Vodafone has released two new handsets onto the market, the Vodafone Smart Platinum 7 and Ultra 7, which offer a lot of performance for a relatively inexpensive price.
Following on from the excellent Smart Ultra 6, this newer updated model packs in slightly upgraded hardware plus a few new features… all for just £135. The snapdragon 615 processor found in its predecessor has been switched out in favour of the newer MediaTek Helio P10, an octa-core chip capable of performance faster than both that and the 801. RAM remains the same at 2GB and the panel is still 1080p, both impressive hardware specs considering the cheap pricepoint. Battery life has also jumped up slightly, with a 3,000mAh cell offering a lot of juice. The 13 megapixel camera found on the Ultra 6 also makes a return, though we’d expect some slight improvements. There’s also a 5 megapixel front shooter with an additional lamp, which we always love to see for those late night Skype calls.
Billed as a virtual reality device on a budget, the Vodafone Smart Platinum 7 costs £300 to buy outright, which puts it in the same field as the OnePlus 3. Raw power would suggest that the latter is a better device, featuring the snapdragon 820 and 6GB RAM, but the 1080p panel really isn’t suitable for a quality VR experience. Vodafone has shaken things up by offering a QHD display in a sub £300 handset; there’s currently no other branded devices that offer the same package. The mobile network seems to have achieved this by switching processors for a lesser snapdragon 652 and Adreno 510 GPU. Both of these are still very capable chips for VR, with the former matching the 810 on benchmarks. Pair this with 3GB RAM and you have a pretty powerful device. Vodafone is also further pushing the VR capabilities by offering a free headset who purchase the handset, giving all users an immediate entry point into the world of virtual reality.
Other specs worth a notable mention include a 16 megapixel rear camera, 5 megapixel front camera and quick charge 3.0. There’s also CAT 6 support, meaning you be getting pretty fast browsing speed.
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