Last week we checked out some of the latest smartphones from Star, and I promised to follow it up with a look at what Fly-ying has to offer. Both manufacturers did come out with their latest generation of smartphones at roughly the same time, making this two-part series even more fitting.
From Star, we saw three smartphones with roughly the same performance specifications with several variations in screen size and a slight improvement in functionality as we go up the price range. The older and more experienced folks from Fly-ying, on the other hand, have chosen to follow the more mainstream approach of releasing several phones with improved specifications as we go up the price range. This choice has allowed them to make a wider range of phones with a broad array of price dependent features. Because of this, we’ll tackle each flying phone one by one. There are 5 new phones from Fly-ying available through online wholesalers at the moment, so to make the post more readable, we’ll tackle the first 2 lowest end here and the 3 higher end phones on a separate post.
Fly-ying L913
Fly-ying L913 (Silver) showing custom home screen
Fly-ying’s entry level offering is a basic touch screen device to show off just how much they have to offer as we move up in price. At $64.99, the Fly-ying L913 is already a fighter. It readily show offs its versatility by offering quad SIM quad standby capabilities. Aside from that, it also sports analog and ISDB-T digital TV reception, something you’ll find hard to find, even in more expensive phones.
On the performance side, the L913 utilizes the older, cheaper MTK6225 processor. To compensate for the inherent lack of processing power, Fly-ying has designed a custom OS for it. This allows the L913 to maintain a respectable sense of usability. The phone does not show any signs of slowing down when running any of its functions. However, don’t expect to be able to install new applications for it, as you probably won’t find a market for it.
Despite the lack of processing power, the L913 is still able to fill 2.8 inch 320 by 240 pixel screen very well. Although not the sharpest screen you’ll ever see, Fly-ying has still been able to keep it very readable by making all text fonts and icons larger. The L913′s screen is also capable of better color depth than any of the Star models we previously looked at, maxing out a 260 thousand colors. This means pictures and graphics will come out looking richer and more lifelike. Inputting on the resistive touch screen is achieve either by an on-screen-keyboard or via handwriting recognition. Fly-ying also provides 4 easy access buttons under the screen composed of 2 buttons for answering and ending calls, a home button, and a back button. They also include a mouse button for scrolling and operating the cursor, which really helps a lot when browsing the internet.
The additional features of the L913 include identical front and back cameras with a maximum resolution of 1.3 megapixels with a maximum output size of 1280 by 960 pixels. Both cameras shoot at 1.3 megapixels for both photo and video, making the phone great for video calling. For connectivity, the L913 is able to connect to the internet via Wi-Fi 802.11g/b connections, as well as GPRS connections for wireless via the cell phone network. It can also connect to other devices via Bluetooth and can be connected to a computer via USB cable. Storage memory is dictated by the size of the installed SD card, and the phone can handle SD cards up to 8GB.
In terms of battery life, the L913 scores similarly to the phones by Star. With the smaller 1000mAh batter it is able to stretch battery life to as much as 270 hours on standby and 3 and a half hours of talk time.
Fly-ying F132
Fly-ying F132 showing custom home screen in Portuguese
Go up the price range few dollars and you can get the Fly-ying F132, the only smartphone in the Fly-ying line that features a complete keypad. There’s no need to freak out over the seemingly old tech, however, as despite having a keypad, it is built with a 2.4 inch resistive touch screen. It does seem to be confused about what it really is, which lends to the idea that this phone might actually be intended for people who will be using a touch screen phone for the first time. Originally intended to be sold at $86.99, it is currently available for $69.99.
The F132′s most unique feature is, of course, its keypad. Although only really a standard keypad, the F132′s design masks this feature, often seen as rather telling of cheaper cell phones, by surrounding the main keypad with specialty keys that allow you to access other functions much quicker. The unique keypad does have it’s own share of problems, however, as the main keypad sits centered near the bottom of the phone. This makes it a bit difficult to reach certain buttons with one hand without running the risk of accidentally dropping the phone.
The F132 has redeeming features, however, and it manages that with a slightly better processor than the one we found on the L913. The MTK6235 is a small step up from the MTK6225 of the L913. The F132, in fact, does feel better than the L913 in terms of response time using any of it’s features.
Fly-ying implemented a Java-based operating system for the F132, which means that the F132 can actually expand its repertoire of applications and games. In that regard, the F132 does not shirk in providing a great set of applications and features. Just like the L913 it is capable of receiving both analog and ISDB-T digital TV.
In terms of screen size, the F132 is at a disadvantage to the L913 by a few fractions of an inch. It does, however, still use the same screen resolution and has the same color depth, making it it in no way inferior. But because of the reduced screen area, the interface of the F132 does suffer from having smaller font size and may at times be a bit difficult to read.
Additionally, the F132 also sports front and back cameras at the same resolution as the L913 for both photo and video, but with a slightly larger output of 1280 by 1024 pixels. For connectivity, the F132 also has wireless capabilities via Wi-Fi 802.11g/b connections, and also wireless via the cellphone network via GPRS. Bluetooth and USB connections are also utilized for high speed data transfers and for syncing it with other devices. Unlike the L913, the F132 has 21.9MB of internal memory and still includes the SD memory expansion slot that can use cards up to 8GB in size.
Battery life on the F132 is once again similar to the L913 and the Star smartphones, 270 hours max standby time and 200 minutes of talk time, but with a smaller 900mAh battery.
