“Being that we are in the age of fast-paced technology advancement and aspire to stay ahead of this, we remind ourselves daily of the following key factors in our operations: Elegance, Reliability, and Affordability Because it is, indeed, a NEW ERA.
iLand is an electronic design and development company providing high quality and affordable Android OS mobile phones and apps with great customer experience for developing countries.” – iLand Mobile.
Welcome to the review and unboxing of the GENESYS 3 lite smartphone made by iLand Technologies.
iLand Technologies, rumored to be of Nigerian origin and based in Texas, aims to design affordable phones for developing African countries, and this is one of the entry-level phones I was able to get my hands on.
Given that we have taken a liking to exploring other smartphone products available on the market, we have picked the iLand GENESYS 3 lite as the phone to review.
We are also doing this to support their (iLand) goal of being socially responsible, attending to the education of underprivileged kids, taking them off the street, and helping keep them in school. The phone costs N28,500 and is available on Jumia.
I will rate its features over ten compared to phones within its price range.
Full Specifications
| Body | 154.5×76.9×9.8mm, plastic frame. |
| Display | 5.5 HD with 720×1280 resolution, 267 ppi Pixel Density, 1100:1 contrast and IPS Screen, Mali-400 525MHz. |
| Chipset | MediaTek MT6580, QuadCore Cortex-A7 at 1.3 GHz speed. |
| Memory | RAM: 2GB RAM and 16GB ROM with External Storage Support Up to 128GB using a Micro SD card (T-Flash Card) |
| Primary Camera | 13.0 Mega Pixel, f2.2, with LED Flash, 88 degrees wide angle, Auto bokeh effect, and 720P video recording capability |
| Secondary Camera | 8.0 Mega Pixel, f2.2, back camera (dual with the primary camera). |
| Front Camera | 8.0 Mega Pixel + 5 Mega Pixel, f2.4, 8b degrees wide angle. |
| Software | Android 7.0 Nougat |
| Battery | 4000mAh, 5V 1A, No flash Charge. |
| Connectivity | Dual SIM card Standby, Micro + nano card, 2G, 3G, OTA, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi |
| Colors | Black, Silver, Gold |
Accessories
Accessories with the phone include a charger rated 1000mA (really disappointing), an earpiece, a user manual, 1-year warranty card, a free case with dust protection for the earpiece and charger ports, and a plastic screen protector.
Design
Concerning design, the phone is excellent and fits well in my hands. The phone has a plastic casing, and the round corner provides a firm grip, the earpiece jack is located at the top, the speakers at the back and charging port is at the bottom.
The power button and volume keys are located on the right-hand side. It is not bezel-less (which is very obvious) but still manages to remain pretty.
The back looks catchy, though the iLand logo could have been moved elsewhere or changed to a fingerprint sensor, considering they still had to put the “designed by iLand in Texas” at the bottom side. There are different colors, but gold is only available in Nigeria.
For its price, though, it is a “you get a little bit more than you paid for” design. Compared with some phones within its price range that I have gotten my hands on, I score it 8/10.
UI/Homescreen and Display
Maybe it’s because I have been used to other displays, but the User interface wasn’t cool. I have never been a fan of colors; while the display looks easy on the eye, I felt the colors were too much.
The file manager screen is too plain; the app icons are just blah, and I think iLand was trying too much to be different.
Though my friends here loved it, maybe it is all down to choice. The light option is excellent and bright with adaptive brightness. The wallpapers are cool, though, and there are many Launchers out there that you can customize to get your desired Home Screen.
After installing Nova Launcher and File Manager by Xiaomi, I loved it more. The phone can play 3D games well. The final score on UI is 8.5/10.
Battery Life
The phone has a 4000 mAh battery that allows you to charge it once and use it throughout the day. I am sure this is part of iLand’s goal to provide phones with lasting batteries for a lower price. From 100%, playing Dream League Soccer with an internet connection for 60 minutes took the battery to 87%.
