The new Philips W8555, a dual SIM smartphone with marvelous design

Philips introduced last month its line of mobile phones with dual SIM. I mean, you can two active lines on the same phone. Philips is not exactly a titan of the mobile world, beyond here will remember their initial presence in the domestic mobile market; is Fuegians Telecommunications, which has licensed the brand-and access to equipment designs that Philips sold in China, which offers these teams in the country. The W8555 was tested, with 5-inch screen Full HD, 2 GB of RAM, MT6589T MediaTek chip quad-core 1.5 GHz, 16 GB of internal storage (and microSD slot), 13-megapixel rear camera and front 2 megapixel, FM, 3G, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS and a 3300 mAh battery (removable) radio. The suggested retail price is 5999 pesos (no line); operators do not sell it.

The company also sells a more modest version, the W3500: 5-inch (854 x 480 pixels), 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage (and microSD slot), a chip quad-core 1.3 GHz, 5 megapixel rear camera and 2 megapixel front, FM radio and 2200 mAh battery, plus Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and 3G. Its suggested retail price is 3999 pesos (no line).

WEATHER SUMMARY FOR LACKING

Not bad. But there’s another reason to buy that dual-SIM and in the case of battery-W8555, which gives very good autonomy. There are bad teams and work well, but they have other features that stand out from the rest, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The camera could be better. The processor and RAM are sufficient. The price may seem high, it is reasonable for a smartphone of this caliber if you consider that is sold without online.

DUAL SIM

These teams allow two lines in use simultaneously. Something unexpected is using mini SIM slots (or micro or nano, the largest). Setup is simple: identify each SIM with a color screen, and you can put a fancy name, and choose which connects to the Internet. You can also define from what will be called and sending SMS in default, or choose each time. Receiving calls and texts is automatic for both lines

You can associate a specific SIM contacts: call this number to get online with this free numbers, for example. Of course, you can disable a SIM and use the phone with a single line. If we’re talking and a call comes to the second line goes to voice mail (which depends on the line, not the device). Calls can listen well and I had no reception problems; I had 3G in the same places where I usually have with other models.

THE COMPUTER HARDWARE

The W8555 is a large and solid, if somewhat bulky in part by the 3300 mAh battery of the phone, which gives it a good weight. Not so much to be uncomfortable, but its size is not for every pocket. It is, yes, bigger than other models I tested 5 inches. On the aesthetic is not bad; although it is all plastic, shape (with rounded corners) and gold trim give it a nice look without physical buttons in front and a notification light near the Philips logo.

The plastic cover provides access to the battery, the two SIM and microSD slot. Of the 16 GB of internal storage, 2 GB are intended for applications and a 11.8 GB user data (photos, music, etc.); the remaining 2 GB, as usual, it takes the operating system. The Full HD 5 inch screen has good brightness and color. It is far from S4 Galaxy Super AMOLED or IPS LG G2. But it has good definition, good contrast and reasonable visibility to sunlight.

It is a good example of the rest of the hardware, which has a decent quality, no surprise: the 4-core processor MediaTek is not the fastest on the market (for those who follow these things: it is the level of a Qualcomm S4 Pro), but fulfills its function without fanfare; I had no problems running any applications, everything moves smoothly; Camera is 13 megapixels and not bad, but perhaps would have been better August 1 with higher quality. There are better (especially for video, which lost pictures) but decent. There is, however, a team they consider key to this point.

The team also has FM radio and one slightly larger than the 3300 mAh battery Samsung Galaxy Note 3. During the presentation, company executives said they could get to have a range of 2 to 3 days. It will select the power-saving mode that limits 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth (which is activated by a side button); under normal circumstances ie all takes less walk-though to modern standards is fine: more than 24 hours without recharging. And I should give a little more with some simple adjustments.

ON THE SOFTWARE SIDE

The good news: Philips did not change the basic Android interface, and the addition of software is brief but reasonable: a special keyboard called TouchPal X (which can be replaced), an office suite (Kingsoft), a file manager, a tool for backup in the memory card, a photo gallery and videos, and more; the rest is standard Android.

The relatively bad news: it uses Android 4.2, and there is no view to go beyond 4.4 has a terse “we are evaluating” by the company. Would it be better to have 4.4 KitKat? Yes, because it is more efficient in the use of resources, and will enable some new features. Should be a point of much weight to choose the team? No; the vast majority of the applications available on the market today work the same. But is not the optimal situation, no doubt.