Full review of the Starmobile Octa!

The Octa is probably one of the most talked about and controversial smartphones ever brought out by Starmobile. While it’s the company’s most feature packed smartphone to date, it’s also one of the most expensive devices to ever come out from a local brand. It’s sparked discussion (and a fair amount of trolling and name calling) about price points, specifically just how high a local brand can price their products locally. While this review of the Octa won’t settle that debate (and probably spark new ones) it just might help you to decide if Starmobile’s latest and greatest is for you.

Starmobile Octa specs

• 1.7GHz MediaTek MT6592 octa-core processor
• Mali-450MP4 GPU
• 2GB of RAM
• 5-inch full HD OGS IPS display, Asahi scratch resistant display, 1920 x 1080 resolution
• 32GB non-expandable memory
• 18-megapixel AF rear camera with BSI and dual LED flash
• 8-megapixel camera front facing camera, wide lens with BSI and LED flash
• WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, USB OTG, NFC
• 3G, HSPA+
• Dual SIM, dual standby (micro SIM)
• 2300mAh battery
• Android 4.2

Drop dead gorgeous

We’ve made it known how we feel about the Octa before when we first saw it and when we got up close and personal with it, and if you haven’t gotten the message yet, here it is: the Octa is shmexy. Its overall design looks like something that could have come from the offices of Taiwanese manufacturer HTC. In fact, when we covered the back logo of the Octa and showed it to people, 8 out of 10 people assumed that it was HTC’s newest smartphone. While the device does not have a unibody aluminum construction that the Taiwanese company is known for, it looks that way when you first see the device. In reality, it uses an aluminum front panel and a plastic back, though the plastic bits of the phone have been coated with metallic paint, further enhancing the illusion of metal.

The Octa has a curved back that makes it easier to hold the device when it’s in your hand. The Octa is neither light nor heavy, and in the immortal words of Goldilocks, its weight is just right. The power button and volume rocker is located on the right, while the 3.5mm jack and the USB port are located in the usual places, on the top and on the bottom, respectively. The left side of the device houses the two micro-SIM slots that pop out much like the ones on Apple’s iPhone via a small pinhole that you depress with a small metal pin, which is included in the package. The 18-megapixel camera is located on the back, accompanied by dual a LED flash, while another, smaller 8-megapixel camera (with flash) is located on the front.

The Octa has a 5-inch full HD, IPS OGS display protected by Asahi scratch resistant glass. While the protection rating of the Asahi glass on the Octa is a step below Dragon Trail, it still stood up well enough against the rigors of our daily routine (including being stuffed in a pocket filled with coins and keys) during its admittedly brief time with us. On the bottom of the bezel are the three navigation keys that have been given a bit of a twist, while they do exactly the same thing as before, it’s nice to see a bit of variety as far as the design on those keys go.

There are a few negatives with the Octa’s design though. The sealed, non-removable back means that you’re limited to the 32GB of storage that the Octa has. If your battery fails or bloats for any reason, you will have to take it to Starmobile to be fixed.

As far as the display goes, the Octa’s 5-inch full HD display is pretty good, bearing good color reproduction overall. While it is certainly bright, we feel that the display is a bit muted, especially comparing it to the THL T200’s full HD display. Colors are way punchier on the T200 compared to the Octa, though people who have not seen the T200 in person may not mind the slightly muted display of the Octa too much.

Features coming out of the wazoo

When we say that the Octa is Starmobile’s most feature packed phone to date, we mean it. It has OTG, Wireless display capabilities, NFC and wireless charging capabilities. The two last features that we mentioned are big ones – there are very few smartphones from pinoy brands that have NFC and wireless charging and no one else has wireless charging built-in. Both features work just as advertised – the NFC function of the Octa worked flawlessly with our Galaxy S4 and a couple of other NFC equipped gadgets that we had lying around the Unbox HQ, while the wireless charging feature of the Octa worked with the accompanying wireless charging pad/wireless Bluetooth speaker that it comes with (initially at least). The wireless charging feature does come with a caveat – charging the Octa’s 2300mAh battery with the wireless charger is slower than using a wired connection, taking  almost double the amount of time that it takes to charge using a wired connection. To be fair, this isn’t a flaw with the Octa itself, as it’s simply the limitations of induction charging technology. The slower charging speed is a tradeoff for convenience, as we never really had to fumble with wires when we needed to charge the Octa – we just placed it on the pad and left it there. For the curious, the Octa uses the Qi wireless charging standard, though Starmobile has said that it doesn’t work with Nokia charging pads. We did not have another Qi wireless charging pad to test with the Octa during our review.

Quite a powerhouse, thanks to the octa-core processor

The Octa has the same octa-core processor that’s present in the company’s previous octa-core offering, the Diamond X1. Curiously enough, the Octa managed to score just as high as its older brother in AnTuTu, nabbing a 27892 score in the synthetic benchmarking test despite possessing a full HD display. Typically, we’ve seen AnTuTu scores dip when the 1.7GHz octa-core processor of MediaTek is paired with a full HD display, which isn’t the case with the Octa. Starmobile told us that they’ve done software tweaks to the device to optimize it thus the higher score, what those tweaks actually are is still unclear.

In any case, no amount of synthetic benchmarks can replace real world tests, and the good news is that the Octa is a very capable machine in that regard. Navigation is smooth, with almost no lag at all. Transitions are fluid and the overall user experience is very good. As far as gaming goes, the Octa is a beast, and is capable of handling Dead Trigger 2 and Asphalt 8 on high settings without any issues. Probably the only negative thing that we noticed with the Octa’s performance was that it forced the Facebook app to close on a number of occasions, which is pretty odd, as far as software issues go.

Great camera

Starmobile has always had a good track record for camera optics on their devices (on their smartphones anyway) and this continues with the Octa.

Photos are bright, crisp and has plenty of detail. Photos taken under artificial lighting look great as well.

Mediocre battery life

One of the main drawbacks of the MediaTek’s octa-core processor is the not-so-good battery life. With heavy use (calls, text, internet and gaming) the Octa only managed to last for around 7 hours and 45 minutes, 15 minutes short of the Diamond X1. The battery issue is aggravated by the fact that you can’t buy an extra battery and pop in a new one because of the sealed, non-removable cover on the Octa. Just like what we said on other MediaTek powered octa-core smartphones that we reviewed in the past, a power bank is recommended when you grab the Octa.

Verdict: Grab it if you need a phone with its features, pass if you don’t

So, is the Starmobile Octa deserving of its high 16,990? It depends entirely up to your usage patterns and your needs. While we’ve already voiced out what we think about the Octa’s price before, we also acknowledge that not everyone will want to put down the required cash for the Octa, because there are a lot of other, international offerings for its price, but few are as feature packed or as beautiful as the Octa. And that’s probably the point – Starmobile has decided to put so many features in the device that it would become hard to ignore in the grand scheme of things, though some will still do (and will probably voice their opinions in the comments below). Some may say that you don’t really need the slower, wireless charging or NFC, but then again, you’re paying for convenience and features. Probably all the arguments about its price would disappear if the company drops the Octa’s price about a grand (or two), but ultimately that’s all up to Starmobile to decide.

*EDIT: We incorrectly pointed out that no other pinoy brand has wireless charging built-in. This is not the case as the MyPhone Iceberg has wireless charging capabilities. We’ve edited the review to reflect this.