Dual cameras are trending these days. Aren’t they? They have changed scenario of smartphone photography. Instead of putting the load on a single camera, the work is shared between both cameras. The primary camera captures the picture with clarity and details while the secondary adds some stunning in-depth effects to the image. But, the problem is dual camera smartphones are mostly expensive. So the question is: Can we expect dual camera for ? Yes, we can! Our protagonist ‘Leagoo M8 Pro’ is such a smartphone from the Chinese land.

Also See: Leagoo M8 Review

Leagoo M8 Pro is not only about the dual camera but also highlights other features such as air gestures, fingerprint, 4G LTE and so on. To enlighten our readers with the newly released Leagoo M8 Pro, let’s head to the details and know the younger brother of M8 better:

Leagoo M8 Pro Review – An Underdog with a Promising Camera

Design & Appearance

To be honest, Leagoo M8 Pro is almost a ditto copy of its predecessor ‘M8’, excluding the rear. Nothing regarding design or appearance has been altered. Even the dimensions and the weight are the same.

However, this doesn’t mean that it’s a bad thing. You see Leagoo smartphones have a unique style and such is the style of M8 and M8 Pro. Concerning material, the smartphone is a perfect blend of plastic, glass, and zinc alloy which is Leagoo M series signature. The front is covered with 2.5D glass and coated with Gorilla Glass Protection 4. Meanwhile, the rear molds from plastic and the side frame forge from zinc metal. It should be noted that it’s zinc – heavy metal, not aluminum. That’s why the phone weighs a bit heavy and thick. Still, it’s okay under $80.

On the front, we witness the front camera and earpiece. We must point that there is a dedicated somatosensor also located which enables the user to enjoy air gestures as well. Sadly, the LED notification is still absent in the smartphone like its older sibling.

Moreover, there’s no button present at the bottom. The makers have made the front bottom neat and clean. The three traditional buttons as screen touch based.

Meanwhile, on the rear, we have the same streaks layout. The fingerprint, LED flash and the camera has been brilliantly arranged in the same vertical position like before in M8. The only difference is that there’s an expansion of a secondary camera which further exaggerates its beauty. The only flaw in the design was the speaker located at the lower back of the phone. If the phone rest on a surface there could be some serious sound distortion.

There’s the 3.5mm audio jack on the top of the phone. While on the bottom is the microUSB port. Listening music via wired headphones and charging the phone at the same time can become a bit hard on M8 Pro. This type of ports placement in common in low-ends in the market.

Summing up the section, Leagoo M8 Pro design features the same uniqueness, solid build, and elegance like its older brother ‘M8’ but this time with an addition of a dual camera.

Screen & Display

It’s good to know that Leagoo M8 Pro features the same 5.7-inch screen like M8. The low point is that it’s still HD. But, I think it’s fine for a low-end smartphone at a budget-friendly price. In comparison with the display of M8, M8 Plus holds a better contrast and brightness. Speaking the truth, the screen never looked like as it was a low point of the phone.

While playing video, the phone had the same amazing color saturation and crispness like its ancestor. On maximum brightness, the phone was able to reduce the glare to the minimum while operating under sunlight (outdoor). The screen is robust, and you won’t need some extra protection as the phone is already coated with Corning Gorilla Glass Protection 4. Plus, it comes with the MiraVision Technology pre-installed. Large and bright display, what else do we need from a $80 smartphone.

Hardware & Performance

Now, this is where M8 Pro leads in contrast with the old M8. Leagoo M8 Pro instead of running on the old MediaTek MT6580 incorporates a newer version known as MediaTek MT6737. The new SoC features a Quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 beating at 1.3GHz. As the frequency is low so we can expect low power consumption from the SoC.

The SoC is further accompanied by two gigs of RAM and 16 GB storage (memory expandable up to 128GB) to yield a low-end performance of 29550 points. The performance which is 8550 points better than its sibling M8.

We also did the Geekbench test to determine the CPU performance only, and the result is shown below in the picture.

The RAM write and read speed as well as the ROM speed was quite amazing as well:

With a max clocked ARM Mali-T720 MP2 (@550MHz), we expect the phone to run games such as Asphalt 8, Subway Surfers, Temple Run without any delay or freeze.

