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| SKK Mobile Centaur Review: Equestrian |
INTRODUCTION:
Dual SIM and Analog TV are two features first found in "China phones" and in the early development of locally branded phones. In the current trend, they are mostly incorporated in feature phones and in the lower to middle segment of Android smartphones.
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| About Phone |
The SKK Mobile Centaur is one of the few devices in this category, it sports a 5-inch display powered by 1.3GHz dual core processor bundled with 512MB of RAM for only Php3,399.
>>>SKK Mobile Centaur Unboxing, Preview And Initial Impression
INTERFACE:
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| Lockscreen |
To unlock the screen, just swipe the padlock icon to any direction, if there is a missed call or unread message you can drag it towards the icon to view it immediately.
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| Homescreen |
The homescreen consists of five pages, there is no option to add or reduce this number. There are five shortcuts docked at the bottom of the screen, the middle opens the app drawer while the remaining four are customizable.
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| Default Apps |
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| Default Widgets |
There are 34 applications pre-installed and 30 default widgets, unlike other SKK Mobile devices, no app can be removed without root access.
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| Notification Panel & Quick Toggle Settings |
The notification panel is accessible by swiping one finger from the top of the screen while two fingers are needed for the quick toggle settings. The former houses all types of notifications and the actions you can do with them while the latter gives you means of turning on/off some of the most commonly used settings in just one touch.
DUAL SIM FUNCTIONALITY:
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| SIM Management |
The Centaur supports dual SIM dual standby, when you inserted the two SIM cards before turning on your phone for the first time, it will automatically configure which one to be used for a certain action. You can always change your preference by going to Settings>SIM Management.
TELEPHONY:
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| Telephony |
The dial pad supports smart dialing as well as speed dialing, there are two handset icons at the bottom which corresponds to each SIM card. The call quality is above average, both ends can hear each other loud and clear even in noisy environment.
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| Call Logs |
The call logs keep track of all the calls happened in and out of your phone, you can filter it by incoming, outgoing or missed calls and an option to display items from either SIM or both.
PHONEBOOK:
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| Contacts |
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| Groups |
The contacts are arranged alphabetically, if you have long list you can use the scroll function on the right or use the search icon on lower left corner. Each contact can contain tons of information such as name, company name, position, multiple numbers, emails, etc. The groups on the other hand are set of contacts which belongs to the same category.
MESSAGING:
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| Messaging |
The messages are listed based on the latest time stamp, a number will appear on the upper right corner which corresponds on how many unread messages you have. The conversations are arranged in a chat-like manner, your message appears on the right while the one you received is on the left. There is also an option to change its wallpaper as well as the font size.
EMAIL:
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| Emails |
The Centaur has both generic email app and Gmail app, they support POP3, IMAP and Exchange emails. They are very easy to set-up as long as you know your username and password, both can contain multiple accounts.
MULTIMEDIA:
Gallery:
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| Gallery |
The gallery displays in either grid view or filmstrip view all the photos and videos on your devices, you can also filter them by Albums, Times or Locations. Any item in the gallery can be shared through Bluetooth, email and social accounts.
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| Photo Editor |
There is also photo editor incorporated into the gallery, which is useful when you want to add effects or any enhancement in the picture before sharing it.
Video Player:
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| Video Player |
The video player will list files showing their thumbnails, file names, file size and length. Odd enough, it does not display .MP4 files, but they are playable when you click them using the file manager. The codec support is good, it can play videos with different file extensions such .3gp, .avi, .flv, .mkv and .mp4.
Music Player:
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| Music Player |
The music player will list all supported audio files on your devices, you can view them by albums, artists, songs or playlist. At the bottom of the interface you will see the time scroll together with the basic controls, above it you find the album are and the song information.
FM Radio:
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| FM Radio |
The FM radio needs a wired headset connected on the phone for it to work, channels can be set manually or automatically. The broadcast can be played through the headset or loudspeaker and there is also an option to record it.
