BQ BQ-5520L Silk smartphone - advantages and disadvantages

The trends of the modern market impose the popularity of high-tech gadgets. Unfortunately, devices from famous brands are not always cheap. Not everyone can afford to buy a newfangled smartphone. This state of affairs forces a more careful approach to the purchase. The device must be reliable, inexpensive, and have the features that provide enough performance for everyday tasks. The answer comes with the Russian company BQ and its new smartphone model BQ-5520 L Silk.

Who is BQ?

A young company built on the principle of creating a unique manufacturer of digital devices at an affordable price segment. It was founded in 2014 by a Russian entrepreneur. The main goal of the organization is to create budget smartphones with optimal performance. Manufacturing facilities are located in China, which ensures the lowest possible cost of products.

However, despite its young age, the company is already beginning to win its fans and conquer new horizons. In the first year of its existence, more than 1 million items have been sold under the BQ brand. Today, the level of sales is 5.5% of the total volume of smartphones sold in Russia, per year.

Basic principles of the company

The young company immediately occupied its niche in the market and built a number of strict rules of work. The main criteria are:

1. Creation of a product of a low-cost price segment aimed at a wide range of consumers;
2. Own design and marketing approach for each new model;
3. Maintaining a policy of continuous product improvement to ensure competitiveness.

Such rules provide the company with constant profit growth and high rates of development.

Design BQ-5520 L Silk

The individual design of the BQ-5520 L Silk is provided with high-quality ergonomics. The strict at the same time smooth lines of the body amaze with their elegance. This style will definitely appeal to people who value simplicity and good taste. The smartphone is comfortable, has an average size and will fit nicely in an average hand. The main focus was on the exterior design. The rich color range is aimed at a wide audience, where everyone can choose what they need. The body's plastic does not give rise to any complaints in terms of tactile sensations. In fact, we can say that the entry-level smartphone is built into the body of the middle model.

The front is almost entirely occupied by a 5.5-inch screen, above which the front camera, proximity sensors and lighting are conveniently located. The matrix occupies 71% of the area of ​​the front of the gadget. The edges are rounded to soften the sharpness of perception.

The rear panel is framed with the SILK lettering. At the top, the main camera and flash diode are conveniently located. The speaker mesh is located nearby, slightly standing out from the general background.

On the left there is a power button and a double volume rocker.

At the bottom there is a microphone and a charger port.

There is no fingerprint scanner.

Screen

The new model has a 5.5-inch IPS monitor with a resolution of 1440x720. Aspect ratio 18: 9 which is optimal for comfortable viewing. The maximum supported video format is 720p. Such indicators are quite enough for high-quality reproduction of media content.

The user can be pleased with the presence of a high-quality sensor. And glass, coated with a special coating, which prevents the formation of traces. Unexpectedly for such a device, but the elaboration of the responsiveness of the touch control is commendable.

Overall dimensions

As with any smartphone, the dimensions of the device are dictated by its monitor. In this case, the dimensions are slightly larger than the usual 5.5-inch monitor.

• Height - 149 mm;
• Width - 71.8 mm;
• Thickness - 9.1mm.

This size is due to low-tech components that cannot fit into a smaller case. Looking objectively, the gadget will still fit comfortably in the hand.

Simultaneously with its dimensions, the device has a fairly high weight - 170 grams. For the female part of the population, this is a bit too much, but for men this alignment should be to their taste (it's nice when the device is felt in the hand).

Main camera

The main camera is a device with a resolution of 8 megapixels. The maximum resolution allows you to shoot high-quality video and photos in 720p format. The wide angle lens captures more and allows for a greater view. The main functions include automatic focusing and face detection. It is possible to configure the camera for night shooting. And also change the recording format. The shooting speed is a modest 30 frames per second. The system is supplemented with digital 8x zoom, which works surprisingly well.

Looking at the general picture, the system does not produce impressive performance, but comparable to the cost - this is quite worthy.

