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Siam 7x Dual-Screen Smartphone Clears the FCC, Goes on Sale for $550

Many gadget-lovers have been hoping that Chinese smartphone makers would launch a low-priced alternate to the Yotaphone, but if the Siam 7x is typical of the market then that won’t be happening soon.

Liliputing has reported that a company by the name of CRBT is importing the Oukitel U6 into the US and is selling it as the Siam 7X. This phone features a 5″ LCD screen and a 4.7″ E-ink screen, When Oukitel announced it in August they said it would cost $270, but now that it is available in the US the price has almost doubled, to $550.

siam x7

According to the spec sheet, the Siam 7x runs Android 5.1 on a quad-core 1.3GHz MTK6735A CPU with a MaliT760-MP3 GPU. It packs in 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage, and a microSD card slot (64GB cards supported).

It has a pair of cameras (13MP and 5MP), and in terms of connectivity the spec sheet lists Wifi, Bluetooth, FM Radio, and GPS, but no NFC.

And of course it has the two screens, one a 5″ LCD screen with a resolution of 1280 x 720, and the other a 4.7″ E-ink screen with a resolution of 960 x 540.

Both screens have touchscreens, and the E-ink screen may or may not have software that lets you use it to its full potential.

And you can get all that for $550. That’s a lot less than the Yotaphone, but it’s still about twice the cost had you ordered an Oukitel U6 from China. Of course, that Chinese model had half the RAM, only 16GB storage, and weaker cameras, so it’s not a perfect comparison, but I’m not sure that the improved specs justify the higher price.

The US model might be better but this is still a Chinese smartphone. We can tell that from the dual-SIM card slots and the FM Radio, and Brad over at Liliputing points out that even though the phone supports Chinese 4G LTE networks, it won’t offer 4G speeds in the US. In fact, Brad says this phone only has limited support for US 3G networks, which means that it will probably offer 2G data speeds in the United States.

As someone who doesn’t use mobile data on my phone (I use a hotspot), that is not a real concern to me, but I’m sure you would want to get the most out of a $550 phone.

And 2G data speeds just won’t cut it, not at this price.

Siam 7XFCC via Liliputing

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Comments


Roberto January 2, 2016 um 3:40 pm

As a happy Yotaphone 2 owner (and in constant fear of loosing or braking it) I kept looking out for alternatives, also because I would love to see a backlit e-ink screen and have a second SIM or an extra SD-Card slot as an option.

That being said, both the Oukitel U6 and the more expensive Siswoo Darkmoon R9 fail to deliver on the software side. What is a second screen good for, if you can´t use it for AT LEAST as many options as a very common smartwatch? Just having the backside for some ebooks and maybe a notification or two is not good enough.

Both models rely – as far as I know it – on the same software that has been used for mirroring your quite regular smartphone to the so-called INKCASE. The developing company stopped software engineering for the older models once they sold the idea to Huawei, and after the special version for the Huawei P8 came out, nothing new happened in terms of widgets or software development. You can have a start-screen with some notifications, use a reading app or mirror a picture – and basically that´s it! Not even a touchscreen option as with regular ebook readers…

Regarding the Yotaphone, I love the responsive multitude of apps and widgets on the backscreen and simply have to admit that the software developers did their job, and indeed did it well. I can read, fool around, check messages (and even answer them), look up my reminder, even mirror complete screens or the whole Android system if I need/want to… The e-ink back is an ideal and seamless, well thought-out extension to the first screen.

Yes, it might be, that The Big Brother (in form of FSB) is watching you and every content you "mirror" onto the backside (which might have been the reason for the Yotaphone 2 not getting a proper US launch permit?) but then again, aren´t those other great and expensive smartphones nowadays connected to all those 3 letter agencies anyway? I don´t have anything to hide and enjoy the extras of modern world, as long as all the information is not misused.

So, in conclusion: As long as no big name in the business like Samsung, LG, Sony or Apple come up with a proper solution which automatically involves meaningful apps and widgets, all those no-name versions might be technically interesting, but imho are failing on usability.


Lance Rubringer January 13, 2016 um 3:40 pm

After reading this article, I tried to contact CRBT to get more info before ordering what looks like a cool phone.
Sadly, no one from the company even responded to my email questions.
Not a good sign.
And so, no order for me until more info is available.


Jfjd August 12, 2016 um 2:24 am

It’s always going to be a problem with Chinese phones and tablets made for Chinese market, they don’t support LTE /4.5g/4g and often not even 3G so you end up with an expensive dumb phone/tablet. Second SIM doesn’t help either. Yoursphone version 3 will be released by end of this year according to reports and should have 2 SIM cards and primarily for Chinese and Russian markets so it’s good chance it will support at least 3G if not multiple LTE frequencies.


Siam 7x Dual-Screen Smartphone Now $250, Down From $550 | The Digital Reader October 12, 2016 um 12:13 pm

[…] the Siam 7x debuted in the US last December, you had to pay $550 to get this dual-screen smartphone. Now you can get it for less […]


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