Ex-Apple gurus' elusive Android phone coming to UK next month The startup backed by former Apple CEO John Sculley is most famous today for being elusive - but all that’s about to change. Obi Worldphone told us today its first UK phone will launch here next month, promising style and mid-range specs for a paltry £119. Obi’s story is unusual – it leveraged the economies of scale of …
I suppose they know they share a name with the largest DIY retailer in Europe (and the third largest in the world). I quite like the look of their phone, so I wouldn't like to see lawyers shutting them down.
*"...Legally name sharing is fine as long as there is no reasonable belief that consumers can be confused..."*
Ah! –Finally I understand the Instagram / LitterGram spat. Obviously Instagram want to hold onto their association in the public mind as the place to go for posting pictures of crap.
"I always thought they were to France as Ducati were to Italy. (ie constructed by a man on a Friday desperate for the first pastis and gitane of the weekend"
The ghost of Ing. Taglioni farts in your general direction. I still regret having sold my real, bevel cam drive Ducati, even if it was for more than I paid for it. Even their single cylinder marine engines were things of beauty.
Well the back-light started to shine through the screen after a month so I've had to send it off to be repaired. The return address is in England but the repair centre is in France. Two weeks after receiving it, the phone still hasn't even reached the repair centre. On the plus side dual sim, micro SD and a removable battery. Doesn't have USB to go but for £120 it wasn't a bad bargain.
Until I saw the curved bottom (oo-er) this reminded me very much of the old Nokia Lumia in design. I actually like it though not sure about CGM.
Only thing I couldn't see in the article was how big this hector is. Anyone know the screensize?
Yes I could google it but that would take me away from procrastinating on El Reg. Don't judge me.
No need for science, just type the phone name into Google, it gives you the obi site, go to said site and read specs!
Yes it has a 5" screen :)
I was about to bemoan the fact it has no sd card support (because el reg didn't mention it) but boom it does!!! right there in the specs.
Despite their ludicrously laughable customer "service (I wonder if they've fixed that website bug which stopped you registering yet ?)
My desire is to see more - shit or not - phones sold network free, and will generic Android (Cyanogenmod being a good example).
Last year, my son "needed" a phone after his broke (again). Despite having 12 fully working handsets in a box (going back to a Nokia 3320) not one of them could be pressed into service because of network locking issues.
Never again am I buying a network handset.
It's a bit odd that they were even locked. The operators down here stopped network locking years ago. Even when they did the general rule was that they'd unlock it for free after six months. Of course, for older handsets there are often unlock codes around on the interwebs...though you never quite know what those do.
> My desire is to see more - shit or not - phones sold network free
??? I thought every phone could be bought stand alone?
Because of mobility considerations (I visit dozens of countries in any given year) my phones have always been unlocked, and I've never come across something I needed to buy a SIM with if I didn't want one.
Where are you based? Or am I missing something obvious (sorry, it's late here)?
I changed from a Samsung Galaxy S4 to Wileyfox Swift and it out-performed it in every way!
Still does almost 8 months later. Highly reccommended, in fact my work has started using them since, they save several hundred quid per handset. Do I get a raise? Do I #%^&
1Gb ram in this Obi is a massive thumbs down by the way, Family Guy wont work on it :)
smartphones that position On/Off, and to a lesser extent Volume controls, precisely where many people grip the damn things. On/Off switches should be on the top, in a depression.
Another feature that is very handy are IR 'blasters', especially if you travel so you can load an App that allows you to off the sound or power. Four hours in Bangkok waiting for the Ho Chi Minh City connector being tortured by TVs that no one watches is a major pain.
Dual SIM is good but SD storage and battery swapping are essentials.
According to the UK site, there's a micro sd card capability up to 64GB. If it's actually an XD spec then it should take 128GB and larger cards as well, but that's not something I've read in their specs.
It also doesn't mention whether the SD card slot is shared with either of the sim slots, as happens in some other phones.
> Dual SIM is good but SD storage and battery swapping are essentials.
Those are not mutually exclusive. I've got a no-name Chinese phone here with two SIM and one SD card slot, and the battery can be swapped in seconds. It even came with two batteries, which is great when going on week-long climbing / skitouring trips and an SD card (and rootable stock Android, thank fuck).
"Obi will also roll out regular monthly-ish updates – something Chinese rivals are notoriously bad at."
"The specs for the beast: Cyanogen OS 12.1.1, Lollipop 5.1"
Marshmallow was released 6 months ago. If this small shoppe can't offer the latest OS on their new phone what are the chances that updates are ever coming?
Marshmallow was released 6 months ago. If this small shoppe can't offer the latest OS on their new phone what are the chances that updates are ever coming?
Because it's Cyanogenmod which isn't plain Google. I've had CM on Android 6 since January but I think general release was only fairly recently. OTOH devices which run CM can usually expect many years of updates.
The smart thing here is that Obi is contracting with CM to provide the updates rather than trying to wing it with an undersized and unexperienced team inhouse.
"Because it's Cyanogenmod which isn't plain Google."
It isn't Android, but the Obi website states 'The MV1 comes in two OS versions: Android Lollipop 5.1 and Cyanogen OS 12.1.1.'
So you can also have the real Google Android if I read that sentence correctly. CM 13 is available for many other devices already, so is there a valid (technical) reason why Obi doesn't offer the latest?
CM 13 is available for many other devices already, so is there a valid (technical) reason why Obi doesn't offer the latest?
They're presumably still working on it, since the website also says:
"Each MV1 is shipped with Cyanogen 12.1.1 and comes with a guarantee that it will receive an over the air update to Cyanogen 13.1 for a far more immersive experience."
... though exactly what an "immersive experience" is, I wouldn't like to guess!
Speaking of immersive experiences, though, it's a shame it's not waterproof.
"Marshmallow was released 6 months ago." Yes but it is only available on top of the range phones.
I went phone shopping for my wife earlier this month and IIRC the cheapest phone to buy unlocked with Marshmallow was over £250.
The shop assistant did say that Marshmallow would probably eventually appear for the Motorola Moto G she bought!
So... your partner comes from a long line of Rasta vampire hunters? [Youtube]
*"All three phones share Brunner’s distinctive "floating glass" design..."*
I'm presuming Mr. Brunner also has shares in a screen replacement business.
I've rarely seen a phone design that looked so much like they were aiming for the screen to become scratched or smashed in the shortest possible time.
Still. "Form Over Function". It's the hipster bearded modern designy way!
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