Android for the Highway
A French smartphone with a sense of style arrives on the Thai market
A sleek smartphone from French company Wiko Mobile, Highway Signs has good performance and comes at an affordable price.
It’s powered by MediaTek’s octa-core Cortex-A7 1.4 GHz processor, runs on the latest Android operating system – 4.4 KitKat – and has 1 Gigabyte of RAM or working memory as well as 8 GB of internal storage, of which half is available for use. A microSD card adds 32 GB more storage.
It has two SIM slots – one for micro SIM and the other for nano SIM. The latter can be used as a microSD slot.
Positively skinny at just 7.6mm and weighing a mere 124 grammes, it’s available in black and white. I tested the white one and was impressed at how attractive it looked with a metallic rim separating the front and back covers.
Highway Signs has 4.7-inch capacitive touch IPS display with 1,280 x 720-pixel resolution. The display is covered with Corning Gorilla Glass 2 to protect against scratching.
The main camera has 8-megapixel resolution and the front camera has 5. The cameras are of good quality for a mobile phone, especially when there is enough light. The camera has nice Face beauty and V Gesture shoot options too.
The V Gesture shot is handy for selfies. Simply flash the V sign and the camera beeps then fires the shutter.
Highway Signs supports the 3G connection of HSPA+ 850/2100 MHz. I tested it on TrueMove H 850MHz HSPA+ system.
During the test, I downloaded and installed apps fast and was able to update and read my Facebook without any glitches.
The phone has good performance and both its touch screen and menus were responsive. Scrolling of screens was fast and smooth. Web pages were rendered fast. And HD YouTube clips played smoothly.
The phone has a nice security feature that lets you use your voice to unlock it by saying some words for the phone to record and use for unlocking.
Or you draw a pattern on nine dots – three dots on three rows – to unlock the phone.
The phone also functions as a good quality music player. I tested its music player with my Razor in-ear headphones and was happy with the sound quality.
It comes with 2,000 mAh built-in battery that can last you for a working day per one full charge.
Wiko Highway Signs is distributed in Thailand by SIS Distribution for Bt6,990.
Key specs:
Network: HSPA+ 850/2100 MHz
GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
Operating System: Android 4.4 (KitKat)
Processor: MediaTek Octa core, 1.4 GHz, Cortex-A7
Display: 4.7-inch TFT, Capacitive touch, IPS technology, Full lamination, Corning Gorilla Glass 2 with 1280 x 720 pixels
RAM: 1 GB
Storage: 8 GB (4GB useable) expandable with microSD of up to 32 GB
Sim Card: 1 Micro + 1 Nano / Micro SD
Battery: 2000 mAh
Size: 138x68x7.6mm
Weight: 124 g (with battery)
Provided accessories: AC adapter, headset, micro USB cable, SIM card adapters, SIM card ejection tool, user guide
