When it comes to operator mobiles, we usually think of input-range smartphones with the right and need, without great boasting and with rough designs. This is not the case with the new Vodafone Smart Platinum 7, a high performance mobile that is also elegant and with a premium design and materials.
The Vodafone Platinum 7 is similar to the Alcatel Idol 4S although slightly reworked and as usual is only available through Vodafone with a launch price of 395 USD.
Design
The dimensions of the Vodafone Smart Platinum 7 are: 75.65 mm wide, 154 mm high and 6.99 mm thick in its profile and 155 grams, a really low weight for a mobile 5.5 inches in size.
Aesthetically it looks great. With a glossy black finish made of «aeronautical quality» aluminum and 2.5D glass with Corning Gorilla Glass protection. However, this premium finish has three major drawbacks. On the one hand, it is a real magnet for fingerprints, on the other hand the smartphone easily slides hand and the grip is not entirely good and finally, the biggest drawback is the mobile is heated a lot, a lot, even if we are not executing too demanding tasks.
If we look at the button, on the left side we find a tray for the nano SIM slot that can also hold a micro SD card and the physical button of the main camera. On the opposite side, on the right side Vodafone has placed the volume and power/lock buttons. All these physical buttons have a slightly rough surface that is appreciated when it comes to actuating them.
At the top edge we have the 3.5 mm audio jack connector while the bottom edge is located the MicroUSB port compatible with fast charging «QuickCharge 3.0».
On the back, just below the lens of the main camera (which protrudes somewhat from the back surface) it integrates a fingerprint reader that actually works quite quickly and effectively. Simply tapping the fingerprint reader with our previously registered fingerprint was enough to unlock the mobile phone.
Screen
The screen of the Vodafone Smart Platinum 7 is good, very good. Not for nothing does it have AMOLED technology and a resolution of 2560 x1440 pixels within a screen that reaches 5.5 inches so we get a pixel density per inch of 534.
Like other high-end models like LG G5 or Samsung Galaxy S7, this smartphone features Active Display technology, a feature that displays certain notifications with the screen off using only the necessary pixels.
Vodafone Smart Platinum 7 On-Screen Notifications
Overall, the Vodafone Platinum 7’s display shows bright, vibrant colors, but quite true to reality. Blacks are pretty deep and the contrast is really good. Perhaps the largest but can be the brightness or luminance outdoors, which could be a little more powerful: 358.20cd/m2.
Through the settings you will be able to set various display modes for viewing it, color temperature and image display: adpathic mode, vivid mode, natural mode.
Hardware and performance
The processor of the Vodafone Smart Platinum 7 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 (8 cores) with a clock speed of 1.8 GHz. In the memory section, we have 3 GB of RAM, and 32 GB of internal memory or storage. Storage memory can be extended via microSD.
The final configuration is completed with an Adreno 510 GPU that offers excellent results in the graphics.
At the performance level it behaves like a very powerful and reliable phone. Without being among the best on the market, it offers a more than satisfying user experience.
As we have already said the biggest problem with the Platinum 7 is not the lack of power, it is the temperature. The mobile phone gets too hot and the cover does not properly dissipate heat.
If we leave aside the subjective valuations of each and analyze the performance according to the different benchmarks we see that in Antutu offers 83,048 points and 4,236 points in Geekbench.
Vodafone takes a plus point by using and placing two audio outputs on the front of the device, one on top and one on the bottom.
The second point is carried by the volume, which is relatively powerful, however, in return, the distortion of the sound at the highest levels is remarkable.
Camera
The main camera of the Smart Platinum 7 has no less than 16 megapixels being these of a size of 1.12 m. It also integrates autofocus technology with phase detection, dual-tone flash, HDR mode and wide optical aperture (f/2.0). In addition, the mobile has the addition of incorporating a dedicated button to activate the camera trigger.
Images taken outdoors offer quite vivid colors with a fairly high level of detail, even when we force the maximum ISO. In low-light conditions, at night or indoors, performance drops but the results are still quite good. The colors are much less bright and the images look a little washed.
The automatic mode responds quite well although perhaps by putting a but, it may suffer when it comes to capturing moving objects and in macro mode. In both cases it is ideal to use manual mode. A mode that on the other hand, is quite complete, with all kinds of adjustments: ISO, shutter speed, white balance and focus adjustment.
Or other side the front camera features 8 megapixels with f/2.3 aperture and LED flash, an interesting combination to take selfies in all kinds of conditions.
Another of the most interesting features of the Smart Platinum 7 has to do with the video section: the main sensor records 4K video and the front camera in Full HD.
Software
As is normal on a mobile from a trader, bloatware is liked as one of the main negative points of any terminal.
The Vodafone Platinum 7 is no exception. Although it doesn’t bring many pre-installed apps, it does have some «doubtful utility» (My Vodafone, Start, Protect, Call+ and Message+ for calls and messages) some of which you can easily delete, but others can’t.
Under an Android 6.0 Marshmallow version somewhat modified this smartphone integrates for example a panel with tips in the form of cards, in a very similar way to the one used by the Google Now assistant and that will help you learn how to use the Vodafone Smart Platinum 7.
We also find a Vodafone Start widget designed to show us the latest news and offers of the company, as well as several own applications such as Mi Vodafone (to be able to manage our rate and features) or Protect, to keep the phone safe.