WiiO Wi-Star 3G review – dual core, dual SIM 3G smartphone running KitKat

WiiO Wi-Star 3G is a low budget 3G enabled smartphone powered by a dual core processor and running KitKat out of the box. This handset sports a 5 inch screen comes with a 2000 mAh battery. The WiiO star 3G is priced at Rs. 4,199.

Box pack
Inside the white box you will find the Star 3G handset, 2000 mAh battery, screen guard, travel charger, data cable, warranty card and earphone. SAR value is mentioned on the box : 0.76 W/Kg @1g head and 0.79 W/Kg @1g body.

Design, Display and OS
The handset looks good, got a good build quality and the silver / white colour combination gives it a very elegant look. The design however is nothing new it is almost similar to as seen on many other handsets. The sides are curvy. The rear is white color, matte finish and with nice texture that look and feels really good. This is dual SIM handset (SIM 1 is normal SIM and SIM 2 is micro SIM).

The WiiO Wi-Star 3G is heavy with a weight of about 165 grams with battery. Dimensions are 73.41 x 141.07 x 9.80 (mm). Power button is on the right, volume rockers on the left, 3.5mm audio jack on the top and micro USB port along with a microphone is at the bottom.

The screen is 5 inches supporting FWVGA i.e. 854 x 480 pixels resolution. Colour reproduction is okay but the screen viewing angles are not at all good. The touch is smooth.

There are two sensors – Accelerometer and proximity. There is no light sensor and hence you will need to manually adjust the brightness. The screen is barely visible under direct sunlight.

Android 4.4.2 runs out of the box with little bit of UI customization.

Memory and Storage
There is 512MB RAM (free RAM is 225MB) and 4GB if internal storage (1.23GB as phone storage and 1GB space for apps). A micro SD card slot is also included and you can install / move apps on external storage. OTG is not supported.

Performance
This is a low cost handset powered by dual core MediaTek MT6572 cortex A7 processor coupled with Mali 400 MP GPU. Performance is good but because of less RAM, if you are multi tasking a lot it will lag.

Benchmark

App Result
Quadrant 4163
Antutu 10380
Vellamo Metal (545) Multi core (788) Browser (1066)
Nenamark 2 39.9fps
Multi Touch 5 point

Gaming
I tried Asphalt 8, got it installed on external storage. The game is playable in medium graphics mode. Check video review.

Camera
This handset comes with a fixed focus camera. There is 5MP on the rear with LED flash and a 2MP on the front. The camera quality is below average and it can shoot max FWVGA videos. LED flash is also very weak, just no good.

Others
Did not find any other issues. Sound is loud and 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS worked without any issues.

Battery
There is 2000 mAh removable battery. Here is how the battery performed.

Task Time Battery drop (%) (max temp)
Running Benchmark apps 26 minutes 13% (NA)
Asphalt 8 GamePlay 17 minutes 10% (NA)

Battery backup is about 3 to 4 hours with moderate to heavy usage (with max brightness).

Verdict
WiiO WI-star 3G is not a bad option for the price tag of Rs. 4,199 there are links on ebay.in selling the same for 3,999. For this price tag you will get just about average performance and don’t expect much from the camera.

There is however other options available in the same price range. You might want to compare the features and price.

WiiO Wi-Star 3G is available on ebay.in for Rs. 4,199.

Wi-Star 3G Gallery

Rear camera sample

Front camera sample