OUKITEL C13 Pro is one of the most affordable Android smartphones. In the Ukrainian brand online store Oukitel it costs
Appearance, design, ergonomics of OUKITEL C13 Pro
Externally, the C13 Pro is very similar to the one we recently visitedWe have Oukitel U23 on test: the same arrangement of cameras and a finger scanner, a display with the same wide “monobrow”, but instead of USB-C there is an outdated Micro USB, on the top edge of the case there is an audio jack, and instead of a fashionable gradient On the back panel there is 2.5D Asahi glass (the same as on the front side).
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In a bright small box, in addition to the phone,a charger and a cable, a silicone case is supplied, and a thin protective glass (or film?) is already glued to the display, which the finger constantly clings to when gesturing from the edges of the screen.
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Equipment of OUKITEL C13 Pro
I wonder what meaning marketers put intoindex “Pro” in the name of this model? Perhaps they meant the more or less modern MTK MT6739 chipset used here - 4-core, 64-bit, with support for dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n. Nothing more “professional” I didn’t find it in the C13 Pro. But one microphone and the absence of a light indicator are quite consistent with the price category of the smartphone.
Displayimmediately seemed to me somehow “notlike this”, and soon I realized what the matter was– On my favorite sites, less information fit on the screen. I rarely study the subject of testing in advance, so the display resolution was a surprise to me. It’s not even HD, but only 480p (996×215;480) with a diagonal of 6.2×8243;! However, the display doesn't look grainy and the picture is smooth. There are also complaints about the quality of the matrix. Firstly, with a slight deviation of the viewing angle from the perpendicular, the apparent brightness of the image decreases quite significantly, and secondly, at certain angles (fortunately, far from those usually used) the image is inverted. The maximum brightness of the backlight is still somewhat sufficient for reading text in sunlight, but watching a video or examining the subject of photography is already difficult. The colorimeter readings give a picture typical of inexpensive displays - a very high color temperature and a low maximum brightness (349.563 cd/m2). At the same time, the static contrast is high (1921:1) due to the low brightness (0.182 cd/m2).
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But it's not all bad – if you really want, you can customize the colors to your taste, as in the older U23 model:
The capacitive sensor detects up to 5 simultaneous touches, which is quite enough for any application.
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Telephone featuresokay, the interlocutor's voice sounds clear andloud. I was also heard well, but along with all the surrounding sounds - there is only one microphone here, there is no noise reduction. The application for calls is standard, with Cyrillic in T9 and the ability to record conversations. If you use two SIM cards, the memory expansion will not be available.
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Camerascorrespond to the price category of the smartphone.The main 8-megapixel camera is quite “dark” – the aperture ratio of its optics is only 1:2.8, and the matrix is so-so. “Thanks” If the display is not bright enough, it is uncomfortable to shoot in sunlight - it is not always clear whether the camera is focused or not. Even in good lighting, the image is noticeably noisy, and at dusk or in artificial (non-studio) light there is a lot of noise in the room. Night mode “pull” shadows at the cost of increased noise:
Auto white balance often produces“warm” a reddish picture reminiscent of pictures from old cameras with CCD matrices, and manual selection of white balance from 8 presets is hidden all the way to the third level of the camera settings menu. One-touch adjustment of exposure, ISO and white balance is available, there are no advanced functions there. Exposure is measured, it seems, using the spot method – its level changes very sharply when choosing a measuring point. Contrast autofocus is slow and not always correct.
Camera control has been simplified to the extreme.A horizontal gesture switches only two shooting modes – photo and video, other modes are hidden in the menu, and settings – one level deeper. In Professional mode, basic settings are available with one touch, but this mode does not provide any truly advanced capabilities.
The camera cannot shoot panoramas and HDR, if youthis is necessary– you will have to install a third-party application. Among the useful additional functions, we can note the ZSD function - shooting without delay, which prevents the subject from leaving or moving out of the frame while you press the shutter. True, when shooting fast-moving objects, they turn out distorted (beveled) due to the rolling shutter effect, characteristic of cameras with an electronic shutter, that is, without a mechanical curtain.
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The Bokeh mode turned out to be a common software imitation; then it is not entirely clear why a second camera is needed. Beauty mode can smooth the skin, enlarge the eyes and make the face thinner.
In general, the quality of the photo - just barely a C grade on a five-point scale. Sharpness is mediocre, pale colors, a lot of noise. In general, see for yourself how the camera of the Oukitel C13 Pro shoots:
Gallery with full-size images
The front 5-megapixel camera is a little less noisy, but the colors in the pictures are pale.
Video is recorded with monaural sound and at a resolution of maximum 1080p from the main camera and 720p from the front one. An example of FullHD video from the main camera:
WITHresPmaking musicThe smartphone copes well, both through the speaker,Even in headphones, the sound is reproduced clearly. The only complaints I have are about working with a Bluetooth headset. If the mobile Internet is turned off, the headset works perfectly at a distance of up to 7 meters through two interior partitions in the apartment. But as soon as you turn on data transfer, the transmission of stereo sound via Bluetooth begins to be interrupted, the music “stammers” up to a complete stop, even when the distance between devices is less than half a meter. That is, listening to streaming audio or video via 4G using Bluetooth headphones is simply unrealistic. Yes, I understand that most buyers of such a phone will not buy a wireless headset, and therefore will not notice this drawback, but it still exists.
