Android one Introduced in Thailand. Best value for money.

[tx22cb]

Was there a User Manual in the box, and if so was it in English or Thai? Thank you.

[guzzi850m2]

Was there a User Manual in the box, and if so was it in English or Thai? Thank you.

Yes on both, the little manual is divided up in 2 parts, one Thai and one English section.

Not very useful, haven't even read it yet, LOL.

It does say though that you will receive Android updates for up to 2 years after July 2015.

So what happens after that I don't know?

Well for a 4444 baht phone, don't really care too much, time to bin it by then and buy a new I guess.

My old IQ4 now serves my 5 year old son, I did a hard reset on it and now have Angry Birds and Lego games loaded on it and YouTube via WI-Fi so he can play with that for now.

Another thing to note for the IQII, no apps can be stored on the mini SD card, none, nada, nil, zilch, hmmm

I am comparing my Microsoft LTE640 a lot with the IQII, they cost almost the same and fells about same speed wise when using them, it's a shame that this app Geekbench3 can't be had on the Windows platform.

The 640 is slightly bigger than the IQII. The Windows phone & system is very smart in many ways; I have set it up to store all apps on the mini SD card by default but I will get a warning when an app can't be stored there and if I want to proceed downloading it to the phone storage, smart man. Writing messages on the 640 is the best I ever tried on a phone, so smooth and easy and a very good fell to it when pressing a letter.

The Windows phone is just so nice to use man, I really like it BUT the lack of apps just drag it down too much, it's such a shame really.

At the movement I swap them everyday, so one day use the IQ and the other day the 640.

I am soon off to Singapore for some work and I will bring the IQII, loaded with Thai & Singapore Sim cards and both phones have the HERE off-line maps loaded for Thailand & Singapore (just in case).

The IQII fells much smaller than the 640, oddly enough, it's only app 3mm shorter in length and app 5mm less width but fells like much more.

[tx22cb]

Thanks for the answer and the useful commentary.

I reckon 10 GB for Apps should be enough for me.

I am a little more curious about the 1 GB RAM, as many new models are now packing 2 GB ..... but perhaps 1 GB is enough for pure Android, and 2 GB is required deal with the others' bloatware & overlaying User Interface.

And please give us an update on the main camera - whether it does a passable job at taking photos & small videos - or would you need to install a camera App to augment the quality?

[sjonburi]

Congrats on the root.. Which apps which require root did you install? Adaway, Trickster mod?

well, finally got it rooted...

It's not a "one click" solution and I will try, to put all together in a "user-friendly" .zip file.

I will publish it on XDA the next days and post a link here, if interested.

[Turkleton]

Congrats on the root.. Which apps which require root did you install? Adaway, Trickster mod?

Until now: (but trying to get the unofficial Xposed framework on the phone)

But highest priority is to compile (at least a minimal) TWRP or CWM, to make Nandroid backups, before further tinkering...

Additionally, with a working TWRP, I could upload my root-script.zip..

Edited August 14, 2015 by Turkleton

[SheungWan]

OK just downloaded the app and tested:

Single-core score= 484

Multi-core score= 1430

Is that good? No idea myself but I can see it's about 1/2 of what you gets on a rooted G. S5

50% of the performance for 20% of the (new) price sounds to be a good deal.

But even more important, no crappy, unremovable Samsung bloatware and services, which slows everything down to a crawl.

I've got a Note 3 and there is no crawl as far as I can see.

[speedtripler]

Note 4 stl blazes through anything I can throw it at

Root it, wipe it and install simplite rom v4c....

Its almost painful to use a "normal" android phone from the low or mid range after being used to everything opening in a flash

It drives me nuts trying to use our old xperia Z because I'm so used to the speed anything else feels like a turtle race

[bino]

If so, what use is the 2nd SIM slot?!

Put another sim card in it and give this number to the mia noi. It works out well when you dump her ass; you do not have to change your main number and lose all of your contacts.

Edited August 21, 2015 by bino

[Broken Record]

I bought iMobile iQ II, at Tesco Lotus North Pattaya Road, I will use it as a Phone I can afford to lose as I have been known to lose expensive phones before when on the Town.

