MyPhone RIO 2 Review, Flowing River

MyPhone RIO 2 Review, Flowing River

INTRODUCTION:

MyPhone RIO 2 was formally introduced last March 31, almost a year ago when its predecessor, the Agua Rio, was announced. That is 12-month in the making, but, does it have what it takes to be a worthy successor? Let us find out in our full review below!

CPU Z

The RIO 2 has strong similarities with the original Rio, both of them sports a 5-inch HD IPS display powered by quad core MediaTek MT6582 processor coupled with 1GB of RAM. The main improvements are having Corning Gorilla Glass 3 screen protection, twice of the internal storage capacity (8GB vs 4GB), higher secondary camera (5MP vs 2MP) and bigger battery capacity (2800mAh vs 2000mAh)


UNBOXING:

Unboxing video

The retail package consists of the unit, charger, USB cable, wired headset, warranty card, manual and Globe SIM card with free 1 year internet. To learn more, you can watch our unboxing video above.


HARDWARE:

Front

The front is fully laminated with Gorilla Glass 3, the left and right bezels are about 4mm, which can be classified as not too thick and not too thin. However, the bezel below the screen can be considered thick, since the phone utilizes on-screen instead of physical capacitive keys. Meanwhile, above the screen you will find the notification light on the left of the round earpiece grill, the secondary camera and the hidden sensors.

Back

The back has matte-finished with somewhat coarse, but refined finish. Down below, you will find the loudspeaker followed by the RIO 2 logo. Meanwhile, the main camera is located in the upper left portion accompanied by an LED flash below it.

Back without cover

The back cover is removable, but the battery is not, it is sealed and hidden. On the upper left portion, you fill find the micro SD slot, going to the right will find the SIM 1 slot followed by the SIM 2 slot.

Left

Right

The left side was kept bare while the right side has the volume rocker and the power button.

Top

Bottom

The 3.5mm audio jack is located at the top of the device, while the micro USB port and the primary microphone are both located at the bottom.

Design wise, it may not be a head turner, but it still looks premium and elegant. The build quality is also improved, especially the material used on the back cover. In terms of handling, it is still comfortable to hold and operate with just one hand.


DISPLAY:

5-point touch

The MyPhone RIO 2 has a 5-inch display with IPS technology and HD resolution. In real life usage, everything is clear and vivid in most, if not all viewing angles. There is also an adaptive brightness that optimize the level of light. Moreover, it supports up to 5-point touch.


SENSORS:

Sensors

The phone is equipped with accelerometer, proximity, light, magnetometer and orientation sensors, all of which are working properly during test and in actual usage.


BENCHMARKS:

Antutu - 21,240

Quadrant - 5,818

Vellamo

NenaMark2 - 53fps

The chipset used is the MediaTek MT6582 with quad core CPU clocked at 1.3GHz each and Mali-400MP2 GPU. This system-on-chip has been in the market for quite some time, and with the benchmark results above, we can easily say that the phone's performance is at par or similar to other devices using the same SoC.


INTERFACE:

About phone

The phone runs on the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop and as of this writing, no software update is available.

Interface

Quick Launch

The interface has very minimal customization, the apps installed are almost stock with a few additions of third-party apps. There is also a so-called Quick Launch that lets you access the dial pad, music player and message directly by drawing their corresponding letters while the screen is off.


BASIC FUNCTIONS:

Basic functions

All the basic phone functions are working properly, no issue or problem encountered during the review period.


MULTIMEDIA:

Gallery:

Gallery

The gallery houses all the photos and videos on your mobile device, whether the files are stored in the internal storage or SD card. The interface is pretty similar with Android KitKat phones and offers basic photo and video editing.

Video Player, Music Player and FM Radio:

Video player, music player & FM radio

Like the gallery, the video player, music player and FM radio have the same old user interface that we are very familiar with.

Camera and Video:

Camera and video

The camera and video have the same old UI, no added functions or filters. But, if you want a different interface, you can opt to use the pre-installed Google camera.

