Vernee Thor E smartphone, the Thor lineup continues

Almost exactly a year ago, I published a review of the debut model from a manufacturer that was still unknown at the time, Vernee. You can say a lot and criticize its shortcomings, but in any case, the Thor, their first release, turned out to be not so bad after all, and one of these early units has been under my watch for more than a year.
So today I’ll tell you about the next model in the Thor lineup, show it to you, and compare it with the previous model, sometimes “face to face.” And, of course, there’ll be the obligatory teardown.

First, the advertised specifications of the phone under review.
Colors: Black, Gray
Processor: MTK6753, 8 cores
GPU: ARM Mali-T720 MP3, 450 MHz
Operating system: Android 7.0
Memory: 3 GB RAM, 16 GB flash storage.
Display: 5 inches, 1280×720 resolution, E-ink function
Network type: GSM+WCDMA+FDD-LTE
2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
3G: WCDMA 900/2100 MHz
4G: WCDMA 800/1800/2100/2600 MHz
Wireless interfaces: Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n (2.4 and 5 GHz), Bluetooth 4.0
GPS
Memory card slot: MicroSD, supports up to 128 GB.
Audio output/microphone: 3.5 mm jack.
SIM cards: 2 nano SIMs
Front camera: 2 (5) MP
Main camera: 8 (13) MP
Battery: 5020 mAh
Dimensions: 144×70.1×8.2 mm
Weight: 149 g

As you can see, the specs are almost identical to those of the previous model. For some reason, the company decided to use the same MTK6753 SoC and the same amount of RAM and flash storage. Presumably, they had their reasons.
But there are some differences, and, strangely enough, they start with the packaging. This time the box is completely white, not black. By the way, it lists the basic specs, but my eye was caught by the camera resolution: 13 MP, while below it says 8 MP in reality :)


But the marketing tells us how new and advanced everything is. That’s exactly what we’ll be checking in this review.


The package contents are kept to a minimum:
1. Vernee Thor E smartphone
2. Charger
3. USB-to-microUSB cable
4. SIM ejector tool
5. Manual.


The manual is partially translated into Russian, but since it’s impossible to explain how to use a modern phone in just a couple of lines, it’s not much more than a superficial guide.
They also included a mysterious piece of paper, supposedly to make it easier to get software updates.


1. SIM ejector tool, or “paperclip.” When I first saw this phone before ordering it, and watched the videos on the manufacturer’s website, I tried to figure out whether the SIM card slot was a hybrid one or whether the cards were installed inside the phone. But the marketing somehow tactfully glossed over this, and everywhere they try to show the smartphone so you can’t see its left side. But when I spotted the ejector tool during unboxing, everything became clear. More on that later.
2. MicroUSB-to-USB cable. Just a cable, about 70 cm long, soft and neatly made.
3, 4. Charger. I remember they tried to give the first version of the phone fast charging, but alas, “I couldn’t do it, I just couldn’t.” This time it’s different: the manufacturer includes a Quick Charge charger from the start. Its maximum voltage is limited to 9 V, though the charger itself can go up to 12 V.


As before, the phone comes in two colors: black and gray. I got the black version, though the gray one would probably look more interesting. But that’s a matter of taste.
There are two films on the screen: the main one and a protective shipping film.


Every edge of the smartphone has something on it:
1. Right side: volume buttons and power button.
2. Left side: SIM and memory card slot, as well as a button to enable power-saving mode.
3. Bottom: microphone hole and charging port. In my opinion, the manufacturer made the right choice by using microUSB rather than the trendy USB Type-C. You can certainly argue about that, but microUSB is still much more widespread.
4. Top: just the headset jack.


Front panel:
1. Three capacitive buttons at the bottom. Another plus for not putting the buttons on the screen.
2. At the top: notification LED (at last! I really missed it on the previous version), proximity sensor, earpiece covered by a fairly substantial mesh, and front camera with a resolution of 2 megapixels (interpolated to 5 MP).


