Oukitel Original One Smartphone Review

The boxy black chassis gives an overall plain impression with its sharp edges and defined corners that make it somewhat similar to an old Kindle Fire. The unit is plastic on all sides with a unique back cover curvature design to avoid the cheap smooth texture normally found on flat plastic backs. The matte surface certainly hides fingerprints quite well especially compared to the glossy front. Like many other smartphones with removable covers, optional colors are available including Blue, Red, Teal, and Green.

Case quality is solid with no weak areas or creaking. Major twists and bends are difficult to perform as the device is quite rigid. A few competing 4.5-inch models are even thicker than the Original One, such as the LG L Fino and HTC One Mini 2, and offer higher build quality. Our Oukitel model is also longer in length than other similarly-sized smartphones and has a bigger front bezel around the screen as a result.

The standard and expected micro-USB 2.0 and 3.5 mm audio ports are both present along with a MicroSDHC slot, the latter of which is incredibly important considering that internal storage space is only limited to 4 GB. Like most Android devices since Jelly Bean, USB On-the-Go is supported for connecting generic mice and keyboards. It's worth noting that the battery itself does not need to be removed in order to access the MicroSD slot. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the SIM slots.

Wireless includes 802.11 b/g/n with integrated Bluetooth and Miracast. We experienced no connectivity issues when connected to Bluetooth audio devices or a standard home network.

The box includes a user manual, warranty card, AC power adapter, micro-USB cord and an additional screen protector. A pair of inexpensive earphones are also included, which is a good extra considering the price.

Oukitel provides the standard one-year manufacturer warranty while the reseller 1949deal will offer refunds and replacements within a couple of days of receiving the shipment.

The 4.5-inch WVGA display offers a relatively low pixel density of about 217 PPI. The screen itself is of low quality with pixelated images and unimpressive colors. Even without referring to our detailed grayscale analyses below, the color temperature is overly cool right from the get-go.

Despite all the negatives, the display backlight is quite bright at well over 400 nits on maximum for a respectable contrast of about 700:1 with no significant backlight bleeding. This should theoretically make the smartphone great for videos, but quality is held back by its low resolution, small display, and inaccurate colors.

Surface temperature is uniform on both sides when system activity is low. Gaming or prolonged browsing will cause a higher rise in temperature on the side of the phone closest to the earpiece and camera. This is common on most smartphones as the logic board is located in this space above the battery. Our maximum recorded surface temperature of about 40 C is on the high side for a low-power device and is somewhat similar to the Huawei Ascend G6. Fortunately, it is not alarmingly high to have any significant impact on user comfort.

A removable 1600 mAh Li-Ion battery provides a runtime of a little over 6.5 hours of constant WLAN use at 150 nit brightness (or a setting of about 40 percent). This is slightly below average compared to some competing models as detailed on our table below. At worst, users can expect to get 3 hours of constant use at maximum screen brightness and high processing loads.