Of all the companies in the world, Romanian outfit Allview surprised everyone when they announced they were prepping a smartphone that comes with 3D Face Unlock. They even did that before the Xiaomi Mi 8, being the first Android device maker to have this feature. Now it’s implemented on the freshly launched Allview Soul X5 Pro, which we unboxed below.
Priced at $379, the device is supposed to be Allview’s flagship phone for the year 2018. It’s their first smartphone with a notch and possibly their biggest diagonal phone so far, at 6.2 inches. Interestingly, the 6.2 inch panel is fit within a 5.5 inch body, which feels pretty heavy if you ask me. It’s actually past 200 grams, which makes it one of the heaviest smartphones out there.
Inside its box we find the typical Allview headphones, a metal key used the access the slots, charger (5V/2A), microUSB cable (by mistake, we have a test unit and it should be USB Type-C), plus the manual, cleaning rag and screen protector. There’s also an USB Type-C to 3.5 mm adapter. The device itself adopts the usual design approach, combining glass and metal, although the back side may easily be some sort of plastic at this price.
The 6.2 inch screen offers a Full HD+ resolution and its notch can be hidden from the settings. It measures 7.85 mm in thickness and the smartphone also has 4 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage, plus a microSD card slot. The latter is actually hosted within one of the hybrid SIM card slots. A 3000 mAh battery completes the list, feeling like a compromise for this diagonal size.
We also get a dual back camera, with a 16 MP sensor hooked up to a 5 MP one and able to do some Bokeh shots. There’s also a 16 MP front shooter, which together with an IR sensor offer 3D face unlock, in a pretty fast and efficient manner. I’ve tested it and I could say results are on par with other big phone makers out there. Allview Soul X5 Pro runs on Android 8.1 Oreo, without too much bloatware and also offers the AVI virtual assistant from Allview, which has evolved.
It also has a Google Lens style element now and responds to your vocal command, unlocking the phone across the room. At the back there’s a fingerprint scanner and the device also uses the Helio P60 CPU for AI tasks, which we’re going to discover soon. We’ll be back with a full review ASAP.