And here’s a sticking point for many modern smartphones: the hybrid SIM and memory card slot. I’d give the manufacturer a minus for this, though. Maybe they simply couldn’t fit the cards inside, but why use a nano SIM slot, and why not just use microSIM... Overall, for the test I had to buy another SIM starter pack and cut the card down to size, since I only have mini and micro SIM cards at home.


The back also has a protective shipping film with a brief guide to the controls and ports printed on it.


The back cover is partly plastic (top and bottom) and partly brushed aluminum. It looks neat, but fingerprints will show.


The main speaker is at the bottom, covered by a fine protective grille. To make sure the sound is audible when the phone is lying on a table, the manufacturer added a pair of raised ridges on the left and right for the smartphone to rest on.
I had no complaints about the sound, at least in the mid and high frequency ranges. There isn't much bass, but that's true of most phones.


The rear camera has a somewhat unusual design that also seems oddly familiar, though I can't remember what it reminds me of.
The camera and flash are set into a separate raised section that looks like a solar panel. In fact, while I was looking at it, I had the thought that you could make part of the back panel out of solar cells and get even more battery life :)
The fingerprint sensor is just below it. I had some complaints about it on the first Thor, but the manufacturer has noticeably improved its performance since then.
Not only does the sensor now respond instantly without any "voodoo", it also works no matter how you place your finger. In other words, you don't have to place your finger in exactly the same position you used when setting it up—you can even turn the phone 180 degrees. That is, you can pick up the phone "upside down", touch the sensor with your finger, and it will unlock just as quickly as it does when held normally.


Someone once told me that photos taken "at home" don't turn out very well—not in terms of how attractive they look, but in terms of how clearly you can make out the details—so I did a little "photo shoot" in natural light.
I don't see any point in commenting on them individually, so here are the photos.







And of course, a side-by-side comparison of the first and second versions.
But first, a few words about this phone. A year later, I can say that everything works exactly as it did when I wrote the review. For a while, I had some trouble connecting to my access point, but I can't say what caused it.
The smartphone has been running the same firmware this whole time.
The only thing is that it has worn a little over the year, though I wouldn't say much. You'll see for yourself in the photos.

The first thing that stands out is the shape of the body. Though, to be fair, I noticed it earlier, when I compared it with my Doogee X5 max.
The new Thor is a little narrower and just as much longer. The difference is only a couple of millimeters, but it's quite noticeable in use.
I did a quick poll among people who had held this smartphone. About half preferred this body shape (narrower but longer), while the other half preferred the old design. If you're interested in my opinion, I liked the new body better.


The new phone has also gotten a little "thicker", most likely because of its higher-capacity battery. And of course, the shape of the frame has changed. On the first Thor, the corners were noticeably rounded, and the whole thing looked more like a bar of soap. The new one has sharper lines, but as they say, the East design is a subtle art.
I should point out that the markings on the touch buttons are barely visible. On the new version they're almost impossible to see—and that's not just how they look in the photo; they're really like that. No backlight.


But when I held both of them at the same time, I immediately noticed that the back cover material on the first Thor felt nicer. I prefer the soft-touch finish, though of course that's a matter of taste.


A composite photo to show the difference in the phones' design.


Besides the changes to the shape and size of the body, the phone has gained a little weight: the new model is about 20 grams heavier.
Although compared with my Doogee X5 max, or more precisely its 188 grams of "real-world weight," the new model's 165 grams don't seem so bad.


Display.
I have no complaints about the colors or image quality at all: it's vivid, with excellent viewing angles. The first Thor was good in this respect too.


1. Even when viewed at an angle, the image looks quite good. Backlight bleed is visible, but less than on the other phones.
2. A comparison of the first and second Thor.


I also compared the image under ambient light. The Thor E clearly has better blacks than my Doogee.


The reason became clear very quickly: the screen may have been improved slightly, but the backlight brightness was reduced at the same time. Compared with the previous version and my phone, the new Thor (in the center) has a dimmer image.


It's easier to see in this photo; both phones are set to maximum brightness.


