The O+ 8.6 is a phone that sports a qHD screen, runs on Android 4.1 Jellybean & 1GB RAM that sells for around Php8k. We’ve been using it for quite some time now; so far, so good, but is there more to it than just that? Read on to find out in our full review.
We have here an unboxing video if you may want to check it out as the package includes an SD card and some red & white themed accessories.
Design and Construction
The O+ 8.6 is a great looking device. It’s solid and it carries design elements that make this phone much more unique. Also, the device falls perfectly into your hand and we didn’t encounter any problems with handling this phone.
On top you’ll find the place for the 3.5mm audio jack & the micro USB port while on the left you’ll find the volume rocker and the power button. Nothing is found all the way to the right and the bottom except for the microphone. The whole phone is surrounded by a shiny chrome side casing, which in our opinion makes it look cheap, but that’s just our take.
As for the capacitive buttons down below, they are pretty responsive – but we’d like to note that the home button blinks green when you have unread notifications and red if you are charging.
What stains the beauty of the device though is the way it attracts fingerprints. Yes, it looks good by itself but not when there are oil smudges all over, so you really have to wipe it very often – both the front and back sides.
Display
Some sites stated that this one had an IPS panel, but nothing really confirms it. To add, the 4.5-inch qHD display has a bad viewing angle from the top portion.
The screen becomes a little hard to navigate when there are too much smudges, but other than that, we were pretty impressed with the clear text and the vibrant colors.
OS, Apps and UI
As for the OS, it runs on Android 4.1 Jellybean. The interface is basically the same across all O+ devices, and while it is indeed too cartoony & colorful, we feel that the stuff injected by O+ here is much more polished than Cherry Mobile‘s or Starmobile’s.
We have no bloatware apps here, and most of the changes are visual. Like what we’ve said in our O+ 8.15 review, it still would have looked better if they left it on stock Android.
Multimedia & Camera
The speakers sounded good, but we’re sure other phones can produce audio louder. Video playback on the other hand was a bit disappointing too despite the qHD display – some parts of selected video can show pixilation regardless of if it is HD or not.
The 5 megapixel shooter on the back of the phone sadly takes soft and mushy photos. On the bright side, it keeps an acceptable amount of noise in low light situations and the colors are warm.
Video recording in 720p dropped a few frames, and the audio sounded a little buggy. Asides from that, it all worked well – from shaking & colors to focus.
Performance & Battery Life
With a dual-core processor, it does very average just like other phones of this class; the lags found on other phones running a similar chipset are also apparent here. The 1GB RAM helps though, and for the most part, it can do what it is expected to do.
- Antutu – 6,071
- Quadrant – 2,741
- Nenamark 2 – 23.8 fps
In a video loop with 50% brightness & audio, the device drained 60% of the battery in 2 hours. That’s a bit disappointing since that seems like it wouldn’t even reach a near 5 hours. On standby, it was also unimpressive as we had to recharge it a lot of times in a week without even using it.
Conclusion
O+ did a great job with some elements – the packaging by adding red & white themed chargers & earphones, the OS by keeping bloatware minimal & the version not too far behind and the little things such as a notification light in the home button.
Over at the flipside, the rest are mediocre – the display, the camera and the build have drawbacks. It should have at least excelled in some points to justify the Php7,995 price tag, and somehow, we think that your money will be better spent on something else, or you could save up for another O+ phone like the O+ 8.15.
O+ 8.6 specs:
4.5” LCD display @ 540 x 960 pixels
Mediatek MT6577 1GHz dual-core processor
PowerVR SGX 531
4GB internal memory
1GB RAM
Dual-SIM, dual-standby
WiFi
Bluetooth
5MP rear autofocus camera, LED flash, 720p HD
VGA front-facing camera
GPS w/ aGPS support
FM Radio tuner
Android 4.1 Jellybean
Li-Ion 1,500mAh battery
What we liked about it:
- Clean O+ UI
- Solid construction
What we didn’t like about it:
- Subpar battery life
- Fingerprint magnet
- Unimpressive video playback & other minor elements
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