Functional Elegance: TP-LINK Neffos X9 Smartphone

The TP-LINK brand is best known as a manufacturer of Wifi routers. Let's get to know this company better and find out what else it produces, in particular, let's talk about the new product of 2018 - the Neffos X9 smartphone.

About TP-LINK

The Chinese company TP-Link belongs to the international manufacturers of equipment (computer and telecommunications). TP-Link is known for its equipment, mastering smart home technology and starting to produce phones. In 2015, the firm introduced its Neffos line of smartphones. The company aims to achieve the next goal in relation to its smartphones - to produce high-quality devices that meet modern requirements.

TP-Link pays much attention to the needs of users, they apply new developments in their gadgets. Quality is strictly controlled, and smartphones go through many stages of verification.Neffos tries to maintain a balance between everyday life and technology in order to make it easy for the user to interact with the device.

The principle of Neffos is functional elegance.

Phones produced by TP-Link belong to the budget price category.

The company introduced a new product in 2018 - TP-LINK Neffos X9, which, despite its low cost, has a number of advantages and features.

The basic characteristics of the smartphone are presented in the table:

Smartphone Features

The gadget has a low price, which is achieved due to:

• material - polycarbonate, which is used for the back panel;
• the screen has a relatively low resolution - HD +;
• processor - MediaTek (8-cores).

The novelty is characterized by modern trends:

• elongated display with an aspect ratio of 18:9, FullView;
• dual rear camera has the function of creating pictures with bokeh effect;
• unlocking - face recognition;
• fast battery charge;
• The WiFi module has an amplifier function.

Thus, although the phone turned out to be a budget phone, it also has features that can be found in expensive smartphones.

Equipment

The delivery of the TP-LINK Neffos X9 smartphone is carried out in a box, the main color of which is white. The box has a picture of a phone and a sticker with warranty information. The warranty is 2 years.If you open the box, you will find a smartphone inside, a device for charging it, a MicroUSB cable, headphones, documentation, a key to extract the slot, and a bumper made of transparent silicone.

Design

The device combines sophisticated design and practicality for use. The back panel is made of polycarbonate which has a metallic look. Pleasant to the touch. In the center of the rear panel is the Neffos logo, a higher fingerprint unlock scanner and a dual rear camera. The camera module is covered with glass for protection and protrudes slightly above the phone panel. There is a flash on the side of the camera, and an additional microphone on top. The smartphone is available in two colors - silver and black.

At the bottom of the display is the Neffos logo, at the top is the camera, LED indicator and sensors. On the bottom of the smartphone are round holes, under which are the speaker and microphone.

In the middle is a microUSB connector. The top edge consists of a headphone jack, which has a size of 3.5 mm. The volume keys are located on the right edge of the phone, and below them is the power button. The SIM card slot occupies the left side of the smartphone.

Display

The display of the smartphone has a diagonal of 5.99 inches. Screen with IPS (In-Plane Switching) matrix.

• images are of high quality;
• color reproduction is as natural as possible;
• high brightness and contrast.

• more energy is consumed in comparison with other types of matrices;
• the price is usually higher for this type of screens.

The device has a FullView display with HD + resolution (1440x720 pixels), the aspect ratio of which is 18:9.The edges of the protective glass have a 2.5D rounding. On the sides of the display are frames, the size of which corresponds to 1.9 mm. There is no monobrow in this model. The pixel density is 269 ppi. The display makes up approximately 86% of the front surface of the smartphone.

You can customize the screen in your phone only with basic settings, such as adjusting to change the brightness, choosing the font size and mode for protecting your eyes. The eye protection function is a mode that reduces eye strain, which is achieved by reducing cold radiation by 89%. With continuous use, this function can be set to automatically turn on. To do this, set a specific time. Also, the screen of the smartphone adjusts the brightness to the ambient light in the dark. But in bright light, the screen is hard to see.

Ways to unlock your device

For TP-LINK Neffos X9 users, there are two unlock methods to choose from. The first one, which has long become familiar, is by fingerprint, and the second is carried out using face recognition. The second option, thanks to the support of artificial intelligence technology, is able to determine over 100 individual facial features of the owner. The security of this type of unlocking is at a high level, since there is a TrustZone storage.

Camera

The rear camera consists of two modules with a resolution of 13 megapixels and 5 megapixels. Autofocus is fast enough. With an aperture of f/2.0, pictures are brighter by capturing more light. The front camera with a resolution of 8 MP and Beautify mode (10 levels of processing) allows you to create selfies that emphasize dignity and beauty.Also, the camera is able to create selfies in a group, as it has a wide viewing angle (86 °). In the evening, the photos are no longer clear enough.

