Gobii IIP Review

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Adoxographist

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Gobii IIP Review:
I got this phone 2 weeks ago for R899 and had some time to play around with it

Here are the specs:

Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean)
MT6572 Dual-Core @ 1.3GHz
4.0" WVGA IPS display (Resolution: 480 x 800)
4GB storage (Extendable up to 36GB with an external micro SD card of up to 32GB)
1GB RAM
5.0MP rear camera
0.3MP front camera
1150mAh Lithium Polymer Rechargeable Battery
Weight: 126g
Dual sim

Kalahari had this for R899 the specs seemed good so I bit the bullet and tried it out.

The external build quality is solid. It doesn't creek when you put pressure on the plastic. The screen isn't those cheap plastic touch screens that come with other budget phones like Vodafone smart kicka/ Galaxy pocket. Apparently it's "dragontail glass"
The phone comes with screen protector already applied on it.

The viewing angles are terrible, resolution is not best. But for a budget phone no-one cares about that. What we do care about is, is it usable?

Overall it operates smoothly. I tried other budget devices and you won't find any major lag on this device. Opening apps are a bit slow but that's most slow down you will find on the phone.

Also Google play store is hidden on the device. They got their own funny app store. Which is like a custom UI for play store to download in the background.
Installing custom launcher solves this problem and icon for google play pops up again. Other google services like gmail, google maps are not installed so you might want to go and download them again.

GPS was broken on my device. It didn't find any signal at all. And it also kept switching on and off. Checked HelloPeter and some other people seem to have issue with GPS.

During my time with it the screen flickered. There were momentarily black smoky lines going over it for 1-3 seconds. Happened every 4-8 hours.

Battery life is poor. It can last you through the day if you don't do anything major on it and just use it for whatsapp and email. It only has 1150mAh of which they give you 2. They should have provided 1 big one instead.

The phone offers good value proposition. Dual sim, 200mb cell c data every month for a year and good specs.
The External build quality is solid, but it is guaranteed that some manufacturing defect will pop up with every phone. For this specs and price they cut corners and it shows through the defects.

Don't be fooled by Gobii IIP review page on kalahari.
I submitted a short review on it and this is what it shows for the past 2 week:
"Your review is pending approval
Your review/rating has been submitted and will be displayed to other users as soon as it has been approved."

Conclusion:
It can take 2-4 weeks for a refund from kalahari and you have to waste your time staying at home to wait for couriers to pick it up for return.
You get what you pay for. But I was impressed with Kalahari return process. Really easy.

UPDATE: 28 Nov 2014

Gobii IIP price drop to R699. Apply Kalahari voucher for another R100 discount to (R599) and you will get a much, much better deal than:
Any Samsung galaxy under R999
Those Android budget phones around R550.

If you want a budget phone with a broken GPS. This one is the way to go.
 
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I just bought the Gobii IIP for R699 (was on special) for my father who's currently using an old Nokia Symbian device and I'm really impressed so far.
The UI is fluid and once you install a custom launcher you get all the missing icons such as Google Play back.
While it's not anything fancy to write home about I really don't agree with the comment of "Don't waste your time with this phone."
It's miles ahead of the other entry level Android devices I looked at and includes things such as GPS which most of the other entry level smart phones omit.

Would I buy another one? Definitely!
This is the sort of phone you can give to a non power user such as technically challenged parents and grandparents who don't need all the blazing speed and cutting edge technology.

I see the Gobii IVP (quad core) is now on special for R999.
 
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Paul_S said:
I just bought the Gobii IIP for R699 (was on special) for my father who's currently using an old Nokia Symbian device and I'm really impressed so far.
The UI is fluid and once you install a custom launcher you get all the missing icons such as Google Play back.
While it's not anything fancy to write home about I really don't agree with the comment of "Don't waste your time with this phone."
It's miles ahead of the other entry level Android devices I looked at and includes things such as GPS which most of the other entry level smart phones omit.

Would I buy another one? Definitely!
This is the sort of phone you can give to a non power user such as technically challenged parents and grandparents who don't need all the blazing speed and cutting edge technology.

I see the Gobii IVP (quad core) is now on special for R999.
Click to expand...

I won't lie, I had just bought the IIP for my mom when I read the OP. Was quite disappointed. Feel a bit of relief after reading your experience :P

Thinking of getting the IVP for my dad. His eyesight is a bit worse than my moms, so the extra size will help a bit. At least that's what I hope.
 
Paul_S said:
I just bought the Gobii IIP for R699 (was on special) for my father who's currently using an old Nokia Symbian device and I'm really impressed so far.
The UI is fluid and once you install a custom launcher you get all the missing icons such as Google Play back.
While it's not anything fancy to write home about I really don't agree with the comment of "Don't waste your time with this phone."
It's miles ahead of the other entry level Android devices I looked at and includes things such as GPS which most of the other entry level smart phones omit.

Would I buy another one? Definitely!
This is the sort of phone you can give to a non power user such as technically challenged parents and grandparents who don't need all the blazing speed and cutting edge technology.