Navigationworked well using Google Maps, withThere were no problems with the Strava fitness tracker either. The GPS receiver sees about 20 satellites in open areas and uses 12-14 of them, providing accuracy of up to 2-3 meters.
Software
The smartphone runs on a slightly modified OS.Android 9.0 Pie. There is no application menu - all icons, widgets and folders are located just on the desktop. Swipe to the right on the home screen opens the Google application (this option can be disabled). I am glad that there are no pre-installed additional services, test and advertising applications, alternative markets, etc., in most cases they just take up space on the screen and in memory (which is already a bit). All the necessary applications — mail, photo gallery, file manager, maps — from the Google Apps suite; additionally, only a simple audio player (not linked to Play Music) and a voice recorder are installed.
Wide “unibrow”, like the older oneU23 model, leaves little space for notification icons, and the full status bar can only be seen by fully opening the switch panel with two gestures. With a large number of notifications from different applications, this is inconvenient.
The chip of this model is face control, that isunlock by scanning the user's face. This function does not work very quickly, but surprisingly clearly, you only need to adjust to keep the smartphone at the desired distance and correctly direct the camera to the face. Failures, of course, happen, but in general, face control works better than you might expect.
Performance and autonomy
In normal daily work, the C13 Pro does not shineperformance, he is very thoughtful when running applications, and when switching between them, and switching the language on the keyboard takes up to a second. In performance tests, the smartphone loses to the five-year-old LG Nexus 5:
Even a small display resolution did not helpsmartphone to get good marks in 3D tests. And 16 GB of built-in flash memory is not conducive to creating a game library in the phone – After installing only everyday applications, without downloading music and videos to the phone, after 2 weeks of use there was only 2 GB of free space left.
As for me, use on such a gland with twogigabytes of RAM most modern version of the OS in full - not the best idea. Running lightweight Android Go, this smartphone would obviously feel much better and respond faster to user actions. For example, General Mobile GM8 Go, even with one gigabyte of RAM, was much faster and more responsive. Alternatively, you can install Go-versions of applications instead of full-size, at the same time saving some space on the built-in drive. Nevertheless, it is worth noting the stable operation of the smartphone - all applications from my Masthev set started up normally, worked without glitches and freezes. Including fairly resource-intensive Skype and Messenger. You can allow only selected applications to work in the background, which saves both processor resources and traffic.
On one battery charge with my modelUsing (up to 10 short calls, social network messengers at any free minute, surfing the web, a few photos, up to 1 hour of online navigation), the smartphone lives safely from morning to late evening, but no more. If you plan more intensive use (a long trip with a navigator or GPS tracker like Strava, long video viewing, reading or games), then it would not be superfluous to bring along a charge or a power bank.
In the dry residue
The smartphone turned out, frankly, not very goodinteresting. It is quite suitable for calls, simple games, navigation and listening to music. Thanks to the most simplified interface, it would be a good first smartphone for a child or an elderly person. But this is in the absence of alternatives. And they are in the price category of 2000-2500 UAH – a great variety, the search returns more than a hundred smartphones with the same amount of RAM and about a dozen options with 3 GB, all with HD displays, including several models from Xiaomi, TP-Link and Lenovo. True, models from more well-known manufacturers, as a rule, are cheaper due to age, with the 7th or even 6th version of Android, but here is a fresh “nine”.
1 reason to buy Oukitel C13 Pro
- You need a simple and inexpensive smartphone with the current version of Android.
2 reasons not to buy Oukitel C13 Pro
- you need a smartphone with a good camera;
- You are planning to listen to music from your smartphone through wireless headphones.
SpecificationsOukitel C13 Pro
Display
IPS LCD 6.18″, 996×480, 179 ppi
Dimensions
155.5x76x8.3 mm
CPU
Mediatek MTK 6739 (4 cores Cortex A53, 300 MHz…1.5 GHz), IMG 8XE 1PPC 420 MHz graphics
Memory
RAM 2 GB, ROM 16 GB + microSD up to 256 GB (hybrid connector)
Camera
Main: 8 Mp, f / 2.8, + 2 Mp
Front: 5 MP
Interface
microUSB
Wireless technology
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 and 5 GHz), Bluetooth 4.0
Battery
non-removable, lithium polymer, 3000 mAh
operating system
Android 9.0 (Pie)
SIM card
2 x nanoSIM
The fingerprint scanner
on the back panel
OUKITEL C13 Pro
Smartphone with the latest version of Android for minimal money
Of course, no one assigns any specialhopes for a smartphone with such an unpretentious price tag. One of its advantages is its pleasant appearance: thin frame and large screen. Someone may be interested in the appearance, vaguely reminiscent of the iPhone X. The disadvantages are practically everything else: a primitive camera, low performance (there is no smell of multitasking here) and modest autonomy.
Beauty requires sacrifice