LeEco Le Max 2: A Decent Successor

Conchita Fernandes tests the LeEco Le Max 2 and finds out how its camera fares against its contenders.

Recently, the smartphone arena saw the launch of important flagship phones, one of which was the LeEco Le Max 2. Specswise, the Le Max 2 is quite similar to the Le Max, which was launched earlier this year. It features the same 21MP rear camera, but has upgraded the front camera from 4MP to 8MP. The size of the phone has also received a makeover. Where the Le Max had a huge 6.30-inch display, the Le Max 2 has been downsized to 5.7-inches. Let’s look what else the phone has to offer.

Lots to Choose From
LeEco has always been big on giving its users a plethora of camera features to choose from. The camera’s UI is quite reminiscent of the iPhone, and provides a Slo-Mo, Video, Photo and Panorama mode, which can be accessed with a simple swipe of the screen. The phone offers a variety of filters as well, and lets you adjust shutterspeed, WB, ISO and Exposure. You can also focus and meter for the subject by separating the focusing and metering point, a feature which is quite unique to most cameraphones in the market. Other features include an HDR, Night, Beauty, Scene and Square mode.

This photograph was shot on an extremely bright sunny day. Despite this, the phone managed to maintain details in the water and the man’s shirt, and also did a good job with the highlights and shadows in the scene. Photograph/Conchita Fernandes

Good Performance, But…
On the camera front, the Le Max 2 was not a disappointing shooter. Although there were a few instances where the AF was a little slow (especially in low light), the camera otherwise was quick and shoots a burst of 30 photographs at a go. The phone also did not produce blown out highlights, even on extremely bright days. But it was a bit of a pain to shoot on such days, as the display was barely visible, despite the device’s Adaptive Brightness feature.

Under good lighting conditions, the camera’s AF performed well and also produced good colours. Photograph/Conchita Fernandes

What it Really Misses
As a new iteration to the Le Max lineup, the Le Max 2 is not as significant as I expected it to be. Considering that it is priced at Rs. 22,999 for the 4GB RAM version and Rs. 29,999 for the 6GB RAM variant, I was expecting it to offer its users RAW shooting. More so, since the OnePlus 3 offers this feature at a Rs. 27,999 price tag. However, if you keep these features aside, on the whole, the Le Max 2 provides good image quality and quite a stylish exterior. If RAW shooting is not a concern and you enjoy looking at your pictures on a large display, the Le Max 2 is one of the better options.