O Plus USA Fab GO Review: Big Move

O Plus USA Fab GO Review: Big Move

INTRODUCTION:

O+ USA entered the Philippine market in 2012 and in less than two years time they already had an established brand in the country.

Earlier this month, they released a new member of their Fab lineup - the Fab GO. If you are wondering what are the Fab series, they are devices with at least 6-inch screen and has phone functionality.

About Phone

The O+ GO phablet sports a 6-inch capacitive touchscreen display powered by a 1.3GHz dual core MediaTek MT6572 processor bundled with 1GB RAM. Yep, that is right, 1GB RAM for a dual core chipset, which is a pretty rare combination.

>> O+ USA Fab GO Unboxing, Preview And Initial Impression<<


INTERFACE:

OOBE

The first thing you will encounter upon turning on the Fab GO is the out of the box experience (OOBE).  It is basically step by step setup of your phone, you need to complete it in order to proceed.

Lockscreen

The lockscreen is the typical Jelly Bean stuff, you can swipe the padlock icon in any direction to unlock the device. If you have a missed call or new message when your phone is locked, you can drag it to the circle in order to view them directly.

Lockscreen Widget

The lockscreen also supports widgets, you can access it by either swiping from left, right and top. The right portion is reserved for the camera interface while the left side can be assigned to calendar, email, etc.

Homescreen

The homescreen has five panes, there is no means to reduce or increase them. There are five shortcuts docked at the bottom of the screen, the middle always opens the app drawer while the remaining four can be assigned to any apps you want. The homescreen also supports folder, just pile one app to another.

Default Apps

Default Widgets

There are 32 applications and 36 widgets installed by default, the former is arranged in 4 rows and 5 columns while the latter has 2x3 layout.

App Drawer Options

The apps can also be sorted by name, install time or any way you like (custom sort). There is also an option to hide the apps so that they won't appear in the app drawer.

One Hand

The Fab GO also has what they called "One Hand" wherein there is a semi-transparent square accessible on the homescreen and in the app drawer. You can position it in either left or right, it opens a floating rectangle with nine application shortcuts (there is no option to alter them). You can turn it off by going to Settings>Accessibility.

Notification and Quick Settings

The notification panel can be accessed by swiping one finger from the top while swiping with two fingers will open up the quick toggle settings. The former contains all types of notifications and the options on how you can respond to them, the latter is where you can turn on/off the most commonly used settings as well as enable/disable the air shuffle.


DUAL SIM FUNCTIONALITY:

SIM Management

The O+ GO has a dual SIM slot, to change which one to be your default for video call, voice call, etc. just go to Settings>SIM Management.


TELEPHONY:

Dial Pad

The dialer support smart dialing, this means that you can enter name or number and it will search any matching contacts in your phonebook. There is also a "call and type" feature wherein you can swipe from the left to open the 'My Notes' which you can use to jot down (using keypad, there is no handwriting option) while on a call.

Incoming Call

If there is an incoming call, there are several options to respond to it, cancel it, cancel it with a message, answer by swiping or answer by shaking your phone. You can also flip your phone face down to silent the ringtone.

Call Logs

All your call history can be found in the call logs, you can filter it by the type of calls as well as which SIM was used.


PHONEBOOK:

Contacts

Groups

The phonebook uses a tab interface, the first one is for groups, the middle one is for contacts and the last one is for favorite contacts. They are arranged alphabetically, if you have a long list you can use the search icon on the lower left or drag the blue bar on the right to find what you are looking for. You can also choose to display or hide contact from your SIM or accounts.


MESSAGING:

Messaging

The messaging app displays messages based on the latest time of arrival. If you have an unread message, there will be a number beside it as well as number on the upper right corner that corresponds to the total of unread messages.

Messages are arranged in conversation, your message is on the right while the one from the recipient is on the left. At the bottom of each message shows which SIM was used to transmit it.

New Message

The SMS and MMS share the same editor, anything you attached to a message will automatically convert it to MMS. To do it, just click the green circle beside the smiley.


EMAIL:

Mail

The phablet has both the generic email app and Gmail app, they can contain multiple account and quite easy to set-up, just enter your username and password and you are good to go.


MULTIMEDIA:

Gallery:

Gallery

The gallery contains all the pictures and videos on your devices, you can filter them by Albums, Locations or Times and view them on grid or filmstrip mode.

Gallery Options

Any item in the gallery, whether it is a video or photo, can be shared locally via Bluetooth or online through email or social accounts.

Photo Editor

The photo editor is also on board, you can access it either by selecting edit in the settings, or by pressing the 3 overlapping circles in the bottom left corner.

Photo Note

The O+ Fab GO has a very nice software trick for photo, the pen icon on the lower left that you see when viewing a picture is not for editing, this is where you can record or write a note on each photo. For example, you took a photo and you do not want to forget where it was taken, you can tag a note on it which you can see or hear every time you view that specific picture.

Movie Studio

The gallery does not have video trim option, but it has Movie Studio where you can do more than just trimming. Here you can stitch photo or video clips and save them as a single video.

Video Player:

Video Player

The video player will list all supported files on your device, the information included are the thumbnail, title, file size and length. It can play almost any file, .avi, .3gp, .mp4, .mov and .mkv up to 1080p. The player interface is very simple, at the bottom of the screen there is a time scroll and the view option at the end of the line.

Music Player:

Music Player

The music player is very eye-candy, instead of listing the audio files on your device, they are grouped into six squares with different colors. The player itself is also cool, the album art appeared like a disc, which spins while that song is playing, below it shows the album and the song title.

