Maimang C199 review: Rich built-in resources but weak hardware configuration

Huawei 's mobile phone marketing strategy is not to follow the route of fewer but better products. The endless new phones of various sub-product lines and various sub-brands are dazzling. Even as a mobile phone editor, I always feel that there is a new Huawei phone at hand. The machine I have been experiencing recently - Maimang C199, is the latest model of Maimang, a sub-brand jointly launched by Huawei and Telecom.

The positioning of this machine can actually be seen from its packaging. Printed on the original cowhide box is a hymn to youth written in an unruly style, which clearly defines the target users of this machine as teenagers who are growing up wildly.

Appearance: Metal one-piece molding, comfortable feel

The most distinctive feature of the appearance of the Maimang is that its entire back cover and frame are made of metal in one piece, and only the camera and external speaker are separated from the metal plate by two pieces of white plastic. This shape makes the Maimang look a bit special. The design of the back is slightly curved, and together with the frosted back cover, the grip feel of the machine has been improved to a certain extent. However, what I am more concerned about is that the design of making even the frame into an integrated molding has left a small circle of space around the volume button and power button on the side, and the buttons always feel shaky, affecting the pressing feel. The weight of the metal body cannot be ignored, reaching 167 g, which is a bit fat for mobile phones of the same size. The 5.5-inch screen is really too big to hold in the hand, and it is unlikely to be operated with one hand.

In fact, compared with Maimang B199, the most significant improvement of C199 is the addition of China Telecom 4G, and it supports GSM (2G) and China Telecom TD-LTE/CDMA2000 dual-card dual standby. Both card slots are placed on the side. The China Telecom card slot is a micro SIM card, and the GSM card slot is integrated on the SD card slot and requires a nano SIM card.

System: Many built-in applications

Maimang C199 uses Emotion 2.3, a customized version of the Android 4.4.2 system. In addition to the more youthful UI, the rest of the experience is still full of Huawei flavor. The lock screen can be swiped up to display the user's subscription content, and a different picture will be displayed each time it is turned on. The drop-down menu has been slightly adjusted, and the order of icons can be changed by dragging. In addition, the navigation bar at the bottom of Emotion 2.3 can be hidden and re-exposed by swiping up from the bottom. The rich themes also add a lot of color to the system.

The biggest feature of the Maimang C199 system is that it has a lot of built-in applications. In addition to the various applications customized by Tianyi, there is also a category called "Maimang Zone", which contains some third-party applications that have cooperated with Maimang. Basically, you can get a membership gift of the corresponding application for a period of time in the Maimang Album Application.

In response to the needs of 4G mobile phones, Maimang C199 also adds three applications, "Love to Watch 4G", "Love to Listen 4G" and "Love to Play 4G", for users to listen to music, watch videos and play games on 4G networks. However, since it is tailor-made for 4G networks, the video quality is compressed to a certain extent. Even if it is switched to HD mode, it will look like the picture below. However, there are many sources and a large number of limited free movies. What makes people happy is that users can uninstall all these built-in applications freely, which reduces some psychological burdens for users who like "pure experience".

Performance and battery life: Very average

Huawei C199 uses Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8928 quad-core processor with a main frequency of 1.6GHz, and is supplemented by 2G RAM + 16G ROM. This configuration would have been considered top-tier a year ago, but at present, it can only be considered mid-level among models of the same price.

The result of AnTuTu's benchmark is 21487 points (with fluctuations), which is also in the middle position. The game performance and battery life drag down the average score. This is also confirmed when running the Asphalt 3 game. Although it can run, the picture and frame rate are not ideal. What surprised me is that the heat control of Maimang C199 is good. Even after playing the game for 20 minutes, there is no obvious heat sensation.

There is no rigorous test on power consumption, the following scenarios are for your reference:

Running the benchmark software for 10 minutes: 3% power consumption

Lock screen with notifications on for 10 hours: 14% battery consumption

Running Asphalt 3 for 20 minutes: 12% battery consumption

At the beginning, I always felt that this machine consumed power very quickly. Later, I paid close attention to it and found that it only consumed power once a day under moderate use. It was not as power-consuming as I had imagined, but it certainly could not be said to have long battery life. In addition, it is probably because of its large number of built-in applications that the power consumption in standby mode is relatively large, so I always feel like "how come you ran out of power after not seeing you for a night?"

Photography: Low light is a shortcoming

Huawei Maimang C199 uses a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front camera, and supports panoramic, HDR, beauty, continuous shooting and other shooting modes and functions. It also has a black screen instant shooting function, and double-clicking the volume down button can achieve 1.4 seconds of snapshot.

When taking photos, the Maimang C199 performs well in bright environments. Although the saturation is sometimes too high, the overall color and image restoration capabilities of the picture are still good, without any major flaws. However, it is a tragedy in low-light environments. Noise problems appear under darker indoor lighting, and the color of the picture is also affected. It is even worse in the night lighting environment.

Summary: What do young people really want?

In recent years, more and more mobile phones have begun to target young people. It seems that as long as a mobile phone is unique and low-priced, it is customized for young people. I am no longer at the age of "growing up wildly", and I really can't help young people to say what they want. I can't speak for young people about how attractive multiple video resources and cooperation with the Voice of China are, but I think young people who are a little knowledgeable should still pay attention to cost performance. The Maimang C199, which costs 1,800 yuan, really needs to work harder in front of the current Meizu and Xiaomi, which cost 1,799 yuan and 1,999 yuan, respectively.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.