I have an iPhone 6 I don't want to lose, hence my plan to buy the cheap Android, all I can say is, wow, what an absolute bargain the iQII is, value for money it blows the iPhone away, I paid 33,000 for my 128GB iPhone 6, comparing it with the 4.444 Baht iMobile is maybe unfair, but I will say this, the iQII is amazing value, and is a very capable phone, can't believe it's so cheap, or maybe I've just got used to paying top Dollar for iPhones.

Recommended with no hesitation.

[nev]

I bought iMobile iQ II, at Tesco Lotus North Pattaya Road, I will use it as a Phone I can afford to lose as I have been known to lose expensive phones before when on the Town.

I have an iPhone 6 I don't want to lose, hence my plan to buy the cheap Android, all I can say is, wow, what an absolute bargain the iQII is, value for money it blows the iPhone away, I paid 33,000 for my 128GB iPhone 6, comparing it with the 4.444 Baht iMobile is maybe unfair, but I will say this, the iQII is amazing value, and is a very capable phone, can't believe it's so cheap, or maybe I've just got used to paying top Dollar for iPhones.

Recommended with no hesitation.

Welcome to the world of realizing that you are only paying for the brand of the iphone or Samsung, buy the phone you bought will give you all you get on the expensive phones and you will have money in you pocket too.

I have a ulefone bepro a Chinese phone a excellent phone and I would highly recommend the ulefone betouch2.

[vi2004]

I have been playing around with this phone at Tesco Lotus.

I have to say it is fast and nice. I like the idea of Vanilla Android without all the bloatware and two years of updates.

From what I have seen so far this is a great phone. Don't forget ... we are talking about a 4.444 Baht phone

Are there any new experiences by people using this phone? I would be very interested in some more first-hand information.

One point that bothers me though is (although that seems to be the point for almost all i-mobile phones being manufactured for the Thai market):

Where can I use this phone?

Can I make calls with it and use at least 3G in Western Europe?

What about the other SEA countries if I make a holiday there? Or China, South Korea, Hongkong?

Is this phone even working at all outside Thailand (I am thinking about frequencies)?

[casualbiker]

I have been playing around with this phone at Tesco Lotus.

I have to say it is fast and nice. I like the idea of Vanilla Android without all the bloatware and two years of updates.

From what I have seen so far this is a great phone. Don't forget ... we are talking about a 4.444 Baht phone

Are there any new experiences by people using this phone? I would be very interested in some more first-hand information.

One point that bothers me though is (although that seems to be the point for almost all i-mobile phones being manufactured for the Thai market):

Where can I use this phone?

Can I make calls with it and use at least 3G in Western Europe?

What about the other SEA countries if I make a holiday there? Or China, South Korea, Hongkong?

Is this phone even working at all outside Thailand (I am thinking about frequencies)?

3g frequency around the world.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UMTS_networks

LTE (4g) around the world. 4g 2100 is band 1. 1800 is band 3

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks

Edited September 8, 2015 by casualbiker

[speedtripler]

I bought iMobile iQ II, at Tesco Lotus North Pattaya Road, I will use it as a Phone I can afford to lose as I have been known to lose expensive phones before when on the Town.

I have an iPhone 6 I don't want to lose, hence my plan to buy the cheap Android, all I can say is, wow, what an absolute bargain the iQII is, value for money it blows the iPhone away, I paid 33,000 for my 128GB iPhone 6, comparing it with the 4.444 Baht iMobile is maybe unfair, but I will say this, the iQII is amazing value, and is a very capable phone, can't believe it's so cheap, or maybe I've just got used to paying top Dollar for iPhones.

Recommended with no hesitation.

Welcome to the world of realizing that you are only paying for the brand of the iphone or Samsung, buy the phone you bought will give you all you get on the expensive phones and you will have money in you pocket too.

I have a ulefone bepro a Chinese phone a excellent phone and I would highly recommend the ulefone betouch2.

Until it breaks...

