Last week we finally saw the launch of O Plus USA’s “O+ Air”, will the extra bells and whistles of Eat Bulaga entice buyers to choose it over other local octa core phones?

Here’s our unboxing video and initial impression

O+ Air is the newest flagship phone of the O Plus USA, it is somewhat a promising device highlighting 4 major features: Slim and lightweight design, 8 core processor, latest Android KitKat OS and Lumi Display.

Air’s processor clock ticks at 1.7GHz, an octa core MT6592, it is the world’s first true octa-core mobile chip. The MT6592 chipset is built on the 28nm HPM (high-performance process) and includes eight CPU cores, each capable of clock speeds up to 2GHz.

O+ Air comes with 2,000mAh battery, on first impression, it’s logically too small for an octa core device, but MediaTek says that the MT6592 chipset can run both low-power consuming and more demanding tasks equally well, by attaching the full capabilities of all eight-cores in any combination.

Another power saving feature is the Lumi display, which is made of a dual-crystal luminescent film that’s capable of producing “real life colors” without sacrificing the battery life. Though the Lumi display is a new thing, in a layman’s perspective, the display quality is beyond  the usual AMOLED or Retina thing, your eyes will actually feel its uniqueness (ang lamig sa mata – that’s the exact term), there’s a flat effect and can be compared to an actual colored paper – it is closely similar to e-paper of Kindles but with warm texture of natural colors. Overall, the screen is amazing and extremely responsive. And don’t forget, it’s scratch-resistant as well.

Dubbed as “Air”, the device is just 6.8mm thick and weighs 115 grams. Holding the device will tell you why it’s called Air, it’s amazing to think that in a super slim device, O Plus USA was able to squeeze-in superb specs, – taragis!

In the local mobile industry, we’ve seen lots of octa core phones, but not with Android KitKat, and this is one of the exciting features of Air, I was actually surprised hearing the news that Air knowing that it is an octa core device comes running on Android 4.4, it’s a combo happiness!

Here are some new things that KitKat could offer:

• Better memory management, these memory improvements are expected to lead to smoother multi-tasking as well.
• Improved Google Now, you can now activate Google Now by simply saying “OK Google”
• Hangouts App Upgraded, Google Hangouts now supports SMS and MMS, it will also be getting support for HD video calls across all devices.
• Integration with Cloud Storage, support for cloud storage solutions such as Google Drive built into the operating system
• Printing On The Go, this will allow you to print documents over WiFi or Bluetooth thru wireless printers
• Additional Built-In Sensors, two new composite sensors: step counter and step detector
• And what’s best? You can download Google Camera – yey! With Google Camera you can snap quick and easy photos and videos, and has creative picture modes like Photo Sphere, Lens Blur and Panorama

O+ Air Unboxing Video

Air has a unibody design, the battery isn’t removable, omitting the plasticky feel of the usual back cover, it has aluminum back plate which gives premium look. The feel is solid and metallic.

O+ Air also provided Cloud support feature – the Air Share. O+ Air Share is a sharing app that enables you to share files from your Google Drive to your Facebook friends whose also using the app.

Other notable features are: Quad Core Graphics Processor (GPU)- best for gaming! 10 point multi-touch screen, w0w you can use all your fingers all at the same time haha taragis, Dual camera 13MP and 5MP, Dual SIM support  (micro SIM and regular SIM) Quad Band GSM and 3G connectivity, Air Shuffle, micro SD support up to 32GB (the box comes with free 8GB – yibye!), FM Radio, GPS, Bluetooth, USB OTG, Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi hotspot.

I’ll be using the O+ Air and will make as my primary phone to bring you a comprehensive review in the coming days, stay tuned.

O+ Air will be available first week of June at O Plus Concept Stores, Partner Retailers and Kiosks with an introductory price of Php 13,995. The regular price is Php 15,995.