Vernee M8 Pro Review: specs and features, camera quality test, gaming benchmark, user opinions and photos

Vernee M8 Pro - an overlooked miracle?

Good day, dear users Unite4Buy. The smartphone market does not cease to develop, so today you can purchase a phone with almost flagship functionality for a small amount of money. One such instance is a wonderful Vernee device called the M8 Pro. The developer did not spend money on a huge advertising campaign, because of which the output of the device went almost unnoticed. Probably, the savings went exclusively to the development of a smartphone, because the device turned out to be relevant and balanced.

Acquaintance with a gadget always begins with packaging, packaging and, of course, design. The phone comes in a stylish and quite large by today's standards cardboard box, the texture of which is stylized under the fabric. Inside it is located not only the hero of the review itself, but also a silicone case, additional screen protector (one already glued to the display), a USB cable, a USB Type-C to 3.5mm adapter, a 2A 12V charger with support for fast charging . It lacks only headphones, but for the device of the middle price segment and such a kit deserves respect.

The appearance of the novelty is not quite typical for the modern market, which is more pleasing. Instead of using tempered glass, the developer decided to equip the smartphone with an ergonomic metal case. Thanks to rounded corners and edges, it fits perfectly in the hand. Dual photo module, fingerprint sensor, a beautiful manufacturer's logo make the exterior of the rear panel really attractive. In front is a frameless display with a cutout for the front camera. The “eyebrow”, though small, may not like a number of its haters. On the right side found a place on / off button and volume. The SIM card tray is hybrid, located on the upper end, which is a rather rare solution. From the bottom, it is easy to detect the USB Type-C port and the speaker grilles (in fact, there is only one speaker in the phone). In general, according to the considered parameter “Completion and Design” I want to put a solid “top five”.

From the exterior go to the display. Vernee has a 6.2-inch OGS screen. Its resolution is 2246 x 1080 pixels. Individual pixels are not visible to the naked eye, even from a distance of 20-30 cm. Bright enough for direct sunlight, even if the visibility of the image and significantly decreases. For an IPS-panel, black contrast is quite good, it does not feel dark gray. The white balance goes to the side of heat, but the deviation is small. For long-term interaction with the screen, such parameters are rather favorable. When tilting the picture is not distorted, but loses brightness.

On the black color, a GLOW effect is observed at extreme viewing angles, and then only diagonally. Auto-brightness works correctly, the level change is smooth. However, when working in the dark, I would like to see a less bright image. As a result, the indicator "screen quality" deserves a "four-plus". OGS-panel is not flagship, but very, very worthy.

How are things with the technical characteristics of the smartphone. More than not bad. The latest eight-core Mediatek Helio P60 chip, made according to the 12Nm process technology, acts as a processor in the phone. They help him run games and ensure the smoothness of Android Oreo with an impressive 6GB of RAM and a fairly fast Mali G72-MP3 video accelerator. In the popular benchmark Antutu 7.2.2, the device scores almost 133 thousand points, which should be considered a more than worthy result for an inexpensive phone.

Let's move on to testing modern gaming applications. Multiplayer World Of Tanks Blitz at medium graphics settings and with activated HD textures shows the average number of frames per second in the region of 50-55 frames, the sinking during tense, action-rich scenes make up 20-30 frames. Thus, it is quite possible to enjoy the game, even if small lags do occur.

The astounding arcade races of Asphalt 9 were also tested on the device. The game automatically set the “Standard” graphic settings. Feels like the number of frames per second floated from 20 to 30, it is difficult to call a completely smooth gameplay, however, there were no obvious lags.

It should be noted that the curves of the display are not optimized for many games. For example, the FPS indicator in WoT Blitz is simply outside the image displayed on the screen. It is impossible not to check such a thing as throttling. CPU CPU Throttling Test did not reveal any tangible problems with lowering the frequency of the chip due to high temperatures. Thus, the gadget can be regarded as the initial gaming device, although it is impossible to call it completely comfortable gameplay in the most demanding games. “Quartet” on the parameter “Performance”.

