[REVIEW] Siswoo Cooper i7: octa-core, 64 bits, 4G, IPS HD 5", 2GB de RAM, 16GB ROM

mdabar

Recently the young Chinese company Siswoo announced their second Android model, taking advantage of the new 64 bits processors from MediaTek.

As I have already told before, those Chinese manufacturers are each time copying (imitating less) and willing more to highlight something from their own. Today Siswoo is presenting the Cooper i7, and before going into the review, I cannot hide... it's a bullet!

Hardware

Those are the specifications of the last Siswoo smartphone:

Brand / Model SISWOO Cooper i7
System Android 5.0 Lollipop
CPU MT6752 Octa Core 1.7GHz
GPU Mali-T760
RAM 2GB
ROM 16GB
Extend card MAX supports 32GB Class 10 Micro SD Memory Card (TF-Card)
Screen IPS-LCD 5.0 inch HD with 1280×720 and 16 Million Colors
Color White / Dark Blue
Dimensions 146 x 71 x 8.9 mm
Net Weight 130g with battery
Front Camera 5.0 mega pixel, supports Skype Video Calls
Rear Camera 8.0 mega pixel / Auto Focus / Flash Light
Bands 2G GSM: 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz ; 3G WCDMA: 850 / 900 / 2100 MHz; 4G TDD-LTE: 1900 / 2400 / 2600 MHz FDD-LTE: 800 / 1800 / 2600 MHz
Dual Sim Sim 1: LTE/WCDMA/GSM ; Sim 2: Micro Sim, GSM
Data transfer Bluetooth 4.0, USB 2.0
Internet WiFi, EDGE, GPRS, UMTS, HSPA, HSPA+, FDD-LTE
GPS GPS
Extra Features G-sensor, P-Sensor, L-Sensor, FM radio, Wifi, GPS, Multi-touch, Dual SIM, Schedule Power on/off, E-compass, Hall IC,Gravity Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Light Sensor, Magnetic Sensor
Battery Li-ion Battery 2100mAh
What's in the box Battery x 1, Power Charger x 1, USB Cable x 1

And yes, you are right, 64 bits octa-core processor running at 1,7Ghz, GPU Mali T760, 2GB of RAM, 16 GB of internal storage (of which 12,82GB available for the user) and up to 64GB expandable via microSD, 4G-LTE connectivity ... appetizing, isn't it? Let's go with the review.

Packaging, design and ergonomics

The package is really simple and quite square, the one used by Elephone for the P3000s attired my attention, but this one goes back to the “standards”. Small and with the table of content and smartphone specifications.

Just taking it out of the box, two things surprised me: the design and the weight. It's really light, in a very first moment I even though it didn't have the battery, but yes, it was inside, and even so it stays on 130gr.

As we can see on the video that I posted in Youtube (look for "Unboxing Siswoo Cooper I7 - Abriendo el Siswoo Cooper i7"), the device comes inside a small plastic bag and in the bottom inside the box, we will find the charger and earphones. It's very nice from Siswoo's side to include (already applied) the plastic cover for the screen.

Regarding the design, I must confess I didn't like it in a first sight, too simple and too... flat, with round edges.

BUT, once you use it, this feeling changes. And this design influences a lot. As said before, it's very light (although the different of size, exactly the same weight of iPhone 5) and with less than 9mm of thickness, you can carry it very comfortably on your pocket... and being a 5” device.

One remarkably thing on its design are the touch buttons. They are normally off, but when you use the phone or you have a notification, they light in an elegant and practical way. When not, the front part is completely black. On this front, we will also find the 5Mpx camera and the sensors for light and proximity.

Unlike other smartphones, all the physical buttons of the Cooper i7 are on the right side. In the beginning it might be confusing, since sometimes you want to press volume down and you lock the phone.
However, once you get used to that, it's very comfortable, specially because this terminal fits perfectly into one hand, and by having the buttons on the same side, you can manage it completely with just one hand.

The rest on the edges is free... except for the top part, where we find charger plug and jack 3.5 for the earphones.

Turn it. On the rear part, your eyes go directly to the 8Mpx camera with dual LED flash on the top, just below SISWOO logo and on the bottom the speaker and logo with “4G-LTE” like to remember us that we can connect to those networks.

Last on this part, I must say that the Cooper i7 does not slide at all. It's very agreable to touch and it fits perfectly on the hands, so VERY good ergonomics.

