Ex-Apple CEO John Sculley founded Obi Mobiles, which started its operations last year, has been rebranded as Obi Worldphone. This company has unveiled two new affordable smartphones – the SF1 and SJ1.5 at an event in SanFrancisco for fast growing markets of Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
These phones have been designed by renowned San Francisco-based product studio Ammunition. They have also developed Obi Lifespeed, a custom user interface for Android that unifies the software and hardware experience, as stated by the company.
The Obi Worldphone line will be available starting in October in retail stores in some countries and online in others. According to the company, initially Obi Worldphone will be available in Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa, Pakistan, Turkey and India. The SF1 and SJ1.5 will be available in 50 to 70 high-growth countries by 2017.
The Obi Worldphone SF1 comes with 4G LTE support. This phone has a fiberglass body and metal accents at the top and bottom of the phone, which gives it premium feel. This phone features a 5-inch JDI In-Cell IPS full-HD (1080×1920 pixels) display with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 for screen protection.
It runs on Android 5.0.2 Lollipop OS with the Obi Lifespeed UI. It is driven by Qualcomm (MSM8939) Snapdragon 615 octa-core with 1.5 GHz speed coupled with Adreno 405 GPU. The Obi Worldphone SF1 comes in 2G RAM/16GB ROM and 3G RAM/32GB ROM variant with expandable storage upto 64GB via microSD card.
This phone is equipped with a 13-megapixel autofocus camera with LED Flash, Sony Exmor IMX214 sensor, and f/2.0 aperture and a 5-megapixel front camera with LED flash also on board. This phone also supports Dual-SIM.
It is backed by a 3000mAh battery with Qualcomm Quick Charge 1.0 power management technology, which is claimed to decreases the time required to charge the battery. The SF1 can charge to full power in less than three hours, which is about 40% faster than older phones, as claimed by the company.
The SF1 is named for its city of origin,SanFrancisco.
Other salient features :
• Sound – Dolby Audio with 7.1 discrete channels of high-fidelity surround sound. Dual microphone for noise-cancellation
• Primary Camera – 13 megapixels, automatic focus with LED flash powered by the Sony IMX214 Exmor™ sensor, f/2.0 aperture with Geo-tagging, touch focus, face/smile detection, panorama, and high dynamic range (HDR). Video 1080p@30fps.
• Secondary Camera – 5 megapixels with LED flash
• Display – 5-inch full, high-definition in-cell display by Japan Display Inc. (JDI). Full high definition (1080×1920 pixels), 443 ppi
• Cover Glass – Scratch definition resistant Corning Gorilla Glass 4
• Coating – Anti-fingerprint oleophobic coating by Top Touch
• Networks – GPRS/EDGE/WCDMA/HSPA+/4G/LTE
The SF1’s suggested retail price is $199 USD for the 16 GB internal memory version and $249 USD for the 32 GB internal memory variant.
On the other hand, the Obi Worldphone SJ1.5 supports only 3G and comes with following features :
- Aesthetics – Polycarbonate body with curved touch panel and dynamic use of color
- Operating System – Android OS version 5.1 Lollipop
- Communication – Easy-access, dual SIM, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth v4.0, A2DP, GPS and micro USB 2.0
- Primary Camera – 8 megapixels, automatic focus OV8865 sensor and f/2.2 aperture
- Secondary Camera – 5 megapixels, f/2.2 aperture
- Networks – GSM/HSPA/3G
- Processor – MediaTek MT6580, 1.3GHz Quad Core processor
- Display – 5” high-definition (720 x 1280 pixels), in-plane switching (IPS) full lamination screen for accurate color at any angle
- Cover Glass – Scratch-resistant Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3
- Coating – Anti-fingerprint oleophobic coating by Top Touch
- Memory – Samsung 1 GB RAM and 16 GB internal storage; expandable up to an additional 32 GB with micro SD
- Battery – 3,000 milliamp hours (mAh) lithium polymer (Li-Po)
- Sensors – accelerometer (gravity) proximity, ALS (light)
The sugggested retail price of this phone is $129 USD.
Commenting on the launch, John Sculley said, “Obi has taken the best of Silicon Valley – innovations in design, state-of-the-art technology and high standards for manufacturing – and fused them into beautiful, powerful tools at attractive prices. Our efficient cost structure and broad distribution combine to present empowering tools that help our customers achieve their aspirations.”