In short, Leagoo M8 Pro is way ahead of the simple M8 because of upgraded hardware.

Camera & Samples

Let’s head to the selling point of the terminal which is the dual camera of Leagoo M8 Pro. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that we can get dual cams for $80. The credit goes to China. However, you won’t expect a masterpiece from the camera similar to the result of Mi 6, Huawei P9 and iPhone 7 Plus. But, still what we witness is a way better image than M8. Getting in details, both rear dual camera as well as the front camera has been upgraded. The front camera is 8MP instead of 5MP. Meanwhile, the rear camera highlights 13MP primary and 5MP secondary dual camera.

Speaking of the image quality, the samples given below speaks the whole story. Although, the details and the depth in the images are appreciatable as well as the color saturation. But still, the contrast is only satisfactory. The image didn’t look natural at all.

However, the camera only supports 720p video recording. I guess they don’t want to push hard with a MediaTek SoC. They don’t even mention the sensor but I bet it’s not Sony IMX.

In low light conditions, there was a bit noise reduction in the background, but still, the clarity of the image overwhelmed it. Overall the image result was excellent in daylight and good in low light.

Connectivity & Features

However, camera and SoC aren’t the only things in which we see improvements. Last year, Leagoo M8 disappointed most of the users because the device only supports 3G networking. But, the manufacturer from the Chinese land hasn’t repeated the same mistake with the ‘Pro’ version. Under the hood of the Leagoo M8 Pro, there is new connectivity features integrated 4G LTE support as well as OTG support. M8 Pro also sports dual SIM with dual standby.

Don’t expect much from the reception of the WiFi as it’s a standard b/g/n, neither AC nor the dual bands. I guess this is how budget-friendly smartphones work. The GPS was satisfactory with an accuracy of 2 meters. For better GPS and receptions we recommend AGM X1 Rugged Smartphone.

Jumping to the features, I promise that the user will appreciate and enjoy the new ones as well as the old ones. The new features include air gestures and smart wakeup via somatosensor. While the old ones are the smart gestures, touchID, FM radio as well as rear panel control via fingerprint.

OS & Battery

Leagoo smartphones run on a customized UI known as Freeme OS 6.0. The UI is based on the customized and optimized version of Android v6.0 (Marshmallow). We already know that Android 7.0 has been already released, but still, most Chinese manufacturers are slow in updating the OS. Same is the case with Leagoo.

The OS is stable and fast. The UI is the one of the easiest UI for any user. It’s highly optimized to get the best out of it. A few bugs occur, but the OTA update has the fixes. While using the OS, I never felt that the phone was a low-ender because Freeme 6.0 was smooth no matter what multiple apps I use.

You can customize the three tradition buttons at the bottom, set smart and air gestures. Set up fingerprint reader. Speaking of the fingerprint reader, it’s a bit sluggish and allows only ten scans of each finger. So maybe you might expect an accuracy if 90% but not 100%.

M8 Pro runs on the same 3500 mAh Li-ion battery like M8. We might see a little bit decrease in battery life because of the upgraded specs. When turning everything on (including WiFi, max brightness, cellular data, Bluetooth 4.0) a playing a youtube video, the phone drain 50% of the battery in 50 minutes. Remember this is an extreme test. With average use, the phone can run for 7-12 hours on single charge, easily.

Specification Sheet

Pros & Cons

Pros

• 4G LTE
• New Features
• OTG supportable
• Better Performance
• Dual Camera

Cons

• Still HD
• Speaker on back
• 720 video recording (unknown sensor)
• No LED notification
• Same old appearance

Our Verdict

If you are in search of a budget-friendly smartphone with the large screen, mediocre performance, 4G LTE networking, tons of fun features, and most importantly dual camera, Leagoo M8 Pro is our recommendation. Although there’re some other Chinese smartphones with dual cams none has a better price than M8 Pro. Finally, we can say that:

Leagoo M8 Pro is the Cheapest Dual Camera Smartphone on the Planet

Price & Availability

You can purchase Leagoo M8 Pro for the best price of $82.99 from GeekBuying and Lightinthebox. We would like to end this review by giving you the link to the store.