innelo 1 review: Affordable notch-phone with great battery life

innelo is a sub-brand of ivoomi and the innelo 1 is the first smartphone from the portfolio

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The innelo 1 is the first smartphone from ivoomi under the innelo series. This smartphone is made for those, who are looking for modern designed smartphones under Rs 10,000 price mark. How good is the innelo 1 compared to the competition let's find out?

 

Rating:
3.5/5

innelo 1 review: Affordable notch-phone with great battery life

The innelo 1 is available exclusively on Amazon for Rs 7,499 in Midnight Black and Platinum Gold color. Here is the in-depth review of one of the most affordable smartphones with a notch.

Specifications

Specifications

 

  • 5.85-inch HD 720p display with a notch cutout
  • MTK6737H Quad-core SoC with 1.3 GHz clock speed
  • 2 GB LPDDR3 RAM
  • 16 GB storage
  • 13 MP primary camera
  • 5 MP selfie camera
  • 3000 mAh Li-ion battery
  • Fingerprint sensor
  • Android 8.1 Oreo OS
  • Micro USB port
  • Hybrid dual SIM card slot

 

Design
 

Design

The innelo 1 follows the basic design that is common amongst the majority of the entry-level smartphones. The innelo 1 has a plastic unibody design with a single micro USB port on the bottom portion of the smartphone.

The rear panel and the rim of the smartphone are also made using plastic. The back case of the innelo 1 houses a primary 13 MP camera on the top left portion of the smartphone with a single tone LED flash. The rear case also houses a rear-facing fingerprint sensor with innelo logo. The volume and power buttons are made using metal and feel a bit mushy. The SIM card slot is on the right side of the smartphone, which can house either two SIM cards or a SIM and a micro SD card (hybrid solution).

Overall, the design of the innelo 1 feels alright, especially considering the price tag that is associated with the smartphone. Albeit, the smartphone does not have a 3.5 mm headphone jack, instead, the retail package packs in a pair of wired in-ear style earphones with a micro USB port. So, it is impossible to charge the innelo 1 while listening to music. If you break the bundled earphones, then you might land into trouble, as it is challenging to buy a headset with a micro USB connector.

Though the smartphone has a notch design display, the device still has a noticeable amount of bezels on the side and the bottom portion of the smartphone, which is a bit disappointing.

Display

Display

The most striking aspect of the innelo 1 is the display. The smartphone has a 5.85-inch IPS LCD screen with 2.5D curved tempered glass. The retail package also comes with a screen protector, which can protect the screen from day to day wear and tear.

Coming back to the actual display, the innelo 1 has a 720p display with HD+ resolution. The color reproduction, saturation, and brightness are on point with the other budget smartphones. We watched a ton of YouTube videos on the innelo 1, and the experience was terrific. The loudspeaker located on the bottom portion of the smartphone get adequately loud, and we were amazed by the color reproduction. However, as the device has a 720p screen, the maximum video resolution that we can play on the innelo 1 is limited to 720p.

The innelo 1 is for sure the best smartphone under Rs 10,000 price mark in India with a display which can offer an adequate amount of brightness. Even the display gets noticeably brighter under the direct sunlight, which we did not expect. All in all, the innelo 1 has a great screen. However, some people might get distracted by the notch, as eats up some of the content while playing a video in full screen.

Sound

Sound

The mono speaker on the innelo 1 gets adequately louder. However, at higher volumes, there is some amount of distortion, and we don't complain about it. However, we were not happy with the sound-output via the headphone jack (the one comes with the retail package). As there is no 3.5 mm headphone jack, we could not test out other headphones that we have.

Camera

Camera

The smartphone has a 13 MP primary camera on the back with a single tone LED flash. The camera performance of the innelo 1 is nothing exceptional. The device can take beautiful pictures in the natural lighting condition. However, in the low light and artificial light, the device struggles to capture photographs with details. In fact, the photos take on low light, and artificial light lacks
details and looks smooth. HDR does help to improve the image quality a bit, but the overall image quality remains the same.

Features like Beauty mode and FaceCute can be used to take pictures that look social media perfect. The main camera can record 1080p videos @ 30fps, but the device lacks any stabilisation. The innelo 1 has a 5 MP selfie camera on the front, which also offers features like Beauty mode and FaceCute. Interestingly, the front-facing camera offers portrait mode, which is missing on the primary camera. Albeit, the portrait mode on the innelo 1 does not work properly. The edge detection feels unnatural, and the burring algorithm still needs some work.

Overall, the cameras on the innelo 1 are not the best that we have seen. However, the phone can take photos, which can be used to post on social-networking platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

Security

Security

The innelo 1 does have a dedicated fingerprint sensor, located on the back panel. The fingerprint sensor can be used to unlock the smartphone and to secure apps. The phone also supports Face Unlock via front-facing selfie camera.

