fluctuates around $120 - $130.

You can buy Jiayu F2 smartphone at the best price

2 years ago 0

The functionality of a full-fledged smart ... Not bad hardware for such a price ... Maybe everything that top analogues can do, and some bitten and half of it can not ... PRICE! I took it on Ali for six with a ponytail ... Not a bad appearance, really not bad, and with minimal screen backlight and space dark themes, the entire front side looks like a frameless screen ... Everything works! So far, nothing falls off ... The connection quality is good, where Atom does not take, this device copes ... 4G is really present ... Wi-Fi did not upset, how it receives and distributes the Internet ... Removable battery, when the time comes there will be no hemorrhoids with its replacement ... GPS also pleased, found satellites at a time, it's a pity only Pindos ... Normal sound, not impressed of course, but also not bad ... The brightness margin is crazy, I personally removed it in

2 years ago 0

Root out of the box, 2GB RAM.

2 years ago 0

Described above

2 years ago 0

Good quality bright screen, 2 standard SIM cards, LTE full-fledged for our region, enough RAM and memory for installing applications, in general, a good camera, there are no complaints about performance, everything works smoothly without brakes, the glass was said to be on fire (did not check it) , the radio catches well.

2 years ago 0

2 years ago 0

1) root out of the box 2) the ability to connect to a PC just like a flash drive, and not as a media device, despite android 4.4 3) Convenient removal of applications by simply dragging them from the screen to the trash, and not through the settings menu with a long search in the list of applications. 4) 3000mAh battery, allows the phone to live up to 2 days of moderate use or quietly live a day of relatively active use. Of course, I would like 4000+, but for android smarts this is fantastic 5) Regular sim, so you don’t have to suffer from circumcisions, plus the SIM card mount is such that you can insert both micro and nano 6) 3g / 4g can be enabled for any of the sims cards, there is no hard binding to the slot 7) A good camera, which is rare for the Chinese 8) 2GB of RAM, which is very important today 9) Price

2 years ago 0

Smart, good camera for the money, LTE, screen, bumper included.

2 years ago 0

Pretty fast processor. Ruth is simply turned on in the settings. There is no painted plastic that will wear off and peel off, and in general the case is made soundly and from high-quality materials, which is not typical for the Chinese of the second echelon. For several months of carrying in your pocket - not a single scratch or abrasion. The glass is scratch resistant and the finger slides nicely over it. Protective film is not needed. Beautiful colors in the notification indicator. Loud, fairly clear sound without wheezing from the external speaker. The main feature of the MediaTek chipset is available, but to use it requires a wave of a shaman's tambourine and pressing the spacebar, because. it seems to be blocked by the kernel. Well catches GPS, WiFi and 3G. Adequate light sensor.

2 years ago 0

Image quality, battery, front camera, looks pretty, RAM 2GB, LTE.

2 years ago 0

Almost everyone likes it. bought on aliexpress for 6900 (the dollar was 53r)

2 years ago 0

Although the battery is rather big, I have enough of it for half a day ...
I don’t know, maybe I’ll rock it yet, but so far it doesn’t make me happy ...
The screen is not 5 inches, but 4.6
Microsd support is not 64 gig, but 32
Not full Russification in the settings

2 years ago 0

2 years ago 0

All you have to do is tinker with the flashing. The device is not for those who need happiness right out of the box, here you need direct hands, a clear head and the pursuit of excellence.

2 years ago 0

Out of the box with standard firmware, the Google market did not work, it was necessary to update the firmware, the update by air did not find a new version, I had to look for the latest version and upload a new one through the recovery console. The battery does not live up to expectations yet, with the declared 3000, the average battery is not a record holder. The excellent sound stated in the reviews and reviews does not qualify for an excellent rating, the loud speaker is yes, but the headphones are good, the sound is clear, but at maximum volume the bass plays with distortion, the phone is not suitable for those who like to listen to music loudly.

2 years ago 0

The battery loses 10-20% per hour. Barely enough for a work day. The main reason for the loss is GSM.

2 years ago 0

In early firmware, when updating to a new one, the market flies and is restored by dancing with a tambourine, but in the latest version this problem has already been solved. They also write that for macro photography the minimum focal length is 10-15cm, I personally did not test it because I don’t need it.

2 years ago 0

I counted on greater autonomy (Perhaps it will be calibrated in the future, but so far this has not been possible).
After the firmware, Google applications disappeared, including the Google account, the entire phone book (they say now the problem has been solved).
Overheats when used as an access point, before being asked to remove the battery.
European charger not included

2 years ago 0

The lack of alternative firmware (July 15) and the original one has spyware in the process com.mediatek (app id 1000) that regularly knocks on Chinese IP addresses. Deleting apk crashes the system. If the phone is easily cleaned from Google trash, then not from Chinese spies, since they sit deep.
It is possible that it will be difficult with alternative firmware, since the wrong firmware (from another modification) kills the sensor controller. The main topic on the forums is how to restore the sensor.
Neither AFWall+ nor LightningWall work, spy connections go past their filters. There are no solutions yet.
The touch is buggy if the phone is not in the hand, but, for example, on the table.
The included screen eats a lot of electricity.
I wanted a fun design.
Antennas in the form of sputtering on plastic from the position

2 years ago 0

The processor is rather weak, the main camera is not very good, there are no headphones in the package.

2 years ago 0

The battery lasts for 3 hours with 4G on and active Internet use