Wiko’s Getaway may have hard time beating Obi’s Hornbill in Kenya

Walking along the streets of Kenya’s capital Nairobi, it is hard to miss large signboards of two competing smartphone companies, a relatively established player, Wiko Mobiles, and a more recent player, Obi Mobiles, a company co-founded by John Sculley, ex-CEO of Pepsi Co and Apple. Both the brands are offering youth oriented high performance smartphones with attractive designs and affordable prices. However, the top down advertising without access to a detailed analysis of the products can be misleading sometimes. Therefore, we have picked up Wiko’s Getaway and Obi’s Hornbill S551 for our weekend analysis to help Kenyan youth determine which one turns out to be a smarter buy. At the very outset, we admit that both the smartphone makers have done a commendable job with the design, keeping their devices sleek and colourful.

If we note the overall dimensions, Wiko’s Getaway is 143x69.5x7.2mm and weighs 133g, whereas Obi’s Hornbill comes with 156x76.8x7.9mm and is slightly heavier at 145g. As such, size should not necessarily be a disadvantage, but the overall dimensions reflect in the size of the display screens of the two devices, which is 5 inches in case of Getaway and 5.5 inches in Hornbill, giving Hornbill an edge. The two devices have a capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 720x1280 pixels HD display. The display type for both devices is IPS, a system that improves vision angle and rich colors. While the overall size could be a matter of preference, a larger display screen enhances the overall quality of viewing experience.

At the performance front, Obi’s Hornbill is powered by an advanced MTK, MT6582, Quad Core 1.3GHz Processor that runs on Android 4.4.2 KitKat operating system, where as that of Wiko’s Getaway is powered by Quad Core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7 Processor that runs on Android 4.4 (Kitkat). Both the devices have 1GB RAM, but the internal storage varies with 16GB for Getaway and 8GB of Hornbill, however, both are expandable up-to 32GB via MicroSD card. Here Wiko has an edge but there is a catch. There is no separate MicroSD card slot in Getaway. Wiko has provided dual SIM card slot in their device out of which one is Micro and other is Nano, which can also be used as Micro SD card. This means you can use a SD card only at the expense of your Nano SIM card; essentially meaning that if you have a MicroSD card inserted then it is no longer a dual SIM device. Obi’s Hornbill, on the other hand, also has a dual SIM card slot with 3G support for each.

Battery life is one of the most important aspects of any smartphone. Wiko’s Getaway has a 2000mAh Li-Po battery, where as Obi’s Hornbill is slightly ahead with 2200mAh Li-ion removable battery. The difference is rather small but still could become a factor in taking a decision. Furthermore, both the devices are equipped with 13MP rear and 5MP front cameras. However, Wiko’s Getaway gets ahead in terms of colour choices it offers, which include Black and Gold, White and Silver, Navy and Coral, where as Obi’s Hornbill is available in black and White variants only. That finally brings us to the price tag in the Kenyan market, where Obi’s Hornbill has a little advantage as it is available at around KSh 18,000 where as Wiko Getaway is priced at around KSh 20,000.

With almost comparable features, Obi’s Hornbill could claim a slight overall edge on account of a bigger display screen, slightly larger battery and relatively lower cost. However, with 16GB internal storage space, and ignoring the SD card slot glitch, Wiko’s Getaway can be an equally good buy, particularly if one is looking for a smaller device. 

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Samsung’s Galaxy Grand Prime has a sure challenger in Tanzania

The recent arrival of a new smartphone company, Obi Mobiles, in east Africa has created a buzz in the tech-market of the region, as Obi gradually spreads its foot prints in the region starting Kenya and Tanzania. However, there are already many established players in the region, which means Obi’s devices will have to live up to the challenge posed by many competing devices of companies   such as Samsung, HTC, Huawei and Tecno. In this review, we have picked Samsung’s Galaxy Grand Prime and Obi Mobiles’ Hornbill S551 for a spec-to-spec review with the intention to help the smartphone consumers in the Tanzanian market make a smart purchase.

Let us start with the basic physical dimensions, where Obi’s Hornbill’s dimensions are 156x76.8x7.9mm and that of Samsung’s Galaxy Prime are 144.8x72.1x8.6mm, which clearly makes Obi’s Hornbill larger but sleeker looking device. Interestingly, in spite of the larger length and breadth, Obi’s Hornbill weighs only 145g where as Samsung’s Galaxy weighs at 156g. However, the critical indicator is the display screen size that is 5.5inches in Hornbill and 5inches in Galaxy Prime, besides offering a better resolution that is 720x1280 pixels for Hornbill and 550x960 pixels for the Galaxy Prime. Considering Obi Mobiles’ focus on youth, the sleeker look and larger screen size have an outright advantage from the perspective of video viewing experience. Moreover, the sleeker look also adds to the youth statement of Obi’s Hornbill.

Some of the similarities in the two devices include 1GB RAM, 8GB internal space and expandable storage up to 32GB through micro SD cards. Also, both the smartphones have 5 megapixel front or secondary cameras. However, the rear or primary in Obi’s Hornbill has 13 megapixels, where as in Galaxy Prime it is only 5 megapixel, which is another advantage for youth who may be interested in taking lots of photos. Furthermore, Hornbill has an advanced Quad Core 1.3GHz Processor (from MediaTek) where as Galaxy Prime has a Quad Core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A53 Processor (from Qualcomm Snapdragon), which again provides Obi an edge. Moreover, Hornbill also seems to stand out in terms of OS where it runs on Android 4.4.2 KitKat where as Galaxy Prime runs on a slightly older Android 4.4 KitKat. Therefore, at the performance level, Obi' Hornbill has a clear edge.

