Himax Pure III borrows ideas from Xiaomi and Oppo (REVIEW)

Indonesia’s gadget market is very hot. It’s not only foreign smartphone manufacturers making their mark in the country; local phone brands are also turning up their “A” game in the face of serious competition. One of them is Himax.

Himax is gaining strong traction in its native Indonesia because it’s emulating Xiaomi’s tactics – making good quality products at prices that a bit lower than you might expect. And it’s also using Xiaomi-style online flash sales.

A couple of months ago, we reviewed one of Himax’s most popular smartphones, the Polymer (see the review here). The phone looks to be the closest rival to the Xiaomi Redmi Note, with almost identical specifications and price. And now we’ve got our hands on another Himax phone. Meet the Pure III. At a glance, it looks similar to an Oppo N1 Mini. Both phones have a 200-degree rotating camera. But that’s where the resemblance ends, as the Himax Pure III is sold at Rp 2.4 million (US$195), less than half the price of the Oppo N1 Mini at Rp 5 million (US$407).

The Himax Pure III has a 1.7GHz octa-core MediaTek processor complemented by 1GB RAM, Mali-450 GPU, 4.7-inch 720p screen, and a 13MP rotating camera. The phone uses the company’s Amigo OS (version 4) running on top of Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.

Design and hardware

The Pure III’s body feels sturdy and premium thanks to its polycarbonate body. The company emphasizes that the material originates from a Finnish company called Perlos. When getting my hands on the Pure III for the first time, I thought it was one of Himax’s pricier models, but it turns out the phone is aimed at mid-level consumers.

The polycarbonate unibody looks elegant and premium. You won’t feel any plastic rubbing or moving when you put pressure on it. Its bezel is not too big nor small.

The phone’s dimensions feel good in my hand – although I have a bigger-than-average hands. Weighing in at 149 grams and 8.6mm thick, the Pure III doesn’t feel too heavy for a 4.7-inch-screened phone.

You’ll find speakers on the front and back side of the rotating camera module – which is different than Oppo’s speakerless rotating camera – as well as a flashlight and the camera itself. Pure III can detect which side is looking at the front and will automatically adjust the speaker function between loudspeaker and phone speaker. You won’t need to worry about answering a call when the camera is facing frontward after taking selfies.

Along the bottom of the front side, you will find three soft keys: menu on the left, home in the center, and back on the right. Unfortunately, these soft keys will only light up after you press them, which is different than the Redmi Note’s soft keys that light up whenever the screen is on. You will find the power/wake/standby button and volume buttons on the phone’s right edge. As for the headphone jack and battery port, Himax puts them on the phone’s bottom edge. This placing is a bit awkward because when you’re charging, it can be difficult to connect to the adjacent headphone jack.

Screen and sound

Software – outdated and stuck in the past

Camera

Battery

Alternatives

Conclusion

Pros & cons