In terms of finger detection or face detection, we did not face any issue as the phone was able to read the fingerprint without fail for the most part. However, when it comes to the response time, we were not impressed as it takes more than a second to unlock the smartphone. In terms of security, the smartphone is on par with the other devices at this price range.

Performance

Performance

The innelo 1 is a basic smartphone, and we did not expect more from the device as well. The innelo 1 play games like Temple Run 2, and Subway surfers with ease. However, when we tried to play some high-end games like Asphalt 8 and PUBG, we experienced a noticeable amount of lag, which directly affected the overall gaming experience.

The device can handle general multi-tasking with ease. The device can also keep four to five apps in memory while multi-tasking. Apps like Facebook does consumer a lot of memory, so, installing the lite version of the apps on the innelo 1 will help you to get a smoother smartphone user experience.

If we look at the benchmarking numbers, the device scores 596 and 1662 points on Geekbench 4 on the single core and multi-core performance, respectively. On AnTuTu, the innelo 1 scores 40415 points (overall) with 19256 points on CPU and 2607 points on GPU performance. All in all, the innelo 1 can handle day to day tasks with ease. If you are planning to buy a smartphone which can handle modern games like Asphalt 8 or PUBG, then the innelo 1 might not be the device that you should consider.

Software experience

Software experience

The innelo 1 runs on Android 8.1 Oreo OS with a custom skin on the top. Though the device runs on the next to the latest Android OS, the user experience offered on the device is not that great.

The smartphone comes bundled with 3d party apps (bloatware), and most of them cannot be uninstalled. The device has 16 GB of internal storage, in which around 10 GB is available for users. The app has more than ten bloatware applications, which cannot be uninstalled. Apps like Gaana, NewsPoint, Amazon Shopping, Xender, Video Player etc.

The custom skin offered on the innelo 1 has a different notification panel with no app tray. The overall design of the UI is smooth and on point. One can also install custom themes from the themes application as well. On continues usage, the device does get slightly warmer on the back, which does come back to the ambient temperature within minutes.

There is nothing wrong with the actual user experience on the innelo 1. However, the amount of the pre-installed apps on the innelo 1 (considering the 16 GB internal storage) is not a great move, as these apps can slow-down the device in the long haul.

Battery

Battery

The innelo 1 has a 3300 mAh Li-ion battery and the retail package ships with a changer and a data cable (5 volts & 2 Amps), which can charge the smartphone from 0 to 100% in less than two hours. The device can last up to 1.5 days on a single charge for normal usage. However, if you play a lot of games and watch YouTube videos, then the device can last up to a day on a single charge.

The battery life on the innelo 1 is on point with the other smartphones at this price range, and we have nothing to complain about it.

Connectivity and calling

Connectivity and calling

The phone has a dual SIM card slot (hybrid SIM), where both slots support 4G LTE or VoLTE support. However, only one SIM card can be used with an active 4G network, and the second SIM card will run on either 3G/2G network. So, you cannot use two 4G VoLTE SIM cards at the same time.

The cellular reception on the innelo 1 is excellent, where the device gets a decent amount of reception even in indoor condition. 4G LTE and VoLTE feature work flawlessly. We were about the listed to the other party clearly on standard and VoLTE voice calls.

The device also has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth connectivity. The innelo 1 only supports 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi band. On speed test, the innelo 1 scored 31.2 Mbps download and 33.5 Mbps upload speeds on the Wi-Fi network. On the mobile network (4G), the device scores 5.78 Mbps download, and 1.92 Mbps upload speeds.

What's missing?

What's missing?

The innelo 1 is overall a great entry-level smartphone with good battery life, wireless connectivity, and design. However, here are some of the missing features of the Innelo 1.

 

  • The inclusion of a 3.5 mm headphone jack makes the innelo 1 a complete package
  • Lacks dual LTE or VoLTE support
  • Option to un-install third-party apps and bloatware
  • 16 GB inbuilt storage

 

Verdict

Verdict

The innelo 1, being the first smartphone from the innelo brand gets a lot of things right, especially at the price of Rs 7,499. The device has a fantastic display with good battery life and runs on Android 8.1 Oreo. However, the cameras on the innelo 1 are a bit week.

The innelo 1 is for those, who are looking for a smartphone with a notch design along with other modern features like Face Unlock and fingerprint sensor. If you are in the market for a smartphone with a notch display (under Rs 10,000) with good battery life and premium looking design and you don't care about the headphone jack, then the innelo 1 is the smartphone that you should consider.

The innelo 1 does compete against the likes of the Honor 7A, Xiaomi Redmi 6, and the recently launched Yu Ace. The innelo 1 does have the edge over some of these smartphones, especially at the price of Rs 7,499 but not the only option.

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