Archos 50 Helium Plus test: a 4G smartphone with 5 inch screen for less than 100 euros

Archos is certainly not the first name that comes to mind when it comes to mobile telephony.However, it is not new in the field.Smartphones, he has been marketing for several years already but the sauce has never really taken, until very recently.

The 50 Diamond sold as hotcakes but it is with another model that the French brand started to make noise: the 45 Helium, one of the best quality/price ratios of the end of 2014.We were therefore impatiently waiting to see his successor arrive.Here he is finally.

It is called 50 Helium Plus (or 50 Helium+) and, if its price of € 129 is a little higher, it seems to be justified when reading the technical sheet of which here is a little reminder:

It's simple.We find improvements at almost all levels: bone, screen, chipset, memory, cameras, battery...Archos seems again to want to hit a big blow but, since the figures do not do everything, make way for the full test.

Nice, but not always very ergonomic

Let's start with design, and it's rather a good start for the 50 Helium Plus.Archos may not have opted for particularly noble materials, but it has at least treated the appearance and shape.Not that the whole is very original but it is elegant and recalls the iPhone 4 and 5 with the two glass faces (watch out for fingerprints!) And the silver frame.And it is rather a good thing for an entry -level smartphone.The parts, in plastic, also fit together in each other.A solid and reassuring construction.

All this is not enough to make this smartphone an example of ergonomics.The most demanding will be able to blame him for his rather high weight and his edges a little sharp, but it is above all the little hands that may be disillusioned.The screen measures 5 inch and it is not easy to reach the corners with the thumb, even if the borders are rather fine.As always, that of the Haut hosts a speaker, a webcam and the light/proximity sensors while in the bottom are the sensitive navigation keys.

The problem arises again with the buttons placed on the slices.The power supply is right.The volume, on the left.A distribution not very happy to start but it is above all that they are a little too high for the thumb and index to fall naturally on it.The different connectors, jack and microusb, were gathered at the top.It is not very common but not really annoying this time.You will notice in passing that there are no hatches or drawers here.Eh no!

If we are rather used to finding this kind of design with Unibody constructions, this is not the case here.The hood is very removable, even if it is well hung.Not easy to remove it despite the notch carved in the lower left corner but it will be necessary to access the two SIM locations, the one for microSD cards or the battery, also removable.It also presents several openings: two at the top left for the camera and its flash and one at the bottom right for the speaker.

Nice smartphone therefore, but sometimes perfectible ergonomics.We can probably not have everything at this level of price and it is perhaps a thin sacrifice if the technical sheet keeps its promises.

The best screen in its category?

This is already the case for the display.Archos has made great efforts since the 45 Helium and it can be seen.We are still on an IPS slab but it is a little larger, 5 inches, and above all better defined since from 854 x 480 pixels, the definition goes to 1280 x 720 pixels.A significant leap which is immediately noticed in the display of web pages in particular, where even small characters are now readable.In addition to that bright colors as well as brightness and correct vision angles.Difficult to find again at such a price...

Android up to date and without overlay

Difficult also to find again on the software offer.Android is up to date (5.1 lollipop) and the absence of personalization is rather a good thing.Connoisseurs will easily find their marks while novices will not be frightened in the face of the abundance of elements and effects on the screen.No uprises when arriving on the desktop.It is almost empty.No widgets and some shortcuts.It remains to learn the basics of Android: notification center with fast settings at the top, multitasking with the dedicated button at the bottom and a menu where to find all the applications installed.

Leaving the box, that means Google and...Archos Video of course.As always, the manufacturer delivers its home reader and it does well since it is rather complete: classification by types of videos, management of external sources, relatively well supplied codec library and advanced readings options.

However, this is the only addition that the manufacturer has allowed, but it may not be more bad given the low space available internally, around 4 GB.It is therefore better to be able to dispose of it as he pleases and fill them with the applications of his choice.Let us remember all the same that a microSD card location is present.

There is nothing for gamers here!

Navigation is rather fluid overall.Applications are launching rather quickly but can sometimes take a little time to load.Nothing abnormal on such a configuration.The MT6735 is a suitable chipset but not a war lightning either with its four hearts Cortex-A53 hearts clocked at 1 GHz and its Mali-T720 GPU, and the little Go of RAM which accompanies it obviously does not help much.But it is especially in multimedia that the rub, and more particularly at stake.

We, as always, wanted to start by launching a few benchmarks and, the first unpleasant surprise, 3dmark fails to complete the tests of the Ice Storm Unlimited series.Worse, the smartphone is not even recognized for an obscure reason and it is far from finished, but let's go back to the benchmarks that have reached the end of the tests, either Antutu and Basemark OS II II.

No surprise on the first.The score is suitable.On the second, it's already another story, and it is on graphic tests that the 50 Helium Plus loses points.Curious coincidence, after the failure of 3DMARK, benchmark of gamers?Certainly not !Since these poor graphic performances are also found in play.

Modern Combat 5 turns slowed down and turns out to be barely playable.Same result, even worse, on Angry Birds Go!We are also used to testing Dead Trigger 2 but the Play Store indicates that the 50 Helium Plus is not compatible.Whatever, that will save us a disappointment more.We can only advise gamers to flee.

On the other hand, we find suitable performance in audio and video decoding.The CPU is doing much better than the GPU, further supported by the excellent Archos Video in the second case.This beautiful 5 -inch HD screen is finally used for something!As for the sound produced by the speaker on the back, it must be recognized that it is rather powerful.Be careful.When the smartphone is placed on a flat surface, almost no noise comes out.Obviously, you will quickly realize if you try to listen to music but if you do nothing, you risk forgetting and missing some calls.

Unpleasant surprises, there are also pictures...

Let's finish this test with the photo, a function for which the 50 Helium Plus seems rather well armed.The main sensor is a 13 megapixel model.Too bad the video recording is limited to the HD 720p but we cannot have everything at € 129 and it is already a nice equipment, to which is added a LED flash.The secondary sensor, at the front, does not have to be ashamed either with its resolution of 5 megapixels.Suffice to say that we expect a lot from this photo function.Unfortunately, we quickly disillusioned.

With the dedicated application first, since Achos was content to deliver the smartphone with Google's camera.The interface is minimalist and cold, with small settings and distributed over transparency menus in the viewfinder and another completely separate.As for automatic modes, this is also poor.You will still find HDR there.The focus effect is nice but nothing more.In short, this is not the best.We are even very far away.And this is also valid for the results.

We were indeed disappointed by the performance of the 50 Helium more in photo.Brightness management is catastrophic.The pictures are very often under -exposed or overexposed.In addition to that dull colors and blur on the elements in the distance, like the buildings in the background in the example below.In short, it is not very clean.It is therefore better to remain in close -ups and portraits, and in a well -lit frame preferably.We have seen 5 megapixel sensors do better.Shame.

Many promises that are not held

Archos has gone in the technical escalation with this new Helium and the result is not a frank success if we forget the design and the screen.Shame qu'il ne soit pas possible de profiter davantage de ce dernier à cause du chipset trop limité, même s'il a au moins le mérite d'être compatible 4G.And it is not the camera that raises the level.

Without the ODR of € 30 implemented for the launch, the 50 Helium+ is no longer such a good deal.For € 129, it is now possible to find much better.We think in particular of the motorcycle of Motorola which, despite a more narrow format, manages to offer a much richer experience.If the 5 -inch HD screen is really essential, it is better then adding ten euros to afford the Huawei Ascend G620S.