For many people, the photographic capabilities of cameras are one of the main factors in choosing a mobile assistant. And Vernee M8 Pro does not fail in this regard. Daytime photos of the smartphone makes approximately at the level of Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro / Redmi Note 7. Decent detailing pictures, close to the natural color reproduction, a small amount of noise - the results of photography are not ashamed to put in a social network or show friends. Pleases the fact of fast autofocus. In the stock camera application there are several modes, including for shooting bokeh. The quality of the latter can hardly be called bad, as well as good.

With the evening shooting, everything is not so clear. The camera software does not attempt to lighten the photo in any way, even if it donates the amount of noise. Therefore, we get extremely dark pictures in which it is difficult to see the details. But there is no noise. Such is the logic of the developers. A flash of average power, for a photo at a distance of 2-3 meters it will be enough. The role of the flashlight she also manages well.

Photo without flash:

Photo with flash:

The video is recorded in FullHD resolution at 30 frames per second. The quality of the video series is average, if the electronic stabilization is, it is extremely weak. The sound is recorded in mono on the stock application of the camera, however, the purity of the audio sequence is preserved, there is no deafness and sound retention. The front sensor in 13 megapixels is able to make good selfies without strong noise. As a result, in the framework of the price range, the indicator “Photographic opportunities” deserves a “four” . For daytime shooting, photo modules are very good, but in the evening it is better to take pictures using a flash.

Let's talk about all sorts of sensors. A pleasant fact is the presence of NFC. Fans of contactless payments may think about purchasing a device, especially since Google Pay also functions. In addition to the accelerometer, a gyroscope is installed in the smartphone, so control in games using tilt will be more responsive. The fingerprint sensor is fairly accurate and responsive. Taking into account the fact that for the test, the author of the review twice scored the fingerprint of one finger (habit), in about 18 out of 20 touches the sensor quickly unlocked the smartphone. Of course, the speed is not flagship, but not bad. If about the light sensor was described in detail in the paragraph about the display of the gadget, then about the proximity sensor has not yet spoken. When you put the smartphone to your ear during a conversation, the screen turned off properly, no problems were observed. Consider within the parameter and the work of GPS. A few years ago, Mediatek processors were heavily criticized for the mediocre work of the navigator. But now the situation has changed radically. Vernee M8 Pro has support for both GPS and GLONASS satellites. Outside, in fairly clear weather, the gadget was able to detect 32 satellites in a few seconds and connect to 20-22 of them with an accuracy of 1 meter. This is an outstanding result. Indoors, the situation was also pleasantly surprised. The device detected 31 satellites, regularly connected to 13-14 of them with an accuracy of about 4 meters. Thus, by the criterion of “ Sensor Quality ”, the device deserves five points out of five within the price category.

The autonomy of the phone promises to be at least not bad due to the presence of a 4100mAh battery. Despite the somewhat outdated version of the Android Oreo software, the optimization is good. In the absence of a SIM card and disabled GPS, the Wi-Fi device lost only 1% per night, with the SIM card and the Internet connection turned on, the gadget lost 3%. Of course, downloading multiple applications like Telegram, Whatsapp and their constant work will increase the consumption of battery capacity, but during everyday work there will be enough battery for a couple of days. As for active screen time, this indicator is better to check in demanding modern games. In an hour of gameplay in World Of Tanks Blitz at medium graphics settings with auto brightness and volume of 60%, the gadget lost only 11% of the charge, which allows you to count on about 8.5-9 hours of resource-intensive games !!!

The phone also supports fast charging. From 2% to 100%, the battery charged in about 1 hour and 55 minutes. In addition, wireless charging is supported, but the author could not check its speed due to the lack of an appropriate charger. As a result, one and a half to two days of active use of the phone without recharging at approximately 6 hours of active screen time allows us to give an estimate of the “Autonomy” parameter of five points.

