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A Quick Overview of the Latest Smartphones from Fly-ying Part 2

July 1st, 2011

We’re continuing on from where I left off the other day, we’ll continue to check out the latest phones from Fly-ying. We reviewed 2 of the lower-end smartphones Fly-ying recently released on the previous post. We’ll continue to move up the price range today, and we’ll be looking at 3 phones with better specs and features than the L913 and the F132. All three phones are already available from online wholesalers. So without further ado, let’s begin with a Fly-ying clone of Nokia’s flagship smartphone for 2010, the Nokia N8.

Fly-ying FN8

Fly-ying FN8 (black) at the Main Menu screen

If you’re a fan of the Nokia N8′s design, but can’t find any space in your budget for the $350 – 500 plus original phone, then you might want to consider the Fly-ying FN8. At $114.28, the FN8 gives you that distinctive N8 design for less than half the retail price of an original N8, without the same performance, of course, but with enough features to keep you satisfied with it considering you didn’t have to fork out quite as much.

To start you off, the Fly-ying FN8 draws its processing power from the same source as the F132, the MTK6235 processor. I failed to mention in the earlier post that the MTK6235 processor actually runs at 208MHz and has it’s own Digital Signal Processor. Now, 208MHz is really not a lot of power to run on, so before picking up the FN8, be warned that you shouldn’t expect it to do everything that the N8 can do, in fact, it’s best to consider them in totally different playing fields in terms of performance.

To offset the lack of power for the features it offers, Fly-ying have setup a custom OS on it meant to approach, although not totally resemble, the Symbian^3 OS of the Nokia N8. The low resource requirements of the custom OS allows the FN8 to allocate enough processing power to applications and to making the 3.3 inch 320 by 240 pixel 260 thousand color resistive touch screen display responsive and good looking.

In terms of the unit’s external design, it’s easy enough to distinguish a definite difference in layout – to be quite honest, any comparison with the N8 should have stopped here. Instead of the single multi-function button on the face of the N8, Fly-ying have included 5 distinct buttons on the FN8 that allow you to make and answer calls from any of the four SIM cards on standby, a home button, a back button, and a button to end calls. The camera on the front of the phone has also changed position, moving from the extreme right of the phone’s face over to an offset left. This 0.3MP camera complements the 1.3MP camera on the rear and is intended for video calling.

Additionally, the Fly-ying FN8 has 14.6MB of internal memory, and thankfully, this can be expanded via SD card up to 8GB. This can be used for storing videos, music, and e-books or additional applications, as the phone is also capable of running Java. For connectivity, the FN8 is able to utilize 802.11g/b Wi-Fi connections for hot spot or access point connections to the internet, and GPRS for internet over a mobile phone network. Cross-device connections are also possible via Bluetooth, and the FN8 can be connected to a computer via USB. As with the L913 and the F132, analog and digital TV reception are the norm here. Also, GPS is advertised for the unit, however, how it actually works still has to be clarified.

With the a 1200mAh  battery supplied with the FN8, it is able to stay on stand by for up to 150 hours, and it can provide up to 120 minutes of talk time.

Fly-ying F602 and Fly-ying L601

Fly-ying F602 showing the home screen of the Android 2.2 OS modeled after HTC's popular home screen design

The Fly-ying F602 and L601 is where it really starts to get interesting. At $130.83 and $149.99, respectively, they are designed for people who want to have the convenience and flexibility associated with the Android mobile OS for a fraction of the cost of name brand smartphones. The F602 is designed to look somewhat like a clone of a Blackberry device, however, in actuality, only the form factor is shared, Blackberry users will find it a totally different experience altogether. The L601 on the other hand, seems to draw inspiration for its simple design heavily from HTC phones, however, it is not a clone of any phone out in the market right now. Both phones run on Android 2.2 Froyo.

Although differing in price with the FN8 by only about $20 and $30, the F602 and L601 are able to bring a lot more processing power and better features to the smartphone playing field. They are powered by the significantly faster MTK6516 processor running at 416+280MHz. The 416MHz of processing power is dedicated entirely to making sure that the OS and all the installed applications run smoothly, and the other 280MHz is used by the radio for processing signal information. The MTK6516 processor is the exact same processor used by its counterparts from Star, so you can expect similar performance values.

Fly-ying, however, besides being able to implement Android 2.2 with the MTK6516 for cheaper than Star did with the X12, put their usual extra mile into the product by including a custom designed installation of the Android OS that is easily distinguishable at the home screen. Their customized user interface looks strikingly similar to the user interface made popular by HTC. If you’re not a fan of the HTC inspired user interface, with it large date or time display, then you can always go back to the original Android 2.2 interface with the Google search bar.

A further step up from the smartphones from Star, Fly-ying was able to implement a 3.2 inch capacitive touch screen on the F602 and a 3.5 inch capacitive touch screen on the L601. That basically means that you can expect a more responsive touch screen experience without having to “fight” the screen. The native resolution of the display is 480 by 320 pixels, making the F602 and L601 great even for reading smaller font.

Fly-ying L601 (white) at the home screen

The F602 and L601 can also be used for GPS navigation and support voice navigation as well, just in case you want to use it in the car. Besides the GPS navigation capabilities, the smartphones also come with a compass, just in case you do get lost out in the wilderness where GPS doesn’t always help.

Very few smartphones come without dual cameras for voice calling and for general picture taking, and gladly, both the F602 and the L601 aren’t any of them. On both the F602 and the L601 the rear camera comes with a 2 megapixel sensor that is able to produce outputs of up to 1600 by 1200 pixels and the front camera comes with a VGA sensor and produces outputs up to 640 by 480 which is pretty much all you really need for video calling.

For connectivity, the F602 and L601 are able to access the internet via 802.11g/b Wi-Fi connections, although there are some indications that they may also be able to use the N protocol as well. For wireless over cellphone networks, the they are both also able to connect via GPRS. Inter-device connectivity is achieved via Bluetooth v2.0 and they can also be connected via USB to a computer.

Fly-ying has chosen to use a smaller battery than Star, rated 500mAh lower at 1000mAh, however, the F602 and the L601 still manage to achieve a maximum of about 270 hours on standby, which translates to roughly 240 minutes of talk time.

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Posted in Android Devices, Communication, Gadgets, Mobile Phones, New Products, Reviews

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A Quick Overview of the Latest Smartphones from Fly-ying Part 1

June 29th, 2011

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.

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