I listened to some music, saw a few movies (not streaming, mind you), and chatted with a few friends on split-screen for 3 hours with the 3G network on and bright screen, and it only took the battery from 87% to 54%.
From there on, it was just fair usage with internet connectivity still on as I was busy all through. Eight hours later, I still had 38%. The battery is good, though charging is slow, as it takes about 3 hours to get from 0 to 100.
Well,, for those who know how NEPA/PHCN frustrates us, 4000mAh is enough to carry us until they resupply electrical power. The final score here is 8.5/10.
Camera
Well, this phone’s camera is cool. A 13MP + 5MP back camera gave a broader picture frame, and the front camera is excellent. I’m not a fan of pictures, though, but I know many people will love the camera.
It supports gesture snapping, which is a neat feature, and a few options, including the blur and PRO camera features.
The only thing I hate is the lack of selfie flash, really who does that? PHCN isn’t friendly over here, and no front flash means I must forget about taking pictures at night. I give it 7/10
Gaming and Speed
The phone is fast with 2GB RAM and a 1.3GHz Quad-core processor. The games didn’t lag, and the commentary on my Dream League Soccer game ran smoothly.
After opening about 15 apps and leaving them on the recent apps tab, I played Six-Guns for about an hour to see its performance, and everything went smoothly. Switching between apps is sleek and smooth. For that, the score is 10/10.
Memory
The Genesys 3 lite has 16GB inbuilt memory for file storage. While this is not enough (only pictures and music files will take up that space), it also provides an SD card slot.
This allows you to use your dual SIM without sacrificing any slot for extra memory. The expansion slot supports up to 126GB of data, which is good. Score, 7/10.
Media and Speaker
Genesys 3 lite supports a range of video extensions: AVI, MP4, WMV, RMVB, MKV, MOV, ASF, RM, FLV, up to 1080p. The audio extensions supported are MP3, M4A, AAC, MKA, AMR, ALAC, FLAC, APE, and WAV.
The phone has an iLand music app that offers free African music once you sign in. We can call it our own African SoundCloud.
The speaker is quite loud and has excellent sound quality, so we would not need to strain our ears to catch the words while playing Music and watching movies.
Also, the voice quality when making calls is good too. Media Score, 9/10.
Others
The phone has its own manager and locker app under the iLand app lock, so you wouldn’t have to worry much. It is not heavy and is easy to use.
There are built-in batteries and data savers, and there is no option to download other fonts, so we are stuck with the default font, though there are options on the Play Store.
An inbuilt eye protection feature helps you operate it at night. Also, there are smart gestures and sensor options like automatically dialing a contact from an SMS thread by just putting the phone close to your ear, though you must turn this on.
The gestures also support driving mode and Google TalkBack for persons with vision impairment. The score here is 8.5/10.
Pros
The design is fresh, the weight is just right, and the speed is great. I love the battery life and speakers suitable for gaming and entertainment.
The eye protection and smart gesture features are well appreciated. The camera captures astonishing images, so our moments and memories are preserved in clear pictures.
Cons
There is no bad selfie flash, No fingerprint sensor, Color Choice is limited to just one color, and the 1000mA Charger ticks me off.
Verdict
The iLand Genesys 3 lite is good enough for its price and considering all its features, and I there is 7/10 chance I will recommend it to anyone seeking to get a phone within that price range (below N30,000).
The iLand Genesys 3 lite featured in our 15 Insanely Discounted Phones Below N40,000 With Nice Specs; please do well to check it. Also, if you need a phone with more specifications, check out 14 Amazing Discounted Android Phones Below N65,000. You should also check How To Migrate Your Data From An Old Android Phone To A New Phone once you get the phone.
I read this review then bought the phone. But phone came with a malware that pops up random ads and sometimes subscribes me to sms services. I have formatted, and root formatted and the virus wont go. I have uninstalled in safe mode too. My last resort is to return the phone to its owners.
Pls help connect me to where I can get the replacement parts for genesys 2 phone
Have your tried phone repair shops?