Arc Mobile Velocity Review

Arc Mobile has come a long way to discover and to relinquish the delight of Filipino’s most wanted local smartphone. Their efforts have been there all along and although it’s a little bit late to release this smartphone, Arc Mobile is one of the local smartphone companies that cherishes the prestige of having an octa-core smartphone at their stores. Accompany me as I review the first true octa-core smartphone from Arc Mobile, the Arc Mobile Velocity.

Design

The Arc Mobile Velocity somewhat resembles nothing from the other local octa-core smartphones. The Velocity has a firm grip because of its rubbery feel at the back and at the sides. When they handed me the device, the first thing that I noticed is its edge at the sides. A slightly curved developing all throughout the device is one of the first that I’ve ever seen. Yes, it looks cool and I definitely received a positive notion that I am handling an indeed, an octa-core smartphone.

The Velocity features a 5-inch with an IPS HD quality display and the buttons are stealthily placed at the right side of the device. For a large phone like this,  I agree that the buttons should be put at the right side because it has this awkward feeling when you reach the power/sleep button at the top of the device. It is also prone to drop the phone or slide into your hands.

At the bottom, you will see the capacitive buttons that has lights placed below it. It looks awesome when dark because it adds to the premium sense that this is a great phone.

The Velocity also has 13 megapixel camera with flash and a 2 megapixel fronter. Like the other smartphones, the back camera is placed at the center back of the device while the front camera sits beside the earpiece in front.

Performance

The Arc Mobile Velocity is the company’s first take in octa-core industry. The processor that powers up the Velocity is Mediatek’s MT6592, clocked at 1.7Ghz with 8 cores and a RAM of 1 GB. The main memory has 4 GB but you can expand it up to 32 GB of storage using microSD. I got to say, the Velocity meets with my expectation. Knowing that the Velocity has a beast processor, the main problem here is its RAM. You cannot fully use an octa-core smartphone with at least 1 GB of RAM but the rest of the features are trulytopnotch. The device runs with Android 4.2.1 Jellybean, which is slightly outdated because the era of Android is now approaching the version 5, the Android Lollipop. But we don’t have any news regarding the update of this Velocity and the other local octa-core smartphones to Android Lollipop.

Camera

The Velocity’s 13 megapixel camera is truly remarkable. It captures vivid but slightly under contrasted colors. The image also looks great because of its HD display. The flash also helps a lot when you capture pictures in a dark environment. I didn’t expect this camera to be this good. Check out the pictures that I have taken to prove that it is indeed a great camera.

Sample Photos

Conclusion

Arc Mobile is one of the bravest companies that challenges other local smartphone companies and I can say that they are doing quite good. Out of all the great features and not-so-good outcomes, the Arc Mobile Velocity definitely meets with my expectation.The octa-core processor is undoubtedly what you are looking for here. I mean, the Velocity is priced only at Php 7,999, this is so much for a steal. Great camera, a relatively great display and a fast processor. Those are the things that you are looking for from a local octa-core smartphone.

Arc Mobile Velocity Full Specifications

• 1.7GHz Octa Core MediaTek MT6592 Processor
• Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean OS
• 5.0-Inch HD IPS Display (720 x 1280 Pixels, 294 PPI)
• Mali-450 MP4 GPU
• 13.0 Megapixel Autofocus Main Camera with LED Flash
• 2.0 Megapixel Front Camera
• 1 GB of RAM
• 4GB Internal Storage
• Expandable up to 32GB via MicroSD
• Dual SIM (Regular + Regular)
• 3G HSPA+, 2G EDGE and GPRS Networks
• Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Hotspot
• Bluetooth
• GPS
• FM Radio
• G-Sensor
• Proximity Sensor
• Ambient Light Sensor
• 2,000mAh Li-ion Battery

Gianfranco Viterbo

Gianfranco is the co-founder of gadgetpilipinas.net. He graduated from Far Eastern University. A Psychology student turned tech-savvy. He's currently the HR Supervisor of Blip Media and one of the content producers of Gadget Pilipinas. He enjoys playing competitive video games and binge-watch American TV series.