SuperD D1 Unboxing, First Impressions

MyPhone has just formally launched its latest smartphone offering for the Filipino consumers although this one is in partnership with a Chinese company specializing in 3D technology. MyPhone acts as the official distributor of the SuperD D1, a smartphone capable of playing 3D content without the use of any special glasses. Here are the unboxing and first impressions of the handset.

Right off the bat, the retail box of the SuperD D1 presents itself as a “3D phone” and is distributed by MyPhone in the Philippines as the phone was initially available in China.

Opening the box shows the D1 handset with a “Designed by SuperD” phrase printed to give authenticity label from its manufacturer.

Digging further inside the box you’ll see the included microUSB cable and charger head — both in white — plus the warranty certificate. Any warranty claim will be through MyPhone.

The phone has a 5.5-inch Full HD display that’s capable of showing 3D content which is the main selling point of the device. Above it are a couple of sensors, earpiece and two front-facing cameras, an 8MP shooter for taking selfies and a dedicated camera for eye tracking which enables the 3D magic. The phone relies on three unlit capacitive keys for UI navigation positioned below the display.

On its left-hand side is the card tray which accepts two micro SIM cards or a microSD card on the second slot for storage expansion. The sides are polycarbonate which leaves an unsatisfying impression.

To the right are the physical buttons for the volume rocker and power/lock button. Interestingly, the buttons are made out of metal, unlike the phone’s surrounding frame.

The top only has the 3.5mm while the bottom end houses the microUSB port and the main microphone.

The rear of the phone is pretty busy with the noise-cancelling microphone, the main 13-megapixel camera with its LED flash, rounded fingerprint scanner, and the loudspeaker. The SuperD branding is also printed here just above the speaker grilles.

It’s clear that this is not a MyPhone device with no Philippine map or whatsoever pre-loaded to the phone but there’s a suite of SuperD apps that takes advantage of the phone’s special feature. This includes a VR store, a 3D/VR player, and two dedicated apps for 3D and VR games. A 360-degree photo capturing app and the 3DBOX controller (soon to be available) is also onboard.

Let’s go back to the main feature — glasses-free 3D or autostereoscopic. The display seems standard when in 2D mode but when watching 3D-capable content using the built-in app, the lenticular lenses take action. With the help of the dedicated eye-tracking front camera and SuperD’s own graphics processor, the content magically shifts to 3D. The handset keeps track of the viewers POV to the phone.

While the experience is one of a kind for mobile, there’s a few catch like only one viewer can enjoy 3D as the device needs to track both left and right eyes. Also, The resolution of the content suffers from jagged edges similar to the likes of our old-school lenticular rulers.

Other specs include a MediaTek MT6750T octa-core processor, 3GB RAM, and 32GB of expandable storage. The phone supports 4G LTE with a number of bands but there’s no support for 700MHz Band 28, though. The phone runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow with a proprietary skin on top of it and is powered by a non-removable 3,000mAh battery.

SuperD D1 specs:
5.5-inch 3D-capable Full HD display, 401ppi
1.5GHz MediaTek MT6750T octa-core processor
Mali-T860 MP2 GPU
SuperD 3D/VR mobile GPU
3GB RAM
32GB internal storage
Expandable via microSD
13MP autofocus rear camera w/ LED flash
8MP front-facing camera + dedicated eye tracking camera
Dual-SIM
4G LTE
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.0
GPS w/ A-GPS
Fingerprint scanner
3000mAh battery
Android 6.0 Marshmallow
SuperD VR Store
152 x 75.7 x 8.9 mm
172 g

The SuperD D1 is priced at Php11,999USD 204INR 17,334EUR 195CNY 1,489 and comes in Galaxy silver and Champagne gold colors. It will be available online on Lazada and MyPhone Shop on January 30. MyPhone is also offering a free VR headset for the first 1,000 buyers. We’ll be taking the D1 for a full-spin and we hope to enjoy a number of 3D content on this device.