Torque DROIDZ Octave Quick Review

Torque launched another smartphone in the DROIDZ series late last year. Called the DROIDZ Octave, the handset features an octa-core processor that’s accompanied by modest specs and a price tag under Php7K. Read on our quick review to know what the company is offering for this price point.

The Torque DROIDZ Octave sports a 5-inch HD display with 1280 x 720 resolution. This totals to 294ppi which has a pixel density that’s packed tight as we’ve noticed during our entire time browsing the phone. It utilizes capacitive buttons that thankfully light up when the device is being used. As for its bezels, they’re not that thick, but not too thin either.

Looking at it on its side shows that being slim isn’t the selling point of the Octave since it has a bit of chunk in it. Holding it, we wouldn’t say it is heavy, but one could feel the phone’s heft as it sits on the hand. In this angle we could also see a metal strip that runs around the device — an attempt by the company to make the smartphone posses a hint of premium look and feel.

As with almost all smartphones, the front-facing camera sits right beside the speaker for calls, along with the sensors.

Turning it around and you’ll be greeted with its 8-megapixel rear shooter that’s accompanied by dual LED flashes. This tandem of lights should be capable of illuminating subjects even in low-light conditions which you will see in our sample shots later.

The only physical buttons seen on the device are its volume rocker and power/lock screen buttons. Yet, they reside in different sides with the power button on the right, and the volume rocker on the left strip. The metal frame has curves for corners which is more of like an elegant approach (at least that’s how we see it).

The headphone jack is situated up top, while down under is the microUSB port together with the pinhole for microphone.

Finally, popping open its plastic back cover reveals its 1900mAh battery which is removable. In here we also find the slots for two SIM cards and one microSD card for storage expansion up to 32GB.

The device runs on 8 cores powered by a MediaTek chipset and is partnered with a gig of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. Performance on this handset was decent. We were able to use it for over a week which includes tasks like social media browsing, casual gaming, and multimedia playback. Although we experienced minimal lags while playing games, it was generally snappy as a whole.

As for the storage space, users are left with around 5.26GB due to the space taken up by its operating system. In addition, the capacitive buttons are also responsive to touch input so that’s a good thing.

Below are the benchmark scores:

• AnTuTu: 27,793 (unverified)
• Quadrant Standard: 11,709
• Vellamo: 1,284 (Multicore), 745 (Metal), 1,374 (Browser)
• 3DMark: 4,011

We also took a few shots using its camera and you may view them below. Generally, its 8MP rear camera took some pretty detailed images, while its dual LED flashes did its job in illuminating subjects in low-light conditions.

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Running our usual battery test, the DROIDZ Octave totaled to 5 hours and 47 minutes of continuous usage. The parameters of the test includes: Airplane Mode, volume at 0%, and brightness at 50%

As per our daily usage, the Torque DROIDZ Octave is a decent performer that could easily handle casual tasks. It still runs on Android KitKat, however, so those who want a taste of the new Lollipop would still have to wait for an update. One thing that might make potential buyers look away is its sub-Php6.5K price tag as there are other handsets available today that offers way better specs just by adding a little more to your budget.

To recap, the Octave is priced at Php6,399 and offers a 5-inch HD display that’s powered by an octa-core CPU and 1GB of RAM. Storage is scarce as it only comes with 8GB. Thankfully, you can expand it up to 32GB via a microSD card.

Torque DROIDZ Octave specs:
5-inch HD IPS display, 294ppi
1.4GHz MediaTek MT6592 octa-core CPU
1GB RAM
8GB internal storage
Expandable up to 32GB via microSD
8-megapixel AF rear camera w/ dual LED flash
5-megapixel front camera
Dual-SIM, Dual-Standby
3G HSPA+
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth
Android 4.4 KitKat
1900mAh battery