At the start of this year, Oplus presented XonPad 7 which we liked. It was a well build and packed value for money hardware which made lot of sense back then. Now good 7 months later, Oplus is back with its first smartphone in India, the XonPhone 5 which aims at offering great user experience for a budget price tag. Let’s take a look at the hardware and the first impression it made on our mind.
Oplus XonPhone 5 Quick Specs
- Display Size: 5 Inch IPS LCD, OGS 1280 X 720p HD resolution, 294 PPI
- Processor: 1.3 GHz Quad Core MT6582 with Mali 400 GPU
- RAM: 1 GB
- Software Version: Android 4.4.2 KitKat Customized
- Camera: 8 MP, Can record 1080p Full HD videos
- Secondary Camera: 2 MP
- Internal Storage: 16 GB
- External Storage: 32 GB using MicroSD card
- Battery: 2000 mAh (Removable)
- Connectivity: HSPA+, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, aGPS, Micro USB 2.0
- Dual SIM (Micro SIM + Mini SIM)
Design, Build and Display
The XonPhone scores well in terms of looks and design. It’s mostly plastic, with a familiar perforated back design. Camera module is protrudes from the back and isn’t according to our taste. Both Audio jack and MicroUSB are present at the top. The back is not flat and poses a gentle curve around the edges, which gives it a decent grip.
The display is HD IPS LCD display with good viewing angles and optimum colors. This is certainly not dazzling, but more than what we expected. In our initial testing, color reproduction, sharpness and brightness were all pretty decent.
Processor and RAM
The chipset is nothing new. Oplus is using 1.3 GHz MT6582 cortex A7 based quad core chipset, which has proved itself several times this year. The budget quad core processor is aided with 1 GB RAM for smooth multi-tasking.
On first boot around 520 MB RAM was free. UI transitions were not butter smooth on XonPhone, and this might be due to UI customizations over Android 4.4 KitKat.
Camera and Internal Storage
The 8 MP shooter at the back is also average. Low light performance was average and we did like Xiaomi Redmi 1S 8 MP camera more than we did on this one. The front 2 MP shooter is also average. Also, you can record 1080p full HD videos from the rear 8 MP shooter on XonPhone.
Internal storage is again quite decent at 16 GB, but bloatware and OS takes its toll and you will be left with around 9.4 GB of available on users end. This is still more than what anyone else is offering and can be further augmented using MicroSD card.
User Interface and Battery
XonPhone, following the perfect budget quad core recipe, employs Android KitKat 4.4.2 on the software front, but the OS is not stock android, and comes with several customizations, which didn’t appear very neat at first glance. We will comment more on the UI after we have spent more time with the device.
Battery capacity is 2000 mAh from which Oplus claims 300 hours of standby time and 15 hours of talk time. This doesn’t seem very impressive and perhaps you will have to adapt several tips and tricks to comfortably pass through the day. We will only know for sure after our full review. However, the good thing is that the battery is removable.
Oplus Xonphone 5 Photo Gallery
Conclusion
Oplus XonPhone has its flaws, but it is definitely a very good smartphone in this price range from the Taiwanese manufacturer. It will retail exclusively on Snapdeal. With phones like Xiaomi Redmi Note, Redmi 1s and Moto E retailing in the same price range, it will face severe competition, but might sail through if Oplus manages to provide concrete after sales support assurance.