Sample Photos:

Sunny afternoon

100% crop

Night with flash

Night without flash

The main camera has an 8MP auto focus Sony IMX179 sensor, the image quality is quite good, the color reproduction is almost accurate and the resolve details are great. Overall, the camera output is crisp, sharp and vivid.

Sample Videos:

Sample 1080p video

The rear camera can record videos up to 1080p resolutions at 30fps. The video produced is smooth, seamless and with full of details, not to mention that the captured audio is rich too.

Browsers:

Browser

There are a total of three browsers installed, namely Chrome, WebView and stock Android, among them the last one scored the highest in Vellamo benchmark. By the way, the WebView is the default browser in opening links contained inside the apps like Twitter.

Gaming:

Dead Trigger 2

Despicable Me

Heroes of Order a& Chaos

Temple Run 2

Asphalt 7

Storage and install location

Playing casual and some graphically intensive games are relatively smooth. The games we tested (shown in the above screenshots) are generally seamless with the exemption of the Despicable Me wherein we encountered minimal lag. The available internal storage is only 4.90GB, which is why we recommend utilizing the micro SD slot. In terms of installation location, you can set it to phone storage or SD card, better yet, let the system decide.


CONNECTIVITY:

Connectivity

The RIO 2 has dual SIM functionality, but only SIM 1 supports 3G/HSPA+. This connection can be shared through WiFi hotspot, USB or BT tethering. Other connectivity features include Bluetooth, WiFi, Wireless Printing, Wireless Display and CTIA-compliant 3.5mm audio jack.


PRODUCTIVITY:

Productivity

The productivity and organizing apps include Google Keep, calculator, clock, calendar, file manager and sound recorder. There are no PDF viewer and document editor, but you can simply get them for free in the Play Store.


GPS:

GPS

Using GPS Test, the phone managed to get a satellite lock in less than 20 seconds when the location mode is set to high accuracy and A-GPS data is preloaded. In real life usage, location based apps like Google Maps, Uber and Grab Taxi are all working well.


BATTERY STATS:

I used it as my tertiary phone it lasted for over a week on a single charge, usage pattern per day includes around 5 SMS and about a minute or two of voice call, no internet access of any kind. Meanwhile, in our video loop test, it managed to last around 7 hours and in our gaming loop test about 3.5 hours.


OTHERS:

Instagram, Twitter & We Chat

Facebook, LegaTalk & Creative HotHouse

Other apps include LegaTalk, 3 applications from Creative HotHouse, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WeChat. These apps are considered bloatwares and sadly, you cannot uninstall them without rooting your device.


CONCLUSION:

The MyPhone RIO 2 is a worthy upgrade if you are coming from the original Agua Rio as it offers better cameras, bigger internal storage, higher battery capacity and the latest Android software. It is also a nice looking phone, has sturdy build quality, excellent display and smoother overall performance. However, when compared to the competitions, we can safely say that it is less powerful, as some competitors already offers octa core processor, not to mention more affordable.


PROS:

Android Lollipop
Good cameras
Good battery life

CONS:

No USB OTG function
Slightly expensive than competitors

Specifications:

• Dual SIM, dual standby, supports 3G/HSPA+ (SIM 1 only)
• 5-inch IPS HD (1280x720) capacitive touchscreen display, Corning Gorilla Glass Protection
• Android 5.0 Lollipop
• 1.3GHz Quad Core Cortex-A7 CPU, Mali-400MP2 GPU, MediaTek MT6582 chipset
• 1GB of RAM
• 8GB internal storage, expandable up to 64GB via a micro SD
• 8MP auto focus main camera with LED flash, Sony IMX179 sensor, 1080p video recording
• 5MP secondary camera, 480p video recording
• Multimedia Player
• FM Radio
• 3.5mm Audio Jack
• WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth v4.0
• Micro USB 2.0
• GPS with A-GPS
• Sensor: accelerometer, light, proximity, magnetometer, orientation
• Battery: 2800mAh (non-removable)
• Price: Php5,499