We can not forget about the performance of a smartphone its main function. Communication device holds relatively well, no differences in connection quality compared with Xiaomi Pocophone F1 and Xiaomi Redmi 7 were found. The speaker does not have a large volume margin, but for most scenarios it should be enough. For really noisy places, the phone is not quite suitable. The voice of the interlocutor sounds naturally, it is easy to recognize a person. Problems on the other side with the quality of the transmitted sound was also not observed. Go to the Internet and WiFi. Surprisingly, in terms of Internet connectivity, Vernee M8 Pro showed itself even better than Pocophone. Despite the fact that the reception level on both gadgets was the same, applications from the Play Store were loaded faster on the hero review. With WiFi, the situation is as follows: at a distance of 6-7 meters from the signal distributing device (laptop) and two walls, the gadget was able to download content and be an excellent multimedia device, however, in games, sometimes freezes caused by short-term connection loss skipped. Thus, the “five with a minus” by the criterion “Telephone functions” can be set by the Vernee device.

What about the device with sound quality? Dynamics for calling and multimedia on the phone is one, it is located in the bottom. There are no complaints about the volume reserve, it is at a level slightly above average. From the point of view of the frequency response, everything is standard for an inexpensive smartphone: the lower frequencies are practically absent, the rise of high-mid frequencies makes the sound sharp at high volume, the level of distortion is also difficult to call low. To use headphones, you will have to use a special adapter with USB Type-C to 3.5mm. The sound quality is standard for phones of the middle price segment without dedicated DACs and amplifiers. There is no high detail, when the volume is raised, somewhat annoying upper mids begin to stand out, the bass in the fast tracks is blurred, the sense of the speed of the composition disappears. However, unpretentious users in the presence of decent headphones sound may well please. The only thing - buy headphones with a straight plug for a more comfortable use of them with an adapter. In terms of the sound quality parameter, the Vernee device turns out to be a “quartet” within the value category.

Separately, let's talk about the software of the device. The smartphone has an Android 8.1 Oreo operating system, the shell is proprietary, all applications are on the desktops. At the same time, the interface is not overloaded with icons, additional graphic design - everything is very minimalist, but at the same time stylish. The processor copes well with the development of the interface, jams happen very rarely, moving around the menus and applications is fast. However, it was not without drawbacks. A number of icons in the “curtain” are not translated, as well as a number of submenus in the “Settings” application. OTA-updates to the gadget did not “arrive”, although several months have passed since its release date. Thus, for the optimization and translation of software, the smartphone receives only a “four”.

As a result, Vernee provided a worthy competitor to the Xiaomi Redmi and Xiaomi Redmi Note lines. The main advantages of the model against the background of these opponents is the presence of NFC and an excellent metal case, which Xiaomi in the current generation of its products decided to refuse. Here are the pros and cons of the phone.

Advantages:

• beautiful design of the thin metal case;
• high-quality frameless OGS-panel;
• Mediatek Helio P60 balanced processor and 6GB of RAM for medium graphics settings in modern games;
• autonomy at the level of 8-9 hours of active screen time in demanding applications;
• NFC support (contactless payments);
• no problems with telephone functions, WiFi, Internet, GPS;
• stable operation of all sensors, including a fingerprint scanner and a gyroscope;
• fast charging; support wireless charging;
• impressive photographic capabilities of the main dual camera for daytime shooting;
• a 13 megapixel front-facing sensor is enough for a good selfie;
• reasonable price.

Disadvantages:

• at night, too darkened photographs are obtained, albeit without excessive noise;
• processor performance is still inferior to the closest analogue of Qualcomm Snapdragon 660;
• the software is not fully translated, there are icons and submenus in English;
• no separate headphone jack.

As a result, Vernee M8 Pro was pleasantly surprised by its beauty, functionality and balance. For the average price segment, this is a very interesting gadget, which you should definitely look at buying. And let its manufacturer find it difficult to compete with such giants of the market as Xiaomi, Huawei, Meizu, with such devices she has every chance of finding many fans around the world.

For the smartphone provided for the review, we thank the Chinese company Vernee.