Obi Worldphone, the company backed by ex-Apple CEO John Sculley, has
unveiled a new smartphone, the MV1, at the MWC 2016 in Barcelona. The
company says that the Obi Worldphone MV1 smartphone is targeted at
"young professionals" markets across Asia, Africa, Latin America, and
Europe.
Priced at $149 (approximately Rs. 10,000), the smartphone will
be available in 2GB and 1GB of RAM models. Both of which will feature
16GB of built-in storage. The 1GB RAM model has been priced at $139
(approximately Rs. 9,500). The Obi Worldphone MV1 will be available
immediately in Asia and Africa while will also launch in Latin America
and Europe in March. The company says that the smartphone will be
available via online and traditional retail channels.
As before,
the company has teamed up with San Francisco-based Ammunition for the
design, and Obi says Ammunition gave it "sculptural look."
The MV1
is said to be available in both stock Android Lollipop 5.1 and Cyanogen
OS 12.1.1 variants. The addition of Cyanogen OS means users will get
options to personalise and customise their device experience from icons
and themes to boot animations and lock screens. It also brings features
such as Truecaller and LiveDisplay, which adjusts the user's screen
based on light. Additionally, the MV1 runs Lifespeed, which the
company's UI.
The Obi Worldphone MV1 features a 5-inch HD
(720x1280 pixels) display and comes with a pixel density of 294ppi. The
smartphone also packs Corning Gorilla Glass 3. It is powered by a 1.3GHz
quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 212 processor with Adreno 304 GPU. It
sports an 8-megapixel rear autofocus camera with LED flash with f/2.2
aperture and also sports a 2-megapixel. It supports expandable storage
up to an additional 64GB via microSD. The dual-SIM Obi Worldphone MV1
supports a Micro and a Nano-SIM. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi
802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi direct, Bluetooth v4.1, GPS/ A-GPS, GLONASS, and
Micro-USB. It measures 145.6x72.6x8.95mm and weighs 149 grams.
Commenting
on the launch, Obi Worldphone Co-founder John Sculley said, "This is an
industry with 200 different brands vying for consumers' attention.
There will be 1.4 billion Android phones produced in 2016 alone, so
there needs to be a way to stand apart from the pack. The components for
all these different phones are mass produced, in the same countries,
and often in the same exact factories. What we've done with the Obi
Worldphone from the very beginning is show that it's possible to have a
beautifully designed phone that fits into your lifestyle at an
accessible price without sacrificing form and technology. You don't have
to give up style in exchange for substance. With the MV1, you can have
both."
Disclosure: John Sculley's Inflexion Point is an investor in NDTV's Gadgets 360.