Recently, we have seen a lot of products Sigma mobile. Among them was a simple babushkofon a powerful flashlight , relatively affordable smartphone protected and even tablet. Today we look at another smartphone. Model X-Treme PQ33 is different from all of these devices with its functionality. It is quite a decent performance and added protection feature wireless charging, NFC and Walkie-Talkie radio. With full confidence we can assert that our hands was almost flagship – you only find out how good it turned out.

Options

Sigma mobile X-Treme PQ33 comes in an elongated box in which there are: smart charger with an output current of 1A, detachable antenna for the radio, the key to open the compartments SIM-cards and memory card, headset, charger platform standard Qi, two cable (flat and conventional) and documentation.

Design and usability

Its appearance resembles the hero review all other protected devices. The housing is traditionally made of black and yellow plastic on the sides and at the rear there are inserts of very hard rubber mounting screws fastening the housing halves are left open that betrays the design even more brutality.

Compared with conventional smartphones, Sigma mobile X-Treme PQ33 was very large and heavy. 150 x 78,5 x 18,5 mm and weighs about 284g. – Impressive for a 4.7-inch smartphone performance, but it is comparable to similar devices.

In addition to the logo of the manufacturer, which can be found on both the front and rear side body strewn with other inscriptions. All these WP +, IP68, H20 Submersible, Shock Resist, MIL-STD-810G compliant hinted that the review would be a hero even more resilient to external shocks than other counterparts, relevant customary protection class IP67.

If you believe the inscriptions on the body, it turns out that Sigma mobile PQ33 can without problems for a long time to work at a depth of more than 1 meter, withstand significant changes in temperature, pressure, shock and even falling. However, the standard MIL-STD-810G does not involve testing in special laboratories, necessary tests the manufacturer can carry out on their own, so the Sigma mobile declare only protection standard IP67.

Perhaps this is correct – at least, the glass screen is devoid of appreciable protection over him no protruding elements. At the same time, you can be confident in the safety of the internal components – on the half shell has a rubber gasket, the front panel of the housing is molded with special ribs, which creates additional protection for the motherboard with the drops.

Connectors microUSB and 3.5mm collected on the upper side and covered with a large flap. At this time, Sigma mobile did not hide the interface connector deep into the body, so the smartphone will charge any cable microUSB, but for listening to music will still need to plug earphones with thin without too much plastic.

Do smartphone molded body to replace the battery yourself will not work. To install the SIM-cards need to open a small lid on the bottom of the back, fastening the two bolts. In a small recess, arranged one above the other three slots – two for simkarty and one for the memory card. Cards are used in the old format Mini-SIM.

If you have already changed or cut to its Micro and Nano-SIM, would have to replace them or make use of adapters. Using the latest require ingenuity and dexterity, insert a sim card in the adapter into a very uncomfortable and hard.

Sigma mobile X-Treme PQ33 was very non-standard location keys. At the top of the right side wall positioned PTT key for radio, and above it there is a small button forced reboot. Bottom right is the shutter button camera, it can help to start the camera and take a picture. In contrast, the PTT switch does not start the radio.

Symmetrically PTT, on the left side, there is a small separated volume control buttons, and the most important and frequently used the power key, there was a place at the bottom of the left sidewall. If you hold Sigma mobile PQ33 right hand, the power button is just below the little finger. All buttons are very tight, they have to press with considerable force.

In practice, it appears that the smartphone is very inconvenient to use, switching on and off the screen requires the constant use of the second hand.

Display

The smartphone is set to 4.7 inch IPS screen with a resolution of 1280 by 720 pixels. The display is covered with tempered glass between him and the matrix is a layer of air. Out of the box is pasted on the glass screen protector.

Display brightness varies from 47.5 to 275 cd / m2, contrast ratio measured was 1 to 556. The display is well calibrated, so the colors and shades look natural. Maximum viewing angles. The sensitivity of the sensor layer normal, good finger on the glass slides.

HD-resolution 4.7 inches gives a density of pixels in 312 ppi, so the picture is not only natural, but also smooth – individual pixels hard to see even closer examination.

Unfortunately, there were some shortcomings that were expressed in a small range of brightness adjustment. The minimum level will be higher than comfortable to use in the dark, and the maximum is not enough to use a smartphone outdoors on a sunny day.

Hardware Platform

Sigma mobile PQ33 was quite productive “iron”. As the hardware platform used by SoC MediaTek MT6592 with eight cores Cortex-A7, running at up to 1.66 GHz and GPU Mali-450 MP. The amount of RAM – 2 GB, a 32 GB of internal memory and a slot for microSD.

Communication modules presented dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n, Blutooth 4.0 and NFC.

