LeEco has created the right amount of buzz around the Le 1s and so far it looks like it is paying off big time! The phone seems to have caught the fancy and the imagination of the Indian Buyer in a big way. The response seems to be very positive. Going by the numbers that LeEco have released, the device is a hit. Apart from all these, there a few reasons why the Le 1s is good news for the average indian mobile buyer in the overall scheme of things this year. Let us see what they are
This year has started brilliantly on the mobile device front, we had the Coolpad Note 3 Lite making the budget segment quite literally sing. Lenovo came out with the K4Note and Vibe X3. Overall, just a month or so into this year and we are impressed already! But the Le 1s is a different sort of a device. It signals some good things. They are
- LeEco means business and is here to stay – The company is a mammoth entity in China and has the wherewithal to go the full hog. Even during the launch event, the country manager for India was very clear that they did not mind taking a hit in the pricing to get traction with the user base and establish a presence. Been a while since a company said that openly. The last time this happened was when the Mi3 was launched by Xiaomi and they revealed the price. LeEco executives made it clear that the indian market means a lot to them and they are in for the long haul! How is this good for you and me? Well, when one mobile maker disrupts and catches the base, others are forced to compete. In that scenario, there is clearly one winner – the buyer!
- The hardware and specification game went up a notch – Well, both the devices that LeEco came out with are very well spec-ed and thought out. The Le 1s will not leave you wanting for power or performance. The RAM and the processor are above average, to put it lightly. Actually, the performance is butter smooth. They have done this at a very competitive price point. So what does that mean to you and me? Well, to put it simply, after the Le 1s, the budget segment has very clearly been turned over it’s head. The next devices that come out in this segment will have to take it up a notch from here or at least match this. So we can rest assured that the power-budget segment is alive and thriving.
- Top Level Design just became very affordable – One look at the Le 1s and you know that it screams premium value. The material is top notch. The design is great and the overall feel is that of flagship level crafting. The full metal unibody design without the usual screws and cut-outs is very nice to feel in the hand. The OS on the phone also has a UI that is very different from what we are used to seeing so far. There are some quirks, but nothing that OTA(s) cannot fix and we’re sure they’re working on them now.
- The content network behind your phone – LeEco in China is one of the biggest content providers and they even have a movie production house. The content library that they have at their disposal is quite mind-boggling. The Indian version of that is a bit scaled down for now, but I see that it will change in the future and you will quite literally be carrying a minefield of content in your pocket.
And to conclude, LeEco is looking to take on the big boys, and have made that very clear in the approach they have taken to the indian market. Hence, the indian buyer can rejoice. We are eagerly waiting for their next offerings and more importantly how the competitors react to this.
About LeEco : LeEco, formerly known as Letv, is a global pioneering internet and technology company with multiple internet ecosystems across content, devices, applications and platforms. Founded in November 2004 by Jia Yueting and Liu Hong, LeEco employs nearly 10,000 people and is the world’s first video company to go public with a market capitalization of more than $12 billion USD. Headquartered in Beijing, China, it has regional headquarters in Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Silicon Valley.
With disruptive innovation as the guiding principle, LeEco is engaged in myriad businesses, spanning Internet TV, video production and distribution, smart gadgets and large-screen applications to e-commerce, eco-agriculture and connected super-electric cars. The company also has one of the world’s largest content libraries which includes movies, TV dramas, entertainment shows, sports and music, which can be viewed on LeEco devices like Superphones and Super TVs. Breaking the barriers of innovation, LeEco provides personalized products and services for an enhanced user experience at disruptive prices.