UMIDIGI S3 Pro Review

Overview

UMIDIGI S3 Pro is the first mid-range smartphone to offer a ceramic body. Ceramic is usually reserved for flagship and boutique smartphone models but UMIDIGI has found a way to bring the luxurious design to the masses. In addition to this unique selling point, UMIDIGI throws in a large battery, which we're already familiar with from the UMIDIGI F1 review, as well as a more advanced camera department offering a significant upgrade compared to the latest UMIDIGI models. Moreover, this smartphone is one of the few, internationally available devices that run on a Helio P70 chipset - one of MediaTek's latest and most advanced system-on-chips for mid-range and upper mid-range smartphones. All this, coupled with a reasonable price tag of around $280 has raised strong interest in UMIDIGI S3 Pro, so here's our full, 10-page review of this model. Be sure to check every single page as it tackles specific details of this device.

Specifications

UMIDIGI S3 Pro is equipped with a 6.3-inch in-cell LTPS display with a resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels and a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. A 2.5D curved glass covers the front, while the back is ceramic and paired to an aluminium alloy frame inside. Despite the display, the S3 Pro shares another feature with the UMIDIGI F1 - the battery. It uses the same 5150 mAh unit with the same 18W fast charger. However, the manufacturer has created a special charging cable that's strong, resilient and extra safe. The camera department of the model includes a 20MP Sony IMX376 front-facing shooter paired to an f/2.0 lens. It is placed in the small waterdrop notch above the display. In the upper left corner on the back of the handset, there's the dual camera module that significantly protrudes from the surface of the backplate. It includes a 48MP Sony IMX586 regular camera with a 6-element lens and an f/1.7 aperture and a 12MP Samsung S5K3M5 telephoto shooter. There's a dual-LED flash between the two cameras, which are also aided by phase detection AF. UMIDIGI S3 Pro is based on a MediaTek Helio P70 chipset, which in terms of performance, can be easily compared to Snapdragon 660. Built on TSMC's 12nm FinFET process, the chipset integrates four 2.1GHz Cortex-A73 and four 1.95GHz Cortex-A53 CPU cores. The CPU is accompanied by a 900MHz tri-core Mali-G72 GPU. The S3 Pro packs 6GB of double-channel LPDDR4X RAM, clocked at 1800MHz and 128GB of eMMC 5.1 storage, expandable with up to 256GB. The smartphone supports dual 4G and VoLTE with both SIM cards supporting one and the same network bands: 2G GSM (Bands 2/3/5/8), 2.5G CDMA (1X/BC0/BC1), 3G WCDMA (1/2/4/5/6/8/19), 3G TD-SCDMA (34/39), 4G TDD-LTE (34/38/39/40/41) and 4G FDD-LTE (1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/17/18/19/20/25/26/28A/28B). In addition, the model supports fully NFC (read/write, card emulation, and P2P), Bluetooth 4.1, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Hotspot, Wi-Fi Display. In terms of satellite positioning, the model works with GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou and is equipped with a USB Type-C 2.0 port and a 3.5 mm jack. The S3 Pro runs on Android 9 Pie.

Complete UMIDIGI S3 Pro specifications.

What's in the box

The S3 Pro is the first UMIDIGI smartphone for a long time that arrives in a different box. And that's quite explainable - it needs to be noted that this is a special device. The handset arrives in a flat almost square box with a soft texture on the lid, which also has a sign that reads "Luxury Ceramic S3 Pro". Inside, the smartphone is placed in the right compartment with an envelope of accessories and a TPU case. The special charging cable and fast charger are positioned in two separate compartments in the left-hand side. Here's the full set of accessories:

• 5V/2A~9V/2A~12V/1.5A fast charger (EU plug)
• USB Type-C data cable
• Textured, black TPU case
• SIM-tray pin
• Quick start guide