Vernee Thor: Impressions After Almost a Month of Use

It all started about six months ago, when my daughter's Samsung Galaxy battery started dying again. Since the phone was outdated both in terms of hardware and software, we started looking for a replacement. Around April, I spotted the Vernee Thor among the new releases, and it really caught my eye. I asked if I could get one to review, and they sent it over.
As always, I'll take a look, take it apart, run some tests, and share my impressions after a month of use.

As I mentioned above, I was looking at this phone as a replacement for a Samsung Galaxy—specifically, an old Galaxy Gio 5660. It had a rough ride: less than a year into use, its battery swelled up like a balloon; another six months later, the display was smashed, although the phone was still usable.
The battery and display were replaced, of course, but a few more years passed and the second battery swelled too, though not as much as the original.
I bought that Samsung for its decent autofocus camera and compact size.
This review will compare the cameras on the two phones and share my impressions after a month of heavy use.
Unfortunately, I can't write as elegantly as the respected phone reviewers, or take such beautiful photos, but I'll do my best to describe everything from my own, technical point of view.

First, here are the specifications:
Color: Black, Gray
Processor — MTK6753, 8 cores
GPU: ARM Mali-T720 MP3, 450 MHz
Operating system — Android 6.0
Memory — 3 GB RAM, 16 GB flash storage.
Display — 5 inches, 1280 × 720 resolution
Network bands: GSM: 900/1900/2100
WCDMA: 900/2100
FDD LTE: 1/3/7/20
Wireless interfaces — Wi-Fi: 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
GPS
Memory card slot — MicroSD, supports up to 128 GB according to the specs.
Audio output/microphone — 3.5 mm jack.
SIM cards — 2 Micro-SIMs
Front camera: 5 MP
Main camera: 13 MP
Battery: 2800 mAh
Dimensions: 142 × 70.3 × 7.9 mm

Now let's get to the review itself.
I'll hide a few photos of the packaging under a spoiler, since they don't contain anything particularly useful.

That's the packaging covered; let's move on to the contents.
The bundle is pretty sparse, in my opinion. An OTG cable would have been a welcome addition, at the very least (the phone supports OTG).
1. The phone itself.
2. Charger (power adapter)
3. MicroUSB-to-USB cable
4. Manual
5. A small slip of paper with an unclear purpose, presumably for some kind of discount. Its function isn't clear.


A few words about what comes with the phone.
1. A manual with English text and pictures. The information is next to useless. Though even in Russian, it wouldn't have told you much.
2. A MicroUSB-to-USB cable, unexpectedly white. It's perfectly decent and about a meter long, but choosing a white cable for a black phone was a little surprising.
3. A power adapter (or charger, if you prefer), about the same size as the ones supplied with tablets, and also white.
4. Output voltage: 5 V; rated maximum current: 2 A. Unfortunately, the phone takes quite a long time to charge :(


And here's the star of the review. The phone's display comes protected by two films: a shipping film and the main one (in addition to the oleophobic coating).


I don't know how to describe the phone's appearance. To me, phones differ only in color, size, and slightly in shape.
The case has rounded corners, which makes it look neater and feel more comfortable. Personally, angular phones seem a bit rougher to me, but that's just my opinion.


To me, the phone is on the large side, but my daughter doesn't complain; she switched over right away from her small Samsung.
Yes, I know there are phones with 6-inch displays, but those are more for extreme users.


The right side of the phone has the volume buttons and the power button.


At the bottom there's a standard MicroUSB port for charging, connecting to a computer, and hooking up various USB devices, as well as a microphone hole.
The top has only a jack for headphones or a headset.


The earpiece opening is covered with a (presumably) metal mesh.


There are openings for the second speaker at the bottom of the back, along with a notch for removing the back cover.
The back cover and sides have a soft-touch finish, so the phone doesn't slip in your hand.


At first I was worried dust would get into the speaker openings. It did, in fact, but even after a month of heavy use there wasn't all that much dust.
No complaints about the sound. I wouldn't say it's especially impressive, but it's certainly not bad either.


