The Starmobile Engage 9i hits all the right notes

Today we’ll be unboxing Starmobile’s recently announced Engage 9i tablet. The Engage 9i has managed to create quite a stir lately as it’s one of the first tablets in the Philippines from a local brand that sports Intel’s Atom Z2580 chipset, codenamed Clovertrail+. While it’s only a 2.0GHz dual-core machine, both cores are capable of running two threads simultaneously, so the processor runs more like a quad-core. Aside from impressive hardware specs, the Engage 9i is also a beautiful tablet, and is one of the prettiest we’ve ever seen come from a local manufacturer.

Stamobile Engage 9i specs

• 2.0 GHz dual-core Intel Atom Z2580 Clovertrail+ processor
• 2GB RAM
• PowerVR SGX544Mp2 GPU
• 16GB internal storage, expandable via microSD up to 32GB
• 8.9-inch full HD IPS display, 1920 x 1200 pixels
• 5-megapixel rear camera with autofocus
• 2-megapixel front famera
• WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0
• USB OTG
• 6500 mAh battery
• Android 4.2.2
• Php 9,990

Design and construction you’d expect from international brands

When we first saw the product photo of the Engage 9i, we weren’t really wowed by the overall design. But as we learned product photos can be deceiving. The Engage 9i is a very handsome device in person. Aside from having a hefty and solid build, the back of the Engage 9i is actually encased in glass. The aluminum trim with black accents on the side of the Engage 9i gives it a bit of variety design-wise.

Oriented sideways, you’ll find the volume rocker and the unlock button on the top of the device, with the USB port and the 3.5mm jack on the left. While the device does not have a removable battery because of its design, you can still beef up the 16GB internal storage by placing a microSD inside the microSD slot that’s located near the top of the device.

The vents for the speakers are located on both sides of the device.

The 5-megapixel camera is located on the back, at the upper right side of the tablet.

Don’t count out dual-core

The Starmobile Engage 9i uses an Intel 2.0 Ghz dual-core Atom Z2580 Clovertrail+ processor. While the hardware doesn’t sound impressive at first mainly because it’s “only” using dual-core, keep in mind that Intel’s processors have hyperthreading technology inside, which basically means both cores have two threads running in parallel to each other. This allows the dual-core processor to achieve performance close to quad-core processors, and it shows. The 2GB of RAM didn’t hurt it either, and as a result, the Engage 9i managed to get a score of 19766 in Antutu.

Fast and incredibly responsive

As a result of the hardware, the Engage 9i felt incredibly responsive. There’s little to no lag during our initial time with it, and we expect that to continue as we use the device as our everyday tablet. It’s also a great choice for gaming, as it’s able to run intense 3D games without too much issue. Our zombie bashing trips in Dead Trigger 2 and Dead Effect were completely lag free. You can bet we’ll be installing even more games on this thing to try and find its limits, but right now, things are looking great.

That’s it for our initial review. We’ll be posting the full review of this tablet soon!