Interesting Mid Price Philippine Market Cellphones

[robert k]

Let me start by saying this is not about which brand or particular phone is best because in my opinion, none of them are. I believe that marketing is driving hardware decisions and not just price considerations because if they made a phone that satisfies too well, there would be no reason to buy another unless yours was lost/stolen or broken, right? I will not go into full specs and I am not trying to sell any of these phones.

 

Myphone Rio, had a rocky start with problems not being able to move apps to the SDcard and possibly there was a hardware change also, so make sure you get the latest model. From all accounts these have sold like hotcakes because they give good bang for the buck. It runs on a later version of Jellybean. I even saw a vlog filmed with the front camera of one of these and although the lighting was atrocious, it wasn't bad. It seems that the screen is 720P, the screen is acrylic plastic as a concession to keep the price at 4,999 php.

 

Starmobile UP is comparable except the screen is scratch resistant glass but resolution is FWVGA 854 X 480. Running on Kitkat, the video demonstration looked smooth, the speaker loud and a good all around and game performer if one overlooks the low resolution screen. 4,990 php. Starmobile also seems to throw in alot of freebies with their phones, jelly case or flip covers, OTG cables and so forth which I think is good marketing, you don't have to buy alot of acessories for your new phone. I think the screen resolution could have been QHD 960 X 540 for the same price or very little more but the phone might have been too satisfactory, if you know what I mean?

 

Cherry Mobile has their recent Omega series of phones they have released, Spectrum 4,999 php [can be found cheaper], Aeon 5,999 php [ can be found cheaper ] and Icon 6,499 php. If you are looking at buying one of these, I would check the specs and reveiws to find which one suits you best because they do vary as to GPU for gaming, cameras and battery sizes and possibly whether the glass is scratch resistant or not.

 

All of these phones mentioned above have 5 inch screens.

 

Honorable mentions to some models that have been out awhile from Cherry Mobile are the Fuze which can now be found for 5,300 php with 4,000 Mah battery and less than stellar FWVGA 5.0 inch screen and the Blaze 2.0 whose only real sin seems to be that it got a better operating system than it was originally designed for so it has a capacitive home button on the screen and a physical home button which was the subject of derision. Retailing at about 2/3 [6,300 php ] of it's introductory price. The Blaze 2.0 is a "phablet" phone with a 5.7 inch screen and may be something to look at if you are in the market for a phablet.

 

The phone I am waiting on is the Starmobile Turbo which I believe has not hit the shelves yet. It has more bells and whistles than the above phones and clocks in around 7k php.

 

I don't think any of these phones would have the effect of pulling out an iphone except possibly the Cherry Mobile Icon, that thing is pretty and would probably be mistaken for a more expensive phone at a distance of one meter.

 

Anyone have a Philippine local market phone that they are particularly pleased with or a reveiw of any of the above?

[Methersgate]

K is on her second Starmobile phone; very happy with it but I have read a suggestion that this is a rebadged Chinese phone with built-in malware and spyware. No idea if this is true.

[robert k]

I believe that most of the new local phones come with anti-malware software on them. It may be a garbled retelling.

 

If there really is Chinese spyware on the phones, I'm outraged! Just who do they think they are, the US NSA? :hystery:

 

As far as I know, most phones are physically made in China, although I seem to recall that Nokia had production facilities around the world.

 

I don't want to bash the local companies but I have heard that after sales service is not up to the standards that one would like. In all fairness I know I wouldn't like the after sales service in the US for any major brand either. That is why I stayed within the mid price segment, don't bet more than you are willing to lose. :thumbsup:

[cebu rocks]

The fuse is a awesome phone for the price 

[Mike S]

I may have mentioned this in the past but we have or have had 6-7 My Phones and are very very pleased with them .... in fact i just bought my asawa a new touch screen for her birthday this month .... when we get tired of them or some family member needs a phone we give them our old one and buy a new type or style .... I am very please to say that after more then 5 years they are all working just fine .... can't say how good the service department is because we have never had to take a single one in .... just replace batteries and an occasional charger .... but that is just our experience .... yours may vary .... :thumbsup:

 

However on the flip side you can not upgrade your My Phones OS even by rooting it .... they will not update the OS on your old phone ..... you will just have to buy a new phone with the upgraded OS .... I'm still using gingerbread 2.3.6

:cheersty:

[Jake]

However on the flip side you can not upgrade your My Phones OS even by rooting it .... they will not update the OS on your old phone ..... you will just have to buy a new phone with the upgraded OS .... I'm still using gingerbread 2.3.6

:cheersty:

I lost count how many times my teenage son had to replace his touch screen.  He's not too smart using a smartphone.

I saw this coming a long time ago where the makers of smartphones has buddies in the touch screen business.  It's

called the brother in law effect......he, he.  

 

As for me, my pre-paid AT&T flip phone is still kickin'.  I don't do texting or trying to read that strange language requires

me to use a pair of binoculars.  But my OS has been upgraded to the latest -- it's called Pan de Sal 1.1.0.

 

Are you talkin' to me.......?

Edited July 21, 2014 by Jake
spil chek

[Tukaram (Tim)]

I had a Nokia when I first moved over here and hated it - I missed my Android too much.  I bought a Cherry mobile Android (Click?) it was ok for a while but the battery and memory got glitchy after a while.  I have only had my MyPhone Rio a couple months but I love it so far!  Nice, big screen, smooth operation.  The only problem with it is my wife wants to steal it... so we have to buy a second one.   :tiphat:

[i am bob]

Maybe somebody can check the price on an LG G3? Today the news was that we can buy them for $99 contact or $199 unlocked in Canada. Same price in the States. So in philippines...?

[BrettGC]

http://www.rappler.com/technology/news/61135-lg-g3-philippine-release-date-and-pricing

[i am bob]

http://www.rappler.com/technology/news/61135-lg-g3-philippine-release-date-and-pricing

Hehe! 3 days ago, the G3 was listed at $700cdn off contract but today it is only $199. It's not suppose to even be live until 01 August here!