Obi SF1 (16GB/2GB) review
Enter the worldphone
San Francisco based manufacturer Obi has been in the news for a while with its uniquely stylish devices and the Lifespeed UI. Now Obi is making its entry into the Indian market, at prices that will give the competition a run for their money. We spend some time with their first offering, the Obi SF1, to find the substance underneath the style. But first the specs...
Obi SF1 Phone Specifications
- Display: 5-inch full HD 1080x1920p display, 443ppi
- OS: Android 5.0.2 (Lollipop), Lightspeed UI
- CPU: 1.5 GHz 64-bit Octa-core Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615
- RAM: 2GB DDR3 RAM (3GB version also available)
- Storage: 16GB internal storage (32GB version also available)
- Cameras: 13MP primary and 5MP front cameras, both with LED flash
- Battery: 3,000mAh Li-Po, Quick Charge 1.0
- Dimensions: 146x74x8mm
- Weight: 147 grams
- Price: Rs 11,999
Looking good
You have to hand it to the Obi SF1 - it makes a great first impression. Right from the impressive clear plastic casing to the way the SF1 looks, there's no denying that everything about it is very tasteful. The all-metal smudge-free finish feels great to hold and the raised display is quite unique in a segment full of devices that look the same. The use of extra bezel to achieve this raised display look can be easily forgiven, considering that the SF1 does look quite stunning.
The power button and the volume rocker is located on the left of the phone, keeping the right side completely clear, except for the dual-SIM slot. The bottom of the device houses stereo speakers with dual mics for noise cancellation and the charging port, while the top is where you'll find the 3.5mm headphone jack. The back of the device houses the 13 megapixel camera on the top-left along with the flash, and the bottom right has the Obi branding along with a subtle proclamation - "Designed in San Francisco".
Of course, it's the display that you'd be the most interested in, and it doesn't disappoint as well. The SF1 gives you a 5-inch, Full-HD screen with a pixel density of 443ppi. The screen is sharp and great at colour reproduction and overall contrast. The Lifespeed UI is one of the most tasteful interfaces we've seen on an Android device. Its unique look starts right from the time you're swiping to unlock, and influences the way all pre-installed and many popular app icons look. It's refreshing to see this colourful, yet understated UI design, clearly showing a western design influence.
The best part is that Obi SF1 feels great to hold and use. The raised display doesn't come in the way of operating the phone, and the matte-metal coating gives it that premium finish. There is a caveat though - there's no notification light or any other form of visual notification when the SF1 is in sleep mode. So in case you miss a call or a message ring, there's no way for you to get notified, until you wake the device.
Performance
Well, this is where the bad news comes in. Based on the 16GB storage, 2GB RAM model we had for review, we found that the basic phone navigation felt a bit sluggish, whether it was related to swiping between screens or navigating the app drawer. There was even a lag while switching between the apps, often causing the phone to become unresponsive. This could be related to the UI being unoptimised, but of course, there's no way for us to know for sure.
That said, the Obi SF1 did perform very well in our benchmarks. Antutu gave it a score of 32,616, which may not be groudbreaking, but it does stand above the competition. Like the Micromax Canvas 5 gave a score of 31,803 in the same test, Moto G (2015) peaked at 24,321 and Samsung J5 at 21,581. The Basemark OS II overall score too was impressive at 831, outdoing even the Moto X Play, which scored 818 on the same.
It gave an above average result in 3D Mark as well, with a score of 5547, though it did surprisingly underperform in the PCMark benchmark.
Gaming on the Obi SF1 was a mixed bag. Where just about all graphically intensive games did run on it, we did get the occasional stutter every now and then. Not a big deal, but it's worth a mention.
SF1 comes with a generous 3,000mAH battery, which is more than enough to get you through a regular day with a mix of games and videos thrown in. Besides the days we benchmarked the phone, we didn't get in a situation where the SF1 needed a recharge before bedtime. There were also no heating issues we faces with the device, even after an hour of gaming on it.
A special mention goes out to the audio quality of the SF1. The Dolby Audio app makes a world of a difference to the quality of audio outputted from the device, which you can instantly witness as soon as you turn off the Dolby Audio app. The treble gets clearer, the bass sounds tighter and the mids sound exactly in that sweet spot where they're audible but not jarring. Audiophiles will absolutely love the enhanced sound quality they'll get in not just music, but also movies and games from the SF1. Just be sure to pair a good set of headphones to it.
Camera
The SF1 comes with a 13MP primary snapper with an aperture that goes as wide as f/2.0. It's powered by Sony's Exmor sensor and the results do show a similar emphasis on reddish tones that make pictures appear warmer. Not the most natural shots, but we reckon that the warm tones on the well saturated images will be appealing to most users. The sharpness too is great and the camera grabs focus swiftly. Where is lacks is image stabilisation, because of which it is relatively easy to get blurry shots. But when you do get the right shot, the result is remarkable.
On the front you have a 5MP camera with flash support, and that too doesn't disappoint, with results that are similar to the primary camera. A unique feature in the SF1 is the software-driven Optizoom function, which in other words is digital zoom done in a better way to give you more usable results, as can be seen below.
Verdict
There's no denying that at Rs 11,999, the Obi SF1 is a great bang for the buck. It looks really good, performs well in apps, sounds great, has a great camera and has a battery that easily gets you through the day. But there's also the issue with the laggy interface that we can't ignore, and it's a big one. We really wish Obi would have put more effort into optimising the UI to be a smoother, lag-free experience. Maybe the higher-end - 32GB storage/3GB RAM - version performs better, but we'll have to test it to find out for sure. Stay tuned.
لا يوجد تعليقات
أضف تعليق