That probably covers the external inspection. This has turned out rather long already, so I'll move on to the internals.
The phone is fairly easy to open: slide a sharp plastic card into the seam between the back cover and the screen frame, then work your way around the perimeter.
Of course, don't forget to remove the SIM card tray.



The back cover is made of two parts, one plastic and one metal. Interestingly, I found only one antenna inside, at the bottom, although there are usually two. The back cover is connected to the phone's chassis by spring-loaded contacts (the yellow pins in the photo).


Overall view. You can see that the battery takes up all the available space.


But there's still room inside for a fairly substantial aluminum chassis, which is a good thing. In my opinion, the designers put a lot of effort into fitting a high-capacity battery while keeping the weight down, without compromising the structural strength. Though the metal back cover could have been a little thicker.


The phone's main board, with connectors everywhere and soldered-on shields over individual sections. Some of the connectors are also covered by additional metal retainers. Among Chinese phones, I've seen this only once before, on the Leagoo T1 Plus.


The case cover was probably intended either for a phone with two cameras or one with an additional rear sensor, since there's a hole in the plastic on the left.
There's a white sticker on the board at this spot. I even took the phone apart again because of it, but it's just a sticker; there's nothing underneath.


Speaking of the camera, credit to the manufacturer for not adding a second camera just for show, as other manufacturers try to do. There's only one camera here. My only complaint is the single LED flash; these days, a combination of two LEDs, one warm and one cool, is more common.


At the bottom is a plastic cover and another board, which holds the microphone, connector, and antenna contacts. The cover is secured with 6 screws—they've clearly decided to play it safe.


But the main reason for taking it apart was to measure the battery capacity. Given the charging circuit design, any attempt to measure the capacity of this phone using one of those "USB doctors" is doomed to fail from the start.
Connect the battery to an electronic load and start the test.


This smartphone uses some new type of battery, with a voltage of 3.85 V rather than 3.6/3.7/3.8 V like the ones I've seen before. That’s why I slightly changed the test procedure, first charging the battery in the phone.
After that, I discharged it down to 2.8 V, with readings at 3.0 and 3.2 V.
In the end, I got a total capacity of 4643 mAh. The discharge current was 2 A.


Since I ended up taking the phone apart for a second time, I decided to check the capacity once more. I charged it to 100% using the built-in charger, then discharged it, stopping at 3.0 and 3.15 V. The thing is, phones most often shut down at 3.15 V under load. In the end, I got almost the same result as last time: 4630 mAh.

Last time, the capacity was almost identical to the claimed figure (about 2800 mAh). This time, I came up almost 400 mAh short, or about 8%, even though I took two measurements and got identical results, so measurement error is practically ruled out.


The hardware is clear enough; let’s move on to the software.
On first startup, I went through the usual initial setup steps and then landed on the home screen. Everything looks neat and even quite nice—until you open the app menu. It looked very familiar from reviews of Cubot smartphones, practically identical. Strange, very strange, especially since the first version had a very tidy app menu that I actually liked: simple and attractive. I just don’t understand the developers’ choice here.
I don’t think there’s any need to describe the preinstalled apps separately; most users of modern Android devices will know them well. There are Google apps, a browser, Gallery (not very convenient), and, of course, YouTube. By the way, YouTube works perfectly here—five stars!


As I said at the very beginning, both phones are built around the same SoC (processor), so their test results will be practically identical. I’ll keep the software section brief, then—sorry about that.

It comes with Android 7.0, although 7.1 has been available for quite a while now, at least on TV boxes.
At first, the phone didn’t find any updates, but just a couple of hours later it notified me that a new version was available. So all the tests that follow were done with the updated software.


The phone has 16 GB of flash storage, a little over 10 GB of which is available to the user, while the preinstalled apps take up about 200 MB. The first Thor had plenty of room with the same 16 GB, but in this case I think it’s a bit tight. Since the card slot is shared, you’ll have to make do with either 16 GB of storage or a single SIM card. An extra 32 or 64 GB would certainly come in handy.
The smartphone’s settings menu offers quite a few options for configuring the device to suit the user. Obviously, that’s Android’s doing, not the developers’, but it really is convenient.


