THL 5000 Review: Finally, A Phone That Lasts

THL 5000 Review: Finally, A Phone That Lasts

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We review the THL 5000!

Battery. It’s one thing that most users want above all other features in smartphones. People are willing to put up with big, bulky cases and less than streamlined designs to get what they want – a phone that has enough battery life to last them through the day, and then some. That’s the premise behind the THL 5000, an Android smartphone that has a massive 5000mAh battery that’s projected to last around two days or more on a single charge. Does the THL 5000 have other tricks up its sleeve, or is it just a one trick pony? Read on to find out.

THL 5000 specs

  • 2.0 GHz MediaTek MT6592 octa-core processor
  • Mali-450 MP4 GPU
  • 2GB RAM
  • 5-inch full HD IPS display, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 proctection, 1920 x 1080 resolution
  • 16GB internal storage, expandable via microSD
  • 13-megapixel Sony IMX 135 rear camera with f/1.8 aperture
  • 5-megapixel front camera
  • WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, A-GPS, NFC, USB OTG
  • 3G, HSPA+
  • 5,000mAh battery
  • Android 4.4 KitKat
  • 144.9 x 72.3 x 8.9mm

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5000-freaking-mAh in a body that’s no thicker than a Galaxy Note 3

5000mAh is a lot of power, and most of the time that means one thing: a big, bulky body to contain the massive battery pack. We were actually a bit surprised to see the THL 5000 in person, because the phone isn’t that thick or chunky as we initially thought. At 8.9mm thick, it’s actually thinner than a Nexus 5 and actually .6mm thicker than Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3.

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The overall design isn’t going to win the THL 5000 any awards, in fact, it looks pretty generic as far as smartphones go – a rectangular shape that has curved sides and corners, topped off by a thin plastic back. The power button is located on the left side of the phone, while the volume rocker is on the right. On the top is the 3.5mm jack and USB port. The rear of the phone houses the 13-megapixel Sony IMX 135 camera, along with its LED flash. There’s a sliver of silver plastic that runs around the sides of the device to give it a bit of a visual punch, but all in all the design is as unoffensive and generic as phone designs go.

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The 5-inch full HD display of the THL 5000 is protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3, and is of great quality. Viewing angles are fantastic, images were sharp, and color reproduction was spot on. The THL 5000 actually has a better display than some of the phones that we’ve seen recently.

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2.0GHz octa-core processor gets things done

If the THL 5000’s externals are generic, the internals are a different story. The THL 5000 sports a 2.0GHz variant of the MT692 octa-core processor from MediaTek, paired with around 2GB of RAM, which makes it the first phone we’ve ever encountered with the faster processor. As is usual with MediaTek’s octa-core solution, the processor delivered fairly high marks from AnTuTu, and managed to run games like Real Racing 3, Dead Trigger 2, and Asphalt 8 without any issues. We also noticed that the screen lag that’s normally associated with MediaTek’s octa-core solution and full HD displays is gone, which can be attributed to either the higher clockspeed of the processor in the phone, Android 4.4 KitKat or the customized Hydroid OS (more on this later) that’s on the phone.

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We did notice that the GPS performance of the THL 5000 is less than stellar. While it’s able to lock on relatively quickly to our location in areas without too much buildings (like Commonwealth) the signal quickly gets lost in areas with a lot of buildings like Ortigas or Makati. Since we depend on Waze a lot to get around in the metro while driving, this is obviously not an ideal.

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A new take on Android via the Pinoy-made Hydroid OS

The THL 5000 ships with Hydroid OS, a pinoy-made OS based on Android 4.4 KitKat. This gives the THL 5000 a few new features, like the floating app that gives you quick access to apps that you use the most, as well as a few tweaks to give the user more information about their device. While we applaud Novo7 Tech for initiating something like Hydroid, we have a few complaints – the font choice for example isn’t as pleasing as you’d expect (it kinda looks a bit like Comic Sans), and the default icons aren’t as easy to distinguish as the ones in stock Android. The good news is that the THL 5000 is rooted out of the box, along with any other phone that Novo7 Tech sells that has Hydroid OS on it. This makes the THL 5000 a great platform for budding devs and people who like to tinker with their phones.

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Great performance out of the 13-megapixel camera

We were expecting good things from the 13-megapixel Sony IMX 135 rear camera on the THL 5000, and we weren’t disappointed. Not only is the camera capable of taking excellent shots in good lighting, it’s also capable of taking good shots in artificial lighting and low-light. That large gorilla photo was taken in a restaurant in Laguna at around 7 PM at night, and we were actually impressed by the clarity of the photo considering the lighting.

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A battery that refuses to quit

Just how long will you be using the THL 5000 before the battery decides to die? Well for us, we managed to get more than two days worth (2 days and 12 hours to be exact) of useful battery life with moderate to heavy use before our battery dipped to critical levels. The feeling of not hunting for a wall socket after the end of each workday is amazing, and as an added bonus, the THL 5000 can also act as a powerbank via its USB OTG feature to power other gadgets is just icing on the cake. While we’ve seen other gadgets that have bigger than usual bodies because of the higher battery capacity, the THL 5000 is the first one that we’ve seen that wasn’t a chunky piece of plastic. This is mainly due to its silicon anode Li-polymer battery, which has greater density per inch than other regular batteries.

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Verdict: the longest lasting octa-core smartphone ever, but it’s much more than that

The THL 5000 manages to score high on several metrics that matter when it comes to Android smartphones. It has excellent performance, long lasting battery, and a camera that performs even in less than ideal lighting. Don’t be fooled – it offers more than just a large battery, and while it’s more expensive compared to other octa-core offerings in the market, it’s definitely worth the price.

 

 

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