Official Vodacom Smart Kicka thread

[Rouxenator]

Ordered mine today, should be getting it sometime next week. I really liked the Smart Mini 4 but this phone has couple advantages over it which is why I want to play with it.

Advantages of Smart Kicka over Smart 4 Mini
Price : R350 cheaper
OS : Kit-Kat 4.4 vs Jelly Bean 4.2
Battery : Same, should thus last longer.

Disadvantages of Smart Kicka over Smart 4 Mini
CPU : 1Ghz Dual Core VS 1.3Ghz Dual core
Camera : 2mp VS 3.2mp
Screen : 3.5" HVGA VS 4.0" WVGA

Update 2014-08-19
The review.

After spending a day with this phone I can say the following.

The Good :

• Very well priced
• Latest version of android
• Screen brightness and viewing angles are good
• Audio quality for radio and music is excellent
• FM Radio does have RDS
• Very snappy with a good GPU

The Bad :

• The Camera is horrendous
• No GPS despite Vodacom site claiming it does
• Notification bar icon hard to figure out on HVGA

Here are some specifications about what you get for your R549

The phone does report having a proximity sensor while in fact it does not and this sensor permanently reports that nothing is close to the phone.

Performance wise the phone is not bad at the price as we can see from Antutu


Gaming was surprisingling pleasant, the phone ran Epic Citadel very smooth which is probably due to the low screen res. RAM seems to be a limiting factor on more complex games, in Death Really for example the phone did not render all models, like the cars, yet the frame rate was still very smooth. Needless to say without all the models and textures the games was unplayable.


According to Elixer 2 the camera on the phone is 2048x1536 (3 mega pixel) but the basic camera app capures in 2160x1440. Looking at the detail in pictures it is clear that the camera module is at best a 1.3 mega pixel unit so any thing larger than that is interpolated. There is no noticable loss in detail when the images are downsized to 1280x853.

Sample photos:
HDR Off


HDR On


Lots of details


Panorama


Close up


Night mode off


Night mode on


HDR and Panoramic shooting modes are present but due to the crap camera module they are pointless.

Videos are shot in 864x480 at 15fps.

General
Format                         : MPEG-4
Format profile                 : 3GPP Media Release 4
Codec ID                       : 3gp4
File size                      : 31.1 MiB
Duration                       : 35s 328ms
Overall bit rate mode          : Constant
Overall bit rate               : 7 375 Kbps
Encoded date                   : UTC 2014-08-18 14:29:17
Tagged date                    : UTC 2014-08-18 14:29:17

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                       : 35s 294ms
Bit rate mode                  : Constant
Bit rate                       : 7 253 Kbps
Nominal bit rate               : 256 Kbps
Width                          : 864 pixels
Height                         : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio           : 16:9
Frame rate mode                : Variable
Frame rate                     : 15.017 fps
Minimum frame rate             : 9.084 fps
Maximum frame rate             : 15.045 fps
Color space                    : YUV
Bit depth                      : 8 bits
Scan type                      : Progressive
Compression mode               : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)             : 1.165
Stream size                    : 30.5 MiB (98%)
Title                          : VideoHandle
Writing library                : MTK_ENCODER_V3
Language                       : English
Encoded date                   : UTC 2014-08-18 14:29:17
Tagged date                    : UTC 2014-08-18 14:29:17

Audio
ID                             : 2
Format                         : AAC
Format/Info                    : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile                 : HE-AAC / LC
Codec ID                       : 40
Duration                       : 35s 328ms
Bit rate mode                  : Constant
Bit rate                       : 128 Kbps
Channel(s)                     : 2 channels
Channel positions              : Front: L R
Sampling rate                  : 48.0 KHz / 24.0 KHz
Compression mode               : Lossy
Stream size                    : 552 KiB (2%)
Title                          : SoundHandle
Language                       : English
Encoded date                   : UTC 2014-08-18 14:29:17
Tagged date                    : UTC 2014-08-18 14:29:17

Sample Video :
http://youtu.be/1EocS-QXWik

 

[pedruid]

I'm in my late 70's and have never owned a smartphone..
Would it be too much trouble for you PM me with the your opinion, good or bad?

 

[Totempole]

I take it this phone isn't locked, so there should be no problem using a CellC or MTN Sim in it right?

 

[Rouxenator]

These phones are not locked and I will post details once I get mine. I see on the vodacom site they claim it has GPS yet another site claims it does not. Guess there is only one way to find out

 

[RobbJosh]

Anyone got the full specs of this phone?

 

[mavric54]

Vodafone Smart 4 Mini Gel Covers ?

Hi, First day on the job. Anyone know where in Cape Town I can find soft gel covers in black, for this phone ? (Vodafone Smart 4 Mini) Searched high and low. Preferably not online unless need be.

 

[Rouxenator]

Only on Ebay.

 

[mavric54]

Only on Ebay.

Thanks a million for the heads up.

 

[pedruid]

How's you review getting along?

 

[Rouxenator]

Bad, I placed my order for the Kicka at a Vodashop instead of on the Vodacom site. Still waiting for the phone...
If I ordered online I would have had it a week ago, although the vodashop did call me on Friday saying the phone will be there today. If not I am ordering online, can't believe Vodacom have such poor supply of stock to their retail outlets. Pathetic.

 

[Rouxenator]

Review added in first post.

Anyone interested in a Vodacom Smart Kicka let me know, selling mine for R500 including postal delivery nationwide.

 

[Park@82]

Review added in first post.

Really not bad from the price. What about battery life? How much screen time on average?

/Not having GPS is a major turn off.

 

[Rouxenator]

Battery life is slightly better than the Smart 4 but it is very much dependant on the brightness level you have it set to.

GPS is a deal breaker for me. It does do cell triangulation pretty good but still not near as good as a GPS.

 

[morkhans]

How bad is the red branding?

Did you stick a non-Vodacom SIM in it yet?

 

[Rouxenator]

Only a start-up animation, nothing else. If you root it with Vroot you can delete or rename the start-up animation file.

Works on all networks :

 

[morkhans]

Cool thanks.

I've been wondering about exposing the parents to the world of smart phones. This looks like a worthwhile gamble.

 

[morkhans]

What size sim does this take? Standard or micro/nano?

 

[Rouxenator]

Standard size SIM card and it seems like it supports sdxc cards too.

 

[Icemanbrfc]

No phones that are provided by any of the networks should be locked. This Vodacom handset is by far a better handset than the MTN steppa just so BTW

 

[Icemanbrfc]

The handling is very good in terms of touch, and moving through the screens. The camera is not great, but its definately not the focal point here. The UI is clean as compared to what we saw on the Steppa, and the bloatware is basically not too bad.

I have just briefly had a mess around with this, but ill hopefully get a unit to test.

On a seperate note, at R549, to get a phone with KitKat is pretty impressive, considering that some high end devices are still waiting on a release of the KK OS. Do note though, that there might never be an update, but at least for the price, and the fact that it has KitKat out of the box, it will be great for a good amount of time.