You can also control the phone in ways other than using gestures. For example, I liked the feature that turns on the flashlight when you draw a V, as well as the option to mute an incoming call by flipping the phone over :)


As before, it has an eight-core MTK6753 processor. It’s certainly about time they put in something more powerful, but in real-world use, its performance is more than adequate. I’ve already written that I’ve been keeping an eye on the first Thor for over a year, and everything still runs smoothly and looks good, even though I’ve installed a lot of apps. The 3 GB of RAM and 720p display help make up for it to some extent.
So yes, the processor is getting old, and not everyone likes this company’s products, but in practice it’s powerful enough for the vast majority of tasks.

Unfortunately, there’s no root access. I couldn’t even get into the engineering menu, where I wanted to check which GSM bands were enabled.


Just a couple of sets of screenshots from Aida64.


As I wrote at the very beginning, the camera is identified as 13 MP, but even the manufacturer says it’s actually 8 MP. The second camera has similar capabilities, except that it has no flash and a 2 MP resolution (5 MP interpolated).


Looking for differences and improvements, I got to the sensors. There is one change here: they added a magnetic field sensor.
The touchscreen supports the same 5 touch points as the first Thor. I've come across at least one smartphone with ten touch points, but in my opinion, that's overkill.


And now for the tests.
AnTuTu version 5 scored 34695 points, compared with 33866 for the "old-timer."
Version 6 also showed slightly better performance, scoring 37750 versus 37050 for the previous model.
I used a different SD card for this test, so I won't compare the results. I'll just say that a read speed of 40 MB/s is quite good.
The built-in flash storage was slower this time, though: 116/49 versus 165/83 on the first Thor.
RAM was also slower: 3217 versus 3829.


I didn't run Geekbench on the previous version, and I don't think there's much point in doing so, since the results are fairly predictable.


Cinebench and 3DMark
4379/210 for the Thor E and 4095/6679 for the Thor. The 3DMark result differs significantly because the benchmark versions are different.


Epic Citadel in two modes: High Quality and Ultra High Quality.
The results here are 54.6/45.8 for the new model and 54.7/43.4 for the previous one. The difference is probably within the margin of error.


I haven't been running this test for very long, so there won't be any comparisons. Well, that's not quite right: there won't be comparisons with other smartphones, because I will compare them eventually, just later ;)


Wi-Fi.
The phone maintains a very good connection, and it now supports the 5 GHz band, which the previous version didn't.
I won't list all the measurements. I'll just say that at the maximum distance of 12 m, with several load-bearing walls in between, the speed was about 2 Mbps on both bands. In the room next to the router, it was 35/60 (2.4/5 GHz), while the maximum was 47/103 Mbps, respectively.


Since this device is marketed as a "long-lasting" phone, with plenty of battery life, I naturally spent most of my time testing how long it would run.
But first, I was curious to see what the built-in battery voltage meter showed. According to CPU-Z, the battery charges to 4.388 V; my actual measurement was about 4.35 V.
Now for battery life. The Geekbench test ran for 8 hours, almost to the minute. For some reason, after the phone shut down automatically, the app didn't save the final reading, so I had to run the test a second time to record the shutdown time.
The discharge graph is a little unusual: the level stays at 100% for about half an hour, then starts to drop, continuing linearly until the phone shuts down completely.

These tests really did take a lot of time. Each one ran for hours, then I had to charge the phone again and run another test...


I also checked how long it would last playing Full HD video: more than 9 hours. The time shown in the screenshot is a little shorter because I had to leave, and the phone shut down on its own later, sometime close to 12:00, as far as I know.


I also tested video playback on YouTube. The screen was set to maximum brightness in all the tests.
It lasted almost 8 hours and 30 minutes.


As the promotional materials and videos showed, the phone has a feature called E-ink. It's activated by pressing a small button on the left. The button is almost flush with the case and designed so that it's quite difficult to press accidentally.


The result really does look like an e-reader screen: a black-and-white image with fairly low brightness.


