I bought this phone cheap, for £85. http://techan0.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/on-buying-mlais-m52-red-note-mt6752-and.html. Anything cheaper I would have immediately regretted, believe me I've made that mistake many times. Anything much more expensive and I'd have felt the pinch of staggering depreciation and let down when the manufacturer abandoned us for their latest "flagship".
I'm calling time on this phone despite it being my daily work horse (that's hardly a compliment considering the abuse I dish it when writing apps). It has been over three months since an official update, it's been six months since a version update (4.4 to 5.0). There have actually been more version updates for this phone than the hugely popular Lenovo A820 I had before. It's just that things move on so fast these days that no manufacturer offers long term support to keep up with Google. It's rare that a phone is so successful that the community take it upon themselves to push quality updates (as recently exhibited in I.nfraR.ed's A820 KitKat ROM).
The M52, despite my best efforts, has not been such a success to date. The budget end of the high spec phablet market is overcrowded, there is so much choice that phone design is practically left to the consumer. There is a nuance for every taste. I chose the M52 because plastic is cheaper and is easier for the radio signal to penetrate. I think I was in the minority with Mlais on this.
The most tangible failing of this phone, arguably, totally acceptable for the price. Some view it as a product of Mlais' inexperience in the design of phones (ie a design flaw rather than compromise). I am referring to the white patches on the screen. It makes an already unprepossessing phone rather more ugly. It's a matter of taste, but for a work horse, I'm still amazed by the high quality camera, totally legible screen and freedom from bloat-ware and lag.
There is work afoot (in Russian!) regarding a 5.1 port to this phone. Personally I don't see any need for the upgrade. Like the A820 skipping 4.2 and 4.3. If 6.0 brought big changes I might work on that port, software support is overrated when it seems to be mostly bug and security fixes.
Corporate users may require this for their valuable data, but they're probably the people most likely to bank roll Apple for the sake of inspiring (false) confidence in their clients. I certainly can't see any of them taking a free upgrade of unknown provenance.
I'm signing off the MTK phones blog for a bit as I want to broaden my interests. I'll surely be back when I next upgrade.