At least if you break a popular brand phone every somchai knows how to fix it

I had a HTC style Chinese phone once, couldn't be repaired and didnt cost enough to return it to China and all that

From thst time, I've used Samsung products

Cost more obviously but I don't mind paying more because a smartphone is so useful and versatile thesedays I can use it for everything

[nev]

I bought iMobile iQ II, at Tesco Lotus North Pattaya Road, I will use it as a Phone I can afford to lose as I have been known to lose expensive phones before when on the Town.

I have an iPhone 6 I don't want to lose, hence my plan to buy the cheap Android, all I can say is, wow, what an absolute bargain the iQII is, value for money it blows the iPhone away, I paid 33,000 for my 128GB iPhone 6, comparing it with the 4.444 Baht iMobile is maybe unfair, but I will say this, the iQII is amazing value, and is a very capable phone, can't believe it's so cheap, or maybe I've just got used to paying top Dollar for iPhones.

Recommended with no hesitation.

Welcome to the world of realizing that you are only paying for the brand of the iphone or Samsung, buy the phone you bought will give you all you get on the expensive phones and you will have money in you pocket too.

I have a ulefone bepro a Chinese phone a excellent phone and I would highly recommend the ulefone betouch2.

Until it breaks...

At least if you break a popular brand phone every somchai knows how to fix it

I had a HTC style Chinese phone once, couldn't be repaired and didnt cost enough to return it to China and all that

From thst time, I've used Samsung products

Cost more obviously but I don't mind paying more because a smartphone is so useful and versatile thesedays I can use it for everything

Yes I see your point, but give me a high spec Chinese phone that does not cost that much rather than paying 30,000 baht for a i phone6 or a top end Samsung, you can buy a new phone every 6 months and still have money to spare, with my ulefone I must add I have not had one problem with it yet and I have had it over 8 months now, I already have my next one lined up when this one packs in.

[guzzi850m2]

I am in Malaysia now using my IQ with Singtel sim card, no problem. Still very happy with the phone but tales a bit time to wake up but not important to me

[vi2004]

Thanks for the infos.

So it looks like 3G is pretty much available "everywhere" on the 2100 frequency.

4G at 1800 seems to be popular in Europe.

So it should be fine at most countries. For a holiday 3G should be ok anyway.

Regarding buying a Samsung instead:

I had Samsung and HTC all the time. Never had a real problem but after some time getting speed problems and sudden restarts too.

But I like to idea of vanilla Android and for that you have mostly the choice between the Android One program or the Nexus.

Nexus is on the higher end regarding specs and price.

So I am really interested in trying out the i-mobile II.

[guzzi850m2]

Yes a "naked" Android phone is perfect, you choose which aps you want and not all that crap they normally come loaded with

[bobbin]

I just bought this model yesterday. I've owned 2 previous I-mobile phones. The first one's motherboard failed after 1 year. Not cost-effective to repair. I've been using it's replacement, an X3, for about a year. it has a MediaTec chipset 1.5 Ghz. quad-core and Jelly Bean 4.2. You-Tube never worked properly but other than that I've been happy enough with it for the Bt 4600 I paid for it.

But I'm intrigued by the idea of a Google reference phone, with Google specified hardware, closer to the I-Phone experience. Note that it comes with a 2 year warranty as opposed to the usual 1 year from I-mobile. Plus the 2 years of updates to Android. The 1.2 Ghz. quad-core is a step down, but it's a 64bit processor and Google promises that it's fast and smooth, and it is.

Android M is is due out in a month and it will be interesting to side-step the usual "will my phone ever get an upgrade and when?" experience. With a 2 year update time-frame I know I'll have the newest Android OS experience possible.

[bobbin]

Was there a User Manual in the box, and if so was it in English or Thai? Thank you.

Yes on both, the little manual is divided up in 2 parts, one Thai and one English section.

Another thing to note for the IQII, no apps can be stored on the mini SD card, none, nada, nil, zilch, hmmm

I woke up this morning to a notification that an Android system upgrade was downloaded, verified, and available to install. Reboot and installation was painless but checking "about this phone" still shows 5.1.1, so I guess stability and bug fixes as stated.

