While everyone might be familiar on the TP-Link brand name because of its networking devices such as router, this company has launched their first smartphone, named as neffos C5 in Malaysian mobile market. As TP-Link has a well established brand name for networking equipment manufacturing, how does the neffos C5 from TP-Link perform? How does it differ from other entry level smartphones launched in Malaysia? We’ll put it onto several test but before that let’s have a closer look onto the smartphone itself!

TP-Link ceffos C5 specifications:

• 5 inches 720p IPS display
• 3Ghz MTK MT6735 quadcore processor
• Mali T720 GPU
• 2GB RAM/ 16GB ROM (up to 32GB microSD storage expansion)
• 8MP rear and 5MP front camera
• 2200mAH battery
• 144 x 72 x 8.8,,
• 141g
• Running Android 5.1
• Dual SIM standby, support 4G LTE network
• Available in pearl white and dark grey

RRP: RM539

Unboxing

Our first impression of this smartphone is truly an awe. It is because the box is fully covered in grey colour box made out of quality paper material. It comes with a TP-Link brand name printed in a side of the boxalong with “neffos C5”.

Opening up the box, here comes all the accessories such as earphone jack, charging adapter, data cable, instruction manuals and the neffos C5!

The included charging adapter is a 3 pin plug which perfectly suits our wall socket in Malaysian household. It supports 5V/1A power input which isn’t the common quick charging adapter that we found on other smartphones today but it is still functional.

Design

The neffos C5 has a clean and simplistic look with its 3 parted design. It has the TP-Link logo and brand name printed on the bottom bezel with a clean slate white background. The whole devices feels light and slim along with its 5 inches display blended under the dark glass.

The navigation keys on the neffos C5 are soft coded, which means it appears within the display. Besides, the bezels are also fairly noticeable because it is quite thick. 

A 5MP front facing camera and the call speaker is located alongside on the top.

Right side of the smartphone comes with the volume and power button.

Left side remains clean and  empty.

Neffos C5 comes with microUSB port for data connection which is located directly on the bottom of the smartphone.

3.5mm audio jack is located on the top.

Our review unit of the TP-Link neffos C5 comes with a pearl white colour on its rear cover. It certainly has many benefits as being light, clean and bright. There is also an 8MP rear camera with dual LED light located on the middle top portion of the smartphone. The “neffos” is just printed beneath the camera module that display the model name.

A mono speaker is located on the right.

The entire polycarbonate cover on the back can be easily removed by snapping of from the main body. Within the shell is the dual SIM card slot and the microSD slot.

Camera

Shooting with Normal Mode

While it’s raining outside, the dimmer surrounding does not has a big impact on the camera brightness balance. The image quality are deemed excellent for such mid-range smartphone.

When it comes to indoor, the image quality is considered satisfactory. There are some slight overexposure noted on the image but it doesn’t affect the image quality in extend.

The colour represented on the image are crisp and clear and the original colour retained is mostly accurate with the product colours.

Photos taken in night are considered decent, but there is presence of noise within the picture.

Panorama

The picture above is self explanatory.

Various Filter

The addition of various filter also enhanced the perception of images while expressing some tone of the image itself.

Beauty Mode

The beauty mode in the camera app does perform some level of post processing to the portrait taken, but it is entirely adjustable in the settings control.

Other photos taken from the Neffos c5

Media playback experience

The neffos C5 has a bright, clear and crisp HD display that makes its entertaining to watch video in the 5 inches display. Although the display is not as large as other phablet out there, the display is still comfortable to watch with without straining your eyes on moderate use.

In terms of volume control, tuning up to high volume may leads to noise distortion but it can be avoided with fine tuning of the volume rocker. Nevertheless, the whole media playback experience is excellent.

Battery Test

Initially at 64%, 1 hour of charging has it restored to 95% of the total battery. In our 3 hour heavy usage test (camera, video watching and music listening) has drained the battery from 100% to 69%. Unfortunately the neffos C5 does not support quickcharge technology and hence recharging the battery could take some time, although the battery drain of this smartphone is considered as reasonable.

Surprisingly, our 1 hour and 30 minutes of YouTube streaming does not results in sign of overheat, which is certainly a good buying point for people who enjoy streaming YouTube live through their mobile phone. Our browsing experience on this smartphone is also satisfactory as there isn’t any lag occurred during our test.

Conclusion

The hardware that packed inside the TP-Link neffos C5 is considered mid-range and it is well-suited for entry level mobile users who does not requires heavy performance from smartphone. It’s entirely smooth when this smartphone is used in web browsing or making calls and taking pictures, but we do not expect much when it comes to graphics rendering in graphics intensive game.

If you are looking for a lightweight and elegant budget smartphone, the Neffos C5 does fulfills all the requirements that meet your need for a entry level or mid-range smartphone.