The low brightness is only noticeable in bright ambient light, though; under normal conditions, everything is quite easy to see.
The image is reminiscent of the Windows XP shutdown screen, when the display turned black and white after you clicked the shutdown button.


While preparing this review, I wanted to demonstrate all this with screenshots, but it turned out that the screenshots were in color. I had always thought that the image was "captured" from the video card's buffer, where it should already be black and white.
But I'm getting off topic. In E-ink mode, the phone's functionality is significantly limited. It comes with three preinstalled apps, and you can add a few more from the list of installed apps.
The settings only let you change the brightness and volume, and remove an app you've added from the menu list.


I was curious about how this could extend battery life.
1. In this mode, the image is black and white; perhaps this reduces power consumption.
2. The screen brightness is reduced. Not by much, but it helps.
3. Just for fun, I ran a performance test and found that performance is reduced as well. Earlier, I ran this test in normal mode and got 3264 points; in power-saving mode, the score was a little lower at 2553.


Along with the smartphone ad itself, the manufacturer posted a video about its fast-charging feature. That caught my interest, so I decided to see if it really was as impressive as they claimed.
First, the manufacturer says the device supports fast charging at 9 V and 2 A.


1, 2. In reality, the charging current is about 1.5 A, but yes, at 9 V. The photos show the results after charging from empty for 20 and 40 minutes.
3, 4. But we wanted to check the advertising claim. If you watch the video closely, you can see the guy sit down to eat and fully charge the smartphone from 48% to 100% in 40 minutes. I’ll skip the part where he spends 40 minutes eating; in that time, I could probably have eaten, had a smoke, and gotten hungry again :)
Anyway, the result speaks for itself: 40 minutes, starting at 48%, ending at 84%. I didn’t have the branded stand shown in the video, though. Could that be the reason? :)
5. It takes another 40 minutes to charge the smartphone to 100%, for a total of 2 hours 22 minutes.
6. But even after the “Charging complete” message appears, charging continues slowly, this time at 5 V, and only stops completely after 8 minutes.
So a full charge takes 2 hours 20–30 minutes. On the one hand, that’s pretty quick given the battery capacity; on the other, it’s a little slower than the manufacturer—or perhaps the marketing department—claims. By the way, the event indicator is visible in the first and last photos.

In this case, charging power is not 18 W (9×2), but just 13.5 W (9×1.5), only a little more than 10 W (5×2). The only advantage is that cable quality matters less.


The phone supports both GPS and GLONASS satellites, which should improve navigation performance. The previous version supported GPS only.
On a cold start, it takes quite a while to connect—roughly two or three minutes, by my estimate. Subsequent starts are much faster.


To be honest, navigation was already quite good on the previous model. That showed in both the number of satellites found and how smooth the route line was when recording a track. The results here are practically identical: map positioning was generally very accurate, although there were occasional random “jumps.”
Below is a track I recorded for the test. The phone was in my shirt pocket, screen facing away from me. The only issue was the spot shown at the top of the last screenshot; otherwise, no complaints.


And finally, the thing I like about the previous Thor model: its camera. In all—or almost all—of my smartphone reviews, I’ve compared their cameras with the Thor’s, and I can’t remember a single time the Thor lost.
This model has an 8 (13) MP rear camera with an f/2.4 aperture, and fast focusing is also advertised.
The previous model had almost the same specs, except for one important detail: its aperture was f/2.0, not f/2.4.

First, let’s see how the camera performs “on its own,” without comparing it to the previous model.

All the photos were taken at around 19:20–20:40, i.e. even in evening lighting.










I also compared the two models. If you need the originals, I can try uploading them to Yandex Disk, although I've been having trouble with that lately.










While I was at it, I decided to run a more extensive test, especially since I'd already done a similar one with video cameras.

Test conditions: artificial lighting, with the camera 2 meters from the wall. A quick note: only after the "photo shoot" did I notice that the cameras have slightly different fields of view. The new version has a 66.5-degree field of view, while the old one has 62.5 degrees. So, strictly speaking, the first Thor should have been placed not 2 meters from the wall, but about 2 m 18 cm away. But since the phone is already a year old, let's give it a little handicap. I think that's only fair.

