Wiko is known for its affordable Android smartphones and is releasing two new models with the View 3 and View 3 Pro. Computer!Totaal has tested both devices and in this Wiko View 3 review we compare it with its better, more expensive offspring.
Wiko View 3 and View 3 Pro
Price €199 and €249Colors Blue and anthracite
OS Android 9.0
Screen 6.3" LCD (1520 x 720 and 2340 x 1080)
Processor MediaTek P22 octacore and MediaTek P60
RAM 3GB and 4GB
Storage 64GB (expandable with memory card)
Battery 4,000mAh
Camera 12, 13 and 2 megapixels or 12, 12 and 5 megapixels, 8 and 16 megapixels (front)
Connectivity 4G (LTE), Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi, GPS, NFC (Pro)
Format 15.9 x 7.6 x 0.8 and 15.9 x 7.5 x 0.8 cm
Weight 178 and 184 grams
Other micro usb or usb-c, headphone port
Website www.wikomobile.com 8 Score 80
- Pros
- Little custom software
- Pro: screen, features, performance, cameras
- View 3: lots of storage space, battery life
- Negatives
- Low maximum screen brightness
- Scratch-sensitive back and fingerprint magnet
- View 3: performance, cameras
- View 3: HD screen, micro usb, no nfc
The Wiko View 3 series was announced at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) at the end of February. Wiko said at the time that the smartphones would hit stores in April or May. That was not successful for unclear reasons, but now both the Wiko View 3 and the View 3 Pro are – limited – available in the Netherlands. Later, Wiko also presented the View 3 Lite, with a smaller screen, less good hardware and a suggested retail price of 149 euros.
At the MWC, the manufacturer presented various versions of the View 3 and 3 Pro, where the differences are in the amount of working and storage memory. However, at the time of publication, Wiko sells both devices in only one version. For 199 euros you get a blue View 3 with 3GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The View 3 Pro has a suggested retail price of 249 euros, comes in anthracite and has 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage memory. The box contains a plastic cover and a smart foliocover that shows the time and notifications when the screen is off, among other things.
However, Wiko sent me a View 3 Pro with 6GB/128GB memory and that variant will not appear in the Netherlands for the time being. Except for more working and storage memory, it is identical to the View 3 Pro that is sold here.
The differences between the View 3 and the View 3 Pro are big. The Pro version has a sharper screen, a faster processor, more RAM and a battery that charges faster. The cameras are also better, there is USB-C and NFC and the housing is more luxurious. In this combined review we discuss both devices and find out whether they are both a good buy.
Design and screen quality
At first glance, the View 3 and View 3 Pro look a lot alike. They are both made of plastic, have a 6.3 inch screen and have a shiny back that is very sensitive to fingerprints. The biggest difference is that the View 3 uses a micro USB port and the Pro edition uses USB-c. Today, almost all competing devices have USB-C, which is nice. Usb-c charges the battery faster, works with more other devices and has more options. The fact that Wiko equips the View 3, which costs 199 euros with micro-USB, is therefore a bad budget cut.
Furthermore, the differences are subtle. The Pro version has narrower buttons with relief, which therefore feel a bit more luxurious. The bezel under the display and the notch for the selfie camera are also slightly narrower. Both devices have a 3.5mm headphone jack, a speaker and a card slot for two SIM cards and a micro SD card. On the back is a good fingerprint scanner, although mine could have been a little lower.
As mentioned, both the View 3 and the View 3 Pro have a screen that is 6.3 inches. That is substantial and there is therefore a lot of space. You can easily type with two hands, watch a movie or find directions. Operating the smartphone with one hand is difficult or impossible.
On paper, the View 3 Pro's display differs from the View 3 in one area, namely the screen resolution. The View 3 has an HD resolution and the View 3 Pro has full HD. A big difference. The View 3's screen doesn't look completely sharp, which you notice especially when watching a movie and reading text. Everything looks a bit grainier. You don't have this on the View 3 Pro.
In practice, there appear to be more differences between the smartphone screens, both of which have an LCD panel. The display of the View 3 Pro looks more lively. Colors such as red and blue stand out more and we like that. On the View 3, colors look a bit duller.
Both screens have a fairly low maximum brightness. Inside you can read the display fine, but outside it becomes a lot more difficult. On a sunny day, sitting mostly in the shade of a tree, the View 3 and View 3 Pro were hard to read. Many competing devices can increase the brightness a bit further and more expensive models do much better.
Hardware
Under the hood, the smartphones also differ. The View 3 uses a cheaper MediaTek processor with 3GB of RAM, while the Pro edition is equipped with a more powerful processor (also from MediaTek) and 6GB of RAM. This is clearly noticeable: the latter is a bit faster and switches more easily between recently used apps and games. Even without directly comparing the devices, it is noticeable that the View 3 Pro is not the fastest in its price range. Incidentally, the 6GB version of the View 3 Pro is not yet for sale in the Netherlands and you have to make do with the 4GB variant. Extra RAM ensures that the device runs more recent apps in the background, but the difference between 4GB and 6GB is not very big.
