Neffos just released another entry-level smartphone by the model name of C7. Neffos is no stranger to entry-level smartphones as they’ve recently announced a repricing of their existing lineup of smartphones to be below RM900. Now, they’re back with the Neffos C7 – a RM599 smartphone.

We’ll be condensing the review of the Neffos C7 to just a few parts. Many aspects of the Neffos C7, like its software and camera UI, are similar or identical to the Neffos N1 that we reviewed here.

Unboxing

The Neffos C7 comes in a simple box design has a lid that opens from the top. Some of the specs are also highlighted behind the box.

Once opened, the entire tray slides out. The tray itself holds the Neffos C7 at the top, alongside with a box that holds all the documentations and SIM ejector tool, alongside with a piece of clear screen protector. Underneath the box is the charger and micro USB cable.

Just like the Neffos N1, I really wish that Neffos would include a case instead of a screen protector here. Also, why not pre-install the screen protector too?

Design

The design of the Neffos C7 is nothing spectacular here – it’s a common slab that we’ve seen over the years and it has a 16:9 display alongside with the same capacitive keys as found on the Neffos N1.

At the back of the Neffos C7, there’s a rounded fingerprint sensor and the camera is placed at the corner there.

Since it’s a plastic back, Neffos resorted to use pad printing for the Neffos logo, the TP-Link logo, and all the other information down below.

At the bottom is where the speaker and microphone grills are found, with the micro USB port at the center.

Of course, there’s a headphone jack at the top too.

On the right side is where the volume rocker and the power button is found. Typical run of the mill smartphone design from top to bottom, actually.

At the left side of the Neffos C7 is where the SIM/micro SD card tray is found. You get a

The one thing that bothers me the most if the build quality of the Neffos C7. Neffos opted to use plastic body at the back. For the screen, it doesn’t feel tough. My finger just doesn’t glide through it as smoothly, and it just doesn’t sound like glass when I knocked on it. From what I can deduce, this type of glass that the Neffos C7 has will scratch easily. It just doesn’t feel like Gorilla Glass.

Some of the lighter colors are a little too washed out, whereas darker colors looked good.

Specifications

The Neffos C7 comes with aa fairly simple set of hardware – hence the price.

• 5.5-inch IPS LCD display with 720p resolution
• MediaTek MT6750 chipset
• Octa-core processor with 4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.5GHz + 4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.0GHz
• 2GB RAM
• 16GB storage
• 13MP rear-facing camera with PDAF
• 8MP selfie camera
• 3,060mAh battery

Camera

From the specs alone, the Neffos C7 has specs that we can do something that I call it the “touch and go”. Just mention about the specs and take a look at the pictures. Nothing else.

Let’s take a look at some of the pictures that we’ve taken with the Neffos C7. You can look at the complete album of photos I took with the Neffos C7 here at our Flickr account.

The pictures taken with the rear-camera is quite terrible when viewed at full crop. Even in manual mode, most of the details are lost. Outdoor images of the trees far away looked like a patch of greenery instead of leaves on the Neffos C7. Also, these photos of sunset is very underexposed compared to what I see with my eyes.

As for the selfie camera, I’m not much of a selfie person – but for all I can say, in lower-light condition, the Neffos C7 is definitely not going great. I have no idea how they can call this a selfie phone.

Performance

As the Neffos C7 is indeed an entry-level smartphone, it has the specs to match too. With the MediaTek MT6750 and an octa-core processor fabricated with 28nm process coupled with 2GB RAM, the Neffos C7 is not meant to do heavy tasks.

It can browse websites here and there with relative smoothness, and social media app is pretty much okay. Let’s take a look at some the benchmarks here.

One thing in particular that I do realize is the superbly low write speeds on the Neffos C7. While most smartphones with eMMC 5.1 will score about 200MB/s sequential write speed, the Neffos C7 scores only ~50MB/s in sequential write speed. This is repeated throughout all the tests performed, too.

Its sequential read speeds, however, is on par with other smartphones that has eMMC 5.1 flash chip.

Honestly speaking, the specs on the Neffos C7 is enough for social media. Nothing much other than that, though. I tested Honkai Impact 3 on the Neffos C7 with the highest settings and all of the effects enabled. Surprisingly, the frame rate isn’t as bad as I expected, but it’s nowhere near smooth. Having a lower resolution of 720p does ease the workload on the GPU, but it just can’t keep up.

Battery

When it comes to battery life, the Neffos C7 isn’t particularly stunning either. With its 3,060mAh battery, the Neffos C7 manages to score about 8 hours and 45 minutes worth of usage before reaching critical battery life.

Also, what’s with the 5V 1A charger? 1A? I honestly have no idea why these chargers still exist. Come on now, a 5V 1A chargers are considered obsolete. And the 5V 1A does impact its charging speed, as seen in the graph below.

The graph here shows the battery percentage over time. As you can see, the charging curve is quite linear. The ASUS ZenFone Max Plus (M1) has a non-linear charging curve and tapers off at about 75% battery. For the 5V 1A charger that the Neffos C7 has, you’ll reach 75% battery at about 1 hour and 21 minutes if you have about 18% of battery left.

Wrapping up the Neffos C7 review

Obviously, the Neffos C7 is not meant for everyone. It’s an entry-level smartphone. To really seal the deal with the Neffos C7, I think the inclusion of a case is the answer. The inclusion of a film screen protector is good, but Neffos should have pre-installed it instead, given that the glass quality just doesn’t feel or sound like Gorilla Glass.

I know I’m harsh on the Neffos C7. It’s a smartphone that’s aimed towards the entry-level market, but some parts – like the glass quality – shouldn’t be skimped. And also the charger. Seriously, why does 5V 1A even still exist?

For the price of RM599, it’s decent enough for basic usages. Just make sure to apply the included screen protector when you unboxed it, and get a case for it.

Judging the Neffos C7 from its price alone, it’s an okay smartphone.

Where to buy?

You can find it over at Lazada right here.

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