Today we have on test are a very unusual smartphone to 2017 – BQ Strike Mini released not only from the masses, but even among his classmates. The machine was so original, and how affordable – it costs much, much less than $ 100, so even in the crisis in Russia to afford it all.
Yeah, BQ Strike Mini is cheaper, than the glorious Nokia 3310 2017 release, but the Mini is a full – fledged smartphone on a modern version of Android, while the 3310 is the usual phone buttons, albeit with a sonorous, well-known name.
In a nutshell, is why we believe BQ Strike Mini very original on the background of the phablets with screens of 5.5 inches and above, which have become the most popular in the world, this gadget looks very compact due to its 4-inch display. While it runs on Android 7 Nougat, and he has a powerful hardware compared to other smartphones with the same dimensions, even with the Apple iPhone SE, that is worth at least 6 times more expensive. More about all this, read on.
Packaging
Compact smartphone is a compact box, and in the case of BQ Strike Mini it is also very roomy. Packing of the device is gorgeous, especially for ultrabudgetary segment: neprobivaemy dense cardboard, bright colors, and most importantly – maximum performance.
Studying the box with BQ within a Mini Strike, you can evaluate its appearance, however, only in the gold color of the case (came to us a different shade), but from all sides. Also not forgotten are the lists of specifications and complete accessories, plus at the end there is information on the basic features of a smartphone. So, all the necessary information about the cell phone you can learn on the spot, without unpacking it, and not wasting time on surfing the web.
Equipment
Here it is necessary to clarify once again that we are dealing with a very, VERY affordable smartphone: at the time of this writing it costs only 3000 rubles. Therefore, to count on any unique accessories there’s no sense of the minimal by modern standards, the money you get a full gadget for connection with the support of modern technology, and for all the rest be welcome in the more expensive segment.
So, in the box with BQ Strike Mini has the Essentials: charger, data cable, user manual and warranty card. Headphones he does not rely, but personally we didn’t like the lack of film on the screen – surely the finest piece of transparent plastic could not save.
Features
Hardware specs – this is exactly what is surprising in BQ Strike Mini most. From such a small device is waiting for any 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB of internal memory, without navigation and front camera, and all these expectations smartphone, fortunately, is not justified. It is significantly more powerful, however, if you complain, we didn’t like its screen. Otherwise, for 3000 rubles all gorgeous. But, if you think we perevalivaet Mini, you just think the questions we have, and a lot. A little bit about them later, but for now specifications.
– display: 4 inches TN 800×480 pixels;
– CPU: SpreadTrum SC7731C, 4 cores;
– video: built-in Mali-400MP
– memory: 1 GB RAM, 8 GB ROM, microSD up to 32GB;
– interfaces: microSD, microUSB 2.0, 3.5 mm, 2xSIM;
– wireless connectivity: GSM, 3G, GSM, FM, Wi-Fi 802.11 n, Bluetooth 2.1;
– OC: Android 7 Nougat, interface, Material UI;
camera: frontal 2 MP, the main 5 MP;
– battery: removable, Li-ion, 1300 mAh;
– dimensions: 127х66х12 mm;
– weight: 128 grams;
– housing material: plastic, metal;
– case color: black, gold, blue, gray, silver, rose gold.
From all the above we should pay attention on a huge public sector for the number of shades of the body, and also on the volume of operational and permanent memory. But the matrix TN is superfluous – better to raise the price of 500-1000 rubles and to establish a normal modern IPS. The Bluetooth module is also obsolete and slow, plus not enough batteries more, but everything else was great.
Appearance
Smartphone BQ Strike Mini looks quite bearable, and it even has metal parts – almost the entire rear cover is cast of aluminum, a pleasant coolness is felt every time they take my cell phone in hand. Front – glossy black (in our case, sometimes white) plastic without any protection, and he is very much soiled, collecting traces from each contact. The back cover is generally not contaminated.
What pleased, because it’s touch sensitive and slightly larger in size touch control buttons under the display, so that the working area of the screen they do not conceal. On a 5-point scale appearance BQ Mini Strike deservedly receives the highest score.
Ergonomics
Due to their small size BQ Strike Mini is excellent in that the man’s palm, and it is easy to use with one hand – the thumb can reach any corner of the screen without any difficulty. Metal cover and wide ends does not allow the phone to slip out, and the buttons, touchscreen, and hardware, grope fingers very easily.
These buttons, incidentally, are located where they should be: touch displayed on the front panel and the power key and volume controls can be found on the right side. From the bottom of the smartphone are distinguishable, there is only a microphone hole, and the entrance under the headphones and the microUSB port are displayed on the top face.
The front above the screen there are sensors, proximity and light, earpiece and front camera, and behind you can see the main camera with flash. But the basic dynamics here is not quite the word: its functions are performed by the earpiece above the display. Why exactly is unknown, was apparently trying to save.
