Meet the THL T100
We have awesome news for you guys! The octa-core powered THL T100 Monkey King II arrived at the Unbox HQ earlier today! Yes folks, this is the first octa-core smartphone in the country and it’s set to launch 3rd week January. The unit we have is actually a prototype and we were advised that there will still be a lot of improvements made between today and the final launch. Since the unit didn’t come with a box, we’ll skip the usual unboxing post and jump right into an initial impressions/review article and then follow it up with a full review after we’ve thoroughly abused it, lol.
To set the mood and tone for this post, let’s quickly go over the specifications again.
THL T100 Spec Sheet
- 1.7GHz Octa-core Processor MediaTek 6592 Chipset
- Mali 450 Graphics
- 2GB RAM
- 32GB Internal Storage, Expandable via MicroSD Card (64GB)
- 5.0-inch Full HD IPS OGS Display (1080p)
- Corning Gorilla Glass 3
- 13.0-megapixels primary camera with LED Flash and Auto Focus
- 13.0-megapixels secondary camera
- Dual SIM, Dual Standby
- 3G, HSPA+, WiFi, WiFi Hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS/aGPS, NFC
- USB OTG Compatible
- Android Jelly Bean 4.2
- 2,700mAh Battery
Halimaw. Simply no other word to describe it. The THL T100 just has everything you’d want in a smartphone… except for LTE, hehe. Anyway let’s move on to our initial impressions of this beast!
Strong and Sturdy Build
The THL T100 has a very imposing and authoritative build. It feels solid, sturdy, and it has a comfortable heft to it, a subtle assurance of the quality of the device. The usual ports and buttons are along the sides. At the top we have some sort of textured coating which resembles carbon fiber (but we’re not really sure if it is). At the back we have a removable plate with a smooth matte finish. We noticed that THL also changed their logo. It now doesn’t look like HTC anymore, hehe.
Up front we have the Corning Gorilla Glass 3 scratch resistant panel. Side bezels are thin but the lower one is a little too thick for our taste. We were completely blown away though by the display quality. Full HD with IPS and OGS is really nothing short of amazing! Stunning detail and color reproduction. Bravo THL, bravo.
The device felt good to hold even with just one hand. The slightly curved sides made it comfortable for the palm but the sharp edges at the top and the bottom are noticeable. The THL T100 also isn’t the thinner smartphone out there but it’s definitely nothing to scoff at.
98% Lag Eliminated
One big question that we had was if the octa-core processor paired with 2GB RAM would be enough to fully eliminate the lag that we’ve seen with the turbo quad-core processors with 2GB RAM. Based on our initial tests there is still some but most of it is gone. Transitions are much more smoother. Multi-tasking is much more doable. The sluggishness only happens in some instances but we were actually able to eliminate that by switching to a launcher (we use Nova Launcher Pro).
As for the games? The THL T100 is a fantastic gaming beast! NBA 2K14 and Dead Trigger 2 played ever-so-smoothly on it. Loading time was still a bit longer but not as bad as what we got with the quad-core full HD handsets.
So does octa-core make a difference compared to quad-core? YES IT DOES. We feel the difference especially now that it’s powering a Full HD display.
Full Review Coming Soon!
As far as initial impressions go, we’re very happy with the THL T100 Monkey King II. We still want to try out a lot of features though like the camera and especially see if the battery life is decent. Those things and more we will discuss in detail once we come out with the full review.
Initial impressions in one word? HALIMAW.
(THL T100 Monkey King II is NOT yet out in the market. It will be released 3rd week of January in the Philippines. Pre-order price is Php12,999 while the SRP is Php16,000.)
