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ObiWorldphoneSF1Review

Obi Worldphone SF1 Review

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Obi Mobiles, backed by ex-Apple CEO John Sculley, in August re-launched itself
as Obi Worldphone and introduced two new smartphones. Last year after its
debut as Obi Mobiles in India, the company had created some buzz in aordable
smartphone segment before it decided to take a sudden backseat.
This time around when Obi marks its return to Indian market, company said
that it will be emphasizing more on the design aspect, apart from competitive
oerings and pricing of course. So the last month in India, Obi launched its
mid-range agship smartphone the Obi Worldphone SF1 in two variants.
The 2GB RAM and 16GB storage model comes for Rs. 11,999, and 3GB RAM,
32GB storage variant for Rs. 13,999.
We have reviewed the 3GB variant of the SF1, and heres what has changed in
last one year.
Build and Design

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The new Obi SF1 is designed by San Francisco-based product studio

Ammunition. Founder of the Ammunition, Robert Brunner, also worked at
Apple as Director of Industrial Design.
While company kept highlighting the unique design of SF1, we felt that the
design is mostly inspired from Lumia smartphones. The phone has plastic unibody design, but with an unusual-designed display upfront, which Obi is calling
as the oating glass display.

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The front of SF1 features a 5-inch 1080p display, which is slightly raised above
the phones body. The standard two sensor set proximity and ambient light
sensors along with earpiece grill, front facing 5-megapixel camera with sele
ash sit above the display.

The 13-megapixel primary camera with LED ash is located on the top-left
corner of the back.
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Left side of the handset accommodates the volume rocker and power / lock key.
The right side has the SIM card tray which is a hybrid slot, so it can either take
a Micro and a Nano-SIM cards or a Micro-SIM and a microSD card. The top
edge has got the 3.5mm audio jack along with secondary noise cancellation mic,
while the bottom features the Micro-USB charging / data syncing port
sandwiched between two speaker grills.

The Obi SF1 measures 146 x 74 x 8mm and weighs 147 grams. Overall, the phone
feels plastic but yet very sturdy.
Display
The Obi SF1 boasts of a 5-inch full-HD (10801920 pixels) JDI In-Cell IPS
display with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection.

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The display is very dierently designed in SF1, as it is slightly raised above the
phones body and has been kept as a layer on top (see in pictures). Obi even has
a name for this design and is calling it the oating glass display. There is also
a gas-kit fused around the display for protection, which according to company
is another engineering advancement.

The 5-inch 1080p Corning Gorilla Glass 4 display appears nice and vibrant. The
colours look close to natural, and the brightness level and viewing angles are
impressive too. Overall, we really liked the quality of the display, but the
oleophobic coating on top is not that strong, so you do see little smudges /
ngerprints all around.
Performance and Software
The Obi SF1 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core (ARM Cortex
A53; 41.5GHz + 41.0GHz) processor with Adreno 405 GPU. There are two
versions available for purchase a 2GB RAM with 16GB internal storage, and a
3GB RAM with 32GB internal storage. The device runs Android 5.0 Lollipop with
companys Obi LifeSpeed UI skinned on top.

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Our 3GB RAM variant of the Obi SF1 on papers have 32GB internal storage, out
of which 24.73GB storage was available out-of-the-box, and it can be expanded
via microSD card up to 64GB. Users have the option to move apps from phone to
microSD card. The phone also supports USB-OTG.
The performance of Obi SF1 is really disappointing for its combination. Usually
we havent had too many issues with Qualcomm 615 in other smartphones, but
the SF1 was an exception. The phone visibly lags in multitasking. The LifeSpeed
UI skin on top is not smooth at all. Even the smallest transition makes the
screen stutter a lot. Though the games like Asphalt 8 runs ne and the
extended play resulted in extensive heating, but thanks to its plastic back it
didnt burn our hand. Overall, the Obi SF1s performance is nowhere close to the
competition that it has in this price segment.

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Benchmarks

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Camera
The Obi SF1 packs a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED ash (Sony IMX214
sensor, f/2.0 aperture), and a front 5-megapixel camera with Sele Flash.

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ObiWorldphoneSF1Review

The rear 13-megapixel Sony sensor doesnt do well in SF1. The shots taken in
daylight had inconsistency and the images were mostly washed out. Low-light
images missed detailing and had noise too. But surprisingly, Macro shots in
10

both conditions came out nice and sharp. Stock camera app isnt the Google

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camera,

and it includes quite useful few features. Autofocus speed and shutter

speed lags slightly.

2

Check camera samples below. (click on enlarge)

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ObiWorldphoneSF1Review

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Connectivity and Battery life

The Obi SF1 is a dual-SIM device with 4G LTE support for FDD-LTE 1800MHz
Band 3 and TDD-LTE 2300MHz Band 40 in India.
The SIM 1 slot can accommodate Micro-SIM card and the SIM 2 slot is hybrid,
so it can either take a Nano-SIM card and can also double up as microSD card
slot. The microSD card can add up to 64GB of additional storage to the existing.
Other connectivity options include Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ (dual band), Bluetooth
4.0, GPS/ A-GPS, and GLONASS.

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The battery on SF1 is non-removable 3000mAh battery, and it easily holds up to

one full-day without any fail. It is also future-proof and supports fast charging.
The retail box comes bundled with fast charger too. As for our battery rating,
the Obi SF1 can deliver about 18-20 hours on a single charge for an average
user, which is extremely good in our opinion.
Verdict
At a price of Rs. 13,999 for 3GB RAM with 32GB storage version, the Obi SF1 is
not worth considering, especially when the competition in this price segment is
erce. The phone misses out on performance and that cannot be ignored. But
that being said, there are some good points about the SF1, such as amazing
battery life, overall decent built, and quality audio with Dolby Surround Sound
technology, which works surprisingly well, unlike the Lenovo K3 Note.
Pros
Great battery life with fast charging
Display
Build quality
Good audio (Dolby Surround Sound)

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ObiWorldphoneSF1Review

Cons
Poor Performance
Heating issue

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Below average camera

Dual-SIM but hybrid SIM 2 slot

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Author: Hitesh Arora

From making Gadget and Auto videos for TV and online media, this guy landed up in Tech Writing.
He has his heart at the right place when it comes to nding deals online. You will always nd him
suggesting people which device to buy. Hitesh calls himself a TV bu, who loves cooking, eating,
dancing, and sleeping. You can follow him on Twitter @hitesharoraa
View all posts by Hitesh Arora

Hitesh Arora / December 7, 2015 / Android, India, Obi, Reviews

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ObiWorldphoneSF1Review

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KgBaskkaranayearago

thanksnicereview

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DineshMohanayearago

Thanksforthereview.
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Great

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