Obi Fox S453 simply outshines Hisense U606 in UAE

The European smartphone brand Hisense, headquartered in Germany, is an established player in the UAE market. On the other hand, Obi Mobiles, co-founded by John Sculley, ex-CEO of Apple, is a new player in the UAE market. In this comparative review, we are comparing Hisense U606 and Obi Fox S453. The following spec-to-spec match will be useful for the potential customers.

Look & Feel : We start with the overall appearance. Hisense U606 has a dark front and white back, where as Obi Fox S453 is white on both sides, with a slightly greyish-white back. However, if colour is not the primary determinant of one's choice, there are other details that need attention. With overall measurements 127x64.3x9.9mm, Hisense is relatively smaller and thicker looking device than Obi’s Fox, a relatively sleeker looking device that measures 131.7x64x9mm. 

Display: The main difference lies in the display screen size, where Fox with 4.5 inch screen beats Hisense that has 4 inch screen. In terms of display technology, both the devices have a capacitive touch screen. A larger screen is always a plus from the point of view of viewing experience and a 4 inch screen is definitely small, considering that even 5 inch screen is common nowadays. Larger screen particularly acquires more significance for the youth as viewing videos on the smartphones is becoming part of their everyday life.

Processor & OS: Obi Fox S453 is powered by MediaTek MT6572 1 GHz dual core processor, as compared to Hisense U606 which has Qualcomm MSM8210 1.2 GHz dual core that offers a slightly better clock speed than Fox. However, Fox’s OS Android 4.4.2 KitKat is slightly improved version over Hisense U606 OS Android 4.3 KitKat. Both the devices have internal storage space of 4GB that can be expanded up to 32GB using a MicroSD card. However, the major difference between the two is RAM where Obi Fox’s 1GB RAM outshines Hisense U606 that comes with 512MB RAM. Extra RAM helps apps run smoother with reduced time lags, and when coupled with an excellent processor, it enhances overall quality of user interface and experience.

Battery & Cameras: Obi’s Fox S453 has a leg up on the battery front too. With 1600 mAh battery size, Fox gives 6 hours of talk time and 180 hours of standby time. On the other hand, Hisense U606 has 1500 mAh battery that gives 3 hours of talk time and 240 hours of standby time. Talking about the camera, Obi Fox has an impressive 5MP primary (rear) camera and 2MP secondary (front) camera for selfies. On the other hand, Hisense U606 has 3MP primary camera and 0.3MP secondary camera. Needless to say that Obi Fox outshines Hisense U606 on both the counts, i.e. Battery capacity and cameras.

Connectivity & Price: As far as connectivity is concerned both the devices have 2G, 3G, Wi-Fi with 802.11 b/g/n standards supported. Both the devices also have a dual sim card slots, Bluetooth, GPS, 3.5 mm audio jack and FM receiver. Furthermore, we also looked at the price tags of the two devices in the UAE market, where Obi Fox S453 is priced at around AED 280, where as Hisense U606 is at around AED 350. 

Bottom Line: Both the devices are marked for budget customers, where value for money is particularly important. Obi Fox S453 comes with some definite advantages including a lager display screen, superior operating system (OS), bigger RAM (double), better cameras, and higher battery capacity over Hisense U606. Moreover, Obi brings all this at a lesser price too. Therefore, making a choice between the two should not be difficult, unless of course you love brand Hisense. In that case, well, love has no parallels. 

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Obi Fox is out for a kill in Kenya, Huawei needs to watch out

If you are looking for an entry-level Android handset, the choices are generally limited, and sometimes even the budget market seems pricey. In Africa, Huawei has received notable praise for its affordable but high-performing smartphones. Huawei has added another member to the Y-series of entry level budget smartphones which is Huawei Y330. On the other hand, Obi Mobiles, co-founded by John Sculley, ex-CEO of Pepsi Co and Apple, is already making its mark in Africa since it entered the African market couple of months ago. Therefore, we have picked up Huawei Y330 and ObiFox S453 for our comparative analysis. Let us see how do they fare against each other.

Look & Feel

We start with the design of the two smartphone models. First point of difference is Huawei Y330 comes in black, white, red, blue and yellow colours, Obi’s Fox is only available in white colour, so if you are keen on a colourful device, there are more options with Huawei. However, there are other design considerations too. With 131.7x64x9mm dimensions, Obi Fox gives a more sleeker look than Huawei that is 122.1x63.5x11.3mm and has slightly shorter and thicker appearnce.

Display

The main difference lies in the display screen size which is 4.5 inch in case of Obi Fox and 4 inch in case of Huawei Y330. Furthermore, both the devices have a capacitive touch screen where Obi Fox display screen produces 854x480 pixels resolution where as Huawei Y330 slightly lags behind with 800x480 pixels. A larger screen is always a plus from the point of viewing experience. It particularly acquires more significance for the youth where video viewing and gaming on the smartphone is part of their everyday life.

Processing Capacity

Obi’s Fox is powered by MediaTek MT6572 1 GHz dual core processor, as compared to Huawei Y330 which is powered by similar MediaTek MT6572 1.3 GHz dual core processor, offering a slightly better clock speed. However, Obi Fox’s OS Android 4.4.2 KitKat is an improved  version over Huawei’s  Android 4.2 Jellybean OS. Moreover, Huawei has tweaked with the OS and has their own skin Huawei Emotion UI 2.0 Lite which gives the display a distinctive look. Both the devices have internal storage space of 4GB that can be expanded up to 32GB using a MicroSD card. However, the major difference between the two is RAM where Obi Fox’s 1GB RAM completely outshines Huawei Y330 which comes with 512MB RAM. Extra RAM helps apps run smoother with reduced time lags, and when coupled with a powerful processor, it enhances overall quality of user interface and experience.

Battery & Cameras

Obi’s Fox has a leg up on the battery front too. With 1600 mAh battery size, Fox gives 6 hours of talk time and 180 hours of standby time while, on the other hand, Huawei Y330 has 1500 mAh battery that gives 3 hours of talk time and 240 hours of standby time. Also, Fox S453 has an impressive 5MP primary camera and 2MP Front camera, whereas Huawei Y330 comes with 3MP primary camera and no Front camera. Huawei’s decision to bring a device without a front camera seems to be a big blunder considering the selfie generation. Needless to say that Obi Fox has emerged as a clear winner in this feature.  

Additional Features
Lets sum it up
Concluding Remark

As far as connectivity is concerned, both the devices have 2G, 3G, Wi-Fi with 802.11 b/g/n standards supported. Both the devices also have a dual sim card slots, Bluetooth V4.0, GPS, 3.5 mm audio jack and FM receiver.

We note that Huwaei Y330 offers more colour options, slightly more powerful processor and an operating system with its own skin for a distinctive effect, but also has a major drawback in terms of not having a front camera. On the other hand, Obi Fox S453 takes a clear lead on every other key component which includes a larger display screen with a slightly better resolution, double RAM, more advanced OS, higher battery capacity and, most of all, it comes with a 2MP front camera to respond to the needs of selfie generation. We also explored the price in the Kenyan market, where Obi Fox is priced at around KSh9000 where as Huawei Y330 is at around KSh6500. The price difference is justified on account of front camera.

It is important to note that both the devices are made for people on a limited budget and therefore it is obvious that in order to maintain the low price the manufactures have made some sacrifices. However, we find that Obi has been able to work out the trade offs better and manages to put together a device that balances youthful aspirations, specifications and price better. If one can squeeze out a better price deal, even better.

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