It’s always nice to come across a product which is more than the sum of its parts, and which offers a better experience than the price should suggest. And so it is with the new UMI Emax Mini smartphone. This sleek little iPhone clone, looks good and more importantly, works extremely well, and all at a very impressive price.

Actually the specifications are not so shabby. It features a 5 inch IPS OGS 1920×1080 touchscreen, a Qualcomm 1.5GHz 64-bit octa-core processor, 2GB RAM, 16 GB of onboard storage, Android 5.0, dual SIM, microSD slot (max 32GB) and a 13 megapixel Sony stack rear camera. This is not a paltry list at all. Take a look at our video below to see how it does.

First impressions
The phone comes in a nicely designed box, and inside are the usual bits such as a charge block and USB cable, as well as a very simple but helpful user guide. There’s no headset in the box, though, which probably reflects the low price of the product.

In use
But it’s the phone itself which immediately impresses. For one thing, it’s very slim-line, but yet not flimsy. The result is an ultra-lightweight and very comfortable phone in the hand. Which is a welcome departure from the current crop of massive 5.5 inch jugger-screens, which can be very cumbersome. Those of you with smaller hands, or more delicate sensibilities will definitely like this handset.

The screen is nicely bright and clear too, which makes for easy viewing, although some folk might not like the fact that the Home and Options buttons are hidden LED versions, which only make themselves visible when the bottom of the phone is pressed. You soon get used to it, but you need to learn and remember where the back key is, which is not totally intuitive. One other slight disappointment is the fact that the screen does at times become a little insensitive, we’re not sure why, but it can be a little disconcerting when you’re trying to navigate around your apps.

The other great thing about the phone is the fact that they’ve shoe-horned a massive 3050 mAh battery into such a svelte shape. Combined with the smaller 5 inch screen, this means you get a good long amount of use time per charge, easily a day, if not two depending on how much you use it. It’s a great design win. The dual SIM and microSD card slot nestle above the locked in battery, which again is good to see, when other manufacturers are omitting the extra storage slot for some weird reason.

The media capabilities of the phone are also extremely solid. The 13 megapixel camera works well in good light, although it does have a slight tendency to over expose when pushed, and the multimedia capabilities of the octa-core processor is good enough to handle almost any 3D game you throw at it. It’s not the most powerful phone we’ve tested by a long way, but it should be good enough for most people’s every day use. And we love the loud twin speakers located at the base of the phone!

Conclusion
The Emax Mini is a surprising handset in a lot of ways. For one thing it’s a surprisingly powerful phone in such a slim package. Which we think makes it a very attractive ladies phone against some of the monster rivals. The addition of a huge battery also is a delight, typically the battery is much smaller in this screen size. Top that off with 4G/LTE operation and you get a smartphone which is well equipped to handle almost every day to day need. Despite the specs it’s not the fastest phone on the block, but compared with other similarly priced handsets, it’s more than capable enough.

Price: $139.99 / £101.51 ($3 off with coupon GJMWIMFS)

Photo Samples:

Specifications:
Operating System – Android 5.0.2
CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 (MSM8939), 64bit, Cortex-A53 Octa core, 1.5Ghz
GPU Adreno 405
RAM 2GB
ROM 16GB
Extended Storage 32GB

Display
Screen type IPS OGS Full lamination technology
Screen size 5.0 inch
Screen resolution 1920×1080 pixels FHD screen
Screen color 16000K colors

Network
Wireless connectiveity GSM, 3G, 4G, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth
Frequency 2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz
4G: FDD-LTE 1800/2100/2600MHz
Bluetooth Yes, 4.0
WiFi Yes, 802.11b/g/n wireless internet
GPS Yes, built in

Camera
Camera type Dual cameras (one front one back)
Back camera 13.0MP back camera with flashlight and auto focus
Front camera 8.0MP front camera
Video recording Yes

Connectivity
SIM card slot Micro SIM, Dual SIM, Dual standby
TF card slot Yes
Micro USB slot Yes
Audio output Yes (3.5mm audio out port)
Microphone Supported
Speaker Supported
FM radio Yes, earphone needed.

Battery
Battery type Lithium
Capacity 3050mAh Built in
Standby time About 2~3 days

Dimension 139.6×69.6×8.9mm
Weight 130g