We have seen Chinese phone makers dabble in 3D tech over the years, and as the cost of 3D tech becomes cheaper we are once again seeing an interest. One of the first for international buyers will be the VK World Discovery S1.
The VK World Discovery S1 isn’t the first glasses free 3D phone we have seen. The first I remember testing was a Zopo from years back and earlier this year PPTV released s similar device in China.
Unlike PPTV though, VK World are targeting customers not living in China, and hope that 3D is the feature that international phone users are craving to tap in to the market.
The VK Discovery S1’s main selling point is the FHD 1920 x 1080 display from LG. The panel features 3D technology that means you can watch 3D movies and view 3D content without the need for 3D glasses.
The screen works with a Parallax barriers that focuses what your left and right eyes view on the screen. Although it looks like only one image on the display is playing there are in fact two and this is what give the illusion of depth.
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While VK World are obviously proud of the fact they have a glasses free 3D phone on the market, they aren’t relying on just that one feature. Looking through the details we have for the Discovery S1 we see that the device will have a curved Corning Gorilla Glass 3 panel, 13 mega-pixel Sony rear camera, 5 mega-pixel front camera, 3050mAh battery and Android 5.1 Lollipop.
Processing comes from a quad-core Mediatek MT6735 chipset, there will be 2GB RAM, 16GB internal memory plus space for an SD card and dual SIM cards.
Pricing is set at $249.99, and that’s the international price. A similar non 3D phone would cost substantially less, having is wonder if there really is a market for such a device?
Why?
Ouch! The Take 1 has been available for some time with similar specs for less than $120, not sure who they plan to target with such basic specs at that price point.
Found it many places cheap, very cheap compared to this. No point. Hang and that other one has a 2ghz SoC, just 32bits but fast anyways. For about 120-135
Yeah, when the Takee first came out last year it was selling around $1200! Been tempted to get it now its so cheap, especially with the holographic cradle purely for something different to have a play around with. Of course there’s the 3D69 or other similarly named versions for around $150, so would take any of those over this any day.
Just don’t update the Takes (for now), recent 5.0 updates have ruined many aspects of the phone and manufacturer admits 3D best left on original OS (4.2?).
So what’s the phone actually like? Even after around 14 months on the market there is still no detailed reviews. Does the 3D work well? Does it really project the images like a hologram as claimed? Lastly whats the audio and camera like? Gizchina completely ignored this phone (no surprise since it’s not Elephone or Doogee). Just thought I could get it till something like the Vivo X6/Huawei mate 8 etc become widely available after xmas.
From memory there’s a few decent reviews on Youtube, check S7yler and TechlineHD, possibly ITX Tutor. Hologram is just marketing, but 3D effect said to be very good. You also get quality build, great screen, gesture motions look fun, very decent Sony IMX135 camera and reasonably fast overall; basically a lot of kit for not much money. Price will probably go down further if gold model doesn’t revive sales.
XDA has a long thread on the update situation.
Well I decided to get one to play around with until after xmas when the really good phones I’m eyeing up are released. At £62/$94 it seemed rude not to! Part of me got it purely out of curiosity and it will do as a back up phone when I (invariably) break my main phone (again) and can’t afford to keep replacing it! As you said the latest update seems to kill the phone with Takee already stating that it won’t be upgraded to lollipop (or above) which is a shame as kit kat is my favorite version of android.
That’s a good price, cheapest I’ve seen is $99 for gold model (only) at DealsMachine. Hopefully fixes will come for the updates, at least they’re working on it. Under this new cheaper pricing structure there was talk of a second model with a 3D camera. Not sure if that is still on the cards, but that could be a very interesting phone given the other technical updates it should hopefully also receive .
The only disappointment for me is the cradle that appeared to have the 4 cameras (maybe for the holographic features) is no longer available since they launched with the much lower price point.