Neffos C5 review: It’s a good first try, TP-Link

TP-Link isn’t known for their smartphones. They make routers and other networking solutions and they make them very well. But, with how much the smartphone has taken over our lives, it seems a slice of this market was too tempting to pass up.

So they took a stab at making some smartphones. The result is the Neffos C5 line.

Yes, they made an entire lineup of smartphones. All of which seemed designed to tackle the low-to-mid end of the smartphone market. While two of their smartphones have been launched in Malaysia, the low-end C5L really is just there for show.

The more expensive C5 should be where the money’s at. As a smartphone, the Neffos C5 isn’t all bad. It’s put together reasonably well and has one or two good design elements. Its hardware isn’t all that, but for a budget device, it’s acceptable.

One thing they really skimped on was the camera, but then again, many budget smartphones do this to save cost. The question then is: Is this the budget smartphone for you?

I’m not so sure about that and it isn’t because of something the C5 did particularly wrong.

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You could tell that TP-Link was uncertain about how good their smartphone was going to be during the launch event. They started things by talking about how they were the market leaders in…routers.

It didn’t help that the only two features their emcee constantly harped on about was the smartphone’s “wide angle” selfie camera and ability to take long screenshots. Hardly features you’d prioritise in a smartphone at this price point.

What you would want is good specs and, unfortunately, the C5 doesn’t shine.

The power coming from its MediaTek MT6735 processor mated to 2GB of RAM is as you’d expect from a budget smartphone. If you run your smartphone clean and often clear background running apps, you should be OK. But if you let the apps pile up like I do, things can get a little choppy.

But TP-Link has done a reasonable job with the 2,200 mAh battery as I managed to eek out a little over 3 hours of screen-on-time during one of my moderately heavy Twitch streaming days. It, unfortunately, doesn’t idle that well as the drop in battery percentage was rather linear when I left it overnight.

The good news is that you’d be OK streaming content on this smartphone because the 5-inch 720p display on the front is pretty decent. It’s reasonably sharp and can get fairly bright with decent viewing angles, but it doesn’t get very dim so usage in a dark room isn’t very comfortable. Then again, why would you use your smartphone in the dark anyway?

It’s also built really nicely for a plastic budget smartphone. The removable back has minimal flex when attached and it fits pretty tight onto the device. It’s also super light so my arms didn’t get tired when I was holding it over my face. The speaker is a little weak, to be honest, but hook up a Bluetooth speaker and you should be A-Okay.

The camera is there. There’s one at the back and one at the front, and they’ll both take pictures if you don’t mind waiting for the slow shutter speed. Don’t expect to find DSLR-killer optics from the 8MP/5MP camera combo, I’m afraid. But, that’s not enough to get me to hate the device.

I actually got pretty used to using this as a smartphone. It’s nicely curved with fabulously tactile buttons (they’re finely ridged too so it’s nice to run your fingers over them) that you might not even find on some, more expensive, devices. It also lets you expand the 16GB of onboard storage via a microSD card, which is nice.

I think TP-Link did a reasonable job with their new smartphone, so I don’t know what they were so worried about. It’s a functional device that is priced at RM539 so there’s really not much to complain about.

The only problem with the Neffos C5 and why I wouldn’t buy one is that there is another much better device that’s only RM60 more and I’d pay the difference in a heartbeat.

That smartphone has a better display, a more premium build and better internals. It’s pretty great across the board and a significant step up from this little Neffos C5.

It’s a good first try, TP-Link, but this is a dog-eat-dog world and the budget smartphone market is far too competitive right now for something like the Neffos C5.

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Here are some more photos from the Neffos C5. Click on each picture to view the full image.

Bonus selfies: