Before we delve into the review, the device we saw at this year’s show was pre-production with Android installed and working but with many pieces of hardware not working. It was also glued together rather than being nicely finished. It is essentially a prototype so we’re going to be talking about aspects which we haven’t tested out. Saygus told us that the phone is planned to arrive early in the second quarter and although a price hasn’t been decided, the firm said it will retail at $100 less than similar phones.
Saygus V2 hands-on review: Design
Like some older Motorola devices, the Saygus V2 uses a Kevlar rear cover which looks great and is also durable. The frame is a magnesium-aluminium alloy we’re told and the phone is a little different to a regular design. It’s reasonably thin and light (9.7 mm and 141 g) and fits nicely into the hand plus it’s waterproof with an IPX7 rating.
Saygus V2 hands-on review: Hardware
Moving onto hardware and that headline grabbing 320 GB of storage which is more than twice the amount of the largest iPhone 6. Before you go thinking it’s got a tiny SSD or something, the Saygus V2 has 64 GB of internal storage and can take two 128 GB microSD cards. So it’s capable but doesn’t come with that amount out of the box. As well as dual-microSD card slots, the Saygus V2 is packed with tech making it something of a geek’s dream phone. While most smartphones come with some features but not others, this one has pretty much anything you can think of. It has dual-band 11ac Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, 4G LTE, an IR blaster, fingerprint scanner, Harman Kardon stereo speakers, Qi wireless charging and noise cancelling technology. That’s quite a list to go alongside the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, 3 GB of RAM and 5in Full HD screen. Photography looks strong with a 21 Mp rear camera and 13 Mp front camera. Both are made by Sharp and have optical image stabilisation. There’s also a physical camera button on the side which we always like to see.
Saygus V2 hands-on review: Software
The Saygus V2 will come with stock Android and although the device we looked at was running version 4.4 KitKat, we’re told it should have 5.0 Lollipop by launch. As well as stock Android, the Saygus V2 supports multi-booting from microSD and also comes with root access. Tech Advisor’s Reviews Editor, Chris has been reviewing all kinds of tech for over 10 years and specialises in audio. He also covers a range of topics including home entertainment, phones, laptops, tablets and more.
