MyPhone A919i Duo in the flesh, First impressions

The box of the MyPhone A919i Duo is still the same old style that we got used to. There’s nothing fancy or special but it’s probably one of their way to cut some costs. Besides, what matters most is the unit itself. The package include the unit, microUSB cable, charger, earphones, manuals, and warranty card.

First Impressions on MyPhone A919i Duo

My very first impression of the MyPhone A919i Duo is that its very light despite its not so thin profile. The thickness don’t feel that awkward though, but I would be more contented if it’s a bit heavier as a reassuring heft lacks a bit. The build is nice but it’s nowhere near premium as what we could expect on its price range. The materials used is plastic but it feels nice on the hand especially the matte finish of the back as it’s not prone to fingerprints.

Of course, the next thing I noticed once I turned it on is the beautiful 5-inch HD IPS display which looks vibrant even at low brightness. The icons are crisp as the HD resolution packs enough pixels to make a 5-inch display look very solid.

The icons and texts appear to be larger than usual which I don’t really like that much. This type of UI might be appropriate for order people with poor eyesight but for me it doesn’t look attractive at all. However, that’s just my personal preference because I find smaller icons and text to be sexier.

Another important thing that we would like to share is our experience in multitasking. Switching from one app to another is smooth and speedy thanks to its powerful 1.2GHz MT6589 quad-core processor and plentiful 1GB of RAM. We run Facebook, Twitter, Camera, Browser, Gmail, Messaging, and Play Store app together and we can switch between them seamlessly.

The 8-megapixel camera of the MyPhone A919i Duo is stellar, but it’s not the best. It shoots nice photos on an environment with good lighting conditions but in low-light scenes the quality is still okay and it’s not hard to see that it seems to suffer quite a bit. But still, I would definitely say that it’s a top performer on this category. Also, the 2-megapixel front facing camera is awesome. It’s clearer than other android phones we’ve reviewed so it’s absolutely a go to camera for selfies.

We won’t conclude on how long will its 2000 mAh battery last as it’s still to early to say because we only got our unit yesterday afternoon. But based from my observations, the battery is likely to last a day or two depending on usage. I used it for two hours of mobile data internet browsing and at maximum display brightness and it still has some juice left at 24% until now even though it’s at below 40% when we got it.

MyPhone A919i Duo Specs

• Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean
• 5-inch HD (1280×720) IPS Display, 16M colors, ~294 ppi pixel density
• MTK MT6589 1.2GHz quad-core processor, Cortex-A7
• PowerVR SGX544
• 1GB RAM
• 4GB internal memory
• microSD support up to 32GB
• 8-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash
• 720p HD video recording at 30fps
• 2-megapixel front camera
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot
• HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 11 Mbps
• Bluetooth v4.0
• microUSB v2.0
• USB OTG
• GPS, A-GPS
• Sensors: Accelerometer, gyro, proximity
• Dimensions: 144 x 74 x 10.7 mm (5.67 x 2.91 x 0.42 in)
• Weight: 156 g
• Li-Ion 2000 mAh battery

To wrap this up, I could safely say that MyPhone A919i Duo is a great android phone and it’s definitely a steal at its low introductory price of Php7,900. The original SRP is Ph9,590 but one of our friends from MyPhone said that he is not sure if the company will push the fairly high retail through or they will slash a few bucks to be more competitive. Don’t get your hopes up though, as it’s still not clear at this point. But if you’ll ask me, getting this at Php9,590 isn’t really bad because I’m really impressed so far. The beautiful screen, quad-core processor, 1GB RAM, and Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean that MyPhone A919i Duo is equipped with is well worth the money they’re asking for.

UPDATE: MyPhone A919i Full Review

In case you missed the sale today, MyPhone has already extended the SALE up to May 1 so be sure to go there early to secure your own unit.

Do you want to pimp your A919i?

MyPhone A919i cases are available on for only Php150 each. They also sell matte and clear screen protectors for only Php100. If you want to customize the look of your smartphone, I highly recommend their store as they have accessories for most of the locally branded smartphones here in the PH. They sell hard case, Jelly Case, Flipcase, etc.

Our full review of the MyPhone A919i Duo will be out next week so stay tuned if you want a more comprehensive coverage. In the meantime, if you have any questions about the device, drop us a comment below and we’ll try to answer it.

Read our in-depth review of the MyPhone A919i Duo HERE.