Metal back cover is removable as incredibly hard, so don’t even try to do this using a nail – you will lose them, guaranteed. Under it we see the battery compartment and separate 2xSIM slots and microSD, but without hot swap: they need to install previously removed battery.
Screen
Display BQ Mini Strike simultaneously pleased and disappointed. Let’s list the disadvantages first, leaving dignity for later, and begin with the matrix: it is a TN panel, obsolete, and smartphone 2017 she did not place. In this case, it completely fades in the sun, and she has quite bad viewing angles, especially horizontally – even in non-critical corners there is a very strong color inversion.
But there is screen BQ Strike Mini and the pros: oddly enough, it passes quite juicy picture (for a budget smartphone, of course), and unless you look closely, the grain is almost not visible. Plus, very excited to be able to scale the image in Android 7 even on such a small screen you can fit a lot of information.
The touch screen always responds correctly to touch, but it supports only 2 simultaneous touch is that in some applications and may prove to be insufficient.
Sound
As a speaker at BQ Mini Strike just one, consider its capabilities during a call and when listening to music. In the first case, everything is fine: the audibility level smart phones with triple the price, and then complain about strongly to nothing.
Listening to music all, to put it mildly, complicated: dynamics is not enough mid and low frequencies and at maximum volume it starts to wheeze and choke, so music, this smartphone will not be called. Microphone Mini works quite well: on a solid 4-ku 5.
Camera
Cameras have BQ Mini Strike two: one front with a resolution of 2 MP and one main 5-megapixel, but there is clearly not without software interpolation. Simply speaking, both cameras shoot literally all the money, but let’s not forget about the cost of mobile – 3000 rubles.
For its price the camera in BQ Strike Mini is quite decent – enough for a great picture in the light of the day, but at night and under artificial light they both fold, reducing detail and dramatically increasing the amount of noise. Flash main camera based on a single led and has an average brightness level are not configurable.
Software
BQ Strike Mini , unlike 99% on the Russian market in the category up to 5,000 rubles is based on OS Android 7 is Android 6 and especially the Android 5.1, which has long been obsolete. Recent software is perfectly optimized to work on a small screen and is able to operate very fast with 1 GB of RAM, so the speed of the shell has no issues, especially during testing on the smartphone arrived one firmware update.
But there are questions to content OS: BQ once again stuffed the phone a bunch of useless apps occupying memory, means here not so much. 9 third-party programs plus services from Google that nobody wants – all this is impossible to remove by standard means, but, fortunately, can be disabled. Root smartphone be very simple, and that’s when all of this stuff you can get for a couple of minutes.
Additional functions of the firmware BQ Strike Mini are a built-in startup Manager. By default after the first launch remain free 476 MB of RAM and 3.84 GB of permanent memory, and remove the garbage AT will free at least 400 MB of ROM, and it’s, you know, not so little.
Performance
High performance from BQ Mini Strike nobody expected – counted for a maximum of 15,000 points in AnTuTu, yet the CPU is not even from MediaTek and SpreadTrum at all, but, nevertheless, he was able to demonstrate a higher result. In AnTuTu, the smartphone has earned almost 21,000 points, and GeekBench gave him a 381 score in single-core and 931 points in multi-core modes.
Also BQ Strike Mini tested in Quadrant Standard, and here the overall result was more than 5500 points. All three benchmark appreciated the computing power of the CPU, but put a low rating built into his chart, so play on this smartphone modern games with good graphics will not work.
Work offline
1300 mAh is a lot or not for a 4-inch smartphone? A specific question has no answer: at maximum load we emptied the battery in 4 hours, but this is the maximum screen brightness, HD video from YouTube via 3G and some toys and social networking.
In General, with moderate use a day and a half of battery charge should be enough, but it is his maximum. However, few people will take a 4-inch smartphone for Internet and instant messengers – for most needs it as a regular phone, and the additional capacity will be used as needed. In this case, two-day battery life is quite real, and if you disable (or even delete) all third-party software, then you can squeeze out of the smartphone a little bit more.
Total, autonomy BQ Strike Mini is quite good to carry a charger every day is not required, but if calls during the day a lot, an external battery or spare battery is very useful.
Conclusion
In the end, the smartphone BQ Strike Mini for your money is very good – for 3000 rubles to wish for more just pointless, and if you need a unit with navigation, 3G Internet and modern IOS, it makes sense to buy BQ Strike Mini .
Disadvantages he, like other things available, but, surprisingly, not so much, as it could be. The smartphone is well balanced and will please its owner with reliability and, not least, lack the budget gap, which could be formed after the purchase of the more expensive models with similar characteristics.
Pros BQ Strike Mini
metal rear panel;
– low cost;
– Android 7;
– lots of RAM and ROM;
– wide variety of shades of the body;
– good autonomy.
Cons BQ Strike Mini
matrix TN screen;
– lack of underlying dynamics;
– pre-installed adware.
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