Well that didn’t take long. Shortly after one of the local phone brands launched the country’s first locally branded HD Android smartphone, another one has popped up to challenge it, this one going by the name Starmobile Diamond. The Starmobile Diamond sports a 5 inch HD IPS panel, giving you the equivalent of an entry level HD LCD TV into something that can fit in the palm of your hands. And it’s no ordinary 5 inch IPS panel as it’s also protected by Dragontrail Glass, a brand of unscratchable glass that we’ve already seen on another of Starmobile’s top Android phones, the Flirt.
To complement that 5 inch HD IPS display, the Starmobile Diamond is powered by a 1GHz dual core processor, 1Gb of RAM, 4Gb of ROM and will run Jelly Bean 4.1 out of the box. On the imaging side of things, you’ll also get a 12mp rear-facing camera and 3mp front-facing camera, both of which will utilize BSI sensors that perform better in low lighting conditions. That way you can take photos that will do that HD screen justice.
From a design aspect, the Starmobile Diamond looks a bit similar to the Starmobile Crystal, although slightly larger. It also looks creepily similar to that other HD phone that was just announced the other week by another local brand. Thanks to YugaTech, we know that it will be priced at Php9,990 but there is still no news as to when it will be released into the market. The announcement of the Starmobile Diamond marks the beginning of a wave of locally branded Android phones with HD screens. It’s only a matter of time until other local brands follow suit.
So how about it? Now that local brands are beginning to churn out phones with high end specs, will you start considering them over more established international brands? Hit us in the comments below and share your thoughts 🙂
Starmobile Diamond Specs
- 5 inch HD IPS display with Dragontrail Glass (1280 x 720 resolution, 294ppi)
- Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
- 1GHz dual core CPU
- 1Gb RAM
- 4Gb ROM, expandable up to 32Gb via micro SD
- Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi b/g/n, GPS with A-GPS
- 12mp primary camera, 3mp front-facing camera (BSI sensors)
- 3G/HSDPA up to 7.2Mbps
- Price: Php9,990
Source: Starmobile Facebook Page, Via: YugaTech
This looks creepily similar with OHD. From what I’ve read, i-mobile is the rebrand of choice of SM.. and coincidentally OHD is the rebranded version of a phone by i-mobile. Fishy?
Yeah, from Starmobile’s promo graphic, they definitely look like mirror images of each other. The only difference i saw from the front was that the front camera and proximity sensor had been flipped around, otherwise, they look exactly the same from the front. If they did end up contracting the same phone from the same ODM, Starmobile’s going to be in trouble as the OHD sells for a full 2k cheaper.
Confirmed. CM and SM did not rebrand the same model of phone although from the same manufacturer. Also, proc of CM and SM are different. CM’s proc is MTK6577 while SM’s proc on the other hand is MTK6577H. They also have different GPU with SM’s GPU being enhanced for HD. Although we won’t know if the price difference of 2k is enough to justify this until further actual review and comparison is done.
Just a thought, it would be damn funny if SM and CM would start rebranding from the same manufacturer. Crazy competition eh?
we’d see many epic fails, hehe. hmm.. the OHD doesn’t fare well in games. maybe that extra 2k is worth it after all if you’re getting a chipset that’s better optimized for HD screens.
Really? Can you tell me which blogs have an actual review of HD/non-HD gaming for OHD? Dang if the OHD doesn’t fare well in games then farewell OHD. I’m jumping ship to SM Diamond.
I’ll be having a review unit sent over within the week so I can test it as soon as I get it. There’s been a bunch of users on YouTube who’ve added their own videos of how the Omega HD fares in gaming so you can check there first. Other blogs will be a bit slow to come out with their full reviews so YouTube is your best bet for now.
Thanks, will check Youtube for both CM OHD (i-Q6) and SM Diamong (i-Q4) for some video reviews on gaming. Meanwhile, check this out http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=http://bbs.hikemobile.com/thread-765-1-1.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3DMTK6577H%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3D1Bg%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1106%26bih%3D387&sa=X&ei=gUVSUenCN-Kb0AXR4IHwDw&ved=0CDsQ7gEwAQ
I just gor curious about MTK6577H and googled about it.
Wrong pricing – this is epic fail for Starmobile. The message i’m getting here is that they cannot go toe-to-toe with Cherry Mobile when it comes to price. The fact is that local brands can literally shop & pick the same or closely spec’d phone from China, India, etc., even from the same ODM, most likely at the same cost. So it’s hard to imagine where the “added” price is coming from. Is it their service? warranty? what is it really?
Who knows how CM is able to price their phones so cheaply. Me and Adam from Noypigeeks still can’t figure it out 😛
CM has a secret trick that we should figure out! 😀 I think they are getting a huge discount by ordering in bulk. They’re really good in selecting devices and marketing it.
I think the “added price” you’re referring to is their profit. 😀
I think CM is actually offering us ‘watered down’ units. It only means that they are not giving us the optimum specs for a certain unit ’cause of course how the hell can they offer it cheaply or they literally bought units in the gazillions thereby getting a huge discount. I remember when their flagship was the Magnum 2x which was very solid and could still topple most of their newest android phones in terms of build quality and performance. Back then, it was being offered at a not-so-cheap-but-still-reasonable price. But now, they have to change manufacturers in order to offer android phones cheaply to the masses.
Nah. I think they’re just buying in bigger bulk and lowering their profit margins so they can dominate the market just by lowering their prices. They change manufacturers like any other local brand because they actually have people canvass various manufacturers and eventually decide which ones have the best change of becoming a hit here. Obviously, these units might not always come from the same manufacturer, and sticking to a single manufacturer would limit the variety they have to choose from when deciding which units to import and rebrand.
so what’s better, cm ohd or sm D?
They’re sourced from the same exact manufacturer and even have almost the same specs. the only difference is the Diamond has a 3mp front camera and the OHD has a 2mp front camera. I’m not going to pay an extra 2k for a megapixel bump, unless SM’s service centers are significantly better.
SM Diamond has a processor that’s better optimized for HD screens. OHD is confirmed not to perform well on heavier games. Thanks to Marb for pointing it out.
If the additional 2k will allow my phone to render heavy graphic games better (make them playable and smoother) then I’d go for the Starmobile Diamond.
Hi. Im currently using this phone..as far as gaming goes, this performs well if not superb…i can play nfs most wanted and nba 2k13 smoothly.even wild blood, modern combat 4 runs well also.. i have lots of hd games installed. If the cm omega hd doesnt perform well on gaming, this sm diamond does..kahit p parehas cla ng specs on paper