There's more to LeEco's Le Pro3 than its bargain price

It's easy to make a modern flagship, you just drop the very latest components from the parts bin into one slinky sliver of metal and glass, and slap on a premium price tag. Making a capable and compelling budget phone, however, is a whole lot harder, and yet Chinese brand LeEco is hoping to take on Huawei, ZTE, and others and win with its new Le Pro3. You certainly can't argue with the price.

That's, officially, $399. However, preorder buyers will get a $100 cut, which brings it down to a fairly astonishing $299, SIM-free and unlocked. That undercuts earlier budget rivals like Honor's 8 significantly.

My colleague Chris Burns has already voiced his skepticism about the Le Pro3. Certainly, the headline feature of its Snapdragon 821 processor – the same as inside Google's Pixel and Pixel XL at roughly twice the price – isn't matched by other details on the spec sheet. Most notably, the 1080p Full HD resolution for the 5.5-inch display is something LeEco conveniently neglected to mention on-stage.

So, I had mixed expectations when I tried the Le Pro3 at LeEco's event in San Francisco this morning. Turns out, first impressions of the new Android phone are pretty good, helped by an instant feeling of quality in the hand. The metal casing may not be as slim as that of others we've seen recently, but it still feels good in your grip.

It also feels all very familiar. I don't think it's unfair to suggest that LeEco's designers have taken inspiration from a number of recent phones, running both Android and iOS, from the punched row of speaker holes on the bottom, to the bevelled edges, and 2.5D cover glass.

Is uniqueness too much to expect at this price point? I'm not sure on that, but I can overlook some of the overlap for how solid a job LeEco has done overall. This feels more like a device several hundred more than its RRP.

It's fast, too, Android whipping along smoothly on the potent Qualcomm chipset. Although a higher-resolution panel would've been preferable, the 1080p LCD is decent unless you get too close. I have my doubts whether people will be so forgiving when they snap it into LeEco's LeVR headset, though, which takes the GearVR-esque approach of relying on the phone for its display.

LeEco's big selling-point is its ecosystem, of course. That starts with its skinned Android build, dubbed "eui". It's not the most unsavory interface replacement I've seen, but I still don't think it's in the best interest of most owners: pure Android, and more prompt OS updates, would be preferable.

The Chinese firm's argument is that its cloud storage and streaming services – the latter including both live and on-demand content – are tightly integrated with the Le Pro3. I had a brief chance to demo them, and could see how they'd be more appealing than trying to find something other than pranks and cat videos on YouTube. Preorder buyers will get three months of service included, as part ofLeEco's subscription-based EcoPass with unlimited photo and video uploads, and 5TB of cloud storage.

Still, though, I can't see why the company couldn't leave Android alone and just preload a few apps for those services. The assumption, presumably, is that the phone will just be one part of an overall LeEco ecosystem commitment, like the smart TVs which support two-finger-swipe streaming from phone to flatscreen. It's easier than trying to remember where you put your USB Type-C to 3.5mm headphone adapter.

That port does work with Qualcomm's Quick Charge 3.0, which works with the Le Pro3's fairly astonishing 4,070 mAh battery. It's rated for up to 33 hours of talktime or 12 hours of streaming video, the company says, and is considerably larger than anything in recent Android or iOS devices. If longevity is your primary concern, it's unlikely you'll find anything cheaper and longer-running.

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Is that enough to recommend the LeEco Le Pro3 as the budget Android to have? I'll withhold final judgement until I've had more time to play with the phone. After all, there's its 16-megapixel main camera with 4K video recording to test, not to mention the 8-megapixel front-facing camera for selfies. If you're convinced, mind, you can preorder the Le Pro3 from November 2, in a choice of gold or gray.