O+ has finally jumped the octa-core bandwagon with the official availability of O+ Air. The said device is packed with premium features and innards that are set to impress buyers and to bring the much-awaited Android Kitkat experience to Filipinos.
To give you a glimpse of what to expect inside the retail box of O+ Air, it has your typical O+ inclusions such as Sennheiser Earphones, 8gb SanDisk MicroSD card, charger, microUSB cable, screen protector, warranty card and manual. Don’t get surprised because that’s Oplus’ definition of ‘typical’.
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In the looks department, Air looks simple at first glance. Of course, its screen quality and sharpness are topnotch, but I’ll talk about it in a little while. Holding and trying to skirt my fingers on the device is a satisfying experience. It feels really solid and its ultra slim design is a reminiscent of Alcatel OneTouch Idol Ultra.
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If you’re interested on the phone’s full technical specifications, it has a whopping 1.7Ghz Octa-Core Mediatek 6592 processor and 1GB RAM. This is also perfect for gamers, thanks to its quad-core Mali 45-MP GPU. If you try to match this with MyPhone’s Agua Infinity and Cherry Mobile’s Infinity, this device can pretty much stack up to the competition, especially if you try to match this with MyPhone’s Agua Infnity and Cherry Mobile’s Omega Infinity. Oplus’ ballgame is different though, as they try to compete not directly against the local market but the bigger and well-known brands like Samsung and Xiaomi.
Of course, O+ Air isn’t just all about its true octa-core processor and quad-core graphics. The device also features a highly crisp and sharp 5-inch LUMI HD display. Well, here’s my first take on its screen – it just blew my mind! Colors truly pop out, and I just could not fathom how O+ fit in a great display in this phone despite its super slim design. Surreal!
LCD is truly one of the major causes of battery drain. O+ said that with the technology behind Air’s display (Energy-saving Dual Crystal Luminescent Film), battery drain is highly lessened. Of course, this will be validated after using this device for a week or two.
There are only 2 smartphones with octa-core processor that runs on Android Kitkat 4.4.2 as of this writing: Droidz Marvel and O+ Air. With that said, when you get yourself an Air (Hehe… ‘get yourself an Air’ sounds really funny), you’re getting 2 latest features – Octa-core processor for hardware, Android 4.4.2 for software. And yes, Air is one of your easy accesses to see how Kitkat would look like and perform on octa-core devices. Its semi-vanilla UI looks fantastic especially its transparent status bar and other visual enhancements.
Its main and secondary cameras are equally interesting too. There are also tons of color effects and scene modes available on its camera software. There is even an integrated time-lapse mode on its video settings. There is of course much to explore on this aspect. Full HD recording is available on this device, but O+ did not disclose up to what frames per second it can take. It’s likely though that its camera can both decode and encode full HD videos at 30fps (1080p @ 30fps).
The phone can take 2 SIMs (1 regular SIM and micro-SIM on the other side). The tray for the regular SIM may easily be accessed on its left-side flap, while its micro-SIM tray (beside microSD tray) may only be accessed using the provided SIM tray ejector.
The introductory price of this device is PhP13,990 – that’s a thousand bucks pricier than local competition.
O+ Air Full Specifications
- Mediatek MT6592 1.7GHz octa-core CPU
- Mali 450-MP quad-core graphics
- 1GB RAM 8GB internal storage (up to 32GB via microSD card)
- 5-inch LUMI Display with 720 × 1280 pixels, 320ppi
- 3G, Quadband GSM Dual-SIM (regular SIM + micro-SIM slot)
- WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
- Bluetooth 4.0
- FM radio tuner
- GPS with aGPS support
- 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash
- 5-megapixel front-facing camera
- Li-Ion 2,000mAh battery
- Android 4.4 Kitkat
I know you guys are scouting for a decent true-octa core device. While I believe that this device could be very well land as one of your awesome options, I’m interested to know which ones are you really eyeing to get.
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.
