Obi Worldphone introduces flagship SF1 and SJ1.5 for Asia, Africa and Middle East; to arrive in October

Obi Mobiles, a handset manufacturer co-founded by ex-Apple CEO John Sculley has launched the Obi Worldphone in San Francisco. For growing markets of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Obi has announced two smartphones – flagship SF1 and SJ1.5. SF stands for San Francisco and SJ for San Jose. According to the company, these devices integrate elegant design with high-end technology from Qualcomm, Dolby, Sony, Corning Incorporated, Google, MediaTek, Japan Display, Inc. and powerful performance from Samsung. The SF1 16GB model with 2GB RAM is priced at $199 and the variant with 3GB RAM and 32GB onboard storage costs $249 USD. The SJ1.5 is priced at $129 USD. “Over the next three years, 1 billion users will upgrade from low-end, starter smartphones to models with more power and greater functionality,” said Tim Bajarin, President of Creative Strategies, Inc. of San Jose, Calif., a 35-year market analyst and research firm evaluating the global adoption of consumer technology. “The Obi Worldphone no-compromise design and aggressive pricing makes it very appealing to this audience as the market for smartphones expands and the upgrade market for smartphones accelerates.” Sporting a 5-inch display with Gorilla Glass 4, the Obi Worldphone SF1 flagship device supports 4G/LTE. It is built using reinforced fiberglass body and metal accents at the top and bottom of the phone. Some other features include prolonged battery life, quick-charge battery, dual SIM slot, micro secure digital (SD) expansion. It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor. On the camera front, one can expect a 13-megapixel rear snapper, Sony IMX214 Exmor sensort and hybrid auto focus that promises split-second, perfect focus in any light. The camera uses Qualcomm ChromaFlash camera feature to quickly snap two photos. Users can select their focus after taking a picture through the Qualcomm UbiFocus camera feature and zoom in at a resolution beyond normal digital zoom levels, with images powered by the Qualcomm OptiZoom camera feature. The SF1 also features Dolby Audio and Qualcomm Quick Charge 1.0 power management technology. The SF1 can charge to full power in less than three hours, which is about 40% faster than older phones, claims Obi. The SF1 runs on Android Lollipop. [caption id=“attachment_279188” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  Obi SF1[/caption] The next in line is the SJ1.5 - a 3G smartphone powered by the MediaTek MT6580 quad-core processor. The SJ1.5 sports an asymmetrical design, squared-off top and a curved bottom. The screen is made from 2.5D curved and is available in unique color and accent options, taking a more expressive approach. Along with dual SIM slots, the SJ1.5 comes with 16GB of internal storage and a card slot for memory expansion. The SJ1.5 sports front and rear cameras and the display gets a scratch-resistant layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 3 and runs Android Lollipop. The SF1 and SJ1.5 comes loaded with apps such as AVG Anti-Virus app, Swiftkey, AccuWeather, Clean Master, and ColorNote. The Obi Worldphone has been designed at the design studio Ammunition, founded by Robert Brunner in 2007. Brunner is the former director of Industrial Design at Apple, and has also been the chief designer behind Beats Electronics. Earlier, in July 2014, Obi launched its flagship smartphone dubbed Octopus S520, and was exclusive to Snapdeal for Rs 11,990. Sporting a metallic design, the Octopus S520  is powered by a 1.7GHz octa-core processor, coupled with 1GB of RAM. Following the current trend among budget phones, it runs on the latest Android 4.4 KitKat. It sports a 5-inch HD IPS display and the company claims that the thickest part of the device is 8.4mm. Obi had announced plans to enter the Indian market in April last year. Back then, talking about the new company company in a report, India CEO Ajay Sharma is said to have insisted that their “forthcoming devices will have a different positioning and USP.” But in the same price range as most well-known Indian brands, there’s very little head room for playing the brand positioning game. Once again, it could be about the price and specs proposition and **as we have said in the past** , it takes more than just that. Earlier this year, Sharma quit Obi. Disclaimer: This correspondent was invited for the launch event by Obi Mobile. Travel and accommodation expenses were borne by Obi Mobile.