I see the Gobii IVP (quad core) is now on special for R999.
Click to expand...

mr_norris said:
I won't lie, I had just bought the IIP for my mom when I read the OP. Was quite disappointed. Feel a bit of relief after reading your experience :P

Thinking of getting the IVP for my dad. His eyesight is a bit worse than my moms, so the extra size will help a bit. At least that's what I hope.
Click to expand...

I was definitely impressed with it at first, really solid, but for R899 there are other phones on the market that are better. Orange has lumia 530 for R1150 and that was only R200 more without issues.
For R699 and now R599 with all the vouchers that kalahari handout like water. Its definitely worth it. I would get it again.
But for R900 In my opinion, no. And with the screen flickering the more frequently as I used it, I could see it dying in few weeks.

Also I was worried about the SAR (Specific absorption rate is a measure of the rate at which energy is absorbed by the human body when exposed to a radio frequency (RF)),
Cheap phones usually have high SAR, now for dual sim to work the power output to radio need to be higher meaning Radiation from the phone should be higher than average.
Legal limit in US is 1.6. Moto E has SAR of 1.5. Imagine what Gobii IIP would have.

@mr_norris:
Sorry my post made you feel that way. Gobii IIP is like a Galaxy S clone but faster and more solid with few issues (nothing major). It's a good phone.
Also my mom has a 4 inch Xperia M. She has difficulties typing on the thing due to small screen. The extra size will definitely help.
 
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We have had 2 llP's in the family for a few months now (@R999.00) Never a days problem.
Now @ R499.00!!
We just ordered another llP at that price & 2x lVP's @ R999.00!
Dunno if there is any better value. & the service from Kalahari has been amazing!!
 
Does it have a feature to create a wifi hotspot
 
Bought one yesterday at R499, will see if it manages to beat the Smart 4 Mini which is my current cheap phone of choice.
On paper it has the following over the Smart 4 Mini :
Double the RAM
Double the SIMs
Double the Megapixel
Actual glass screen
IPS display
 
I don't see the need to load other ROMs, what you get is a pretty clean instance of 4.2.2 and after setting the Google Now Launcher as your default launcher all is bliss.

Got mine yesterday and I did a test on the camera. Videos are a terribly choppy 13fps whether shot in High (480p) or Fine (720p) and are stored as a 3GP which what you would expect from a bottom level MediaTek chipset

Code: 
General
Format                         : MPEG-4
Format profile                 : 3GPP Media Release 4
Codec ID                       : 3gp4
File size                      : 19.5 MiB
Duration                       : 17s 416ms
Overall bit rate mode          : Constant
Overall bit rate               : 9 405 Kbps
Encoded date                   : UTC 2014-12-11 15:44:45
Tagged date                    : UTC 2014-12-11 15:44:45

Video
ID                             : 1
Format                         : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile                 : Main@L4
Format settings, BVOP          : Yes
Format settings, QPel          : No
Format settings, GMC           : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix        : Default (H.263)
Codec ID                       : 20
Duration                       : 17s 233ms
Bit rate mode                  : Constant
Bit rate                       : 9 372 Kbps
Nominal bit rate               : 256 Kbps
Width                          : 1 280 pixels
Height                         : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio           : 16:9
Frame rate mode                : Variable
Frame rate                     : 13.405 fps
Minimum frame rate             : 13.399 fps
Maximum frame rate             : 13.411 fps
Color space                    : YUV
Bit depth                      : 8 bits
Scan type                      : Progressive
Compression mode               : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)             : 0.759
Stream size                    : 19.3 MiB (99%)
Title                          : VideoHandle
Writing library                : MTK_ENCODER_V3
Language                       : English
Encoded date                   : UTC 2014-12-11 15:44:45
Tagged date                    : UTC 2014-12-11 15:44:45
mdhd_Duration                  : 17233

Audio
ID                             : 2
Format                         : AAC
Format/Info                    : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile                 : HE-AAC / LC
Codec ID                       : 40
Duration                       : 17s 416ms
Bit rate mode                  : Constant
Bit rate                       : 128 Kbps
Nominal bit rate               : 96.0 Kbps
Channel(s)                     : 2 channels
Channel positions              : Front: L R
Sampling rate                  : 48.0 KHz / 24.0 KHz
Compression mode               : Lossy
Stream size                    : 272 KiB (1%)
Title                          : SoundHandle
Language                       : English
Encoded date                   : UTC 2014-12-11 15:44:45
Tagged date                    : UTC 2014-12-11 15:44:45
mdhd_Duration                  : 17416

The frame quality however is very good as can be seen in this screen shot taken from a 720p video.

The videos not so much, touch focus is available while recording. Here is a sample clip straight from the phone.

The interpolation done on still images is terrible, the 0.3MP front camera gets blown up to 2MP which results in a smudgy out picture, it really is only good if you want to take a head shot picture for an avatar or small sized profile image.

At the back the 5MP module is slow and useless in HDR mode, apart from ghosting the end result always ends up with the shadows looking grey with just as little detail as on non HDR shots and their dark shadow area. The sun or other bright lights does seem to mess around the AF measuring but close up shots are remarkably good.

Close ups



Contrast


HDR Off


HDR On


Landscape


Sun


Video frame
 
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I bought one for my mom last week, now you guys forced my hand and i bought myself one as well, i did not need this.... Damn you's.......
 
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