We gave our first impressions with the O+ Fab Elite 2.0 last December. After weeks of using it, some impressions stayed the same and more came in. Will this 6.5” phablet from O+ be a worthy device for your big pockets? Read on to find out.
Design and Construction
At first glance, one might mistake the Fab Elite 2.0 as a gigantic Samsung Galaxy S4. It definitely looks like a bigger twin of the former flagship in terms of design. Once you get a feel of the device, the massive 6.5” display will dominate your palm and the heft is present. Nevertheless, it has a solid build except for the buttons. They feel loose but tactile enough when pressed.
The front is greatly dominated by the display, with the sensors, earpiece, and front-facing camera above it, while the physical home button and a pair of capacitive keys for back and menu is situated below.
The right side is where the power/lock button is with the volume rocker on the opposite side. We can find the 3.5mm jack on top and the micro-USB port at the bottom. The primary camera and speaker is fixed at the back of the device.
Display
As pointed out, this phablet sports a giant 6.5” IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. Pixel-wise, it is not lacking. What we didn’t like are the brightness levels. It can get bright enough under the sun, but it doesn’t dim well at night. It can become a pain to use in dark situations. That aside, colors are reproduced well with enough saturation to please the eyes. Viewing angles are good too due to IPS, which is a must since the big and crisp screen would be great for sharing content.
OS, Apps and UI
On board is Android KitKat, version 4.4.2 to be specific. Lollipop 5.0 is still a rare find especially for MediaTek powered smartphones like the Fab Elite 2.0. Android is generally untouched here, aside from the included wallpapers and icons – which are very unsightly. We would definitely change the icon pack and the launcher in the long run.
O+ included a sharing app named O+ Air Share wherein you can share files from your Google Drive with your AirShare Friends from Facebook. We wish to test this feature but it shows us that we don’t have any ‘friends’ using the same app.
Camera and Multimedia
There’s a 13-megapixel shooter at the back and a 5-megapixel selfie camera. The primary camera captures decent details with minimal noise given that the setting is well lit, however colors seem dull and life-less. Then, things get really murky at night. Resolved details are really useless to even share to your social media accounts.
Check out these sample photos taken with the Fab Elite 2.0:
It can shoot 1080p videos as well. And just like its stills, the output seems washed out and dull. You can turn on the Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) to compensate for the camera shake but with a narrower field-of-view.
The display size is definitely perfect for viewing photos and watching videos on the go. Just make sure to plug in the included Sennheiser headset because the speaker is not loud enough to hear the audio in an acceptable environment. There’s also FM radio on board if you feel the need to listen to your favorite DJ.
Benchmarks and Performance
What’s powering the device is a capable octa-core processor from MediaTek running at 1.7 GHz with a Mali-450 MP GPU and 1GB of RAM. We question the RAM for being too small to handle such task since the phablet has a lot of pixels to push on its 1080p display.
Hiccups are present since we first used the device. Transitions tend to show lag and multitasking is sluggish. Good thing, performance within apps are constantly fluid given that no other intensive apps are running.
Here are the benchmark numbers for comparison:
AnTuTu v5.5 – 31,325
Nenamark 2 – 49.5fps
Geekbench 3 – 440 (Single-Core), 2,307 (Multi-Core)
Battery and Connectivity
To make the smartphone a complete package, the phablet has 3G connectivity, WiFi and Bluetooth. Sadly, there’s no LTE on-board.
We tested its battery life with a continuous 1080p video playback at 50% brightness and zero volume. We were able to get 8 hours and 19 minutes.
Conclusion
As we wrap-up our review, the Fab Elite 2.0 from O+ is decent phablet with a 1GB RAM bottleneck that limits its multitasking capabilities since it has a 6.5″ display, perfect for watching and editing files on the go.
O+ Fab Elite 2.0 specifications:
6.5” IPS Full HD (1080 x 1920) display, 339ppi
1.7 GHz Octa-core MediaTek MT6592
Mali-450 MP GPU
1GB RAM
16GB internal storage, expandable via microSD up to 64GB
13-megapixel primary camera w/ LED flash
5-megapixel front camera
3G
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
FM Radio
Dual SIM, Dual Stand-by
Li-Ion 3000mAh battery
Android 4.4.2 KitKat
What we liked about it:
- Solid build
- Full HD display
- Smart flip-cover
- Good battery life
- Included Sennheiser headset
What we didn’t like:
- Quiet speakers
- Limited brightness levels
- Average camera color reproduction
- Mediocre low-light performance
- 1GB of RAM
The device retails for Php 15,995 with Sennheiser stereo headset straight out of the box.
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