And there are larger components at the top.
At the top is a 13 MP autofocus camera. Below it is an LED flash, which also doubles as a small flashlight.
Unfortunately, the phone has no notification LED, although the manufacturer could have used this LED for that. It isn't very bright, but it works well enough as a small flashlight when you need to light something up.
Below that is a fingerprint sensor. My daughter and I honestly tried to find a use for it, but to be honest, I find it inconvenient.
Yes, it scans your finger as expected, but it doesn't work very well. And even if it worked perfectly, I still don't see any real practical use for it. I was already puzzled by these sensors when I first saw them in laptops.


The phone is about average in weight. Some phones are heavier, others lighter. It feels comfortable in the hand and doesn't feel tiring. By the way, this photo was taken after a month of use.


I have no complaints about the image quality or viewing angles. The display isn't Full HD, of course, but I considered that a reasonable compromise: 1280x720 is plenty in practice, and the battery should last longer.




A comparison photo of the phone under review and a Samsung. They have the same rounded corners, but their dimensions are slightly different.
The Samsung's display looks much worse, but it's not the original display. After the original one was smashed, I bought a replacement at the market. The difference in quality wasn't very noticeable, but an interesting glitch appeared: sometimes the display wouldn't initialize, leaving a white screen instead of an image. To clear this state, I had to reboot the phone completely :(


Let's remove the back cover. The first thing you notice is the non-removable battery. What a shame :(
In principle, any battery can be replaced, but if it's removable, any user can do it. Replacing the battery in this phone means taking it to a repair shop.
On the other hand, if you drop the phone, the battery won't pop out, since the metal cover holds it securely in place.
So it's a drawback in some ways and an advantage in others, but I don't think this is a very good design choice.


At the bottom you can see the phone's main speaker, as well as the battery label:
2800 mAh typical and 2700 mAh minimum. I wouldn't call that a lot—in fact, it's probably on the low side. But experiments and measurements matter more, since sometimes a battery is labeled 5000, but actually has 1500 at most.


At the top are two MicroSIM card slots and a memory card slot.
There's also an antenna on the left, presumably for GSM.


Two things are worth noting as advantages:
You don't need any tools to install the SIM cards and memory card. You can also install two SIM cards without them getting in the way of inserting or removing the memory card, which I think is great.


There isn't much else to describe, so I'll move on to the teardown. I took it apart after a month of use. The only thing I did was wipe the little dust circles off the main speaker grille. There wasn't much dust, so I just ran my finger over it.
Everything else is just as it was.
To take the phone apart, first remove the 12 screws. They're all the same length and diameter, so thanks to the designers for that.


Then I carefully pry off the cover with a utility knife and use a plastic card to unclip the section with the antenna, earpiece speaker, and something else.


Here's the phone disassembled. To be honest, I didn't want to take it apart any further.
The thing is, the back is usually covered with metal shields, so there's little point in going further, while the risk of damaging something gets close to 100%.
The battery is indeed marked 2800 mAh; no issues so far.
By the way, the battery is glued in, so you can't just pull it out.


At the bottom are some mysterious contacts, the speaker, the vibration motor, and the WiFi antenna. You can see the phone's aluminum chassis.


All the phone's electronics are concentrated on a small board at the top. It has the cameras, fingerprint sensor, and all the other electronics.


I don't recognize the board markings; maybe they'll be useful to someone.


What really surprised me is that the board has two connectors for WiFi antennas. Perhaps a faster WiFi version is in the works.
Unfortunately, I only noticed the WiFi module under the black insulation after I'd reassembled the phone and was writing this review, so I forgot to check its model number :(


There's a protection board on the battery, and the battery itself connects with this compact connector.
What can I say? If you want, you can replace the battery with the same kind (if you can find one) or any battery that fits, but you'll have to desolder the old one from the protection board :(


Unfortunately, I don't have any of those “blue,” “white,” or “black” doctors, so I had to measure the capacity this way. I put on some protective film to avoid shorting the battery. Basically, even breathing near the whole setup during the test felt dangerous :)


Capacity was tested with a battery tester, which measured 2787 mAh—almost exactly the stated 2800 mAh.
The battery was discharged to 3 V, since the phone is unlikely to discharge it any further. If I had set the cutoff to 2.8–2.9 V, I would probably have got the stated 2800 mAh.
The discharge current was 0.5C, or 1400 mA. I’d say the battery passed the test with flying colors. What’s more, this test was also performed after a month of use.


