Obi Worldphone, after its global launch in San Francisco on August 26 this year, is all set to re-enter the Indian market in the coming week.
Known as Obi Mobiles previously, the company co-founded by John Sculley aims to address the market need between high-design smartphones at high prices and generic smartphones at low prices. John is the former head of Apple and Pepsi-Cola, which is why Obi Mobiles garnered a lot of attention when it launched.
Obi Worldphone SF1 and SJ1.5 – the current devices in the Obi portfolio – pack in premium industrial design complimented with the Obi Lifespeed, a custom user interface for Android that unifies the software and hardware experience. Obi has partnered with San Francisco-based design studio Ammunition, founded by the former director of industrial design for Apple, Robert Brunner.
In a press statement, Obi Worldphone CEO and co-founder, Neeraj Chauhan confirmed the company’s plans to launch the Obi Worldphone SF1 in November. The 4G LTE smartphone features a unibody with metallic accents and floating glass display and is available in two variants – a 2GB RAM and 16GB inbuilt storage variant and a 3GB RAM and 32GB storage variant.
Obi Worldphone SF1 Specifications
- Display: 5-inch JDI In-Cell IPS | Full HD (1080 x 1920)
- Protection: Corning Gorilla Glass 4 | Fully-laminated OGS (One Glass Solution)
- Operating System: Android 5.0.2 Lollipop
- Processor: Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615 1.5 GHz 64-bit Octa-core processor
- Memory: 32GB Internal Storage + 3GB RAM / 16GB Internal Storage + 2GB RAM | Expandable up to 64GB by MicroSD card
- Camera: Primary – 13MP AF with LED Flash | Secondary – 5 MP with LED Flash
- Battery: 3000 mAh Li-Po battery with Quick Charge 1.0
- Dimensions: 146 x 74 x 8 mm
- Weight: 147g
The Obi Worldphone SF1 was launched with a suggested retail price of $199 ($249 for the beefed up variant), and we expect it to be priced around ₹15,000 ($227) in India. The phone is likely to be sold exclusively on Gadgets 360, the technology portal that Sculley had recently invested in.