TP-Link, mainly known for their networking products, is the company behind the Neffos brand of smartphones which they brought to market in 2016. They have a pretty good lineup of Android smartphones, and they just launched this month their camera-focused Neffos C7.
The Neffos C7 is positioned as a budget-friendly smartphone. It has average specifications that are all-around good enough for casual smartphone users. The body is well-built, has a metal frame, though the back is plastic, and overall has a pleasing ergonomic look. It’s also reasonably compact and light, measuring 76.96 x 154.5 x 7.85 mm, and weighing 157 grams.
The front face sports a nice 2.5D curved glass covering the 5.5-inch IPS display. The display’s 720p (1280 x 720) resolution isn’t very sharp, and perhaps counts as rather low resolution in 2018, but its 267 PPI pixel density might suffice for some users.
The front-facing camera has 8 megapixel resolution, and the software offers 10-level Real-Time Beautify mode with live preview of many beautification choices.
The Neffos C7 has the typically arrangement of parts around the body. The left side as a SIM slot that supports dual nano SIM. A MicroSD card is supported in place of the second nano SIM for additional storage.
On the right, you get the volume rocker on top, and the power button below that.
There’s a 3.5 mm audio jack at the top of the Neffos C7.
At the bottom, there’s a MicroUSB slot for charging, and a nice set of speaker grills on either side of it.
Then, looking around the back, you’ll find a nicely centred fingerprint sensor. TP-Link says this sensor unlocks the smartphone in 0.2 seconds. While I didn’t measure the timing, I’m satisfied with its quickness.
There’s also the main rear camera. It features a 13 megapixel camera with phase-detection auto-focus, and an LED flash.
Under the hood, the Neffos C7 is powered by a MediaTek MT6750 octa-core processor clocked at 1.5 GHz, and supported by a ARM Mali-T860 MP2 dual-core GPU. There is 2 GB of memory, and 16 GB of storage. It has a good 3060 mAh capacity battery that is good enough to run the Neffos C7 throughout a full day.
For cellular connectivity, the Neffos C7 supports up to FDD-LTE Cat 4 (up to 150 Mbps download, 50 Mbps upload). It has dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, and supports GPS/A-GPS and GLONASS for positioning.
The Neffos runs on Android 7.0 Nougat, with the Neffos UI 7.0.
The TP-Link Neffos C7 is available at a recommended retail price of S$189 from Challenger, Best Denki, Mustafa. There are two colour options: Cloudy Grey (in this review) and Sunrise Gold.
Conclusion
The TP-Link Neffos C7 is a basic budget-friendly Android smartphone with all-around features good enough for casual smartphone users.
Pros:
- Compact and light
- Quick fingerprint sensor
Cons:
- Average display