Review: ACI Stylus O65

ACI is the latest entrant in the list of Bangladesh smartphone brands and with their first line up of devices, seems to be determined to wreak havoc in the market. And its flagship device Stylus 065 is on the forefront. How well does it play, let's find it out:

DESIGN

At first glance, O65 looks premium through and through. However, take it in your hands and the plastic rear will definitely ruin that first impression. Although the O65, with its sharp rectangular frame and flat, minimalistic surface, is definitely a looker with solid builds and design quality.

HARDWARE

Considering the price, the combination of 1.4 GHz Octa core processor with 2 GB RAM and 16 GB internal memory is not bad at all! It comes with Android Kitkat 4.4.2- which is a kind of a let down, but then again, the O65 is in the price range of budget flagships, so this can be looked over.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

Cameras on the O65 are standard fares- an 8 MP rear camera with auto focus and HDR and a 2 MP lens in the front for selfies. When HDR is on, the rear camera provides a decent output. However, without HDR, image quality is quite average. The selfie cam on the other hand, despite its 2 MP label, takes pretty good photos!

DISPLAY AND PERFORMANCE

O65 does no lags in the performance quarter. Despite running a whole bunch of apps at the same time and playing power hungry games, performance was relatively smooth and the 5" IPS display did not fail to deliver either. With a 1280x720 resolution and a density of 320 ppi, the O65 offers vivid but grainy image quality. Having said all that, I also must mention that game play does become a little choppy at times.

BATTERY

The O65 comes with a massive 4000 mAh battery which on pen and paper (read: ACI's user manual that came with the box) should be good for 700 hours of standby time or 10-15 hours of continuous talk time on a full charge. Armed with a 98% battery, I ran the phone through a gauntlet of games, apps and then some more games- and not just your average run-for-your-life-through-a-Mayan-temple kind of games; proper, man games with lots of blood and loud cars and also an unhealthy demand for processing power. The 4000 mAh beast did not disappoint at all. After I was done (after a couple hours at least), the battery had lost only 12% charge- way better than what my Moto G can do. The downside is that the rear cover gets a little warm in a short time, and I faced this issue when the phone was charging.

SPECS
Display: 5" HD IPS Display
CPU: 1.4 GHz Octa Core
OS: Android 4.4.2 Kitkat
ROM: 16 GB
RAM:  2 GB
Camera: Rear- 8MP (AF), Front-  2 MP
Battery: 4000 mAh
Sensors: Accelerometer, Light, Hall, Proximity, Gravity etc.
Price:
Tk 12,590/-

VERDICT
The Stylus O65 is a decent phone. Once you account for its price, you can't help but give the phone a nod of approval despite some minor issues like old OS and choppy performance. It has good hardware, decent graphics and is definitely way better than some of the entry level smartphone of international brands. So if you are in the market for a budget device with great specs, you should definitely give the ACI Stylus O65 a try.