Huawei E5776 LTE Pocket Wi-Fi review

One of the two new LTE modems that Globe has recently released in the country is the Huawei E5776 (aka Tattoo Pocket WiFi). We couldn’t wait for Globe provide us with a unit, so we decided to buy one of our own and see what it has offer. Check out our full review after the jump.

Design and Construction

Similar to the Huawei E589 which we featured earlier, the E5776 looks and feels well-built albeit the all-plastic body. The latter is tad smaller compared to E589, but has a broader waistline and is a little heavier.

The E5776’s design is straightforward, which we assume would appeal to most users. The only thing that broke what would otherwise be a black slab of plastic is the LED-lit Power button on the front besides the fairly small LCD screen. The Cobonpue-made sticker on the front also added an artsy touch to the pocket Wi-Fi which you can easily remove should you find it a little too distracting.

The top and bottom portion of the E5776 is mainly occupied by different ports and slots. There’s a slot for a full-size SIM card, Micro-SD and a port for an external antenna. There’s also a Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) button on the bottom corner, as well as Micro-USB port for charging and USB Tethering.

Performance and Battery Life

We ran a handful of SpeedTests while we’re connected to the Huawei E5776 using an LTE-enabled SIM card. Unfortunately, we were only able to test it with a Globe SIM card as the device is locked to that telco. Here are the results we got.

Note: These tests were done while we’re in Boracay. Results may vary depending on location and LTE signal.

The one on the left were the results we got using a mobile device. Meanwhile, the one on the right is the screenshot of the Speedtest result on our PC. Needless to say that the E5776 delivered on our expectation, and was able to maximize whatever speed there was on our current location.

Now as far as battery life is concern, we’re happy to report that we got around 6-7 hours out of a single full charge. We only wish that Huawei made the battery pack removable, so users have an option to swap a fresh one once the other got drained.

This slight drawback, however, is well-compensated by the E5776’s other function – as a Powerbank. That’s right, this Mobile Wi-Fi charges your other devices through its pre-bundled USB dongle.

Huawei E5776 specs:
LTE 4G, 3G, 2G multimode
LTE CAT-4
LCD Screen
Download speed up to 150 Mbit / s
Upload speeds up to 50Mbits
LTE 2600/2100/1800/900/DD800 MHz
GSM 800/900/1800/1900 MHz
UMTS 2100/900Mhz
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
up to 32GB via microSD card
3000mAh
113 x 66 x 15.5mm (dimensions)
150g (weight)

Conclusion

Despite the non-removable battery, we’re all praises for the Huawei E5776 LTE Pocket Wi-Fi (aka Tattoo LTE Mobile Wi-Fi). It’s got a decent build that can seem to withstand a fair amount of beating, plus it doubles as a powerbank which is a pretty neat addition to its feature set, and one that’s missing on the E589.

The Huawei E5776 is available in some online stores for Php12,000USD 204INR 17,335EUR 195CNY 1,489 (see listing here. It’s also being offered by Globe under their Tattoo Postpaid (+Php2,000USD 34INR 2,889EUR 32CNY 248 cash-out) and Prepaid deals (Php4,995USD 85INR 7,216EUR 81CNY 620 off-contract).