The Nigeria-based end-to-end digital provider, SOLO is out with the all new SOLO S355 – an improvement on the S350 phone, it seems. The company is shipping the latest iteration in partnership with Airtel Nigeria.
With a petite build, 4.2 Android Jellybean, average battery life, all the usual trappings plus ultra low-end pricing (at N9,500 [$48.60]), the S350 looks like a decent deal for what it costs. Whether this is a good purchase, after all things are considered, is another question altogether. Let’s find out.
Introductions
SOLO S355 comes in red, black and white colours, and packs a 3.5″ display, with a 1Ghz Dual Core processor and a512MB RAM beating at its heart.
Curiously, I found only 1.2GB of internal memory against the 4GB indicated on the official specs. It’s possible that the OS software has taken up a chunk of the available memory. Although I don’t expect it to have taken as much.
A crosshatch of instances like the one above is why it’s hard to define what to feel for this phone. Most of the downsides tend to come with an edge, hence the shifting impressions.
Design and Ambience
A while ago, before phablets became the centerpiece of our mobile civilization, everyone wanted an ultra-small, ultra-slim cellphone. In this era, the smaller your phone was, the more chic and expensive. S355 sort of reminds me of that time.
But today, everyone wants a large phone, because screensize. So for obvious reasons, I did not fall in love with the S335 on first sight. The interesting thing however is that my palm and pocket came to love this phone. There was no niggling fear that the phone is waiting to topple out of my hand onto the unforgiving concrete. The S355 cuddles up straight into your palm, you are almost always sure the phone isn’t going anywhere. And when it is time to rest it in the pocket, it is comfortably ensconced. No need to walk around with a bulging pocket. That’s definitely a plus in my book.
The phone has a general retro feel, with its minimal 4.2 Jellybean OS, an oddity when you consider the production and shipping timeline of the device. My review unit was produced last November and probably shipped around the time. Then again, a 512MB RAM may not run KitKat or even Lollipop effeciently, then you have the small screen size.
Screen
We already covered the joys of the small phone; how it doesn’t test your pocket space or the holding power of your palm. But all the goodness of the miniature phone ends when you begin typing on the miniature screen that comes with it, specifically, word processing – which I do a lot. That was a drag, but after a while, with the right word processing app and built-in autocomplete feature, you really begin to feel Zen. But, trust me, that will take time.
The screen is a fairly responsive WVGA IPS touchscreen. Although my unit would sometimes acquire a mind of its own and refuse to respond, the screen is obeyed my commands most of the time. The auto-rotation feature also works — most of the time. Clearly an improvement on its predecessor, the S350 which didn’t have the best accelerometer.
Performance And Data
With 512 megabytes of RAM, one would expect a lot of freezing. But somehow the S355 barely lags, freezes or heats up. Even at the peak of multitasking with the SOLO Music, Agent Dash, e-mail application, google docs and other background applications running. The S355 seemed to take anything I threw at it. Having said that, this device is an entry level android phone, so it is not exactly a good idea to push it too much.
The 1250 mAh battery was a bit disappointing. I only managed to get 13 hours of use out of a full charge. The phone takes around three hours to get to a full charge.
On data, S355 is totally data efficient. Yet, it somehow manages to download my e-mail faster than my other devices. I got close to a week of streaming, downloading, e-mailing and instant messaging out my 200MB Airtel test subscription.
Gameplay
The Play Store offers an interesting array of mobile games, most of which are downloadable on your S355. The phone is bundled with a handful of light role playing and machine shooter games which can actually be enjoyed decently if you have not been fed with the rich interactive media menu of Brothers in Arms, Call of Duty: Strike Team and the likes. But this is simply not a gaming device, it’s more about getting people to consume SOLO’s music and video content offerings, which I will get to at some point.
Camera
The S335 has a 5-megapixel camera, plus flash and a VGA front-facing snapper for those important selfies. The camera takes decent photographs, but you don’t want to trust it with the all important Instagram shots. For a low budget phone though, it’s a good value for money.
I took this picture of Lulu and Bolade indoors with S355 5MP. Looks decent.
The Airtel Union
Airtel provides FREE 500 MB data monthly for 12 months to the customer with a minimum recharge of N1,000 monthly for 12 months. The N1,000 recharge is not deducted for the data, so you’re free to use it for SMS and voice calls.
SOLO Music & SOLO View
Think of a lifetime premium subscription on Spotify – made in Nigeria and with a smaller music library — and you have SOLO Music. So, like Spotify premium, you can stream high quality songs…and download them too.
Most pundits have said repeatedly that SOLO Music is the prime weapon in the SOLO phones marketing armoury, and I absolutely agree. The experience is amazing. Registration was simple and straightforward and the download does not guzzle data. Plus, you don’t have to worry about the moral dilemma of illegal downloads and file sharing.
Downloads are DRM-protected – you can’t indulge your file-sharing fetish – bummer. But you begin to feel even better with your S355 when you realize SOLO Music only works on SOLO phones. How do you me like now?
I suppose I would like SOLO music better though if there was a desktop application that syncs with my phone, just like iTunes or my Spotify.
The library was recently upgraded to more than 20 million songs, and the latest additions include mainstream African acts and foreign hits.
SOLO View is another bright spot on S355. The SOLO proprietary application allows you to download movies – legally – on your phone for a viewing period of two weeks. With N200 ($1), you can download a Nollywood movie and a select catalogue of Hollywood movies. But new Hollywood releases can cost you as much as N350 ($1.75) a pop.
Once you get past the initial drag of the 3.5” screen (not the best for watching video), you are in for a big surprise. There are two ways to go about downloading from SOLO View. You can either use one of the SOLO Hotspots, or just straight out download over the internet using your own data. If you are buying this phone, SOLO Hotpots seem a better alternative, with average download time at 2.5 minutes, and you get to keep your already scarce data
The online payment module embedded inside SOLO View allows you fund your SOLO wallet straight from Paga, MasterCard, Visa and Verve.
Should you buy this phone?
The S355 is clearly not made for the android native. It’s an entry level, bite sized introduction for the android newbie. Android natives will struggle with the small screen size and the miniature build of the phone, but this should be a good upgrade for a first-time smartphone buyer. You are not immediately confronted with the immense dimensions of a mid-sized android phone.
If you are on a budget, the sub-par hardware shouldn’t be a concern when you realize the phone can turn around tasks on a level similar to that of marginally higher priced android devices.
The phone could surely be better in the battery life department, but then again, it’s a N9,500 ($48.60)phone.
S355 doesn’t seem to be in direct competition with any android device out there. It is easily the cheapest android phone in the space. With the exclusive offering on the SOLO Music and SOLO view coming along to sweeten the deal, I would buy even if I wasn’t on a budget. It may honestly then end up as my android-powered music player, but it will work.
Photos by Kunmi Owopetu