In real-world use, the phone lasts more than two days. My daughter said it actually lasts about 2.5 days, but since few people will take a phone with them when it’s at 20–25% charge, it’s more accurate to say the battery lasts two full days.
Charging is another matter: it takes about 3 hours with the included charger. On the one hand, that’s good, of course, since it means less battery wear. But sometimes it would be nice to have faster charging.
The manufacturer originally planned to “tweak” the software to make charging much faster, but apparently, “I just couldn’t do it, Count! I couldn’t!” So we’re stuck with what we’ve got.


I think I’ve answered all the questions I can about the hardware—or at least most of them—so let’s move on to the software.
When you turn on the phone, this is the home screen you’re greeted with. The fox game was installed later; it doesn’t come with the phone :)
There aren’t many apps installed, and there are no Chinese ones at all. I think that’s a good thing.
The Angry Birds and Asphalt games were also installed later for testing. No complaints about either one; everything works.


This is how the phone identifies itself:


For more details, let’s see what it’s made of using CPU-Z.
The phone doesn’t have root access, at least not out of the box. I don’t have any apps that need it, but it’s always nice to have more options.


The phone has 3 GB of RAM, though I think 2 GB would have been enough, since even when using it for gaming, it doesn’t use anywhere near all the memory.


Next, I wanted to check Wi-Fi speed and performance. Lately, I haven’t had much luck with Wi-Fi.
The phone immediately detected quite a few access points. I won’t include a screenshot from WiFi Analyzer, since I think it’s better to simply measure the speed with SpeedTest.


A note about the screenshot:
1. The phone is on my desk, in an almost complete dead zone, with lots of concrete walls in the way. The access point is only 12 meters away, but almost everything loses its signal here. The phone connected without any problems and even downloaded data.
2. The same room, but with much less signal attenuation from the walls.
3. A room next to the one with the router, with almost direct line of sight, although the signal isn’t at full strength.


Testing the speed of the microSD card, built-in flash storage, and RAM.
The built-in flash storage is very fast, in my opinion: 165 MB/s read and 83 MB/s write is very good.


The phone's touchscreen supports five simultaneous touches, which is standard anyway, and in my opinion, more than enough. At least, I can't think of any tasks that would need more. Besides, you couldn't fit more touch points on a display this size.


I checked performance using standard synthetic benchmarks, but there are quite a few of them, so I'll tuck them away under a spoiler.
Besides checking performance, I also checked which sensors the phone has.
If you'd like any additional tests, let me know and I'll run them.

Since this smartphone has a GPS receiver built in, I checked how well it works. In my opinion, the results are about average. I've never used GPS navigation before, but I thought the position drift would be smaller.


The receiver is highly sensitive: Navitel showed 8-10 satellites near a window and 15-17 outdoors in an open area. Overall, that's a very good result.


While using it, I liked the different ways the phone can identify itself when connected to a computer.
As they say, it's a small thing, but a nice touch.


At first, I didn't want to remove the protective film, but then my daughter said she was planning to replace it with a matte one anyway, since she doesn't really like the glossy finish, which can sometimes get in the way.
After removing the film, I noticed two small spots at the top, between the camera and the earpiece, presumably from the proximity sensor.


The phone looks better without the film, though unfortunately the photo doesn't do it justice :(
By the way, while turning the phone around in my hands, I noticed at a certain viewing angle that the display has a structure resembling OLED, like in this review.


The corners of the case look like a lozenge, and the whole phone is designed without a single sharp edge. Of course, that's a matter of taste, but I think it looks well balanced.
The case parts fit together perfectly; this photo was taken after disassembly.


Since I'd removed the film, I checked whether the screen had an oleophobic coating. The phone at the top has a screen protector; the one being reviewed is at the bottom. I tried spreading the water around with my finger, but on the bottom phone it still beads up into large drops.
Although I'd read online that the oleophobic coating isn't very durable, this was another reason to use a screen protector.


