The Vodafone Smart 4 Turbo - initial hands on

This post forms part of a three post review Hands on | Part 1 | Part 2
Heya

Today I get to play with a fresh new 4g device from Vodafone. The Smart 4 Turbo. Minus the racing stripes sadly. But for two weeks I'll be chatting about the device from both a budget concious users perspective and a parents perspective.



Firstly let's do the initial hands on thought.
On seeing the device I was worried the phone would be a cut corners to cost Alcatel junker, but no. They've used a new manufacturer, hugely popular in China to create a well specced device on a darned good price point, now to many specifications mean nothing but for the budget concious geek the more bang you can easily get for your buck the better. So for you to decide I've pulled the specs of GSMArena as they're listed in the best format on the GSM scene in my opinion. - Thanks Guys!

GENERAL	2G Network	GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 900 / 2100
	4G Network	LTE 800 / 1800 / 2600
	SIM	Micro-SIM
	Announced	2014, Q2
	Status	Available. Released 2014, Q2

BODY	Dimensions	134.5 x 67.5 x 10.4 mm (5.30 x 2.66 x 0.41 in)
	Weight	155 g (5.47 oz)

DISPLAY	Type	TFT capacitive touchscreen
	Size	480 x 854 pixels, 4.5 inches (~218 ppi pixel density)
	Multitouch	Yes

SOUND	Alert types	Vibration, MP3 ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	Yes

MEMORY	Card slot	microSD, up to 32 GB
	Internal	4 GB, 1 GB RAM

DATA	GPRS	Yes
	EDGE	Yes
	Speed	HSPA+; LTE, Cat4, 50 Mbps UL, 150 Mbps DL
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot
	Bluetooth	v4.0, A2DP
	NFC	Yes
	USB	microUSB v2.0

CAMERA	Primary	5 MP, 2592 х 1944 pixels, LED flash
	Features	Geo-tagging
	Video	Yes
	Secondary	VGA

FEATURES	OS	Android OS, v4.4.2 (KitKat)
	Chipset	Qualcomm MSM8926 Snapdragon 400
	CPU	Quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7
	GPU	Adreno 305
	Sensors	Accelerometer, proximity
	Messaging	SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM
	Browser	HTML
	Radio	FM
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS
	Java	Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
	Colors	Black, White
		- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic - SNS integration - MP3/WMA/eAAC+ player - MP4/H.263/H.264 player - Organizer - Document viewer - Photo viewer/editor - Voice memo/dial - Predictive text input

BATTERY		Li-Ion 1880 mAh battery

While the specs are possibly low to mid range compared to some of the latest and greatest 4g devices it's a well thought through device, especially with additions like NFC and even a 3g only variant (I won't lie! Get the 4g version it's worth it) 

I won't lie I think vodafone have done a great job here on the first few hours. We live in an area where signal is hard to come by without a Sure Signal, in places where the go to Nokia 3510 can't squeeze any signal out the Smart 4 Turbo seems to pull it through, even Edge/2g seems to work better where it refuses to on my main sim! (I should say Vodafone have lent me a 4g sim to play with too.) We'll be trying the device in 2g, 3g, faux g(Hspa) and 4g LTE networks over time.

I'll let you know more about the phone over the next two weeks. Including benchmarks, gaming with the kids trying it out and a few other bits and bobs.

If you have any ideas drop them here and I'll test them out.

The Smart 4 Turbo is avaliable for £135 in Vodafone stores prepaid, and avaliable on contract with Vodafone Red 4g plans. you can get more information online or if local visit the new Vodafone Dunstable store in the Quadrant Centre to have a hands on play with the phone itself.