The benchmark results are typical for your SoC, as well as speed. Despite the use of energy-efficient cores Cortex-A7, platform is plenty of and increase in frequency, as well as the relative performance graphics core. Paired with 2 GB of RAM smartphone running fast – this applies to both everyday tasks and games.

The speed of Wi-Fi has not caused any complaints, while the GPS has a rather low sensitivity and average speed.

Calls, multimedia

Sigma mobile X-Treme PQ33 supports simultaneous operation of two SIM-cards based on the same radio. Configure them similar to other smartphones. Built-in dialer does not support fast search T9 contacts. Quality of spoken and ring dynamics can be called average. They are loud enough, you’ll always hear an incoming call and the interlocutor, but they sound dirty. Vibrate is rather weak, which is not surprising considering such an impressive body weight.

Integrated video player only cope with the most popular file formats, so the fans to watch movies and TV series is better to install a third-party player. In Sigma mobile PQ33 has FM-radio works without headphones. Unfortunately, the sensitivity of the built-in antenna is not enough for a normal signal reception indoors, in the center of Kiev smartphone is only 7 radio broadcasting and plays with noticeable noise.

After connecting the supplied headset PQ33 found about 24 stations, and interference disappeared.

Operating system and shell

Smartphone running the operating system Android 4.4.2 KitKat. Use the standard shell and a minimum preset programs. For example, Google services are provided solely app store Play Market, all the programs the user has to select and install yourself.

Radio

Availability Walkie-Talkie radio – one of the distinguishing features of the PQ33. The radio operates in the frequency range 446,000-446,100 MHz, the manufacturer declares that the transmitter power is 0.5 W, and the operating range can be up to 5 km.

To operate the radio in the phone has the same name application. Its functionality is at the most basic level: You can set the operating frequency, frequency step, the transmitter power, strength, noise reduction, signal encoding. Besides not the best location, in the application is not the function of scanning the ether. Unlike radio phone- Sigma Mobile X-Treme DZ67 Travel , the user can not set the operating frequency is out of range 446,000-446,100 MHz, which may make it impossible to use Sigma mobile PQ33 with some third-party radios.

Voice quality is on a comparable level with other radios. For audio output using an external speaker, the volume will be sufficient for communication in a quiet room, but when dealing on the street have to listen or ask interviewees to speak louder. When you connect the headset complete incoming messages sounded through headphones, respectively problem volume will not stand, interlocutors hear better, but for signal transmission will still have to use the microphone on the phone, use the PTT button on your phone or in your application.

In general, the implementation of such a radio in the smartphone is more entertaining – some radios provide at least comparable voice quality, not thrown the battery can scan the air, and a little more expensive counterparts to work with a headset and supports VOX.

Operation time

The smartphone has a non-removable battery with 3500 mAh. The manufacturer claims that it will last for 5 days of standby time. In synthetic tests autonomy smartphone shows good results, which correspond to the stated capacity of the battery and diagonal screen smartphone.

The smartphone can be charged not only with the cable, but wirelessly. To do this, in case there is a special induction coil and the charging pad included. Last equipped with indicator light, when power he begins to glow green, and in the process of charging alternately flashes green and blue.

Camera

Sigma mobile X-Treme PQ33 got two cameras, the main has a resolution of 13 megapixel with autofocus and flash, front with a resolution of 5 megapixels. Both cameras are relatively slow, the focus does not happen very quickly. The main camera shows the image quality similar to most mid-range models. The front facing camera is also on the level of such decisions, it is characterized by a wide-angle lens.

Examples of pictures taken main camera:

Example photos made front camera:

Results

Sigma mobile X-Treme PQ33 – one of the most productive protected smartphones that we have to meet. The model has a high-quality implementation of protection and lost minor flaws that were present in previous smartphones Sigma mobile. Availability of NFC and wireless charging can be considered nice bonuses. At the same time, I would like to see the quality implementation of additional functions, primarily radio to PQ33 can be used to compare with conventional radios. But most of all upset completely unsuccessful ergonomics. Non-standard location power button, generally very tight and informative press suggest that it is easier to pay attention to other models . Of course, they do not offer the same performance and additional bonuses, but will be more convenient for everyday use and less impact on the wallet of the buyer.

Liked:

+ High-quality implementation of protection

+ Nice color rendition display

+ Performance, a large amount of internal memory

+ Autonomy

+ Scope of supply, the availability of NFC, wireless charging Qi

Did not like:

– Terrible ergonomics (the location of the power button on the bottom left, stiff keys)

– A small range dimming the screen

– The average quality of the implementation of the radio, low sensitivity FM-radio and GPS

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