UMi Plus E First Impressions

UMi have been around for quite a while now; right from the time MediaTek first burst on to the smartphone scene to now, when the Taiwanese fabricator makes some seriously powerful mobile SoCs.

UMi make a lot of phones each year in order to keep up to grips with the market. So many that I can hardly recall most of them. One UMi phone that I did find impressive at the time of launch as the UMi Plus E. While it may not have a name you’ll remember forever (the use of a solo vowel does seem a bit odd for reasons unknown), it does feature an incredibly stylish design (much more so in person than in pictures) and certainly some power packed spec.

I thus gladly accepted the offer to review this phone on GizChina, and here we are. The Plus E landed at my doorstep after taking a bit of a bashing, but that would only be the first of the two times I’d appreciate the retail packaging.

I haven’t used an UMi phone in a long time now so I’m not really aware how their retail packages are these days. But if they’re anything like that on the Plus E, you’re in safe hands. The packaging isn’t just pleasing to the eye, it is also extremely compact and offers protection to the phone (it’s sometimes needed, as it turns out).

Coming to the phone itself, I’m in two minds about it after spending an hour or so with it. Make no mistake — I’m absolutely digging the matte black (I’m a huge fan of matte black stuff) visually, but it’s a little disappointing to see the rear that’s again a bit uninspired.

The quality of the materials used though, seems absolutely top notch. I’m yet to drop the phone (I almost did, and most certainly had a heart attack) but it looks like it’ll certainly be able to take a few of those.

A couple of things that I haven’t absolutely loved:

• The home button has an ever so slight play in it
• Power button feedback is poor (seems like a QC issue because all other buttons besides the power and home seem just fine)
• USB Type-C port doesn’t work well with cables other than the one provided

What I absolutely love:

• How it looks
• How it feels in the hand (despite being slightly on the heavier side)
• Gorgeous display
• The peace of mind when you know your phone has 6GB RAM

This is about it for now. Come on I’ve only spent an hour with it, tops!

You will learn more about the UMi Plus E in the full review in the next couple of weeks (there’s the Mi Mix and Mi 5s Plus to get out of the way before that). Also expect to see a photo feature of the Plus E.

You can purchase the UMi Plus E from stores like Banggood, GearBest, etc.

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