Behold! This is MyPhone’s first true-octa core smartphone, the MyPhone Agua Infinity. There has been a lot of debate lately about which phone looks better – MyPhone’s Agua Infinity or Cherry Mobile’s Omega Infinity. Since, I don’t have an Omega Infinity, I can only categorically compare MyPhone’s Infinity to Cherry Mobile’s Cosmos Z2. But first, let me take you through my unboxing experience and see what’s inside this product’s retail box.
Unboxing
I’ve got to hand it to MyPhone, the Agua Infinity looks regal and awesome at the same time. But before seeing it in full glory, unboxing the device was very much akin to my first iPhone experience – truly experiential and full of aha moments.
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When you get yourself an Agua Infinity, you’ll notice that its main retail box is inside a soft plastic enclosure. It’s probably a decision MyPhone made when they thought that it would be better to include a free flip case. It’s overwhelming to know, as a customer, that I’d get lots of freebies from a product with a price very similar to its competitor, Cherry Mobile’s Cosmos Z2. Oh, by the way, there is also a free back enclosure attached to the Agua Infinity.
Build
[su_box title=”Did You Know?” style=”soft” box_color=”#00a462″ radius=”0″]
Did you know that the ODM of this smartphone is manufactured by Tinno Mobile? It is the same ODM of Micromax Canvas Knight!
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The device’s look is a fusion of Nexus 4’s and iPhone 5s’ design. If I am to quickly judge the phone by its cover, then I’d immediately say that this phone is indeed the phone to beat by local manufacturers. But, reality does not and should not operate that way, right? If you look closer or inspect closely, the phone has some design flaws: its notification and capacitive button lights are slightly misaligned.
When you hold this device, it gives an impression that you’re holding a slab of solid glass. Its slightly tapered edges provide additional grip. All switches are conveniently placed on the right side bezel, while the SIM trays are placed on each sides. The photo below shows iPhone 5s on top of Agua Infinity.
[su_quote]When you hold this device, it gives an impression that you’re holding a slab of solid glass. Its slightly tapered edges provide additional grip. [/su_quote]The device is not storage upgradable, so you’re stuck on 16gb phone storage (10gb available free space) for your contents and downloads and 2GB internal storage. Installation location may be switched on the fly via settings. We asked MyPhone if they will launch a 32gb flavor of Infinity in the future. They simply answered “the possibility is there”.
The 3.5mm headphone jack sits on top of the device, while the microphone, MicroUSB port and speakers are located at the bottom.
Performance and Benchmark
As for its speed and performance, MyPhone Agua Infinity or Micromax Canvas Knight is snappy. I find it much faster than Cherry Mobile’s Cosmos Z2 because of its 2gb RAM. It scored 26,919 on Antutu, making it faster than last year’s HTC One. Its GPU is equally powerful with an average FPS of 55.6 on Nenamark2. Resources-heavy games like NBA 2k13 and Modern Combat 4 play very smoothly on the device. Watch out for our hands-on video soon to see how it performs.
Almost all sensors are available on this device: Direction, G-Sensor, Accelerometer, Light, Compass, Proximity and Gyro. The functional opportunity on this device is truly boundless.
Camera
It isn’t as bad as some people think it is in terms of camera performance. Its 16 megapixel camera is fast and good enough to topple the ones installed on other well-known brands. It can capture photos with 3456 x 4608 resolution. Its 8 megapixel secondary camera can take photos with 2448 x 3264 resolution. As for video, this device can capture Full HD videos at 30fps. Here are some sample photos for your reference.
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- Infinity Sample Photos 1
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Software and UI
The phone runs on Android 4.2.2, and will soon be upgradable to Android Kitkat. MyPhone has not yet announced the availability of the update to Kitkat for this device. At least, we’ve already seen how Kitkat would look like and perform in an octa-core device through O+ Air.
There is custom UI sitting on top of vanilla Android UI. There are traces of the latter, but the former are heavily implemented on the homescreen, lockscreen, SMS, phone dialer, etc. UI has minimalist vibe, which really captured my attention. I just cannot wait how things will look like once this is upgraded to Kitkat.
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Verdict
MyPhone Agua Infinity is an exquisite device. It looks fantastic in almost all angles. There are design flaws, but it’s something out of MyPhone’s control. But Infinity isn’t just all about being aesthetically appealing as its speed and processing prowess are the main highlights.
Priced at PhP12,999, it’s currently one of the most affordable well-designed octa-core devices in the country today. 32gb Canvas Knight variant costs Rs21,000 (Indian Rupee) – that’s roughly around PhP15,000. Let’s assume that 16gb variant costs around Rs19,500 or PhP14,500, MyPhone Agua Infinity is actually cheaper. Good job, MyPhone!
MyPhone Agua Infinity Specs
- 1.7GHz Octa Core MediaTek MT6592 Processor
- Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
- 5 Inch Full HD IPS Display @ 1080 x 1920 Pixels or 441 PPI
- Mali 450 GPU
- 16 Megapixel Autofocus Main Camera with LED Flash
- 8 Megapixel Front Camera
- 2GB of RAM
- 16GB Internal Storage (2GB for apps)
- Dual SIM/Dual Standby
- 3G (HSPA+), EDGE and GPRS Networks
- Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Bluetooth 4.0
- GPS with A-GPS
- 3.5mm Audio Jack
- Accelerometer
- Gyro
- Proximity Sensor
- Ambient Light Sensor
- Magnetic Sensor
- 2350 mAh Li-Po Battery
Giancarlo Viterbo is a Filipino Technology Journalist, blogger and Editor of gadgetpilipinas.net, He is also a Geek, Dad and a Husband. He knows a lot about washing the dishes, doing some errands and following instructions from his boss on his day job. Follow him on twitter: @gianviterbo and @gadgetpilipinas.
