LeEco Le Pro 3 review

The phone’s design is fairly standard for 2016--a brushed aluminum unibody. Reviewers all remarked on how smooth the phone felt. Though Talk Android had a few inconsistencies in their review model, saying, “Where the glass meets the hairline metal edge, you can see an [ever] so slight lip of metal that is surprisingly sharp to the touch.”

There’s a fingerprint scanner on the rear panel. However, reviews were hit or miss on performance. G Style Mag noted, “It sometimes takes a few tries to get it unlocked.” This was echoed by other reviewers as well.

Another thing you’ll notice about the design is a lack of headphone jack. The phone ships with a set of USB-C earbuds, but otherwise you’re left looking for an adapter or going with a bluetooth option.

Coming around front, reviewers didn’t have much to say about the 5.5-inch 1080p IPS display. GreenBot called it “bright and vivid” and some reviewers mentioned slight contrast issues at extreme angles. Otherwise, it seems that it’s average enough to not turn heads or cause problems.

Where things get interesting is performance. The 2.35GHz quad-core Snapdragon 821 processor is typically reserved for phones twice the Le Pro 3’s price. Paired with 4GB of RAM, reviewers all raved about performance. Talk Android said, “The Le Pro 3 certainly flies and never shows signs of slowing down. However, the software itself, particularly the interface animations, give an illusion of the phone running slower than it probably is.”

You’ll find 64GB of internal storage for your apps, games and media. However, unless you take advantage of cloud storage, there’s no way to expand things.

The phone ships with Android 6.0 Marshmallow and LeEco’s Ecosystem UI skin. This was one of the biggest complaints from reviewers. GreenBot declared, “LeEco has taken a strong hand in customizing Android, and the end result is a confusing mess.” Most reviewers found something to complain about with the software. The most positive review came from ChipChick, saying, “The UI is one of the heaviest Android overlays we’ve used yet, but aside from the lack of an app drawer, it’s possible to look past most of its flaws.”

If you’re looking to use your phone as your primary camera, you’ll find equally mixed opinions. The 16MP rear camera and 8MP front-facing lens do well in bright lighting, but reviewers noted that the software was inconsistent and low-light performance was bad. G Style Mag said, “It’s sufficient in daylight. Everywhere else it will have this kind of washed out feeling to it.”

However, one area in which reviewers all agreed the phone excels is battery life. With a monstrous 4,070mAh battery and QuickCharge 3.0 support, you should have little worry about running out of power. Phandroid tested the phone and said, “I was able to easily make it through a day without plugging in. If I really pushed it, I could make it through 2 days without charging.”

Overall, most reviewers recommended passing on the phone. Not because of the hardware or price, but because the software. GreenBot summed up opinions well, noting, “It’s a good phone — superb, even — when it comes to performance and design … Unfortunately, the software gets in its way and stops it from being one of the best phones on the market.”