Welcoming the affordable Wiko U Feel Prime

FIRST impressions can often be wrong. When I first laid eyes on the Wiko U Feel Prime, I must admit I wasn’t all that impressed.
Its admittedly sleek metal design, 5in Full HD (1920x1080) display, and lightweight 150g body would have wowed me several years ago, but these days, such features are all too common.
Under the hood, things were only slightly more eye-catching, with a Snapdragon 430 octa-core ­processor powering 4GB of RAM and 32GB onboard memory.
It also has a microSD card slot that allows you to upgrade your memory up to 64GB.
Out of the box, it runs the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow, but what I had the biggest problem with it was Wiko’s own proprietary user interface, the Wiko UI.
On the surface, it looked neat. I liked the cute rounded graphics, and I didn’t mind that it had an ­alphabetised list to catalogue all the phone’s apps and functions, as ­opposed to a standard app wall.
However, I found myself getting annoyed with the phone’s many security alerts, which constantly asked me whether or not I wanted to authorise certain apps’ ­permissions, allow access to certain media files, and so on.
Of course, I understood that this was all in the name of security, and eventually, you do get used to them.
I did like the fact that the device had individualised ­security locks for certain apps.
You could prevent other people from looking at your Facebook, WhatsApp text messages, contact list, or any other important features by adding a password or a ­fingerprint lock on them.
Of course, this meant that you would constantly have to unlock these yourself every time you wanted to use them, but again, it’s all in the name of security.
Another thing I found annoying was how sensitive the screen was, and how it would become active at odd times.
For example, almost every time I finished a phone call, I would ­discover that I had opened up an app.
Ironically, most often, it was the device’s gesture control feature, which allowed you to draw letters or symbols to use certain apps or functions.
One other place where I felt the U Feel Prime was lacking was the ­camera.
It comes with a 13MP camera with dual LED flash, and while that might be passable, the reality is that pictures and videos don’t turn out all that well. If you are a hardcore shutterbug, this device is not for you.
On the other hand, I was ­extremely impressed by the device’s speakers, which are located at the bottom.
When testing the device out for sound, at maximum volume, I was able to hear music and voices quite clearly even from the next room.
In short, the Wiko U Feel Prime has several flaws, but nothing that will cause any serious harm.
And with its relatively affordable RM899 price tag, I can imagine a lot of people being willing to overlook them in favour of all the positive features that the device has.
The Wiko U Feel Prime is now available at major tech retail stores.
For more, visit the Wiko Malaysia Facebook page (www.facebook.com/WikoMalaysia).