O+ M Review

O+ Meets Android 6.0 Marshmallow, Finally

To give you a little history about the release of the latest update of the Android Marshmallow, Android 6.0 was first released on October 5, 2015 exclusively to Nexus devices. It was once dubbed as Android M, but was eventually called Android Marshmallow. Some preferred the term Milkshake but it was later dismissed when Android finally announced its final moniker.

Since last year, Android 6.0 Marshmallow has been made available to several smartphones and tablets around the globe. Just last month, Google has announced another update, the Android N. A beta version is now available exclusively again to Nexus devices. We will soon hear this update once the final version has been released. One good example of this is the one that I will be reviewing here, the O+ M, the first ever Android Marshmallow smartphone from O+. Take a look at this review to see what’s up with this device.

Display

O+ M is dressed with a 5.0-inch screen, HD with IPS display, with a resolution of 720 x 1280 with 5 multi-touch sensors. At a first glance, you will notice that the design of the display is pushed edge-to-edge but when actually turned on, there is a millimeter gap on its edge. Sure, it’s a good looking phone but I expected more from that ‘bezel-less’ screen.

Physical Features

Like any other O+ devices, there is neither physical buttons up front nor capacitive buttons. Volume rockers are placed at the right and underneath it is the sleep/wake button. The micro-USB port is placed below the device alongside the microphone. A 3.5 mm headphone jack is located at the top of the device.

LOOKS PREMIUM, FEELS PREMIUM

At first, the feel from the O+ M is somewhat rubber yet metal-ish. The device is enveloped with a metallic-finished frame which adds to its good-looking attributes. I have big hands so whenever I hold the O+ M, the size is very ordinary yet very classy.

Camera

The camera at the back has an 8-megapixel sensor. Below it is an LED flash to help its camera take decent photos in low light conditions. Special features like gesture capture, face detection, and zero shutter delay are available in O+ M’s camera. As for its performance, I find the photos we took somewhat inconsistent when it comes to color saturation and vibrancy.

For users who loves taking selfies, O+ M has a 2-megapixel front camera. There seems to be a delay when opening the front camera. It may be a software optimization issue, which we hope to be addressed via a software patch. Nevertheless, I find it to take good still photos.

Here are sample photos we took for your reference.

Memory and Storage

O+ M has 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB of storage. Its storage may be expanded via microSD card. Android 6.0 Marshmallow actually runs smoothly even with its mediocre 1 GB RAM. Unfortunately, during my tests, the device started to slow down when I concurrently opened up Facebook, Fenix, Chrome (yes, this app sucks a lot of memory) and Fitbit.

Battery

I would also like to discuss the 2500mAh battery performance of O+ M. As you can see in the screenshot below, I used O+ M as a standby/secondary phone. From June 9 to June 16 of 2016, the battery is still at 15% considering the phone idle time is at 42%. The battery is quite good for moderate users, and may still be useful even to power users.  Estimating from that battery level, power users (Wi-Fi is on, games are on standby, social media apps are on) could expect this to be up and about for less than 20 hours.

Performance

Priced under only 5,000 pesos, O+ M is an affordable yet classy and still a bang-for-the-buck device. It’s pre-installed Android M is a plus factor because of the optimizations and improvements clocked into the software. It isn’t actually the most affordable quad-core device around, but it sure is acceptable for its price tag.

SHOULD YOU BUY IT?

O+ M is one of the best and affordable products of O+ released this year. To give you reasons why it’s cool to buy this phone, I listed down 7 reasons, which you may use in your discernment process:

1. O+ M is out-of-the-box Android Marshmallow powered device. You will enjoy the benefits of the new update like a new design, software optimization, and battery efficiency.
2. O+ M has 2 cameras. The one located at the back has an 8-megapixel sensor and 2-megapixelxel camera which in front. Both aren’t perfect (like issues on accurate rendition of saturation and vibrancy).
3. O+ M has 2500 mAh battery. That amount of juice could last for 1-2 days with maximum performance for moderate users.
4. it has 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB of storage. Aside from that storage, you can expand it up to 32 GB to enjoy more kinds of entertainment like games, movies, and other applications you desire.
5. O+ M features a unique O+ technology, Doodle Control. With this kind of technology, you can double tap to wake the screen up, draw specific letters to awake with the specific app.
6. The O+ M is available in two colors: Pure white and Macchiato Gold. If you will ask me, the Macchiato Gold looks dope! I like it because it brings out the “premiumness” of the device.

O+ M Specs

• Android 6.0 Marshmallow
• 5-inch HD IPS Display, 1280×720 resolution, 294ppi
• 1.3GHz quad-core processor
• 1GB RAM
• 16GB internal storage, expandable via microSD (free 16GB)
• 8-megapixel autofocus main camera with flash
• 2-megapixel front camera
• WiFi, WiFi hotspot, Bluetooth
• 3G, HSPA+
• GPS, A-GPS
• Doodle Control, Air shuffle, Anti-theft
• Dimensions: 143.5 x 71.2 x 8.5 mm
• PhP4,590

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.