At first we would like to thank TP-LINK for offering me a sample of their Neffos C5 Smartphone for testing and reviewing.

 

About TP-LINK:

"TP-LINK is a global provider of SOHO networking products and No.1 market share holder in China, with products available in over 100 countries to tens of millions customers. Committed to powerful R&D, effective production and strict quality management, TP-LINK continues to provide awards-winning networking products in Wireless, ADSL, Routers, Switches, IP Cameras, Powerline Adapters, Print Servers, Media Converters and Network Adapters for Global end-users.

Based on the confidence of tens of millions of customers, TP-LINK is now growing to become one of the most competitive providers of networking products with aspirations of becoming one of the top 3 networking brands and striving for a larger global market share, while further advancing in the world of networking to better serve our most valued customers with a product that makes their lives easier."

Seamless Multitasking

 

The Neffos C5 is powered by a quad-core 64-bit processor that is designed to provide you with an unparalleled mobile experience. Packed with 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of ROM, the C5 allows you to seamlessly switch between multiple applications and keep your photos, files and memories close at hand. The onboard chipset supports blazing-fast 4G LTE that keeps up with your pace of life.

 

Lifelike Viewing Experience

 

The Neffos C5 is equipped with a 5.0-inch HD 1280 x 720-pixel IPS display that puts it at the pinnacle of cinematic mobile viewing. You can immerse yourself in a colorful new world that is brighter, sharper and more defined than ever before!

 

More in Your Shots

 

The Neffos C5 is equipped with a rear 8MP camera that lets you capture all the fun in perfect detail as its happening. With its front-facing 5MP camera and wide-angle lens, fit in even more of your friends for epic selfies. Snap beautiful, high-quality photos long after the sun goes down with the rear-facing dual LED flash. Life is all about having fun, and its about time you capture it!

 

Dual SIM Dual Standby

 

Dual SIM Dual Standby allows you to enjoy mobile on your own terms. Enjoy the complete mobile freedom of keeping separate work and personal numbers, subscribing to different mobile plans at the same time, and the ability to connect to network around the world.

 

Personalize Your Mobile Experience

 

Combined with highly customized Android 5.1, the Neffos C5 uses smart technology to simplify your life with a personalized interface, providing natural, colorful, effortless operations.

 

Super Camera

 

Intelligent Mode

 

The device automatically adjusts contras, color, and lighting for 8 different scenes including Human, Scenery, Night and more.

 

Artistic Filters

 

Choose between 30 different filters and bring out your artistic side.

 

Beautify Selfie

 

Instantly enhance your natural beauty and craft the perfect selfie with the Beautify Selfie mode. Gesture and smile capture mode makes it possible for you to make perfect portraits.

 

System Management

 

Make sure your device keeps running smoothly with onboard system management applications such as the app manager, cleaner, data usage controller, battery saver and many more.

 

With the Neffos C5 smartphone we are continuing our journey regarding the latest TP-LINK smartphone series and this time involves the middle-class offering with a 5’’ screen and a MTK quad-core processor. As we have seen with its smaller C5L brother, the smartphone is shipped inside a fully-sealed cardboard enclosure:

 

 

 

On the top area (actually the cover) we will get to see the product brand name along with its code name:

 

 

 

On the side we will get to see an additional sticker attached with the full product code name, serial number but also IMEI numbers for both slots:

 

 

 

Besides the initial full-cover seal we were talking about previously, the box also features a light blue Neffos seal:

 

 

 

If the potential buyer needs more technical details about the product, he is invited to check the bottom area of the packaging:

 

 

 

After lifting the top cover, we will reveal the main product:

 

 

 

Besides it, we will also get a small white cardboard envelope, along with the rest of the bundle on the bottom layer:

 

 

 

Unlike the C5L, we are now also getting a protective screen cover; the documentation is the same as before and includes the Declaration of Conformity, one Quick Start Guide and of course, Warranty clarifications in a separate leaflet:

 

 

 

The bundle is more complete this time, also featuring a headset besides the USB data/charge cable, the battery and the wall charger:

 

 

 

The headset was designed to follow the design lines of the C5 smartphone, with subtle silver circles on each earpiece:

 

 

 