In terms of Connectivity, Hornbill and Galaxy Prime have 2 SIM cards slots, Wi-Fi capabilities (802.11 b/g/n), support GPS and have Bluetooth v4.0, but Hornbill allows users to use both Regular SIM cards and Micro SIM cards where the Galaxy Prime is capable of supporting only Micro SIM cards. But Galaxy Prime has Wi-Fi Direct that enables its consumers to use their device as a Wi-Fi Hotspot, something that Hornbill currently does not provide. Another similarity is that both devices support 3G, but Galaxy Prime also runs on 2G GSM: 850/900, DCS: 1800 and PCS: 1900. One front where Galaxy Prime takes an edge is the battery capacity with 2600 mAh, which will obviously last longer than Hornbill that holds 2200 mAh.

The most pleasant surprise, however, for the people in Tanzania is the price tag, where Hornbill is priced at around TSh 2,50,000 where as Samsung’s Galaxy Grand Prime is at around TSh 3,90,000. Galaxy Prime’s higher price could be justified on account of longer battery life, Wi-Fi direct and the option to run on 2G network, however, Obi’ Hornbill seems to have edged out its competitor on almost every other front and seems to be worth the money spent.

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Obi Mobiles’ Hornbill S551 is sure to enchant Africa

Obi Mobiles, co-founded by John Sculley, ex-CEO of Pepsico and Apple, has recently entered Africa, starting Kenya and Tanzania, with a range of eight smartphone models. One of the flagship models is Hornbill S551 which is among the front runners. What makes Obi’s Hornbill smart and indeed stylish are its features and sleek design that come at a very attractive price point too. The phone comes in black and white colours with the leathered texture back that makes the phone do the talking.

Talking about specs, Hornbill is packed with a 1.3 GHz Quad-Core- Processor from MediaTek with 1GB of RAM. This is where you might be thinking of wanting more on the storage front but the phone doesn’t disappoint as it is quick and sharp with its functioning. No hiccups whatsoever anywhere as you actually start getting work done out of your phone. This little beast in glass, metal and leather look alike is no let down.

Hornbill has a 13 MP primary camera with a flash and auto focus feature that is placed at the very centre on the upper end of the leathered texture back. The space for the camera has been nicely crafted-out to give it a very stylish look, something that really stands out. The smartphone also has a 5MP secondary camera in the front to fulfill your selfie clicking needs. You shall have a good experience clicking your photos.

Hornbill has a large HD IPS 5.5 inch touch screen with a resolution of 1,280 x 720 pixels. The space outside the touch screen is equally distributed on the two sides at the upper and lower end with 3 capacitive keys on the lower end of the phone. The earpiece, secondary camera and sensors are on the top. The bottom occupies just the microphone while as the top has the audio jack and the USB port. The right side has the power key and the volume keys are on the left side that is a regular on most phones. The smartphone has its branding on the back side on the lower end just above the speaker grille that is of a decent size. The back thus looks luxurious.

It is a dual-sim phone. The sim cards are placed just next to the memory card slot. Point to be noted is both the sim-cards support 3G, which is quite impressive for such a price. Hornbill is a 145g bar shaped device that is easy to carry in your hand in spite of a large looking screen. It looks compact and is light with your hands. The metallic band on the sides with seen screws is a good attempt at making the device look premium. The phone is slim at 7.9mm giving it nice sleek look and thus comes easy in hand.

The Hornbill supports Android KitKat 4.4.2 OS that shows the intelligence the phone gives you. You get equally good views of the screen from most angles. For lazy geeks, the features won’t disappoint them. You can launch searches, send texts and play songs by giving speech commands with the ‘Okay Google’ on the home screen. If you are fond of large screen phones that are easy to carry and keep in your hand, hornbill is just the thing that too at incredibly friendly price at a time when prices for other phones have been a touch higher. Hornbill just might give a solid competition to the competitors.

What more, you also get a royal looking, premium leather flap cover and an equally good scratch resistant screen guard if you opt to buy the Hornbill from Obi Mobiles. We are sure that Obi's Hornbill is bound to enchant the African customers.

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Obi Mobiles enters Africa with its animal series smartphones

Obi Mobiles, co-founded by John Sculley, the former CEO of Pepsi Cola and Apple, has recently entered the Africa smartphone market with an interesting range of smartphone models named after animal names. Obi is the latest entrant in the East Africa’s mobile market, starting with Kenya and Tanzania. Considering the options available in the market to choose from, Obi distinguishes itself with its Silicon Valley lineage. 

This series of Obi smartphones are particularly aimed at young people. “The youth all over the world sees smartphones as expression of their personality and an extension of themselves”, says Sculley. The story shall be no different in Africa where, where young people are keen to associate themselves with beautifully designed, high quality smartphones. Various models are interestingly named after animals such as Racoon S401, Fox S453, Wolverine S501, Leopard S502, Octopus S520, Crane S550, Hornbill S551 and Power GO F240 and come on attractive price points. The devices are more than your regular smart phones. They are stylishly smart.

Sculley personally attended the Nairobi launch. Apart from the launch event, a cultural ceremony was held to ordain Sculley as an elder of the famous Massai tribe of Kenya, which was an interesting way to establish a cultural contact with the people. Sculley also announced that his venture capital firm Obi Ventures would invest in select East African entrepreneurs, and that he would extend Obi Ventures to other countries in the regions as the brand established itself. Understandably Obi Mobiles has tied up with DESPEC, a leading distributor in EMEA, to handle the dictribution of obi devices to key retailers in the region.

There was a buzz that Obi Mobiles is soon going to launch its next series of smartphones that are expected to offer a combination of state of the art technology, superior specifications and some exceptionally innovative designs.

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