Screen

Cooper i7 mounts a HD IPS 5” screen, offering a resolution of 720x1280. It has very good quality, although I think they use dynamic contrast, because I don't feel as much range of tones as in other (first brand) phones. I mean, black is not as black.

The viewing angle is very good and I had no problems using it under bright sun, by having the brightness in automatic mode, it adjusts in seconds to any situation.

We will also find two interesting functions, "Gesture sensing" and "Smart Wake". The first one means that we will be able to navigate through pictures on the gallery and some other apps just by moving our hand over the phone (but without touching it). The second one, allows us to complete some actions by drawing pre-defined patterns on the screen when the phone is locked, like activate radio, camera, change song...

The gesture recognition is working but, at this point is not as perfectioned as in other models like new Samsung Galaxy, with the Cooper i7 you must pass your hand closer to the screen and slower.

The Smart Wake function is really interesting, I liked it a lot. I continually use it for many applications... and with just one movement!


Software, multimedia and games

This terminal comes with Android 4.4.4 Kitkat, although Siswoo has annouced we will receive the update to Lollipop during March.
They didn't apply any customization layer on top of Android (maybe it also influences the high speed this phone goes), in addition it is rooted by default and includes all the usual and popular applications out of the box (Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, Skype, Adobe Reader, Documents to Go and the interesting WeCal) so we can start fully using it just after the first booting.

Browsing the web either with WiFi or with 3G/4G connection, it's very fast and fluid, no lags, specially the background applications (like social network notifications)

In the multimedia area is where I really enjoyed myself. Since there were not pre-installed game, I went direct to Fifa 15:UT and another action game called Contract Killer... ¡bingo!
The initial test became some weekend hours playing online tournaments (specially Fifa, I really love it). The fact of being so light and so comfortable on the hands, make this smartphone the perfect portable gaming console, and as I said before, being so fast makes the games start very quickly and loading times are very short. While playing there are no lags, nor freezes and being moving images, contrasts and colors are perceived perfectly.

I have the same feeling when playing videos, the powerful CPU and accompanied with one of latest presented GPUs make the work without any trouble. FullHD, subtitles... even working through the network I had no problem with any type. Regarding the volume, it's OK and the rear speaker has enough relief (inward) so that the sound is not muffled by supporting the phone on any surface.

Coming to the extras, GPS and compass worked very well and once again, without having to wait.

So, in general, the multimedia experience has been very satisfactory.

Camera

The Cooper i7 brings (as usual) two cameras, the front one with 5Mpx and the main one at the rear with 8Mpx, both with interesting characteristics like voice shooting control, the beauty effect (perfect for selfie lovers) or the noise reduction.
However it suffers from the great evil of Chinese phones: lots megapixel unable to perform well in low light conditions.
It was clear that the "buts" would arrive sooner or later.

I have tried the camera inside and outside. Taking pictures outside and with full sun light, the results are very satisfactory for pictures and also recording video.
But when the light is lower, other "first brand" phones like iPhone (who also mounts an 8Mpx main camera) are capable of great pictures...and with this one we will simply prefer not to zoom too much on the pictures.

I would even say that I even like more the results of the front camera (with its 5Mpx and without flash) rather than the main one, so selfie addicts...good for you! Both cameras work perfectly with Skype, just pay attention you don't cover the microphone when holding the phone.

Autonomy

As seen on the specifications, the (removable) battery has a capacity of 2100 mAh, something I found quite tight compared to the more than 3000 mAh we see often on new terminals... but very good compared for example with the 1440mAh on the iPhone 5... and more than enough for one day. I already said I spent several hours playing online.
It's equiped with fast charging technology, nevertheless I would preferred to see the latest ultra-fast charging technology (around 80% in 15min or so).


Conclusions

In the first lines of this review I already stated than although most of Chinese phones have some common points, it is each time more usual to see brands willing to highlight their "personal touch".
In my opinion, Siswoo has been able of achieving a very interesting result in which is only their second model on the market. Not only on the design but specially on the usability, the user experience is very agreable.

We cannot dismiss from our minds that it's not only the aforementioned excellent potential, the Cooper i7 also brings us dual SIM and 4G-LTE connectivity for around 180€ (as per its price on Etotalk, which I choose because includes VIP shipping DHL only took 2 days to arrive to my house).