Skip to main content

The Cool S1 is the latest Chinese smartphone that won't break the bank

the cool s1 is latest affordable collaboration between leeco and coolpad changer colors v1
Image used with permission by copyright holder
China-based conglomerate LeEco has had its ups and downs. After a showy press conference in San Francisco at which it announced two new flagship smartphones (the LePro 3 and LeEco S3), a cloud-based subscription service (EcoPass), four new TVs (the LeEco uMax85 and several models of Super 4X), and an electric car (the LeEco LeSee), the firm’s reportedly fallen upon hard times. In an open letter, company chief Jia Yueting wrote that LeEco’s “overextension” led to “ballooning” cash demand that the company couldn’t meet and the company would start cutting funding for programs and focus on current businesses. But that bump in the road has not stopped the company from pursuing alternatives. Case in point: On Monday, LeEco announced the Cool S1, the product of a collaboration with Chinese company Coolpad.

The Cool S1 features a metallic body, a 5.5-inch full HD (1,920 x 1,080 pixels) screen, and Qualcomm’s 2.35 GHz Snapdragon 821 processor under the hood. It’s got a 16-megapixel rear camera with phase detection autofocus, 4K recording, and a dual-LED flash, and 8-megapixel selfie sensor. Audio’s channeled through two front-facing speakers with premium Harman Clari-Fi audio technology. In terms of equipment, the Cool S1 has a USB Type-C connector, a combination 4G LTE and Bluetooth 4.1 radio, and a dual SIM card slot, a fingerprint sensor, and a conspicuous absence of 3.5mm headphone jack.

Recommended Videos

The Cool S1 runs the latest iteration of LeEco’s Emotion UI, version 5.8, atop Android Marshmallow 6.0. It is powered by a 4,070mAh battery that supports Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0, a rapid charging standard that can deliver up to 80 percent charge in just 35 minutes.

The Cool S1 comes in two storage configurations, a 64GB model with 6GB of RAM and a 32GB model with 4GB of RAM, neither of which are particularly pricey. The former retails for 2,700 Yuan ($389), and the latter for 3,200 Yuan ($460). If you were hoping for a stateside bargain, though, you’re out of luck: both are bound exclusively for China.

It’s not the first time Coolpad and LeEco have joined forces. The two teamed up for the release of the Cool1 Dual, an affordable ($226) smartphone with two rear-facing cameras, in August. In November, the two released the midrange Cool Changer 1C.

It’s no surprise. LeEco became Coolpad’s largest shareholder in October, with ambitions to jumpstart the latter company’s worldwide growth. It has seven major research and development centers around the world. Coolpad sold an estimated 50 to 60 million smartphones in 2016 and is projected to ship as many as 100 million in 2017. And it anticipates a 100 percent year-over-year increase in overseas market sales within the next three to five years.

In the wake of LeEco’s solvency problems, its near-term international sales are unclear. But one thing’s for certain: in its home country of China, it’s not slowing down anytime soon.

Kyle Wiggers
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kyle Wiggers is a writer, Web designer, and podcaster with an acute interest in all things tech. When not reviewing gadgets…
Apple’s latest Find My feature taps airlines to rescue lost luggage
Share Item Location feature introduced with iOS 18 beta 2 update.

Apple’s Find My platform for item location is one of the most lucrative elements of its ecosystem. Now, the company is introducing a new feature called Share Item Location, which allows users to securely share the location of any accessory (or item with an AirTag attached) with friends or commercial airline service providers.

To that end, the company has joined hands with over 15 airline service providers operating across North America, Australia, Asia, and Europe to help passengers locate their lost items. The airline partners will kick-start their respective tracking assistance services in the coming months.

Read more
Give your brain a workout using music and this EEG wearable
A promotional image for the Alphabeats app and Muse headband.

Alphabeats, a company that uses music to give your brain a workout, has returned after its initial launch earlier this year with a new partnership that makes the technology more accessible to more people. It has teamed up with Muse to integrate its unusual training method into the brand’s high-tech headbands with built-in electroencephalogram (EEG) sensors.

Muse wearers will be able to use the Alphabeats app to play music, which is tuned to their brainwaves and then adapted to create a high-intensity interval training-style workout for the mind, training it to improve focus, promote relaxation, or to meditate. Your brainwaves are tracked by the Muse headband and visualized in the Alphabeats app, while the headband comes with a new feature called the Brain Recharge Score, which allows you to understand how your brain is reacting to stress and demanding tasks over time.

Read more
I compared Apple’s and Samsung’s AI photo editing tools. There’s a clear winner
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max's screen.

Apple has joined the AI game with Apple Intelligence, finally catching up to its competitors in that department. And with the iOS 18.1 update in October, most people who have a compatible iPhone can finally use those Apple Intelligence tools, including Clean Up.

The Clean Up tool in the Photos app is basically Apple’s version of Google’s Magic Eraser or Samsung’s Object Eraser. Back when I compared Magic Eraser and Object Eraser, Samsung’s tool was the better of the two. So, how does Apple’s Clean Up compare? Let’s find out.
The limitations of object removal tools

Read more