LeEco’s Le Pro 3 and Le S3 smartphones were front and centre as LeEco on Wednesday announced its entry into the lucrative US market. At an event in San Francisco, the backyard of Google and Apple, the Chinese company unveiled the new product line-up, which also includes the LeEc uMax85 4K television, a week after it accidentally let slip some of its upcoming products.
The LeEco Le Pro 3 is priced at $399 (approximately Rs. 26,700), while the LeEco Le S3 costs $249 (approximately Rs. 16,700). The uMax85 4K television, unsurprisingly, is the most expensive of the lot at $4,999 (approximately Rs. 3,34,000).
However, more than the devices, LeEco wants users to use the hardware to adopt its suite of streaming services and value-added features which it calls EcoPass. Customers who buy the phones will get a three month free subscription while the TV comes with a year’s subscription to EcoPass. This entails you to a two year warranty for phones and three years for TVs; 5TB LeCloud storage space; unlimited movies on Fandor; exclusive sale on LeMall; and discounted prices for add-on content partners in LeApp. The devices will be available via a flash sale system on LeMall.com, beginning on 2nd November.
The Le Pro 3 is the same smartphone that was launched in China last month. It features a 5.5-inch, full-HD display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 SoC, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, 4070mAh battery, and will be available in gray and gold trims. The cameras include a 16-megapixel shooter on the back and a 8-megapixel sensor on the front.
The Le S3 is very similar to the Le 2 and features a 5.5-inch full-HD display, Snapdragon 652 SoC, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage and comes with 16-megapixel and 8-megapixel cameras for the rear and front. It will be available in gray, gold, and rose gold.
LeEco’s Super4 X series televisions will also go on sale around the same time and will include the Super4 X43 Pro for $649 (approximately Rs. 43,500); Super4 X55 for $899 (approximately Rs. 60,300); and the Super4 X65 for $1,399 (approximately Rs. 93,700). The full range of LeEco’s TVs in the US runs on EUI with the LIVE and Le apps along with support for Harman Kardon speakers (except the Super4 X43 Pro), Android TV and Google Cast technology. LeEco’s mammoth 85-incher supports 4K with HDR 10 and Dolby Vision support, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage and according to the company, an ‘industry leading’ dimming zones for better contrast.
Like we mentioned earlier, the devices are a platform to leverage LeEco’s big content push in the US market. The company is also tying up with a host of content partners, right from MGM to Cosmopolitan, with many more jumping onboard in the weeks to come.
In order to build a better ecosystem, the company also announced a User Planning to User (or UP2U), an early access system program where your participation can yield monetary rewards in terms of instant rebates on LeEco’s products.
“We developed the UP2U model to let users directly influence how our products and services evolve. We have a dynamic process for gathering and implementing the feedback into every aspect of our business from design, R&D and software, to pricing and even the content we deliver,” said Rob Chandhok, Chief R&D Officer for LeEco North America.
The company also showcased the Super Bike, which runs on Android and offers connectivity and security features like laser lane markers, fingerprint locking system, and more. The bike will only be available as part of the UP2U program in the US and won’t be going on sale in the country anytime soon. The same goes LeEco’s VR headset called ExploreVR, which is currently only available as a developer kit.
Last but not least, we got a glimpse at the LeSEE Pro, LeEco’s successor to the LeSEE concept electric car. Unfortunately, LeEco didn’t share many details associated with the car, which isn’t surprising considering the first version itself is still far from being production ready.