LeEco Le Max 2 review: L'etranger

Final words

OK, one has to try really hard to come up with a sillier sounding name but other than that the LeEco Le Max 2 is the real deal. By the way, LeEco will get it right eventually - it's a notable improvement already over the LeTv of old. The name, that is. Because the device is quite good for its price of around $350.

A large QHD screen, the latest premium chipset, metal build, the latest Android and high-res cameras - Chinese superphones have been coming right out of the blue for a couple of seasons now. Meziu, Oppo, Xiaomi have all had their shot and OnePlus didn't think twice to call their debut piece the "flagship killer".

LeEco is no different - it seems though they want to have it both ways. A killer flagship in India, a flagship killer elsewhere. The thing is, the Le Max 2 looks pretty capable of succeeding in this endeavour - a very competitive price, impressive specs and likely easier to get than some of its competitors.

The Le Max 2 boasts a 5.7" QHD screen and the decision to reduce the size compared to the original 6.33" LeTv Le Max makes sense. The phablet is powered by the Snapdragon 820 with either 4 or 6GB of RAM, packed in a beautiful metal unibody.

LeEco Le Max 2 key test findings

• Flagship-grade design: metal unibody with reasonable grip, the right size for a phablet and the only thing we would have changed is the camera hump;
• The rear fingerprint scanner is always on, but it's not as fast as Huawei's. Still, it does a great job improving both the user experience and security;
• The 5.7" IPS display of Quad HD resolution is flagship-worthy with excellent contrast and very good colors. The sunlight legibility could have been a notch better, though;
• The battery endurance rating of 67h is OK for a phablet with a 3,100mAh battery, the web browsing and video playback scores are poor.
• eUI has taken a lot of cues from iOS and MIUI and yet the result is pretty good. We like the fluid interface on top of Android Marshmallow, the available customizations are welcome;
• The Snapdragon 820 chipset, coupled with 6GB of RAM in our case, is the one of the best chipsets to get on Android right now and the performance is up to spec;
• We experienced some unpleasant heating under the capacitive keys below the screen during more serious loading such as benchmarks;
• Video player has very good codec support and seamless 4K video playback;
• Audio output quality via the supplied USB-Type-C-to-3.5mm adapter is solid with pleasantly high volume levels; getting rid of the 3.5mm jack is a bold decision, which however may backfire down the line;
• The loudspeaker scored a Very Good mark on our loudness test. The produced sound is quite pleasant with an above average depth;
• In terms of imaging, the Le Max 2 is getting most things right. There is plenty of detail and the contrast, colors and the dynamic range are quite good. The HDR and Panorama modes are capable as well;
• Selfies are a mixed bag - if you are close enough to the front camera so that your head fills the frame, the quality is top-notch. At an arm's lenght, however, everything is out of focus. It could be just our review unit though so we won't hold a grudge against it;
• The 2160p videos are equally good as the still images from the main camera - fluid framerate, great detail, nice contrast, colors and dynamic range. We only wish the recorded audio was of higher quality.

The LeEco Le Max 2 isn't prefect, but it ticks enough checkboxes on our phablet checklist to make us happy at this price point.

As usual, there are lots of options out there, which you can explore. Given the Le Max 2 costs about $350, we won't be looking into the Galaxy Note series, or the Apple Plus models, but still.

Take the Meizu Pro 5 for example. It has an ample 1080p AMOLED display, a powerful Exynos chipset, and some great camera capabilities, all wrapped up into a metal unibody. The mTouch key is one of the best solutions we've seen on the market, while the Flyme OS is probably as good as eUI sans the LeTV streaming services.

Meizu PRO 5

If you like the LeEco phones, you should definitely explore the rest of the models. The original Le Max is even bigger at 6.3", offers the same screen resolution, camera capabilities, and premium shell. The chipset is the previous-gen Snapdragon 810, but that's still considered flagship-grade. There is no memory expansion though, but you can get it with 64GB or 128GB internal storage.

LeEco Le Max

The Le Pro 2 is cheaper, it packs a 5.5" 1080p display and offers a snappy Helio X25 chip. The camera setup is the same, as is the software package. For the lowered screen resolution and the lesser GPU punch you can save up to €100 depending on the storage options you prefer.

LeEco Le 2 Pro

Then there is the massive 6.44" Xiaomi Mi Max, some $100 cheaper, because of the 1080p screen resolution and Snapdragon 652 chipset. If you are a fan of MIUI and want a phablet with fast performance and premium design, you should definitely check it out - once it makes it to international waters, of course.

Xiaomi Mi Max

Nobody should doubt the Le Max 2 skills and determination. It's one of the better flagship phablets and thanks to its bargain price, many of the shortcomings of this misunderstood foreigner can be forgiven. The industry has been shifting and we suspect that an increasing number of price-conscious buyers will be hopping on the Chinese bandwagon due to the disruptive force, with which it's shaping the traditional markets. The industry will never be the same and we're glad we have front row seats to witness this change in course. This will be fun.

Special thanks to HonorBuy.com for providing the review unit.