On the wire, the headset does come with a small remote and besides the volume adjustment, it is also equipped with a microphone on the back:

 

 

 

 

The USB charger does come with the Neffos logo in front:

 

 

 

If we do check the back side, we will get to see the technical specs, which do include output, marked as 5V at 1A:

 

 

 

We can also see a similarity with the C5L regarding the battery shape:

 

 

 

A closer look on its back reveals the total capacity, which is now 2200mAh:

 

 

 

On the C5, the factory screen protector must be removed before the first use because it is branded, obstructing the image underneath; we cannot mark this as a con because the manufacturer has also supplied an extra screen protector which can be installed by the user at any time:

 

 

 

The Neffos C5 smartphone does have a height of 144mm, a width of 72mm, a depth of 8.8mm and a weight of 141g, making it comfortable when keeping the smartphone in the pocket. C5 is equipped with a 5.0’’ IPS HD screen with a total of 293.7PPI and the bezels are a bit smaller than the ones we have noticed on the C5L, which is certainly a good thing:

 

 

 

On the top area of the screen we’ve got the 5MP selfie camera, one proximity sensor, the speaker but also a light sensor:

 

 

 

On the bottom screen area, we’ve got a dark grey chassis portion which features the TP-LINK logo; this model does no longer feature capacitive buttons since they are software-based:

 

 

 

A nice silver frame surrounds the glass and underneath we do have a plastic cover of the same dark grey color. On the bottom area we do have the USB port along with a microphone port:

 

 

 

The left side of the smartphone does not contain any additional interfaces:

 

 

 

On the top we’ve got the headphone jack, along with another microphone port:

 

 

 

The right side presents itself with the Volume rocker and also the Power/Standby button:

 

 

 

 

The lower right area comes with a spacing which facilitates the removal of the back cover:

 

 

 

Let’s see what we have on the back!

 

 

On the top, the manufacturer has placed the 8MP camera lens, along with a dual-LED flash; a Neffos logo is placed right underneath:

 

 

 

The bottom right zone has the loudspeaker grill, with two small feet so the sound won’t get muffled when the terminal sits on a flat surface:

 

 

 

After removing the back cover we can expose the internals of the C5:

 

 

 

 

The photo taken on the top area is showing the camera along with the flash, but no battery contacts:

 

 

 

On the left side, C5 presents itself with two microSIM card slots, but also one microSDHC slot:

 

 

 

Unlike other terminals which have their battery contacts on the top area, this one has them placed on the bottom:

 

 

 

The loudspeaker is covered by a small filter in order to avoid dust or other debris accumulation:

 

 

 

The C5 comes with Android 5.1 pre-installed and a custom launcher is available right on the start for us; we will get to see the modified icons for the usual Android applications and a three-point extra menu is available in the bottom right corner for us to change the wallpaper, add widgets and so on:

 

 

 

A Themes application is available with both free and paid content in order to personalize the interface on our liking:

 

 

Next we do have a Music application which indexes the audio content on the main storage for easy playback:

 

 

The Camera application is easy to work with and resembles the one we have seen with the C5L; if we do slide with our finger from left to right, we will be able to access more settings:

 

 

Additional filters are also available:

 

 

The Gallery application does show the photos we have taken with the camera, but we can also create albums and collections for an easier content organization:

 

 

The Google applications are stored in a separate folder:

 

 

First we do have the specific Google application which facilitates searches and displays information from different websites, including current weather:

 

 

Chrome browser is installed for us to use right away:

 

 

Next we do have the Gmail application, which initially configures itself with the default account we are using during setup:

 

 

Google Maps helps us plenty during navigation:

 

 

Youtube is the place to go in order to watch our favorite clips, music videos and so on:

 

 

We do also have Google Drive at our disposal in order to work with storage “in the cloud”:

 

 

Google Play Music is the well-known online music service:

 

 

Google Hangouts is one of the social media applications included in this ROM:

 

 

Google Photos allows us to upload our photo collection in the cloud for easy browsing:

 

 

Google Calendar allows us to see and schedule different events:

 

 

Play Store is the place to go for downloading tons of free or paid apps, games and many more:

 

 

System Management is an application which optimizes the operating system and we have seen something similar on Flyme and MIUI Android OSes:

 

 

Clock application allows us to select alarm clocks, timers, work with the stopwatch and more:

 

 

An application for recording small text notes is also available here:

 

 

Mail is the stock Android 5.1 application for connecting to different private email addresses:

 

 

Next we do have the Video Player, which is similar to the Music player on functionality, meaning that it will index the suitable content and provide it for easy playback:

 

 

The File Manager comes with a category view, but we can also access the classic view by clicking on the “Phone” section:

 

 

A Weather application detects the area we are currently located in and displays the forecast:

 

 

Android Tools are placed in a separate folder:

 

 

First we would like to remind of the FM Radio application, which works well only if the headphone set is connected (since it will use the wire as a FM antenna):

 

 

The Flashlight application will make use of the dual-LED combo in the back so the smartphone can be also used as a flashlight when needed:

 

 

Sound Record application can be used for performing small audio recordings:

 

 

Next we have the Calculator application which does not need further introduction:

 

 

The Downloads icon is just a shortcut to the Downloads folder on the main storage and it is placed here for easy access:

 

 

An application which we did not find with the C5L is the Photo Editor, which allows the user to retouch photos in an easy way:

 

 

Compass is another new application; it works really well showing that the installed sensors are calibrated and it will get a precise location only if the GPS is enabled too:

 

 

A User Feedback application is available so people can send bug reports directly to the team:

 

 

The System Update area is the place to go when we would like to update the smartphone to the latest available software version; if we are downloading the full update from the TP-LINK website, make sure to choose the correct version since there are multiple variants of the Neffos C5 available:

 

 

The Phone application looks just fine and is easy to work with for making calls; the Contacts and Messages applications can be also accessed from here:

 

 

The Contacts tab will show the synchronized ones from the Gmail Contacts account but also the ones from the SIM card:

 

 

If Chrome is not our cup of tea, we can always choose to work with the stock Android Internet Browser:

 

 

Next, we would like to present you the Settings area, where we can perform a lot of system tweaks:

 

 

First we have the WLAN menu, where the nearby wireless networks will be listed and we can connect to them, given we do also have the correct credentials to our disposal:

 

 

Bluetooth menu facilitates the connection to other devices sporting the same technology:

 

 

The SIM cards menu allows us to work with the dual-SIM feature and also delegate a different service for each provider:

 

 

Data Usage menu will show the traffic consumed on both interfaces:

 

 

From the Cellular Network Settings menu, we will be able to enable Data Roaming, choose Preferred Networks, Network types, define APNs and more:

 

 

The More menu allows us to enable Airplane mode, choose the default SMS application, enable Tethering or configure a specific VPN:

 

 

The Display menu comes with the option to change the current Wallpaper, adjust the Brightness levels, work with the screen rotation setting, the Sleep timer, enable or disable Daydream and more:

 

 

Sound & notification menu is in charge of the audio profiles; here we can configure each of them, but we also have several sub-sections available:

 

 

The Settings menu from the Sound & notification section does allow us to set the Alarm and Ring volumes, adjust the current ringtone along with the default notification sound, work with the vibration function and more:

 

 

Here is also the content of the other sub-sections:

 

Notification

 

 

Interruptions

 

 

Sound Enhancement

 

 

The Storage menu tells us the story regarding the total remaining free space on the internal storage and also on the installed microSDHC card (if installed):

 

 

In the Battery menu section, we can see which applications are using the most resources and at the same time we can enable the “battery percent display” along with the “Standby intelligent power saving” feature, regular for MTK smartphones:

 

 

The Apps menu shows the currently installed applications and from here we can also perform uninstalls in an easy way:

 

 

Location menu allows us to work with the hardware GPS and adjust its precision, which will also have impact on the battery life:

 

 

Security menu comes with the usual options:

 

 

From the Accounts menu, we will be able to work with the currently registered one and also add new ones:

 

 

Language & input menu is in charge of setting the system language, enable the Spell checker, set the default system keyboard and more:

 

 

Backup & reset menu will give us the possibility to save current settings to Google servers, but also perform a factory reset if needed:

 

 

Date & time menu is pretty self-explanatory:

 

 

Schedule power On & Off is an option available with most MTK ROMs and we haven’t seen one manufacturer removing it from the standard menus so far:

 

 

The Accessibility menu also comes with the stock settings we have been accustomed with when checking out the terminals in the past:

 

 

About Phone menu gives us more details regarding the system status, model code name, installed Android version, Baseband version and more:

 

 

In order to keep the experience smooth all-around, TP-LINK has equipped the C5 with a MTK MT6735 SoC, which features four Cortex-A53 cores at 1.3GHz and the GPU-side is occupied by an ARM Mali-T720 MP2 at 450MHz. Unlike the C5L which did feature only 1GB of RAM, now we have double and the internal memory has been increased too from 8GB on the cheaper model to 16GB. While the TP-LINK website mentions that memory expansion is available to be installed up to 32GB, we have installed an 128GB microSDXC card: it was recognized and was working properly right away!

 

 

The Device tab informs us on the supported screen resolution, manufacturer, screen density, total RAM and usage but also total internal storage and usage:

 

 

The System tab will supply us more information regarding the board type, Android version, kernel, resolution, free memory and so on:

 

 

The Battery tab will show the current status; the battery sensor is working properly on this model:

 

 

 

The new Thermal tab will update us with the live temperatures in different areas:

 

 

The application also shows live data from the available sensors:

 

 

To test out the performances of the TP-LINK Neffos C5 smartphone in more detail, we have installed some freeware benchmark apps from the Google Play Store in the internal memory (did not transfer them to a 3rd party microSDHC card, in order not to influence the test results). Afterwards, the applications were ran one-by-one, and we recorded the final scores; the obtained results were also compared with the previously tested systems, in order to spot the performance differences.

 

AnTuTu

 

 

Basemark GUI

 

 

 

Quadrant

 

 

Vellamo

 

 

3DMark

 

 

Real Pi

 

PCMark

 

 

GeekBench 3

 

Optionally, we have extracted more info about the terminal and its modules thanks to the free CPU X application:

 

CPU

 

 

System

 

 

Network

 

 

Battery

 

 

Sensors

 

 

Features

 

 

Rear Camera

 

 

Front Camera

 

 

Unlike the C5L, the C5 comes with an IPS HD display which shows optimal viewing angles all-around. Despite the lower screen resolution versus the competition, the screen is able to deliver sharp text and details, while saving battery life when compared with a FHD display.

While the C5 also features an 8MP back camera sensor as we have seen with the C5L, the overall clarity of the shots is superior, the color reproduction is noticeably better and focus is considerably better on larger scenes, even when the light conditions are less than optimal. During testing, we have observed a bug which manifests itself when the LED flash fires: while the scenes appear more clear, they are much darker than usual, but we really hope the manufacturer will fix this in a future software build.

 

Of course, you can always check out the full-resolution, unaltered versions at this LINK.

The Neffos C5 mainstream smartphone from TP-LINK is correctly placed on the market by including a more powerful SoC than its low-end C5L brother, double the RAM and double the internal memory. While it was not designed to break any records, the 5.0’’ HD display should be enough for most crowds (while saving battery life) and the 2200mAh battery should last for two days under normal usage thanks to the power saving features of the MTK quad-core 64-bit SoC.

 

The camera quality of this terminal is surprisingly good when looking at this price range; we get a good color reproduction, well-focused scenes and the resulted shots can be successfully used on social media websites or also for our collection. One small bug we have observed while using the dual-LED flash though: while the indoor shots are more clear, the overall result is darker than usual but we think that this issue could be corrected by an OTA update.

 

GPS accuracy is good but this is not a surprise to us since this was the same result with other smartphones we have tested in the past sporting the same SoC:

 

 

 

Despite the battery being only 2200mAh, the usage of a HD display and a low-powered SoC helps a lot; this also reflects on the score we have received while benching with the AnTuTu Battery Test:

 

 

 

The Neffos C5 also features 4G LTE support, dual-SIM dual standby functionality and the overall storage space can be increased by using a microSDHC/microSDXC card (we have tried an 128GB one and operated without any issues at all).

 

The Neffos C5 smartphone can be picked up online for about 139 Euros.

TP-LINK Neffos C5 Smartphone is Recommended For:

 

 

We would like to thank again to TP-LINK for making this review possible!