UMIDIGI A3: new Budget Smartphone for $75.99

UMIDIGI tries and tries and tries, but they could not restore their slightly damaged reputation in 2018 yet. With the UMIDIGI A3 they now want to pick up beginners and offer an improved version of the UMIDIGI A1 Pro.

• UMIDIGI A3 Smartphone
  • at AliExpress for $75.99

Note: “Simply make the pre-payment now and pay the remaining amount on 11.11 (Nov 10, 2018 07:00:00 PT to Nov 12, 2018 04:59:59 PT). If the order payment is not completed, your pre-order will be canceled and the pre-payment will be refunded to you.”

Technical Specifications

The old design in 2018 style

One could almost think that UMIDIGI uses the same body for the new mobile phone as for the A1 Pro, because at first glance both models look very similar. But you can see a difference in the dimensions: with 147.2 x 70.2 x 8.5 mm it’s slightly bigger than its predecessor. This is interesting, as the display remains the same with a diagonal of 5.5 inches. In the 18:9 aspect ratio, the manufacturer offers a low resolution of 720 x 1440p; in the budget segment, this is definitely justifiable. It’s also interesting that one doesn’t rely on a notch design – and that’ s one of the plus points.

Thus, the screen edges are not significantly thinner, but remain clearly visible and offer space for the front camera at the top. The auricle has also been positioned at the top. The lower edge of the screen remains without any function. The four corners have been rounded off.

The fingerprint sensor stays where it was, but the vertical dual camera moves to the left side, as we currently see it with most Xiaomi devices. Underneath is the flash. The manufacturer’s name and a CE mark can be found at the bottom of the back.

Beginners Hardware

In fact, I would have expected something different here than UMIDIGI using the MT6739 processor again, which was also used in the A1 Pro. Of course, the quad-core processor was specially designed for such low-budget smartphones and offers a 1.5 GHz clock frequency. Nevertheless one expects from a successor also an increase in performance, which is not to be expected here. In addition, UMIDIGI reduces the RAM to 2 GB and provides 16 GB of internal memory, which can be expanded using a microSD card.

But apparently the camera has changed a bit. The 12 megapixel OV12870 sensor, however, is sold by UMIDIGI as something more than what it really is. Since, for example, the Xiaomi Mi 5C was already equipped with this sensor, one notices that it is not the very latest camera. In addition, there is a 5 megapixel sensor, which unfortunately doesn’t offer any real added value.

The front camera sensor is the OV8856 sensor with a resolution of 8 megapixels and should offer average performance. After all, it can also be used for face unlocking.

Due to the fact that the CPU is new and relatively economical due to low power consumption, UMIDIGI uses a pleasantly large battery. With 3,300 mAh this is an above average value and could provide a solid battery life. Provided that UMIDIGI has made one or two optimizations on the Android 8.1 operating system. You should definitely make do with your mobile phone for one day.

A true dual SIM slot

Finally the UMIDIGI A3 scores well. With LTE Band 1 /2 /3 /4 /5 /7 /8 /12 /13 /17/19 and 20 as well as Dual Vol 4G LTE support you are well equipped for mobile Internet. This is especially fun here, as UMIDIGI uses a real Dual SIM slot, which also offers space for a microSD card. This means that three cards can be used simultaneously: 2 SIM cards and one microSD card. We also know this from the Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite. Local Internet is available via 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi.

Bluetooth 4.0, GPS and GLONASS are also available. UMIDIGI even nicely uses a 3.5 mm jack port, but uses the somewhat outdated Micro-USB port.

Evaluation

Well, UMIDIGI, you didn’t convince me that much with the UMIDIGI A3. The jump to the front of the UMIDIGI A1 Pro is too small, same CPU, similar camera and basically the same design. The only thing I find really cool are the connection options, which cover everything important. Therefore we would probably refrain from a test, or are you so interested in the device that we should test it after all?

If you are interested in the UMIDIGI A3, you can pre-order it from 20.10.18 with some discount. The conditions will be explained on the UMIDIGI website.