This is Elijah Mendoza’s Facebook message earlier this week:
We’re happy to share with you the awesome news that Starmobile will be the first local brand to launch an Octaphone in the Philippines this January 2014!
Image is attached and will be a 6†phablet with the same Starmobile build quality, optics, and imaging features. Being a phablet, this will be under the Diamond series and will be called the Diamond X1.
Essentially, the Octaphone is an Android phablet with an 8-core processor. They are the first local brand to be launching such as device under the premium Diamond Line.
Phone in question: What’s the fuss with the faster processor? At some point, doesn’t speed give you diminishing returns when it comes to mobile phones? How fast do you really need it to be?
Answer: When Apple announced their 64-bit chip architecture, it caused a stir in the mobile phone industry. They were the first to adopt this kind of tech into a mobile phone and Android had nothing to offer in return. The 8-core architecture may be the answer to this. As for practical uses, it is really up to the industry — software developers and consumers to predict the actual use for such things. Nobody knew we would be using GPS on our phones. But look at us today!
Boom. It’s only been two years since they opened shop in the Philippines but Starmobile is fast approaching 1 million users. Last week, the Philippine-owned smartphone company launched their Christmas lineup of 12 more Android devices: 3 smartphones, 5 Diamond series phablets and 4 tablets to complete their 2013 ‘Engage’ line.
Every other tech blog has made the ‘Diamond pun’ so here’s mine: this post has taken forever to write (because diamonds last forever). So yes, this is late. Like one month late. The Starmobile Diamond was released back in April and has been making the rounds among the many lifestyle and tech blogs. About two weeks ago I had lunch with Starmobile’s Consumer Marketing Head, Katrina Tioseco, President Michael Chen and Asst. Brand Manager Paula Rivera. Immediate discussions naturally revolved around the state of the phone industry, local blogs and yes, SCUBA diving (as Katrina is also a licensed SCUBA diver). I swear, diving is the new golf.
With all the hubbub on the smartphone space, let’s take a short break and look into the recent happenings in the feature phone market. Out of nowhere, we have a local phone company called Starmobile launching a stable of new non-smartphones that have a rather interesting twist to the typical offerings.