Update (5/5/2013): The verdict is out! Check out my full review of the MyPhone A919i Duo here!
Update (4/28/2013): The release date has been announced. Check it out here!
The last time MyPhone introduced a phone to the market was the A888 Duo in December of last year, so it’s not hard to get all excited about something new from the popular local phone brand. After all, it’s been a long while since their last release and the competition has been quite busy introducing a steady stream of offerings between now and then, and it’s about time MyPhone came out with something compelling. Well, the wait is over and I must say, the MyPhone A919i Duo is quite compelling indeed.
The Display
Spec-wise, the MyPhone A919i Duo is a significant upgrade over its immensely popular predecessor. Yes, it still sports a 5 inch screen, but now it’s an IPS display and the resolution has been bumped up to 720 x 1280 (HD), resulting in a wicked sharp pixel density of 294ppi. To put things in perspective, the Samsung Galaxy S3 has a pixel density of 305ppi, which isn’t far off. You’re effectively getting flagship-class display clarity on what is expected to be a budget phone.
The Chipset
It isn’t just the display that got upgraded on the MyPhone A919i Duo. It’s now powered by a quad core MediaTek MT6589 processor clocked at 1.2GHz, coupled with the PowerVR SGX544 GPU. While the A919i won’t be the first locally-branded quad core device to market, as of right now, it will be the best. Performance-wise, the MT6589 CPU is slightly better than the Qualcomm MSM8225Q that’s on the competition, while the SGX544 GPU is significantly better than the Adreno 203 and is actually the same one you’d find on the Exynos 5 variant of the Galaxy S4. If anything else, this is definitely going to be a gamer’s phone.
RAM and Storage
While MyPhone hasn’t let on about the RAM and onboard storage, it’s expected to be a 1Gb RAM and 4Gb ROM configuration. Our locally branded smartphones have been coming out with 512Mb RAM for the longest time, but now that trend seems to be fading, and since the MyPhone A919i Duo is supposed to be a higher end phone, I would certainly expect it to sport at least a gig of RAM. I doubt it’ll come with any more than 4Gb storage though, as this is still a budget phone and a micro SD slot should take care of any extended storage needs.
Other Features
The MyPhone A919i will also have a couple of decent cameras: an 8mp rear-facing shooter and a 2mp shooter for the front. Sure, the competition might have cameras with higher megapixel counts, but we’ll have to wait and see how well the A919i Duo’s cameras perform in terms of actual image quality. Also, it’s will be powered by a larger battery than usual so the body might be a tad bulky, though the actual capacity hasn’t yet been disclosed. That aside, the phone should perform admirably well since it will be running Jelly Bean 4.1 and taking advantage of those Project Butter optimizations.
First Impressions
Personally, it’s about time MyPhone released something into the local market, and as long as they’ve been away, it’s nice to see that the MyPhone A919i Duo has some really solid specs. If it were released today, it would already have the best CPU/GPU configuration among its competitors. The biggest determining factor of its success is its pricing, which is a bit of a tough one since NoypiGeeks reports that it will cost somewhere in the Php9k+ range. Filipinos are notoriously price-sensitive and at that price, they would probably already be considering options from more established international brands like Samsung, Alcatel or LG.
What do you guys think? Would you be willing to spend more than Php9k on a budget brand? Hit us in the comments below 🙂
MyPhone A919i Duo Specs
- 5 inch HD IPS display (720 x 1280, 294ppi)
- Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
- 1.2GHz quad core MediaTek MT6589 CPU
- PowerVR SGX 544 GPU
- 1Gb RAM
- 4Gb ROM
- 8mp primary camera, 2mp front-facing camera
- Bluetooth, WiFi, 3G
- Price: Php9,590+
- Availability: April 30
Tipster: Ginei De Costo Morioka, admin of the MyPhone A919 Duo User Group on Facebook
Via: NoypiGeeks
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