At the bottom you will see the time scroll, above it are the back, pause and next buttons respectively. To access other options you can simply press the capacitive menu key or the gear icon in the upper right corner, both will show the same thing.

FM Radio:

FM Radio

The O+ phablet has an FM radio tuner with RDS however, it needs a wired headset which acts as the antenna to work. The channels can be setup manually or automatically The broadcast will continue even if you minimize the app, just be sure that the headset is still plug-in to your phone.

Camera and Video:

Camera and Video

The camera and video share the same interface, at the bottom you find the settings icon, video button, camera shutter and the thumbnail of the last item taken while the shooting mode can be found at the top.

Camera and Video Options

The camera and video options can be accessed by selecting the gear icon at the bottom left corner. Here you can turn on/off the GPS location info, change exposure, etc. You can also tweak the shooting mode, picture size and video quality.

Sample Shots:

The main camera is capable of shooting 5MP photo and 720p video at 12fps.The sample shots are as follows:

Day

Night

Without Flash

With Flash

The 5MP can produce great pictures during broad daylight or when there is a good lighting condition, honestly, it is comparable to some local brands' 8MP. However, during night time or when there is less source of light, it starts to struggle, noise is very evident.

Browser:

Browser

The browser is a stock Android app, it can hold up to 16 tabs and support incognito mode. It loads website fast, even those with scripts and photos. However, due to the low resolution screen, it is recommended to view pages on its mobile mode.

Gaming:

Pou

Candy Crush Saga

Hay Day

Zombie Tsunami

Dead Trigger

Dungeon Hunter 4

Asphalt 7

I installed casual games like Pou, Candy Crush Saga, Hay Day and Zombi Tsunami, all of them works fine without any hiccups or issue. I also installed graphics demanding game like Dead Trigger, Dungeon Hunter 4 and Asphalt 7, all are playable. However, only the DT is smooth, when playing DH4 and Asphalt 7, you will notice that the fps is a low, especially in DH4 when your character is walking or running, but the overall experience is OK and not really annoying.

Install Location

The O+ GO has 4GB of on board storage, however, only 1.96GB (0.96GB internal storage and 1.00GB of phone storage) is user accessible. The good thing is that you can use the micro SD card to be your default storage. As you can see above, the data file of Asphalt 7 is saved on the micro SD, but the App itself is in the internal storage, therefore you need to moved it to the memory card to free up space on the internal storage.


CONNECTIVITY:

3G and Tethering

The Fab GO has a dual SIM slot, both of which support 3G, to set which one will have 3G capability go to Settings>More>Wireless & networks>Mobile network settings>3G service. You can also share this high speed mobile data connection via WiFi hotspot, Bluetooth or USB tethering.

Data Usage

You can also monitor your mobile data usage by going to Settings>Data usage.

WiFi

The WiFi support WPS Pin Entry and WiFi direct, you can also choose to let it stay connected even your phone goes to sleep. The signal detection and reception are good on open space, however, if you are in a closed space, the signal starts to weaken (but, you are still connected).

Bluetooth

There is also Bluetooth on board and it works just fine when connected to headset or speaker as well as when transferring files.

USB Connection

When you plug your phone into your computer you have several options on how you would like it to be connected, as USB storage, Media Device, etc. The 3.5mm audio jack completes the list, it works fine even with a modern type headset.


PRODUCTIVITY:

Calculator

Calendar

Clock

File Manager

My Notes

Sound Recorder

The organizing and productivity tools include the calendar, calculator, clock, file manager, sound recorder and my notes. What is missing is the document viewer/editor, but you can simply download one for free in the Play Store.


GPS:

GPS

The GPS has A-GPS support and EPO assistance, this helps in getting quick satellite lock. When both data are pre-loaded, I got a satellite lock in almost an instant.


BATTERY:

Battery Stats

I set the screen brightness and volume at the median, then looped a 1080p video clip, it managed to last for almost 6 hours before the battery percentage drops from 100% to 15% (middle). Playing Asphalt 7 continuously also managed to achieve similar result (right).

Placing the phone on standby move, with WiFi on and Google account in sync for almost 4 days only consumed 8% of the battery juice. Charging the phone from a dead battery needs 3 and a half hours before it can be fully charged.


CONCLUSION:

Some of us likes to have only one device to bring and carry around and if you are one of them, better check this O+ USA Fab GO, it is a phablet with 6-inch screen powered by 1.3GHz dual core processor coupled with 1GB of RAM.

This CPU-RAM combination helps to have an overall smooth experience, there is not much to complain about its performance. One of the gripes we have for it is the display, the FWVGA resolution is really a bit stretch, not to mention it only support two-point touch and does not have any protective glass.

PROS:

Big battery capacity with good battery life
Camera produced above average photo when there is good lighting condition
Nice software tricks
Sturdy build
Free flip case

CONS:

Only two point touch
Low screen resolution

Specifications:

• Dual SIM, Dual Standby
• Quad band GSM, Supports HSPA+
• 6-inch capacitive FWVGA (480x854) touchscreen display, 2-point touch
• Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
• 1.3GHz Dual Core Cortex-A7 CPU, Mali-400 GPU, MediaTek MT6572 chipset
• 1GB of RAM
• 4GB internal storage, expandable up to 32GB via micro SD
• 5MP auto focus main camera with LED flash
• 2MP secondary camera
• WiFi
• Bluetooth
• Micro USB 2.0
• GPS
• 3.5 Audio Jack
• Stereo FM Radio
• Multimedia Player
• Sensors: Accelerometer, Proximity, Light
• Battery: 2500mAh
• Price: Php8,999