Philips manufacture an impressive amount of different products, here in the west we are familiar with their light bulbs, televisions and even their coffee makers. It turns out that Philips also manufactures Android powered smart phones targeted at the Asian markets. One such smart phone is the upcoming Philips I928 has been leaked via Philips’ official profile on the Chinese social network, Weibo.
The Philips I928 is powered by the MT6592 MediaTek Octa-Core processor, its A7 Cortex based, featuring 8 scalable cores with the capability of being clocked up to 2GHz. A respectable 2GB of Ram is included, with the standard 16Gb of internal storage and MicroSD support. Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n and NFC are supported. The handset sports an industry standard 13MP rear-facing camera with f2.0 aperture and follows in HTC’s footsteps by including a 5MP front camera for the selfie fans out there. As with many smart phones aimed at the Asian markets, the I928 has Dual-SIM capability.
This is where things get interesting , with the Philips I928 having wielding a mammoth 6-inch Full HD display, via a curved glass. This is said to offer a quasi 3D or rather 2.5D effect according to the picture. This is one of those features that needs to be seen in person in order to determine whether its useful or just a gimmick. Thin bezels are the order of the day, and the I928 looks to continue the trend with its minimal footprint. As you can see from the pictures (below) the I928 looks to be quite compact, with the following dimensions: 160 x 81 x 8.2mm, which is only slightly larger than the Note 3’s dimensions of 151.2 x 79.2 x 8.3mm. Not bad for a 6-inch phone.
Audiophiles will be glad to note that Wolfson is providing the audio chip to go along with the with stereo speakers featured on the rear of the device. On the topic of the rear, the polycarbonate panel is said have a leather-like feel to it, similar to the Note 3. From the picture it looks textured, hopefully this translates to the I928 having a grippy, rather than slippy feel to it.
On the software side of things, the Philips I928 lets itself down a little, running on the relatively old Android version 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. Let’s hope that Philips is prompt with their updates. The Philips I928 should be announced later this month, after which more details will be known regarding its price and availability.