The results showed that sharpness is perfectly fine—in fact, I'd say it's slightly better on the new version, especially considering the lenses' different focal lengths. But its low-light performance is noticeably worse. Where the first Thor still takes perfectly decent pictures, the new one starts getting noisy. This is due to the first Thor's f/2.0 camera aperture, compared with f/2.4 on the new model. Unfortunately, that affects the results.
1. All settings at default. Shutter speed: 1/33, ISO 213.
2. Manually set the white balance to "incandescent" and ISO to 100. Shutter speed came out to 1/13.
3. Manual white balance, flash on auto, shutter speed 1/30, ISO 154.
4. And this is the first Thor. Everything on auto; I only had to turn the flash off manually. Shutter speed: 1/17, ISO 177.

The first Thor tried to turn on the flash, although it took a decent photo without it. The new one did the opposite: it only turned on the flash automatically when I manually selected ISO 100. I tried setting the flash to maximum power, but in that mode it simply overexposed the photo because the wallpaper reflects a lot of light.


To check the white balance, I took two photos: the one on the left with everything on auto, and the one on the right after tapping the center of the screen. In this mode, the camera focuses on the selected area, but the image also gets darker. This happens in almost every situation, whether you're photographing a white sheet of paper or just taking a picture outdoors.


I didn't notice any particular problems with macro shots. This is a crop of the photo of the sheet of paper shown above. The minimum distance for proper focus is 30 mm.





I finally got into the engineering menu, so now I can post the list of supported bands.


And finally, just a photo "in its natural habitat" :)


Now I'll try to sum up the tests and inspection.
First, here's what the new model has gained:
1. Notification LED
2. Higher-capacity battery
3. Fast charging
4. E-ink mode
5. Android 7.0
6. 5 GHz Wi-Fi band.
7. GLONASS support
8. Better build quality.
9. Magnetic field sensor.

What got worse:
1. Hybrid SIM card slot
2. Camera with an f/2.4 aperture instead of f/2.0

Discrepancies:
1. Actual capacity is 4643 mAh instead of 5020
2. Charging is rated at 9 V, 2 A; in reality, it's 9 V, 1.5 A.
3. Weight is 165 grams, not 149.


Everything else, including performance, remains unchanged. No, I think they’ve finally got the fingerprint sensor right; it works dramatically better than on the previous model.

After using the phone for a while, I’d say I like it more than I don’t. Of course, it turned out that the fast charging isn’t all that fast, and the large battery isn’t quite as large as you might think. On the other hand, battery life has improved noticeably, and you can really feel the difference. Sure, you could say that phones with higher-capacity batteries have appeared on the market, but I haven’t seen any actual capacity tests yet—and as you’ve seen, manufacturers can claim just about anything.
The phone is a pleasure to use. It has never once hesitated or frozen; everything is smooth and polished. So I have no complaints about the software at all. But if you use two SIM cards, you’ll have to make do with the built-in 16 GB of flash storage. In my opinion, they should have increased it to at least 32 GB.
Overall, the camera takes reasonably good pictures, especially at close range, and I don’t have any major complaints. Still, the original Thor has the best camera I’ve come across in a phone from a Chinese manufacturer. That said, I’m glad the developers didn’t stick a second camera on the new model in an attempt to “improve” its specs.


Which of these two models would I choose? Hard to say; each has its strengths and weaknesses. I like the new one’s design (probably most of all), its improvements such as the high-capacity battery (second most of all), fast charging, and GLONASS support. The old one, though, has a better camera and a dedicated SIM slot. In any case, I keep thinking about putting my Doogee X5 max on the shelf and using the new Thor instead.

That’s all. I hope this review was useful and helps you make the right choice.

The store is running a promotion: you can buy the smartphone for $99.99 through July 28 if you enter “Discount from Kirich” in the message to the seller when placing your order.