The battle between local mobile phone brands appears to be in a 3-way tie between MyPhone, Cherry Mobile and Torque. Each one has made a name for itself with affordable handsets, often of the dual-sim or built-in TV variety that seems to appeal to the masses. However, all of them share the same practices, in that they source their phones from Chinese ODMs and slap their own brand on them.
Enter Starmobile, a relatively new local mobile phone brand that brings something unique to the table. Sure they still get their phones from Chinese ODMs, but what sets them apart is that the designs of their phones are all their own. What that means is they design the phones, send them over to the Chinese ODM for manufacturing, then have them shipped back for distribution and reselling. Awesome!
Similar to other local mobile phone brands, their offerings are a mixture of dumbphones and feature phones. I have a few favorites though, most particularly the Jupiter B305 (shown at the beginning of this article), which looks vaguely like a Nokia Pureview 808 from the back. What really blows me away about it is that it features a built-in Bluetooth headset that sort of docks into the back of the phone for convenient storage when it isn’t in use. That one retails for just Php2,990 and it’s hard not to see the value just with the built-in Bluetooth headset alone. And did I mention their warranty policy? It gives you 12 month coverage on both labor AND PARTS.
If you guys are interested in their phones, you can check out starmobile.com.ph for pics and specs, as well as a full list of dealers across the country. If you’re looking for the latest news and updates from them, it’s best to head over to their Facebook page as their official site is still pretty sparse at the moment.
Source: Starmobile and PinoyTechBlog
hi! among the four,which brand would you recommend and why? thanks!=)
It really depends on the OEM units they import and not the specific brand. They all source their units from different ODMs, and the quality and performance of each unit can vary, even when sourced from the same ODM. So saying one brand is better than another would not be accurate. Sorry if it isn’t the answer you were looking for.
However Torque seems to be lagging behind when it comes to the aesthetic appeal of their last wave of phones. The incoming crop looks to hold some promise though.
Cherry Mobile has been offering the best value, such as with the Flare and Titan, but there seems to be too many compromises compared to the offerings from MyPhone and Starmobile, even if they do cost a bit more.
This is just my opinion though. Hope this helps 🙂