Obi Worldphone SF1, SJ1.5 Affordable Android Smartphones Launched

The Obi Worldphone SF1 will be available in two variants - a 2GB RAM and 16GB inbuilt storage variant will be available at suggested retail price of $199 (approximately Rs. 13,000), and a 3GB RAM and 32GB storage variant will be available at $249 (approximately Rs. 16,500). The Obi Worldphone SJ1.5, on the other hand, will be available at a suggested retail price of $129 (approximately Rs. 8,500).

Both the Obi Worldphone SF1 and Worldphone SJ1.5 will be available starting October in retail stores in some countries and online in others. The company has announced that the smartphones will be initially available in Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa, Pakistan, Turkey and India. The company has set a target to make the SF1 and SJ1.5 smartphones available in 50 to 70 countries by 2017.

The company revealed that both the new Obi smartphones have been designed by San Francisco-based product studio Ammunition, which also developed Obi Lifespeed, a custom user interface based on Android. Obi stresses that the Worldphone-series will be addressing the "market need between high-design smartphones at high prices and generic smartphones at low prices".

For specifications, Obi Worldphone SF1 comes with 4G LTE and supports FDD B3 1800MHz and TDD B40 2300MHz bands. It features a unibody with metallic accents and floating glass display. The smartphone comes with a 5-inch JDI In-Cell IPS full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) display offering a pixel density of 443ppi. It also comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 for screen protection.

It runs Android 5.0.2 Lollipop with the Obi Lifespeed UI, and is powered by a 64-bit octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 (MSM8939) SoC clocked at 1.5GHz coupled with Adreno 405 GPU. The Obi Worldphone SF1 supports expandable storage via microSD card (up to 64GB).

The smartphone sports a 13-megapixel autofocus camera with LED Flash, Sony Exmor IMX214 sensor, and f/2.0 aperture. There is a 5-megapixel secondary front camera with LED flash also on board. The dual-SIM (Micro+Nano SIMs) based SF1 smartphone comes with dual mic for noise cancellation, Dolby Audio, and Quick Charge 1.0, for fast charging.

It is backed by a 3000mAh battery and features an accelerometer, proximity sensor, gyroscope, and ambient light sensor. It measures 146x74x8mm and weighs 147 grams.

The Obi Worldphone SJ1.5, on the other hand, supports only 3G. It sports a polycarbonate unibody with a curved touch display and also comes with magnesium-titanium alloy chassis. It features a 5-inch HD (720x1280 pixels) display offering a pixel density of 294ppi and comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Running Android 5.1 Lollipop with Obi Lifespeed UI, the smartphone is powered by a quad-core MediaTek (MT6580) clocked at 1.3GHz coupled with 1GB of RAM. It comes with 16GB of inbuilt storage and supports expandable storage via microSD card (up to 32GB). It sports an 8-megapixel autofocus rear camera with f/2.2 aperture and LED flash. It also houses a 5-megapixel front camera. The dual-SIM (both Micro-SIMs) based Obi Worldphone SJ1.5 packs a 3000mAh battery; measures 146x73x7.95mm, and weighs 131 grams.

Commenting on the launch, Obi Worldphone co-founder John Sculley said, "Obi has taken the best of Silicon Valley - innovations in design, state-of-the-art technology and high standards for manufacturing - and fused them into beautiful, powerful tools at attractive prices. Our efficient cost structure and broad distribution combine to present empowering tools that help our customers achieve their aspirations."

Disclosure: John Sculley's Inflexion Point is an investor in NDTV's Gadgets 360.