Today, we will be reviewing the Lyf F1 smartphone. This smartphone was launched with the intention of competing with Lenovo K5 Note and Moto G4 (Review). We liked this phone in the short time we spent with it at the launch event. Today, we will know whether the price of the phone is reasonable?
Life F1 design and build
The Life F1 is made of plastic and hence it feels very light in the hand. Despite having a plastic body, the overall finish and fit of the phone is good. There is no flex or cracking when the body is pressed but still the material could have been improved. The look of the phone is simple and the texture given on the rear makes it a bit beautiful. Lyf F1 is a thin phone and its thickness is 7.9 mm.
This phone has a 5.5 inch full HD screen and the brightness is good. Text also looks sharp. Color reproduction is also good and there is Corning Gorilla Glass for protection. A power and volume button are provided on the right side of the phone. The phone has two SIM card slots and a separate microSD card (up to 128 GB) slot. There is a headphone jack on the top and a micro-USB port on the bottom.
There is a camera module at the top on the rear and a speaker at the bottom. The absence of any fingerprint sensor in the phone is disappointing. In the box you will get an in-ear headset, a power adapter, a long USB cable, and a SIM ejector tool.
The Lyf F1 has a decent design and is easy to use. Good grip is available from the rear of the phone. Due to its display, the phone is also easy to use with one hand. Apart from this, the camera is not even embossed on the rear.
Lyf F1 Specifications and Features
Life F1 has an octa-core Snapdragon processor. The phone has 3 GB RAM and 32 GB storage. Apart from this, the phone has connectivity features like Wi-Fi B/G/N, Bluetooth 4.1, USB OTG, GPS, FM Radio and 4G VoLTE. Apart from this, F1 also has some sensors like gyroscope.
The phone runs on stock Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow and hence things look good. Reliance has provided Jio app suite in this phone which includes Jio Money, Jio Play etc. To use these apps, an account is required or if you are using Jio SIM then you can skip this process. With Life Care, you can find service centers near you, call a helpline and manage Jio services.
Through the Smart Tray app, shortcuts to up to 15 apps can be created and they can be dragged from the bottom of the screen. The app, called Smart Ring, mutes or sets the volume of incoming calls based on ambient sound. Its ratings were hit-or-miss in our experience. You can play two videos simultaneously in the video player. But we feel there was no need for such a feature.
Smart Play lets you pause videos when you’re not looking at the screen. For this, the app tracks your head more than your eyes, which means that even if you raise your head while watching a video, it will ask to pause the video. Apart from this, other preloaded apps like BeautyPlus Me, Yatra and Amazon are also available.
Lyf F1 supports RCS or Rich Communication Service on Jio network. This is an official GSM Association program that enhances messaging, voice and video calling features and allows sharing of multimedia content, contacts, etc. during a call. Currently, Jio is the only network in India to provide this feature. But soon this feature can be offered by operators across the country.
Life F1 Performance
The general performance of the phone is good and we did not face any major issues during our review. The key specifications and Marshmallow UI of the phone ensure that the performance and multitasking is good. The good thing is that the phone does not get excessively hot but it does get a little hot while using the camera for a long time or playing games. Games like Asphalt 8 run smoothly on the phone without any problem. The phone got decent figures in benchmarking tests.
The media playback experience in Life F1 is also good. Videos up to 1080 pixels can be played easily in the phone. If kept on a surface, the speaker is quite loud but if not kept on a surface, the sound seems weak. The audio quality of the headset that comes with the phone is also decent.
Talking about the camera, F1 has a 16 megapixel rear camera with PDAF while the front camera is 8 megapixel which supports autofocus. Photos taken in daylight come with detailing and good colors, although photos taken from a distance have less detail. Autofocus is fast. The front camera also takes decent selfies.
However, color noise can be seen in photos taken in low light, especially in dimly lit areas. Even with flash the quality is not very good. The front camera works much better in such situations. The focus speed becomes slow in low light which makes taking selfies a bit difficult.
The camera app is easy to use and we liked its interface. There’s no professional mode in the camera app, but you can adjust IS, exposure and white balance in Settings. The app also has some advanced shooting options like multiple shot, refocus, chroma flash, opti zoom and low light photo. Apart from the Chroma flash, it is difficult to differentiate between photos taken in different modes. Taking a picture with refocus mode will give you the option to choose different focus points but in reality there is no change.
The camera can record up to a maximum of 1080 pixels and the quality is much better in daylight. The video stabilization feature helps a lot.
The 3200mAh battery lasted 10 hours and 57 minutes in our HD video loop test, which is good. During regular use, we were able to easily use the phone for more than a day. The battery charges fast and the phone gets charged up to 45 percent within an hour.
our decision
We think the Lyft F1 is a great option at its price of Rs 13,999. This phone is available at Reliance Digital Store with some good offers and freebies. Apart from this, you can also get one year additional warranty by signing up on Lifecare app on the phone. According to us, its shortcomings are plastic body, average camera performance and absence of fingerprint sensor.
Leaving aside these flaws, the performance of Lyft F1 is good. It has a sharp display, good CPU power, long battery life, near-stock Android and free Jio service till March 31.
If you are thinking of buying Jio or switching to this network and you do not have a 4G smartphone, then Life F1 can be a good option.