Smartisan U1 with Smartisan OS 2.0 based on Android 4.4.2 KitKat Announced for $140

Smartisan is one of the most talked Chinese startups in the recent times when they launched their first ever smartphone ‘Smartisan T1’.  The handset was built with great design and offered some decent features making it comparable with another similar device from major manufacturers. Almost after a year, Smartisan has officially launched their second smartphone called Smartisan U1 and is priced at 899 Yuan ($140). This new handset will mainly target the youth with its good looks and affordable price.

The Smartisan U1 features a 5.5-inch Full HD (1920×1080) TFT Sharp AUO display with a pixel density of 403ppi. It comes powered by a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz. There is a 2GB RAM, 16GB of internal storage and there is no microSD card slot for storage expansion. It also has another variant with 32GB of internal storage that is priced at 999 Yuan ($155).

It sports a 13 MP BSI rear camera sensor with an aperture of f/2.2 and an LED flash, on the front it has a 5 MP selfie camera. The device has a dual sim dual standby functionality with 4G-LTE support, other connectivity options are Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS/A-GPS and microUSB port.

The Smartisan U1 comes packed with a 2,900mAh battery and runs on out-dated Android 4.4.2 KitKat based company’s new Smartisan 2.0 OS. The new Smartisan OS is quite different from what we are used to. The user interface looks nothing like the stock Android; the apps are placed like Tile, which we seen on Windows Phone 8.1. The interface comes with no App drawer, but you can zoom out to see all the Home pages on a single screen. This new update will be available starting from September 15.

The U1 mainly targets at younger users looking for a budget smartphone. The device is mostly made of cheap materials like plastic, but the U1 doesn’t look ugly. The handset is quite a looker as it is just 9mm thin and looks similar to iPhone 5S but with a pure white plastic body. U1 has three front capacitive touch keys instead of a physical home button/fingerprint sensor.

The device measures 152.9 x 76.9 x 9 mm and weighs  155g. The Smartisan U1 will be available in 7 different back cover options, and the pre-orders started now on their official website. The device will be officially launched on September 1.