$180 Coolpad Conjr joins crowded unlocked US mid-range scene with premium metal build

Chinese technology, entertainment and automotive mammoth LeEco isn’t backing down from the US just yet, despite recently acknowledged cash flow deficiencies, expanding its own-brand unlocked phones to retailers like Amazon, Best Buy and Target a little over a month ago, and now looking to launch a low-cost Coolpad 5-incher across a similarly robust sales channel.

In theory, Coolpad is still its own company, known primarily to T-Mobile clients stateside, but make no mistake, LeEco’s controlling stake in it was central to the CES 2017 debut of the affordable yet premium-designed Conjr.

Up for pre-orders on Newegg already at $180, free Beyerdynamic in-ear headphones bundled in, the aluminum unibody beaut should also reach Amazon’s e-shelves any minute now before it starts shipping next week.

Not exactly a ZTE Blade V8 Pro or Honor 6X contender outside of the build quality department, the Coolpad Conjr does manage to conjure up a multitasking beast, courtesy of a generous 3GB RAM count, with just the one 13MP rear-facing camera on deck however, a respectable 8MP selfie snapper, mediocre quad-core MediaTek MT6735 processor, and 720p screen resolution.

We’re not too happy about the pre-loaded Android 6.0 Marshmallow, no doubt heavily skinned and modified as well, the tiny 2,500mAh battery, or 16GB internal storage space. But let’s not forget the Honor 6X starts at $250, and the Blade V8 Pro sets you back $230. And yes, of course there’s a fingerprint scanner under the Coolpad Conjr’s main cam, with LTE connectivity accessible on US GSM networks.

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from Pocketnow http://pocketnow.com/2017/01/05/coolpad-conjr-unlocked-us-mid-range-metal-phone