The phone has a 13 MP camera with autofocus, and of course the review wouldn't be complete without putting it through its paces.
But besides testing the camera itself, I wanted to compare it with an old Samsung Galaxy Gio, whose camera has a resolution of 3 MP.
After the first few shots, my daughter said the Samsung took better pictures. It may not be as sharp everywhere, but the Samsung's colors are definitely more natural.
Below are a series of comparison photos, all captioned. I can attach the originals if needed. Keep in mind that the Samsung is almost 5 years old and hasn't been sitting on a shelf all this time; it's been used heavily, so the glass protecting the lens has deteriorated a little.


I've hidden the remaining photos behind a spoiler. You can click any of them to view it, and the image won't be compressed by the site.

As I wrote at the very beginning, I didn't get the phone for myself, so the first impressions of its pros and cons will come from someone else.
Pros
Bright screen, vivid colors even without any adjustments.
Pretty snappy performance.
Convenient panorama mode in the camera. The image comes out neatly stitched together.
Fast Wi-Fi (tested at four access points: home, shopping mall, subway, university).
Sound is decent through both the speaker and headphones. Through headphones, it's good quality, just like on other PCs.
GPS is present and works well; it finds 5–10 satellites, and up to 15 in open areas.
You can set it to turn on and off automatically to save battery power.

Ergonomic design, comfortable to hold despite its large size. After using a phone with a 3.2-inch screen, I quickly got used to the 5.0-inch size.
Very clear audio during phone calls; the other person's voice sounds almost as clear as it does in person.
Play Market comes preinstalled.
Dual SIM. I only use one SIM, but it's handy to have a slot available for a second one.

Cons
Colors in photos are excessively vivid, sharpness is inconsistent, and colors tend to look warm.
The phone takes a while to start up, though it's tolerable.
The battery doesn't charge particularly quickly: about 2.5–3 hours.
The fingerprint scanner is very unreliable; it fails more often than it works.
The area around the camera gets a little warm during games.
The phone shuts down with 10–13% charge remaining.
After taking photos frequently, the phone gradually gets slower at taking and saving them, but it goes back to normal after a break.

And here are my ratings, briefly.
Pros
Well-built.
Stable operation. During all my testing, I had a problem with only one app, and as it turned out, the phone wasn't to blame.
Decent performance.
Well-thought-out layout of the SIM card and memory card slots.
The battery capacity matches the stated specification.
Decent battery life.
No unnecessary software.
Good screen.
Oleophobic coating.

Cons
Non-removable battery.
No notification LED.
Slow charging.
Problems with the fingerprint sensor.
Average camera quality.
A limited set of sensors.

My opinion. I don't use Android phones, so I looked at this one more from a technical perspective, as someone who's more used to seeing the insides of devices than their exteriors.
For me, the biggest drawback is the non-removable battery. Charging time wouldn't be a deal-breaker: whether it takes one hour or three, I'm used to charging my phone overnight.
The battery was a pleasant surprise. It would be interesting to measure its capacity after six months or a year, of course, but I can't do that yet, so I measured it after almost a month of genuinely heavy use.
The second biggest drawback is the lack of a notification LED. If you're used to having one, you'll understand.
The fingerprint sensor works, but in everyday use it succeeds only once in every 4–5 attempts. It then goes into a mode where there have been too many failed attempts, so in my opinion, it's easier to turn it off…
The build is simple, well thought out, and neat.
I can describe the design in three words: a pleasure to hold.

And now the key question: would I buy this phone? For myself, probably not. I personally have somewhat different requirements, and I'd be looking in a completely different price range, although I really liked it. But at least one person asked me to order exactly the same phone after trying this one out, and another Vernee Thor is on its way to me now. If you don't believe me, I can show you a screenshot of the order :) It was purchased a week ago, when it was on sale for 99.99.
I could have waited a little longer and reviewed the phone I bought, but I don't think that would have been fair to readers, and I doubt my ratings would have changed anyway.
The 99.99 sale has ended; it's now available for 109.99 with the Evtest coupon.

That's about it. I'll be waiting for your questions in the comments, and I hope you found the review useful.

The product was provided by the store for review.