Analog TV:
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| Analog TV |
The phone is equipped with Analog TV tuner, the channels are scanned automatically. There is video setting for contrast, brightness and saturation. There is also an option to record a specific broadcast as well as take the screenshot (camera icon on the lower right) which captures only the TV screen (controls on the right are left out).
Camera and Video:
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| Camera and Video |
The camera and video share the same interface, their buttons are placed side-by-side at the bottom. On its right is the thumbnail of the last picture/video taken while on its left is the settings icon. At the top you will see the shooting mode for the photo and pause, length option for the video.
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| Camera and Video Settings |
Selecting the settings icon will bring up all the available options such exposure, color effect, picture size, video quality and more.
Sample Shots:
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| Close up |
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| Day |
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| Day_1 |
The Centaur has 5MP shooter on the back and can capture 720p videos @ 12fps. It does not have auto focus, but has touch focus function. The image quality is less than stellar for a 5MP camera, it is a bit grainy even it good lighting conditions, the resolve details are comparable to a device with just 3.2MP.
Browser:
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| Browser |
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| Opera Mini |
The phone has both stock browser and Opera Mini, they both works OK, however, I still do prefer the former.
Gaming:
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| Asphalt 7 |
Gaming Sample
I installed casual games like Zombie Tsunami and Temple Run2, both of them works perfectly, no hang ups or lags encountered. HD games like Asphalt 7 are also playable, however, there are times that you will encounter hiccups.
CONNECTIVITY:
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| 3G & Tethering |
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| Data Usage |
The Centaur supports dual SIM dual standby and both SIM cards are capable of 3G connectivity, which you can share via WiFi Hotspot, USB or Bluetooth tethering. You can also find Data Usage under the settings, which you can use to monitor the amount of data you consumed.
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| WiFi |
The phone has also WiFi, the signal detection and reception are good, no sudden drop/loss when in use.
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| Bluetooth |
The Bluetooth works OK when connected to a wireless speaker and when transferring/receiving files. The 3.5mm audio completes the list and it is CTIA compliant, I used a headset from Nokia as well as the Urbanear Kransen and both of them work fine.
PRODUCTIVITY:
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| To Do |
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| Sound Recorder |
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| Calendar |
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| Clock |
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| File Manager |
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| Notes |
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| Calculator |
The organizing and productivity tools include To Do, Sound Recorder, Calendar, Clock, File Manager, Note and Calculator.
GPS:
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| GPS |
The phone's GPS able to get a satellite lock in a minute or two without data pre-loaded, but if A-GPS and EPO are loaded connection is much faster, just under 15 seconds.
BATTERY:
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| Battery Stats |
I looped a video and the phone managed to last three and a half hours before the battery percentage became 15%, while playing Asphalt 7 continuously, it lasted for about 3 hours.
CONCLUSION:
The SKK Mobile Centaur is one of the all around phablet available in the market today, it has dual SIM dual standby capability with 3G connectivity, Analog TV tuner, 1.3GHz dual core processor bundled with 512MB of RAM for a very reasonable price of Php3,399.
The design might be borrowed from the Samsung Galaxy line, but the build quality is pretty solid. Performance wise, it is capable of doing most tasks smoothly, it can play HD games and so much more.
PROS:
Dual core processor with 512MB of RAM
Large screen
Reasonable price
CONS:
Low screen resolution
Limited viewing angles
Specifications:
- Dual SIM Dual Standby, Supports 3G
- 5-inch capacitive FWVGA (854x480) touchscreen display
- Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
- 1.3GHz Dual Core Cortex-A7 CPU, Mali-400 GPU, MediaTek MT6572 chipset
- 512MB of RAM
- 4GB internal, expandable up to 32GB via micro SD
- 5MP main camera with LED Flash,
- VGA secondary camera
- Multimedia Player
- 3.5 Audio Jack
- WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
- Micro USB 2.0
- Bluetooth
- GPS with A-GPS and EPO assistance
- 1800mAh Li-Ion battery
- Php3,399