LeEco came to India and promised value added features by way of their content ecosystem here. And they have started delivering on that promise with the Le 1s Eco. They have got their content partnerships going and the device comes with integrated content delivery on their platform with Eros Now and YuppTV. I spent some time with this new device and here are my first impressions
The Le 1s Eco inherits its design genes from the Le 1s. The same screw-less industrial design which is wholly metal based. The now popular gold finish and the excellent display. No change in the overall language but subtle design changes that are based on user feedback exist. The angle of tapering of the edge has changed and gripping becomes easier. The sides, top and bottom have a matte finish now.
But then, all the differences are under the hood. A small list here
- The processor has changed. Most people have been claiming that LeEco has under-clocked the processor to prevent heating, that is not true. They have gone with the different processor from Mediatek in the Helios Family – the 6795mm processor that runs at 1.8 GHz
- The Front camera has some marked improvements, but it is still FF and not AF. The images were showing visible improvement in comparison to the Le 1s
- The device comes integrated with Supertainment and an Ecosystem-based membership program is an incredible offer that is hard-to-pass up. With this launch, the global internet and technology conglomerate, LeEco has started a mini- revolution in Indian smartphone phone market, by going where no smartphone company has gone before. The Le1s Eco has innovated in setting consumer expectations about the entire value proposition of smartphones and taking the competition a notch up over the specification based confusion that prevails in the market by packaging content and services worth nearly Rs 5000/- in a phone with remarkably high-end features.
- There’s a live icon in the persistent bottom row of the home screen that takes you into the Yupp TV interface where you get a mind-boggling number of live streaming TV content and if you have an active LeTv account, each of these tiles plays live as soon as you get into it. The resolution is pretty neat and with an upcoming OTA update, you will be able experience this across all your LeEco devices with the LeTV id.
- The LeVidi app gives you access to a large number of blockbuster content from Eros Now. Through your LeTV id, you get access to all the premium content on ErosNow, the latest blockbusters in multiple languages included
Overall, it is refreshing to see that LeEco has moved into improving the content ecosystem and put the spotlight on the experience that a user gets. The focus on making the phone a part of the users lifestyle as something that adds value to both productivity and content consumption is a very disruptive step indeed.
I have not spoken about the specs much here and don’t intend to, the phone is far more than just a spec based choice here. Will take a deep dive in the review coming up soon. For now, it’s a Go for Eco! The name is tongue twister though!