Both Wiko devices have 64 GB of storage space in the Netherlands, which is (more than) enough for a lot of apps, games and photos. Great, especially because you can expand the memory with a micro SD card if desired. So I tested the View 3 Pro with 128GB of storage space, which is quite generous.
The battery is also above average with 4000 mAh. Both devices last longer than a busy day on a battery charge. The View 3 even lasts one and a half to two days, which is because it uses less power due to the lower screen resolution.
On the other hand, charging via the micro-USB connection takes longer. The View 3 Pro is full faster via USB-C. The devices do not support wireless charging – neither do competing models.
Good to know is that the View 3 Pro has an NFC chip and the View 3 does not. An understandable cutback, but it makes the View 3 less versatile and future-proof than its more expensive scion. An NFC chip is used, among other things, for contactless payment via your banking app. A number of alternative devices of 199 euros, including the Samsung Galaxy A40, Huawei P Smart (2019) and Nokia 6.1, do have NFC.
Cameras of the View 3
On the back of the Wiko 3 you will find three cameras, which is quite special in this price range. In addition to a 12 megapixel camera for regular photos and videos, the device also has a 13 megapixel wide-angle lens and a 2 megapixel depth sensor. In addition to a primary lens, many competing devices have one extra sensor, often a depth sensor. So the View 3 is more complete on paper, but how do the cameras perform in practice?
Not as good as hoped, unfortunately. The primary lens regularly goes wrong, for example when focusing on smaller objects like a flower. If the sun shines on the device, there is a good chance that your photo will show a white sky instead of blue. A pity, because under the right conditions the camera takes excellent pictures. The wide-angle camera does what it's supposed to do: shoot a photo that fits more than with the regular lens. The photo quality is disappointing. The lighting is a big problem and colors, including green, look very different from the real thing. Portrait photos look fine in terms of blur thanks to the depth sensor, but the general image quality is again not impressive.
Wiko View 3 Pro camera
A triple camera is also placed on the back of the View 3 Pro, which also includes a primary lens, a wide-angle camera and a depth sensor. These shoot in 12, 13 and 5 megapixels respectively. The depth lens therefore has a slightly higher resolution, but that is not the only difference. According to Wiko, the cameras of the View 3 Pro are different and should make better images.
Compared to the View 3, the Pro variant does indeed take better photos. Skies remain blue instead of white, focusing on flowers is better and colors look more realistic. The wide-angle lens is also better but captures colors less accurately than the primary lens. The image quality is also clearly less than that of a more expensive smartphone with a wide-angle camera, although that is understandable. A positive surprise is the portrait mode, which makes very nice images of, for example, a dog.
On the front of the View 3 is an 8 megapixel selfie camera and it takes nice pictures. You can also make video calls with it. However, don't expect miracles. The same applies to the front camera of the View 3 Pro, although the image quality of the 16 megapixel camera is slightly better. During the day, because in the dark it is difficult to take a useful selfie.
Software
The View 3 and View 3 Pro run practically the same software. At the time of publication, both devices use Android 9.0 (Pie) with some minor adjustments from Wiko. The manufacturer places an extra feature called 'Wiko functions' in the settings menu. Here you can, among other things, change settings for the notification light and the home screen and activate the simple mode and gaming mode. It is also possible to adjust the navigation of the smartphone. By default, the View 3 (Pro) uses a back button and a bar for the home screen and multitasking. Some find this working fine, others prefer to fall back on the three familiar buttons for back, home and multitasking.
Strikingly enough, the same apps are not pre-installed on the two smartphones. For example, the View 3 comes with Facebook, a sound recorder, Smart Assist and Weather: apps that are missing on the View 3 Pro.
On the July 25 reference date, the View 3 and View 3 Pro were both running the April 5 security update. So they are three months behind. Wiko promises to update the smartphones every quarter for at least two years after introduction. That is an obligation from Google to every manufacturer that sells Android devices. The Wiko View 3 series will therefore also be updated to Android 10.0 (Q) that will be released in the fall. However, it is still unclear when the devices will receive an update. Experience shows that Wiko usually needs months for this.
Conclusion: buy Wiko View 3?
From the outside, the Wiko View 3 and View 3 Pro are very similar, but appearances can be deceiving. The Pro version is better in every way except for the battery life. From the screen and the performance to the cameras and the presence of features such as nfc and usb-c: the differences are large. And that while the price difference with five tens is actually not that big. If you want to spend 250 euros on a new smartphone, the Wiko View 3 Pro is a great buy. The View 3 manages to make less of an impression, because with 199 euros in your pocket you are better off with, for example, the Samsung Galaxy A40, Nokia 5.1 Plus and Xiaomi Redmi Note 7.
