MyPhone Iceberg Mini: Hands On Review from the Official Launch!

The MyPhone Iceberg Mini was officially launched yesterday at the Yahoo! TechnoStorm event over at the Market! Market! Central Plaza. It was already going on sale at Php12,888 and could be bought on 24 months installment with 0% interest. I was already there at the launch having been invited to attend the official TechnoStorm presser, so it was easy enough to jump over to the MyPhone booth and get some hands on time with the Iceberg Mini. Here are my impressions.

Build Quality and Design

The MyPhone Iceberg Mini features an aluminum unibody design that’s light as a feather even with the battery. It’s pretty weird to be holding a 5 inch phone that weighs as little as it does, although the Samsung Galaxy S4 is pretty much the same way. As far as I could tell with my time with the Iceberg Mini is that there were no gaps in the construction so there was no notable flexing. Not too sure that the dark blue paint job lends itself well to make the aluminum build stand out.

MyPhone Iceberg Mini Being Modeled

This being a touchscreen phone, the front of the device is dominated by the gorgeous 5″ Full HD IPS screen and above it is the earpiece, 5mp fixed focus front camera, and the proximity and light sensors.

Above Screen with Display On

On the left edge of the device, you’ll find the two micro SIM slots. Be careful about popping them out because you might lose them.

Micro SIM Slots

On the right, you’ll find the power/lock and volume rocker buttons.

Right Side with Volume Rocker and Power Button

Here are the power/lock and volume rocker buttons up close.

Volume Rocker and Power Buttons

At the top, there’s the micro USB port that doubles as a charging port.

Top

Interestingly, the headset jack can be found at the bottom next to the microphone pinhole.

Bottom with Headset Jack and Mic Pinhole

At the back of the MyPhone Iceberg Mini, there’s the 13mp BSI autofocus rear-facing camera, LED flash, what looks like an ambient noise-cancelling mic, the MyPhone branding sans Philippine map, and the Iceberg Mini branding along the bottom.

Back

Here’s the 13mp BSI camera and flash up close.

13mp Back Camera with Flash

Here’s the Iceberg Mini Branding. Pretty subtle.

Subtle Iceberg Mini Branding

Overall, the build and design feels okay to me. The phone is surprisingly light, which I’m sure the aluminum body contributes a lot to. Still, if you’ve ever held other 5 inch phones, the lightness of the phone can be jarring to the senses. You just don’t expect a phone that big to be that light. Well, if the Galaxy S4 can get away with it just using plastic, I suppose the MyPhone Iceberg Mini can get away with it too on aluminum.

Performance and Software

The MyPhone Iceber Mini is powered by a 1.5GHz quad core MT6589T processor coupled with 2GB RAM and 16GB of storage. The MT6589T SoC and its overclocked PowerVR SGX 544 GPU provides just enough processing oomph for that buttery smooth user experience we all like on higher end Jelly Bean devices.

Voice Unlock

The Iceberg Mini runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean out of the box. It’s on par with other phones that have been launching recently. Jelly Bean 4.3 phones represent a smaller fraction of what’s out there, and the only KitKat 4.4 phones are from the Nexus series and a few select others.

App Drawer

It’s a pretty stock implementation of Android 4.2 with hardly any customizations on the UI side. I like that they made the app drawer translucent though. It’s something that I always enable when I use third party launchers like Apex since most OEM custom ROMs don’t enable that.

The MyPhone Iceberg Mini has some pretty neat camera tricks too. Cinemagraph lets you create gifs where only one area of the image is actually moving. Object Eraser allows you to erase unwanted photobombers and whatever weird stuff pops up in your photos. Lastly, there’s 360 Panorama, which is basically allows you to create photospheres. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to play around with them because they slipped my mind 🙁

John Luke Chica Discussing MavShack
John Luke Chica, MyPhone Marketing Head discussing MavShack

Of course, MyPhone still baked in some apps like MavShack, My|Load, Line Messenger, Opera Mini and TARA Antitheft software. MavShack, My|Load and TARA are actually pretty useful. MavShack helps you find content like video and audio, most of which is free, but there’s also some paid content there. My|Load converts your load into credits that you can use for services like MavShack.

John Luke Chica Discussing My|Load
John Luke Chica, MyPhone Marketing Head discussing My|Load

Finally, TARA is antitheft software that renders the phone useless in case it gets lost or stolen. All you have to do in that unfortunate event is make a call to a toll-free number to disable your phone. So even if the thief switches SIMs, it’ll keep playing a loud recording of “Magnanakaw! Magnanakaw!” It’s pretty amusing, although I’m sure thieves won’t be amused. Also, I think it’s a better solution than what iOS users have since it doesn’t require data (I’m not sure on this so please correct me if I’m wrong). There’s still a loophole though. If the thief takes out the SIM before the kill command has been sent, it won’t work. Thankfully, the SIM slots require a SIM tray ejector, which thieves probably won’t have on hand.

Exclusive Yahoo TechnoStorm Freebies!

Now, MyPhone is bundling some freebies that are exclusive to the Yahoo! TechnoStorm event that they’re participating in. Today is the last day of that event, but if you can catch them at their booth at the Market! Market! Central Plaza, they’ll throw these in with your purchase 🙂

Micro SIM Cutter
The micro SIM cutter. You can start a business from this!
Nano and micro SIM adapters.
Nano and micro SIM adapters.
Line Stickers
Line stickers
All the Freebies
All the freebies!

You can even take pictures with the Line mascots that hang around the booth like my best buddy did 🙂

Best Buddy with Line Mascot

Impressions

While I wasn’t able to really get the chance to test out the MyPhone Iceberg Mini, it still seems like a great buy. It’s a little pricey, but it brings a lot of higher end features that used to be exclusive to high end brands. You’re getting a Full HD screen, 2GB RAM, and 16GB of storage for the price of a midrange phone.

MyPhone Iceberg Mini Specs

  • 5″ Full HD IPS display (1080 x 1920 resolution, 441ppi)
  • 1.5GHz quad core MediaTek MT6589T
  • 357MHz PowerVR SGX 544 GPU
  • Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
  • 2GB RAM
  • 16GB internal storage
  • 13mp rear-facing autofocus BSI camera
  • 5mp front fixed focus BSI camera
  • 3.5G/HSPA+
  • WiFi b/g/n
  • Bluetooth 4.0
  • GPS with A-GPS
  • Battery: 2,000mAh
  • Price: Php12,888

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