A few weeks back I was asked by my mom to get her a phone and what seemed to be a very simple task turned out to be quite a decision making challenge. Needless to say, the A60+ won me over and this post is all about it.
At a retail price of 5,000php here is what you’re getting: a bright capacitive 3.5” TFT LCD screen with a 320×480 resolution, 1Ghz ARMv7 rev10 processor, PowerVR SGX 531, 256mb internal, 4gb memory card as initial expansion, dual sim slots, 3mp rear cam, running the Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread OS with all connections and sensors – wifi, bt, gps, the works.
The overall form is very sleek with only three hardware buttons – volume up and down, and the power button; everything else is capacitive so the front is a smooth glass surface. At the bottom, the charging port is a convenient microUSB so it could be charged from a USB port just like what I’m doing now.
The textured plastic back plate houses the branding, speaker (which is really loud), and the camera, there are no LED flashes or anything fancy on it.
I used a quite dated Quadrant to get some sort of reference over the capacity of the device and if you can see it in the photo above, the A60+ scales even better than the Nexus One which is way over my X10 on the right which although already tweaked somewhat only manages to go slightly over the recorded Galaxy S rating. Crazy right???
Anyhow even with these credentials, I found that the screen resolution, as well as available RAM, limits the programs that can run with the device which is such a waste of power. What I’m doing now, before turning this over to my mom is putting up games that are compatible to at least take advantage of its power. So far Ive successfully run Tetris, Temple Run (though I’m feeling some sort of calibration problem there), Fruit Ninja (awesome response on this one), Bejeweled came out beautiful, as I’m sure Angry Birds will as well (experiencing some problems with pinch zooming here but it may be influenced by the charging state), and maybe get one reader app in as well so the phone would be ready in case some of my mom’s friends passes a document to her.
I’ve just installed a battery monitor app but it feels like the battery is quite resilient and can run the whole day without a hiccup. My mom’s primary requirement was a nice camera, here’s a sample shot taken with the A60+
I think it’s ok for the most part, it seems to be a fixed focus sensor with a bonus panorama mode in one of the options. Filters will play a big role eventually with this level of camera technology and there are plenty of apps for that. I also installed photo shake for more posting options. The only thing left to do now is to put up her own Google account so we could use the Play Store and put in Facebook through it.
All in all, I’d say this phone should serve my mom very well providing no sudden bugs come up. Lenovo has some more interesting models but theyre up there in the mid tier already. I got mine from PCExpress but I have canvassed it over at MemoXpress and Wellcom also… of course concept shops are included.
UPDATE: As it turns out, the calibration issues I was having is really a factory defect. I’m going to have the unit replaced tomorrow… should’ve been tonight had I brought the receipt with me. Calibration issues were revealed when I couldnt keep the Temple Run guy running at the center even when the phone is on a flat surface alternatively tested on Doodle Jump with the same “right biased” accelerometer reading..
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