Oukitel U18 Review

Overview

Ever since the iPhone X appeared it has been expected that OEMs from China will aim to adopt its display design for their future models. The first company to do so is Oukitel. It was quick to announce and release the Oukitel U18 which is marketed by the manufacturer as resembling the iPhone X on the front and the Huawei Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro on the back. No one has the illusions that this resemblance is real. The U18 design is only reminiscent of the ones of the aforementioned smartphone models. The Oukitel model arrives at a low price (around $150-$180), does have a notched display and it will undergo our usual test routine to see whether it meets expectations.

Specifications

Oukitel U18 is equipped with a 5.85-inch IPS screen with a resolution of 720 x 1512 pixels and a 2.5D curved glass that covers the front of the body. The zinc alloy frame blends well with the front glass and the 3D curved plastic back with a matte finish. Under the hood, a MediaTek MT6750T system-on-chip ticks. It houses eight Cortex-A53 CPU cores in a big.LITTLE configuration. The first four cores are clocked at 1.5GHz and the other four tick at 1GHz. A dual-core Mali-T860 MP2 GPU clocked at 650MHz takes care of the graphics department. The RAM is single-channel, LPDDR3, clocked at 833MHz and measures 4GB. The built-in memory measures 64GB and can be expanded with up to 64GB. The camera department features two rear shooters. The main one has a 13-megapixel Sony IMX135 sensor, interpolated to 16 megapixels, and an f/2.0 lens. The second sensor is specified as a 5MP one. The two are aided by a dual-tone LED flash. On the front, an 8-megapixel GalaxyCore GC8024 shooter sits combined with an f/2.8 lens. Oukitel U18 is equipped with a hybrid, dual Nano-SIM tray and supports the following network bands: 2G GSM (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz), 3G WCDMA (900, 2100 MHz), 4G LTE-FDD (800, 900, 1800, 2100, 2600 MHz). 4G speeds are Cat. 6 ones and enhanced 4G/VoLTE is supported. The wireless connectivity options of the model include dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Display, HotKnot and Bluetooth 4.2. The device works with GPS and GLONASS and is equipped with a USB Type-C 2.0 port with OTG support. There isn't a 3.5 mm jack, a headphone adapter is provided instead. The battery's capacity measures 4000 mAh. U18 runs on Android 7.0 Nougat out-of-the-box and an upgrade to Android 8.0 Oreo is promised by Oukitel.

Complete Oukitel U18 specifications.

What's in the box

Oukitel U18 arrives in a flat rectangular white box with the brand name imprinted on the top and sides and the model name placed in the bottom right corner of the lid. Inside the box, the smartphone is bundled with the following accessories:

• 5V/2A charger (EU plug)
• USB Type-C data cable
• Headphone adapter
• Transparent silicone case for the back
• SIM tray pin
• User manual
• Warranty card