O+ USA Imagine |
INTRODUCTION:
The O+ USA Imagine was the most anticipated smartphone from the company and one of the most interesting things about it is the back to back scratch-resistant glass.
It also features a full high definition display made from AMOLED touch panel, we can say that Full HD is not something to brag about, but that does not mean that it does not have a great screen. Honestly, it is one of the best I have seen from the smartphones I reviewed next to the Nokia Lumia 1020.
What ticks inside the Imagine is the ever reliable MediaTek MT6589 Turbo which has four CPU cores clocked at 1.5GHz each bundled with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage.
>>O+ USA Imagine Unboxing <<
>>O+ USA Imagine Preview<<
INTERFACE:
Lockscreen |
Lockscreen Widget |
The lockscreen is the usual padlock icon inside a circle wherein you can swipe it in any direction to unlock your device. There is also a lockscreen widget which you can access by dragging the either edge of the screen. Doing it from right to left will always opens the camera interface while doing the opposite is assignable to either calendar, clock, Gmail, etc.
There is also an alternative way to unlock your device and go directly to your pre-defined application, but we will discuss it in the later part of this review.
Homescreen |
The homescreen consists of 5 pages, there is nothing you can do to reduce or increase it. There are five favorite shortcuts found just below the line, the middle always dedicated to accessing your app drawer while the four others can be customized based on your own liking.
As you may notice, the icons look different than what we usually see from the local brands, actually even some of the apps have their facelift too.
Default Apps |
Default Widgets |
The default apps were unable to fill up two pages which means that there are less bloatware and more storage space, they are arranged in five columns by 4 rows. The default widgets are 5 pages and have a 2x3 layout.
Notification Area & Quick Toggle Settings |
The drag down notification area will greet you with all the phone notifications and its corresponding options. There are two icons found at the upper right corner, the first from the left is for the system settings while the rightmost one is for the quick toggle settings.
Alternatively, you can swipe with your two fingers from the top edge of the screen in order to quick toggle settings to appear. Here you can change most of the commonly used setting by simply pressing them once.
PHONEBOOK:
Phonebook |
The phonebook consists of contacts from your phone, SIM card or online accounts, you can display your contacts from all accounts or simply choose from which account you like to appear on your screen. The group is also supported wherein you can categorize your contacts so that you can easily sort them out.
TELEPHONY:
Telephony |
The dial pad does not support any kind of smart dialing, which is a bit disappointing. This means that if you do not memorize the number of the person to call, you have no choice but to go to your phonebook to look for it.
My Note |
When you have an incoming call, you can cancel it, cancel it with SMS or just answer it. The photo of the caller will also appear when applicable. When the call got connected, you will see a semi-circle on the left edge of the screen, when you drag it outward, the My Notes will be displayed ready for anything you like to jot down during the call.
The call quality is a bit on the soft side, talking in a quiet place is OK, but when you go somewhere noisy, you will have a hard time hearing the other end. One bug also that I noticed is that the call got disconnected most of the time if you want to reach the person behind the local numbers or when you use the dial pad to follow the instruction of the automated answering machine.
Call Logs |
The call logs is where you can find your call history, logs are arranged based on the latest one. They are also grouped everyday which makes it easy to scan them when looking for a specific call. When you select a certain log, a more detailed information will appear.
MESSAGING:
Messaging |
The messages are listed based on the latest time of arrival, a number in red background will appear next to the name (number) of the sender which corresponds to how many unread messages you have on that specific conversation. Looking at the conversation, your message will appear on the left while his/her message is on the right.
New Message |
Unlike the telephony, the recipient bar on the new message accepts both name and number as input, you can send a message to a multiple person by simply placing a semi-colon after each name/number. You can also attach any file in your message and once you did, the message will be converted to MMS.
EMAIL:
Gmail |
The phone has both the generic email app and the Gmail app, both applications are very useful for people who usually checks their mail on the go. Setting them up are simple, just enter your username and password, then you are good to go. They can also contain multiple email accounts as well as change their sync intervals.
MULTIMEDIA:
Gallery:
Gallery |
The gallery displays your photos and videos based on albums or the folders where they are located. The camera icon is always present at the lower part of the interface.
Gallery Options |
Your pictures as well as your videos can be shared locally via Bluetooth or online via Facebook, Email etc.
Photo Editor |
There is a photo editor incorporated into the gallery, you can access it via the 3 overlapping circles or by selecting edit.
Trim |
Movie Studio |
There is also a video clipping tool called trim, you can use it to select two points in between the ends of any video. If you like a more useful video tool, you can use the Movie Studio accessible from your app drawer.
Video Player:
Video Player |
The video player will list all the supported files together with their thumbnails, title, file size and length of duration. It has a great video codec support, it can play .avi, .mp4, .mov, .3gp, .flv and .mkv up to 1080p resolution, however, videos with AC3 audio will be played without any sound.
Watching movies on its 5-inch full HD display is very pleasurable and glorious, color reproductions are very accurate and the loudspeaker produce crisp and clear sounds.
Music Player:
Music Player |
The music player will list all the audio files in your device, you can view them by songs, albums, artist or playlist. The interface is very simple, the album art occupied about half of the screen, below it is the music details followed by the navigation controls. If you minimize the player while playing a song, it will continue to play in the background, there will also a mini player that will appear in the notification area wherein you can control it.
FM Radio:
FM Radio |
The FM radio requires a wired headset to be connected to your phone in order for it to work. The channels can be searched automatically or manually and navigation between them is done using the controls at the bottom. The FM broadcast can be played through the headset or via loud speaker and you also have the option to record them.