Front-camera

The front camera has 5 MP. And the working resolution is 2592x1944. According to the system, everything is standard - face recognition option, automatic focusing. Compared to the previous model, this smartphone is quite advanced. The optics have become better, now their stock is enough for high-quality selfies and video calls. Unfortunately, there are no preinstalled video programs. But there is an opportunity to download them for free on the Play Market service.

Audio

The system for playing audio compositions is set at a decent level in relation to the device's pricing policy. The built-in player produces a sufficiently high quality sound. The device has standard audio setup options. The list includes an equalizer (it is noteworthy that the settings really work and are felt on the stream), a stereo mixer.

Then there is a standard set: FM radio, to activate which you need to connect a headset and a typical 3.5 mm Mini Jack output.

Power section

operating system

The smartphone operates on the Android Oreo Go Edition platform. It is an optimized operating system designed specifically for low-performance devices. Optimization means reducing the required resource for the operation of the system itself, applications and increasing the speed of work. According to the manufacturer, the new OS will run 15% faster and applications will be 50% lighter.

The pre-installed apps have been updated. Additional programs optimized for the Go Edition can be downloaded from the Play Market.

The essence of all alterations is to make life easier for the user and speed up the work of weak parts of the gadget.

CPU

Wiko Rainbow 4G - main printed circuit board - Mediatek MT6290MA

The system core is represented by the Media Tek 6739 WW processor. The chip is combined with the Power VR GE8100 video core operating at 570 MHz. The processor consists of 4 Cortex A53 cores. The maximum frequency of which is 1.5GHz. The platform is positioned as an optimal solution for budget devices.

Additionally, support for smart antenna technology - TAS 2.0 is embedded. This solution improves energy efficiency and guarantees signal stability.

In addition to the above, MediaTek 6739 supports Full HD 30k / sec recording and cameras up to 13 megapixels.

Memory

The low cost of the device is reflected in its performance, and in particular the amount of memory.

The RAM is installed taking into account the fulfillment of the basic requirements. Its volume is only 1 GB. Objectively, this is sufficient for a device designed to perform everyday tasks. The only nuance can be the work of multimedia applications. The device is not suitable for complex games.

The amount of memory for long-term data storage is 8 GB, of which only 4 GB is allocated for the user. The low supply of internal memory is compensated by support for Micro SD up to 64GB. When using a flash drive, problems with a lack of space will not appear so significantly.

Battery

Low system performance had a beneficial effect on the autonomy of the device. Since power consumption is minimized by significantly reducing system and application parameters. A standard battery lasts for a long time. The factory battery has a capacity of 2500 mAh. This reserve is sufficient for audio playback for 18 hours. The continuous talk time is also impressive - 16 hours. Working with demanding applications (games, watching videos) is limited to 5 - 6 hours.

SIM cards

The modern world demands maximum mobility and versatility from devices. Often, a gadget must have at least two SIM ports.

This device fully complies with such requests and has support for Dual SIM. Support is fully provided. The symbiosis of the two cards is perfectly worked out. They can be switched on synchronously (parallel to each other) and alternately. Physical location system, thought out ahead. SIM cards are located under the cover, opposite each other.

Communication card format is supported by Micro Sim 4 form factor.

The supported communication standard is GSM.

Working frequency - 850, 900, 1800, 1900.

Connectivity

The modern phone model is BQ-5520 L Silk. Has full connectivity through built-in blocks. On board there is the ability to fully operate 3G with LTE support. The main connection to the Internet is carried out using a Wi-Fi module that operates at a frequency of 2.4 GHz. A stable connection is also available for the GPS service. Support for headsets and other accessories is carried out via Bluetooth 4.2. Physical contact with devices is possible through the Micro USB cable. The wire is included and can boast of great reliability.

Equipment

The device is completed quite modestly. Due to the low cost of the smartphone, you will have to forget about additional accessories.

The factory set includes:

1. Telephone;
2. Accumulator battery;
3. USB cable;
4. Charger block;
5. Instruction;
6. Manufacturer's warranty card.

Outcome

• low cost;
• long battery life;
• price-performance ratio;
• assembly.

• performance;
• small amount of memory;
• screen.

For convenience, the technical characteristics of BQ-5520L Silk are summarized in the table: