After over a week of putting this device as my main driver, what I got on MyPhone's one of their latest octa-cores with LTE under the new MY series. Here is my MyPhone MY35 review.
In UI, the local brand chose to be more of a stock Android Lollipop (not 100% but still ok) rather than their MY OS that we saw in some of the last few Rio handsets which gives points for it's RAM management. Out of 3 GB RAM even with my heavy multi tasking (without gaming), I can only max out about 2.2 GB remaining which gives more breathing room to the SIM. It is fun to navigate and to switch back and forth into the apps. Of course, there's an app drawer. There were also a number of in-house MyPhone apps (which also supports local developers) but if you wish, you can uninstall it with ease.
On calling and texting, I got no problems on both receiving and making some calls and texts. Also no problems on it's standard keyboard which looks like Google keyboard without the swipe functions. Of course, you can install Google keyboard in this device.
On connectivity, I got no problems on connecting to both Globe and Smart LTE in both SIM slots. One thing that I don't like is there's no LTE only and 3G only on this device which is a downer for my personal preference. On LTE, I'm glad that it doesn't heat that much. Based on what I found on engineering mode, it has LTE bands 1, 3, 5 and 7
On benchmarks, it revealed that the MY35 has 64-bit 1.3 GHz Mediatek MT6753 octa-core processor. The internal memory was supplied by Hynix. Sensors include accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, sound and magnetic. It has 5 point multi touch
On gaming, I had Real Racing 3. Compared to my previous smartphone review with 1.7 GHz SD615 SoC, I got more fun playing at that game with almost no frameskip and faster loading times.
On audio, the device claims that it has HiFi sound. I do not have an HiFi earphones to confirm but as a quite meticulous listener, this is one of the best sounding Mediatek-powered handsets that I heard so far on earphones. The speaker is excellent for a local brand as you can really hear almost all of the elements.
On battery, I had no surprise that MY35's 3,140 mAh battery can really give you an excellent battery life. Using MX Player with some HD videos with earphone, 1 SIM on 2G/3G mode, battery saving mode on, 40% phone brightness, 10 on the app's brightness and 15 on volume , it got 12 hours and 15 minutes from 100% to 2%. On normal days with mixed usage, I can have 1.5 days of usage with over 6 hours of screen time. On heavy usage, I can manage around 24 hours with 8 hours and 15 minutes of screen time which is also excellent on it's class.
On camera, it has 9 modes on rear cam and 3 modes on front cam. Both cams have HDR. Unfortunately, the advertised megapixels of both cams can only shoot on 4:3 aspect ratio. On normal mode, it can shoot really fast. In Superfine mode, it also has the same cmera shutter and processing speed as to the normal mode. I found that the rear cam is a-ok at daylight but it is a bit struggled on artifical and low light. The 5 MP front cam needs some improvement as I found that 5 MP front cam of MyPhone Infinity Lite is better than this one. The beauty mode on the selfie must be set to minimum as possible so that it will look realistic. The rear cam has f/2.0 aperture while it's f/2.2 aperture at the front cam.
MyPhone MY35 13 MP rear camera samples
MyPhone MY35 5 MP front camera sample
Extras: On the good side, I'm glad that all SIM slots and micro SD slot are hot swappable which means no need to reset or turn off your phone (just to be sure that you are doing it properly). The official specs said that I can support quick charging. On it's stock charger with 1 ampere output, it can full charge the phone in 3 1/2 hours. I tested another phone charger (which is the stock Lenovo Vibe Shot with 1.5 amperes output plus it can really charge fast) and I charged the phone at less than 2 hours. Another noticeable thing is MyPhone already put in a true screen protector (compared to some of the Rio series with that "outside plastic covering) . The phone has unified storage with over 10 GB of app storage out of 16 GB ROM. The bad side that I noticed is the default volume which is not that loud which you have to tweak it via engineering mode (thanks that it has Mediatek SoC but do it at your own risk)
Pros: Good build, excellent battery life, great sounding output on both earphones and speaker, hot swappable micro SD and SIM slots, USB OTG, good connectivity, nice display, a-ok rear xam for the price, almost stock Lollipop experience, quick charging possible with compatible charger, very good RAM management.
Cons: Weak default volume, the selfie cam can be a little better, no LTE and 3G only mode
MyPhone MY35 will be one of my highest scores in all of their Android phones so far in terms of specs/performance/price ratio. I'll gonna give 4.25 out of 5 for the MyPhone MY35 which is now available for Php 6,888 plus a free 8th year MyPhone Anniversary commemorative watch.
