Contents
We recently made a list of top budget phones between ₦10,000 to ₦15,000 and Innjoo Halo was on top of that list. It’s not because of the design, camera or screen quality, we gave it that spot because most phones in this price range sport 512MB of RAM and most of them have their battery capacity around 2,000mAh.
It’s a low-end, budget phone, and this means you can’t compare it with mid-range devices as lots of people often attempt. I’ve been using the phone for about two weeks and for the price it goes for, I can say it isn’t bad. The device isn’t perfect just like most phones we’ve reviewed and in this review, we will try to weigh the pros and cons to see if the price is justified.
Specifications
Before going into the full review, here are the key specifications:
- ROM: 8GB
- RAM: 1GB
- Display: 5″
- Resolution: 480*854 FWVGA
- Micro SD: up to 32GB
- OS: Android 5.1 Lollipop***
- Camera: 5MP primary, 2MP secondary
- Battery: 3200mAh
- Processor: 1.2GHz Quad-core CPU
- Battery: 3200mAh
***We can’t ascertain this as the copy we got runs Android 4.4.2 but Innjoo’s official spec sheet says the phone runs Android Lollipop 5.1.
For the detailed spec sheet, please see this page.
Physical Appearance
At first look, Innjoo Halo’s look reminded me of a device I recently used, Tecno Boom J7. A closer look shows it’s totally different though. There’s a groove on the top and bottom ledge which look slightly curved. The softkeys are not backlit, this might be a major issue for those who are new to Android OS and not quite conversant with the soft keys placement (in the dark). At the top left is the 2MP shooter.
There’s no LED light at the front as well and no branding. The volume controls are on the right just above the power button.
The microUSB port stands alone on the left while the earphone jack is at the top.
The 5MP camera at the back has the flash on the right and the speaker on the left. Unlike what is advertised though, the back cover on our copy of this device looks like plain plastic, not Kevlar.
The backcover is removable and so is the battery. There are two SIM slots, one for a micro-SIM and the other for a mini-SIM. You also have a separate slot for a SD card.
Display
As it is on most budget phones, the display isn’t perfect. It’s a 5″ device with a resolution of 480×854. If you’re looking for phone with a much better resolution and clearer display within Innjoo product line, you probably need to increase your budget and go for Innjoo Fire Plus.
One thing I miss is auto-brightness as there’s no ambient light sensor and I had to manually adjust the screen brightness according to the environment.
Software & UI
As mentioned earlier, the copy we got runs Android 4.4.2 but the spec sheet says Android 5.1. Perhaps it’s upgradeable to Lollipop but I checked Innjoo’s official website under downloads and I couldn’t find the software for Innjoo Halo. I went ahead to check for updates from the phone settings and none is available yet.
The launcher too doesn’t look like the InnUI we know, it looks more like Android Kitkat UI (though there are modifications). The app drawer, which isn’t present the last time I saw InnUI on Innjoo One, is visible.
There are also lots of apps you probably won’t need. Thankfully, you can uninstall most them to free up some space.
Camera
Innjoo Halo isn’t a phone built for photography and the pictures taken with the devices says this. Here are some of the images taken in broad daylight with the device in the gallery below:
For selfies too, there’s a 2MP front facing camera.
Storage
The phone comes with 8GB ROM but you only have about 5GB left. Anyway, you can always extend the storage with a SD card.
Battery
This is probably the best thing about this device and the reason we rated it number one on this post. Most phones in this price range do not have such battery and one just has to appreciate this.
It has a capacity of 3,000mAh and in out video loop test, we started playing videos with MX Player with the battery at 97%. The volume was at 100%, brightness at 50% and both SIMs were inserted with 3G turned on. After about 9 hours, there was still 17% battery left. That’s awesome, just awesome. However, there’s no quick charge feature.
Performance
If you’re worried if you’ll be able to play your favorite HD games on the device, you shouldn’t. It runs HD games conveniently but only tends to get a little warm. It got a score of 19118 on Antutu benchmark.
However, if you’re going to multitask, you’ve got to keep your running apps minimal.
Price
At the moment, the phone sells for ₦14,000 on Jumia.
Price starting from ₦13,990 on Jumia: Buy Now
Price starting from ₦13,990 on Konga: Buy Now
What we think
Pros: The battery is good. Only few devices in it’s price range have 1GB RAM.
Cons: Bloatwares, no ambient light sensor. Speaker not so loud when playing videos.
There are other cons like the not-so-good camera, low resolution display and more but unless you intend to get a 25,000 naira value from a 14,000 naira product, you can’t complain. Honestly, only few devices in this price range offer what the device has.
Even if Innjoo Halo isn’t your dream phone, it’s a gift you can present to someone without hurting your budget. Besides, since most of us are on every mobile network as Nigerians, it’s the perfect second phone you can have without spending much.