Here is a link that shows that apps can be stored on sd card in Lollipop. Haven't tried it yet...

http://www.trishtech.com/2015/05/change-preferred-install-location-in-android-lollipop/

[h90]

I-mobile haven't actually got a good track record for upgrading the OS on their phones. They usually just release a new phone with a similar name a few months later!

but at 4.400 Baht......Look at the Samsung phones, you pay 20K and the OS is full with bloatware.....

[bobbin]

Another point...

I haven't been that impressed with battery life. GPS is enabled by default and the manual states that in areas of poor reception, battery life will be adversely affected as the constant checking for signal will consume power. As I'm inside a concrete building more than I am outside, I thought I would go to settings and turn it off. Oops. Now my Yahoo weather widget doesn't work, unlike my other phones with GPS turned off. But....

You-Tube tells me to go to Location and long press to bring up menu that allows "battery saving" option, using cell phone and provider info. Yahoo weather widget now working without GPS. Just have to remember how to turn it back on.

[SebastianSchuetz]

How is the battery and the screen? Thinking of picking one up myself..

Thanks!

[bobbin]

How is the battery and the screen? Thinking of picking one up myself..

Thanks!

The screen is bright and crisp. I haven't turned on "adaptive dimming" so always full brightness, which I prefer.

About battery, see above.

[SebastianSchuetz]

Thanks Bobbin. Saw your post only now. Not sure what to make out of it.. do you get one day of use out of the battery then? Or more/less?

[bobbin]

Thanks Bobbin. Saw your post only now. Not sure what to make out of it.. do you get one day of use out of the battery then? Or more/less?

I'm not a power user. In fact my phone is plugged in often while at home. My feelings about battery life are subjective, comparing it to the i-mobile X3. For example, I'll unplug it (100%), carry to a comfortable chair to do a text or two, and see that it's at 95%. After the GPS adjustment mentioned before I'm expecting better. It does have a 2500ma battery vs. X3's 2300ma, and Lollipop is supposed to have lower power consumption than Jelly Bean (or KitKat). Marshmallow is said to be better yet and phone owners will get it as soon as available, along with certain Nexus models.

[mitebbots]

I can use it as a wi-fi hotspot? or would it be better to buy some sort of aircard or USB dongle? need 4g on laptop at this point. thx

Edited September 17, 2015 by mitebbots

[JHolmesJr]

Can one pick english as the language of this phone….i hope this isn't a dumb question but the weblink in the post leads to an all thai website….cant make out head or tail.

[tx22cb]

Can one pick english as the language of this phone….i hope this isn't a dumb question but the weblink in the post leads to an all thai website….cant make out head or tail.

Yes, one can. As it's a "pure" Android, one selects the language during the initial start-up.

Apparently, several varieties of "English" can be chosen ... including English (India) - I presume that this is UK English but with vigorous swaying of the head.

[speedtripler]

I can use it as a wi-fi hotspot? or would it be better to buy some sort of aircard or USB dongle? need 4g on laptop at this point. thx

nearly all android phones on the market now can wifi hotspot unless its been deliberately disabled by a

carrier who would like to charge you for it (only in usa ive heard of it happening )

your 4g data will burn up pretty quick if you watch much youtube or ownload anything signifigant like a movie

but you will be able to browse internet and email until your hearts content on a few GB a month

[guzzi850m2]

Thanks Bobbin. Saw your post only now. Not sure what to make out of it.. do you get one day of use out of the battery then? Or more/less?

On my android one I have installed Avast battery saver and now at 90% full battery it tells me I got 3 days remaining, well now I started playing with it: 46 hours.

It also tells you how much each app consume which had me removing some hardly used apps.

Yes as mentioned setting up a hot spot is easy.

So far got 2 updates on the android system, safety updates I think and they just came out of the blue when turning on wi-fi (I don't have a data plan, don't need it).

It's a very good phone for the money, I am impressed that a sub 5000 baht phone can be this good.