We unbox the Starmobile Quest!

While other local brands have been leaning heavily on driving sales of their devices by aggressively marketing their specs, Starmobile has gone back to basics with their approach lately, focusing instead on their core competencies like imaging to drive hype for their products. One such product is the Quest, a 4.5-inch smartphone that has decent specs, and more importantly, a 12-megapixel camera with a Sony BSI sensor with a large, f2.0 aperture. Such a large opening should ensure that the Quest will be able to capture images clearly even under low light.

Starmobile Quest specs

• 1.2GHz Qualcomm MSM8212 Snapdragon 200
• Adreno 302 GPU
• 1GB of RAM
• 4.5-inch qHD OGS IPS display, 540 x 960 resolution
• 4GB of storage, expandable via microSD
• 12-megapixel AF BSI (Sony sensor) rear camera, f2.0 aperture
• 5-megapixel camera with Toshiba sensor
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS
• Dual-SIM (micro SIM)
• 3G, HSPA+
• 2000mAh battery
• Android 4.3

Packaging and contents

The Quest comes in Starmobile’s typical packaging. There’s a photo of the device in the front with all of the most pertinent features, including the processor maker (in this case, Qualcomm), noise cancelling microphones, f2.0 aperture plus BSI and the quad-core processor. The back lists the full specifications of the device.

Once you open the box, you’ll see the phone in its original packaging. Aside from the typical accessories like the USB cable, charger and headphones, you’re also getting a free screen protector, as well as a clear jellycase.

Initial impressions: mostly plastic design looks a bit meh, but still a good mix of hardware

We were a bit disappointed by the overall design and look of the Quest to be perfectly frank. Unlike the company’s previous offerings, the mostly plastic body and overall design of the Quest doesn’t really do anything for us.

It’s not a bad design per se – the phone has rounded edges and corners that make it easier to hold, and the build quality is pretty good all around, with no creaks or obvious gaps anywhere. It’s just that the design really feels a bit uninspired, unlike the devices of their competitors that sit on the same price range.

The display is a bit of a downer as well, only around 4.5-inches with qHD resolution. The upside is that the display won’t really consume a lot of power, which hopefully translate to good battery life down the road.

Whatever our feelings about the Quest’s design, there’s no denying that it packs a good featureset. Starmobile’s known for generally above average cameras on its smartphones, and Quest is no exception. The Quest packs a 12-megapixel camera (interpolated, sadly) with a Sony BSI sensor with a relatively large f2.0 aperture. Aside from the camera, the Quest also has Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 200 MSM 8212 processor, paired with around 1GB of RAM. While the SoC used in the Quest is a step down compared to its competitors, it’s still able to deliver roughly the same performance as far as our AnTuTu benchmark was concerned.

We also tested the Quest’s 12-megapixel camera inside our lightbox and took a photo of one of our Gunpla models.

It seems like the Quest’s camera is capable of producing good photos, at least in a controlled environment. As an experiment, we also used the Xiaomi Mi 3 to take a photo of the same model in identical conditions, and it seems that the Quest is able to keep up with the more expensive Mi 3, at least with this test. Only a full review will really show if the camera on the Quest is as good as Starmobile says it is.

That’s it for this unboxing. Watch out for the full review of the Quest later on.