Jumia is running a super sale, next week. Dubbed the Jumia Mobile Week Megathon, it features some very great offers on smartphones. One of the smartphones that will be available at an incredibly cheap price is the Fly Eclipse 3. Fly mobile is one of the brands we told you recently that are entering the Kenyan market.
Specifications of the Fly Eclipse 3 are as below:
- Display: 5 inch HD (720p)
- Memory: 8 GB internal storage, 1 GB RAM
- Camera: 8 MP camera with LED flash, 2 MP selfie-camera
- OS: Android 4.4 KitKat
- Processor: Quad-core Mediatek MT6580 clocked at 1.3 GHz with a Mali 400 GPU
- Battery: 2000mAh
- Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi
- Network: 2G, 3G
- Other: Dual-SIM support
In the box you get a travel adapter, a USB cable, a user manual, a warranty card, a pair of earphones, the battery and the phone unit itself.
The design of the phone is one the things you’ll like about it. It’s all plastic. Instead of the sharp edges like we had on the Tecno Boom J7, we have rounded corners. With the device having a somewhat slightly curved back, that combination with the rounded corners make it easier to hold the device. The microUSB charging port is located at the top next to the 3.5 mm headphone jack. At the bottom you just have a microphone. The speaker is at the back of the device. The volume rocker is on the right hand side of the device. As is the power button centrally placed below it making access easier since this is a 5 incher. Like the Tecno Boom J7, there is no Fly branding on the front. The Fly logo is only at the back of the device towards the bottom.
At 102g, the Fly eclipse 3 is not a light phone like the Tecno Boom J7. It’s thick and bulky. Not as thick fat as you think but as per today’s phone standards, it’s not that thin either. The HD IPS display is okay. Colour reproduction may be a bit off but for the most part, you’ll hardly notice.
One of the things you notice immediately you power on the Fly Eclipse 3 is that it runs stock Android KitKat. No bloat whatsoever. And that’s a good thing. With the same processor as the one found on the Tecno Boom J7 and same amount of RAM, it means that the lag and stutter I encountered on the home screen of the Tecno thanks to its custom overlay is nowhere to be found here. On the other hand, that means that the value add-ons like power saving mode and ultra power saving mode features found on the Tecno are missing here. There’s Battery Optimization in the settings but that can only go so far.
The problem with that is that you’ll actually miss an inbuilt battery saver because you’ll need it. A single charge will last you about 6 hours of average use with cellular data being toggled on and off on a needs basis.
As is always the case, the battery life, as you can see in my usage above, gets longer if you stick to Wi-Fi.
The cameras are a hit and miss. The front-facing camera leaves a lot to be desired but the 8 megapixel main camera is just okay. You need decent lighting for “ok” shots. At least that has been the case in the few hours that I’ve tested the device.
The 8 GB internal storage is more than enough for you to install all your favourite social and entertainment applications and a news reader and several productivity apps here and there. If you need to install big games (the device can handle them thanks to that Mediatek processor and output will be fine thanks to that HD display) then you’ll need to make good use of the sd card slot.
And here’s the deal
The best thing about the phone besides the design is the price. Everything else is pretty average, as expected. Jumia Kenya will be selling the phone for just Ksh 5,000 during the upcoming Jumia Mobile Week. The Jumia Mobile Week Megathon will run from 2nd to 8th June. You’ll need to use the Jumia app on your mobile device so as to be able to order the device or the many others being offered before then i.e. early access. Like the newly launched Microsoft Lumia 430 which will go for Ksh 6,800. Samsung’s Galaxy J1 will also be selling at a discounted price of Ksh 9,000. Another Fly mobile device, the Thunder 3, will go for just Ksh 4,000.
This is a good deal and while you may probably not be in need of another phone right now, the Fly Eclipse 3 and the other devices like the Lumia 430 being offered during the Jumia Mobile Week are very good for their price and if you’re like myself then you’d want to consider buying at least one of them for someone.
