Smartphone TP-LINK Neffos C5A - advantages and disadvantages

TP-Link continues to delight its fans with budget news. Each time they present to the market inexpensive devices with quite decent characteristics. And today, the TP-Link Neffos C5A smartphone “flew into the review”. The announcement of this model took place on February 15, 2018. Fans of simple mobile devices, he liked.

It has a 2-year warranty and costs only 5000 rubles. This phone is perfect for work and study.

Design and assembly of the device

This budget option does not stand out in design. Simple design and nothing more. At first glance, it looks like an ordinary gray brick. There are no inscriptions or drawings on the front.There is a strange thing here that is almost never found in a series of budget smartphones - a front camera flash! This feature is not installed on all phones, even the middle class.

The model has only one body color - gray-blue. Naturally, the lid is made of medium quality plastic. But for this price you won't find a better gadget.

Unfortunately, the glass does not have an oleophobic coating, but this is not critical for a budget model.

The removable back cover may creak a little if you press it hard. Under normal use, such defects do not appear.

Layout

The table shows the main characteristics of the device:

On the front are:

• Eye of the front camera;
• Front camera flash;
• Proximity sensor;
• Speaker for talking.

3 navigation buttons are installed at the bottom of the display. They work without backlight.

The volume button and the power button are located on the right side. But there is nothing on the left side.

The microUSB port and the only speaker are placed on the lower right side.

The headphone jack is located on the top edge and is shifted slightly to the right.

The peephole of the main camera and the LED flash are installed on the rear panel at the top. A little lower is the inscription Neffos.

The main speaker and the inscription TP-Link are installed at the bottom. The two small dot-shaped protrusions near the speaker are designed to keep the sound from being muffled when placed on a flat surface.

Under the lid are:

• Flash card slot;
• Slots for two micro-sim cards;
• Removable battery.

Ergonomics

This phone is quite compact. Everything is strict here: the average screen size, small dimensions and average weight. Also nothing special is different from other cheap models.

Screen

On a budget device put a five-inch screen. LCD matrix type. This is the cheapest matrix possible. This screen has a resolution of 854x480 pixels. This is perhaps the only drawback of this device. The weak matrix also affected the low resolution of the display. And in principle, there is nothing to sin, because for such money it is very difficult to find a good device for study and work.

Accordingly, the screen lacks brightness and contrast. Viewing angles are generally a problem. Even if you tilt the device a little to the side, it will be problematic to see the time. But there are also advantages: for example, if you are on the subway or on the bus and you urgently need to send an SMS, then in this case, the person sitting or standing in the neighborhood will not see the content.

But looking at the price, we can conclude that competitors in this price range do not have a better screen.

MiraVision serves as a regular screen adjustment tool. With this feature, you can configure:

• Brightness;
• Saturation;
• Contrast;
• Image mode.

But these features won't solve problems with poor screen quality, as there are no viewing angles.

Performance

Performance also does not stand out much. A typical state employee with a MediaTek processor is the MT6580.The processor is equipped with 4 cores with a clock frequency of 1.3 GHz. Mali-400 MP2 serves as the video core. The developers have allocated little memory: 8 gigabytes of built-in and 1 - operational. Such a RAM will pull the weakest games, and on average it will already start to slow down.

The phone itself works quite fast and without sagging. Great for the average user who is interested in listening to music, chatting in instant messengers, surfing the Internet and just making calls. It will be problematic to cope with other functions of the phone.

cameras

The main camera has 5 megapixels. This means that it is not suitable for normal photos. Normally shoots only in conditions of excellent lighting. In low or even medium light, the pictures are blurry. But there is a camera shutter and image autofocus. This is not often seen in state employees. Image detailing is at a very low level, but there are competitors' phones for such a price, the main camera of the TP-Link Neffos C5A looks decent enough.

The smartphone is capable of recording video at a resolution of 1920x1020. However, given the weak camera module, this advantage will not allow you to record good video. Electronic stabilization smooths out these disadvantages a little.

The quality of the front camera is only suitable for Skype video calls. Resolution is only 2 megapixels. Only programs such as Skype can more or less work with this camera. If you try to make a call in viber, then the maximum that will be on the screen is the pixels that cover the face. The physiognomy, of course, can be seen, but it will be a big problem.

There are face enhancement and panorama modes in the camera menu, but they also work poorly.

Autonomy of work

There is a removable battery 2300 milliamp hours, which is quite enough for a full day of work. Since it is designed for basic functions only, the battery will not drain quickly. If such a battery were on a more powerful model, then it would be discharged much faster. And on this device, the battery capacity can be enough for more than one day. If you use in active mode, the phone will be discharged after 5 hours.

In standby mode, it can lie from 4 days, and in the mode of infrequent calls, you will have to charge after 2 days.

Communication opportunities

As for the sound quality, everything here is at a good level. Despite the fact that both the main speaker and earpiece have good volume, the sound quality is still lame. In headphones, the sound is also of poor quality, as if recorded through a voice recorder. Wireless modules work without failures.

Device firmware and software

Works with Android 7.0 operating system. Despite the fact that the control is identical to pure Android, the NFUI shell is not quite installed here, but the proprietary one. Compared to the Neffos X1 series, it is noticeable that the developers have added a feedback application, and also slightly redesigned the settings menu. The firmware itself works well. Bugs and failures were not noticed.

The settings have the following features:

• Wi-Fi;
• Bluetooth;
• SIM card management;
• Data transfer;
• Screen control;
• Extra options.

The phone information section contains the following information:

• System update;
• System version;
• Build number;
• Detailed model name;
• Legal information;
• General information;
• Latest system update;
• Firmware communication module.

Conclusion

• Affordable price;
• The software works flawlessly;
• Consumes little energy;
• In the talk mode, it lasts for 2 days;
• For its price, it is quite smart;
• Warranty 2 years;
• There is a front camera flash;
• Autofocus on the main camera.

• Weak screen resolution;
• Bad brightness;
• The camera shoots badly;
• The front camera is not suitable for selfies (except for video calls);
• Small amount of memory;
• Plastic case;
• When you press hard on the lid, it starts to creak.

In general, this is a typical budget smartphone, where the cost is equal to the quality of the device. The device, which costs $75, is able to satisfy only undemanding users who are content with basic functions. Suitable for schoolchildren and students, or for the elderly who want to look stylish.

The main advantage is the correct operation of the operating system! Also, a 24-month warranty cannot but rejoice. That is, if system breakdowns occur due to the fault of the manufacturer, then it will fix everything for free, if the warranty period has not expired.