Snapshot example:

CPU

TP-LINK Neffos X9 is powered by MediaTek MT6750 processor. MediaTek is a lesser known processor company than Qualcomm Snapdragon. The company has only recently started building its own processors, but has already gained notoriety for its low cost and good features. This processor is classified as inexpensive, thanks to which the TP-LINK Neffos X9 smartphone is a budget model. The processor is not the latest and does not have the highest performance.

The processor is eight-core and consists of two parts. The first four cores operate at a frequency of 1 GHz. This part is needed for lighter tasks and energy saving. The second four cores operate at a frequency of 1.5 GHz and turn on when shooting video and using games and applications. The processor also has an ARM Mali graphics accelerator with a frequency of 520 MHz. For modern games, the phone is not quite suitable, as they take too long to load, the frame rate suffers and applications work only at the minimum settings.

Memory

The main memory is 3 GB, and the internal memory has 32 GB. The developers provide memory expansion through a slot for a second SIM-card. Instead, the user has the option to install a microSD card.

Battery charge

The built-in battery has a capacity of 3060 mAh, fast charging is provided.

The smartphone with maximum use lasts a day and a half. If necessary, power saving modes (maximum and smart) can be used. In the mode of using social networks and active online communication, the phone lasts 36 hours.But, nevertheless, the battery is discharged quickly enough. If you use your smartphone even moderately (social networks, browser, audio and video), then its charge will last only a day. In game and video mode, the phone will last half a day.

Communications

The gadget has a dual-band Wi-Fi module, which models in the higher price category usually have. There is Bluetooth 4.1, LTE. There is no NFC function.

Audio

The device has an AWINIC K8 Audio amplifier, which is able to maintain the required audio volume level even with a minimum charge level.

Smartphone interface

The phone is based on the mobile operating system Android 8.1 (NFUI 8.0). The user himself chooses what will be the interface - either several desktops, or a separate menu. The curtain on top can be changed, round icons are easy to swap. The application manager consists of cards. You can close apps all at once, pin certain apps, or use split-screen mode. The capabilities of the smartphone also include gesture control, which is carried out using a touch button on the screen and drawing various characters.

The smartphone has new unique features from TP-Link: access to a Wi-Fi network by sending a QR code or in another convenient way, a Wi-Fi signal booster using the "Network Expansion" function. The TP-Link Tether app allows you to manage your router settings with your smartphone. Since one of the areas of development of TP-Link is a “smart” home, the smartphone has an application for managing such a home.

NFI 8.0

NFUI is a mobile operating system developed for Neffos.NFUI works like a smart assistant for the user, as it is based on understanding of the interaction between a person and a smartphone, usability and simplicity of design, user experience and thoughtful functional improvements.

Applications launch faster thanks to system optimizations for faster downloads. When you run the application, the octa-CPU is accelerated at the same time. NFUI 8.0 is 78% faster than the previous NFUI 2.0 shell.

There is a pocket mode. This mode ensures that when the smartphone is in your pocket, the screen does not light up when receiving notifications to reduce power consumption.

The company provides strict manufacturing standards for stability and safety. Every step, from raw material to mass production, goes through thousands of tests to ensure the best quality that can be guaranteed for a smartphone.

Reviews

According to user reviews, the smartphone is quickly discharged. The sound in the headphones is not of high quality (not enough high frequencies). The solid appearance of the smartphone is noted, pleasant even at the touch of a button, the screen with rounded edges and the solidity of the device. The large screen also appealed to many users. Buyers are pleased with the presence of a silicone bumper and a protective film in the kit. The disadvantage is the lack of a separate slot for a memory card. The phone also gets very hot.

Conclusion

Let's summarize based on the characteristics and reviews discussed earlier. Let's take a closer look at its positive and negative sides.

• unlocking is carried out by face recognition and is safe, since the device recognizes many facial features of the owner and has TrustZone storage;
• fast battery charge;
• screen with good color reproduction;
• proprietary Wi-Fi functions;
• eye protection feature.

• due to a weak processor, it is not suitable for games, as the performance is low;
• not enough quality pictures;
• lack of NFC;
• weak battery.

So what do we have when we talk about TP-LINK Neffos X9? A mid-range smartphone that is not suitable for "heavy" games, but has some additional features. The company has tried and made the smartphone interesting due to proprietary features, of course related to Wi-Fi. The camera is dual, but despite its compliance with modern trends, it does not differ in excellent quality.