Camera:
Camera |
The main camera can shoot up top 13MP photo while the front facing one is capable of shooting 5MP pictures. The camera interface is simple, the shutter key can be found on the right side just above the thumbnail of the last picture taken. On the left are the camera modes (normal, HDR and Face) and the settings icon in the lower corner.
The settings give you the option to change the picture size, exposure, color effect, etc. You can also change the touch capture option, when enabled, you can take pictures by simply touching the screen but when it is disabled touch focus will take effect. The Imagine has no physical shutter, but you can set the volume keys for that.
Sample Shots:
Parking |
Inside the mall |
Afternoon |
Closeup |
Front Camera |
The main camera performance is great when there is a good lighting condition. On medium to low light photography it is a mixed bag, there are times when you get a good photo, but sometimes you also get a blurred or a bit darker results. It seems that the camera is unable to meter the light properly or unable to get a good focus on that condition, so if you are taking photos on poor lighting environment better do it several times to get a good result.
Video:
Video |
The Imagine can record 1080p videos at 30fps, to toggle between camera and video just select the icon on the upper right corner.
Video Details:
Quality - Fine (1920 x 1088 @ 30fps)
Audio: mp4a: MPEG-4 AAC LC 24000Hz 96 kb/s tot , stereo (2/0)
Video: mp4v MPEG-4 Video
Quality - High (1280 x 720 @ 30 fps)
Audio: mp4a: MPEG-4 AAC LC 16000Hz 96 kb/s tot , stereo (2/0)
Video: avc1 H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
Quality - Medium (640 x 480 @ 30 fps)
Audio: mp4a: MPEG-4 AAC LC 16000Hz 96 kb/s tot , stereo (2/0)
Video: avc1 H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
Quality - Low (176 x 144 @ 30 fps)
Audio: samr: AMR Narrowband 8000Hz
Video: avc1 H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
Browser:
Browser |
The browser supports up to 16 tabs and the O+ imagine can handle them all, thanks to the 2GB of RAM. The default homepage is O+ page, but you can simply change it in the settings. The website loads quickly, even those with lots of images and you can view it in its desktop mode completely clear due to the high resolution screen.
Gaming:
Little Ear Doctor |
Where's My Water |
Asphalt 7 |
Modern Combat 4 |
CONNECTIVITY:
3G & Tethering |
It supports HSPA+ which can be shared either through USB tethering or WLAN hotspot.
WiFi |
The WiFi has an 802.11 b/g/n standard, the signal detection and reception is pretty good.
OTG Support |
The USB OTG function is also supported, external flash drive and wireless mouse work just fine.
PC Connection |
When you connect it to your computer via a USB cable, it will prompt you what type of connection you want.
Bluetooth |
The Bluetooth and 3.5mm audio jack complete the list of connectivity.
PRODUCTIVITY:
Calculator |
Calendar |
Clock |
File Manager |
Sound Recorder |
My Notes |
GPS:
GPS |
The GPS has A-GPS and EPO assistance, these help to get a quick satellite lock, in my case it is just about 20 seconds (using the GPS Test and Google Navigation).
BATTERY:
I used the O+ Imagine as my daily driver for about 3 weeks and it does not fail me, it can last for a day. My usage pattern includes about 1 hour of call, 30 minutes to 1 hour of web browsing, 30 minutes of casual gaming and 4 emails are synced to receive mail every 5 minutes.
Battery Stats |
The O+ Imagine able to last around 6 hours of 1080p video playback before the battery dropped to 15%, while playing Asphalt 7 lasted about 4 hours before 15% battery warning popped up. The brightness and volume are set to half during the tests.
OTHERS:
Breathing Light Quick Launch |
The breathing light found in the lower portion of the phone can act as a quick launcher and can be assigned to almost any app. To setup which app you like, just go to Setting>Phone and Apps>Breathing Light Quick Launch. For you to use it, the phone should be on the lockscreen then just swipe the breathing light from left to right (or right to left) to launch an application.
Google Apps |
Along with the Google Navigation, other applications include Map, Now, Voice, YouTube and Google+.
News & Weather |
This app is where you can access local news and weather.
SIM Tool Kit |
This is an app where you can access the basic functions and features of your SIM card and its network provider.
The Facebook app is also pre-installed on your phone.
Flashlight |
This app uses the LED flash at the back of the phone as Flashlight, the only options are just turning it on/off.
CONCLUSION:
The O+ USA Imagine has a nice and impressive build, a truly premium caliber. The screen is one of the best we have seen so far, it is stunning, vibrant and vivid. The uni-body construction plus the back to back scratch-resistant glass are proofs of a good design.
Its innards are also capable enough to run high graphics games, play high definition videos and will not let you down when performing various tasks.
PROS:
Rich retail package
Impressive screen
Nice and impressive build
CONS:
No smart dialing
Non-expandable storage
A bit pricy
Specifications:
- Single SIM (micro),
- Tri-Band GSM/GPSRS/EDGE, Dual Band HSPA+
- 5.0" capacitive Full HD AMOLED touchscreen (1920x1080), scratch-resistant glass protection
- Android Jelly Bean 4.2.1
- 1.5GHz Cortex-A7 Quad Core CPU, 357MHz PowerVR SGX544MP GPU MediaTek MT6589 Turbo chipset
- 2GB of RAM
- 32GB internal storage
- 13MP auto focus main camera with LED Flash
- 1080p Video Recording @ 30 fps
- 5MP secondary camera
- GPS with A-GPS and EPO assistance
- WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, WiFi Direct, WiFi Hotspot
- 3.5 Audio Jack
- Stereo FM Radio
- Multi Media Player
- Micro USB 2.0 with OTG supportt
- Bluetooth
- 2000mAh Li-Ion Battery
- Promo Price: Php16,995
- Regular Price: Php18,995
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