The brand of LEAGOO may not sound unfamiliar when they are selling a lot of great budget smartphone and tablet here in Malaysia.

A few months ago, LEAGOO with a new lineup KIICAA has released 2 interesting smartphones that feature what future phone could be; LEAGOO KIICAA S8 and LEAGOO KIICAA MIX. Partner from Gearbest is generous enough to send us a unit of the KIICAA MIX where I’ll be doing review of this device.

Let’s begin with an unboxing video

Here are the things included in the box;

The LEAGOO KIICAA MIX probably is the cheapest bezel-less smartphone available in the market and it have great spec based on paper. Do take note, this is a US$ 107 (about RM 453)

Here are the specification;

▪ MediaTek MT6750T Octa-core Processor
▪ 3GB of RAM
▪ 32GB Onboard Storage with microSD Card Slot
▪ 5.5-inch Full HD IPS Panel
▪ 13-megapixel and 2-megapixel Rear Camera
▪ 13-megapixel Front Camera
▪ 3,000 mAh Battery
▪ LEAGOO Freeme OS Based on Android 7.0 Nougat

Design

A quick glance you may find it look very similar to the Xiaomi Mi MIX with top and side bezel-less design but if you look close enough the bezel frames are still there and more obvious. With this sort of design, the device has a much smaller footprint as compared to other same 5.5-inch display smartphones. This gave advantages to those who preferred smaller device and one hand operation. This is one of the most compact 5.5-inch smartphones in the market.

Footprint: LEAGOO KIICAA MIX and ASUS ZenFone 4 Max Pro 

LEAGOO KIICAA MIX uses plastic on the rear instead of metal or glasses which isn’t a bad thing. The device not only compact, it’s kinda lightweight and easy to hold.

On the front is the 5.5-inch Full HD display and front camera has repositioned to the bottom left to make way for the bezel-less top. The company also moved the earpiece which traditionally lies on the front to the top right. This resulting poor call quality and only favorable to left ear listening. The phone calling is not that pleasing even though it features VoLTE & WiFi calling.

The fingerprint scanner is embedded on the home button and it works not only as home button, it functions as back and recent apps buttons with hold and swipe gestures.

Display

To be honest, I’m quite impressed with the display considering its sub RM 500 (US$107) price. It has a Full HD 1,080p resolution panel, good brightness level and wide viewing angle display. The tri-bezel-less is something that makes the device look unique and futuristic.

Performance & Software

The MediaTek MT6750T octa-core processor may not be powerful, it is able to handle daily application and gaming without any issue. It able to run graphics hunger games like Mobile Legends and Modern Combat 5 well with not many lags.

It plays stereo audio playback where the top earpiece plays along. The audio output from the main down-firing speaker is not that loud but is able to get compensated with the earpiece speaker. Overall the audio is not too bad or too great either.

3.5mm audio jack was missing on the KIICAA MIX and can only use either the provided  Type-C headphone or rely on Bluetooth earphone and headphone. The stock earphone sound comes out hollow and not as great as I expected. The company didn’t even provide a 3.5mm to Type-C connector inside the box.

Cameras

I’m not putting a much high expectation on the camera even though it has dual camera setup. Afterall it’s a budget good-looking smartphone.

On our review, the autofocus is slow and wide-aperture/portrait/SLR are just a circle blurred out the photo. Therefore I hardly use the wide-aperture mode. The photos outcome is a little letdown, noisy, dull color and you really need to have a steady hand to take a good photo.

The front camera is located oddly on the bottom left where it’s not really that convient for live streaming.

Below are some sample photos were taken with the LEAGOO KIICAA MIX;
(all the photos were not post edited/touch up and uploaded to Flickr straight from the LEAGOO KIICAA MIX)

Click on the image for high-resolution viewing

With wide-aperture/SLR mode

Macro shot

Front camera

Battery

The 3,000 mAh battery is not the biggest nor the smallest battery but manage to juice the device for a day with moderate video watching, some gaming, 4G internet browsing and ongoing social media. It supports fast charge 5V/2A through USB Type-C and can fully charge from flat to 100% under 2 hours.

Verdict

The LEAGOO KIICAA MIX may not be the perfect smartphone but it’s one of a good-looking budget bezel-less display smartphone. The price, compact body, its great vivid display, and snappy performance ousted its flaws.

Unfortunately, this LEAGOO KIICAA MIX is not available officially here in Malaysia but it doesn’t stop you to purchase it over Gearbest where they can do shipping to your doorstep. Check out the promo here: LEAGOO KIICAA MIX