Introduction
Mobile phone technology has come on a long way in the last few years, and while Samsung and Apple like to fly the flag for technology, other companies are making lower cost tech that really has a lot of bang-for-buck.
Bush, through outlet store Argos in the UK have forayed into the tablet and mobile phone market in the past, but have just started a new assault on the public by releasing a couple of new Android mobile phones with the Spira C1 5 and the Spira D1 5.5. This review looks at the latter Spira D1 5.5.
Specifications
First off, this a 5.5” phone almost identical in size to the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. It sports a fabulous IPS display at 1280x720 resolution, which may not be 1080p or 2k, but looks very impressive close up. The screen is bright, and while not as bright as a Samsung panel, it comes pretty close. Colours are also a little more subdued than a Samsung, but a lot of people will appreciate that.
The Spira D1 comes with 1GB of ram, a Mediatek ARM-64 processor clocked at 1Ghz and just 8GB of internal memory, 4GB of which is left for the user to install apps. As standard the phone comes with a 16GB Micro-SD card, which of course you can move apps to to save phone space.
The Spira D1 can take two SIM cards, and you can allocate which SIM to use for each task, such as for mobile data, texts or calls. This is a very nice feature, and one that more and more lower-end phones are doing, while more expensive phones seem to be ignoring the feature altogether. SIM slot 1 can handle 2G, 3G and 4G SIM’s while SIM slot 2 only handles 2G. The phone is unlocked to any UK network
The Spira D1 comes with 1GB of ram, a Mediatek ARM-64 processor clocked at 1Ghz and just 8GB of internal memory, 4GB of which is left for the user to install apps. As standard the phone comes with a 16GB Micro-SD card, which of course you can move apps to to save phone space.
The Spira D1 can take two SIM cards, and you can allocate which SIM to use for each task, such as for mobile data, texts or calls. This is a very nice feature, and one that more and more lower-end phones are doing, while more expensive phones seem to be ignoring the feature altogether. SIM slot 1 can handle 2G, 3G and 4G SIM’s while SIM slot 2 only handles 2G. The phone is unlocked to any UK network
The camera on the D1 is a 13 megapixel shooter, and the front facing camera is a 5MP. The camera performs admirably for general shooting, and the front facing camera does a good job on Skype calls and selfies. For the money, the camera is very impressive… And at this point I must point out that the 5.5 version of the phone is only £129.99, plus comes with £10 free credit on a Lebara SIM.
There are three hardware keys for the usual Android navigation which light up when touched, a volume rocker and power button. There’s a standard 3.5mm headphone jack and a micro-USB port. The entire build feels solid, and the phone has a nice weight to it. The speaker is on the back of the phone, although the sound from it is loud and well balanced, sounding nicer than many more expensive phones out there with more bass and clearer mid-frequencies.
The battery is only a 2400mh but seems to last well, although it does take a while to charge up to full capacity.
Software
The phone runs Android 5.1 with no custom overlay. This is pure Android at it’s very best, and because of this it runs very smooth on the phones specifications. The phone comes installed with all the Google Apps you’ll ever need, plus very little else, and the only bloatware is the Argos application, which for some reason doesn’t actually work on this device. That said, everything that was tested on the phone worked perfectly without hiccup and programs such as Facebook, Google Photos and various games just worked. Pure Android at it’s finest.
Conclusion
The Spira D1 5.5 cost just £129.99, is unlocked to any network, has a great screen, pure Android 5.1 Operating System and a quad-core processor. Although it only has 8GB memory, it comes with a 16GB memory card which you can move applications to. It has some great looks at comes with a screen protector, soft case and £10 free credit.
If you’re phone usage is low and you’re not one for downloading tons of app’s, then this could potentially be the mobile phone for you.
