The SOLO Phone Review (SOLO S350)

SOLO Phone limited, a Nigerian smartphone maker is perhaps the latest entry into the Nigeria smartphone market. Solo phone is a new device manufacturing and digital content company committed to offering consumers in emerging markets like Nigeria affordable and elegant smartphones with best content regardless of the community they belong.

Solo phone leverages on music and movies as unique content offers to target market by offering free music and movie download.  Users are offered downloads of over 20 million songs.

Before I forget, i am ‘categorically’ telling you that the the CEO of the company is a Nigerian so you don’t begin to think it is another kind of ‘Chinko’ phone being presented to you. The Solo phone is a 3.5inch affordable Jelly-Bean powered Android phone with a sleek look and good build quality. It has a plastic body, comes in Black, Green and Grey colour.

Now let me tell you the interesting thing about this phone, before I begin please note that the phone was not designed to battle competitors on the specs sheet, it was designed for great multimedia experience. The sound quality is superb, especially when using the headset.

The Solo phone has a Solo Music platform that offers free unlimited streaming and downloading of over 20 million local and foreign songs to keep you happy throughout the lifespan of the device. YES I said free… I was so excited not just for the free music but the fact that I successfully downloaded an old dance hall reggaeton track by Morgan Heritage (U’ve Got Me) after numerous trial from Google search and other music websites. The download was so fast that I also downloaded five albums in about three minutes.

Am sure the ladies will love to hear this, why waste the precious data on streaming that Nollywood movie on Youtube when you can simply walk up to any Solo Wifi kiosk, download them in multiples and later watch at your convenience.

The Solo View platform allows you download FREE Nollywood movies on your phone without fear of using up space on the memory card. This feature really got me, although I am not a fan of Nollywood, I just got stuck to the phone and kept watching the movies I downloaded over and over again until it expired. Maybe I was lucky to have downloaded an interesting movie (Desperate House Girls,….)

Free movies can be downloaded by connecting the solo phone wirelessly to the Solo Wifi kiosk located at various points in Lagos. Am sure there is a kiosk located at Ikeja Shopping Mall (Shoprite).

There is a partnership with IROKO TV for the supply of movie content. Every movie downloaded will last for two weeks on the device, it is non-transferable and can only be accessed via the Solo View platform. I simply ‘made yanga’ for many friends who requested I transfer the movies I downloaded via Bluetooth.

Did I mention that the manufactures of these phones are generous!!! Apart from the regular accessories that come with phones, the Solo also comes with free accessories like an 8 Gigabyte SD card, a phone case and a Screen protector thereby helping you save a few box.

Battery life on the Solo compliments its core selling point, its 1400mAh battery last so long that I was able to watch three movies nonstop with ease. It can also last for over a day under normal usage without additional charging

Now to the main specifications:

 Solo features a 3.5-inch capacitive touch screen with 320×480 pixel and 165PPI. It offers the option of using two SIM cards (Mini SIM) and its built with plastic which makes it light in the hand. It has a dimension of 117mmx61mmx10.95mm making it easy to operate with one hand.

The power button and the volume rocker are located on the right side of the phone. These positions are easy to reach and to operate with one hand. Behind the phone is the speaker that delivers clear quality sound and a 3MP Camera with no flash which means you won’t be using the camera at night. There is also no front facing camera.

The 3.5mm audio jack is located at the top of the phone just beside the USB/Charging port. The phone is handy and has a comfortable grip.

 The Solo is powered by Android Jelly-Bean 4.1.2 version which makes for easy app compatibility e.g BBM to function. It also features a fast processor, Qualcomm 1GHz processor that delivers great performance for quick multitasking, speedy application and web browsing.

Internal memory is 4 GB and can be expanded up to 32GB with an SD card. RAM size also sits at 512MB.

To wrap it up, there no doubt that the Solo delivers a better multimedia experience compared to other smartphones available in the market, especially with the local contents strategy, something didn’t go right. Call volume is so low such that when on a call, you can hardly hear the other person’s conversation especially when you are in a noisy environment. This is not much of a con for me as I simply used the earpiece anytime I want to make or receive calls.

Well then, I think it is best to stop here so I can have some time to enjoy the new movies and music I downloaded. You can only have this wonderful experience when you have the SOLO phone.

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GO SOLO!!!